Except this time, the natural disaster never happened. Phew.

This weekend’s tsunami warning should not be confused with the several watches and advisories (which are both lower than a warning – the links lead to definitions for each term) that were sent out the past few months. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile was enough for us to be seriously concerned about a tsunami threat, especially since the one that hit Hilo in 1960 was generated by a Chilean earthquake, as well.

And let us not forget, 8.8 is damn powerful – in fact, thousands of times more powerful than the Haitian earthquake in January. Having experienced only one earthquake in my lifetime so far – Hawai‘i’s 5.3-magnitude quake – I can’t imagine what it’d be like to experience something as powerful as those quakes. And I was living at the top of a 12-story building when the Hawai‘i quake hit. Bless the people of Chile and Haiti who’ve lived and died through those disasters.

This is selfish and horrible to write, but a part of me was hoping that we’d get hit by a tsunami. A destructive tsunami hasn’t hit Hawai‘i since 1975, almost 40 years ago. Several generations who have never experienced a state of emergency due to a tsunami. Now, I’m not saying I’d like to see people getting hurt or killed by one, or anyone suffering because of one – who would? – but I suppose I’m curious to see how our state would fare in an event like that.

That said, judging from what I saw on the news, it looked like city officials, emergency personnel, and volunteers did a damn good job executing a long-established emergency plan for the state. The road closures and evacuations seem like they went off pretty smoothly. Buses travelled along Wai‘anae, picking up anyone who needed shelter from the impending tidal surge. We also found out about kinks in the system we had, like the failure of Civil Defense sirens in a few neighborhoods. Either no one cared to report that they didn’t work during monthly testings, or they just happened to fail on the day they were being used for an actual warning.

Kudos also go out to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, of course. They worked tirelessly for over 30 hours straight analyzing data that would help assess the tsunami threat. And the representatives who were grilled by our local media – that is not an easy experience to be subjected to, to not know how powerful of a tsunami it could be, and to not be able to give any solid answers.

At times, I felt like we were expecting these reps to bust out the crystal sphere and tell us our future. The initial data could only tell us whether a tsunami was coming or not – the earthquake in Chile was powerful enough to trip buoy alerts set up around the Pacific. As later measurements came in from buoys in places like the Solomon Islands and American Samoa, it got clearer that a destructive tsunami was most likely not going to happen – just tidal changes that were perhaps most visible in Hilo Bay.

I appreciated how the local media (or at least Hawaii News Now) treated this story. Perhaps because it was local, and perhaps after Hawaii News Now anchors grilled tsunami warning center officials late Friday night/early Saturday morning, it was understood that this was a waiting game, with no knowledge of any specifics about the tsunami. No one jumped to the conclusion that this would be a major disaster, unlike national news outlets like CNN, who, in their typical fashion, over-dramatized the situation and claimed we were expecting 30-foot waves.

The majority of my news-watching time was spent on Hawaii News Now. Occasionally, I flipped to CNN to see this story unfold on national news. Unlike CNN, who focused on explaining tsunami-related terms, fiddling with magic walls, and talking every now and then to a reporter on vacation on the Big Island to see how she was doing, Hawaii News Now covered many angles of tsunami preparations: updates straight from the warning center, footage of locals and tourists alike making preparations, traffic cameras that showed our roads busy one hour and deserted the next, interviews and statements from government officials, and an exclusive camera set up at a perfect vantage point at Hilo Bay.

The only thing I appreciated from CNN was their local news feeds they would cut to occasionally from KHON and KITV, a way of showing what we were watching. They also interviewed KITV’s Justin Fujioka to get some perspective on the situation.

You’d think in this day and age, the national news media would get some basic facts straight about Hawai‘i. (Or maybe not – mass media generally does a good job displaying our society’s ignorance and lack of depth.) Like how “Hawaiians” are people of our islands’ indigenous race, and isn’t a term used to describe all residents of Hawai‘i – the Associated Press stylebook was updated five years ago to acknowledge this. Or the basic knowledge that Hawai‘i is a US state – MSNBC allegedly reported that there is “a large American population” here. Go figure.

