Two-headed turtle

Chelonia mydas 

We've been back more than a week but the sands of Maui are still trailing from our sandals, as it were. Here are two last gumdrops from our trip to the Islands:

When Coco discovered that the camera in my new phablet had a "burst" setting, she of course wanted me to use it on her. Here's her impromptu not-a-hula on the Ka'anapali beach, with the rapid-fire photos turned into an animated gif. Aside from the positive value of capturing my sweetie's beauty as many times as possible in a short span of time, I guess burst-shooting would be good for those occasions when waiting for the shot would just be too hard. I tired to shoot some bursts during the whale watching cruise we went on, but just created twenty-shot albums of rolling water. Not so interesting.

And as far as animated gifs vs. actual video goes,  I like video for a narrative arc but gifs for the endless looping action. If there's enough demand, this gif could become a permanent fixture in the sidebar, for example. Whattaya think?

When we got back, I did a little digging around for connections between Hawai'i and comic books. There will be more on that in a future edition of He is a Thark, but this piece struck me as being of more general interest. It is a 1960 PSA that appeared in DC Comics to commemorate the statehood of Hawai'i. The message this piece sends - that Hawai'i's contribution to our country would be as an "example of brotherhood harmony"- makes me wistful. The innocent optimism contained in this PSA reflects the values with which I was raised - heck, this piece probably contributed to the formation of those values, since it is contemporaneous to my starting to read comics. When that vision is contrasted to the reality of economic disparity and cultural tensions that exist in the islands over 50 years later - well, I just have to wonder where we went wrong. I complain that I have finally made it to the future and there are no jetpacks, but there was once the promise of so much more, as well.

***

Trachemys scripta elegans

So, here's a little more on the conversation that started last week.

In the first D&D game I ever played in, my character, Ragnar Forgesplitter, was a Dwarf Bard. Dwarfs are not characteristically charismatic or overly verbal, but Ragnar had had an unusual upbringing and an exceptional skillset, and was the party's diplomat and problem-solver, pulling the group together and building bridges both figurative and literal.

Unfortunately, he was killed by a hill giant.

My next character was Narley Noopin, a Gnome Monk. Now gnomes are not usually drawn to the disciplined and solitary life of a monk, but Narley had a serious, ethical streak not commonly valued in gnomish society. He worked with the party as a voice of order and structure, a bulwark against chaos, but while we has with them he was never quite of them, and left soon after their first adventure had concluded.

Coco has recently gifted me two shirts to wear when I am gaming: one says Dwarf Bard and one says Gnome Monk.

I can never decide which character to play.

Up, up and away.

Gung Hay Fat Choy and Big Choices

Well,  I reckon that at least my sister read the last post - she sent me a Chinese New Year's Card.

So, that makes it official - I can finally tie off the loose ends of last year and begin moving forward into the new year with some new projects. The last great act of last year was our Mauimoon in Hawai'i, from which we returned two days ago and in which you can share by clicking here or on the new Pog and Vodka link in the right sidebar. That was a heck of a way to close out the season and the year, and, of course, it presents me with a collateral challenge.

To review what I have been waiting to begin:

1. I still won't know a "normal" week for a while. In the seven weeks between now and the start of my teaching Spring quarter, I am scheduled to work 12 days as dean. On the one hand, cool; on the other hand, weird.

2. All that free time (see #1) will allow me to get purchase on those new and different creative, artistic, and self-improvement endeavors.

However, it's one thing to begin a new writing routine or workout regimen, or to finally get serious about learning the instrument you've been fooling around with for with several years, or to stick to a blogging schedule, and it is another thing entirely to contemplate a major life change.

What ho, you say - doesn't #1 cover that? Doesn't moving from dean back to instructor qualify as a major life change?

Well, yes and no. It will certainly be a major change in many aspects - schedule, responsibility, daily routine, income, and so forth. But I will still be an educator, still in higher ed, and still at the same institution. From a certain perspective, the changes are trivial.

Tut-tut, you say - why bring up this major life change business at all? Wasn't the whole point of this new year whatsis just to jump-start some personal productivity?

Well, yes, but then there was Maui. And when you're in Maui, you naturally start thinking how great it would be to just never get on your return flight and stay forever, folding T-shirts at Crazy Shirts in Whaler's Village or the Lahaina Cannery Mall and hitting the beach every day. Then you remember you're not twenty-three anymore and can't live in a crappy apartment with three roommates, but the seed has been planted and you start trying to figure out how you got where you are. And you remember that when you were in grad school, having a tenured position in an English department was not one of your explicit goals and that you kind of wound up here by accident, and you wonder what to do about that.

Or at least I do.

And that's the collateral challenge: even as I construct this new-old life as a college teacher, filling it with stuff that is important to me - reading, writing, creating, and so forth - I am questioning where it is leading in the long run, which for me is getting shorter every year. Maybe this blog won't just report on the progress of my projects, but will help me reflect on that big question out as well. Here's hoping.

Up, up, and away.