My New Online Store!

When I was visiting Samoa (Upolu and Savai'i), I had a chance to visit the open markets over there. It would be similar to our version of the swap meet. I sat in a corner and just observed. There were many booths that were selling many hand crafted items (things to hang on your wall, things to decorate your house with, earrings, necklaces, etc). I walked around the market and inquired and asked questions. Of course there was sort of a language barrier because I cannot speak fluent Samoan and well as try as they might, the sellers spoke very little English.

However, from what I was able to understand, I understood that these items are very unique. Yes, you can probably find these in a swap meet in some major city, you can find most items at a traditional Polynesian store. But, I hardly see them online. From what I understand, there have been people that have attempted to sell a lot of these items before hand. Their attempts were not successful.

The reason I am opening an online store is to reach to the world and give people a taste of what Samoan talent is about. Most of the time, when you hear about Samoans, one tends to think of NFL players, or young ones that join the military. Samoans are slowly letting the world know, we can be a small island of less than 200,000 people, but we sure can produce athletes, boxers, weightlifters, sumo wrestlers, actors and now even singers.  We are not just people that get drunk and get into senseless fights at some corner bar. Greg Louganis, was a gold medalist in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics has Samoan blood. Tulsi Gabbard is now a well known politician with a Samoan background. Marcus Mariota was the first Samoan athlete to win the Heisman Trophy. Samoans such as Sapolu, Sopoaga, Polamalu, Seau, and Tuinei have paved the way for the younger generation of Samoans to slowly make a name for themselves.

However, Samoans are gifted artistically. What I would like to do is give the world insight that Samoans are creative. I want the world to be able to indulge themselves, and own a piece of the culture. Samoans take coconut shells and create jewelry, the mulberry tree and turn it into a beautiful tapa cloth (siapo). I want the world to know Samoans back home are hospitable and treat their guests as such that their guests are treated like royalty. There was a reason famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson made his home in Samoa. Living in Samoa gave him the inspiration to write.

I am setting up this store because of a desire to help promote my people's craftsmanship skills, educate about Samoa, and to even promote the islands as a tourist destination. Samoa is known as the Cradle of Polynesia, where all Polynesians originated.  Buying these items allows one to carry a piece of the culture with them always. When my store is up and running I will be sure to post it up. Right now, I am doing the best that I can to build it from scratch.

I want to move to Samoa

Salemumu Beach, Upolu

Not to long ago, I went to visit my parents who lived in the independent nation of Samoa. Before the trip, I was very skeptical of even visiting. For goodness sake, that is going to a different country, even though I was born in the neighboring island of Tutuila (a U.S. territory).

Was there something wrong with me? Not only was I skeptical of going but I was just very hesitant. I hopped on the plane what seemed like a very uncomfortable 5 hours of flying. When I finally arrived at the airport, my body was screaming for an ac. It was in the early morning it wasn't that hot, yet, but you could feel the heat inside the baggage claim area.

As I walked out of the terminal into the waiting lobby, I seen my dad standing there waiting for me and my mom. I walked to say a quick hello, but quickly asked where is the closest store. I was very thirsty. I pulled out a couple U.S. dollar bills forgetting I was in a different country to buy a bottle water. At first the lady just stared at me but then she realized I was new. She accepted the bills though since Samoa tala is double the rate of a U.S. dollar. It felt good to drink.

As we drove on the road to the house, I realized, I really am here, especially after a 21 year absence. The last time I was in Samoa, I was there for only a couple days, so I did not get to do much. However, from what I remember from back then, not much really has changed. At least not in a total significant way. Well of course except the driving. It just was weird.

So what is it about Samoa that makes me want to move back and leave Hawai'i, a place I have been saying this will be my home? What makes me want to go back is the fact that it is just beautiful down there. Yes I won't deny it is hella humid. But it gets that way because the island is in the tropics. It gets humid here in Hawaii as well. The way of life down in Samoa is much more simpler and surprisingly, I can hang. I just need to familiarize myself with the customs and traditions that have made Samoa the way it is. I loved how there was an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables - all organic and not really that expensive.

Outside my dad's house there was a papaya tree growing with some ripe fruit. I can't stand papaya at all but I hate the idea that fruit was just going to get wasted. So my dad picked it with a stick, and I ate it. Wow, it was delicious and sweet. I ate at least one papaya a day with bananas. I've always been a sucker for bananas though. The weather was hot but it rained to keep things nice and cool. What I enjoyed was fresh koko Samoa (our version of roasted chocolate) with the white bread and NZ Anchor butter. For some taste, slap on some strawberry jelly.

