Tue 30 Jun 26: Got an inkling to get moving early this AM... but for whatever reason, time seemed to fly by -- almost to the point of needing rush just to keep up Ever have a day like that? Noticing it happen a lot more than when I were on mainland. Maybe the greater pace in \ around big cities just default to a higher speed, so a bit more isn't as big a delta. Granted, pace here is somewhat glacial at times... but I'd say driving here esp is much more stressful than on the Kitsap Peninsula, even with 4 seasons thrown in. probably just a faster flow as the normal... My brain isn't getting any younger either -- tho tbf, the days times seemed to slow down vs. speed up, are more numerous by ~2 - 3x. If time seems to slow down, means your perception, your frame rate of perceiving the world is faster, like a Harold-Edgerton-esque ultra-slow-motion capture. At the dojo, they trained you to increase yours, with a rather Stone-Age teaching device: a log, on a rope, suspended at temple (of head) height. Any way the log spun, one side would nail the daylights out of you, right in the ear. So starting at equal distance to your head, your senior would swing one side hard to hit you, which you were supposed to block with a bokuto (木刀, wooden sword). Problem is, if you hit the log too hard, the other side would karang the back of your head, and down you went, clutching your aching melon. Do that enough, and the consequences basically taught the Way, tough-love-style. Sasuga Japanese way of teaching martial arts My mentor, whilst training at the same dojo (and learning bodywork from the founder of Zentherapy), was asked to continue to confront this training device, until he could do it. Said it took several weeks, but eventually he stopped ducking the punishing log He'd said that after this exp, was asked to tend the big long multi-level kiln the temple's pottery were fired in, during a 7-day, biannual intense meditation retreat known as sesshin (接心), where you do nothing but sit in meditation, and manual labour. Exhausted with the 24-hr-a-day nature of tending the fires of the kiln... he'd noticed his perception start to change, things had 'slowed down a lot'... even if the pace of work demanded exactly the opposite, relentlessly. At the end of sesshin, those who're training as monks are interviewed by the Zen master, in order to see where they are in their quest for enlightenment... and Mentor said that waiting in the queue and hearing the bell announcing the next candidate, he felt weightless, like everything in his body reverted to the form he was born with. And going to see the Roshi... was rejected. But Roshi did say later, he was only a hair's width from the goal. That had to hurt I'd never even been close to that sort of realisation... but oddly whilst in boot camp, things did seem to slog along, esp during moments where the DIs were in everyone's third points, teaching us to negotiate an obstacle or take a hill in squads, in the ticks and chiggers of the SC forest. My memory of this being the most obvious, was in the gas chamber. Story for later... Today... decided again not to do the mall laps, mostly because intuition were nagging this wasn't a good day. Sure enough, there was a big Local farmer's market happening, so even walking the upper floor would've been disruptive. So decided to walk the mall's perimeter instead. Had never walked all the way around this mall, esp recently. Knew the whole way just from walking portions of it in many versions of the mall, and of course driving around it. But a walk isn't like a drive, as before... Took the path through the mall itself on that ground floor... and got yet another glimpse at how far this mall had sunk in the last 20y. Incredibly, f***ing Zales Jewelers were still here. How the f*** does a jeweler stay in business, at this mall? No idea... but they've been at this location since the refit in '94, easy. The old anchor store Sears -- long my only reason to visit this mall, moving here in 2010... shuttered for years now crumbling under the weight of covid. Now cheap plywoods boards are nailed to cover up holes where the plaster that used to abut these pillars around the door openings, fell out and smashed onto the sidewalk. One of these failures was fresh... well, if a few months left as-is, can be called 'fresh'. A shame, loved that store, grew up in it, really... A smaller parking structure, long where the stinkies piss all over the stairwells and do meth, has oddly been relatively quiet in the past 3 or so years -- used to be in the local news regularly. So decided to check out the top floor, as had never been there. Here are some pics taken at the top: The 'Mountain'. Haleakala is 10029 ft... and may not look it, but that summit you see, with the white observatories, is 18-miles+ away fm this vantage point. It is a rather big