yes, i'm back. and happy that i am. maui was nice and all, but with aiden's illness (which, it turns out, was walking pneumonia) and with my inability to appreciate the slow-paced lifestyle of lahaina, well- again, i'm glad to be back.
aiden is recovering pretty well, he's almost back to his effusive cheerful little self. unfortunately, during the course of his illness, lynn and i lost a lot of sleep. sounds selfish, but the two of us just need some time to recover, to realign our sleep patterns... today, between morning clinic and my afternoon taiji class, i almost took a fateful nap... you know, the kind of nap where you are negotiating a small gap of time, whether you can risk sinking into slumber, i mean, could you sink just low enough to grab some respite, without sinking so low that you can't return to functional consciousness in time for your next obligations??? that was how i felt. i only had like 30 minutes. and when that was up, i kept begging for another minute, another five minutes, etc. by the time i left for taiji class, i had fifteen minutes to get to waipio...
i have a lot to think about and work on...
i've been reading "anatomy trains" by thomas w. myers. it is an AWESOME book... i initially heard about it when researching the double spiral orientation of certain muscle groups and the correlation between that and the chinese extraordinary vessel known as the dai mai (or girdle vessel)... but now that i have the book in my hands, i realize that it is so much more... i've only read part of the first chapter, but it is revolutionary and mind-opening already... basically, myers is highlighting connective tissue, which has, for the most part, been ignored by western medicine, or relegated to a relatively unimportant stature as the "white/yellow" parts of the musculoskeletal system. in actuality, connective tissue is a unified web WITHIN WHICH all other tissues "float" suspended. connective tissue, in other words, has been largely ignored precisely because it is so UBIQUITOUS and impossible to tease apart and isolate. but as is becoming the case in so much of science, the realization of the importance of BACKGROUND SUBTLE FORCES is slowly gaining ground in bodywork and medicine. arguably, it is connective tissue that is the most likely candidate for the medium of transference for acupuncture stimulation. and, of course, it is connective tissue ("fascia") that is the target medium for powerful bodywork methods like rolfing (structural integration)...
some interesting highlights so far: the notion that the three main networks in the human body each has its own rhythm, fastest being the "neural net," slowest being the vascular system (which he says runs on an ancient, chemical mediated rhythm), and in between, the connective tissue or fascial network. the latter actually has two rhythms, one almost instantaneous ("the speed of sound," as it registers vibrations just like any object does) and another very slow but very significant (the slow and gradual manner in which the body "adjusts" to forces in the environment by changes in posture).
another highlight: the double-bag structure of the human body, repeated almost fractally and historically (myers gives a rush course through embryonic history, noting the double-bag structure at each and every stage of development).
also: i've been continuing to study the herb zoo flashcards... funny stuff.
and, i just got kiiko matsumoto's style of acupuncture volume 2 along with some of her "tools of the trade": a triple bypass cord, some diode rings, a silver diode chain. funny, i had ALL of these things and more, but i lost them all in a car fire. it's neat recollecting those tools. maybe i am restoring my skills as an acupuncturist, but now (because of that incident, and because of time) with a bit more wisdom (*YEAH RIGHT*).
i've been trying to play other parts of "reckoner" on the piano. i like the last part. i discovered the chord sequence, which actually runs throughout the song, only in different orders. just by playing with the chords, separating them out, playing them in different rhythms, you can really get different effects...
i've also got my online course on special education to worry about. i could finish all my assignments for the course and get it over with now... but who am i kidding? i need deadlines to delay the inevitable...
NEXT WEEK, my second course for the summer will begin. AGH!!! another special ed course. that will really make my summer schedule hairy. and, i've got to reapply to uh, and register for fall courses pretty soon as well...
i want to write more in marsilani, but who has the time... i have a lot of ideas: the amphibious stories will center around kappa and the notion of ressentiment. the moth-eaten story will be organized around the ten oxherding pictures, and will incorporate mothra (the twin girls) and the mothra song (about the god of happiness)... so many ideas, so many hopes, sometimes i think i could explode.
but it is wonderful to feel life as being so rich, too rich and rife with possibilities that i could never exhaust them, they can and will only exhaust me...
