IMR: Entries: 2003: May: 07 — Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Connections Day nine, and I'm afraid to open the fridge. But I did get out of the apartment.   A "Hawaiian Change of Seasons" sunset observance at the Waikiki Aquarium. Kumu John Lake helps sets the scene. Halau Mele celebrates the seasons. Katie finally gets to hit the pool. Zac collects shells on the Daytona shore. The May E-List Mixer at Meritage Restaurant. Networking is the name of the game. Susan "Mad Hatter" Bringas humors me. Nearby, the Arthouse Theaters are getting lonely. Unmotivated though I may be, it's almost a crime for a domesticated dad to not take advantage of a few family-free days. So I've dumped out and reorganized all our papers, CDs and DVDs (finding useless receipts dating back to 1996), I've met up with Eathan and a couple of other long-neglected freelance clients, I've gone to a few special events (some picked at random out of the newspaper), and I've taken in a couple of movies (with mom as my date). Last week, I went to a ceremony and lecture at the Waikiki Aquarium. I was actually hoping to meet up with Amy, one of the regular contributors to HawaiiNews.com, but it turned out to be the first and only in a series of events that she wasn't able to cover. Nonetheless, I stuck around and enjoyed Kumu John Lake's presentation, and the performances by Halau Mele. According to Lake, researchers believe an ancient altar was located where the aquarium now sits. More interestingly, it may have been positioned specifically between a temple on Diamond Head and a small hill way out in Kapolei, three locations that lined up with the sunset once a year: May 1. When the sun, as observed from Waikiki, settled behind the "crown" of Pu`u o Kapolei (today the site of Fort Barrett), it marked the beginning of Kau or Makali`i — the warm season. Properly enlightened, I then set out to have a little fun. After work one day, I took mom to "Chicago," which was immensely enjoyable, and over the weekend we saw "X2: X-Men United," which was even better than the first film and additionally benefitted from the talents of local girl Kelly Hu. The latter film also included the trailer for "Matrix Reloaded" — which looks good, but can't possibly live up to the hype. I'm wondering how the franchise's considerable audience of pre-teen boys will react to the introduction of "mushy stuff." (And I wonder how Jen will react to the prospect of a Keanu Reeves love scene... filmed in "bullet-time," perhaps?) Finally, tonight, I attempted something I've never had much interest in before: networking. Actually, I just wanted to finally take web gurus John Pescador and Stacey Hayashi up on an invitation they offered me three years ago to attend an "E-List Mixer." Of course, both John and Stacey aren't half as active in the group as they used to be, and the group is no longer focused in the technology sector, but the event is still supposed to be one of the places to be for the generally-under-40 entrepreneurial set. So I went to the Meritage Restaurant in Restaurant Row, got my "Hello My Name Is" nametag, made myself a plate of sadly unimpressive pupus, and proceeded to... stand in a corner and watch everyone else shake hands and trade business cards. As familiar as I am with business networking — after all, I worked for an international organization devoted to the practice for four years — and despite how often advice columns harp on it as the key to professional growth and advancement, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. To step out of the shadows, introduce myself, and whip out a business card. (If I even had a business card.) When it comes to small talk, and trying to elegantly steer a conversation into "what can we do for each other" territory, I'm utterly incompetent. Community building, just plain socializing, and of course general rambling and ranting comes quite naturally to me — when my dad read what I wrote about Katie's constant talking, he said the trait obviously came from me. But add the element of profit to it, and suddenly I'm all thumbs. After half an hour, the only people I managed to talk to were John and two guys from Rare & Dear who shared my table. A couple of times, someone lingered nearby and overtly stole glances at my nametag, but in response I just found myself looking down and fidgeting with my fork. I felt like the ugly kid at the school dance. I ate what I could (at least the Caesar calad was passable), and decided to dig out early. "Ryan?" Just outside the door, a woman sitting at a table waved me back. "Are you