boy for a shield volcano... and its caldera collapsed away another 3 - 4K ft easy in prehistory Not happy the weather's so nice, actually -- could've warshed the car Right after making that executive decision... the big threat of a low pressure system supposedly sending rain... turned north and f***ed off. Who knows now, but have to wait until Sunday to warsh again -- The opposite direction, towards the West Maui Mtns (WMM). Looking at the tops of the factory which used to process sugar and ice, but has changed hands more times than I can remember -- part of the complex may be owned by one of the big soft drink companies, but the rest are all Local businesses of the sort who inhabit old hulks like this; auto repair, tour operators, gyms -- And the skeletonised mall, teal ribs naked to the sun, already turning powdery with age and exposure. Normally would be covered by sails of filthy off-white 30-yo canopy... but as confirmed in my walk thru today... no intention to replace it. Can't even replace plasterboard when it falls off the Sears bldg, good luck replacing a million-dollar canopy -- more when clients are done
Wed 01 Jul 26: Whoops -- didn't update the bodywork report yesterday -- don't worry, didn't miss much. One no-show , one having a problem with my fee, so showed up but ultimately decided (what metrics they used, didn't f***ing clue me in), that they'd be better off with someone else. Perhaps now you see why I wasn't tripping over myself wanting to update the thread, in the mood I were in Welp, not the 1st time, defo not gonna be the last... --- All others were routine, small boring stuff. Next... AM was still air... but with more thick, syrupy humidity than yesterday. Got tea and breakfast, then headed to the mall... For now, the alt site I'd been doing shorter morning walks, gonna take it off rotation -- construction there was gradually getting more and more filthy (wind-blown dust) that the initial 2/3rds were testing my patience (and clothes -- red dirt [powdered iron oxide-rich basalt and other igneous rock] is a birch to get out in the wash). Oddly last year, could see myself doing this route indefinitely... but recently with the schizo rain and wind, then construction / demo... was weirdly pushing me towards the mall anyway, as if it wanted me back or something There's one more site, the old 2-mi-run site... but I really don't like where it is, as driving there in the 5G bombs its mpg. Will have to scout another, I guess. With all the stinkies around and tourists traipsing over the old formerly-relaxing go-tos of my youth... options are growing smaller as local gov't and LEOs pretend what they're doing is adequate to maintain a safe Maui for normal activities. Saying it's long gone to anyone who asks, should betray my opinion of this perpetually-backburnered, least-effort-non-effort... So what to do. Well, one thing the mall provides just fine is windbreak as trades are in force... and morning watering of the cobbles on the ground floor by the cleaning staff, cool the air further. So parked on the opposite side of the place, and walked in on the old Liberty House side (women's Macy's, I think it is now). Took a couple of laps inside (going up to the 2nd flr) and circled back to walk a few rounds of the car park out front -- the great bulk in shade. Even if there are spots where the full intensity of sun's hitting me, better than a place I'd be walking in direct sunlight the whole time (esp w\ my skin cancer risk). Can do, but man walking this place again, is just depressing. Btw, tearing down this old mall isn't going to be easy: took two yrs to build it, so probably more than a year just tearing out all the '90s ambition buried deep into the earth and 40 ft overhead, expected to last 20 yrs. Well, it's been 30+... and feels just like it looks, esp compared to memories of how it used to be, first time home as a resident, late '90s. What a different world it was, end of last century... Passed that corner shop where used to ba David's Cookies, now Ichiban-ya Ramen. Wonder if the workers there have met the ghosts my pops used to see, down in a connecting underground hallway between the end-cap stores on both corners, to storage there Getting to 20 mins now, where the bum knee's beginning to dislike the activity again -- no worries, just have to give it the memo, as not going to stop until the walk's comfortably up to 30 mins again. What I'd not expected was a core issue -- which I'd removed the TrP for, sitting in the 5G ready to run errands and shop for groceries -- that one hurt like a m/fer Am going to mint getting back on tofu as the main protein source -- have slept better on it than chicken, tho the difference wasn't as vast as it used to be. But 7 hrs is easy on tofu, 6 and change is about right on chicken. Will still eat chicken occasionally, but as a staple tofu's a lot better (and way more filling as well)
