Sucks to Know

Just wanted to reflect on something I've been dealing with. Maybe I will be more at ease if I write it down and get it off my fingers.

I've been involved with the Okinawan performing arts community since I was 2...that's pretty much my whole life. It's actually quite unfortunate that I never had many other hobbies outside of this community, but in reality, it's something I can really be a part of for the rest of my life. I feel like this, in general, has made me the person I am today, and hopefully that's a good thing? Anyway, it's been an interesting road to get here, but recently I have encountered that this community, and this life may not be the great, big, fun place I have thought it to be for a while.

I feel that there are a certain niche group of people truly working to perpetuate our fine culture, through performing arts, and then there are people who try to be great people by using the performing arts world. These people who may look like they care, are those that should be looked out for. It seems that there are these people who want to be "known" and are just using the performing arts world as a stepping stone to get ahead in life. I feel this is the wrong way to approach this world. These people are in actuality ruining the culture by just thinking they know everything, but really ruining things as simple as pronouncing a word correctly, or following a somewhat traditional protocol. It bothers me because as I sit here unknown to people, just seen as another person there at these events, and there are those who are really doing it just for the recognition of it all, just to be popular. It sucks.

It may sound that I am just a salty bitch who just wants someone to notice my efforts for once, but it goes beyond that: I WANT PEOPLE TO CARE! One of the biggest factors in Okinawan performing arts, or even Okinawan culture in general, is heart, and how much feeling you put into it. I cannot stress enough how much unrecognized heart I see out there, and it's a shame. It's not only me, it's a lot of other people, other people trying to perpetuate this dying culture that don't have a voice loud enough, or a wallet deep enough. It seems to me those two qualities are the things that people look for in recognizing the perpetuation of our culture.

So in closing, I leave this question open to anyone who can answer it truthfully: How can we perpetuate this fine culture, and stay true to the fundamentals it has been built on?

School School School

So, school has started :( Nah...but I actually am liking my classes this semester, lots of interesting things to learn. I am thinking this is gonna be a great semester. I still have to see an advisor to make it official, but I may only have one more semester left! I'm taking three marketing classes and the management class that all the business students have to take. It's a bit weird that I'm kinda liking the global marketing class a lot. I think mainly because in my marketing research class, my professor stuck me with these two guys that I don't really mesh with... [sigh]. But like I said...one of the better semesters I've been having in college! One of the things I really need to do is be a bit more optimistic...I am attempting!

I have made it a goal to grow out my hair this year, and I already failed, less than a month into 2011 :( anyway, I got a hair cut last friday, and my hair is SHORT again. Well, my definition of short and the non-Okinawan's definition are a bit skewed, but I usually don't have my hair like this unless I want to get killed my my dance teacher. On the lighter note: my hair does feel a lot healthier, and less dry, so I'm learning to like it. I just ordered a travel kit of Moraccan Oil products that I will post about on my other blog. Hope it does my hair good!

So Chinese (Lunar) New Year is coming soon...ready for the rabbit already, too tired of the tiger year messing me up! I gotta clean my koto soon, so that it can be clean for this new year. Kinda excited/scared: next (actually next next if you're on the lunar claendar) year is my year...the dragon! gonna be pretty old pretty soon :/

So till next time...or next year? hah!!

SO...

I just realized that I haven't really posted much last year...like once...what's up with that??? Well seems as though I totally missed a whole lot of stuffs with you guys (does anyone read this?)...so I shall recap for you my 2010 (beginning in March...only fair since my last post was in February):

