Aloha Ke Akua

My dear friend and sister by another mother, Erin, sent me this tonight just a short time ago and I'm still internalizing it and mentally-emotionally downloading it. Needless to say I am blown away by it's beautiful musicality, weighty lyrics, clever wordsmithy, and striking visual imagery. I am honored to share this with you in this space. Below the music player are the lyrics.

Note: I noticed while watching this that it has many stylistic and thematic similarities to the video for "That Place In Your Heart" which I shared on this blog last year and to which I have hyperlinked the title of it here. As it turns out some of the footage is identical so it follows that the same people did the footage for both videos and probably produced them both as well. 

Visual production by The Mates Group for Estrellas Del Bicentario.
Shot in Mexico with Phantom & Red One Cameras.

Aloa Ke Akua

Lend your ears, lend your hands,
Lend your movement, anything you can.
Come to teach, come to be taught.
Come in the likeness in the image of God.
Cause, you can be like that.
With all that humbleness, and all that respect.
All of the power invested in me,
be it hard to love my enemies.
All of the black bags over the heads of the dead and dying.
The more I understand about the human race,
the less I comprehend about our purpose and place
and maybe if there was a clearer line
the curiosity would satisfy.
Time based prophecies that kept me from living,
in the moment I am struggling
to trust the divinity of all the guides
and what the hell they have planned for us.
I cry for the creatures who get left behind
but everything will change in a blink of an eye
and if you wish to survive,
you will find the guide inside.
I go back and forth every single day,
the clarity that comes to me in a choppy way,
as the feelings and the places
and the seasons change,
the galaxies remain.
Energy fields cone the body in space.
The angels that are coming from a spiritual waste.
The hate that gets me distant from my spiritual pace.
Ten fold the manna when the planets are in place, in polar alignment.
We're on assignment.
Bodies on consignment.
Return them to the circus.
And what is the purpose?
What is the purpose and would you believe it?
Would you believe it
if you knew what you were for
and how you became so informed?
Bodies of info performing such miracles.
I am a miracle made up of particles
and in this existence,
I'll stay persistent,
and I'll make a difference
and I will have lived it.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy make-up,
I am capable, I am powerful.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy makeup,
I am on my way to a different place....
I'm not a leader, just a creature,
seeking the features of a teacher.
Whether you follow or whether you lead
All mysterious ways of nature and I'm into it.
Changing management.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit
and I'm wide awake and I'm taking names.
I am not a leader, just a creature.
Seeking the features of a teacher.
Whether you follow or whether you lead
All mysterious ways of nature and I'm into it.
I'm into it.
Changing management.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit
and I am wide awake.
And I'm taking names.
And there are various ways to conquer this monotonous metropolis,
my stubbornness is bottomless,
my fearlessness is talking shit,
and I'm wide awake and I'm taking names.
Do you speak to me like you speak to God?
All of the love and understanding between the father and the son?
Do you believe in the perfectness of where you are?
These are my people, these are my children,
this is the land that I would fight for.
My solidarity is telling me to patiently
be moving the musical medicine around the planet in a hurry,
Cuz there's no time to waste.
Got to wake up the people time to stand up and say,
we know what we are for
and how we became so informed.
Bodies of info, performing such miracles.
I am a miracle, made up of particles
and in this existence,
I'll stay persistent
and I'll make a difference
and I will have lived it. ........
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
Each day that I wake,
I will praise, I will praise.
Each day that I wake,
I give thanks, I give thanks.
And the day that I don't wake up
and transcend the holy make-up,
I am capable, Hm that's right,
I am powerful.
And the day that I don't wake up and transcend the holy make-up,
I am on my way to a different place!
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.
Aloha, Aloha Ke Akua, Ke Akua,
Aloha, Aloha, Kuleana, Kuleana.

Source: http://vimeo.com/55191854

That Place In Your Heart

The very first time I ever heard Ronan Hardiman's hauntingly gorgeous "That Place In Your Heart" I was shunpiking (driving the side roads to avoid the freeways) as I was oft wont to do during that period of my life. I was in the Manteca-Tracy area in the northern San Joaquin Valley area near where it merges with the California Delta driving home to Atascadero from a visit to the Gold Country. It was during the rush hour late one afternoon/early evening in January 2001 and I was listening to 105.5 FM "The River" when it came on and quickly transfixed my heart and blew my mind. I perceived its beauty at that time as transcending most other songs I had ever heard to that point as it really seemed to resonant with something in my then-wounded heart and mind and soul. I made a note of the radio station and the time and upon my return searched the internet for and found the phone number of the station. I called them up and asked them to check their playlist using the info I provided them and we quickly narrowed it down to the correct song. I then proceeded to order two copies of the CD Anthem which contained the song, one copy for me and one for Sally, the extremely nice and helpful lady I talked to on the phone who worked for the radio station (who later sent me a sweet THANK YOU card) as a token of my gratitude for her helping me find the song.

