One On Me

Aloha Friend!

Come In :)

3 O'Clock Crack,
see it?
(click to enlarge)

The Hilton hotel next door erected this sculpture a while back.

Way too soon, a crack had developed.

One day I was walking along, and two very competent looking
fellows were examining and apparently discussing the flaw.

Never one to allow ignorance of the facts
to deter me from voicing an opinion
(what else is a blogger, or writer, or whatever it is that I am?)
I chimed in:

"This area of Waikiki has lots of MANA,
and this piece was not made by a local Hawaiian artist
but by someone from the continent; Hence the visible
"criticism."


"This guy IS the artist," said one of them, indicating the other,
"and he's from Moloka`i.

You probably shouldn't speak
when you don't know -
But you're right:
there is a lot of MANA
here."


A quick flush of embarrassment changed unexpectedly

to epiphany.

I agreed simply, and thanked them both.

In fact, I appreciated his kindly finding something to agree with me about.

He was truly correcting me, not just WINNING at my expense.




It felt deliciously liberating to laugh at my know-it-all self!









"If you have no critics,

you’ll likely have no success."



Malcolm X

A while later, it had turned into a work-site.

We're lucky!
The artist (possibly remembering my interest and humility)
is inviting us inside to have a look. See him holding the door?

"When you have faults,

do not fear to abandon them."

Confucius

It's a big job to repair a piece of art THIS big and heavy!


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"The essence of knowledge is, in having it: to apply it;

in not having it: to confess your ignorance."




"Even when walking in the company of two others,

I am bound to be able to learn from them.

The good points of the one I copy;

the bad points of the other I correct in myself."



All K'ung Fu-tzu quotes today


<><


To me, a conspicuous lack of simple humility
is a HUGE red flag.
A warning of ignorance and illusion.


Competent people who know a few things and who can accomplish a few things always behave simply without fanfare.


Pity we seem to have forgotten this.
How many true artists do we overlook every day
in gazing at mere performers?


And that's my humble opinion for today.


Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment :)

Makana Means 'Gift'

Aloha!

Come on in. . .

Nice day for a drive. . .




"The car has become a secular sanctuary for the individual,

his shrine to the self, his mobile Walden Pond. "


Edward McDonagh

Look! In the next car. It's Makana!


His friend asks if I always have a camera ready.

Silly boy. Of course I do;

I'm a BLOGGER!



Here's the young genius to play for YOU:

(beep beep!)

Thank YOU for your visit today!

Sweet Victory

Aloha to
YOU!

Here in Hawaii we get out and WAVE at our neighbors
to support our candidates

"Be ashamed to die

until you have won some victory for humanity."



Horace Mann

"Life is like Stepping onto a boat

which is about to sail out to sea

and sink"

-- Suzuki Roshi, Zen master

"There is no better argument against democracy


than a five-minute conversation the common man…"


-- Winston Churchill

"I said a lot of stupid things

when I was with the Conservative Party,

and I left them,

because I did not want to go on saying stupid things."

-- Winston Churchill

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant."



- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

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The only thing more futile than voting

is not voting.




It is our responsibility

to be aware of what's going on

and to advocate for the good.




We disagree on what IS "good"
but by debate
we arrive at agreement.




Yeah, right!




Politics is about world-view
and the power to make it happen.



Here in Hawaii

where the principle of

"ALOHA"

is enshrined in our law

there is less,

or should I say:


more subtle negative campaigning.



Negative campaigning can even backfire here.


With this year, we are ending (YaY!!!)


two terms


of an extremely disappointing, destructive,


and divisive governor.




During the heat of recent politics (Bush! Terrorism! War!)


this liar


who told us that she was focused on our majority Democratic island State


spent much of her time away from us campaigning for Republicans


on the mainland.


Meanwhile, economic storm clouds swept in


and the next thing we knew:


Furlough Fridays for our schools!




Long time Hawaii congressman, Neil Abercrombie,


a University of Hawaii alum like myself,


who was a fellow student and friend


of the president's parents,


(and who knew Barack as a little boy)


has come home to Hawaii to run for governor.





He won the primary last Saturday!


With my help :)



We are looking forward


to doing some things differently


after uncle Neil and cousin Brian


defeat our lieutenant gov who is taking his turn


at the head of his party's ticket.




Neil will win


and it will be a new beginning for our state.



Yeah, I know.


Life will not be perfect,


but I feel welcome in Neil's campaign


as I have felt alienated from a frustrating administration for 8 years.


His ideas, including civil rights for ALL,


make sense to me.


On to victory in 6 weeks!

