final projects, final papers, and final finals!

I can't believe I'm almost done with this semester! This is my final project for Motion Picture Production. I've concluded that I am, nor ever will be a video person. However, other than a few details with the audio and certain video clips, I'm pretty proud of this. I spent almost 12 hours in an edit bay working on this thing, constantly having to render, readjust and make subtle changes. 


I never really knew how prevalent child abuse was in Hawaii until I wrote the article on the Pinwheels for Prevention event at the State Capitol. It really is scary to think that kids in or around my neighborhood are being abused. They say that more than 4,000 cases of child abuse are reported, however only about 1,500 of those are confirmed. And then you think of the amount that isn't being reported. Just learning those statistics and talking to people working to prevent child abuse at the event inspired me to make this video.


I've never been abused, nor have I ever known of anyone who has been abused, but I love kids. My mom does home daycare and I'm a Sunday school preschool teacher at my church so to think of any of those kids being abused breaks my heart (you'll see some of them in the video). 


The executive director of PARENTS Inc, Lisa Groulx, told me that she was never abused but she grew up with a father who treated boys differently than girls and who abused her brother. Now she's a single parent and works to educate parents on how to effectively parent their children without abuse.


Child abuse survivor David Louis is now an established founder of Heart Gallery Hawaii. He helps children in foster 
care find families that will match them and also helps to foster their dreams or career goals. The work he does has been featured on Hawaii News Now and other news organizations throughout Hawaii. He is also busy raising two sons, a daughter and another 3-month-old baby boy. 


I learned a lot about this particular issue through doing this project and I hope to educate those who may not know how prevalent this issue is. Although it was a lot of hard work finding professionals, scheduling, filming and editing, I think it was worth it. I hope you enjoy it! :)

I miss KHON2!

What an amazing experience it's been at KHON2! I honestly loved every second of my internship experience. Even though I had to wake up at 4 a.m. in order to get ready and get to the station at 6 a.m. I think the first-hand experience was  extremely worthwhile.

I learned more at KHON2 than in any class at HPU because I was put in a real news station, learning from people with years of experience in news. 


At the station I stayed at the assignment desk to listen to police scanners for any breaking news event. I also posted stories and videos to the website, answered phones, logged tapes, looked up videos for b-roll in the archives, filed press releases and input them into the assignment system. 

Along with these tasks I got to shadow reporters on various assignments. Some of these include:  

• Going to a press conference where the military was introducing their new fuel cell cars
• Going to the opening press conference of a new Waikiki restaurant by Chef Morimoto
• Covering the grand opening of Walmart Kapolei with Olena Heu
• Going to the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event to prevent domestic violence at the University of Hawaii
• Going to a Coast Guard press conference about the family who was rescued off the coast of the Big Island

• Covering the heavy flooding in Aina Haina, specifically Wailupe Place, with Olena Heu
• Going to hear Hawaii Meth Project’s presentation at Pearl City High School where I got to interview former meth addict Andre Pulido
• Interviewing Joel Osteen about his “Night of Hope” at the Blaisdell Arena 
• Interview Nainoa Thompson about the death of one of the original Hokulaule’a members 
• Covering a traffic accident near Portlock in Kaneohe
• Going to University of Hawaii at Manoa’s first football practice to interview players
• Interviewing Mufi Hannemann

These were just the highlights, I've learned so much and enjoyed the time I was there. Unfortunately my last night at KHON2 was last night. I'm really gonna miss the reporters, anchors, assignment desk editors, producers, and everyone I've met there. I'm hoping it's not the last time I'll see them. The pictures show just a few of the happiest people you'll ever meet in the morning. Up top it's Jai Cunningham, Olena Heu, me, Trini Kaopuiki and Taizo Braden. They're super sweet and have helped me out so much this past semester. Olena and Jerod (he's the assistant morning show producer) were the two people I looked to the most when I needed help. They became my favorite people at KHON2.

Though I'll miss the interning there, I know everything I've learned will help me in future experiences. 

Eat the Street!

