Eternal sunshine of my spotless mind

I am digging my way into the recesses of my closet to get out the Halloween decorations. I feel like an archeologist or a psychologist as I dig through the first layer and am stalled by a box full of photographs. Oh-oh. Yes, I have been stuck on this box for an hour now and have made a mess all over my floor. Trying to dwindle down my pile of CRAP, but so far the only thing I have thrown away is newspaper clippings of pilot ex-boyfriend and a few stray Christmas envelopes. [sigh] And now the room is a mess. I got stuck on latest ex-boy's Christmas card & pictures. Do I keep 'em or chuck 'em? Leaning towards the chuck, but may store them for another cycle (hey, look at how long it took me to chuck pilot boy's newspaper clipping-- they're dated 1994!!!)? Also starting to look at the pics of ex-hub. Do I keep them for C-Man and let him toss them out or should they get the heave-ho? Dunno, can't make up my mind, so here I am...

Was digging through the old photos and ran across my pics from my last trip to visit Sis & Bill. It was before C-Man was born. He was there, although he was not his own person -- 4 months from being born. Can I say he's been to Florida? Hmmm, I guess it depends on who you ask. I would say no, because he has no experiences there, except for digesting gator nuggets (he eats, what I eat right?). I can't wait to go back. Yes I am already formulating my next several vacations in my mind. Airfare is still high, but on the decline, as is gas prices for my car -- Chevron was $3.69! Far better price than $4.39 (the highest I paid during that insane period).

I have also been wanting to scan some of the photos. I feel like a lazy bum, because Chris managed to scan in a bunch of old pics that make me just laugh. We look so young.

See? Clutter in my mind and on my floor. Managed to get some out of my head, now back to the floor. Most of those pics will probably end up back in the box. So much for getting rid of stuff. Wish me luck...

My mood: nostalgic

Posted by Cora at 06:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, I was reading a book called the Companies we keep 2. The first book of the series was okay, it focused on actual companies in Hawaii. This one is more interesting for me. It had tidbits about Hawaii's past that I didn't know about. Fascinating and I highly recommend it. Anyway, in the back there's a section with Hawaii trivia questions. One of them was about Rap Replinger and his comedy routines. I was impressed with myself because I got most of them right. Woohoo. It makes me want to dig out my CD Poi dog with crabs and listen to it. Let's face it, Rap Reiplinger was a genius. The CD brings back memories of my childhood. I think we spent many evenings listening to a cassette at home. And for a little bit of trivia about my family... did you know that my bro's name came from my suggestion after listening to skit the Young kanakas? A-Ha! Well, there was also a boy from my class with the same name too.

So one of my more brilliant moments as a librarian occurred this afternoon. We were discussing one of the questions in the book about one of his skits (Room service) and I decide that I need to know the answer. I search the collection for the CD, but it's out. Then I try one of the other CDs to see if it's on the "best of," but am horrified to find that it isn't. Then I do a stupid internet search. As I am doing this, the thought occurs to me that below the title of the quiz is a little sentence that says "Answers on page 235 (or whatever page it's on)" DUH! What can I say? I'm enthusiastic about my job...

Posted by Cora at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the body ages, I notice things that creak and things that no longer work the way they used to. One of those things is my stomach. Its tolerance for food has grown picky and I am no longer able to enjoy some of the foods I once loved. I am grateful that my tolerance for milk products has remained intact after many years of spotty indecisiveness on my digestional behalf.

Today I was reminiscing with my co-workers about our love of onions-- RAW onions. We both gnoshed them regularly in our youth, the rawer and stinkier the better. My favorite dish was a tuna sandwich. Wheat bread; tuna with mayo, relish and tons of diced RAW onions; lots of black pepper; and alfalfa sprouts. Yum. Pair that with Fritos and you've got a winner. Unfortunately the days of raw onions are over. Bye-bye poke, bye-bye macaroni and potato salad a la Grandpa, bye-bye burgers, bye-bye to all other things I used to enjoy with raw onions. Now I can only eat well cooked onions, which is not as fun.

My mood: tired and certainly catching some sort of cold

Posted by Cora at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been counting the days until my hair is long enough to donate. I need at least 8 to 10 inches minimum in order for one of the wiggies to take it. A bizarre memory comes to mind. It was a deep, dark secret, but it’s quite in the past and I feel the need to share…

I will never go to Supercuts. I went there once and tried to get a layered haircut. I left the store with a mullet. I was so horrified by it that I immediately went to Sears and had them chop my hair. I told them that I didn’t care what it looked like, but I wanted them to FIX it. There is no evidence or witness to this event. It lives in the area of my brain that includes stupid events in my life that I’d like to forget.

