Uncle Bill

photo courtesy of Mike Foley

Yesterday, I along with a multitude of people throughout the islands and from different countries paid our last respects and bade a fond aloha to "Uncle Bill," William Kauaiwiulaokalani Wallace III. He was and still is a very good uncle. I say still is, because although he is gone in the flesh, his spirit lives on, and though I don't see him; I know he is there alive and well in the spirit world.

I just wanted to take a moment to remember him. He accomplished so much in his life. He was a young 60 years of age when he passed away, but he had lived a very full and awe inspiring life. He was a lawyer, judge, professor, kumu hula, and a very loving father. If I know anything about Uncle Bill, it is that he LOVES his family, and although he has tons and tons of extended family, myself included ;) it is like EVERYONE is related to him... for reals :) He treated everyone as his family and everyone loved and respected him as such too.

Uncle Bill was one of my professors at BYUH. One thing that stands out the most from what I learned from him, is that it is very important to KNOW WHO YOU ARE. I was taught this from my parents, grandparents, church leaders, and friends. It is something I was taught is important as I was growing up and I understand that it is important, and in one of Uncle Bill's classes I had had a true "Ah Hahhhhh," moment.

We were reading through the book, Vaka: Saga of a Polynesian Canoe (a very good book for anyone interested in a good read about the populating of the Polynesian islands). Uncle Bill was generating a discussion of our reading assignment and rather than trying to explain what the author meant, he "did" it. We were covering a section about the importance of genealogy. Upon stopping and visiting an island populated with lethally fierce people, the main character was able to stay alive by greeting the islanders' with a chant of his genealogy. The royal leaders or ali'i of the different island kingdoms maintained strong ties by intermarrying. By chanting his genealogy, the main character renewed those bonds of family and was welcomed with open arms and love.

Uncle Bill went on to chant his genealogy, five generations from the past to him in the present. I totally felt "chicken skin," and not cause my chinese sign is the rooster :) LOLOL. All the blocks of information I was taught growing up clicked right into place. He then went on to display his skill as a kumu hula and demonstrated through dance. I was totally amazed. He was such a beautiful dancer and chanter. He could have easily done that in his life and been renowned for it, but Uncle Bill chose education and the law and those of us who were his students have truly been blessed.

His lesson was further instilled because he assigned each of us to do the same with our own genealogy. We had to start from five generations back to us in the present and we had to get up and present it to the class. I felt very proud being able to do that. With each generation I recited I felt the mana of who I am, who I came from, and that they and I are one and the same. It was a very powerful personal and wonderful experience.

I remember him for this and for the love of family that he always shared with me. I know he is in a better place. I know he and Auntie Niki are reunited again in love and joy. We who are left behind are the ones suffering the loss of a great man and a good loving caring leader, while those in Heaven joyously welcome him home.

I love you Uncle Bill! Thank you for all that you have done for me!

Alofaaga e le Mavae, Siana

The Magic is Within Me.

Why does it take some of us forever and a day to realize that all we ever want to be in life is within our grasp?... We just have to believe and do the work... "I" need to believe and do the work. I know, the hard part is doing the "work."

It's been two and a half months since I have really been online. I was going through withdrawals, :) I needed to do my taxes, and so last week Saturday I signed up with Hele Wireless. :) Now I am online, I have completed my 2008 taxes, and I am trying to get my online groove back. :)

I just watched "Kung Fu Panda." I told myself I would never watch that show just cause I did not want to pay to watch anything Angelina Jolie is in (so dumb but I hate what happened in that love triangle). Well a friend and her daughter came by today with the dvd and the next thing you know I am watching it (at least I didn't have to pay to watch it :). Anyways, it is a good animation movie, I did enjoy it, and I walked away with the message that, "Within each of us individually is the secret to unlocking the all encompassing power of the universe." :)

Presently, and throughout this whole past year, I have been reading a lot of fantasy books. I really enjoy books about magic and dragons, other worlds and other peoples, and I have come across some really good books. One of my favorite authors is Raymond E. Feist. His stories deal with a lot of magic where good is pitted against evil. In one of my favorite books of his, "Prince of the Blood," he introduces an interesting character into his sagas, a wizened old man whose name is Nakor. Nakor possesses a lot of wisdom and power and yet he is famous in Feist's books for saying, "There is no magic." It is a recurring line throughout his books and I have always understood it to mean that the power for overcoming evil or getting the quest done is not left for some vague or nameless magic to do, but for each of us to do with the wits we have been blessed with and by the sweat of our own brows. I have read and thought about that line so often that when a similar thought presents itself, that line, "There is no magic," comes to mind.