Because I know I promised pictures. :)

Eat the Street Kapolei was on Saturday, April 14 at Kapolei High School. It was pretty packed, like graduation was happening. My boyfriend and I circled the football field like five times because we were so indecisive. In the end I got Belgian-style fries from Street Frites (pronounced like freeeeets). They give you a choice of these unique dipping sauces, like shoyu sugar, vanilla milkshake, bacon jam, garlic rosemary aioli and many others.

The fries were perfectly crisp from being fried twice and pretty salty, just the way I like it. 

I'm a huge fan of fries; they're like my ultimate comfort food with ice cream. And these were super yummy. Just looking at the picture makes me want more! 

They even come served in these cute printed cones for easy, one-hand carrying. We ate these while walking around Eat the Street, me holding the sauces while he held the fries. 

I realized I just rambled on about french fries for like three paragraphs. I'm at Starbucks right now, with writers block and a grumbling tummy. So french fries is definitely a start.

Anyways the next photo doesn't look nearly as good as it tasted!

We also found a food truck called Koi 808 that had great-sounding plate lunches with affordable prices. 

We were torn between getting the hamburger steak (60% ground beef, 40% ground bacon) with bacon gravy or the roast pork with mushrooms and bacon gravy. In the end we decided on the latter, pictured right. Pretty good choice, I must say! It came with a lot too, we chose one scoop brown, one scoop white rice and tossed salad. 

Anyways, I love posting food photos and blogging about them (show me some of yours too!). This summer I plan to start a baking series. Stay tuned! :)

crunch time.

I absolutely haaaate the final weeks of school. It's like summer is so close yet so far away. I have so many things to do within the next three weeks, but I'm not going to bore my fellow bloggers with that. Instead since I've been super stressed and overwhelmed I decided to share a few tips on how to beat final exam stress, taken from College Fashion.

1. Avoid stressful people.Stress actually is contagious. During exam week, resist the urge to have a study session with your super-tense friend, especially if she’s complaining about all the work she has to do and breaking pencils all over the place. Her stress will only add to your stress. 
2. Eat healthy and exercise.
This seems like a no-brainer, but it’s a wonder how many people forget it. Skip the sugar, which will make you crash, and go for snacks like granola bars, healthy cereal or fruits and veggies to keep your blood sugar stable. If you’re studying for a long period of time, eat some protein too. Also, try to get some form of exercise. Even a 10 minute walk will leave you calmer and more focused.  
3. Just say NO.
I don’t mean to drugs, although I’m not recommending them or anything. What you need to say no to are the people who want to take up your time. There will probably be a friend who needs to talk to you for hours about her life, or a keg party the night before your final, and if you say yes, you’ll probably be tempted to blow off studying. Resist the urge. Say no to the distractions and be selfish for a day. You want a good GPA, right?
4. Force yourself to take breaks.
For every hour or so that you work, take a 10 or 15 minute break. Let yourself do whatever you want (check Facebook, check out that guy sitting nearby, stare off into space, call a friend, etc.) for those 10-15 mins, then start working again. This gives your brain a little rest and will help keep you more focused when you are actually doing work.
5. Visualize it all going right.
This is actually my favorite tip of all, even though it sounds kind of nuts. Imagine yourself taking the test and feeling confident that you know all the information. Picture getting all of the answers right, and focus on how relaxed you feel. Then picture the A on your test paper. When you imagine a happy ending, that’s often what happens, because you make the decisions that lead to it without even realizing.
6. If you’ve studied all you can, get up your confidence!When test-time rolls around, it’s time to get yourself into confidence mode. You’ve prepared as much as you could, and now it’s time to ace the test. The tip here is to do whatever works to convince yourself you are going to do really well. Again, I know this tip sounds a little crazy but you just have to try it for yourself. I think you’ll like the results.

