Hard Times

A few weeks ago I was unexpectedly layed off from my job.

Here's what I've been up too in between looking for work:

Spending more time with my son, cutting skateboards, and 

making some furniture.

 Hayden wanted to wear all his swim gear 

but ended up getting stuck in this position.

I had to save him.

 Hay with his new Red Clifford from the Duncans

and new Dump Truck from the Thompsons.

Hay says "Fruck" for truck at the moment.

 New Roll Promo Shape

The original keyboard stand was way too tall so I built 

this custom stand for Hay's height. Birthday Drums et in the background.

Family Photos

Photos by Jianca Lazarus

WILL SKATE OR CREATE FOR FOOD.

9/7/2011 Makiki Park

 Photos by Amy Robbilard Hamilton

Tuesday's South Swell

These were the smallest inside waves.

Bowls was packed with Pros

This might have been the cleanest of spots... Over -head Baby Haweiwa's

Zoom into the guy getting shacked.

Drop into a close-out (not me)

I caught the longest wave of the year within a one our surf session window on Wednesday when the conditions cleaned up. Tuesday was drop in on BOMBS with mist in your face day.... Board whistling. 

Surfing never gets old. Give Thanks to Sir Wavos Rancheros.

Personal Achievement

Last night I stayed up until 2am cleaning the apartment
and I still woke up for a dawn patrol to head high waves.

Surf Tip

If you are going to meet someone to surf, meet each other in the water. Or else someone is gonna get grumpy waiting.

Revelation #2 For The Surfah Artist

Beware. Do not mistake the surfwax for the eraser when doing a finalized pencil drawing.

The Official Birth of Surf Intellectualsm: Revelation #1

Waves are fruits of the ocean.
-Manny Aloha
Honolulu, Hawaii August 14,2011

Da Locals Only Shake

Banannas,
Cocouny,
Avocado,
Milk

Surf Rendezvous

Press play, take five deep breaths, and read slowly.

Pau Hana barrels under pink skies
Arresting cotton candy clouds
Floating mesmerized
Absorbing sunset emotions
Drifting in fluid crossroads of past, present and future
Breathing deep in ecstatic silence
Pulsating cosmic telepathy to family and friends
Zen Aquatic

-Manny Pangilinan
A Rendition of a Mental Movie of Yesterday's Magic Moment
Honolulu, Hawaii Aug.11, 2011

To my Star of the Sea and Favorite Mango.

HART ON A ROLL BOARD

This is Jeff Hartsel-Alva Bro, Rad Skater, Surfer, Artist, Designer.
Its funny how life turns out. When I was a teenager, my brother Bob was the best skater in town and for miles around. He rode a Jef Hartsel. Bob always new what was up and was usually the first to learn every trick. One of the main tricks he did that never fails to blow my memory was his backside 360 method to indy nosebone tweak the 270 degree point. He would blast airs so high. Anyway Bob and I used to spend summers in Santa Monica at my aunt's house and she would drop us off at Venice Beach almost every afternoon where we would skate with the Alva and Dogtown Boyz: Hartsel, John Thomas, Chris Cook, Little Man Eric, Eric Dressen, Julien.... Anyone remember the Sea Hag? The sun would beat down so hard it made everyone squint and look mean.

They were bad ass times. Everyday there seemed to be some type of skater confrontation, either a fight or getting thrown out of stores literally, and wall ride or jump ramp sessions with big crowds of tourists watching.

To this day I've never seen so many wall ride variations done as what used to go down on the Venice wall. One can write plenty on Venice Beach Wall Rides alone.
Back in 89 and 90, skating was mostly all about curb slappys, wall rides and jump ramps.

I remember Jeff slappying a gnarly curb near this fire hydrant with his big dreads and no shirt. I didn't really talk about it much, but inside I was always stoked to see him skating. I later skated the same curb fell hard into the hydrant with my hip. I don't suggest it. That shit hurt so bad I got shook to the core. That was the last time I ever let myself slam into a fire hydrant.

Anyway about Hart. Now that I live in Hawaii, I have been lucky to have Jeff is in my circle of friends. We skate the nearby park, talk about fatherhood, art, and how we haven't surfed together yet.
There hasn't been a skate session yet that hasn't been "Good Times". I enter this time warp where I am 17 again accept with more wisdom to appreciate the moment and my surroundings.

