Some time ago I shared this on FB (my old account, now defunct), but I apparently never shared it here, and thought I should:
Whenever I’m working in my studio, I usually have a video of Hawaii streaming up on the ceiling-mounted TV, accompanied by soft music. One day, I happened to look up and see this aerial shot, and immediately said, “Wow! I wanna live there!”
So I found that segment of the video my computer and grabbed a screenshot, then uploaded it to Google image search and learned that it’s Mākaha, on the west end of O’ahu, around 33 miles from Honolulu. Specifically, that’s Farrington Highway you can see running behind the community at the foot of Waianae mountain, and Makau Street looping off the highway through the neighborhood. The white building in the east corner is Mākaha Shores Condominiums.
Anyway, back in the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, the band took a 9-day trip to Hawaii, to march in the annual King Kamehameha Day Parade (I played tri-toms in the award-winning drumline, and the drum set in basketball pep band—and continue to this day, only on a slightly larger scale 😎).
We spent 3 days at Waikiki Beach, 3 days at Maui Beach, and 3 days on “The Big Island”—all with my girlfriend at the time, scores of my best friends from band, and practically no parents (at least not mine, fortunately), and to this day I still consider it to be the most fun and amazing experience of my life! I vowed at the time that some day I would return—but unfortunately, I never have…
Now that I’m retired from my job (yes, I’m that old!), and especially now that I’ve finished my big novel PRIMEVAL—a lifelong bucket-list item—I’ve begun dreaming of not merely visiting, but moving to Hawaii…and specifically, O’ahu, and more specifically, this neighborhood at Mākaha!
So now, along with playing Hawaii videos whenever I’m working in my studio, I also have the above photo displayed as the background/wallpaper on my 34″ wide computer monitor…I suppose both being an attempt to program my subconscious to eventually make it happen…?
Or, if not, then at a minimum: at least I can dream, right?
