I'LL LIVE: EUPHORIA 3

My blog around eight months ago introduced Euphoria One, which ended when I went to France for what turned out to be a fabulous tour to taste Chateau Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux and Louis XIII Cognac, plus several memorable meals.  However, the stress level was too dominant for anything like continued euphoria.

But back in Honolulu, euphoria returned.  Call that E2.  But only weeks later, on to the Orient.  While that too was fabulous, I can't maintain a comfortably enjoyable state of mind on the road.  Then when I came home after 42 days of travel, all my medical treatment deadlines arrived, procedures I should have addressed many years ago, summarized in my 1June2019 posting.

Well, this past weekend my skin tag removal doctor left a message on my phone and said all went well.  The polyps (or skin tags) were not malignant.  So that called for a minor celebration.  I went out for lunch at Merriman's, followed by a movie:

I ordered what looks like escargot, but this time with octopus, a far more desirable victual.  With snails, you wonder if they are poisonous or not.  The garlic bread was also sensational, and they brought an extra slice, for a good part of the consumption is to absorb the butter concoction with the bread.  Perfect with a Pinot Noir and Oahu-crafted beer.

However, they can still improve this preparation, for the essence of octopus was only barely there.  If they fry, dry or otherwise eliminate more water, the taste should intensify.  Growing up we could actually afford a whole dried abalone--where you need a pocket knife to thinly slice a portion--which has a flavor totally absent from the abalone you now have in restaurants.  Same for scallops.  Yuki was my server, and he did well, allowing for variations.

So, anyway, next on to Rocketman, the story of Elton John.  The Tomatometer showed 91% (reviewers) and 88% (audiences).  Taron Egerton does a decent job as the matured Elton John, singing 100% of the songs.  While he does not quite mimic John's voice, that was okay, and Egerton is a bit better looking.  I just couldn't quite figure out who was Elton's mother, and she turned out to be 38-year old Bryce Dallas Howard, of Jurassic Park fame, and daughter of Ron.

Yesterday was potentially the most important day for the rest of my life, as I was scheduled to meet my colonoscopy doctor to get the results of the lab test. The previous afternoon, I got a call from her office, reminding me of this appointment.  That spooked me, for never before has any of my doctors ever called for that reason.  Unfortunately, my mind worked overtime, and I thought, the message must be bad, for why would they do this unless it was really important.  I had difficulty sleeping.

I've been so lucky all my life, and have long been expecting some balance occurring, meaning unlucky news.  Thus, with trepidation, I showed up early.

We met.  You quickly look for special body language, or some sign on her face to alert you on what to expect.  Well, the two polyps turned out to be benign.  The news were all good.  I don't know why, but we talked for more than 20 minutes, very little about my health.  At the end she indicated I should return in three years, not necessarily for another colonoscopy, but just to see how I'm doing.  I am the happiest human on Planet Earth, and entered into a state of Euphoria 3.

So where  do I go for lunch to celebrate?  I couldn't think of even one restaurant to match my elation.  Plus, as I would be driving, can't have any wine or beer.   What about my 15 Craigside lanai, where the view is wonderful, and I'm surrounded by my herb garden?

So I went to  Tamashiro's and Marukai.  I noted that there were several varieties of "cheap" fish at Tamashiro's, as for example, to the right, $1.98/pound.  But that is tilapia from China.  I can't think of something I would more want to avoid.  But awa chunks for less than $4...yet, those bones.  Even oio, which can only be made into fishcake. I picked out a dungeness crab.

At Marukai I bought some Miyazaki wagyu beef and a pound of local ahi chu-toro.  Guess which one?

They were both caught in local waters, and the one on the left certainly looked close to being real chu-toro (the relative whiteness indicates fattiness, a desirable trait of tuna, with more omega-3 fatty acid).  However, I purchased a pound of the left yellow-fin tuna and saved $26.

I had the crab and some sashimi for lunch on my lanai, with cold beer and hot sake.  Note that package of potato chips, which will later be explained.

I noticed my apartment flowers were also particularly cheerful.  Water lily (and, if you look closely, with two new buds popping up--in the year here, there has been a bloom 90% of those days, and, always, only one), anthuriums and honohono orchids (and, remember, this is June):

As a quick aside, I bought a new version of Terro ant trap, and this one definitely works:

Ants bring aphids and disease, and my battle with them is constant.

Also new, which I had for lunch (see photo above), Foodland now produces its own potato chips, which get awfully close to Maui's Original Kitch'n Cook'd  legend.  I thought it was no longer around, but, apparently must still be available, at double the cost of the one on the left.