The big event I did NOT appreciate at ALL was when a CNN meteorologist lost his temper with a guest professor – a meteorologist who just moments before was bragging that this professor was his “phone-a-friend” for tsunami-related terms. That outburst was disgustingly unprofessional and unnecessary. I hope he had a talking to.

The general public, on the other hand, gets a big high-five from me. A lot of people took the safe route and stocked up on food, gasoline, and water in case of outages the tsunami could generate. Now, maybe we should have had these things well in advance, especially since hurricane season just ended, but just seeing people not take any chances about what could happen was impressive in my eyes. 500 people, most of whom I figure are homeless families living on beaches along the Wai‘anae coast, took up shelter at Nānākuli High School.

Judging from Twitter trends, Hawai‘i was the center of discussion, as it was the number one topic on the site at one point, followed by #hitsunami. I like Jennifer Chandler’s take on these Twitter trends – that this was NOT a sign of the world talking about us, but a sign of Hawai‘i as a community banding together in a time of crisis.

It would have been interesting to see how naysayers would have reacted if a destructive tsunami actually happened. No destructive tsunami and they were proven right. It makes me think about what would happen the next time a warning is issued. Would a “boy who cried wolf” effect be in place? That is, repeated false alarms desensitizing the public to the possibility of a tsunami? Or would the same thing we saw this weekend happen again, with the masses taking action to prepare?

The documentary No Impact Man got me thinking about how so many of the things we take for granted every day have some sort of impact on our environment, and thus, each other. As the film’s subject, Colin Beavan, says in the film, we live in a throw-away world: shaving razors, diapers, plastic bags, napkins, toilet paper, Starbucks paper cups—we’re all guilty of mindlessly consuming and rapidly disposing.

No Impact Man follows Colin’s project of curiosity, as he sets out to discover what it’d be like to live as sustainably as possible for a year—taking his shopping/reality TV/caffeine-addicted wife and their toddler daughter along for the ride. Along the way, quite a few laughs are shared; I mean, come on, just imagine what kinds of clashes ensue between the Beavan couple! But it’s also helped me think a bit more about what my family already does and what I could do to live a lifestyle that’s a little more sustainable.

Some of the things Colin and his family do are pretty extreme—no toilet paper?!—but others are things my family has done forever. Hand washing clothes, for instance. As the audience in the theater laughed at Colin, his wife Michelle, and their daughter Isabella stepping on their clothes in the bathtub, I thought, “Hey, this is something I saw all the time as a kid, and something my family continues to do to this very day!” As a child of first- and second-generation Filipino immigrants, this was just one of the things I’m glad my parents continue to practice in America. Even though we have a washing machine, a lot of the time, we actually prefer hand washing our clothes. I guess old habits die hard. Good thing it’s an eco-friendly habit.

But why is decreasing our impact on the environment important? Well, we need to remember that “the environment” isn’t just about beautifying our flora and fauna—it involves the impact on people, too. Without the indoor comforts of electricity and television, the family spends more time outside their New York City apartment. Colin and Michelle spend some time at the beach, take their daughter to the farm where the veggies they buy are grown, and splash in the local fountain. While volunteering, Colin learns about how a garbage dump in the South Bronx is taking its toll on the quality of life of its residents, with more children developing respiratory problems and the disturbance of hundreds of trucks passing through the neighborhood every day. The family also develops relationships with vendors at the local farmers market, and a neighbor at a community garden, who shows them the ropes in raising their own vegetables. Simply put, they are forging connections with each other and within the community. And the more connections are forged, the more accountable we feel about how our actions affect the people we care about.

