All posts tagged: NaBloPoMo

Haiku Holoholo

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Fellow blogger Nathaniel, of Introvert Japan, just posted a great write-up about the history of haiku. Here is my challenged and cringeworthy attempt at the aged art. ʻahu mark the path. mokuʻāweoweo. ascent to the gods.   steep and winding path. quiet wonder in the cliff. nageiredo.  sighing gentle breeze. like fingers through my loose hair. seduced by the wind. rays of light find me. piercing through the canopy. illuminated. crumbling at your feet. fragile wall around my heart. you dismantle me. Weekly Writing Challenge:  Haiku Catchoo! |  http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/challenge-haiku/

Thursday’s Special: Trip to Japan

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Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Here in the U.S., this holiday is an opportunity to reflect and give thanks for all the great things that we have been blessed with in our lives.  Thanksgiving also marks the start of holiday eating.  The main course in Thanksgiving is usually the turkey.  In my family, we celebrate with a medley of food, but not with the traditional turkey.  I never grew up eating turkey for Thanksgiving unless I was invited to someone’s home. I fondly remember on one occasion when one of the aunties mentioned she would be refraining from eating turkey as she didn’t want to be going on a trip to Japan.  I was so confused.  How could eating turkey prevent you from going to Japan?  I was puzzled, but as I was a guest, I didn’t want to seem out of sorts with not understanding what she meant.  It was not until I asked one of my friends what the aunty was referring to that I started to laugh. This aunty was not …

Gratitude, Love, & Peace

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The aggressive commercialization of Christmas that has breached Thanksgiving Day concerns me. How can we spend a few hours of the day in grace and gratitude, while a few hours later, we are aggressive, often vicious, in edging each other out for the commercial goods we hope express the love and care we feel for the intended recipient? Love is not found in Black Friday sales ads. It’s not wrapped up in pretty paper and magnificent bows. These days, time is much more valuable than anything money can buy at a reduced price. It is the most precious commodity during the holiday season, that we often squander away in check-out lines at God-forsaken hours of the day. With time, we can create meaningful memories that will be with us long after that 60″ flatscreen flickers to its death. Today, immerse in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Celebrate the culmination of a year spent in appreciation, all the while taking stock in the blessings and daily miracles of our lives. Forego activities that limit the expanse of your light. And …

Practice Makes Perfect

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Confidence: Are you good at what you do? What would you like to be better at? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” ―Aristotle People often assume that acquiring new skills and knowledge comes easy for me. The reality is, I pick things up with very little effort at first, but it takes considerable observation and steady practice to commit them to memory. Whether it’s reading or listening to something continuously or dancing/chanting songs over and over again to be able to successfully recall without a hitch, repetition and application are key to my confidence. I’ve employed this tactic in everything I’ve done in my life and it seems to work… except for when it comes to weaving bags from coconut fronds (My tactile and ancestral memories for weaving are underdeveloped, so it’s taking me a while). What I have not practiced enough and therefore am not confident doing, is publicly expressing love. Sure, I can say it in private, but it’s never been easy to articulate beyond the confines of a familiar …

Stuff We Love/Obsess Over: Heirs

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I swore never to watch another k-drama again, yet here I am, about to write an entire post on the K-drama that takes up 2 of the 5 hours I set aside every week to decompress and watch TV. You can’t know how it infuriates me that I’ve succumbed to this drama and after 14 episodes, with 6 more to go, I’ve decided to stop wasting energy on this love/hate relationship, and just go with it. So this is me, going with it. Kim Tan (Lee Min-Ho) is a chaebol and the illegitimate son of the large business conglomerate, Jeguk. We meet him at the start of the drama, living alone in California and surfing to his heart’s content. He’s not entirely alone, save for a few American friends. As a side note, there is a bit of English at the beginning of this drama, but the English speakers have an intonation and cadence that sounds like English language drills.  Cha Eun-Sang (Park Shin-Hye), flies to California from Korea to attend her sister’s wedding. She arrives to find her sister’s …

Nothing like a fabulous pair of “kicks!”