Secretly, sometimes I can be that "super-tense" friend. So I need to surround myself with extra calm people in order to calm myself down. Coffee works too. My stress food is actually flaming hot cheetos, which probably isn't the healthiest food but they're so addicting. When I study I love to snack because, I know it's silly but, I think of them as little tiny breaks for my brain, haha. I never really have to force myself to breaks because for me I usually have a problem with too many breaks too often. I've found that I need to just sit, focus, finish (or complete enough) then watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother or if I'm hungry find some food, and then do it all again.
I like to schedule my study times so when people invite me to things I can easily tell them no, however I am easily persuaded to do something else than study but the final weeks of the semester is when things get serious.
A lot of the other sites said to get enough sleep. I'm lucky if I get six hours on weeknights. Sometimes it's because I'm interning, or I have to wake up ridiculously early, or I just can't sleep. Recently my mind doesn't stop thinking of more and more things I have to do and so in bed it's hard for me to just relax (sometimes). Some nights I just instantly fall asleep, but for the nights I toss and turn I've learned that lavender oil works wonders. My mom gave it to me because I didn't want to take sleepy medicine and the lavender scent is supposed to relax you. I just open the bottle and smell it and I'm so sleepy after. Hope those tips help!
I hope everyone has a great rest of the semester! Happy almost weekend! :)

it's finally FRIDAY!

I've been waiting for Friday for what seems like forever. So I told myself, as I pretty much always do, that I wasn't going to spend money this weekend but guess what's coming to Kapolei? EAT THE STREET! So tomorrow after I sleep in and attempt to do homework, that is where I'll be! I've never been to an Eat the Street event before so I'm pretty excited. Just looking at the vendor list gives me way way way too many choices and being the most indecisive person ever, I'll never decide what to eat. But I love that all my choices will be in one place. 
Have you guys ever been to Eat the Street? Let me know if there's anything I should definitely try.
I'll also bring my camera with me so I can post photos in my next blog post.
Here's more info if you're curious: http://www.streetgrindz.com/eat-the-street-kapolei-2/
I hope you all have a yummy and funny weekend! (:

Everyone needs a laugh, here's one for today. :)

Are you so in love with this coke? Jords sure is.

This is my best friend Jordan, probably the most random and creative person I know. When I told him I had to create a commercial for my video class he thought of doing a pest control one, dressing up as cockroaches and doing kung fu. But that was a little too hard for me to try and film. Instead this was a lot easier and funnier because I love commercials with songs in them. 
We're always making up random songs so I thought I'd let him just do that for my commercial. He wrote the remixed lyrics one day, we recorded them the next day and shot the video the day after. So it's definitely not the best, but I still laugh when I watch it. It was a lot of fun to do but I've learned that video recording is so not my thing. 
But yay! Now I just have one more video project to go! It's a documentary, which after writing about the pinwheels for child abuse prevention, I think I want to do it on child abuse and what a horrible problem it is. What do you think?

Behind the Scenes with Olena Heu

During my internship at KHON2 this semester, I've met almost all of the reporters (except the weekend ones) but by far my favorite is Olena. When I first started and didn't know much she really helped me get used to things at the station. I thought she'd be a perfect person to feature as the subject of my photo story.

Throughout the past semester I've had the privilege of following her on assignments. We first went to a doctor's office where we interviewed the mother of a child who had a seizure a few years ago, was in a coma and is now doing better. They were hosting a fundraiser that weekend to raise money to cover the medical costs. I learned a lot by watching her interview the mother about a sensitive subject. Then I interviewed the doctor and got tips from her along the way. Since then, I've seen how much she cares about people, even just those she's just met. We went to a street in Aina Haina that was flooded after the heavy rains and while interviewing a home owner there she made a lot of calls and went out of her way to get them help. Instead of just getting interviews for a good story, I learned that building relationships with people is way more satisfying. 

After filming this interview, we learned that she had won an award for a story on a Marine coming home who had never met his baby. Congratulations! She later told me that when she became a reporter one of her goals was not only to be 'the reporter that when she walked in people would know that she would get a great story,' but to be an award-winning reporter. Congratulations x2! What a great accomplishment for such a deserving reporter. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to do what she does. Who knows, maybe one day you'll see us on the news together. :) 

Throughout this experience I've learned so much that I wouldn't have necessarily learned from a book or in class. It's been one that I definitely don't want to end. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photo story! Let me know what you think! :)

back to the grind.

Spring break was waaaay too short. This adjustment back to school is so not my favorite. Unfortunately I got almost no homework done this break, but hey we all deserve a break every once in awhile. Anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed the short break from school. I sure did. My favorite part? Sleeping in. It's a once-a-week luxury for me that I got to enjoy almost everyday! No coffee needed this week. :) Here's a few of the highlights of my break.