One of the biggest mistakes as a teen was thinking I was So Cool. Maybe even the Best! when I really wasn't. I was a little too self centered. That's another story I'll get back to.

Last Monday I saw Jeff at the park with a few other bros. Larry, Sean, and ?Bro. It started raining so we ended up skating this little bank under the bridge covered area of the park. 360s, Bonelesses... Skating with you Jef encapsulates everything I love about skateboarding-Good times, pushing yourself, and getting a little gnarly when can.

To this day one of my favorite sessions was skating cruisers barefoot in the hills of Kaimuki, the same area he skates in the vid.

Anyway he told me to post this video to let people know that he is riding a Roll Deck in his street skating video part so here it is.

Check out his skate creation colab with Jay Adams.
Ez Ryder Originalz

Moving Movie

Blogging

I finally figured out what blogging is for me.
It is my daily time to say whats up to my homies, friends and family near and far.

Aloha Oe! may sound funny but I mean it.
Right to left: Levi, Duke, Jude, Benno, and Keau- the young bros I coached last Sunday.
The three on the left I have couched a few times already. They are so hungry to skate!  They can barely wait to drop in.  Its so rad! Last week Beno and Keau came to check it out. May they catch the bug.
It gets me so stoked when they do things they've never done before and each of them did even though if it meant taking a hard slam like never and getting up and trying again.

There is so much to learn from them.

Next week I will teach them about Skate Park Ettiquite so they can continue to skate a long time and have fun with others in the park. The Skate Park is the Fun Zone!
Manny Skate Coach.

Favorite Artists

This was an exceptional day of my life that I want to share with the world.

On this day I painted with two of my favorite artists, David Ellis and Steve "Espo" Powers.

Dave was a new friend, and Espo I had not met before. On this day I had a terrible morning with my girlfriend who had a substance abuse problem (I was probably not too far behind her). I think I may have banged my head on a plaster wall extremely frustrated the night previous almost giving me neck damage. I was pretty much on the verge of a mental breakdown but not showing it. Anyway this was a show called "No Condition is Permanent" held at Smack Mellon Gallery in Brooklyn in "2001. All I knew was that David had invited me to come down and paint whenever I had time. He had the gallery for his experimental art show all month.  Each day a new artist would paint on the floor. Each artist had the floor all to themselves for one day which was recorded to create a stop motion video.  Each day the next artist painted over the last. The walls were there as well to paint over every day. My painting didn't last 24 hours.

 A few days later I had the floor with my other favorite artist and best friend UFO 907. David new me as Wello 907, because that is what I wrote all over Williamsburg and Lower East Side. My biggest graffiti pieces weren't even done by me but by UFO. Most of what I tagged was on street level.

UFO more often than not put me up as I did he. Its just that he got up big and on really hard to get places like on the top of buildings right in front of subway spots. He made me look really good and hardcore.

Anyway, this day I went down to the gallery just to see what was up with Dave, and he invited me to paint. He said grab a brush and go.  The red lightning bolts were remnants form the last painting. Espo was on the floor and in the 8 hours or so that I was there, I don't think I said a word to him. We all didn't do much talking. Just painted from about noon to 8pm? Something like that. To this day, it was the largest painting I ever did in the shortest amount of time.

The whole time there, I felt honored to just let loose and do whatever I wanted with artists I respected and admired.

Since this image was only up for a day, I thought I'd post it.

The photos were taken by great photographer friend Tony Hamboussi.

Slam and Stoked

Today while doing a skate lesson at Hawaii Kai skatepark I tried to prove a point which was sometimes you have to try things you never tried before, so I tried to drop in switch stance from an axle stall and totally ate it on the flat bottom. Thank god it was on the small quarter pipe and that I'm laughin' about.

We focused on expanding their vocabulary in the park by skating different lines.

One of the best parts of my day was pushing one of skaters Jude to drop into a section of the park he was scared of. He was dropping into way more difficult sections, so I knew he could do it. At the end of the lesson he overcame his fear and did it. He was so stoked, and so was I.