trying to sneak out?" she asked. "What's going on with you? Sit down!" For a moment, my mind panicked. I read her nametag: "Suz." Who's Suz? I took a seat and completely failed to hold up my end of the conversation while I tried to place her. She looked very, very familiar. She asked about Todd. And she mentioned Esther. Suddenly, her name slammed into my skull along with a number of other colorful memories. It was Susan Bringas. Also known as the "Mad Hatter," a regular on the dark-ages dial-up BBS I used to run thirteen or so years ago. I hadn't seen her since a random kite-flying outing in 1998. Or was it further back than that? I stuck around and we talked, catching up as best we could after so many years and life changes. She gleefully introduced me to her friends, telling them I'd known her longer than most of them combined. For a while everyone whipped out their geek credentials, describing their first modem (1200 baud!) and computer systems (8086!). It turned out Susan wasn't much of a networker either, and was in attendance only because her beau, Pete Castillejos, was the president of the group, and because she'd heard Meritage had good food. We both agreed the rumor was wrong. Susan helped me get a handle on the attendance list, from ad salesmen to wasabi importers to technology publishers to MLM schemers. And I swear I saw U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo there, too. The evening was livened up by the arrival of Leilani Daligcon, who I knew through Ed Nishioka and Professional Results. I had to quickly disclaim that I no longer worked for PBEC, as for a moment she looked like she was going to slug me. (Obviously, the end of that business relationship was no secret to anyone in the group.) Clearly a networking pro, Lei immediately lassoed a number of attendees into an interview for a Hawaiian Hard Drive "Q&A" on broadband access. Eventually, the registration table was packed away, and the crowd was dwindling, so I called it a night. I drove home via the far end of Waikiki for the heck of it. It was good to see John, and Susan, and to try someplace and something new. But since I'm clearly paralyzed when I don't know anyone, I don't think I'll add networking to my short list of hobbies. At least, unless I know the food is good. It was a day of odd connections, actually. In addition to Susan and Lei, I bumped into someone downtown this morning who also remembered me from years ago. Many, many years ago. She remembered me from Lunalilo Elementary. Kristina Yee. She also went to Washington Intermediate. I wonder if Nate remembers her? Because, as I had to apologize, I didn't. I can barely keep my college friends straight. She also remembered the time capsule buried at our elementary school in 1983, and said she attended the long-awaited opening in the year 2000. I told her I was sorry I missed it, but also that I doubted any of us had any idea what the start of the 21st century would be like back then. I have vague memories of classmates putting together something about flying cars... I'm taping a chunk of programming off Oceanic's Music Choice Hawaiian channel to send to Jen, an antidote to the other homesickness that'll inevitably begin to afflict her as her Florida visit continues. Mama's in the kitchen cooking dinner real nice, beef stew on the stove lomi salmon with the rice... She hasn't had much time to write or call, as Zac still isn't on a normal sleeping schedule, and Katie has come down with a pretty bad cough. They even had to find a doctor there to prescribe some medicine for her. I miss them. I miss Jen. Ku`u lei ku`u pua nani mae `ole, No he nohea i ka maka o ka ipo... "My darling, my never fading flower, ever lovely to the sight of the lover..." That's from "Ka Lehua I Melia," one of Jen's "chicken skin" songs. I'm sure it's just my imagination, but all the Hawaiian stations seem to have many of her favorites in high rotation lately. Fourteen days and counting.

Comments It's "lomi salmon with da ice, " Ryan, not rice ... not that that makes your homesickness any better, I bet! Good to take a break from your keiki now and then ... makes you really appreciate and SEE them when they come back. Jen too. —Susan (May 12, 2003 11:15 PM) Who sings that song, Mama's in the kitchen cooking dinner real nice. And what is the namne of it —Bill (August 29, 2005 1:47 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! < May 01 · May · May 19 > © 1997-2008 Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · E-Mail: imr@lightfantastic.org · Created: 13 November 1997 · Last Modified: 14 January 2008