... i need a vacation to explore them all...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
announcement: landry!!!
congratulations to my big brother dean and his wife jani on their newborn daughter, landry!!! she was born tuesday morning at about 2 or 3 am (need to confirm with them). she is 7 pounds something ounces (also need confirmation).
hopefully i will get to see my new niece sometime tomorrow.
hopefully i will get to see my new niece sometime tomorrow.
another great quote, same book
"The heart of healing lies in our ability to listen, to perceive, more than in our application of technique.... The current requirement is less for new technique, but rather for new premises that lead to new strategies for application, and useful new premises are a lot harder to come by than seemingly new techniques. Thus, the significant developments in this field are opened by the point of view assumed, the lens through which the body is seen."
-Thomas W. Myers, in "Anatomy Trains"
-Thomas W. Myers, in "Anatomy Trains"
great quote by Evelyn Waugh (from the book, "Anatomy Trains")
i read this quote in the preface of a book on, of all things, the myofascial perspective on human anatomy:
"Humility is not a virtue propitious to the artist. It is often pride, emulation, avarice, malice - all the odious qualities - which drive a man to complete, elaborate, refine, destroy, and renew his work until he has made something that gratifies his pride and envy and greed. And in so doing he enriches the world more than the generous and the good, though he may lose his own soul in the process. That is the paradox of artistic achievement."
"Humility is not a virtue propitious to the artist. It is often pride, emulation, avarice, malice - all the odious qualities - which drive a man to complete, elaborate, refine, destroy, and renew his work until he has made something that gratifies his pride and envy and greed. And in so doing he enriches the world more than the generous and the good, though he may lose his own soul in the process. That is the paradox of artistic achievement."
Bill 45 and Resolution 08-148
Maybe too late, but I encourage anyone on Oahu to submit written testimony in favor (or maybe, not) for the following bill and resolution...
The first is:
BILL 45 (2008) – RELATING TO TRAFFIC ADMINISTRATION. Permitting the Council to require by ordinance, the location, selection, installation and maintenance of a traffic control device in certain situations. (Bill 45 passed first reading 6/4/08)
The second is:
RESOLUTION 08-148 – REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES TO RESTART THE CITY TRAFFIC CALMING PROGRAM AND IMPLEMENT TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES. Requesting the Department of Transportation Services to restart the city Traffic Calming Program and process and implement appropriate measures when requested via neighborhood boards, funded by the council, and determined to be appropriate to increase safety in residential neighborhoods, and review and improve the traffic calming process.
The issue is, basically, who decides where and when to install traffic lights and traffic calming measures (speed bumps, etc.). Should such decisions be made by the City, or should they be made by local neighborhood boards (who presumably KNOW the dangers of local streets, etc.)? If you support the above bill and resolution, then you support local control and decision-making over these issues.
I wrote the following letter in like 5 minutes (thus the lack of coherence). But use it as a kind of template. If you would like to submit a similar letter, go to http://www.honolulu.gov/council/emailtpw.htm to email your thoughts.
Here is my letter:
Dear Members of the Honolulu City Council,
There are no longer safe communities for pedestrians.
Although I can recall bicycling across the length and breadth of Mililani in complete safety, nowadays, I cannot trust my children riding their bicycles much less playing in the street just in front of my own suburban Mililani home.
Unfortunately, speed has become endemic to our driving culture. It is no longer just the occasional irresponsible teenager who tests the limits of his vehicle on narrow streets. Everyone is in a hurry, and pedestrians are increasingly seen as intruders that drivers have to impatiently tolerate.
This is why it is vital that we support Bill 45 and Resolution 08-148.
In the face of this hurried culture stiff penalties are not enough. Stoplights, speed bumps, and other “traffic calming” measures are necessary to safeguard specific regions and streets across the island. Who better to decide where such measures should be employed than the local residents who are witness to dangerous speeding in front of their own homes?
Exclusive top-down controls over such decisions are illogical and inefficient. When will a given street be considered worthy of a traffic calming measure by the City? Will a certain quota of accidents, pedestrian fatalities even, be necessary?
Even one accident is too much. Safety should be our number one priority, and it should be decided by the very people, the pedestrians, who know the conditions of their local streets.
We may not be able to reverse our speeding culture, but at least we can intelligently mandate and create relatively safe havens, streets for our children to ride and play on, as we did when we were children.
Thank you,
Randy Otaka
The first is:
BILL 45 (2008) – RELATING TO TRAFFIC ADMINISTRATION. Permitting the Council to require by ordinance, the location, selection, installation and maintenance of a traffic control device in certain situations. (Bill 45 passed first reading 6/4/08)
The second is:
RESOLUTION 08-148 – REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES TO RESTART THE CITY TRAFFIC CALMING PROGRAM AND IMPLEMENT TRAFFIC CALMING MEASURES. Requesting the Department of Transportation Services to restart the city Traffic Calming Program and process and implement appropriate measures when requested via neighborhood boards, funded by the council, and determined to be appropriate to increase safety in residential neighborhoods, and review and improve the traffic calming process.
