Manoa Wood Workin

Maxing out

Maxing out. 

Working til 2am and waking at 6:30-7am. for the past 3 days.

Maxing out my Ford Escort Station Wagon.

Time to get a truck, and a space to work. Working at friend Amanda's backyard. Mahalo!

Making props for a dvd production and doing cover art during the night.

Saving money buying wood at Reuse Hawaii. Shout out to Manoa, Duram's Rock Hard Water Putty,

my Dewalt hand drill, Parker, Matt, Jeanette, and Hyun at Reuse, my baby Ford Escort, Scrappers, my Bosch jigsaw and wife Marisa and baby Hayden for making it all worth it.

Just reloaded my ipod nano. Tomorrows gonna be a free ride.

Photos of props coming up.

Quote on Working

"I work way too hard to work too hard."

In other words, breaks are essential.

-Manny Aloha

Shout Out to Brother JPL

I want to give a shout out to my homeboy JPL.

for lending me $500 after a big fight between us almost punching each other out

and trusting me to pay him back without one single nag.

for giving me his scarf when I was freezing in Harriman NY camping over night in the woods because my sleeping bag was too small and my head and neck was sticking out.

for inspiring me to create ever time I speak with him

for spending New Years with me and feeding me sake and home made infused vodkas all night long

and letting me, my wife and baby sleep in him and his wife's bed.

for watching my back while I went off doing things that are not allowed.

for frequently making me surpass my limits.

for getting me jobs.

for picking me up an 1 hour away because my car got towed

for giving me advice on how to finish my rocking horse I just made.

for complimenting me on my creations every time. 

for holding the record in most days and hours spent with

for making me feel like I'm awesome.

thanks for still being around and continuing to inspire me.

Can go on but gotta catch some zs

Big Ups Brother JPL

Aloha Oe

-Manzo

Another Surf Life Moment/Tangent

This island life never fails to feel like a dream world.

Today was my first time substitute teaching.

It was actually really satisfying.

I was subbing for a Career Counseling class.

Right up my ally. I'm so much better telling people how to live their lives than my own.

My biggest challenge is learning to take my own advice.

On the attendance sheet, there was a note saying that two specific kids weren't supposed

to sit next to each other, so I ended up having to separate the two. By noticing one of their interests in Marine Biology, I found out they surfed.

and instantly remembered them from my favorite surf spot.

They surfed in a crew of 5-6 surfers all riding different sized boards...

one even on a boogie board. I remember admiring that how they were

so comfortable with their crew and how they all kept track of each other.

Making sure they new where every one them was. 

At the end of their surf session 3 or 4 of them took off on the same wave.

You'll find surf posses in 3's  short boarding and acting all serious.

These guys shared waves.

Anyway I quickly realized that these two weren't bad, they were just smart and had a sense of humor that was probably inappropriate for the teacher to deal with.

I later found out that they weren't going to surf today after school, and I felt lucky that I could and did get it good. Nearly made my wife late for work.

The South Swell is still here. Perfect 8-10 ft faces.

I thought I was the only one who missed awesome days of surf. Apparently it happens to the best of us.

Dream day

Slept in til 8am

Great breakfast with Marisa and Hayden til 9:30

Painted a mural on a window at Baby Awearness from 10am -3pm.

got picked up by friend Alex to surf at 3pm.

The whole South shore was going off.

in the ocean by 4pm.

Surfed perfect waves- 12ft-15ft faces til 6pm.

wish I had a photo of the waves.

Tuesday Rockin

I had this mahogany sitting in my shop area waiting to be shaped into skateboards,

but instead it it turned into this toy for my son.

Monday Mahogany Project

Sunday Line Up

Woke at 7am.
In ocean by 7:30 for a surf.
Caught about 6 waves.
Super clean and calm.
Lots of head dips and a mini shack.

Nothing like mashing your face into the lip of a chest high wave.

Out of the ocean by 8:30am
Picked up Marisa and Hayden from the gym by 9am
home for breakfast and out of house by 9:45.

Drop Marisa off to work by 10am.
Hang out in Manoa Marketplace with Hayden.
Went to Farmers Market.
Bought some bananas and picked up some coffees for Marisa and I.

Left there at 11:40. and back to Beach.
Hayden fall asleep in car. Pull up under a tree and carash until 12:56.

Drive to our favorite swim beach and swim til 2pm.
Lock keys in car and carve down a fat branch to something thin
enough to break into car with.

Get in and on road by 2:30 for a meeting back in Manoa.
Meet with for a commisioned art piece.