As long as I have a working internet connection, and the internet technology in Samoa doesn't seem that slow, I think I will be able to survive there. I am trying to settle some things here in Hawai'i so that when I make the move, I will be ok. American Samoa is only 45 minutes away so the thought of being in America is not too far. One of the main reasons though I am thinking this through is someone is going to need to take care of my parents as they are getting older. As of now, I am single and no kids so yes I am the most likely candidate.

I loved being in Samoa. When it was time to leave, I found myself hesitating to even pack and pondered how much it would cost me to change my ticket. In the end, I had to get back on my flight and return, with a heavy heart. I really do want to move back. Even though that would put me miles away from the rest of my siblings, I find myself yearning to be in a place where I know for sure I will be happiest.

Pen and paper

I am a college graduate student pursuing my doctorate degree. I grew up always using pencil and paper/notebook as a way to jot down important note as i am sure many have also done. However, every time a new school year starts, there is always a mad rush to the store to purchase a new supply of loose paper and a stack of new notebooks. What happens to the old notebooks? They get stacked onto a bookshelf and eventually finds its way to the trash. Never to be used or looked at again.

When laptops started to become the norm and massively available, I figured i won't be buying paper/notebooks, much less pencils or pens. Pens i lose as quickly as i get my hands on. With the emergence of the laptop,  i thought note taking should be a breeze. It meant one less paper notebook i would have to  purchase and carry around. It also meant i wouldn't have to remember to make sure that i put it in my  bag before i left home.

Taking notes wasn't too hard as i can type pretty fast. No more stacks of paper notebooks collecting dust. One less tree will be cut down. Technology is such a wonderful thing. Then my laptop crashed. At that time, flash drives were pretty costly and the cloud was not even in existence yet. What am I going to do? Maybe i should have stuck with the traditional and conventional methods. Paper and pen seemed to be a much better option.

Much to my horror, I couldn't find the bag of pens i just recently bought. What paper/notebook i bought on sale at Walmart, i donated to one of my nephews since he uses it more than i did. Desperate times call for drastic measures. This was one of many to come.  I tried to make a deal with my nephew to return the supply i gave him. He already used it.

Lucky for  me all was not lost. Black Friday was but a mere weeks away.  I would be able to buy a replacement laptop without breaking the bank. I was fortunate to be able to invest in a flash drive. Not bad considering if my new laptop had an accident, i still have access and backup of my files. Unfortunately I became a little too dependent on that stick. I saved more than just my class notes and papers. My collection of hard to find music and irreplaceable pictures  also found its way into my flashdrive.  Then i lost my flash drive. 

Will this bad luck never end? Then the announcement of the cloud happened.i did not have to rely on a flash drive anymore. No matter what computer/laptop i used, i could simply save it to the cloud. I could also pull up past papers I have written and definitely not have anything to worry about. The only challenge I face though is remembering the password i use to log on with.

Currently, i do not have a laptop, school is shut down because of s major holiday, and i still have a paper to write. Black Friday is two weeks away and I still have to somehow complete a major research paper due in 1.5 weeks. WHAT am i to do?

Thank goodness for the invention of smartphones, tablets, and the cloud.  I can pull up the articles i need to use from my cloud, then copy, paste or write  notes onto an app which i can then save onto the cloud. When i am able to get to a computer, I can simply pull it up and construct my paper. There are tons of apps in the App store that have been created to mimic the feel of having a pen and paper in front of you. Especially with the invention of the stylus. Samsung really did a great job incorporating the stylus with their Note phones and tablets so the stylus doesn't get lost. Yes it makes things convenient somewhat.

I use apps such as Evernote and Google Keep and i love both of these apps. These apps don't quite fit the purpose i of what i am looking to accomplish in the long run.  However, my quest for the one paper/pen app that i can use effectively still continues on.

The Passion of the Christ vs The Son of God

First of all, I am just a college student writing an opinion. I am in no way affiliated with any big news crew and it is not like anyone is paying me for this. I just wanted to share what was going on in my mind.

I just finished watching this movie. I went with an open mind because everyone has a different take, interpretation of this story. Plus, I have seen so many other different versions of this story. Who hasn't? When I first heard of this movie, the two movies that came to my mind was King of Kings and Greatest Story Ever Told. Those two movies were a lot more in-depth than Son of God, and as soon as the credits started rolling, I started critiquing and comparing this movie with the older two. With the scenes leading up to his death, I started thinking about Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ.