The issue is, basically, who decides where and when to install traffic lights and traffic calming measures (speed bumps, etc.). Should such decisions be made by the City, or should they be made by local neighborhood boards (who presumably KNOW the dangers of local streets, etc.)? If you support the above bill and resolution, then you support local control and decision-making over these issues.
I wrote the following letter in like 5 minutes (thus the lack of coherence). But use it as a kind of template. If you would like to submit a similar letter, go to http://www.honolulu.gov/council/emailtpw.htm to email your thoughts.
Here is my letter:
Dear Members of the Honolulu City Council,
There are no longer safe communities for pedestrians.
Although I can recall bicycling across the length and breadth of Mililani in complete safety, nowadays, I cannot trust my children riding their bicycles much less playing in the street just in front of my own suburban Mililani home.
Unfortunately, speed has become endemic to our driving culture. It is no longer just the occasional irresponsible teenager who tests the limits of his vehicle on narrow streets. Everyone is in a hurry, and pedestrians are increasingly seen as intruders that drivers have to impatiently tolerate.
This is why it is vital that we support Bill 45 and Resolution 08-148.
In the face of this hurried culture stiff penalties are not enough. Stoplights, speed bumps, and other “traffic calming” measures are necessary to safeguard specific regions and streets across the island. Who better to decide where such measures should be employed than the local residents who are witness to dangerous speeding in front of their own homes?
Exclusive top-down controls over such decisions are illogical and inefficient. When will a given street be considered worthy of a traffic calming measure by the City? Will a certain quota of accidents, pedestrian fatalities even, be necessary?
Even one accident is too much. Safety should be our number one priority, and it should be decided by the very people, the pedestrians, who know the conditions of their local streets.
We may not be able to reverse our speeding culture, but at least we can intelligently mandate and create relatively safe havens, streets for our children to ride and play on, as we did when we were children.
Thank you,
Randy Otaka
Saturday, June 21, 2008
molokini
this morning, we (lynn and i) went to molokini. it was pretty exciting. i'd been to molokini once before (with my mom and my sister) about ten years ago (!). funny, when we went snorkeling this time, molokini seemed to have a lot less fish, and less variety of fish as well... but it was still neat. we got to see a lot of these black fish, not sure what they are called, but they were the ones that surrounded the boats (i remember another kind of black fish playing that role back when i came here ten years ago, a black fish with orange markings near the tail). the most interesting thing, i think, was a large school of (i think) squirrelfish or mempachi, hiding under a shelf of rock, kind of drifting (asleep?) with the current but staying in the shade; they're nocturnal creatures... but our stay at molokini was cut short. apparently, there was a call from the coast guard saying that all the boats at molokini had to move out. it was interesting, because just before the call came, we happened to look up, and noticed a large flock of frigate birds (iwa) hovering over the island. usually (i think), the iwa birds spend all day out feeding. maybe they came back to the island to roost because of some sudden storm or gust of wind... anyway, we had to get back to the boat (it started rocking a bit as we climbed the ladder).
our ship, the quicksilver, then headed out to a place called turtle town (because it was common to see green turtles there). the waters were too choppy at first, so we kind of wandered south. passed a couple of interesting places, like "little beach" (a nudist beach) and "big beach" (the adjacent large beach). at one point, the captain made a little one-liner: "so at 3:00 is molokini, and at 9:00 is 'no bikini' (with reference to little beach)." we also passed clint eastwood's, oprah winfrey's, jack nicholson's, and some other person (named paris's?) home. and i learned that maui will likely have an active volcano, producing more "real estate" on the southwest side of the island.
oh yeah, other trivia. kahoolawe (the forbidden isle) which lies southwest to maui is now home to some wild goats. it was once seriously considered as the possible haven for four bengal tigers- until someone recalled that bengal tigers CAN swim up to 30 miles (didn't know that!)... wouldn't be pretty if a bengal tiger starting feeding on maui hippies and nudists.
we encountered a couple of spinner dolphins! and, since lynn and i happened to sit on the front of the boat, we had the ideal seats to see them! they were just beneath us, two of them, and they seemed to want to play with us, because whether the boat stopped or moved, they would consistently appear. it was beautiful... i thought it was kinda annoying that, as soon as we spotted the dolphins, a few other ships came by, and basically scared them off (it almost looked like one of the other boats ran right over them!).