 "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends." Karaoke was crazy fun with these kids. Our room for 20 people was upgraded for free to a room for 60. It was a party room for sure. 

My not-so-baby cousin had a birthday party at the Kroc Center so the boyfriend and I were on baby duty watching the kids in the kiddie pool. After they got tired we got to ride the water slides, so fun! 


We also went on a Bubbies date because I was craaaving mochi ice cream. My favorite! 


Sleeping in and eating were pretty much my favorite parts of spring break. Now it's back to waking up early, catching up with homework I was supposed to do but didn't and hardly any time to paint my nails. Oh well, just a few more weeks until summer time! :) 

 

Justice demanded.

Since the Trayvon Martin case has come about I've just briefly heard about a 17-year-old Florida teen being shot and killed by a Neighborhood Watch member. George Zimmerman claimed it was self-defense that led him to shoot Trayvon. Zimmerman has not been charged with manslaughter. He remains a free man. Because of this many supporters of Trayvon have begun to demand justice. The Miami Heat (who are doing amazing this season, btw!) wore hoodies on Friday afternoon to show their support to Trayvon's family. 

On Feb. 26 Trayvon was walking in a gated community to visit his father's fiancee. He had just come from 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona Iced Tea when he was spotted by Zimmerman. Because he was wearing a hoodie, Zimmerman thought he looked suspicious and called a non-emergency police line to report him,  according to the Orlando Sentinel. 

They also reported that he had a habit of calling law enforcement, with 46 calls from January to Feb. 26. Six recordings of his calls were released and four of them involved suspicious persons, all of whom were black, according to the Orlando Sentinel. 

Initially, media outlets reported that Trayvon and Zimmerman exchanged words, fought and Trayvon died with a single gunshot to the chest. According to the police report, Zimmerman was standing nearby with blood from his nose and the back of his head. Neighbors called 911 and audible cries for help can be heard on the recordings. Zimmerman claims it was him however lawyers for Trayvon's family claim it was his cries. 

Just today the Orlando Sentinel released an article with Zimmerman's claims -- that the Miami junior punched Zimmerman, sending him to the ground, then climbed on top of him and slammed his head into the sidewalk leaving him bloody. 

There's a lot more information that makes this case just even more messy like the one minute gap when police dispatch hung up and police arrived at the scene. I suggest reading on for yourselves. I will definitely be keeping up with this case. Expect more blog posts to come. Below are links to the articles I found: 

Uproar grows over citizen volunteer's killing of Florida teen

Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head

my grandma, (:

Here's a little video I put together for my video class again. This time I had to do a personal expression video and I didn't really think I had anything to express so instead I wanted to tell my grandma's story since she's the best grandma in the world. 


Her story is one of hardships, love, and joy. I've admired my grandma since I heard her story as a little girl. I could never really understand how hard she had it growing up. I had everything so easy because she wanted a better life for her family. My grandpa also sacrificed a lot, coming to Hawaii for my grandma and then picking pineapples in the fields because it was the only job he could get when he first came. I'm so thankful for the sacrifices my grandparents made in order to give me and the rest of my family a comfortable life. For that and many other reasons, I admire them so much. 


This video was a great way to express a story that inspired me as a little girl. My grandma would always help me wash my hands and tell me about how she would have to go outside and pump her own water. If they wanted it warm, they would have to build a fire and warm it themselves. This along with other little anecdotes about her childhood helped me to remain grateful for the things we can easily take for granted. 


I'm VERY new to Final Cut Pro and video production in general. It's not the best it could be and I still have a lot to perfect with it, but it was due on Tuesday and I was extremely frustrated with Final Cut Pro so I decided this was good enough for now. I'll perfect it later, promise. But thanks for watching, I'm excited to hear your thoughts and if you'd also like to tell me: who is one person in your life who has taught you something you still hold dear? 

my new favorite place: the Kroc Center

At the beginning of February, a new community center opened up in Kapolei called the Ray and Joan Kroc Center Hawaii. It's been a great thing for the so-called "future second city" because it provides a safe place for families to enjoy. The Kroc Center is a total of 15-acres with 200,000 square feet of multipurpose facilities. It's the largest community center of its kind in Hawaii. And for me the best part about it is that it's five minutes away from my house! :)


