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November 30, 2006
solo time
(thursday night) winding down from a busy day in paradise...just sitting here in our living room, that's got a panoramic view of honolulu, gentle tradewinds blowing through the windows, soothing sounds of hawaiian slack key guitar in the background. i woke up at 5:40am, started getting things together for the day, sat on my meditation cushion for a little bit, hiked my 1000 stair hike up koko crater, wandered over to hanauma bay to get a closer look of the ocean, back home, made an totally organic stir fry dish, saw a handful of clients, ended the day with a sunset surf session, and then made some squash soup for dinner. it feels like winter here, finally. it's funny, i know i'm starting to act like a local when i start wanting to bundle up at 70 degrees.
(sunday afternoon) single fin's been on the east coast with the family. he flew in for a surprise visit after doing a big presentation on the east coast. he's doing the christmas thing with the family for a long week-end. and me, i'm taking some time for myself, catching up with old friends, getting outside in nature everyday, working lots, organizing, cleaning, planning for the big festivities this week-end in maui with the cats...i'm in the midst of setting up our office/yoga/meditation/family room space downstairs, where the roomies used to live. it's strange having so much quietness here in the home now. we'll have some friends visiting for the holidays. it'll be nice to have a full house again.
'jumped in the water this morning. the trade winds are in full bloom, windy as hell, there were only 3 other people in the water, so i thought that was a perfect time to jump in. as i got out there, i ended up being the only one out deep, all by myself. it was nice to jump on my wave, ride the wave as if i were trying to ride a bull, laughing at myself all the way down. and yet there was something missing, no single fin :(
~loving alohas
Posted by soul sista' at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2006
swirling around
busy, busy...my deepest apologies for being MIA in the blog scene. at least single fin's been pretty good about keeping you all entertained, though. we had a nice surf session this morning at dawn patrol. it's been awhile since i've been out. i've been doing my yoga thing...i'm hooked on my mysore practice of ashtanga. it gives to me on such a deep level. it's been a nice balance of my work week, start the mornings with yoga, see clients, end the day with surfing the day away. anyway, it was good to see the old crew again. lots of smiles, heckling & plenty of aloha.
'was sitting out deep with the big boys, good 'ole "kermit" (he's a skinny local guy who's on a big yellow board, which he surfs as if he were still on his short board), big hawaiian guy (who's got a few kids, all live on the mainlaind, he sits on his 10 foot epoxy board, he likes the big waves like i do...will wait forever, just for THE WAVE), and then there's the white guy who's on a shorter board (he likes to paddle for everything & takes a good beating on his head, more than he catches waves), and me, on my 9'0" buddha board. the big hawaiian guy apologized for dropping in on me the last wave we had. i told him, "no worries & that i didn't mind sharing. i actually like it." then this little wave just started forming behind us and all the boys yelled to me, "go!!!" i didn't make it by just a hair, but it was a nice to be on the receiving end of a little bit of aloha.
and then you've got 80+ year old louie, he's as dark as night, who can boogie board with the best of them. i had the biggest smile watching him come bombing down a wave, kicking hard with his blue fins, swirling around all over the place with an ear to ear grin. aaahhh, the simple things that make us happy.
surfing out here reminds me of a big playground, lots of people trying to get down the slide, doing all sorts of tricks, trying to go as fast as they can, feeling that total sense of freedom & escape from life's stressors. what a wonderful way to start the day?!!
loving alohas to you all!!
Posted by soul sista' at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2006
holiday sunsets
i love this shot....
Posted by Single Fin at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2006
thanksgiving holiday surfing
decided to mix n' match the holiday season with lots of surfing & cruz'n. since the family lives so far away they are just going to have to settle with a good ol'fashion call around @ dinner time when people are all together. hot holiday questions from family:
1) how's the weather?
2) have you been surfing?
3) how's life?
our responses thankfully are
..good
..hells yeah
and..great
the rest of our thanksgiving was filled a combination of some secret spot surfing a pool bar & warm sunshine.
Posted by Single Fin at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2006
north shore is beaaaaaaautiful this week!!
(quick thks to 808 & hawaiian water shots for these images)
needless to say this is "lani's" pumping at soild double over head & or consistent head high every set. i had the boards ready to go yesterday afternoon. the plan was to bail after morning meetings & then get tubed for lunch....but decided i needed to go to work & not play hooky. i should have just called in instead of going in person. cuz once i was there i was putting fires out all day long. left work at 3:30 and couldn't get up to north shore in time.
take a look at what i missed out on, i will go in the corner now and cry like a baby....
single fin ~
Posted by Single Fin at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
holiday cruz'n
small waves on the south shore all weekend long. perfect for running errands & getting the house "things" all done. used the quad all weekend with some waist high waves & smaller. check out sunday mornings sunrise...