• Got into Shidler College of Business, with the intent to major in Marketing...yay!!! One step closer to that all mighty goal--> GRADUATING!
• Steak Dinner Fundraiser: Held a major fundraiser for my Okinawan dance school in April, we raised I believe about $8000!!! That was our very first attempt at doing a major fundraiser in the school. The only thing we had really done in the past was chili tickets and stuff like that. So this was a major hurdle that we leaped for :)
• In June, I got a great opportunity to got to Okinawa again (this was my fourth trip to Okinawa)!! I felt like this was a great experience with me really getting to soak in a lot of what I missed before. I feel like now that I am older, I really do appreciate all this good stuff. It makes me wish I was a lot older (and more mature) the first time I went, mostly because we did all that tourist-y stuff that really teaches you about the history behind the old Okinawa. Anyway, that just gives me a great reason to go back one day :) I will attempt to do a post journeying through that trip.
• After I came back, it really wasn't much. However, a couple of friends and I started a new outing event called Second Saturdays :) A spin off of the First Friday they do in Chinatown. We find something to do on the second Saturday on each month, starting in July. I really like this regular outing. Because we are all doing our own thing (my friends have "real" jobs, and me still in school), we don't get a chance to really hang out. We have been pretty regular with it, and will continue to be!
• As always Okinawan Festival came around. This year was an ok year. I didn't have to do a ton of stuff, just had to make sure my senpai was ok. And again, we only had to do one dance. Lots of people say that's such a waste doing the hair and makeup for one song, but in reality, I like that I don't have to stress during our segment trying to change, and making sure to be ready on time...it was chill :)
• So, apparently our dance school is not the only Okinawan organization in need of financials...Jikoen, the Okinawan Buddhist temple in Hawaii, had put on a fundraiser event that mocked the Okinawan Festival slightly, held in October. We danced, and I committed one of the worst fashion crimes of the century...and we're only 10 years through this one! Anyway...I'll leave it at that...no need to know details, if you were there, then you are lucky to have witnessed it, I guess...
• So by December, I had finished my first semester at Shidler. It was a good experience. This semester, I got to experience all different kinds of teachers: a new teahcer, a crap teacher, a teacher really dedicated to the subject, and a teacher really dedicated to the students. I won't name names, but you could say I had a rough semester, but it's fine because I know it only gets harder from here.
• Since the semester was so hard and work has been nuts...I am glad that I got to partake in a few wonder celebrations of the holiday season. A co-worker hosted a wine party at her house, where I discovered wine is not just rotten grape juice ;) That stuff can actually taste good! Of course we had our dance Christmas party, where we had to dance a classical dance...made me soooooo nervous, and it made me more nervous that Sensei said it was training for the all mighty recital (that will NOT be in 2011). After dancing the only hurdle is doing door prizes, and that's not horrible. And my good friends and I celebrated the holidays with karaoke :D After we sung our lungs out and partaked in a bottle of moscato, we headed to Dave and Busters where we exchanged gifts, and had a drink, then played games till we were sober enough to leave. Wonderful night of singing, drinking and gaming. We even gathered enough tickets for a pocket simon game for one of us.
• And to end the year, we did not do the traditional grandma's house ritual of fireworks and ozoni, which kind of sucked because this was the last new year's eve that fireworks would have been legal...I don't know what I'm talking about, I don't even do that crap...but IT'S TRADITION!!! You don't mess with that. I hope someone is working on repealing that. New year's won't be the same without the thick blanket of smoke covering the Hawaiian sky...

So here I am...recapped about ten months of my life in a few paragraphs. I really do hope that I do more blogging...let my thoughts flow a bit more, so things can be documented a little bit more detailed :)

Till next time...

Update + Nail Polish News

So lately I've been just a busy bee. With school and work, and of course the holidays...I think I really stretched myself thin this winter. Not to mention I got kinda sick :P Anyway...got some cool stuff for Christmas, hopefully this will encourage me to not shop to much in 2011...

Well...as I closed of 2010, I did a bunch of nail polish shopping :D I really haven't been into the nails in a while. Of course I have been doing my nails because I really can't stand the site of my naked nails, but I wasn't really into doing anything new lately :( I picked up a bunch of new nail colors that had been in China Glaze's previous collections from last year that didn't sell I guess so they were there for the taking...but what has intrigued me a bit has been the new colors from the Anchors Away collection for this spring.

Check out swatches from their facebook page (* = ones I am looking forward to seeing):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=589384&id=297979790625

• Knotty: Micro-particle beige shimmer (something like Sephora by OPI's It's Looking Like Rain Dear)
• Sunset Sail: Delightful peachy pink high shine crème
• Below Deck*: A flirty mix of taupe and violet
• Sea Spray: Calming pale blue crème
• Pelican Gray: High shine, cool toned grey crème
• White Cap: Whimsical and sparkling multi-dimensional white
• Lighthouse: Multi-dimensional, bright yellow glass speck
• Starboard*: Hip and playful green crème
• First Mate*: Sophisticated and rich navy crème (reminds me of Little Drummer Boy from the Holiday 2010 collection)
• Hey Sailor: A Vibrant crème red
• Life Preserver: Highly pigmented and luxurious poppy crème (shoulda been safety cone instead :P)
• Ahoy!*: Intense pink that flashes with reflective glass speck

Anyway...I hope you had a great holiday season...it's almost time for me to go back to school...yay? Well...I have made it a (unofficial) new year's resolution to blog regularly, along with to exercise more. Hopefully I can keep up with both this year! Also, I have started a new beauty blog