Newly Ulli .. Entitled .. Shake your hula hips

Greetings Ulli!

Your comment posted to the Feb. 22 blog entry is the latest example that i am indeed writing for more than six people. Grote dank for that, and for your advice to see Sideways. Hitting the cinema is one of the things on my list of Things to Do as soon as full-time work comes in, which btw is seeming more and more imminent. Without going into too much detail about them too soon, i've had an increasing number of call-backs from local temp agencies, and in the meantime am earning what i need for rent and food with continued work at the law offices of my high school buddy Jim Napier.

But enough of Real World concerns -- today i want to talk about HAWAII! i just can't get the place or the feeling out of my bones. Maybe it's because ...

• two of my closest buddies were simultaneously visiting the big island last month;
• one of my friends in Amsterdam -- Ulli again! -- gave me back in November a copy of a book about the Hawai'ian philosophy called huna; (i'm not unaware i've already mentioned this a few times!)
• i have been re-playing over the past coupla weeks either one of these 3 cassesttes i brought back from there -- and when YOU're in the mood for some island feeling, you can't go wrong with the Ka'au Crater Boys (check out Valley Style and crank up the volume the first time you play Noho Pai Pai); also a fave is the Hawai'ian Style Band's Vanishing Treasures; or maybe because
• one of the first things i put on my list of things to do in 2005 was snag a hawai'ian guy. The check-box next to this item remains blank, or else you would've heard about it already.

So I'm thinking to myself just now, how do i connect all of this for The Readership to the spiritual dimension which i believe is driving my longing for the islands? And i think to answer that, i needed to find out what the meaning of H A W A I ' I is, which i just finished doing. Are you ready? Here it is! You can imagine how i love the idea that Hawai'i is so much more than a geographical spot on the planet, but something that all of us carries around inside us, whether or not we're aware of it.

Right, now back to the real world of snowy Rochester. Another 8 inches or so (20 cm) fell overnight and this morning, and i've already done some serious shoveling. It was snowing so hard when i took Sandy out last night that she re-entered the house with a white coat! She is so cute when she goes scavenging for discarded chicken bones buried deep in the snow, and ends up with a white dusting on her black nose. I'm on my way to Kinko's to print up some business cards in preparation for an evening of free pizza and beer that Jacqui gave me a heads-up on a couple of days ago, a chance to network with .. huh! Is there a single, snappy word that exists to refer to people who work in internet-related jobs? .. web-workers is my stab at it. My business card reads: DOUG TICKNER .. writer / editor .. content consultant .. internet coach, followed by my contact info. i wish to god i had gotten my own website by now; i'm not really looking forward to networking with web-workers and presenting a card that says "contact me at friggin' hotmail," i may as well just attach a sign to my butt that says LOOO-zer!

But wanna get home to let the pooch out before that, and still got a walk to get me to the nearest Kinko's to get those cards printed up. Before i sign off though, here are Big Beautiful Birthday greetings being shouted out to Agents Crime and Freedom, wherever you boys might be on the planet! Simon, Ben: lift a mug to your wonderful selves and in memory to a truly magnificent pair of friendships!