He mea maʻa mau ia i ke Caprica - A Dream for you and I

Lords of Kobol, I woke up to fantastic dream this morning.

There are nights when I don't want to go to hula. Y'know, you get home from work after a long day, you're tired. You don't want to get back into the car and drive across town. My oldest daughter, who is also my hula sister didn't want to go either. She, like me, had worked a full day on her feet and could have been easily convinced not to go. We make the right decision, we e ʻeu ka lemu (got off our booties) and holoholo-ed to hula. 
I've never regretted going to hula on a night when I didn't want to go. I am always happy I went. Last night was no exception. It was a good class. After class we got home, I put the little ones in their beds, got comfy in my bed and watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica on Hulu. I'm in the middle of Season 3 right now. It seems my evening served as really excellent dream fodder.

I was at a restaurant having lunch with Chief Tyrol and Cally. 
(I was probably on Earth, but who knows, I could have easily been on Caprica. I don't think I was on the Cloud 9 ship, unless I was in the employee cafeteria on Cloud 9 because it wasn't fancy. It was mostly shaped like Barney's on Solano.  Yeah, it totally wasn't the Cloud 9 cafeteria because why would I save all my cubits to pay for transport from Faru Sadin to Cloud 9 only to have to eat the space equivalent of Sysco chicken nuggets? The restaurant was definitely on Earth or Caprica.)
We were seated along the wall at a 4 top but all the 4 tops along that wall were really close together. Chief, Cally and I had just ordered and I look up and see one of my kid's friend's dads walk in. I get up to say hello to him. He doesn't see me. He turns away and grabs a 'ukulele from the top of the bookshelf, sits down and starts playing Henehene Kou 'Aka. I say to myself "hey, I know that song." I get up, stand in the middle of the room and join the dance right at the "for you and I" go right into the kāholo and start the second verse, get on that street car and make my way to Waikīkī, Kapahulu, and Kaka'ako (moo).

Just Around the Corner with Captain Awesome

I don't know San Jose very well. I've been to the Winchester Mystery House. I've been to a Shark's game. I've been to Patty's Bar, the oldest bar in SJ. I can get to my boyfriend's house from my house, but I still have to use google maps to figure out how to get home and I'm certain I take a different way to the freeway every single time. I know very little about the secrets San Jose holds, but last weekend I went for a walk, and let me tell you, I still know very little about San Jose, but I got to go on a very nice walk.

Captain Awesome (my BF) and I took the family dog Gus out for a walk. Just 3 short blocks and up around the corner from where we started, lots of goats nibbled on our fingers. They have the tiniest teeth.

We saw cows. They were a lot bigger than they seem in the picture.

And we got to enjoy a beautiful moment as the sun was setting.

Gus got to stretch his legs, pee on things and  sniff goats. I got to enjoy spending time in the evening sun with my man.

My 'Okina Outshines My 'Ōniu, You Crazy Diamond

I played the flute a bit in band in grade school and junior high (a few of my tens of readers may remember by lovely rendition of Journey's Who's Crying Now? on my flute accompanied by one of my classmates who was really amazing on the piano at the school talent show). I picked the flute up again in my early 20's but never really stuck with it (the other few of my tens of readers might remember my rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the Chameleon Club before the band Ida came on).

When I started Hula I picked up the 'ukulele a bit. Although I enjoyed playing, I wasn't very good but I noticed the more I played, the more I concentrated on learning how to play the songs we were learning hulas to, the stronger my dance was. I learned early on that as much as I truly love hula dancing, I am much stronger with learning chants and learning the language than I am with dancing. My 'okina outshines my 'ōniu, for sure. I always remember the hula better when I have the mele (song) memorized. My dancing is more passionate, more controlled and more me when I am pa'a (confident in, firm, stuck) with the mele.

I am not a musician but music has always been important to me. It's relaxed me. It's energized me. It's pulled me out of a bad mood. Music for me helps bring things into focus. Music keeps my mind active and helps me organize my thoughts. Music helps me process information and calm my mind. I express myself better when music is involved. I'm in a better mood when music is involved. I get more things done when there is music playing.

Set something to music and I will memorize it. Set something to music and I will understand it. Set something to music and I will remember it (I remember both my mom and my 5th grade teacher yelling at me when I was a kid. "You can remember any song on the radio but you can't memorize Luther's Small Catechism? What's the matter with you?" (BTW, she and my 5th grade teacher hated my reply of "Well maybe they should set it to music." I never understood why; setting it to music seemed totally logical to me; it's how most of us memorized the Preamble, isn't it?.)) Set something to music and I will find meaning in it.

I surround myself with people who also use music to express themselves or to soothe themselves or to define themselves; people who not only value listening to but also creating their own rhythms in life; people who mark milestones in their lives with what music was playing at the time or what show they were either watching or playing.

I don't know how to succinctly tie up this blog post so in lieu of being able to write a cohesive closing thought, here is my favorite flutist playing my favorite flute piece.