"You can't change things by force,

only by making the things you want to change seem obsolete."

-- Buckminster Fuller

Have a look at how we do things:

Every campaign event has food, lei, hugging and entertainment. Here's Willie K singing to a charged-up crowd:

Reframe, Refrain

Aloha Web Traveler

Come rest on da beach:

"Man does not live by words alone

despite the fact that he sometimes has to eat them."

Adlai Stevenson

"A certain recluse, I know not who,

once said that no bonds attached him to this life,

and the only thing he would regret leaving was the sky."

Kenko Yoshida

"The longer we dwell on our misfortunes,


the greater is their power to harm us."



- Voltaire

Situations arise
and resolve
but stress is forever:
attaching to your gut,
pulling down your heavenly head.


Regretted & fretted actions
continue to ripple out
even after we regret
and forget
them.

We post-moderns are action people
if there's a problem
we DO something about it.

"Proactive = good,
passive = bad"


But I am realizing, as perhaps you suspect,
that 99% of the world's problems
come from doing -

and that refraining

is oft the best policy.


Like the hospital patient
whose friend came to visit,
the visitor a tornado of fidget:
plump the pillow!
call the nurse!
But instead of helping, it
only made the patient feel worse.


At last the ill patient
lost his patience
as he said to his busy friend:

"Thanks for coming to visit,
but don't just DO something
STAND THERE!"

And so should we all
stand where we are.

Glad you came by today
to stand with me!


Warmly, cloudia

Urge For Going

Welcome!

click on today's song:

This time of year,

my thoughts turn to turning.

Seasons of the year,

seasons of life,

turn,

turn,

turn. . . .

In my head I can hear the celestial honking.

They always thrilled, taught and comforted me

when I was young.

They reminded me that time passes,

and that I would move on someday

like them.

And so I have....to a tropic island.

Far Far Away...

But childhood things remain a vital part of this island girl.


New beginnings, new chances, things & people passed...



The Doors Of Repentance (shown above)

are open in love at this moment.


May we all go through

in good fellowship


together.



Amen.

Thanks to Dina @ Jerusalem Daily Photo

Honolulu Morning

Aloha Kakahiaka!

Morning kisses Honolulu

"Probably the happiest period in life

most frequently is in middle age,

when the eager passions of youth are cooled,

and the infirmities of age not yet begun;

as we see that the shadows,

which are at morning and evening so large,

almost entirely disappear at midday."



Eleanor Roosevelt

Sea & Sky sigh. . .

"When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me,

'Did you sleep good?'

I said "No, I made a few mistakes."



Steven Wright

Spirits Soar. . .

"A person is a success if they get up in the morning

and get to bed at night

and in between

does what he wants to do."



Bob Dylan

Other spirits slumber in their tiny home. . .


"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas.

How he got into my pajamas I'll never know."



Groucho Marx

Look at these two. . .



"Just in terms of allocation of time resources,

religion is not very efficient.

There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."



Bill Gates

Aloha Kakahiaka Good Morning!


"Prayer is the key of the morning

and the bolt of the evening."



Mohandas Gandhi



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Thank YOU

for visiting! cloudia

Honolulu (Small? Big?) Town

Aloha FRIEND!

for best results click and linger!


"Delusions of grandeur

make me feel a lot better

about myself."


Jane Wagner

"Many people will walk in and out of your life,

but only true friends

will leave footprints in your heart."

- Anon

Just two guys talking

“I had some eyeglasses.

I was walking down the street

when suddenly the prescription ran out.”

Stephen Wright

Distant Girl



"Coming for the girl in the tower

For the one who brings the king down to his knees

And drives me crazy with her mystical power"


Benji Hughes, lyric, A Love Extreme



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Some folks like to say that our Honolulu


is the 12th largest city in America.


They point out that the legal area of the City & County of Honolulu

includes

the entire island of Oahu

and the various Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.




If you consider the population of that area

then, yes,

we are the 12th largest city.



BUT



The U.S. Census calls the urban part of Oahu

i.e. Honolulu


a "census designated place"



that ranks 50th among American cities


with a 2009 population


of 375,571.*


Honolulu Town looks like a vest-pocket city,

tucked between green mountains

and the sea

and it is!


A city of neighborhoods,
districts,
and landmarks:
nature's as well as human-made.

All in a compact parcel of paradise.

(visitors please avoid and disregard the
less-than-lovely bits)

We are SO much more

than one of life's great beaches!



*NOT including the seabirds, Hawaiian Monk Seals,
or turtles
residing in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.


Warmly, cloudia