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!

Macy's National Believe Day inspires local keiki to pay it forward

by Alyssa Amasol
December 10, 2011

In hopes to inspire giving and generosity within Americans, Macy's "Believe" campaign hosted its third annual National Believe Day on Friday. Macy's partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant more than 55 "Wishes Across America" for children with life-threatening medical conditions. The campaign lets children write letters to Santa. For every letter collected in Macy's santa mail letterboxes, Macys will donate $1, up to $1 million, to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. However, National Believe Day was also Double Donation Day, where Macy's pledged to donate an additional dollar per stamped letter, even beyond the $1 million goal.

This National Believe Day is especially important to local Kailua keiki Reece Goo, a wish recipient dedicated to collecting thousands of letters from all over the world in order to grant wishes to children of Hawaii with life-threatening medical conditions. Goo was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor a few years ago and immediately needed to start treatments. During this time, he met with wish granters from the Make-A-Wish Foundation who granted him his wish to go to Disney World this past summer.

After hearing about Macy's campaign, Goo came up with the idea to help other kids in Hawaii. This fall he set out to collect 5,000 letters to help fund wishes for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. With boxes of letters from numerous Hawaii schools and all over the world, Goo reached his goal.

"I wanted other kids to have just as much fun as I did, its the best experience Ive ever had," Goo said.

On National Believe Day Goo collected more than 800 letters from Maryknoll School that students wrote in support of Goo's dedication and Macy's Believe Campaign. These letters were the last addition to the thousands he had already collected.

He delivered them to Macy's Ala Moana on National Believe Day after travelling with Mayor Peter Carlisle in the Honolulu Fire Departments Special Events Vehicle. At Macy's, Honolulu City Council members Stanley Chang and Ikaika Anderson presented Goo with an honorary certificate for his exceptional efforts in giving back to the community.

"This year especially, Reece had a lot to do with raising awareness about the campaign itself," said Crissy Gofigan, volunteer intern at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Hawaii and senior at Hawaii Pacific University. "Because of his efforts he's inspired other kids to want to give back too, it just goes to show that every voice does count, no matter how young or old you are."

Along with these National Believe Day events, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted the wish of a local teenager named Taylor who thought she was there to share her letter to Santa with the public. Mayor Carlisle announced that her wish to go to the GRAMMYs was going to be granted. Macy's gave Taylor a celebrity stylist makeover complete with an outfit of her choice to wear in February when she will be traveling to Los Angeles to attend the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards.

"The goal of the Make-A-Wish campaign is to grant a wish to every eligible child," said Camilla Crescenzo, communications coordinator for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Hawaii. "This campaign definitely brought awareness of Make-A-Wishs presence to the local community and its wish-granting work to our local keiki."