Can I laugh about it now? Maybe.

My mood: dry

Posted by Cora at 10:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Me, 20 years ago...

1. Where did you graduate from and what year? KHS, class of 1988
2. Who was your significant other? None until Jr. year, dated PW for less than a year (Dad called him beanpole)
3. Was your Prom a night to remember? Ugh, not really, more like one to forget (no offense to MO, my date (different MO, not the MO)
4. What was your fav song you danced to the night of PROM? Don’t even think I danced at the prom. I think we just ate, took pictures and took off
5. Do you own all 4 Yearbooks? Yes, they’re somewhere in this mess
6. Who was your best friend? Musson & Trini
7. What was your fav movie in high school? Breakfast club
8. What was your fav song in high school? R.E.M.- Radio Free Europe; Modern English- I melt with you; Ozzy- Crazy train; U2- Sunday, bloody Sunday
9. What was your number 1 choice of College in high school? NYU, I wanted to make films
10. What radio stations did you jam out to in high school? Can’t remember, mostly just bought albums and tapes (no CDs yet)
11. Were you involved in any organizations or clubs? German Club (President), NHS, Cinematography, Yearbook
12. What was ur fav class in high school? Yearbook, Cinematography, Zoology
13. Who was your big crush in high school? MO (not prom MO)
14. Would you say you've changed a lot since high school? YES
15. What do you miss the most about it? Friends
16. Your worst memory of high school? Prom, for no other reason than it was not really what we thought it was going to be (don't ask me what I thought it was going to be like)
17. Did you have a car? No
18. What were your school colors? Blue & Orange
19. Who was your fav teacher? Noguchi, Chase (of course), Muronaka
20. Did you own a cell phone in high school? I’m ancient. No one owned a cell phone when I was in high school
21. Did you leave campus for lunch? No
22. Were you always late to class? Yes
23. Did you ever have to stay for Sat. School? No
24. Did you ever ditch? My senior year, yes
25. What sports did you play? None
26. It's Friday night, where were you? Hanging out with my friends
27. Were you a party animal? No
28. Were you in the "In Crowd"? I was in A crowd
29. Ever smoke? Smoke what???
30. Were you a nerd? No
31. Did you have a job your senior year? Yes, library student helper (who knew???)
32. Can you sing the alma mater? Did my school have one? I think so
33. School mascot? Mustangs
34. What do you remember most about graduation? Trini’s car getting stuck on the Pali, her dad rescuing us, & RH in the car smoking his cigarettes all calm and unconcerned by the amount of alcohol we were trying to hide. Oh, and we almost missed graduation.
35. If you could go back and do it over, would you? Hell, NO
36. Have you gained weight since then? Yes
37. When it comes time for the reunion will you be there? Was there for 10th, 20th coming this summer

Posted by Cora at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since my last rant about the theatre production (did I use the word repulsive?), I decided to dedicate next installment to the theatre (not quite in my hometown, but close) and the theaters that I used to go to.

When I was growing up, there were 2 theaters in my neighborhood. I think they both started out as single screens, then went to double screens. There was also a drive-in.

My earliest memory of going to the movies was to the drive-in. My family went to the drive-in. My mom would make a dinner, usually musubis and some kind of meat, and we would go for a double feature. I have no recollection of anything I may have seen there with my family (maybe sis has a clue?). When I was in high school, it was one of a few places to go with your friends, although we didn't go very often.

Daiei used to have a movie theater in the parking lot. Two movies I remember seeing there were Poltergeist and Joy Luck Club. My sister and I begged my mom to see Poltergeist. She finally broke down and took us to see it. It really scared me. For weeks afterwards, we would sneak into each other's bed after mom turned the lights out and closed the door. We didn't want her to know that we were scared because then we wouldn't get to see spooky movies anymore. Of course, thinking back on it, she must have known because she woke us up in the morning and we were in the same bed... The Joy Luck Club, I remember seeing with my friends. We went in late, so the movie was crowded. We were in the first row all the way on the right side of the screen (don't ask me why I remember that detail). I wasn't at all prepared to cry, but I remember sobbing throughout the film and I had no tissue.

The second theatre was closer to my high school and I didn’t start going there until I was in high school. I went on my second date to the theater and saw Little Shop of Horrors. I loved the movie. This theater catered to the military, so there was a lot of testosteroney-type movies. I guess it’s a good thing they split it into a double theater.

