IMR: Entries: 2002: September: 01 — Sunday, September 01, 2002

A Little Brighter The past month doesn't rank among my all-time favorites. But days like today make me think life couldn't be better.   Katie soaks up the sun at Ala Moana Beach Park. The family takes a refreshing dip together. Jen finally notices Katie's goggle hairdo. Katie's day started at the heated YWCA pool. Her swimming skills improve by leaps and bounds. The Yamanashi Kyoyukai annual family picnic. There wasn't much rest for the shave ice team. A U G U S T   F L A S H B A C K The second HawaiiStories picnic at Magic Island. Jen greeted her third decade at Dixie Grill. Katie and Robert play at Bernice's house in Kailua. The campaign team, before roaming the streets. We're probably the last on the island to try Coldstone. Yes, I did pull over to take this silly picture. It had to be a Monday. Flooding shuts us down. Now it looks like the building is on life support. Oh, sure, August 2002 had its high points. It sure started off great. There was the second sporadic blogger picnic for the HawaiiStories `ohana, which drew a dozen souls (thirteen if you count Jelly, Christy's rabbit). Katie commandeered one of Lisa's assorted digicams and ended up snapping over a hundred shots of the laid-back talkstory snackfest. Last month Katie also started — thanks to my dad's generous sponsorship — weekly swimming lessons at the downtown YWCA. She and her classmates Rosie and Sara are a joy to watch in the water. While Jen probably wouldn't list it as a "high point," she had her birthday in August. I, frankly, was thrilled to now be romancing a woman in her thirties. I know we're not exactly cleaning each other's dentures, but even if we haven't yet grown old together, at least we're growing older together. To think I was 19 years old when we met. Let's see, what else? I got to bring the entire family out to Lanikai to spend the day with Bernice, a former (and soon to be again) coworker, a good friend, and our hero when it comes to parenting. (I had a great time, except maybe for the part where Katie fell in their pool and had to be rescued.) I got a month's worth of exercising in one day out canvassing in Kane`ohe for Lacene. (I had a great time, except for the part with the steep hills and near-heat stroke.) We finally got out to try Coldstone ice cream, which was great, even though we were unable to finish even half of what we ordered. And... um... our "squaresville" family van became a senior citizen, surpassing 100,000 miles. Still running great, knock on wood. But as recently as 10:35 p.m. last night, I was counting down the minutes to the end of a most challenging few weeks. There was the untimely death of Katie's giant goldfish Dorothy (actually the second to bear that name, though Katie didn't know it), followed not coincidentally by the catastrophic late-night clogging of our toilet. There was the first bounced check in ages, a four dollar check the day before payday, netting a $27 fee. There was the final bill for Zac's birth, which prompted a flurry of Enron-style credit card balance transfer maneuvers and brought more anxiety related to his pending surgery next month. There was the inevitable, subsequent Big Talk, about how we're struggling to make ends meet, how we can't afford to keep Katie in preschool even though we can't afford to not keep her in preschool, and how our opportunities may or may not be better somewhere else, anywhere else, from San Diego to Virginia to Hilo. There was the incredible fiasco at the office after a plumbing valve was left open one weekend, flooding three floors including ours, shutting down the entire building for a day. A day that just happened to be critical as far as "access to the server and e-mail" was concerned. Even after the doors reopened, everything smelled funny, the air conditioning was iffy, and the elevators all went completely bonkers. (Let's play "guess the floor!") The hall outside our entryway became a mess of noisy machines and yellow hoses as the building's owners launched their battle against bacteria and the architectural scourge du jour: mold. There was the visit the very next week by one of our organization's Korean directors, on a fact-finding mission related to the future location and management of our office. He kindly acknowledged that the prolonged uncertainty and lack of concrete information has had an effect on office morale (in August our full-time staff count dropped to four), but also acknowledged that the uncertainty would continue a little while longer. That sobering conversation led to another Big Talk at home, of course, in which Singapore and Hong Kong was added to the "alternate cities" list. And there was the trip to the emergency room Tuesday night. Katie developed a fever and started complaining of abdominal pain that morning. I, ever the skeptic, initially told Jen not to worry and to just call Katie's doctor, who suggested only fluids and Tylenol. Having been faked out before by Katie's incredible dramatic ability, I dismissed reports throughout the day of incessant whining and coughing. But when I got home and found Katie curled in a ball, refusing to lie flat, and after I took her temperature under her arm and still watched the number shoot right up to 103.7, I grabbed her and took off for the hospital so fast I forgot her shoes. Even though the ER at Kapi`olani Medical Center was crowded with other crying