Method Airs

Photo of Jesse Martinez

Photo taken from: http://noneco.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/jesse-martinez/

I just spent about an hour writing about my brother Bob and how he learned Method Airs form Jesse Marinez, but then somehow lost all the writing by clicking a wrong tab on my blog page.

Well, I'll save most of it for next time.

There is a photo somewhere buried at my moms house of my brother Bob looking exactly like this doing a method air... down to the toe hanging off the back end of the board.  I remember, shortly after seeing Jesse blast airs at a demo around 1987,  Bob was blasting airs a few weeks after. It seemed like in one week he learned Method Airs, Judo Airs, Frigid Airs, tweaked out Japan Airs, 360 Airs. He totally taught himself and then everyone else in the neighborhood modeled after him. I had to practice doing method air motions in Ron Sabo's pool, another skater in our neighborhood, then pull it off in a dream sleeping, before ever doing it in reality.

Shout out to you Brother Bob and all my skate bros from Suffern, NY- Ron Sabo, Eric Lynn, Rob Blandi, Jimmy Lynch, Mike Singer, Matt Duffy, John Sansone, and Brian Pistolesi.

Anyway before I erase this by accident again, I'll sign off.

Self Portrait

Self Portrait as my favorite Board Shorts.

This is the pattern of the board shorts 

that my wife bought me at a sample sale for $20 dollars a few years ago.

Every time I wear them I have a rad session. They are officially my magic shorts.

I wore them last Thursday when I got barreled at Bowls. Last Sunday I met the dude

who witnessed me coming out of the barrel and I asked him if I wasn't tripping.

He reassured me it was a perfect full size set wave and that I was in there.

What else... Better go to bed my wife is making fun of me for blogging. 

Plus gonna try to catch some early waves.

Skateboard Lessons

Taught my first skate lesson last Sunday.
It was fulfilling and felt so natural.

I look forward to teach again next Sunday.
I learned that if I try to control their skate exercises, it stunts their performance.
But actually each skater is different and requires different types of attention.

Teaching is like surfing. No two waves are the same... yeah yeah. I'll tell you later.
Gotta spend time with wifey before bed.

THE SECRET TO MAKING "THE NEXT NEW THING"

is to keep it secret until you make it happen.

NO WIND WINDOW.

May the wind die down for a two hour period when I paddle out to the wind protected magic zone.

Shack or No Shack.

I did it.
I'm very stoked, but exhausted.
Got shacked twice. It was a memorable experience
I think I was a dumb though and let all my energy out by telling friends I ran into.
tell you more tomorrow.
Maybe this will make you feel better.
On the skate home tonight I hit a deep crack in the sidewalk and wiped out
as hard as you can wipe out off a crack in the street.
There was a thud sound when I hit the sidewalk concrete.

I slammed so hard onto my elbow and back pack, but got up and cruised on before the people at the red light who saw the whole thing could heckle me.

Gotta go to bed. I'll tell you better details tomorrow.

SURFS UP!

Surfs up on the South Shore.
Gotta be at work at 8am.
Leave the house at 7 to catch the bus.
Gonna try and squeeze in a Super Dawn Patrol.
Wake at 4:20
Leave house at 4:45.
Get in ocean by 5am.
Surf for an hour and a half.
be out by 6:30.
Hussle home, drop off car.
and skate to the bus to make it to work.
I can actually probably leave for work by 7:15am.
that may give me a little more time to get shacked.

I have this vision that I just might get shacked tomorrow.
I'll keep you posted.
As long as I actually make it in the water and catch a few and
make it to work on time, I'll be stoked.
It's 10:20pm and I'm folding diapers and laundry.
Gotta hussle to bed.

Buenos noches!
Hasta luego!
-Manuel Aloha

Roll Skateboards Sidewalk Surfer

Blogging

I haven't blogged in a while because I heard on NPR that there were millions of people blogging every day and all of sudden I am re-evaluating blogging.

Realization

I realized recently that one of the most important things in life is being or learning how to be a great friend and maintaining great friends. Better yet being family. So much to balance in life, but this is one of the balls to keep in the juggling act for sure.

Aloha Friday Comic

Hosoi Interview

Christian Hosoi Interview by Manny Pangilinan

Hayden Skate

Thanks for the board Uncle! Here is a Swicth Nosebone with my Moms panties around my neck. Dad calls me Mini Hosoi. Here is an interview he did with him a few years back before I was born.