Until I viewed this song on Youtube tonight (last year I checked and none of Hardiman's songs were there) I had not seen the visually sumptuous music video for this song which does the song justice. 

On a side-note it is worth noting this happened at the time in my life I started listening to music again after a dozen-year hiatus (which is another story altogether). That very month of January 2001 I made the transition from analog music (cassettes) to digital music (CD's). This was my very first ever phone order/mail order of CD's as I had just that very month also purchased my very first CD ever (at the now-defunct Wherehouse music store in Atascadero where Cowgirl Cafe is now located) as described in my previous blog post Melancholy Rose by Operatica. Ah, those were the days! I'm now poorer and older but wiser yet I think.



I have included the lyrics below for your edification (courtesy of Justsomelyrics:

walk with me
break some bread here with me
Enemy Why can’t you live with me?
Who are you?
what did i do to you?
Wish i knew Why can’t i live with you?
We are all born the same
Then we seperate
Then the world falls apart
and blame turns to hate
we must not contemplate
how far apart we are there is always a way
to that place in your heart.
Hated one Just put down your gun
done is done
why can’t we live as one?
feel no shame
the air we breath is the same
heal the pain
why do we live in vain?
We are all born the same Then we seperate
Then the world falls apart
and blame turns to hate
we must not contemplate
how far apart we are there is always a way
to that place in your heart 

Random Musings of a Ramblin' Fool XLII

This blog continues to grow in relevancy as both Reddit members and Google Search add more visitors as well as regular readers. We are now up to around 8500 page visits a month give or take depending on the content quality and frequency. Not only is traffic increasing but so is positive feedback both online and from folks encountered at shows. Early on in this project I was warned against casting too wide a net topically-speaking. I was admonished to stick to a more narrow focus and court readers interested in that particular narrow field of interest. I have gone in the opposite direction with this project and it seems to be working well. In many instances the eclectic and esoteric, arcane and mundane, geekish and wonkish shotgun fired from the hip approach to matters here seems to appeal to a broad base. Not only that, but in touching on numerous obscure subjects this blog in many cases is one of the few sources or one of the better sources of information to be found on the internet regarding those specific subjects. I thank you all for following me along in this journey which we are embarked upon together and hope you continue with me resting content in the knowledge I have absolutely no clue where we are headed.

Looking Forward On School

I am now in my fourth semester going back to college which is the sixth semester of college overall in my life. I had an epiphany quite recently that my time here at Cuesta College is about to end as I will soon be done there.  This could happen as soon as after one more semester after the current one. I am currently enrolled in 14 units in which I am doing quite well. This is the most units I have ever taken in college, even going back to the year at Cuesta College I did back in Fall 1989-Spring 1990 fresh out of high school. Those two semesters I had 13 and 11.5 units respectively. For the period Fall 2010-Spring 2011-Fall 2011 my unit count was 6, 8, and 10 units respectively with all A's except for one B (Spanish last semester).

I plan to visit a counselor soon and discuss my graduation requirements and find out how I must go about applying for the colleges to which I am interested in transferring. Part and parcel with that is my need to find out what sort of financial aid packages they offer.

There are five universities I am primarily interested in applying for at this time. Three of them are secular public universities (Cal Poly, UCSB, and USC) and two of them are well-regarded private Christian universities (Westmont and John Brown University). At present JBU appears to be the direction in which God is leading me. If that turns out to be the case this will mean some major changes in my life such as I have never experienced heretofore. It is worth noting that I applied for and was accepted to JBU back in 1990 but backed out at the last minute due to my downward spiral into mental illness.

As to what major I am pursuing all I can say is "hell if I know". My officially declared major is emergency management. However, given I am starting so late in life and with no military and/or public safety experience which seem par for the course to be in emergency management I am therefore uncertain this shall remain my major. Furthermore, the genesis for the idea of getting into emergency management came about in mid-2009 at a time I was still away from God and thus was not discerning His will for me. Thus this idea and all ideas engendered during that period and before are suspect.