kids (it was the first day of school), Katie breezed through triage and was quickly admitted — plastic bracelet and everything. Fears included everything from appendicitis to food poisoning, and over the next couple of hours Katie was subjected to a wide range of fun including X-rays and an enema. We saw a lot of the ER pediatrician, Dr. Boychuk, who I remembered from before and who, surprisingly, seemed to remember Katie. Even heading into the fourteenth hour of his shift, he was boisterous and jolly and calmed Katie down better than I ever could. Katie's fever slowly came down. Her mood slowly improved. Wonderfully, though at the same time frustratingly, by 10 p.m., she was acting as if there was never anything wrong, flipping through tattered children's books, dancing hula and flirting with all the male nurses. After bringing the whole of modern medicine to bear on my daughter, we left with no answers, a lot of paperwork, and a craving for Burger King. So, yeah, I was really looking forward to this long weekend. I needed it. I needed today. We slept in. No one left the bed until a little after 10 a.m. — we spent the morning talking and playing quietly and watching the "Good Eats" marathon on the Food Network. I cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast, fixing a fresh batch of lemonade. Then we took Katie downtown for her fourth swimming class. As usual, she had a blast. She finally got up the nerve to dunk her head underwater, and practiced her kicking and paddling. Zac napped while Jen and I watched, sipping Vanilla Coke. Next stop was Ala Moana Beach Park, for the annual Yamanashi Kyoyukai family picnic at McCoy Pavillion. Now, our great day was very nearly derailed here, as it was Labor Day weekend. Finding parking at Ala Moana is always a challenge, but now, not only was much of the Magic Island parking lot blocked off for Ala Wai Canal dredging, but the park was packed with people who were there for the Unity House labor union family day. It looked like some people were ready to come to blows over the traffic, and the cops were out in full force. Miraculously, though, on our fourth lap through the park, we nabbed a spot right across from the pavillion. Even though we were late, the picnic was still going strong, dad running the barbeque and Gayle presiding over the door prizes. We immediately grabbed a shady spot and filled our plates with dad's famous marinated steak and every other variety of food and dessert on hand. Zac was remarkably relaxed, letting Gayle and later other grandmotherly folks hold him while Jen, Katie and I partook in the games (classics like the three-legged race and the water-balloon toss) and had more than our fair share of old-fashioned, hand-cranked shave ice. We won quite a few boxes of Kleenex, some rice, some oranges, some shoyu and a big jar of pickles. When, finally, everyone started hugging and shaking hands and heading home, we made our way back out to the van. It was in such a good spot, I thought, and the beach looked so inviting... We ended up taking a late, spontaneous dip in the ocean. The water felt so good, even I dove right in. Jen wandered out deep, Katie practiced her swimming, and I held Zac as he floated about in awe of nature. When Zac got cold, he was content to stretch out on a towel on the sand with me, kicking furiously in obvious bliss. We got home, exhausted and a little burnt, but very very happy. We ate some leftover corned beef and cabbage and vegged out to more Food Network (the Bocuse d'Or). Katie and Zac were out shortly after 7 p.m. Jen got a good dose of Fametracker and turned in a few minutes ago. And I, finally, am going to join them. Life out here ain't easy. But most of the time, it turns out, it's worth it.

Comments woohoo - check out katie's swimming instructor!! —julia (September 2, 2002 4:58 PM) Hey - when did hawaii get a coldstone?? You must tell me where it is! —julia (September 2, 2002 4:59 PM) your 999999 odometer photo..... wanted to make you feel better about doing something like that: http://www.lunesse.com/digital-moon/archives/00000027.htm —lunesse (September 3, 2002 2:37 PM) Wow, such drama indeed. Katie's so adorable I want one just like her- but then all those freaky things make me think I'd die of a heart attack the first time something went wrong. And speaking of the photos- I have the CD ready, and I'll be in town Wed-Fri, so even if you can't make lunch, give me a call or send me an email so I can give it to you. I don't mind dropping by your office, if you tell me exactly where it is :) —Lisa (September 3, 2002 9:53 PM) I find it humorous to here how some exagerate the parking lot at the Ala Moana beach park in regards to the Ala Wai Dredging project. Parks and Recreation Dept. originally set the area for AMC much larger. AMC reduced te area considerably. The area only takes up 10 acual parking stalls. The ones who will benifit the most from this project seem to be the ones who complain the most. —D.A.Mahnke (May 24, 2003 9:49 PM) E kala mai! Comments have been disabled due to overwhelming abuse by spammers. Please click through to any of the video hosting services linked above to leave a public response, or feel free to send an e-mail. Mahalo! < August 06 · September · September 11 > © 1997-2008 Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · E-Mail: imr@lightfantastic.org · Created: 13 November 1997 · Last Modified: 14 January 2008