Christian Hosoi Interview by Manny Pangilinan

Words

Writing actually helps communicate the complex feelings and experiences we have. The more we write and read, the better we get at communicating. One day I will be able to share the feelings I get when I'm in the water. I know this sounds dirty, but I told my friend Luke the other day when the South Shore had a good swell, I said, I'm so stoked. I'm gonna go molest those waves." I actually feel that way, and sometimes I feel the wave likes it. Sometimes I feel like the wave likes to get dirty with me, wants to get aggressive and sadomasochistic.

As a visual artist it is also good to be able to make that picture that says a thousand words. But for this moment I write. I need to work on my visual art skills. Balance it all.

When I was in the Philippines for a month, my family had a going away party for me. When they demanded a speech, I started reciting names of cousins, aunts and uncles I wanted to thank, and someone shouted out "Don't start with the names, because you'll leave someone out and they'll get upset." or something along these lines. I have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins. And as far as friends, there are a bunch that mean a lot to me and that have shaped who I am today. I feel lucky. The Internet keeps some of us together.

I don't have everything figured out, and I know I never will. That is like saying, I know what the wave will do. I know enough that waves will always eventually come, and I will catch a few, and that the wave always ends, but I can always paddle back for more, and that when the day is done, a new swell will always be back soon. And that the more you surf, the better you get.

Where am I going with this?
I don't know.
I 'll let you figure that out.
These were waves of words that your mind just surfed.
If you like the wave, maybe you'll come back for more.
I like that about Home Breaks (the wave you surf most)
Aloha.

GONE SURFING

Actually this didn't happen. I called up the surf report and it said it was cloudy and the wind was picking up on the North Shore. I convinced my wife Marisa to go to NS for family day so I can fit in a surf at Haweiwa Beach Park. I knew if I brought her up there and it was cloudy, it wouldn't be fun for her and our son Hayden. I didn't want to do that to her. She's always wanted to take Hayden to the Children's Museum, so we did that and it was good times.

A Brooklyn Blur Video

Shout out to Buck

Good to see you in the ocean today Buck.
Buck in my mind one a trophy for best wave in the 2.5 hour surf session I was out...
Out of maybe 20 or more dudes in the line up.

He often chose the right wave that lined up all the way to the inside maybe over 50 over yards.
Dropping in from the top and getting it so good.

Caught some fun one myself, but gotta hand it over to Brother B.
Buya!
Lets see if I can pull a dawn patrol before work tomorrow.

Tip

Breathe Deep, Smile, Stretch, Go Work/Play, Hang Out with family/friends.
Repeat. Add a few more things like Cook Dinner and Homework if you can handle.

Actually I want to add more. Especially to my my homeboys that may be getting a little tired and worn.

1) Bros, think about the 68 year old dudes and older running the New York Marathon. That keeps me going. There is no doubt that in life you need stamina and physical strength. So lets take care of our bodies. Come visit me in Hawaii Dammit! Where my door is open for you always and where the weather treats your body super good.

2) And on relationships with a spouse, when it starts to get a tad bit old and stale, even on a weekly basis, its good to take a look at photos of you and your lady from the past to the present having good times. If that doesn't make you walk up to your woman and give her a massage. Then..... uhhh try something else, but it works for me.

I say to myself, "Hay, these are the photos I'm gonna be looking at when I'm regretting that  I split up with my wife.

It almost always puts me in the right mind set like damn I love my wife, why am I so selfish. I gotta be the man and be there for her and my kid. I gotta be strong UUUUHHHHH!!!! BREATHE DEEP.

POW BOOM. MR MIAGI STYLES. WORK HARD WITH MOST EFFICIENCY.
Harness Power from within because we need it to keep going.

Breathe Deep and get that oxygen to keep on Climbing to the top so we can say, "Yeah" again and again.

I know I may being vague but...
Good night.
Aloha Oe LOS!
Mayonaisse.

One of the top five things to learn in life

One of the top five things to learn in life is how to have friends.
How to be a good friend or better yet a best friend.
If you can't do this then you haven't lived I'm convinced.
I feel lucky
Maybe it's one, two or three. The more the merrier.

I have a lot to say about this topic, but first I better go hang out with my wife. She's my friend too you know.