While most movies try really hard to stay inline with the books/stories that it is trying to convey, Son of God I would say really did not portray too much in the life of Jesus. With the exception of raising Lazarus from the dead and healing a paralyzed man, not too many of his miracles were shown. For me, since they decided to show the raising of Lazarus from the dead, I think this movie could have shown Jesus weeping. After all, Lazarus was one of his close friends and while it may not seem important to too many people, this showed that Jesus not only was a human, but that he had feelings and emotions. 

Roma Downey and Mark Burnett did a wonderful and superb job with this movie, but I felt it could have been done without worrying a lot about time restriction and I just felt that this movie was a little bit rushed. They could have just made this into a TV mini-series of its own and spread it into 3 2 hour episodes. Another alternative would have been to split this movie into 2 parts on the big screen.

However, without nitpicking everything else about this movie, I want to focus in on the part that mattered the most, the scenes leading up to his death in which I chose to compare with the Passion of the Christ. I tell you, the scenes that show Jesus being flogged and eventually nailed to the cross is never easy to watch, no matter who made the movie. Son of God did not get as gruesome as Passion of the Christ did, and I was able to watch this without getting queasy. However, seeing the nail hole in his hand just made me dizzy. However, watching this did not make me feel compassionate and I felt that his death scene fell kind of flat. I would have rather watched a whole village get bombed. Watching him carry the cross felt like I was watching another Easter re-enactment that you see at church. I had no feeling of compassion. Even the scene where Mary (Roma) runs to Jesus while he is carrying the cross just did not feel genuine.The only scene though that made me feel any type of sadness of what our Lord went through was when a stranger was pulled from the crowd and made to carry the cross. 

This is where Passion of the Christ worked. Yes, that movie was gory, gruesome and made my blood boil.

However, that movie had me in tears. I literally cried, especially when Mary ran to Jesus and then they showed the flashback of Jesus when he was a child. I watched Passion of Christ twice, and that scene still made me cry. I felt rage and anger towards the people that made our Lord suffer.

I noticed that both Roma Downey and Mel Gibson are Roman Catholics. There's nothing wrong with that fact at all. They are both passionate in sharing the story of our Lord and I really give them both props for telling that story. The death of Jesus is important to mankind. Without Jesus' sacrifice, there really is no hope for us. The thing I admire though about Roma and Mel is that they both really made they movies about what he did for us. While Greatest Story Ever Told and King of Kings were ok for the time period they were made in, those two feel so much like another Hollywood production. Passion and Son of God did a lot more than just making their respective works more than just another movie. I just believe Passion did a much better job. I am also glad that Passion also just focused on just one area of Jesus' life - his death. Had it tried to tell his whole life story, the meaning or the message would not have worked.

I really do believe that people should go and watch the Son of God and just enjoy it regardless of what you might think. I am excited though this year, 2014, is the year other Bible stories are being made for the big screen. When Passion of the Christ came out, I gave it a 4 out of 5 star movie. To this day, I believe it still is a 4 star movie. There is still a little more room for improvement. However, I believe Son of God is more like a 3.5 out of 5 star movie. There's a lot more that could have been done. Overall, I know that when it comes out to home dvd, yes, this is one I will purchase to support the work that Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are both trying to do.

2012 Student Gradudation Speech

2012 Graduation Speech

ALOHA! On behalf of the class of 2012, I humbly extend
a warm aloha and greetings to our two guests of honor
– Bruce Coppa and Chas Edelstein. I would also like
to extend the greeting to our university department
heads, faculty, family and friends who have traveled
near and afar for this commencement exercise.

In October 2010, I was fortunate to work as an
extra on the set of Journey to the Center of the Earth 2.
This movie featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and
other famous actors. A cast mate I had previously
worked with once asked, “Jeff how old are you?” I
answered my friend’s question with another question.
“How old do you think I am?” My friend was about to
answer when I gave him the stink eye. He wisely
remained silent.

This made me wonder. What can people tell by
looking at me? If you were to see me walking down the
street, can you tell how old I am? Can you guess what
my ethnic background is? Can you tell that I am a
college graduate from the University of Phoenix? But
most importantly graduating class, when you are out in
the world, would anyone know you’re a Phoenix? For
answers to some of these questions, just wait until the
end of my speech or until I become rich and famous.

According to Dictionary.com, a phoenix is a
mythical Arabian bird. Just like any bird, it grows old
and dies. What makes a phoenix different from other
birds is that when a phoenix dies, it bursts into flames
and is reborn from its ashes.

The phoenix continuously undergoes a process:
change, growth and rebirth. Some of us are like this.
After high school, some of us started our own families.
Some of us may have started working jobs that we love
to hate just to pay the never ending river of bills. Many
of us started college, but due to life’s many
distractions, we either burned out or dropped out.

