The fall is holding out against the winter, trees clutching bright leaves before the chill breaks their grips. It’s wonderfully warm among such colours, and we walk in the valleys of Appalachia to take in the smell of mountain air as rustic hands around us work livestock and soil. In old Aramaic, Damascus means “a well-watered place”, a fitting name as the rain soon grows too heavy to be exploring the tiny town, population 981.
Over-stimulation is a slingshot moved by the force of company for the sake of self-distraction.
And yet I’ve never felt so alone. The nights are filled with absence, which I try to mollify with indulgence. It’s okay for now cause I know I’ll be okay some day, when it’ll be safe to be alone with my thoughts again.
When Dave and Jenny asked me to film their wedding in Maui, there was no way I could say refuse. Soon1 I found myself in the only place in the world where Koa grows, and every tree I passed made me wonder if it would eventually be made into a ukulele or guitar. I was only there for two days, but it was worth every moment in the delightful weather, spending time with some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
The entire wedding group gathered for dinner at Mala restaurant, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the islands of Lanai and Kaho‘olawe. At this time of year, the Maui sunset passes in the blink of an eye.
I learned that there are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet (which is why so many of the words look the same to me), and the language uses Spanish vowels. Each vowel is usually pronounced by itself (Wailea is said “Why-lay-ah”). I was surprised to see most signs in both English and Japanese; it turns out there used to be a significant Japanese community in Hawaii, although most of the Japanese tourists go to see Pearl Harbor instead.
All the locals are super nice, perhaps due to the fact that tourism is one of the only industries left in Maui2; it seems like most people living there are in the service industry in some form or another3.
Continue reading “Maui Wowie”…
I needed to feel a different pain. I needed to reassert myself. I needed to change my body from the one he knew.
I’ve been killing it. Nights that bleed into morning, pots of coffee, retail therapy, English ales that drink like meals. The blood doesn’t faze me anymore. Instead of slowly slipping down the spiral, I’ve decided to fall all the way so I can climb back up.
Sometimes you have to tear yourself down before you can start rebuilding.