I then for dinner splurged on the wagyu / onions and chu-toro over ogo (seaweed), with the latest Stanford Cabernet Sauvignon, spot of hot sake and cold beer:

What a lunch-dinner combination on my lanai, enhanced by Euphoria 3.  Then in the evening, I promptly lost my initial poker buy-in (all of $5).  However, E3 evokes an attitude of indulgence, for, after all, we're laughing all the time.

To further amplify E3, I'll join the Pan-Pacific Festival this weekend in Waikiki.  All events are free to the public, ending with a parade on Sunday.

I tried to get a room for June 8 and 9, but those Starwood properties on the beach went for close to $1000 for those two days, after you add all those exorbitant and outrageous fees.  So I'll be staying at the Princess Kaiulani (right), which still had Kamaaina (only for people who live here) rates.  And, just think, my transport cost will be free, for our 15 Craigside Photo Club has an outing to the Honolulu Zoo Saturday morning.  I'll have the van hold my roller, and at 11:30AM walk over to the PK.  Most tourists spend a fortune and lose two days getting here and back.

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MY BEST SUMMER...EVER?

Sure, it's not even the longest day of the year yet--that will be the 2019 Summer Solstice on Friday, June 21--but just this month came Euphoria 3--which continues--a fabulous Waikiki staycation--and a Saturday with nothing to do.  I'll probably go to two movies and have another memorable meal some place, maybe even back on my lanai.

My four ESPN fantasy baseball teams are leading their respective leagues and I walked 18 holes on both Wednesday and Friday at the Ala Wai Golf Course.  My recent meals have been inspired by what I ate in my youth growing up in Kakaako.

My various ecological systems are doing well:

I don't go surfing, have traveled too much this year and rarely do any kind of hiking.  What I do is go to a lot of movies and watch too much television.  America's, and my, favorite summer show, is America's Got Talent.  In this Year 14, AGT appears Tuesday nights, with a repeat Sunday evening.  This week (third audition) Simon Cowell gave his golden buzzer to Tyler Butler-Figueroa, an 11-year old violinist who suffered through Lymphoblastic leukemia since the age of of 4.5.  He said his loss of hair led to bullying at school.  But he is in remission.

However, to me, the star of the show was 13-year old Charlotte Summers.  She certainly sounds American, but was born in Spain, and lives in Marbella.  Charlotte of course made it to the next round, and I can imagine her singing Janis Joplin's Me and Bobby McGee.  Now, is that bad grammar?  Apparently not, just bad manners.  The song was written by Kris Kristofferson.

The week one golden buzzer, from Gabrielle Union, also went to a challenged individual who is blind, and with obvious autism, Kodi Lee (here with mother):

I want to say thank you to all my fans who have been supporting me through my journey!! Heck Yeah @itsgabrielleu chose me as her first #goldenbuzzer #AGT #AGTAuditions

Just watch the judges' reactions.

Howie Mandell gave his golden buzzer in week two to Joseph Allen, who sang his original song, and deserved it.  Joseph is what America is all about.  Growing up in mixed families, he sets his mind to something and gets it done.  Attitude.  Drive.  Perseverance.  I don't think he will win, but he will be a very successful human being.

All of those performances, and many others besides, were heart-rending, and if you watch the two hour show and don't shed a tear or more, something is wrong with you.

It's too obvious that the editors/producers milk out every emotion they can, and, perhaps too, toss a few coins the other way by paying a few to show up just to be embarrassed.

For example, Sethward the Worm got roundly dinged last year.  This year (week 3) he returned as a short-necked giraffe and again got booted out.  However, he returned a few minutes later as a walrus and did even worse.  His costumes were awesome.  This can't be a truly serious participant.

Those "other" channels also produce worthy programs.  Hulu began Year 3 of The Handmaid's Tale on June 5, and will begin the fourth series of Veronica Mars and initiate Four Weddings and a Funeral next month.  I subscribe to Netflix, and it began Series 5 of Black Mirror on June 5 and starts Season 3 of Stranger Things on July 4.  I've watched perhaps 10 episodes (each one is stand alone) of BM, and they are weird, but addictive.

So why do I say this will be my best summer...ever?  I don't know.  I have nothing planned, but will enjoy every coming day as best I can.

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DEATH BRINGS EVERLASTING PEACE OF MIND

This should be a sad month for me, as my wife of 47 years passed away ten years ago.  She went in the morning, in the afternoon I posted on Gratitude...Not Grief, and The Huffington Post published it the next morning.