Then, there’s the theatre. When I was in high school, the theatre at the high school was all the rage. People were dying to be in the productions. It is the beginning of my love for musical theatre. The first show I saw there could have been Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I knew lots of band people (Trini was one of them) and over the years I grew to love musicals. Like I said in the previous post, they were very well attended events. Most shows were sold out and they hired a police officer to direct traffic.

What are they now? Well, the drive-in is now the campus of a private school. The two movie theaters are still standing, but I think they just rent the spaces out to churches. The theatre is the only thing left. Today, I passed by and glanced in the parking lot (it was the last performance of the show), the lot was mostly full, so that’s promising.

My mood: itchy (from stress?)

Posted by Cora at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I was a young, I was not the fashion plate that I am now (ha, ha). I remember my mom taking me to Holiday Mart to buy school clothes. They had the most horrid clothing you could imaging, but there were not very many places to get clothes here (there was also Liberty House, HIC, and Cornet) and we rarely ventured outside our little town for anything except to go holoholo out on the north shore. Most of the clothes were forgettable, but I do remember a pair of jeans that I got there. They had these two purple and gold butterflies on the back pockets. I thought they were the coolest pants ever.

We did occasionally go over the mountain for other clothing necessities. I took the bus to Ala Moana with my mom and sister (pre-brother) a few times a year. It was fun (the mall was huge) and I have fond memories. My Grandma also used to sew for us (she used to work in McInerney’s when it was a huge department store in the center of the mall). My sister and I had usually got matching sets of clothes. Petal pushers were the “in” thing back then. The piece I like the most was a pair of lavender pants with a matching pale floral top. (Did I have a thing for purple?)

Later, when I was buying my own clothes, I frequented the Salvation Army because I wanted clothes that were not like everyone else's. I was into army fatigues, oversized men’s shirts, scarves, ties, trench coats and the colors black, white and olive. I was a non-conformist. (A boy once said I was beatnik, which I think was supposed to be insulting, but I was secretly pleased that he noticed and after high school, I dated him briefly. Anyway, back to my story…) One day, I was cruising through the SA when I saw a yellow purse with a Dutch boy and girl print, which I found so familiar. I realized that it was my purse that I hadn’t seen it around for a while. But there it was, just sitting there discarded and dejected. I then saw a vest, which my Grandma made for me hanging on the rack. I wanted to buy them and take them back home. Instead I walked home and cried.

Nowadays clothing stores are plentiful and we are littered with dozens of expensive boutiques (although I love Manuheali‘i), most of which I have never set foot in. Liberty House is now Macy’s. Holiday Mart became Daiei and is now Don Quijote. The Salvation Army has moved into the old Cornet location. Cornet is now history. Only HIC remains the same as I remember (I don't know what the inside looks like now, I haven't been in that store since intermediate school). I keep telling myself that one day I'll wander around town and check out the new stores...

My mood: tired

Posted by Cora at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Took a nice walk today after work with KK. Walked from the house up to the wall along the marsh, along the wall to the highway and back home. Much has changed since my days of gallivanting freely through the once sleepy town that I call home. I feel compelled to share my version of my hometown as the deluge of tourists and development destroys all that was here from my childhood.

As I walked, I passed the record store. It was closed, but a quick glance inside revealed that it was no longer filled with vinyl or cassette tapes that once filled the store. Gone were the giant sized wall poster of Springsteen’s butt and Motley Crew. I recall a store littered with posters, reggae banners and endless supply of useless band memorabilia. The store now looks clean. You can actually see the walls and ceiling. Memorabilia is sparse and the CD cases look much neater than the mess of used albums that used to line the walls and even the floor. One constant remained. A lone male, sitting in the corner of the closed store chatting on the phone. Ward. I looked twice and sure enough, it was him.

My record store was my record store because of the relationships I had with the people that were there. It was my version of Cheers, where everybody knew my name and I knew all the other regulars. I can’t remember everyone’s name now (my memory fades), but I remember some of the guys that worked there - Luke, Denny and Ward. Every day after school I would hike over to the store, hang out and wait for my friends to join me (usually Musson & Gayle). I had a secret crush on Ward and would often do soda runs to 7-11, just so that I could bring him back his beverage of choice – a diet Pepsi super big gulp.

I spent a fortune of my life savings there, which thankfully was not much, seeing as I didn’t even have a job at the time, only my allowance. Musson must have spent thousands of dollars at the store. She was obsessed with Duran Duran. Hanging out there made me feel grown up and somewhat privileged to have older male friends who didn’t think of me as a child. The people there (employees and other friends I made) introduced me to great music I would have otherwise never listened to. After getting a job at the library (another entry for another day) and eventually a boyfriend (my own age and another future entry), my stops at the store became irregular and infrequent.