A Step backward In School

I placed into the second-to-lowest math class offered by Cuesta College (Math 07) as a result of a miserable math placement exam result late last year.I have a ways to go at this pace before I start getting into math courses with units that are transferable to the University of California system and elsewhere. I don't care to get hung up at Cuesta College over one single subject and languish there for a couple more years getting through this remedial stuff and then accumulating all the necessary math units to then transfer. Something I am contemplating is getting my easy A out of this current class all the while studying in the math lab on the computer in preparation for retaking the placement exam and getting into the classes I actually need, hopefully starting with college-level algebra in the Fall 2012 semester or perhaps even this Summer as loath as I am to take Summer courses and ace myself out of a possible trip to the Coleman Mines in Arkansas to dig quartz crystals. I took and passed the Advanced Placement English test my senior year of high school earning a score of "3" on it which means I have the option of cashing that in for 3 units of English with Cuesta College, something I must still do but have been too busy to bother with up to this point. Achieving this fete would be a minor consolation for what is happening for me in regards to math.

Looking Further Forward On School

 I see a pattern in my life developing, a theme if you will that is best described in Jeremiah 6:16 which states "...Stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and you will find rest to your souls..." Thus far, after years of being haunted all my adult life by the fact I never finished what I started in college straight out of high school I note also that back at that time I was a declared journalism major. This in no way suggests that was God's will for me then nor that it is now. However, I am chronically inquisitive and a capable writer who is a diamond in the rough waiting to be faceted. Is journalism what God put me here to do from a vocational standpoint? Another possibility is teaching: I've been hearing a growing clamor for me to become a teacher. Is this a message being conveyed to me by God via other people? Another tangent of the past intersecting with my present is that my late father James Gordon Noyes (1946-1985) earned a Bachelor of Arts in History but never used it. To my surprise I am finding the one subject I am enjoying even more than geology is history for which I am finding even more meaning derived from it as it pertains to my life. Thus, I wonder if I am to take up my father's mantel and get a history degree and actually use it unlike my father. Am I to teach history? I have all sorts of questions but no answers on any of this yet.

Well Enough About Me... What Do You Think About Me?

Or rather what do you think about hiring me for a job? I need a regular paycheck given that I'm chronically underemployed and just barely getting by. I'm doing better now than I was one year ago or two years ago or even three years ago so it's nice to see progress... gradual as it is. However, I need to make more progress and my talents are being wasted not being hired weekly to do more than the current sporadic general labor interspersed with a periodic rock show engagement. I could be a monster of a customer service representative or server in the service industry or salesman provided I believed in what I was being hired to sale which means I'm not willing to sell just anything. I would be most potent selling wine, however, so any wineries out there needing new talent in the tasting room they can train and mold me into the shape they desire so please contact me via this blog if you are interested. Know this: somebody at some point is going to snatch me up so will it be you or your competition?

Don't Look At the Calendar Now But Spring Has Sprung Already

As one who suffers from mild Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) I am noting with delight that the days are getting noticeably longer and twilight is lasting longer and the Sun is getting noticeably higher in the sky and it's heat on my skin is getting noticeably more intense. Yes, I'm quite light-sensitive... like a houseplant except I'm starved for it and not vulnerable to it. As is typical most years on the Central Coast Spring effectively starts sometime in February. However, I have noticed it seems to come consistently earlier than it used to appear. Add to the mix this year rainfall being way below normal and what rain has come this rainy season (7/1/11-present) did so mostly in the Autumn and thus we have early to middle Spring-like fire conditions. The almond blossoms having been blossoming for weeks and are not waning as are many other types of blossoming trees. Leaves are also busting out all over which is exciting to see. Many folks around here are concerned that we will get at least one more hard frost which will kill what is now growing on the trees. I'm already late getting my garden planted despite having re-landscaped my backyard earlier this Winter.

I Experienced a First This Week

A few days ago while working on my computer in my house I heard a loud explosion in my neighborhood and immediately the power went off at my house and throughout the neighborhood. That was the first time in my life that I can recall losing power and simultaneously hearing the cause of it nearby. The other memorable power outages I have experienced were caused by the 1994 Highway 41 Fire when I awoke the morning of August 15, 1994, to no power anywhere in Atascadero. Strangely enough, a mere week before that there was the time my schoolmate Derrick Todd (AHS Class of 1990) died with some of his family and friends (4 people in all) in a small plane crash out of San Luis Obispo Airport.  Their plane lost power on take-off which caused them to slice through power lines along US101 adjacent to the Sunset Drive-In Theatre in SLO. The moment they all died the power went out where I was living in Atascadero. Of course, at the time I didn't know it but learned of it later that night or the next day. Another memorable power outage was the powerful storm that hit Atascadero the night of February 3-4, 1998, bringing hurricane-force winds to the area and knocking out power dramatically throughout the area. I still remember getting up on the roof over the garage and hearing the wind roaring through the neighborhood and the sound of things banging and breaking and seeing power flashes of various colors in various directions at various distances.