I’ve already taken some steps before even seeing this film in reducing waste. I have a reusable drinking water bottle I’ve been refilling, I carry several reusable tote bags when I go shopping, and I’ve been helping clear trash every month with some friends in Ke‘ehi Lagoon. I’ve taken note of a few more things from the film that I’d like to do: make more trips to the nearby farmers market, spend more time outdoors, and help my parents grow a few more veggies in our own farm.

At the same time, I admit, there are a few behaviors I can say I won’t fully abandon: I love my computer and am way too used to using toilet paper. So I’m not saying completely and drastically change your lifestyle, because that’s unrealistic and very difficult to do. But I’ll continue to do what I can, a little at a time. I hope you can do the same.

Some links to check out:
No Impact Project
Inspired by No Impact Man, an undertaking to promote behavioral change to live more sustainably.

Story of Stuff
A comprehensive look at the production/consumption cycle and how it impacts us.

Kanu Hawaii
A local website where we can put in pledges and share ideas on what we can do to do our part to preserve our island environment and communities.

MA‘O Farms
A local social enterprise growing organic food and providing opportunities for Wai‘anae youth.

Bela‘Aina
A burgeoning project to preserve our island’s watersheds.

Liberty – What a year you’ve had! I remember the first time I really heard you speak was during the partner introductions @ the beginning of the year; that’s also when I learned your birthdate!! (Happy July 4th, by the way.) You’ve been a joy to teach—a veritable sponge, soaking up so much. Continue to search for meaning and justice, + make this world better. And… keep playing music! Come visit next year.

♥ Aysta

P.S. Beastie Boys RULE! Ha! Ha!

P.P.S. Weezer, too!

Of course, “Aysta” is short for Asa Yamashita. And apparently, I was such a fangirl, she made it a point to mention my two favorite bands at the time in postscripts.

I have a few memories from Mrs. Yamashita’s freshman honors English class. I remember reading Romeo & Juliet and how she had us reword it with dialects of our choice. Imagine the class perform the play in pidgin English. She took a piece of Shakespearean literature, which, with its 16th century language, would have meant nothing to us. But Yamashita found a way to make the story not only relevant, but engaging, entertaining, and memorable for us, as well. After all, we couldn’t translate the story if we didn’t understand it first.

The other memory I have of the class was, oddly enough, as much about life as it was about death. The assignment: 100 things to do before you die. I’m gonna rename that and call it “100 things to do in life.”

I wish I had kept my list. Maybe I’ll start making a new one. The first three line items will be from the yearbook message she left me.

I don’t know what Mrs. Yamashita would have written on her list. But judging from the turnout at tonight’s memorial for her at Waianae High School, I would say she accomplished more than 100 things in her life, as far as the number of lives she touched.

We’ll miss you, Mrs. Yamashita. Your legacy lives on.

The longest smoke break of Nicholas White’s life began at around eleven o’clock on a Friday night in October, 1999. White, a thirty-four-year-old production manager at Business Week, working late on a special supplement, had just watched the Braves beat the Mets on a television in the office pantry. Now he wanted a cigarette. He told a colleague he’d be right back and, leaving behind his jacket, headed downstairs.

The magazine’s offices were on the forty-third floor of the McGraw-Hill Building, an unadorned tower added to Rockefeller Center in 1972. When White finished his cigarette, he returned to the lobby and, waved along by a janitor buffing the terrazzo floors, got into Car No. 30 and pressed the button marked 43. The car accelerated. It was an express elevator, with no stops below the thirty-ninth floor, and the building was deserted. But after a moment White felt a jolt. The lights went out and immediately flashed on again. And then the elevator stopped.