Posted by Single Fin at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2006
quiet week for surf
it's been flat all week on the south side. hit it early this week on the log & the fish. Soul'sista was mixing it up as well riding single fin & the quad. small waves that are perfect for goofing off & working on the tan. southern swell suppose to come in tonight. we'll see....
alohas
sf ~
Posted by Single Fin at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2006
winter morning loggin
spent the weekend w/ soul sista just cruz'n. was nice since we've both been working pretty heavy the past couple weeks. decided to take the single fins out to dh and put some time in logging. nothing but small waves all weekend long for the entire island.
very cool shot. love this little pooch & the dad's drive to get him into surfing. if we get a dog....it will surf!!
"before" - broke this back in feb.
"after" - decided to save it banking on the life still left in it. kimo did a great job putting baby huey back together again.
baby huey is now retired in the stable as the family log & single fin.
on small days this board will bring terror to the faces of the inside line-up. hehe viva baby huey!
Posted by Single Fin at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2006
locked
garrrrrrrrrr...my hand its cramped
Posted by Single Fin at 05:10 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2006
winter weapons
took the day sunday just to cruz & get some of the quiver in proper order. a little dewaxing, rewaxing, fin setup review....thoughts about things we (i) want to work on this winter season. after a few long long moments & plenty of practicing fake turns in the backyard...i think we are locked into the fin choices for the winter.
needless to say this looks like a heavy range to explore.
i'm excited to put myself & them through the paces. i think i even have soul sista convinced to start running the variety of sticks for proper exploration & soul searching.
Posted by Single Fin at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)
post-halloween pic...
"afro's & feathers"....enough said right there
Posted by Single Fin at 05:31 PM | Comments (0)
sunday night session
we headed out last night for a cotton candy sunset session. lots of puffy clouds & clean waves. "rights" was paaaacked making for a rather large obstacle course to dodge & zip thru.
decided i should go over and meet up with a few of the regulars at "mansions". which is one spot over and had about 6 people. rights had about 60. lol
uncle phil was out & as usual made us laugh with his commentations about life.
the mentor (uncle phil) & his student (soul sista)
seeing more & more stand up paddle boardersin the water lately
full moon (blurry)
Posted by Single Fin at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2006
think small & functional
hmmm its been a while since i've gone on a rant. but ah well,....so it goes. this morning i was trying to figure out a way to keep minimizing my living spaces in life. i mean...how much room do i really need to take up? could be the influences of a vagabond life we've been living for 10yrs. such as not really settling down per say. anyhow, as a culture the koreans, vietnamese, japanese & chinese (and many others) are all ok with living in small places. completely content with using what is useful and maximizing what is around. i've always been very interested in small space living. in so many cities droves of people do this daily. its such a challenge to me to keep it simple living in the western world where more is better. sq footage is best & crap is cool. don't get me wrong...i'm no freakin angle. but!! i do take the time to try to keep shit simple, clean & useful.
where o where am i running with things? well for the past couple 3+ years i've been living on an island where the average house runs for 500-700k. i mean this in a sense of LOW average. anyhow, all the places are lame & the same. McMansions...phoenix, AZ or vegas style housing. templates cut to order at 650k each. blah blah blah. would you like blue? white or green? hmmm how about red with green? (insert a contractors robot voice for the next sentence) "ummm nope that's not part of the plans you cannot have "what" you want but you can have these instead and just imagine its what you wanted."
yes yes yes i know not all people can afford to be creative. but the questions remain about do we have to just accept what was given to us by a gerneration of our parents or our parents parents? (conservative limits?)
guh...i swear it just seems like slow killing of creative living spaces is rampant with the babyboomers most recent driving up of the housing market. (fu_kers!)
ok ok back to the point. i grew up poor as dirt. literally we strung ends together to make them meet. for YEARS..not just a month here or there. needless to say this means i once lived in a trailer & at this point you should care less what i'm yapping about. but yup...damn skippy its true. for years i was raised around what we could afford. as i've gotten older i've laughed at the size of things.
the next wave of mass acceptable modern housing in my opinion is going to be what i think of as add on choices or upgades to trailer style living. where you can still get a small lot with drivable distances to a city or town. what is trailer living? well in the past it was pre-fab at its finest hour. made for the military as wel as afffordable temp housing or start kits for lower income families. the idea of build it at the factory floor..slap the wheels on it & roll it out the door. now...pre-fab is cool & it costs you $185-300 per sq ft.
i think people can build these (photos below) creatively on their own for about 75k-150k ish or so. of course taking into consideration lot size, climate & small expansions or customizations. essentailly they are pleasing images with a nice feel on the eye.
this idea would need some expansion to create a daily living vibe. but essentailly i really enjoy the simple fold the deck down onto a raised pilon frame.
hmmm yummy and dreamy life right here
these nexts shots are some of my fav's. i could live in a place like these...save money travel & even convert it to a mix of natural gas, woodstove & solar panel lving.
the traditional...
the new...
drop the wheels & pour a foundation
nice looking interior rendered image
Posted by Single Fin at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)