Esoteric Bowl

When I was a child, there was a local television show here in the islands called the Checkers and Pogo show. The two main characters of the show were like a morph between Captain Kangaroo and Gilligan and Skipper from Gilligan’s Island.

The show aired live five days a week, shortly after each school day had ended. As a latchkey child, I would often spend my first hour at home from school watching Checkers and Pogo while snacking on cookies and milk. For the most part, the show was basically about silliness, a few lame vaudeville-like skits, a studio audience of kids playing games, with a few cartoons thrown into the mix. Nothing educational here, as it would be another generation before the likes of Sesame Street would come along.

To their credit, Checkers and Pogo did have some fun games. There was the blow game, where kids would kneel down around an oval table and then attempt to blow a ping-pong ball past each other. And there was the team pillow-stuff race, where teams of kids would race to stuff a pillow into a pillow case, remove it, and then stuff it back in, and then repeat the process. Exciting stuff, right?

My favorite feature of the show was Merry Un-Birthday. Once a week, they would take one lucky child from the audience and celebrate their non-birthday. The child would be given an un-birthday hat, a pie, and the song for Merry Un-Birthday would be sung in their honor. As if all of that were not enough, the child would then be given the opportunity to put their hand into the big jar of pennies and grab as many pennies as one hand could grab. And they got to keep all of that money! In my spare time, I used to practice that penny grab, just in case I was ever so fortunate to be selected to have a Merry Un-Birthday.

Last night the political junkie in me was getting my fix with the Iowa caucus coverage. I was somewhat surprised by the final results, with John Kerry receiving 38% of the vote, John Edwards getting 32%, and Howard Dean 18%.

Once the results were declared, each candidate addressed their supporters. John Edwards was energetic in giving an emotional speech about the two America’s in which we live. John Kerry was eloquent as he described his mission to return credibility to the United States at home and abroad. Dick Gephardt was poised and reflective despite the fact that his campaign is obviously over.

And then there was Howard Dean. As I watched Dean address his supporters, it became quite obvious to me why Iowa had not given him the win that was projected. It’s difficult to describe his speech, as he came off looking more like an angry WWF wrestler, and less like a viable presidential candidate.

Surely Dean and his supporters must be disappointed after all the time they had spent in Iowa, with all the political endorsements, and with an organization that was said to be second to none. Despite the poor results, other candidates in the past have lost in Iowa and have gone on to become president. However, instead of giving a speech that would rally his troops, Dean left a lasting negative image of himself of which I can’t see him recovering from.

The Dean campaign will go on. It has the money and organization to do so. But the wheels to this political bandwagon are about to fall off. I can’t imagine him winning the democratic nomination, nor do I think he can beat George Bush. In my opinion, Howard Dean has put a fork into his campaign, and it is done.

The reason for my closing the kaneblues site is not a reason that is unique to the blog-world. I had a certain visitor that was coming to the site that was leaving all kinds of negative and hurtful messages. It got to the point where I was deleting multiple messages each day. Granted, instead of closing the site, I could have just blocked the person from leaving comments. However, the mere thought that this person could continue to visit the site left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Looking back on it all now, I admit that I let the negative comments get to me, and I regret that. I also regret closing the site. But the whole experience didn’t kill me, and it made me a little stronger and left me a little wiser. It has been suggested that I change my identity, not use my archives or any other data which may allow the person to track me down. But if I do all of that, then I have let that person win in some small way. Besides, if someone is determined to track me down, it wouldn’t be so difficult. So, if the drama should return, I will just delete the comments, block the IP address, and shrug it off. After all, one can’t create a new site each time an unwanted visitor comes along.

Through this recent ordeal, I also discovered that finding a domain name is not so easy anymore. Almost every possible word and phrase is already taken. After a considerable amount of time of failed attempts, I grabbed a favorite book from the shelf, Sue Bender’s Everyday Sacred, and randomly opened the book to page 89. The subtitle there is Esoteric Bowl.

According to Bender, the “esoteric bowl” is an ancient Buddhist teaching used for purification rituals. The instruction for the practice is to visualize putting your worst thoughts and feelings in a bowl; anger, fear, feelings of being overwhelmed, hurt, shame, anything at all. Sweet and tender feelings are also placed in the bowl.

Then one uses the ‘knife of wisdom’ to chop up all of the harsh aspects along with the tender aspects. The negative and positive are then blended and transformed into a proper offering; a nectar with a much richer brew. Considering everything that had taken place that led to the closing of one site and the opening of another, the rite of renewal from the esoteric bowl seemed appropriate.

It is somewhat of a tradition that I bring in the new year with noodles. It’s supposed to be good luck, but mainly the tradition stems from my desire to satisfy my noodle craving. Last year, I celebrated the new year with one of my favorites, Shrimp Chow Fun.

With the recent rainy weather, I’ve been having a strong craving for saimin. There’s something extra special about saimin when the weather is cold and damp. Even the thought of saimin’s aroma and warmth provides a little comfort on a rainy day.

Despite the rain, I needed to run a few errands and do some banking. I decided that I would take care of the errands, do the banking, and then stop off at Ezogiku, my favorite noodle shop in Manoa. I got dressed, bundled up in my jacket, and ventured out into the storm.

I completed the errands in no time, and was off to the bank. The bank was cold and surprisingly crowded, but I stood patiently in line and thought about the warmth of the saimin. With my banking complete, I walked outside to a glaring light that I had not seen thus far this year. It was the sun! In the time that I was in the bank, the rain had stopped and the sun had made its way through the parting clouds. Not to be detoured by the sun, I went to Ezogiku and had my noodles. After all, it’s a tradition.

All of the islands are under a massive cloud. There has been flooding, landslides, power failures, and more flooding. Although the Manoa area has had more than five inches of rainfall in the past 24 hours, thankfully my place hasn’t flooded and there haven’t been any power outages; knock on wood.

I’ve begun gathering animals, and I’m in the midst of constucting an ark.

To begin the first post of the year, I want to start off with a Thank You to those of you that took the time to share your good luck wishes for the new year. With all of your positive thoughts, I feel like my mojo has been energized.

Although the rain did clear for a while on New Year’s eve, I ultimately decided on plan B and went to the movies rather than venture into Waikiki. Instead of going to two movies as I had planned, I chose to see only one. I bought a tub of popcorn and a coke, and splurged on a box of Junior Mints. As you know, they are very refreshing!

I always like to get to the theater a little early just so I can find a good seat and get settled in. The movie was due to start in five minutes, so I hoped that a good seat with elbow room was still available. I was somewhat surprised to find the place completely empty. As I was choosing my seat and getting settled in, a pretty young woman walked down the aisle and said with a soft smile, “Last refuge for the loners.” She sat in a seat, and soon six others would follow.

As for the movie, In America is an excellent film. A sweet movie that has an innocence to it that is tangible. If you get the opportunity to see it, I highly recommend it. I won’t give the storyline away, but the two little girls are simply adorable. I kept thinking to myself, I want a daughter just like that. Some things you should wish for, and some things you shouldn’t.