The control panel made a beep, and White waited a moment, expecting a voice to offer information or instructions. None came. He pressed the intercom button, but there was no response. He hit it again, and then began pacing around the elevator. After a time, he pressed the emergency button, setting off an alarm bell, mounted on the roof of the elevator car, but he could tell that its range was limited. Still, he rang it a few more times and eventually pulled the button out, so that the alarm was continuous. Some time passed, although he was not sure how much, because he had no watch or cell phone. He occupied himself with thoughts of remaining calm and decided that he’d better not do anything drastic, because, whatever the malfunction, he thought it unwise to jostle the car, and because he wanted to be (as he thought, chuckling to himself) a model trapped employee. He hoped, once someone came to get him, to appear calm and collected. He did not want to be scolded for endangering himself or harming company property. Nor did he want to be caught smoking, should the doors suddenly open, so he didn’t touch his cigarettes. He still had three, plus two Rolaids, which he worried might dehydrate him, so he left them alone. As the emergency bell rang and rang, he began to fear that it might somehow—electricity? friction? heat?—start a fire. Recently, there had been a small fire in the building, rendering the elevators unusable. The Business Week staff had walked down forty-three stories. He also began hearing unlikely oscillations in the ringing: aural hallucinations. Before long, he began to contemplate death.

Read more at the New Yorker’s website here.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with public speaking, especially in high school, where I would shiver like crazy whenever I presented in front of my classmates. It got much better after I took courses in acting and public speaking at HPU; I took both intentionally last spring so I could improve on my speaking skills. After all, I’m a communication student.

I still have a problem with those crutch words, though, and I really need to hone in on minimizing that for our advertising team’s presentation at the National Student Advertising Competition next month in San Francisco. If I had known about Toastmasters earlier in my college career and had shown initiative earlier to improving my public speaking skills, perhaps I would have joined the club. I’m thinking the intense practice our team will go through during the couple of weeks after spring break should be of significant help, though. And it turns out Wai‘anae has a Toastmasters chapter that meets at the Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center twice a month, so I could join that club, since it’s closer to home. I wonder if I know anyone in that club.

Faves
- Bridgestone. Just when you think a squirrel and Richard Simmons will get hit by a car…
- Career Builder. Good messaging/examples about “following your heart” and how “wishing won’t get you a new job.”
- Coca Cola. Keeping it simple.
- Hyundai. Also nice examples of simple ads with intelligent copy.
- T-Mobile. Ahhh, the downside to being on your mentor’s Fave Five.
- Tide to Go. I’ve seen this ad before, but it’s a great example of how shirt stains can speak louder than you.

Not-So-Faves
- Bud Light. Their commercials used to make me laugh out loud. What happened?
- GoDaddy. Lame as usual… but hey, whatever it takes to drive up web traffic.
- Sales Genie. Enough with the ethnic jokes.
- Sunsilk. “Hey, let’s put Marilyn Monroe, Shakira, and Madonna in our ad and women will buy our shampoo!”
- Victoria’s Secret. Boring. Shouldn’t they be selling to women?

I came across the above video sometime last month and soon after got into talks with my friend Yvonne about plans to revive a sustainability and environmental club at our alma mater. I’ll let you know what happens. Until then, watch “The Story of Stuff.” And learn. I did.

All buses except the 403 in Nanakuli were running today, so I took the C bus to town. Boy, did I underestimate the traffic — 3 1/2 hours to get to town! (It usually takes a little over an hour.) Two of those hours were spent crawling along the five-mile stretch of Farrington Highway, from Ma’ili and Nanakuli. And along the way, I took pics, of course. Most of them are kind of dark because of the weather, and I’m too lazy to work my Photoshop magic.

A downed utility pole in Ma’ili. One of the first ones I saw.

Look at where the pole snapped… like a twig!

Hawaiian Electric trucks — they’re everywhere!

These trucks are lifting a shattered piece of a utility pole.

The Wai’anae Mountain Range is behind those houses, in the distance… but you can’t seem them in this weather!

Fastop/Freedom Gas Station in Nanakuli. The roof was busted after a utility pole crashed through it. (The pole’s fixed in this picture.)

It’s raining, it’s pouring, Liberty’s not snoring!