We talked at some length about death and the afterlife, and perhaps I convinced her that there was none.  Then again, maybe not, for she sort of still believed in angels.  We both did not want funerals, but a celebration of life might be appropriate.  We also didn't think much about the need for gravestones.  

I never previously imagined a tribute to her, but people left money at her celebration of life, so I decided to use it to plant a tree she liked.  I know it had yellow flowers, so I used her funds (we kept separate spending accounts) to travel around the world to find this tree.  During this traumatic month, I thought I'd also place her ashes at places she wanted to visit but did not, mostly because I wasn't interested.  Kind of an atonement process.  The first ceremony was a private one at Rainbow Falls.  I'm close to completing an e-book on these journeys to 50+ sites.

While I was in Bangkok on this search, her sister-in-law, Gwen, who worked at a botanical park in Hilo, informed me that the name was the Gold Tree.  Eventually at least 100 trees were planted, including at the Hilo Municipal, Ala Wai and Makalena Golf Courses.  The Ala Wai ones all passed away, but Pearl's cousin, also from Hilo, recently sent me a note that the Hilo golf course tree is now somewhere between 30 and 40 feet tall.

There should be a Sunday message to this story, but the surprising, if not shocking, twist, is that, as well-matched as we were, and I was indeed very lucky, for she did everything for me, my life the past decade has been absolutely fabulous.  I think it has to do with my reaction to trauma.  Her sudden departure should have left me crushed, and certainly in grief.  Neither happened.  Gratitude led me to the Gold Tree and Pearl's Ashes.

It's almost like she gave me a final gift to enjoy the rest of my life in whatever way I wanted, which I have.  In October of last year I again experienced this backlash effect when  I couldn't walk one night.  This cleared up in a few minutes, but distress sparked euphoria.  This sense of general ecstasy went away when I went on two trips.  They were great, and sure, I'm holding a $900 bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, but still stressful.  There was a mild E2 between those trips.

I returned at the beginning of last month to undertake two medical procedures.  I had purposefully delayed doing them, fearing the worse, because I had been too lucky all my life, and some balance was overdue.  Thankfully, everything went so well that I entered Euphoria 3, which has continuously been with me for six weeks. 

When Pearl died, my view of death changed.  So much so that I stopped going to funerals, except one, when the wife of the deceased called me to provide a eulogy.  Plus, my attitude about life significantly shifted from others to me. 

All my life I have been generous and went out of my way to help people.  I've given more than anyone I know.  That was fine, but sometimes the effect can be stressful, for most of my professional career involved finding annual funds to support a hundred staffers.  Even in retirement, I was still writing books and taking on chairmanships of good causes.

Finally, three years ago I decided to end all that and now focus on myself.  Mind you, I'm not an ogre, for I still smile and am mostly kind.  However, simple things like I stopped giving gifts, thankfully accepting what I am given.   Anyone my age deserves this.  It's easier for me, as Pearl and I had no children.  As you can see, I'm also eating well.



I'm now only a little more than a year away from reaching reaching 80.  Getting to the Year 2020 has long been one of my goals since coming up with Earth 2020:  Visions for Our Children's Children, a NASA-sponsored public education program linking the University of Hawaii with similar institutions in California on sustainability, environmental accountability and world peace.

That was 45 years ago, and I assisted Manoa Futurist Jim Dator in leading the Hawaii effort.  I was a bit player, but did come up with the Earth 2020 theme.  My life certainly was influenced by this summer program.  I just watched Jim on Leslie Wilcox's Long Story Short.  He must be well into his 80's, looks incredible and hasn't lost any lucidity.

When you get to our age, the end is closer, and I now realize much of what I attempted to do will not reach any kind of fruition for a long time to come.  But they will all someday arrive with impact.  From World Peace (my first article with The Huffington Post touched on this subject) to SETI to Geoengineering of Global Warming to the Hydrogen Economy to Fusion to the Blue Revolution, I feel very much satisfied with just helping plant those seeds.

So pardon me for attempting to optimize my final few years by maximizing life to the fullest.  I actually think that my hair is getting blacker.  I know I'm happier.  The past ten years after Pearl went have been the most enjoyable period of my life, and maybe even getting better.

Death is seen by some, if not many, as something terrible.  For me it could lead to eternal blackness or gloom.  Then again, maybe I should look at my final phase as everlasting peace of mind.  In any case, it would be nice if my current state of Euphoria 3 continues till....and who knows, I might actually wake up in Heaven.

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In the East Pacific Ocean is Tropical Storm Erick, who will become a hurricane, head in the direction of Hawaii, but hopefully weaken back into a tropical storm when he arrives on Friday:

But, ah, right behind is Flossie.

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