at turtle town, not much... it was much deeper than molokini. basically, it looked like we were positioned over a ridge of beautiful coral, and just a little to either side, the sea floor dropped off to walls. it was neat, not a little scary. to be honest, if it weren't for the fact that lynn was with me, and a whole bunch of other leg waving bait, i think i would've been too scared to swim out over the deep parts, near the sheer walls. but i was pretty calm, always surveying the deep waters, hoping to see some large circular shape (a turtle), half-dreading to see a shark or something...
actually, i kinda got disgusted with being a human being as we swam. we had no right to be there! and, jeez, if i were a turtle, why would i want to hang out around there, with all these clumsy, ogling creatures drifting about? a couple of times, i saw snorkelers breaking rules and desecrating the wildlife: one woman grabbed a pretty pinkish plume of coral, clearly with the intent to break it and carry it home; i also saw another guy holding a pencil sea urchin in his hands. gods, what retards! i am surprised that these sanctuaries still exist, when boneheaded tourists (one or two on at least one of the boats that go there EVERY DAY) do things like that.
the only special thing, or thing of note, we saw was a single moray eel, wriggling about when it seemed the coast was clear...
we returned to port at maalaelae (sp???) harbor, fighting a great deal of wind.
by the time we got back to the hotel, i was exhausted. i tried to take a nap, but willow kept crawling all over me...
eventually, i had to babysit willow, kathy and marcus. we went down to the beach, walked along the shoreline, gathering rocks and shells. had no idea what i was doing, just knew i needed to get the kids out and keep them preoccupied. when we returned, i ad lib came up with some sort of "art project" where we would make sculptures out of the stuff we'd picked up...
then, this evening, i took the three kids over to see "kung fu panda." it was a nice, simple outing.
meanwhile, lynn stayed home and watched aiden. his coughing is becoming more of a concern, because it hasn't gone away during this week. lynn was worrying that he was suffering from pneumonia or something... and we had a semi-argument about how to care for him. lynn has it in her head that we should treat aiden's headaches/fevers "preventatively," i.e. putting aiden on a scheduled regimen of tylenol and motrin. i don't believe in this at all. i think this sort of regimen is more for the benefit of the parents than the kid (i.e. keep the kid from complaining). i mean, i see the logic of it, and it maybe keeps the kid from "suffering." but... by medicating like this, how do you know if the kid even has a fever to treat? also, the side-effects of pharmaceuticals, for example, upset stomach (he has been vomiting every now and then... consequence of the over-medication? we'll never know). ANYWAY... i don't want to get too much into it. it's clear that it's not pneumonia anyway, as the coughing is neither constant nor productive...
... i really really really want to go home. i'm not designed to float like this, for extended periods of time. i enjoy life most when i have my feet on the ground, on the path, walking towards a destination... sure, vacations are good to "get bearings," "smell the roses," "appreciate things..." but i think i do a lot of that anyway. i've seen beautiful things here, maybe even come to some interesting conclusions, but enough's enough. tomorrow, i hope, blurs by, and then on sunday, we will be heading HOME.
our ship, the quicksilver, then headed out to a place called turtle town (because it was common to see green turtles there). the waters were too choppy at first, so we kind of wandered south. passed a couple of interesting places, like "little beach" (a nudist beach) and "big beach" (the adjacent large beach). at one point, the captain made a little one-liner: "so at 3:00 is molokini, and at 9:00 is 'no bikini' (with reference to little beach)." we also passed clint eastwood's, oprah winfrey's, jack nicholson's, and some other person (named paris's?) home. and i learned that maui will likely have an active volcano, producing more "real estate" on the southwest side of the island.
oh yeah, other trivia. kahoolawe (the forbidden isle) which lies southwest to maui is now home to some wild goats. it was once seriously considered as the possible haven for four bengal tigers- until someone recalled that bengal tigers CAN swim up to 30 miles (didn't know that!)... wouldn't be pretty if a bengal tiger starting feeding on maui hippies and nudists.
we encountered a couple of spinner dolphins! and, since lynn and i happened to sit on the front of the boat, we had the ideal seats to see them! they were just beneath us, two of them, and they seemed to want to play with us, because whether the boat stopped or moved, they would consistently appear. it was beautiful... i thought it was kinda annoying that, as soon as we spotted the dolphins, a few other ships came by, and basically scared them off (it almost looked like one of the other boats ran right over them!).
