2007-05-17 ~ 12:18 p.m.

Great Hawaiian Vacation '07

Aloha Oe!!! Aloha Oe!!!!

I'm back from my lovely Kaua'i, Hawai'i vacation, yeah? I had a great time, yeah? (I don't know why, but they add "yeah?" to the end of most of their sentences...which I guess it's kinda nice because then you know when it's your turn to speak.) I do this occasionally when I speak. I adopted it the first time I went to Hawai'i at the tender age of 19. But I don't do it neeeeeeeeearly as often as they do.

Right now I'm listening to a CD I bought while I was there. The musician is "Braddah Iz". He is quite possibly the most famous Hawaiian musician ever, even eclipsing Don Ho. Most of you just haven't heard of him yet. That's why I'm here. Braddah Iz's (Israel Kamakamwiwo'ole, or just Iz) biggest hit is the "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" medley that was recorded in 1992, released on Braddah Iz's first solo album "Facing Future" (and also on 2 more albums afterwards, "Ka'Ano'i", and the album I got, "Alone in Iz World".)

I'll let Wikipedia tell you where you have heard this medley before...

"One of the most unusual versions was recorded by the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Braddah Iz) whose medley of "Rainbow" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" was featured on the soundtrack of the films Meet Joe Black, Finding Forrester, 50 First Dates,and Son of the Mask, and the final episode of the British TV show Life on Mars. It was also performed by The Worthless Peons in the Scrubs episode, My Way Home. It was also the final music in the 2002 episode of the NBC drama series ER entitled "On the Beach", in which Mark Greene's character finally succumbs to brain tumor and also in the final episode of short-lived Fox Broadcasting Company show Pasadena."

If you have any Aloha in you, you will absolutely love this version of "Over the Rainbow". It's backed up by ukulele. It's on iTunes. Give it a try. If you don't like it, I'll owe you a drink. You'll just have to get to Las Vegas for it.

The song had crept into my subconscious perhaps after watching Meet Joe Black, most likely after watching 50 First Dates which was released a few months before I got married in Maui where I heard it EVERYWHERE. Someone who had come out to our wedding (who was actually a Maui native) bought the CD while she was there saying that she had wanted it for a long time, but couldn't find it on the internet. I totally understood this after it had been haunting my thoughts for the past three years. Anyway, I found it in a little music store there and haven't stopped playing it since. Of course, now that I have the CD and have looked it up, I can find it EVERYWHERE on the internet.

Braddah Iz was such a loved presence, his voice is so sweet, and his jazz and reggae fused ukulele playing so much fun. It's very soothing. Again, if you're into that kind of aloha, this is for you. If not, then bugga!

I read for once during my vacation. I actually read thrice during my vacation, which is unheard of. It was a very relaxing vacation. I started out with Ms. Golf Widow's "Getting My Think On." (I would link again, but I have a lot to cover and am still drunk off of lazy from vacation.) This was a great book to start off with. I didn't have to commit to a story line. It was a lot like reading her blog, but with the added bonus of portability...so.. kinda like reading her blog (in shade in view of the pacific ocean) on a super reliable laptop in a super reliable wifi hotspot....but lighter. I laughed, I cried (I did too!), I hoped for the further adventures of Smoky...

I also left it for the Kapa'a Sands of Kaua'i book swap. Our hotel room (a WONDERFUL two story condo 30 feet from the beach at not a bad price) had a ton of books left by past guests. The usual fare was there, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Nora Roberts, VC Andrews (god, I KNOW), some England based stuff, but my great finds were "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman and "Marley and Me" by John Grogan.

"Coraline" is a children's(?) book written by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is better known for his Sandman series, or the very popular "Good Omens" written with Terry Pratchett. It's not that I didn't like Coraline, but it seemed remniscent of MirrorMask (the movie) which was released two years ago, and also written by Neil Gaiman. It was cute though. If I were 12 years old it would have grabbed hold of my imagination and set me flying in a million different day dreaming directions, (I'm alliterate and didn't know I did it, HAH!)

Anyway, we had to change rooms the last day we stayed because this hotel is very popular, so people usually book a particular room a year in advance. We found out later we were lucky to stay in the first room for that many days in a row (5!). We met one lady that had to move twice during her stay. The day we moved, I had started to read "Marley and Me" and was going to take it with me, so I felt obligated to leave Ms. Widow's book in its stead. My secret hope is that someone picks it up to read it and ends up on her comments section saying how they found it in their hotel room and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, MAYBE THEN, I'll find myself in a special place in her heart rather than the special pain in her ass. (Of course, I kinda enjoy that too.)

"Marley and Me" was an adorable book about the author's family dog-the worst dog in the world. I had heard about this book from a nutcase that I work with. But she's a nutcase who is also fanatical about her dogs, so as a fellow nutcase obsessed with my dog, I knew it had to be a good read. And it was. I laughed and cried also for this book. I cried because my dog is on the verge of senior living and we see him get a little slower everyday, so the book hit my heart a little. If you have had a "bad dog" in your life, you'll really love this book. Plus you might realize that your dog wasn't THAT bad. And you might also realize that some dogs are just bad. (Of course, John Grogan didn't have Cesar Millan's expertise to deal with the dog.) Really sweet book.

I didn't get to lay on the beach as much as I wanted to. The bulk of my reading was done after the sun went down and the sidewalks were rolled up. There really isn't a whole lot to do in Kaua'i, especially at night. There was one bar close to us that was open until 2am, but that isn't my husband's idea of fun, so we passed. The reading was good for me anyway. I haven't bonded with books in quite sometime. Here, I have three or five books that I have started but haven't committed to. So, it was nice to experience that again.

The night before our last night, Loud Sex Couple moved in. They seem to go a lot of places we go. I remember they were in the cabin next to us on the first cruise we went on 4 years or so ago. They've been a couple of other places too. Anyway, they showed up that night and were at it for about an hour before we went to bed. And, ya know, I generally find it entertaining, I'm sick like that. But I do have my limits, and doing it again at 5:30, then at 6:30, then 8:30 the next morning, I tend to find it less entertaining. Loud Sex Couple had never been that disrespectful to us before. (I mean, you would KNOW if you were that loud, right?) I heard a knocking on a door and a "oh, sorry" coming from their way later that morning, so I know I wasn't the only one who didn't need to be awake at 5:30 in the morning.

That is one thing, you can hear everything around your building if you stay in digs comparable to the likes of ours. They use the windows that are several glass slats that are controlled by a lever-thing. So, they never actually close. All Hawaiian houses are windowed the same way. It's just how they aloha-roll. The weather permits it. A lot of them don't even have air conditioning. We didn't. Just ceiling fans. We got a GREAT breeze from the ocean. I lahved it. And, again, since the windows don't close all the way, we could hear the ocean all night. That and Loud Sex Couple.

I'm gonna close on this for now.

Aloha, and Mahalo for stopping by.

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