I actually wrote an article about it in the Kalamalama for this past issue. It's got a lot more than a regular community center, like a 14,000-square-foot health and wellness center with workout equipment and facilities for individual and group fitness; a 14,000-square-foot athletic center with a NCAA-regulation gym; an aquatic center with a competition pool and a leisure pool with giant water slides; a 3-acre outdoor park for sports and recreation and a 48-bed dormitory for traveling teams or overnight conferences. The center also includes a 500-seat worship and performing arts center, an early education center for up to 120 preschool students, an art studio, a game room, party cabanas, a catering kitchen, and a 720-seat banquet, conference or meeting room.

Ray and Joan Kroc left much of their estate to the Salvation Army, which helped fund this $133 million project. Kroc Center Hawaii is a possibility because of their $110 million Kroc grant and the community raising $23 million as well. And yes it seems like a lot of money but you guys should see this place! It's definitely worth it. 

Membership rates are a bit pricey at $59 per month for an individual but families of five or less can become members for $99 per month. My family just joined in March and we've been taking advantage of that membership as much as possible. But people without memberships can also get a day pass for $14. My boyfriend can't wait for spring break so he can spend a whole day there. 

So far I've only worked out in their health and wellness center, but my mom has been going to classes like power sculpt and zumba along with working out in the center as well. My dad and brother use the brand new gym to play basketball and then work out too. And unlike most community centers, the showers are the best part! Clean, hot and segregated! My parents love that I shower there to save them heating and water costs. 

I'm just very excited to start getting in shape again, slowly. My legs currently feel like jello from running two miles, two days in a row. It's an accomplishment for me, but the beasts in there do two miles in like two minutes. That's exaggerating but you get it. Anyways, this is becoming very very long, so I'll just show you some pictures I took of the place. :)

The Health & Wellness Center 

The cafe at the entrance of the Kroc Center serves coffee, drinks, snacks and plate lunches prepared by the executive sous chef, a.k.a. my uncle. :)

Kiddie pool! 

The Lazy River!

Two water slides! I can't wait to ride them! 

The Seven Dwarves Present Seven Silly Social Media Myths

I recently ran into this cute post by Marjorie Clayman entitled, 'The Seven Dwarves Present Seven Silly Social Media Myths." I enjoyed it and I hope you guys will too! Here's what she said: 

Sneezy: Sneezy wishes to combat the myth that people are always interested in every detail about, well, you. The fact is that most people are in the online world because they have an objective, and for most folks, hearing about every sneeze in your life doesn’t help them along. Some personal details are good, but reporting every event in vivid and graphic detail is something you learn to avoid pretty quickly. 

Sleepy: Sleepy would like to tell you that Social Media is not something that is so easy you can do it in your sleep. In fact, that idea that Twitter is really just a place to talk about what you ate for dinner is not nearly the whole story. Social Media actually takes a lot of planning, time, and hard work. 

Dopey: Dopey wants to impart to you that the myth that you can say whatever you want online is not true. If you badmouth your client, your boss, or your mother-in-law, you are playing with fire, and it’s a darned silly thing to do. In a time when potential and existing employers are coming through social platforms to see what you’re up to, a little censorship can be a bosom buddy. 

Doc: Doc has a big problem with the myth that anyone can be an expert online. He points out that he is called doc because he is a certified doctor. Unless you truly are a: jedi, ninja, expert, boss, top banana, or any other such term, you should probably not include those words in your Twitter profile. In fact, even if you are a complete and total ninja, Doc suggests not broadcasting this belief. It makes you look kind of dopey. 

Happy: Although he’s an optimistic kind of guy, Happy said he wanted to talk about the fact that not everyone will become a millionaire just because they tweet a lot. In fact, a lot of the millionaires on Twitter were successful long before that little bird started tweeting. Have reasonable objectives and you’re more likely to be, er, content. 

Bashful: The myth that people will naturally gravitate to your blog, your Twitter account, or your anything else online is a myth that needs to be shed rather quickly if you want to succeed online. You can’t be a wallflower if you want to achieve your goals. You have to get out there and mix it up, no matter who you are. 

