Back to Life!

Aloha to you all!

Sorry for the lapse in time since the last entry. I got so blasted with work, a road trip, more work, a couple concerts, a foot injury, two kendo tournaments, rebirth of an old project, a baby rabbit, a wedding and then a little more work to top it off.

My big project I've been working is a "mini-magazine" insert for a local business publication. Its in conjunction with the Filipino Centennial celebration in Hawaii. Went through final edits today with the publishers and the commission. Should be smooth sailing going to production n next week. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. Everyone involved with the project were great. Project management was pretty much tops on this. From a cultural standpoint it really spotlights the achievement of Filipinos in Hawaii. Just a lot of late nights.

The same publishers had me working on two projects before this insert - so its been bang, bang, bang.

Let's see..... backing up a little...

(briefly) SugahDaddy played the acoustic show at the Ulua theater at Volcano, Big Island. The theatre is owned and operated by Jason Scott Lee (the actor). He was such a cool guy -very gracious host. We did a couple of nights and it went over very good. Hopefully something will arise from this experience.

Not long after that (like a week) I get a call from my friend Theo. He asks me if I wanted to do a gig with a singer, Yoly Tolentino, who came in from LA to perform at a conference. I agreed and did a couple of gigs. Yoly was in the King and I w/ Lou Diamond Philips. She was a great singer, her tone was so centered and nice. We played mostly jazz standards. Most notably, we played a cool bossa version of "Dahil Sa Iyo". Along with Theo on the keys (he was ripppin') was drummer Scott Sato. They played so tastefully. The great thing about this "trio" was that we were able to hook up some museum gigs for openings and especial events.

The Kendo Front.

I've gotten back into the swing of Kendo practice again. I've entered two local tourneys since the last post. The first one was on Father's Day in Mililani. I sucked so bad at that tournament!!! I was so pissed at myself for while. I lost 2-0. Since it was single elimination, my day ended quick. The second tournament was in Aiea. I did a little better in that one. It was round robin and 3 man brackets. I lost my first match 1-0. and won my second match 2-0. Unfortunately the guy I lost to first time beat the last guy 2-0, thus winning our bracket. He went on to place second in the division. I felt OK about my performance, at least I won a match and took the first guy to the time limit. Next is the state tournament on Maui.

Two weeks before the Aiea tournament, I tore part of my tendon near the heel. I went to see a Podiatrist and he gave me a cortisone shot and pretty much kept it wrapped up for a week. Didn't think I was going to make the Aiea tournament. Luckily, it felt better to enter.

Finally, I got my Ni-kyu rank on June 4th. Hopefully I can go for my Ikkyu rank in November.


Our new pet.
We got a new addition in the form of a baby rabbit. Caryn's co-worker were giving them away.




























Meet the resident rabbit, Manju

At first I was a little apprehensive about having a rabbit (I had no desire to take care of one), but he grew on me and now he spends his day exploring the living room and biting my old slippers.

Lastly, I've been working with a couple of friends of mine on resurrecting an older idea I had for a clothing line. Its still under wraps, but you'll be the first to know.

aloha and out