Back home by 4pm for Hayden to take a long bath.
Pick Marisa up at 6pm
and drive back down to beach to have dinner with the Thompsons.
Out of there by 9pm and home to crash.

Aloha,
Surfs up on the South Shore.
Goodnight.
Manny

Saturday work and play

Today I finally assembled and installed this tv stand and computer desk.

From 10am-2pm (including lunch) 

At 3pm it was extreme high tide. 

So I surfed a good high tide spot.

There were these 12-13 year old boogie boarders in the water 

making bird sounds and screaming"Yaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" when they dropped in 

and "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh" when they dropped in on you.

Another was moaning and groaning like a cow while he waited for waves. 

His friend couldn't take it.

They were hilarious. 

There was an older boogie boarder who was in the water from 10:30- 4pm when I saw him. 

He might of even been there when I got out at 5pm.

He was my indicator. Stay 20 ft away from him, and catch the good set waves.

I call the this spot "Contemplators" because the wave peels slow and you can relax and contemplate while surfing the slow motion growing transition.

It makes you take a deep breath and be all mellow.

If you move to fast, you leave the wave behind.

But then all of a sudden it switches to fast motion and starts racing on the inside with big heavy reef heads below, which stick up during low tied but make for a good barrel during high.

Til later.

-Manny Aloha

Marisa's Birthday

Working the tile grind.

Wife Marisa's birthday today.

Thank god we got invited to a dinner party

at Jack and Danny's. It made her day special thanks to Ashley bringing some cupcakes and a couple of candles.

Kai, Audrey, and Hayden played.

good times.

a little drunk and very tired.

till tomorrow.

Aloha.

-Manny

Roll with Control

My blog posts are diminishing to plane text.
I'm working a twisted unstable work grind.
Gotta grab hold of my life. for the sake of myself, wife, and child.

gotta limit my work to 5 days a week.
and make time for family time.
Gotta grab hold.
Gotta Roll with Control.
Breathing Deep.

Good night.

3 times

Went to the hardware store three times today.
And I think I might have to go back in the morning.
I hope I'm learning something the hard way.

Art Show

Grinding

Missed a couple of days blogging.

I wonder if any of you noticed.

I'm workin' heavy this next couple of days.

tough to get a minute.

But I did get a chance to squeeze in a dawn patrol before getting picked up

at 8am on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday night I had an art opening too.

I invited 3 friends.

and they all showed up.

It was perfect.

Actually I shared the show with another young artist Kris Gellert

we traded a piece

he's a rad photographer.

Marisa invited some friends too who showed

along with a few others

Talk more later.

getting picked up for work in a minute.

But you know what?

It's Aloha Friday.

-Manny

Double Up

Wavos Rancheros

Sunday Shark Sighting

Today was pretty epic.
I went on a snorkel date with wife Marisa and saw sharks for the first time.
Usually while surfing someone else sees one and that's enough for me to paddle in.
One time a few years back my friend saw one while surfing and swam down to go see it.

I thought he was crazy. But today that was me.
It was kind of scary but... they sleep during the day and hunt at night.
And some life guards told me where to look so...

After snorkeling we went for lunch and a couple of beers at Kona Brewery.
Our friend Ashley from Baby Awearness babysat for us.
Picked up Hayden at 1:30 and went home.

borrowed a chop saw from brother Rob Duncan who lives down the street.
worked on a wood project for two hours,
then got picked up by Ethan Lau at 5 o'clock for a sunset surf down the street at Ala Moana Bowls.

He said, tell me how this word makes you feel.... April.
Doesn't it sound so nice. And the sun was setting. And the vibe was all April.
We were crackin' up getting chilly. "This is the coldest I've ever been in my life!"
Laughin' so hard. Yeah you should come to New York.

Yes I'm a romantic. But hey. Why not. I'm over the punk stage.

Ethan said, "This crowd is youthful isn't it?"

Everyone (under 30 except me, but who's counting) fresh and light gold,

The place is usually packed with locals of all ages, but everyone I guess got there's 

and were all surfed out.

My last wave I talked into a small barrel which is always rad. The sun was already down.
Ethan rips and is always an honor and trip to surf with.
He surfs a mini (maybe 5'0) Tropical Blends Single fin with no leash.

Now that I come to think of it every day with friends and family is an honor.

Then I got dropped off by 7:30 for dinner with Hayden and Marisa.
Washed some dishes and read a book to Hay with Mom at 8:15pm.
Then folded laundry and straightened up the house for Monday.
Good night.

Earth Day Poster

Observations