Grumpy: Finally, there’s Grumpy. Grumpy is taking this moment to say that focusing on controversy, cuss words, and harsh criticism is not the best way to get attention online. It might work for a short period of time, but it’s not a way to encourage people to commit to you over the long haul. Just because Grumpy got famous for his grumpiness doesn’t mean just anyone can.

In a lot of the comments from this post, readers mentioned that many social media users don't have an agenda and that's what leads to these "myths." I can definitely see where they're coming from in the sense that many social media users use it solely because everyone else has it and who would you be if I couldn't find you on Facebook? However, it's useful to keep in mind that some people use it as a key tool for networking. This amusing blog post got me thinking of the real purpose behind social media. We use it to socialize, to keep in touch with others, to have a presence online, for business sometimes, for our own curiosity, to find out information on people, and other reasons as well. What do you guys think of these social media myths, or better yet, what do you think the purpose of social media is? 

To read the full blog post, click here. 

Heigh ho, heigh ho, off to work I go! :)

New fuel cell cars!

On Wednesday, the military debuted their new fuel cell cars in an effort to help Hawaii. They have enough power to power up to five houses in an emergency situation!

Calling all smart phone users & social networkers!

I recently read an article in the Huffington Post with the headline "Cellphone Study Finds Link Between Selfishness and Mobile Phone Use." The article reported the findings of two studies conducted at the University of Maryland. In the study they had college students use Facebook, or a cellphone without Facebook access, for three minutes then asked them how likely they were to volunteer at a charity organization. Phone users were less likely to say they would volunteer than those who went on Facebook.
Before being tested participants said they felt more connected to others when they were using their cellphones than when they were on Facebook. This led researchers to conclude that "the more connected to others people feel, the less likely they are to volunteer." "The cellphone directly evokes feelings of connectivity to others, thereby fulfilling the basic human need to belong," the studies' authors writ in a working paper titled "The Effect of Mobile Phone Use on Prosocial Behavior."
Although the findings are interesting, they will not be published until more research is done. Researchers want to know more about how cell phone use affects people's actions in social situations. Specifically they'd like to see if a socially fulfilling activity would make people even less likely to behave in a prosocial manner.
Read the full article here.
I'm always on my phone checking Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Google+ and my email but I never really thought it was making me selfish. I do feel more "social" while on these social networks but I know social activity in real life is more important than on a network. Though this study definitely needs more research and experimentation, I think it's interesting to what researchers are trying to find out these days, especially with everyone having a smartphone and some sort of social network.
What do you guys think?

Hi friends.

I'm excited to start blogging again. I haven't blogged in a while, as you can probably see. This semester I'm taking Motion Picture Production with Trusty and our first video project was due today. I made a silent, short video about a child's imagination. The kid in the video is my favorite little best friend who I teach in children's church. I was inspired by his and the other kids' imaginations. They can pretty much have fun anywhere, though they do prefer to have their Nintendo DS with them. Just watching kids play reminded me of when I was a kid and how I would pretend anything was a playground. In the video he sort of finds his own adventure in this place he's never been before. His imagination grows from a rock that he notices on the ground, to a stick he finds in the weeds and finally to a tree. Even though he gets stuck and needs a hand to get down, his imagination isn't limited.

In case you were wondering, they didn't plan to have matching Chucks, they both just kind of showed up that way. How cute are their matching pumped up kicks?!

I'm still a little new to my camera and to doing video rather than just still photos so bear with the few scenes just a little out of focus and under exposed. The sun was going down as well so I'll admit that I did rush to get this finished. Besides that though I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I hope you guys like it too! :)





Also, because we have to respond to each other's posts I think I'll do a question of the week so that you don't have to read about my sometimes boring, uneventful day and comment, "Oh, cool. Your day was interesting. Blah, blah, blah." Instead this makes it fun!

Question of the week: What is your favorite Pandora station?

Mine changes with my mood, but right now it's Foster the People and Justin Bieber. I saw him in concert btw, SO SO SO good. And I was really bummed I didn't get to see Foster the People when they came. Anyways, you go!