at turtle town, not much... it was much deeper than molokini. basically, it looked like we were positioned over a ridge of beautiful coral, and just a little to either side, the sea floor dropped off to walls. it was neat, not a little scary. to be honest, if it weren't for the fact that lynn was with me, and a whole bunch of other leg waving bait, i think i would've been too scared to swim out over the deep parts, near the sheer walls. but i was pretty calm, always surveying the deep waters, hoping to see some large circular shape (a turtle), half-dreading to see a shark or something...
actually, i kinda got disgusted with being a human being as we swam. we had no right to be there! and, jeez, if i were a turtle, why would i want to hang out around there, with all these clumsy, ogling creatures drifting about? a couple of times, i saw snorkelers breaking rules and desecrating the wildlife: one woman grabbed a pretty pinkish plume of coral, clearly with the intent to break it and carry it home; i also saw another guy holding a pencil sea urchin in his hands. gods, what retards! i am surprised that these sanctuaries still exist, when boneheaded tourists (one or two on at least one of the boats that go there EVERY DAY) do things like that.
the only special thing, or thing of note, we saw was a single moray eel, wriggling about when it seemed the coast was clear...
we returned to port at maalaelae (sp???) harbor, fighting a great deal of wind.
by the time we got back to the hotel, i was exhausted. i tried to take a nap, but willow kept crawling all over me...
eventually, i had to babysit willow, kathy and marcus. we went down to the beach, walked along the shoreline, gathering rocks and shells. had no idea what i was doing, just knew i needed to get the kids out and keep them preoccupied. when we returned, i ad lib came up with some sort of "art project" where we would make sculptures out of the stuff we'd picked up...
then, this evening, i took the three kids over to see "kung fu panda." it was a nice, simple outing.
meanwhile, lynn stayed home and watched aiden. his coughing is becoming more of a concern, because it hasn't gone away during this week. lynn was worrying that he was suffering from pneumonia or something... and we had a semi-argument about how to care for him. lynn has it in her head that we should treat aiden's headaches/fevers "preventatively," i.e. putting aiden on a scheduled regimen of tylenol and motrin. i don't believe in this at all. i think this sort of regimen is more for the benefit of the parents than the kid (i.e. keep the kid from complaining). i mean, i see the logic of it, and it maybe keeps the kid from "suffering." but... by medicating like this, how do you know if the kid even has a fever to treat? also, the side-effects of pharmaceuticals, for example, upset stomach (he has been vomiting every now and then... consequence of the over-medication? we'll never know). ANYWAY... i don't want to get too much into it. it's clear that it's not pneumonia anyway, as the coughing is neither constant nor productive...
... i really really really want to go home. i'm not designed to float like this, for extended periods of time. i enjoy life most when i have my feet on the ground, on the path, walking towards a destination... sure, vacations are good to "get bearings," "smell the roses," "appreciate things..." but i think i do a lot of that anyway. i've seen beautiful things here, maybe even come to some interesting conclusions, but enough's enough. tomorrow, i hope, blurs by, and then on sunday, we will be heading HOME.
Friday, June 20, 2008
night rainbow
can't sleep, and it's a good thing too! as i was doing a zhan zhuang exercise on the balcony (with the same weird spontaneous movements), i happened to open my eyes, and saw the at first indistinct shape of a rainbow, only it was kind of silvery, like a large silver arch: if i looked very closely at "bright" regions of this archway, i could just make out colors, only they were "washed out" and less distinct than in a day rainbow. now, just to describe the particular conditions. there appears to be a cloud front coming out across the channel between molokai and maui, with a thin haze of indistinct rain (almost a fog, a shimmer). but the moon up above is either full or almost full. so when there is a space in the clouds, the bright moonlight is able to refract through the night mist to form this silvery "night rainbow." i actually woke lynn up to witness it, and she made some comment like "cool" before drifting back to sleep... maybe i should do the same too, but i'm just too excited.
i tried to capture it on film, but it's much too dark. flashes just flatten the image, while no flash just gets lost in the dark depths (again, it's a mix between cloudy night sky with gaps of silver moonlight- difficult by definition to capture).
but i can say: night rainbows DO exist!
i tried to capture it on film, but it's much too dark. flashes just flatten the image, while no flash just gets lost in the dark depths (again, it's a mix between cloudy night sky with gaps of silver moonlight- difficult by definition to capture).
but i can say: night rainbows DO exist!
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