Aloha.

Good Day and some skate wisdom

Play this and read.
Even though I don't have a full time job yet. Today was good.
Here's why in random order:

Spent the first half of the afternoon applying for jobs.

I found this song on Pandora while cooking dinner with my son.
He stirred the cut potatoes and mixed them up in a pot with the salt and spices.
While I cut and prepped other ingredients.

How to conserve water tip.
Jump in the tub after your baby if you have one.
Or better yet take a bath with your kid before he or she gets too old. Its good times.
If your tub is big enough throw mom in there too.

After applying to jobs
Skated the skate park and the right combo of homeboys were there including Hartsel and Torian and James and.... the sun put the golden light across the park. I always skate better when certain people are around. Hartsel is one of them.
Unlike skating with my good old friend Jeff Pang, I used to always get hurt when I skated with him, but I'll tell a few of those stories another time.
 It rained some so we had to skate under the bridge and session two obstacles at one point. Its always fun when this happens cuz everyone can session together. I was bugging out (havin' good times) saying outloud, "If I'm a real skater, I should be able to do a frontside grind" then do it. "If I'm a real skater I should be able to do a frontside board-slide" and do it, etcetera  etcetera. Skating the park reminds me of when I first started skating everyday after school at the "tennis courts" with my neighborhood bros. Only I don't skate everyday, but...

My wife's description of this blog

Blah blah blah blah surfing surfing

Blah blah blah blah surfing surfing

Blah Blah Blah surfing

Surfing Surfing.

Yeah so I'm writing about skateboarding.

Here's what I learned skating today.
If you want to learn a trick, imagine yourself doing it as much as possible-The feeling and actual movement when and where to breathe, the direction of your shoulders, arms, head, feet. Then go for it. Try it twenty times if you have to, one hundred times. As long as each try doesn't involve a skull crack. If this is the case, wear a helmet. Roll around and do tricks you can land in between to have some fun while you're at it.

If you don't land it that day, save it for next time. Because if you're too stubborn and keep trying it until the sun goes down and you're late for dinner, wifey won't be happy. This I didn't do. My deal is I always have to make it to wifey before the sun goes down so we can enjoy it set together. I think if might of taken me a year to learn to ollie. Thank the universe I didn't give up. I may have tried it over a hundreds of times. Some things take hundreds and hundreds of times doing it until grace starts to appear.

Thats it for now.
Aloha.

You know you're an Old School Skater when

You know you're an Old School Skater when your baby's diaper smells like the Brooklyn Banks.

Surf Wisdom: How to fit in a rad surf session on your family day without your wife getting pissed at you.

So much goes on during the day that I want to write about in my blog, but then I come home too tired to turn on the computer. I haven't posted much the past few days, maybe because I've been insecure and been having negative and pitiful thoughts about myself, when the truth is that I am privileged and am being a spoiled brat wussy.

Every day of life I should be stoked on.
I was lazy and tired the other day and the waves came up then all of a sudden I had all this burst of energy- a weird phenomena I have been noticing lately.

So much goes on in my head and I'm trying to turn it into something worth reading.

Maybe write something about how hard it is to live a creative life... so you can feel not alone, or can feel like, "damn this guy is a pretty cool, but I like my life better."
Or maybe I should write about what a rad day I had so you can either be inspired or wish you were living a life like mine playing into the "the Jones" game... but that's lame.
Maybe you never worry about what the Jones are doing or what they have, if so great for you.

However it is nice to know what the rest of the world is doing sometimes... to inspire yourself or so you don't go parading what a great thing you've done, when someone else in the world has done it ten times better.

My wife wants a big house with a yard. Me too. But I'm not gonna get depressed everyday that I don't have that, or anything for that matter.

Being alive is great foundation for me.
But I suppose having a good and worthy source of income to take care of my child for the next 20 years is in order. This might very well be my midlife crisis. I read somewhere, I think maybe in a book about Mr. Rogers. It said something like, getting to know oneself is a life long journey. What I don't want is having my source of income be a life long journey.

Balancing making art and making money at the same time is the puzzle that I will work on. But what if I don't work it out by the time rent has to be paid, which is in a few days. Let me worry about that.  In the mean time....

