She was a Lady
My dearest Grandma Mae!
She was a beauty, wasn't she?
I miss her so.
la beauté qui m'entoure
Immortality
Über allen Gipfeln
ist Ruh,
in allen Wipfeln
spürest du
kaum einen Hauch.
Die Vögel schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur, balde
ruhest du auch.
On all hilltops
There is peace,
In all treetops
You will hear
Hardly a breath.
Birds in the woods are silent.
Just wait, soon
You too will rest.
-Goethe
May you rest in peace, Mae Miharu Kameoka...
"There is a certain part of all of us that lives outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless."
-Milan Kundera, Immortality
My whole family is mourning, each person in their own way. I have turned to books to comfort me, particularly Immortality by Milan Kundera. Again, he returns to the complexity of identity, but this time shifts to focus on the idea of immortality--ridiculous and great. I'm sure many of you will understand the concept of a 'ridiculous immortality' (I actually chuckled when he first mentioned it), because it is an immortality in which people will remember an individual for having said or done something rather, well, ridiculous! For example, I remember Mike Tyson as the guy who bit off another boxer's ear. But others will remember him as the boxer who lost his daughter, or who starred in the movie Hangover. Who knows? The point is, in my memory, he will always be that guy who bit off another boxer's ear. Ridiculous immortality. Since I'm picking on boxers, I might as well say that George Foreman will always be that guy who sold grills. But Muhammad Ali...he's a different story. He will have great immortality.
Today was also the opening day for the annual Friends of the Library book sale at McKinley High School (my old stomping grounds back in the day). There was less people than last year, but that's to be expected given the state of our economy. I gladly spent $28, which will be going right back to the local libraries and which makes me a very happy consumer. The book sale will continue next week, but will end next weekend and all books will only be 50 cents each. My loot includes:
The 47 Ronin Story by John Allyn
Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev
Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
Cousin Pons by Balzac
The Wild Ass's Skin by Balzac
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day by Ishiguro
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Botchan by Sōseki Natsume
The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme by Andreï Makine
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Children of the Albatross by Anaïs Nin
Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
East, West by Salman Rushdie
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev
Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
Cousin Pons by Balzac
The Wild Ass's Skin by Balzac
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day by Ishiguro
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
Botchan by Sōseki Natsume
The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme by Andreï Makine
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Children of the Albatross by Anaïs Nin
Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
East, West by Salman Rushdie
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
The state of things in my little corner of the world: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/opinion/20sat4.html
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This world is still afloat
"The most amazing thing of all has been you, Mr. Nakata. You changed my life. These past ten days, I don't know--things look different to me now. Stuff I never would've given a second glance before seems different. Like music, for instance--music I used to think was boring really gets to me now. I feel like I've gotta tell somebody about this or bust, somebody who'll understand what I've gone through. Nothing like this ever happened to me before. And it's all because of you. I've started to see the world through your eyes. Not
everything, mind you. I like how you look at life, so that's why it happened. That's why I've stayed with you through thick and thin, why I couldn't leave you. It's been one of the most meaningful times I've ever had in my life."
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
I'm nearing the end of this book, and I have to say...I'm kinda sad about it. These characters have all grown on me and I always feel that the end of the book shouldn't be the end--but I know the story has to stop at some point. Funny enough, I used to have a high school art teacher called Mr. Nakata. One of the better teachers in my high school! I remember signing a petition to keep him in the art department, because budget cuts were forcing the administration to lay off some teachers--like my French teacher, Madame Zeleznik and my Physics teacher Brian (who bore an uncanny resemblance to a younger Gene Wilder and whose last name is escaping me right now). Looking back, my high school days weren't so bad. I was a recluse most of the time, but hey it paid off. My teachers were a lot more interesting than most kids at my school anyway.
This weekend we celebrated my brother's birthday with a "pizza party" and chocolate haupia pie, which is delicious for those of you who haven't tried it yet. On Sunday we went back to Mokuleia beach, and I think it has become something of a ritual every weekend this summer. Just like when we were children. Get up early at the crack of dawn, make spam musubis, lug all the gear into the truck, and make sure we don't leave anyone behind. This summer all the purple cassia trees are in bloom in Wahiawa, and all the pineapple plantations around the North Shore have disappeared, only to be replaced by wild grasses and red dirt. But there is always that sense of liberation just to see the vast land pass by, knowing that at least some parts of this island are not being used for the military.
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First Friday in Chinatown
Mon ami Jacques et moi, nous sommes allés au Premier Vendredi pour voir des arts, crées par les artistes du coin. Après, nous avons dîné au resto Mei Sum et nous avons mangé la cuisine chinoise. C'était un bon répas avec lui parce qu'il est trop drôle tout le temps !
I took these photos while I was waiting for him near the Nu'uano canal.
*** P.S. It's also my brother's birthday! On D-Day, no less! He's 19 now.
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Bon anniversaire, ma petite soeur~
That's right, it's my kid sister's 17th birthday! Today she had school but her adorable boyfriend got her a big panda plushie, a Wii game and a bottle of bubblestuff. :) I wish I had that kind of love at 17, but she's lucky. (They even colour-coordinate their outfits). We're taking her to Ice Palace this weekend.
The Spring 2009 Zoetrope issue has a Latin American theme, so all the authors are Latin American. Guillermo del Toro (I hope his name is familiar to some of you) wrote an introduction as well as supplied hand-drawn images from his old diaries, which now sprinkle the pages of this wonderful issue. It's quite engrossing!
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i'll find you where the ocean meets the shore
The summer wind came blowing in
From across the sea it lingered there
So warm and fair to walk with me
All summer long we sang a song
And strolled on golden sand
Two sweethearts and the summer wind
Le vent d'été est arrivé à l'improviste
à travers la mer il y a persisté
si chaud et clair pour se promener avec moi
Tout l'été nous avons chanté une chanson
et nous nous sommes promenés sur le sable d'or
deux amours et le vent d'été
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day at the north shore
I live in Hawaii, but I also spend most of my time in the city, so it's rare that I ever go to the north shore or "countryside" of this island. But when I go... the beach is an absolute must. I went with my family this time, including the dog, and we got her addicted to the ocean. :)
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comment te dire adieu
je crois qu'une vraie amitié ne se termine jamais.
patrick, ma confrère et mon ami, je te souhaite bonne chance dans
l'avenir et j'attends jusqu'à notre prochaine rencontre. merci
beaucoup et bon voyage.
Filed under //
goodbyes
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reading kafka on the shore
spent a lazy saturday afternoon on the shore of waikiki, reading and
indulging in vietnamese booth cuisine from the symphony fair. bunch
of bodyboarders plopped down next to me under a palm tree, dripping
wet and reeking of sea water and sunscreen--oh how i wished i brought
my swimsuit.
later in the day we took aikopan (my dog) to kapiolani park where she
roamed freely under our watchful eyes. a few japanese tourists sat
down at a table and watched us being chased by the fearsome aikochan!
and now i am graced with an awkward and telling sandal tan for not
applying sunscreen to my feet. i'll do it all again tomorrow.
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des arbres
spring is the only time of the year that the cassia trees blossom all
over the islands. they are truly magnificent, i would say on par with
sakura or ume, but their fruits are rather pungent (and hardly edible
for mere humans).
still, life is good when they're around. :)
Filed under //
pink cassia tree
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