With no words at all

While I was being all caught up with words and their power I couldn't help but think of those incredible artists who work at your heart strings using no words at all:

I immediately think of the world of Pixar:

Of WallE and EVE:

of Carl and Ellie:

But I recently found this great little picture story too:

Why he's laughing

In light of my last post about books I thought I'd paint a funny picture for you.

Me quietly weeping and occasionally attempting to explain 500 pages resulting in anguish. Richard holding me trying his best to wear a concerned husband face but ultimately not being able to and starts cracking up instead, sending me into a horrifying laugh/cry/hick-up thing.

This is why he's laughing:

After he survived my inevitable fall out from the Hunger Games we found this funny but true little meme and many more like it.

Now whenever I am suffering the backlash of even sad parts of overall happy books, all Richard can see are those funny little memes and he can't help but chuckle at me a little. I don't mind especially 'cause he lets me laugh/cry/hick-up with him :)

Of Books and Words

I really really enjoy books.

I have been getting back into reading them lately. 

College was the undoing of my leisurely reading.

Overly expensive, required reading, dryly written textbooks do our society a huge disservice. 

In the years before college I poured through possibly hundreds of books. 

The years following college, I could count on one hand all the books I've read. However, within the last few months I've been able to return to a high consumption level.

As a rule I DO NOT read sad books. Even kind of sad books are totally out. 

But - I broke my own rule, and read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak:

It is a story about a little girl who steals books. The book is narrated by Death and set in WWII Germany so there is no fooling yourself that this might be a happy book, or that some how everyone is just fine in the end. And in fact Death (as the narrator) 'accidentally' gives away the end over and over throughout the book. This totally fools you into thinking you are going to be able to handle it, because you already know exactly what is going to happen...YOU CAN'T HANDEL IT!!! After the last 6 pages I had to get up and wash the salt off my face and from under my chin. It was worse than after swimming in the ocean.

I do not however, regret reading it in any way. There is a way that books can take you, break you, and then remake you into the person you want to be. It is one of the books that, though I may not read it again for a very long while, will have a place in my home. That I hope will be read by my children and grandchildren. 

In the book the importance of words is discussed regularly.

“The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this. Without words, the Führer was nothing.” 

And

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”

Right as I was in the thick of all this discussion about words, one of the You Tuber's I follow, Vsauce, introduced me to this nifty tool. 

It is a graphing tool that compares the frequency of usage of words in books.

Here is a link to where they tell you how they get and how to use their info.

You can enter in names of famous figures

See how the usage of words with similar meanings change as time advances:

Here is a fun one I did:

Notice how around 1932 we were more frequently using the word 'lunch' and less frequently using the word 'supper'.

I did a study of Baker family names:

and then again with just the the three fewer used names:

Can you guess what book came out in the early nineteen hundreds?

I've had a blast with it. It is quite clever. Read through that first link to show you all the thousands of variations you can use. If you want a curious one to try, type in a few curse words. It is interesting to watch the development and preference of certain cursing over time. Also, try different labels for social issues to see the increase in discussion on those topics, or the rise and fall of interest in different economical structures, or religions. 

Words can be used for good, or evil. To combine us or separate us. On my blog I try to use them positively and informatively. Words' greatest power comes from the people who listen to them. So thanks for empowering me by reading my blog :) 

The Pains of Paradise

It's an phenomenon I refer to as the, 'No Whining from Hawaii' rule. 

It is the concept that because you live in Hawaii, you are not allowed to complain about ANYTHING! Because, guess what... YOU LIVE IN HAWAII!

Sometimes there are real problems associated with living here, 

for the most part though, I get it. I really shouldn't be complaining. I call them Paradise Pains. No one who just spent and hour wading through snow banks in February wants to hear that your sunburn hurts, or that you are sad because you didn't get to go snorkeling because the waves were too rough and so you had to just hang out on the beach instead.

Today's story fits in that category. I've just started taking a few more surf lessons I've got to surf in some world famous locations and under blue sunny skies. 

I've got to ride the Beautiful and Secluded Chun's reef:

SurfCam

The warm and friendly Waikiki Sandbar

SurfCam

BeachCam

Surfing is incredible! One of my all time favorite sports. Rates right up there with snowboarding and rock climbing.

But after two surf days, I can only begin to describe to you the physical pain I am in. You spend most of your time in a cobra like position paddling with your arms as hard as you can.

Then you do a push up any time a wave comes at you and then again any time you want to catch a wave.

Needless to say my arms are noodles and my back muscles are ripped to shreds! But honestly that's not what hurts the worst. It's my hip bones, ribs, knees, and cranium that are killing me.

The place we were riding at Chuns was very shallow and I kept beating my knees up on the reef:

I also got a little bit of coral embedded in my toe that Richard helped me cut out with his Xacto knife:

I got pretty knocked around by the waves at Waikiki. I fell off and got drug around by my ankle, by my board. I fell off again but stayed close to my board, only to have it hit me in the side of the head, so I dove back under, and hit it with the top of my head, dove under again, and come up and hit the other side of my head on my instructors board! 

I got a bit of a sun burn on the back of my legs, but it's only really bad on the backs of my knees where I sweat off the sunblock.

However, the majority of the pain is a direct result of the way I paddle. By arching my back to keep my face out of the splash, I end up sucking in my stomach. This leaves all of my weight pressing on my extruded ribs and hip bones. This pic doesn't do the bruise justice:

I will end my complaints here though, because it does seem a bit silly to moan about wounds you gave yourself, while learning to surf in Hawaii. And Though I need to heal up before I can go back out again, I can hardly wait!

New Etsy Shop!

As you guys have got to see through the blog, we have been able to take some really awesome pictures.

A few months ago there was a great sale on prints so I got a whole bunch and decided to start my own Esty Shop!

It is called Happy Hauli Nature Photography!

Here are some of the prints in the shop:

I was telling my friend Rachel about it and she suggested selling them on stock image sites, too. I still have to research how that all works, But I'm very excited for the whole thing!

Wish me Luck!

(also if you have any images that you've seen on the blog that you think I should include, or have any ideas or suggestions on selling online let me know)

Aiea Loop Trail

Aiea Loop Trail is currently my favorite trial on the island.

it is a bit of a trek, but it is well kept and extremely rewarding!

Here is an overhead view of it:

And this nifty tool shows the elevation changes:

But even with the length and steepness it always draws you further and further out. I always find myself saying, 'OK we'll just go around this next bend, then we'll head back'. But once we reach there I want to see whats around the next bend, and the next. And soon you've come out the other side.

My favorite time to go is when it is calling for scattered showers. Or when the misty rains are out. 

Here is a view of Pearl Harbor from one of the high points. 

and near the base of those far off mountains is where we live:

We didn't go the entire way this time (had to get out before rush hour started). But next time we are going to look for the WWII plane crash.