 I Gotses A New Used Computer... And Smart Phone, Too!

My dear friend and benefactress Penguiness has been kind and generous enough to give me her old computer which really isn't that old but is too slow for her needs and just perfect for mine. Nobody on Earth will ever know the pure unadulterated aggravation I have endured over the past few years with my current computer which I acquired as a refurbished computer near the start of my current poverty in late 2008. Over time it has gotten slower and slower no matter what was done to ameliorate the problem. I have the thing sitting next to me here on the floor as of yet not taken out of the box so I don't lose anything out of it until I get around to switching over to it sometime this weekend. This comes on the heels of Penguiness last year prequeling that by way of giving me her fresh-out-of-the box 3G smart phone as she apparently upgraded shortly after purchasing it to something faster and instead of doing what most sane people would do (take it back for a refund) elected to simply give it to this chronic, life-long underachiever (but on the verge of becoming a late bloomer). I was both surprised and humbled and grateful for that gift as I now am of this latest one. I see a Honda Point Disaster artifact (or something off the U.S.S. Harvard wreck) in her very near future. For the record: Penguiness designed and executed the entire look of this blog page including my cool cartouche.

Guess Who Is the New Rockhound Round-Up Chairman?

I was recently honored by new Santa Lucia Rockhound's President Barbara Bilyeu with the task of being chairman of the 21st Annual Rockhound Round-Up Rock, Gem, And Mineral Show in Paso Robles, CA. I take this responsibility very seriously and have thus far fully-engaged myself therewith. We are already very actively working on this in regards to planning and recruiting and delegating various tasks to various members whom generously volunteer their time. I look forward to the show the way a child anticipates Christmas many months in advance. It is my intention to NOT complacently observe tradition and maintain the status quo but rather push this show towards its future starting this year. I hope to achieve this with a very realistic ambition to improve the show with the ultimate goal of moving it to a much better and more viable location and as a result expand the show and make it even more user-friendly than it currently is as limited by the confines of its current venue.

85th Anniversary of the Honda Point Disaster

On this evening eighty-five years ago, US Navy Destroyer Squadron 11 (DESRON-11) was conducting exercises off the coast of Central California.
The group of 14 ships was cruising in a single line formation in the fog utilizing dead reckoning and radio silence simulating wartime conditions.

Due to the dangerous nature of the coast of Santa Barbara County along with the fog and strange tidal currents along the coast that day the ships erroneously turned into the coastline believing they were turning into the Santa Barbara Channel.

One by one each ship steamed through the murky fog and into the maw of the rock outcroppings known as the "Devil's Jaw".

Of the 14 ships in DESRON-1, seven were lost (USS Delphy, USS S.P. Lee, USS Young, USS Woodbury, USS Nicholas, USS Fuller, USS Chauncy) with 23 sailors killed with three more ships making it into the area of the rocks but avoiding being sunk (USS Farragut, USS Percival, USS Sommers) and four ships stopping in time to avoid the rocks altogether (USS Kennedy, USS Paul Hamilton, USS Stoddert, USS Thompson).

Subsequent court martials of Commodor Edward H. Watson and each of the ship captains whose ships were lost were later overturned.

The US Navy hired a private contractor to conduct a salvage operation on the wrecks and then blow up whatever remained visible of them.

My friends, Ernie and Alice Porter of Atascadero later conducted another salvage operation on what remained of the ships during the period 1949-1951.
I had the privilege of viewing and handling and ultimately acquiring from them some of the last remaining items they had leftover from that salvage operation.

To this day this remains the worst peace-time disaster in US Navy history.

For additional information and the source of the info in this anniversary reminder check the following links:

Honda Point Memorial

Honda Point Disaster Wiki

Honda Point Disaster Image Archive

For additional reading I recommend these books:

"Jaws of Honda" by Mary Hoag Copyright 2001 ISBN 0-9707277-0-4

"Tragedy at Honda" by Charles A. Lockwood and Hans Christian Adamson Copyright 1997 ISBN 0-9655527-2-1


Kimmer