After graduating from high school, I lived on campus at the university here. I had no boyfriend and gave Ward my phone number. I was surprised when he actually called me. We talked on the phone several times and he asked me out (he was also single). I said yes, but backed out of the date. I think I couldn’t deal with the fact that he was older. It was just weird. So we never went out, but I found out that he later dated my former friend (and sister of his former girlfriend) and I started dating a guy who was 5-years older than me, so I guess the age thing wasn’t the real issue. He eventually left the store and I lost track of him.

It’s been probably 15 years since I step foot in the store. I noted the hours and think I’ll stop by someday just to say hi and check out what the new generation of music lovers are buying. Maybe I’ll get Musson to join me.

My mood: nostalgic and tired

Posted by Cora at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Life... it's all about the journey, but how the hell did I get here?

Read a book a few months ago about clutter. Some people hold on to clutter because they attach the memories to the object. According to the book, your memories are in you, not in the object. Well I beg to differ. I spent a good part of my evening tossing clutter and I came upon a plastic baggie filled with ticket stubs for various events I attended dating 1988 - 2002. There was about a 5" stack of movie stubs dating back to 1988! And ticket stubs from various events. When glancing through the stubs it was like reliving my past, and someone else's. I don't remember many of those movies or even some of the events. So before I retire them to the energy creating H-Power plant, here's one for the memory books.

Movie stubs: I didn't go through the whole pile, but the earliest ticket I found was dated 03/19/88 for Masquerade. What the hell movie was that? I don't even have a clue and am too lazy to look it up on IMDB. It was playing at Pearlridge West and the ticket price was $5.00. Also found a bunch from 1989: Back to the future (dunno which one), D. Liasons, Star Trek, Shag, The Abyss, and Naked Gun.

Local theatre performances: I don't even remember seeing Can Can, but I did in 1994. Hmmmm. There were lots for Castle Theatre and various others for Diamond Head, Kennedy, & Mid Pac. Oh, and a stub for a 1988 performance of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which was when I first met Mike, who would end up being my boyfriend 3 years later. He had an amazing voice. I hear that he moved to New York and has a boyfriend now. Figures... I also found a ticket stub for a May 1998 Iona Pear Dance Theatre which may have been the first time I went out with the ex outside of work, that was 3 months before we started sort-of dating and 6 months before he became an official boyfriend.

Broadway performances & music concerts:
March 11 1985: U2 - my first concert, I was in section AA, Row 12, seat 9! I touched Bono's hand! I haven't washed my hand since that day...
1986: Julian Lennon $12 (for Sis), A-ha $16 (I can't believe how cheap they were back then)
1988: INXS, George Michael
No date: Midnight Oil
1990: Bolshoi Ballet, Johnny Mathis (I think I went to these with a boyfriend and his parents)
1991: Harry Connick Jr.
1993: Phantom of the Opera
1994: Cats
1995: Grease (Jon Secada was Danny)
1996: Les Miserables, Stomp
1997: Bernadette Peters
1998: David Copperfield (Yes, Kathy we did go to see David apparently), Natalie Merchant
1999: Kenny Endo, the Flying Karamazov Brothers
2002: Ahn Trio, Journey, No Doubt
And a bunch of Kanikapilas, Blue Hawaiian Music Festival, UH football and baseball games, a Honolulu Sharks game, and other local concerts. I know there were more than that, but I guess that's all I managed to save. Gee, think that was enough?

Nothing from 2002 on, guess I decided that I didn't need to save them anymore. So looks like 2002-now is just a blank. I did see Lion King this year. And I have no stubs from the musicals and shows that I've seen on the mainland (I think I saw one every day I was in New York, Les Mis in San Francisco(?), and I remember seeing Chicago in Seattle). My mind is drawing a big fat zero on anything else.

My mood: lighter

Posted by Cora at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I've thanked Sis before, but thanks again for forcing me onto MySpace. It's nice to hear from people I haven't seen since high school and it's amazing that even though many years have passed, I still feel connected to them. We have a common history, share similar memories and experienced the same angst of our times.

So tonite I get home, open my messages and find these gems from Kathy:

The gang: Dionne, Gayle, Tish, Buzz, Mel, Barbara, Kathy, Kori, Me, & Urs.
Most of my buddies at a sleepover for D's b-day. Musson's hair was funky.

A graduation picture. Oh, my god, that perm is hideous- YIKES!

My mood: cold, waterlogged, & proud of our CB- Heisman finalist

Posted by Cora at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)