However, we are all here today. We have spent many
hours at the Learning Resource Center or online
working to format our papers into APA, or putting
together last minute Power Point presentations. I know
some of us worked hard to keep our teammates
focused on the group project and to keep them from
posting pictures of what their dinner looked like on
Facebook or playing games like Words with Friends.

I am graduating from the University of Phoenix, so I
am a Phoenix! What will make YOU a phoenix? Will it
be the piece of paper you receive when you walk across
Remember, a phoenix is a bird reborn from its
ashes.

What makes a phoenix a phoenix is not the way
the bird appears on the outside, but the qualities that
made the bird a symbol of renewal. What are those
mystery qualities? I call them the 3 P’s. The inspiring
POWER to PERSEVERE that will lead us to PREVAIL and
succeed. Without the power to persevere, none of us
would be sitting here right now waiting for Dr. Debbie
Hornsby to hand us our degree. When we are out in the
workforce trying to pay off all the student loans we had
to take out, use that power to help you prevail over any
bumps that may come. You now have what you need to
be successful through your University of Phoenix
degree.

It does not matter what university you come
from, but be proud and confident that you have
learned all you need to be the BEST in your job and in
your community. Be proud you are a Phoenix!

So class of 2012, today we are all going to walk
across this stage when our names are called. After this,
many of you will celebrate with your family. Most
people I know will slap me on the back and hand me
cards (I hope they have some money inside).

However, when the celebration is over, it will be
our time to be reborn. In my new life and hopefully
yours, we will apply the knowledge and skills we have
obtained. I will not waste my efforts or those of my
professors. When I am handed a job to do, I will take
the power inside of me and show my superiors and
clients I am a Phoenix. I have the POWER to PERSEVERE
to PREVAIL and make everyone proud. I will always
know my work was my best. I hope you feel the same.

I will do all of this because I am a Phoenix. So to answer
some of those questions I asked earlier, I am a 36-year-
old PHOENIX. What are you?

I would like to take this opportunity to thank
everyone who took the time to support our efforts.
Without your help, it would not be possible for us
graduating class to move into our rebirth. Faculty – you
spent many nights sharing your mana’o with us and
guiding us to become better individuals and workers.
Counselors – Many of you had to deal with our endless
call and worked effortlessly to keep us on track.
Families – You have never stopped supporting our
decision and have been there with us on our good and
bad days. Classmates (especially my learning team)–
We came together as strangers, but I leave this school
with people I can also call my famILY. I LOVE YOU ALL!

I end in my native Samoan language, Malo lava le
finafinau I mea lelei, Ia fa’amanuia atu pea le Atua ia te
oe ma fuafuaga uma oi luma! Congratulations on your
achievement and God Bless!

It is now the last day of February 2013

Wow! It has been quite a while since I last posted on here. A lot has happened in the last year. I am going to summarize a few things because there is just a lot to catch up on.

1. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Human Services from the Uni of Phoenix in June 2013. I represented the students by giving the graduation speech. I will post that speech in another post.

2. I started going to school at USC for a Masters.

3. My cousin gave birth to a new baby boy which I nickname Booder. I came up with a lot of names but this one seem to fit a little more only because he's a little mini version of Buddha and he's a little booger. So I just crammed the two together and yes - that is his name. Booder.

4. My Niners have finally made it back to the Superbowl after 18 years. Alex Smith got benched and Colin Kaepernick took over the reins. I was sad because I really wanted them to win so bad. I'm still a Niner fan, even when I die.

5. Lost 10lbs and working on trying to lose more.

Pretty much that is all the milestones that I can think of. Nothing else. March is right around the corner and just looking forward to dealing with what is going to happen next.

So Merrie Monarch 2012 Festival comes to an end. It was great to be able to watch it. Next time I just have to make sure I am in an area where I am not interrupted. The one thing though is I am glad that my oldest niece was able to watch and understand it with me. Then one of my friends introduced me to a group on Facebook that someone had set up to talk smack. It was hilarious. Just watching it though made me want to get back into dancing again.

One of the topics discussed - Keahi Tucker. I am sorry, but not feelin' him at all. I hope they decide to bring back Paula Akana or something.

Another topic - the costumes, the hair dos, and the mele. The mele was always beautiful. There were a lot of comments on the costumes though because it was like, is this supposed to be MM prom? LOL.

Anyhow, now that it is done, I can get back to attempting to finish my homework. And for the halaus that did not place or win anything, people tend to remember your presentation more than the ones that actually win. You all did your best. Hell just being able to compete is an honor since not everyone gets a chance to dance on that stage. ,