Thu 02 Jul 26: What in the hell...? Weather's gorgeous today Been a while (even thru last summer) that I'd seen a tropical storm depression only a few major longitude gridlines away from us to the east... but inexplicably create what used to be The Standard Hawai'i day, 30y ago. Less than 27C / 80F. Breezy but not dragging in 6K ft of rain-soaked air begging to piss it down somewhere, like a 3rd grader on the bus after a bucket of Slurpee. Super-rare in the 2020s esp. Know when things like the weather are aping the old days, because immediately get the pang of nostalgia, before cortex can articulate what triggered it. Have some photos from '99 actually waxing this way, coming home from living in AZ (posted of such like my usual novels, in a now-long-defunct blog page elsewhere). Exactly the same, even down to the shape of clouds over mountains & collected like garlands around the horizon. But as I don't have to work in it, or show visitors the faded glory of this rare gift in the context of the last 15y of crap unpredictable, sloppy (don't forget deadly and firestorming) weather... just got my tea and was about to head to get breakfast... when realised something, literally middle of the car park. The Buddhist talisman from my classmate's temple I'd been using to protect my car (お守りomamori, much like Christians use crucifixes and iconography) is stuck in the sun, as must hang as tradition, from the interior mirror. This rapidly degrades the original polyester cord on the talisman itself (often ending up falling off)... so rather that, chose to use a girl's hairtie to both hang the talisman lower (so doesn't block field of view), and is so cheap, replacing this sacrificial tie once UV destroys it, is a no-brainer (I think the sort appropriate for this, is $3.70 for 20 ties at TGT... well at least for now). So ducked back into TGT to the women's section to seek a candidate. Do feel a bit weird being seen perusing stuff usually for women... but tbh the kind of stuff you can laterally apply to other tasks for pennies on the dollar? Worth it, as hot takes are so toothless in this oversaturated world of desperate, chiseled outrage. What am I gonna use a hairtie for, sweetie -- my buzzed high-and-tight? Go away, or I'll tell your mom on you Since as before, it's 20 ties and only need 3 - 4... since brand-new & perfectly serviceable, why not give them to someone who could use them? So gave to the barista, who appreciated it. Marched out the door to the car, to relieve the tatter of the old hairtie (which was black... not a great way to avoid sun damage -- long-live V2 ). You have got to be kidding me. Too short to get around the mirror by literally half an inch Went across the street to Wally's, and found another Goody's pack of the correct-length ties... but in red. Red is an auspicious colour when regarding these talismans, and colour's roughly the same as the talisman itself. Add'ly, one of my lucky colours is red (pretty far down the list tho). And, of course... it were $0.80 cheaper. Now you see why I still shop here, despite avoiding it any excuse I can) Sorted... got b'fast & headed to the mall for the AM walk. Had done a fair bit of walking, traversing the 5 football pitches of Wally's floor plan trying to find the ties (was clear across the store from the person I'd asked, of course -- did I mention the Year of the Horse usually means ups and downs? Apparently lefts, rights, and straight-aheads too)... so would need less time on the walk. Not less than 15 mins tho... At the mall, took the same path as yesterday, roughly. The workers spraying the cobbles every morning, man that really helps cool down this place. There's only one section of mall in which they didn't take down the canopy, and that's over the original, ground-floor shops, a la '80s. The wet brick and lack of breeze, made crossing the ground floor part of the walk oddly reminiscent of days in Seattle, where cool and wet air were the rule any time the sun weren't broken free of the horizon. Rather than envelop you in stifling heat like Miami humidity... this was drawing it out, like when I'd be riding in it. Miss that... hypocritical I suppose, as when I were up to eyeballs in it, wanted nothing more than leave it permanently behind But after that, on the way home... sensed something. So on a hunch, dialed back the usual laid-back driving, one notch. And yep, the rest of the morning thru to getting back home... remained in the figurative pocket. Felt disticntly tho, as if something were irritating the genpub today, esp driving. No traffic of note, nothing happening nearby physically or temporally, to explain it... but peeps were super-trigger-sensitive today. Only thing that seemed to round it off... was to lead by example. Imagine that --- more after clients