Today, as I watched "Kung Fu Panda," and heard Panda Po's father tell him... "There is no secret recipe," I totally thought of Raymond E. Feist's line... "There is no magic." In "Kung Fu Panda," the sacred dragon scroll containing the knowledge of the all encompassing power of the universe was a blank reflective scroll where the person reading it could see nothing but his or her own reflection, meaning the power of the universe is within each individual :) and works according to what we truly believe of ourselves. There was no secret ingredient in Po's father's noodle soup but because people believed there was, it made them believe the noodle soup was more delicious. In Feist's books, there are beings of power and magic, but the ones making the sacrifices and completing the important quests were regular everyday people like you and me, so in that sense there is no magic.

What I truly believe, is that in life, all power comes from our Heavenly Father. He is the magic, He is the secret ingredient, and with faith and belief in Him and our own belief and confidence within our individual selves to do what is right, and to do His will in righteousness, eternity is our oyster and anything is possible.

The Magic is within me, and if I believe in the Lord, believe in myself and do the work, I can accomplish anything.

Bad Weather and Travel Waivers Up the Wazoo!

I cannot believe how horrible the weather has been since last week Monday. There is a travel waiver in effect for the midwest, then a waiver for the northeast, and now a waiver for the west coast. Harsh winter storms are blowing in from everywhere and these travel waivers are constantly being extended as the bad weather worsens. Its been so bad that we have been slammed with overtime to meet the travel needs of our customers. I am thankful for overtime, but I feel so badly for these poor people stuck mid destination during the Christmas holiday season in this severe cold weather. Many have been stuck for days upon days at airports throughout our country. As bundled images of passengers huddled together at terminals flit across television news screens, I cannot help but feel tremendously grateful that I live in warm Hawaii with a job and a roof over my head. I am heading off to work to assist more traveling people in need! Pacific Woman to the rescue! LOLOL... Lord, please give me the strength, empathy, and patience I need to be of service to them all.

Silent Infiltration HIFF 2003 (short film)

Silent_Infiltration
Uploaded by sianajb

The opening aerial and outer island shots were purchased stock footage courtesy of Pacific Focus. Every other shot is mine :) The music and chanting at the beginning are the Tovey family from Laie. The woman chanting is Kura Tovey. The Tovey family Dave, Kura, Peter and Jonathan were so cool and awesome to go out of their way to help me realize my vision. I wanted the music to be representative of the Pacific so there are drum beats and chants from various Pacific cultures. It was recorded by a dear friend, Kekoa Ahuna. Making this short was a LOT of FUN.

The short is about a Pacific islander spy who comes from a dysfunctional family. Despite the hardships he faced growing up he becomes one of Hawaii's top spies. Although successful, he is still unhappy. While he is trying to figure things out, someone is trying to kill him.

This is not a Pacific islander trying to figure out his life in a white world, but a Pacific islander living the human experience in a human world. It's not about color but about similar struggles we all face and only when we are willing to slow down and take the time to ponder things out and make some sacrifices can we find true joy and happiness.

The main character's name is Sai after my brother who passed away. His last name is Lent because only when we are "Sai Lent" and ponder things through can we find our way through the help of our Savior. The main girl's name is Alamoni after my great grandmother who was named after the first missionary tract in Samoa. Her name means "true path." The short is meant to be serious and yet fun at the same time LOLOL I hope you all enjoy it.

The Clean Sweet Smell of a Wood Burning Fire

About twenty minutes ago on my way home from work, as I passed Hauula Beach Park, I caught a good clean whiff of a wood burning fire. I LOVE that smell! A blur of memories flashed through my mind of girls camp, ward camp, kumbayah, and lovely yummy creamy sticky smores! LOL I just love it! I don't know why I never make the time to go out super late at night and have me a wood burning fire at the beach! LOLOL I have a similar experience when I smell the fire of freshly mown grass and dry dead leaves after a good yard clean-up. Those memories are of family, cleaning, and of good times past with many people who are long gone. As I was driving home I thought about the fire and the smoke. I thought to myself how funny it is that the smoke of a wood burning fire should smell so clean and sweet and bring such wonderful memories to mind.

Why does sharing food make it all the more delicious?

Have you ever started into a bag of candy, chips, or cookies, and felt guilty that you were not sharing it with some loved one? Or maybe on your way home you stopped by for a value meal at some fast food drive thru and you felt guilty because you did not buy more for others at home? And as you were eating these foods, did they not taste as good as you thought they would?

On the other hand, have you ever taken one small bag of candy, chips, or cookies, or some small value meal and shared it with like six or seven other people, and did that food not taste like the best you have ever had and wished you had more but you were glad that you shared?

