In a message dated 1/29/02 10:40:42 PM, Kakki sez:
<< I also had a supernatural experience with the spirits there that I will
never forget. >>
I am in general probably one of the less New Age-y people you will ever know,
but in my experience Hawaii is magical in ways that are pretty much
indescribable to people who haven't experienced it. (And I am not talking
about a weekend in Waikiki here!) It's as if there is a sort of spiritual
energy emanating from the land that can touch you very deeply, and present
you with all kinds of phenomena -- thoughts, dreams, feelings, and, like
Kakki, supernatural experiences -- which can really take you by surprise.
Hawaii attracts many more New Age-y people than I, and one of them once told
me that Hawaii is one of the magical points, or something like that, on the
planet. I believe it. It has a magic (that word again) that is uniquely its
own, and feels unlike anything I have ever read about or seen on film. And I
am not talking about some kind of euphoria in paradise here, because the
sensation isn't always blissful or even positive. Poor James Michener wrote
about 80 thousand pages on the subject of Hawaii and still didn't capture
exactly what it is about the place that is so different from the rest of the
world. (Although his "Hawaii" is probably one of the best places to start if
you want to begin to understand the place. He spends about 20 thousand pages
on the geological formation of the islands, then moves on to the formation of
plant and animal life, then the arrival of the first people from faraway
Tahiti, the Europeans, then the Chinese and, 100 years later, the Japanese.)
<< It's funny how every island but Oahu gets the raves but that is the island
I would like to live on! (I can always hop over to the others on weekends,
you know.) >>
You could do woise that Oahu, Kakki! And unless you wanted to switch careers
and work in the hospitality biz, it would be the logical place to live. I
lived on Diamond Head (yes, there are apartments there -- they just never
show up in the postcard photos), about a 10 minute walk from the heart of
Waikiki. The odd thing about living and working in Hawaii, though, is that
you get up every day and go to work while thousands of people on vacation
arrive and leave every day. Makes for a mean case of snorkel envy! In
general, wages are much lower there, but there is the temptation to spend
money as if you're on vacation all the time.
And as far as hopping over to the other islands on weekends, I was surprised
that there were no ferries! So usually, island hopping in Hawaii means
flying, often in little planes. I know lots of people hate small planes, but
the view as you pass over other islands is so spectacular, it is intoxicating
and just unforgettable. (Plus I would rather be on a small plane if the pilot
suddenly keeled over and died or something, and I had to do a Karen Black and
take control of the aircraft and like, land it in Maui.)
--Bob