By the time I got to town, my marketing class — the only class I had today — was over, but I still had an advertising club meeting at 2:30. And I just took over the ad club’s presidency, so… of course I went. So did my adviser and three other members, and two of them are officers. Wonderful. The traffic coming back into Wai’anae was bad, but not as bad as this morning’s… took about an hour to get through Nanakuli. Hopefully, those poles get fixed soon and the people there will get their power back! And traffic will smooth over!

(Photos from the Honolulu Advertiser)

I knew a storm was coming, but I guess I didn’t realize the kind of impact it would make.

Right before going to bed at 11 pm last night, the power went out. I woke up at 3 am to a loud, howling gust; my eyes gradually opened up to look out my bedroom window, revealing the pair of miniature palm trees outside flailing in the 60 mph wind. Not quite hurricane status, but damn close. Eerie stuff. Then, there was a downpour. I got out of bed and found my mom in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess — the rain had blown in through the window and created a large puddle on the floor. About 45 minutes later, you could hear thunder in the distance. It took a while for me to get back to sleep.

I woke up again at 7 am to a calm but overcast morning. I turned on the radio to hear the latest news. The wind had taken down about 20 utility poles in Nanakuli, and about another 20 in Ma’ili. And there were no buses leaving or coming into Wai’anae.

Yeah, we were stuck here.

Wai’anae High School was closed today, so my sister was home, and I missed my communication theory class today, the first (and only) time this semester! (Last class before finals week.) Fortunately, our professor was kind enough to email the notes from today’s class. I wonder how many people showed up to class. (HPU Downtown Campus was open today. Windward Campus was not.)

No power. No cable. No Internet. No phone. And NO WATER, since a downed papaya tree in our yard somehow burst a water pipe that leads from the main water line to our house. It wasn’t quite Third World (far from it), but bath time took me back to the times we visited the Philippines and had to take baths using bowls to scoop water and dump over ourselves. (My dad came home after sitting in traffic for five hours. He fixed the water line in the early afternoon, but we still had to conserve water, especially the hot water.)

I spent the day lying in bed and listening to the radio (news and holiday music, sheesh), while my sister played on her Nintendo DS. We chatted about random stuff — topics included “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”, my final project for advertising class, and a family picture in the living room. In the early evening, my sister mimicked everything I was telling her by making shadow puppets. That cracked me up. Plus, while I washed the dishes, my sister waved the flashlight around, creating a strobe/rave effect. I used to do that a lot, too, haha. It was actually a pleasant day without the technology that’s usually is present in our day-to-day.

In the middle of our shadow puppetry, the power came on — that was about an hour and a half ago, at 7 pm. Twenty hours with no power, dang. Phone line’s still out, though. Plus, the wind and rain will continue through the rest of the week, though it won’t be as strong as this. At least, that’s what they say…

Some news coverage if you want more info:
- “Hard-hit Wai’anae assesses storm damage”
- “Crews to work into the night on downed telephone poles”
- A video from the Honolulu Advertiser about the downed utility poles here

Photo by Gregory Yamamoto – The Honolulu Advertiser

I didn’t know who Michael Tongg was until I had to help put together a video in his honor. He was an exceptional waterman who had a special connection with the sea. He won various canoe paddling championships, helped establish canoe paddling internationally, and played a vital role on the Hokule’a. He gave his time and energy to helping his community, through the Waikiki Community Center. And as a family lawyer, he represented hundreds of children and parents, and fostered over 50 children throughout his life.

Putting together Michael Tongg’s tribute video at work required, among other things, hours of listening to his peers talk about these qualities. The main message I took from making this video: Michael Tongg was a strong, positive person who took every challenge he faced with stride and confidence. He also inspired his peers to face life’s challenges. And I realize that Tongg, someone I had never heard of before, also inspires me to be a stronger person. Life, whether professionally or personally, often presents us with challenges. It’s up to us how to face them. I’d like to face them in the same way he did. With serenity. With strength. With confidence. Because in the end, you will become a stronger person for it.