Personally, food always taste better for me when its shared. There is less of it LOL but for some reason the food is so much more delicious than if I had kept it to myself. What is the difference? It is the same food, but it seems like the act of sharing enhances it's flavor. The same thing happens when I make food with love. If I make something with all my heart it always seems to come out tasty, but if I just rush right through the recipe because I am pressed for time, it doesn't taste as good. ;)

I specifically remember my grandmother when I was little telling me I always had to give the best food and the best portions to others. I could not eat alone I always had to have enough to share with everyone or not eat at all because that would be very rude. I remember my mother using an apple as a specific example. She said when I halved an apple to share with someone I had to give the other person the bigger and better half. They taught me this by example so when I do anything less I feel so bad and the food definitely loses its savor.

I don't know why, but doing right by food makes it taste so much more wonderful and it brings me great joy. Food and Joy LOLOL I'm still trying to figure out the correlation between the two other than the comfort I get when I eat something I crave. Food within society in general is a touchy subject no matter what culture we are raised in. I think it would make for an interesting topic of study within the Pacific because food is a very important way of expressing ourselves to one another. :)

My Dream Wasn't Big Enough

In February of 2000 I was bit by the television production bug! It was a big bug and it bit me really hard. All my young life growing up I was always afraid of not finding my life's true passion. After my youngest brother passed away in 1999 I decided that life is too short to play it safe on the sidelines. I got out there and started to try different things hoping to find what I really love to do, and I did. I started taking Olelo Community Television classes on camera, editing, and producing, and I was in HEAVEN! I must say that I had one of the most amazing teachers I have ever had in my entire life, Tom Galli. He is someone I would refer to as master or sinsei. He was just so awesome and easy to learn from and willing to let me think outside the box. He never withheld knowledge from me and even if he didn't know something he would say, "Theoretically that should be possible," and I knew he would help me to find a way to get the effect that I was trying to attain.

As most of you know I am such a gung ho kind of person. I always reach for the moon and as a brand new client of Olelo I did just that. As my "First Works" project I wanted to do something spectacular and awesome. At that time, that meant a wonderful music rap video shot throughout scenic spots on Oahu. I along with my talent, my brother's best friend, worked countless hours on this project. As a first works project it was AWESOME (if I do say so myself LOL). I submitted it to the Ohina Film Festival that year and it was accepted. The Honolulu Advetiser (or Star Bulletin?) had asked the Ohina Film Festival people for a producer to do a feature on while advertising the festival in the TGIF section of the paper and I was selected. I remember that time so well, I was on cloud nine hundred and ninety-nine. :)

That positive experience and countless others at that time sparked in me a desire for more, to do more. I loved what I was doing and I didn't want to lose that feeling. I was actually afraid each day that that feeling of wonder and awe I felt every time I worked on production would go away, but it never did, and it never has. It was then that I had this dream, that one day I would have a movie play at the Dole Cannery Signature Theater and my name would appear in the beginning and at the end in the credits on the big screen. At the time it seemed like a huge and unattainable dream, but I felt that if I believed in myself and did the work and of course prayed really hard to my Heavenly Father for his help, that any thing would be possible.

Fast forward from August 2000 to October 2003. I had gone through a lot to get to this point and with the help of many kind and loving people, especially my family, and especially my sister, I was able to complete a short film about a successful Pacific Islander spy from a dysfunctional home trying to find himself. It made it into the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) 2003 as one of the local shorts. I was ecstatic. I didn't realize until later that one of the screens my short would show on would be at theater 1 at the Dole Cannery Signature Theater.

My dream actually had two parts. The first of course, is that my film would play on the big screen at that particular theater. The second part was that my movie poster would be advertised in a specific spot. Now anyone who was a Dole Cannery Signature Theater lover back in early 2000 would know what awesome movie was coming soon every time he or she stepped out of one of the elevators and made his or her way to the ticket booth. Across the way and facing the elevators was a corner room lined with a glass wall. Whenever there was some hot new movie coming soon the larger than life posters would be advertised on that wall's central panel of glass... yes that is where I wanted my short film movie poster displayed! LOL And yes that is where it was displayed.

While I was mounting my poster up on the center of that glass wall, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of self actualization. I was in the moment of realizing one of my dreams and I was aware of it. It felt so surreal. I just cried. Tears of joy. I was amazed that I was actually doing something I had only dreamed about doing. Albeit it wasn't some national blockbuster and not some full length feature film, but it was a film and it was mine and it was showing on the big screen at Dole Cannery Signature Theater with my movie poster mounted on the center of that glass wall.

When I say my dream wasn't big enough, I meant it. I realized my first dream and then I didn't pursue it to the next level hard enough. Maybe I just didn't dream a second part clear enough and I may have gotten lost on a tangent, but I am glad of where I have been and what I have done because it has made me a better person, and a better filmmaker. I am ready now to dream a bigger dream. And as this year winds down to a close, I am pondering and working on the details of just what that big dream is for me.