It's intresting how one can be around incredible beauty and never see it until much later. We are all guilty of it. As this one would come to realize the other day, there IS beauty in some form or another everywhere, if we are just willing to pay attention to it.

Having worked at a oceanside aquarium now for the last nine years (hard to believe it has been that long) the ocean and all of it's inhabitants have always been right in front of this one. Yet all this one ever saw was subject material, specimens, and science. This one was always aware of the beauty in the ocean (that is why this one started working at the aquarium) but never once had this one ever taken the time to admire that beauty. From the get go this ones only thought was to teach people about the ocean and all the animal and plant life that make it what it is. The motivation to do so was strong out of a sence of duty to save a precious and vanishing resource that many never get to see (if you live in a land-locked area). But this never actually took a moment to admire the ocean not for the science of it, but for it's inherent beauty. That changed the other day.

As this one sat on a bench in the aquarium, nearing shut down at the end of the day, for whatever reason a burst of bubbles was created by a small and colorful reef fish called a Yellowtailed Coris. [link]
In that instant the bubbles caught the sunlight in such a way that it looked as if they bubble were solid, and they glittered like gems as they made their way to the surface. It was as if this beautifuly colored fish was creating saphires as he went along his way, and in doing so giving a simple but much needed joy to those who truely needed it. And there was the beauty this one had failed to see for so long. This one knew there was no magic to it, this one knew all the science behind it, but in that moment this one did'nt care about any of that. This one was spellbound, if only for a moment, for what it was: Beautiful.

This one challenges all who read this journal to find that beauty that is right is right in front of you. Not in the pixels of a video game, or the material "bling" in a high priced department store, or on the screen of a television set, but in the nature that is right in front of you. Once you find it, you find the value that is inherent in life itself.

Let your heart tell you what is right, let your soul show you where it is, let your mind tell you how to get there.

This one has yet to recieve word on the last of the final grades, but the outcome appears pretty certain. As of Sunday December 16th, 2007, the last of the strings to this one's......my....youth, will be cut, and I will graduate in the class of 2007 from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Strange that I feel no real elation or excitement. I thought that this would be the proudest moment of my life. Perhaps it simply has not sunk in yet. Perhaps it is the overwhelming relief of the difficulties of the academic world be over. Maybe it is the planning of having to get home that is more presiding right now. But there is also a bit of sadness in the relief of the end of my college carreer.

In this final semester I have cemented a strong friendship with a group whom you may know as my "Halo 3 Buddies" who I portayed in this recent pic: [link] . Once this week ends, I will return to my home island of Maui, and may not see any of them again for a long while, as they all are Oahu residents. And given their hard working schedules (as well as my own), phone calls would be a difficult thing to time. And becuase most of them don't even have computers, e-mail would'nt work either. Its a harsh reality to face that some of the people who helped to get you through your hardest years of college are the one you end up leaving behind when it's over.

I suppose that is what growing up......finishing growing up, is about: Making realizations that you don't want to acknowledge. But with that has come the freedoms of an actual college degree and the ability to start building a future and a life. And I can do that now becuase of all the people who got me here.

I have the good graces of my parents and sister to thank for my success and for the ability to start making something of myself. I also have to thank my grandparents (My biggest fans) as well as aunt and cousins for they have done so much for me. I don't know how I would have gotten here if not for my family and friends.

There are more than a few people here on devART that deserve some acknowledgement as well.
have all said or done things for me now for the last 2 years that have helped me remain sane amidst the insanity of the academics. I owe you girls alot. (Funny how most of my friends here on devART are female. )

So to end this long, pointless, Miss-America-acception-speach sounding journal, I.....this one.....Thanks all of you. Now on to the future.

Let your heart tell you what is right, let your soul show you where it is, let your mind tell you how to get there.

Well it was raining pretty hard out this evening. All has cleared up and and now a cooling wind blows. Somehow......all feels cleansed and there is a feeling of comfort that has come forth as a ressult. Strange....... This whole week, this one has felt burdend and begrudged. Now with the coming and passing of this peculiar weather phonomenon, everything.......feels.....different.

Everything around remains the same, the assignements, the deadlines, the problems. And yet right now the stress that those things carry with them seems far away. As if they are no longer of such pressing importance. The rain has changed the state of this one's world, even though it is still the same as before, as if it were water that turned to ice, still the same but so different at the same time.

Funny. That simple occurence of rain could change the way this one veiws everything in a moment. Suddenly the challenges of life seem possible, infact easily, overcome. Suddenly the sadness and burdens that affected this one these last few weeks seems but nothing more than a lost memory. All in a period of about four hours, all seems as if it will be alright.

Perhaps this is the origin of the term "Right as Rain". This one does'nt know. But for the moment, all does seem right. Strange, funny.....but so nessesary was this rain. And so nessesary is the peace that has followed it.

Let your heart tell you what is right, let your soul show you where it is, let your mind tell you how to get there.

This one has recently heard an intresting and rather controvercial qoute.
"No Soldier should be honored for doing what is expected."
-- Halo 3
But this brings a disturbing question foward: What are we expecting, and why?

What is expected of today’s warriors is all too often too much to ask of any person. Particularly at this dark point in our history where partician politics has become the status quo and the men and women of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are caught in the middle of situation so hard to understand by anyone in anytime in history.

Many of our uniformed men and women are being forced to follow orders from government officials they do not believe in, and many who no longer serve being ostracized by right-wing lunatic fringe groups simply because they have spoken their minds. Those groups have even called actual combat veterans "phony soldiers" and even used the word "traitor" to describe veterans who speak their minds. But all too often, the veterans themselves, whether for or against the policies that dictated their orders, are simply forgotten. Suddenly a frightening quote comes to mind:
"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." -- Gen. Douglas MacArther

On this Veterans Day we must NOT take light of the fact that so many have sacrificed sanity, personal safety, and physical well-being for the sake of government that has abused their loyalty, and a country that remains oblivious to the totality of what they have suffered and continue to suffer. And we must also come to realize that too many of these brave souls are almost never appreciated after the headlines have ended, many ending up as homeless relics on the streets, forgotten and unrecognized by the very people they sought to defend, and the government which sent them into conflict. And while historians may later shame or praise the government, officials and leaders who started the conflict, rarely is there mention of those who survived through it. It is time to mention them.

Tribute is only a gesture, but perhaps it can ignite the fires of action within those of us who have yet to take any. This one.....I.....pay my tribute to the troops by calling on all of us who owe something to our veterans to give something back. Draw a picture, donate to a Vet center, write a letter, post a journal, anything......anything you can do to let our veterans know, that we appreciate them, even when the government they served may not.

And we must, above ALL else, NOT let them fade away!

Let your heart tell you what is right, let your soul show you where it is, let your mind tell you how to get there.

The greatest gift that this one could ever get anywhere, at anytime, would be the gift of genuine love and affection from someone for whom this one felt the same way for......but alas.....it is simply not to be.

That fact was shoved in this one's face rather crudely tonight. This one will give up. If love is not meant for this one.....then this one accepts that fate....albeit with a broken heart and wounded soul.......albeit with the effort of trying to be greatful for the love that is shown for him by his family and friends.....but still so dissapointed and alone.....this one....I......offer my heart in exchange.....will no one accept it?

Let your heart tell you what is right, let your soul show you where it is, let your mind tell you how to get there.