What do I really want to get off my chest.  Oh yeah,

How to fit in a rad surf session on your family day without your wife getting pissed at you.
Do something she likes to do with your child. Something preferably extremely strenuous so it makes both wife and child pass out while you drive to your favorite surf break, which you're friend lives right in front of, and who just happens to be having a rad BBQ with awesome family and friends
The only problem is you have to get that second wind (that magic burst of energy I mentioned earlier) which should be no prob because the waves are overhead and perfect. If the waves aren't any good, better off gaining more family time points for the epic waves soon to come.

I'm sure you get the point by now. But you might be thinking yeah but how can this all happen all together. The gist of the How to is in the beginning.

To repeat in other words, Do some family time first then go surf. The more epic family time, the higher the chances of getting to surf. But don't do this every family day or you'll abuse it.
One father I met today doesn't surf on Family Sundays.This is very impressive and disciplined. Maybe I'll get there someday...  (and not that every family does Family Sundays, I however find it works well to keep the family healthy)

I have to record what I actually did today.

I'm stoked I picked an awesome hike to go on first thing in the morning which ended with an amazing view of both the south and east sides of the island, the Kuliouou Ridge Trail, which was up the street from the house we are watching for our friends. It is supposed to be beginner intermediate, but put a twenty something pound baby on your back and it turns strenuous. What is supposed to take 2.5 to 3 hours took us 4.
-Home to shower
-Pick up our friends baby so they could go on a date.
-drive to West Side to Mathias' house for a BBQ. He lives directly in front of one of the best waves on the island. I've caught the biggest and longest waves there. It holds big waves and peels perfect often and long.

-Mathias is rad. Super Kind. His nickname is Scratch. He just had a baby named Kirin. His wife, family and friends are the same- super kind.
-There is a pathway from his house that leads directly to the spot where you paddle out. It happened to be overhead and pretty close to perfect. Other dads either had too much to drink, or weren't gonna be selfish and ruin family day with Dad gone out in the ocean. But thank God I had the ol' Family hike already done in the form of a "Surf Ticket" in my back pocket. I of course spent some time at the party briefly then told Marisa I wanted to paddle out. I didn't have to ask,  just run to the car to get the sunscreen for the kids.
Mathias couldn't surf because he was playing host.
He let me use one of his favorite boards which was perfect for the spot.

The surf realization I learned out there today was:
When the waves start getting over head, they can shift around a lot-break over here, then over there.
Sometimes when you're paddling for a wave, there is no time to look back. You are either in the right spot or not. The only way you are going to catch that wave is to paddle hard for it. You're either going to be to far inside and have the wave crash on you. Or  you're gonna be in the right spot and catch the wave, or be in the wrong spot and totally miss the wave. 2 out of the 3 you're going to be just fine if not totally stoked.  3 out of 3 you're probably going to be fine as well....

Moral of the story, Paddle hard and go for it because you have nothing to lose.


-Then I paddled in for sunset, a beer and dinner back at Mathias's with his family.
Then drove back home to the south side and waited for our friends to pick up there son Koa  at midnight.
Epic Lucky day

-Time for bed.
P.S. Thank You Lesley-Anne Loon the hiker for taking photos of us and emailing them.

Ala Moana Bowls

I asked this guy Mike Akima, "Did you get shacked yet?"
His response, "What you think? I'm gonna paddle out here and not get shacked.
I think everybody is getting shacked today. Did you get shacked yet."

I replied, "I didn't think so but this guy paddled up to me and said, 'Nice barrel.',

And Mike replies, "Close enough"

Then I paddled over to Rockpiles and caught a good one.
As I paddled back dude says, "Sick Wave you got"

Today was rad at Ala Moana Bowls.
Peeling Head High Waves.

Weekend Revelations

1)Plan your future or someone or something else will.
Stay focused. Breathe Deep. Keep your blood flowing. Sweat.
My goal is to see the world with my family.

2) Life is about being or learning to be a great friend.

3)I don't want to forget this past saturday hanging out in the backyard with my son painting
listening to Jack Johnson.

Side note:
A bonzai tree master told me once (and I tell this to most people), "Everyone must have a passion to guide their soul. if not the soul will drift in the wind."

Thursday

HMMM?