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#NaBloPoMo: Describe an outfit that makes you feel good. Bette Middler said it best, “Give a girl the correct footwear and she can conquer the world.” My Superwoman shoe is a vintage set of white and teal colored Nike Air Icarus. It was given to me as a gift from my grandfather in 1993. They were my very first pair of running shoes and sadly, my only possession kept from the days when my Lolo (grandfather) and I ran every weekend at Ypao Beach, Guam. It was during those morning runs with Lolo that he shared his wisdom and valuable life lessons. Now 20 years old, worn and held together with Shoe Goo, my Nikes are tucked in a special place in my closet.  And on days when I am hit with waves of nostalgia and self-doubt, longing for comfort and advice from my Lolo, I put on my Nikes, stand in front of the mirror and say to myself: “You are enough.”

Cee’s Black and White Challenge: Sculptures, Statues, Carvings

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Located directly outside of the Museo Nacional de Arqueológia, Antropológia e Historia del Perú on the Plaza Bolivar, there is a carving of a woman’s face.  This lovely tree carving is still rooted to the ground.  It was by chance that we found it on our visit to the Museo.     Woman face carved out of a tree trunk Please visit Cee’s blog to see other blogs participating in the Black & White Challenge: Sculptures, Statues and Carvings 

Daily Prompt: Fright Night

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It was a warm and humid summer evening in the sleepy town of Kamuela, Hawaii. I was getting ready to turn down for the night when I caught a glimpse of an unusual shadow figure in the bedroom mirror. Was that my reflection? I thought to myself. It had to be; my husband was already in bed, sound asleep. “Get a grip, Rogene. You’ve been watching too many horror flicks,” I mumbled aloud as I turned off the lights, slipped into bed and drifted to sleep. I’m a light sleeper; any subtle movement or unusual sounds will awake me at night. So, later that evening, when I felt a slight brush on my feet my eyes shot open. I looked over to my husband to see if he was tugging on the sheets, but he was lying completely still on the opposite end. I turned to look at the clock; it was 3am, too early to get up. A half hour had passed when I felt another tug on sheets. My night vision had not …

Holoholo Girls: Lessons from a Multi-Author Blog

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It started off as a casual Facebook instant messaging session between friends in three different towns, that over the course of 2 hours, grew into the biggest (and probably best) cockamamie idea we’ve ever had. What ensued over the next 48 hours was a virtual upchucking of random ideas that resulted in what you now know as Holoholo Girls. As friends, we already share similar interests, so coming up with topics wouldn’t be an issue, but when the idea for Holoholo Girls came about, we were all going through some major life transitions. We thought the blog could be a place for us to explore our interests, to document memories, to traverse the blogosphere and meet with people from all walks of life, but it could also serve as a place for us to process transitions. Now, 6 months since we began, we continue to happily chug along; finding new adventures, making new memories, expanding horizons, breaching lines of comfort, and yes, growing. Writing has never been so gratifying and educational! Since starting the blog, some of our friends have …

Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers

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To love or loathe this bulbed vegetable? There’s no denying the power of the onion. It is the key ingredient in all savoury dishes prepared in my home. The veils of an onion and its pungent fumes bring forth tears and excitement as I prepare this evening’s hearty meal: grilled marlin topped with ali’i mushrooms and caramelized onions. YUM! Weekly Photo Challenge: Layer | http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/weekly-photo-challenge-layers/

Cee’s Which Way Challenge: No. 13

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A few years ago, we visited Machu Picchu, Peru.  It was very memorable, especially as we were waiting to enter the park, one of the attendants shouts out last call for those who want to climb Wayna Picchu.  We ran towards the attendant and grabbed our 7 a.m. entrance tickets.  Our group of eight received the last eight slots to climb.  They only allow 400 people a day to climb that lovely mountain.  Enjoy the few shots of our five hour trek. Check out Cee’s blog to see others who are also participating in this week’s challenge: http://ceenphotography.com/2013/11/13/cees-which-way-challenge-no-13/