How to Wax a Surfboard

Weekend wrap up

Last night I went out to Chinatown with Ethan and Cole.
We were supposed to check out a show at Next Door "Free the Robots"
Before hand we skate the best Parking Garage I ever skated yet.
It started on the 10th floor and there were two platforms per floor
if I am not mistaken. All I remember was Floor 5, Floor 4.5, Floor 4, etc.
We then skated around to our favorite curbs.

We get to the venue and we didn't feel like paying the $20 cover.
So we went to Liliha Bakery for some pancakes. I got a Loco Moco.

Today, Sunday was rad. Sundays are family day. We had a day at the beach til sunset.
On the way we went to a sale at Surf Garage and we go a tie die shirt, a Surf Line short sleeve button down and board shorts, and the above surfboard... all for $85 bucks. The surfboard was $50 and unused. It is a 6'5" and was unused. I tried it and it works good.  It is gonna be my fun board for 15 ft faces (4-5 feet Hawaiian). I always end up buying misfit boards. As opposed to brand new popular brands.

Saturday

Day with son Hayden.
Gonna take him surfing at Waikiki

Ala Moana Bowls

Surfed last night and this afternoon.
Got it good both times.

There's nothing better than catching a good wave while your friends are paddling back to the line-up .
Apparently Ethan said he didn't see me go into a barrel. Just saw me come out. I was stoked on that.
I got pitted a couple of times today. Feels good when your board does what you want.

Creative Essentials and Haydens Largest Painting yet

The Easiest Avocado Smoothie/Shake/Drink

Ingredients: Avocado, Milk, Sugar,  Ice.

Directions: Throw it all in glass, and stir.  Drink  and eat chunks with a spoon.

As I get older I realize more and more things I learned from my father, now that it has been over 15 years since I blamed him for all the negative things in my life. (I think its natural for a any youth to go through that stage). If you ever read this Dad I hope you know that I love you very much and appreciate all the things you've given me (a skateboard, camera, car, another camera).  

Most importantly thank you for teaching me how to work hard, be creative, and enjoy the finer quality things in life, like fitted Italian made shirts,  Singapore Rice Noodles, and all the gangster Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.

 I tell you meeting your dad in front of his office in downtown Manhattan, jumping in a cab to  chinatown, not talking much while stuffing your face, then saying see you later and going back to your business is straight good times. 

But back to the Avocado Drink. Lets call it the Manny Aloha, because I'm self centered like that and its better than calling it the plain Avocado Shake.

I remember in the summers my dad would cut open an Avocado, break it up with a spoon, throw it in a glass with some sugar, and ice, fill it up with milk stir it up, and drink it down faster than I could ask what it was.

To this day, it is my favorite way to eat a whole avocado and drink a glass of milk. 

Its an Asian thing so I hear from Google. A filipino thing definitely. The only other person I know who does this is my Filipino friend John Esguerra from the North Shore. He also does a clothing line and blog called Quality Peoples. He is one of the best designers and surf art connoisseurs I know. See for yourself at Qualitypeoples.com

Anyway if you've never tried this drink, and you like avocados, try it.

If you do, and you like it, think of me and say "aaaahhhhh! thanks Manny Aloha".

I also hear you can drink it with rum or blend it?

Shoot, I guess you can call that a Manny Aloha Special.

Signing off.

Devil's Toy part 2.

Devil's Toy part 1.

Midnight in Hawaii

This month's Chinatown Newspaper Cover

Chinatownnewspaper.com

The story of my life

Spent

Just pulled a night shift to day shift to night shift.
and I'm spent.

Reminder to self:
Write ECSS Book.
Meet with B Press folks
Paint Murals around town
Submit your resume's to Princes to teach art.
Party at the museum.
Teach Art Academy class?
Visit University Art Department. Call Mike.
Cut Skateboards?
Breathe Deep.
Take down art show.
Send art to Rebec and Los.


It's 5am.
Good night.

Flashback

This day Marisa and I drove out to one of Oahu's secret beaches in a big pick up truck at midnight. We threw the queen futon in the back with pillows and a comforter and slept under the brightest stars. We woke up to not a soul around. We explored down the beach naked for about an hour and a half taking off clothes as we walked along This is a photo within that time period. By 9am, it was time to start heading back to town to go to work. 

Saturday in Honolulu