The border around the smilies had been bothering me for a while now.
I finally took some time to fix the css. Oh yeah!
I also imported three sets of emoticons.
Kawaii Egg :keshy:
Onion Head :ohidiotsmile:
Rabbit Tzuki :rtdance3:
Better yet, I configured the templates so that these emoticons are auto-converted in the posts. Sweet!
Don’t you love emoticons? They express so much more than words can.
5/25
Back from vacation and back to work.
I already missed a couple bonfire gatherings :rtcry: , but I gotta do what I had to do — the never ending projects.
Don’t be fooled by the smile. It’s hard work!
One down, hundreds to go
Ahhh… the “beauty” of summer. :rthitheadwall:
5/4
We came back to Kualoa Park for a beach shoot today.
Chinaman’s Hat island can be seen from the park
There are many facilities on the park – picnic tables, restrooms, showers and BBQ grills.
We set our stuff on a picnic table.
The sandy beach is narrow and it’s just a few feet away from our picnic table. 🙂
This park really is a great place for picnicking, fishing, camping and swimming.
Want to see what a dirty lens could do to your photos?
Fishing (I need to remember to clean my lens daily, it gets dusty real fast.)
I brought my boogie board with me. There weren’t any waves, so it wasn’t the ideal place to boogieboard. But since I barely know how to swim, I felt safer having a boogie board with me.
Let’s go boogie! :rtdance1:
Mommy, I am safe!
Hmm … peace …
Trying to sit on the boogie board
Ooops! Maybe not.
Happy time! :ohhappyshake:
Mom is not going to be too thrilled looking at these photos. Asians (can’t speak for all, but at least the Chinese) generally prefer fairer skin, and we avoid getting tanned.
When I first came to USA, I had a hard time understanding why Americans are so crazy about tanning while we tried our best staying out of the sun. I guess people desire what they don’t have.
I personally don’t care much about the fair skin mentality, but I’m not crazy about tanning as well. Just let nature do its thing.
The water was so clear and blue, how could I stay away from it?
Love, love the water
The beach wasn’t crowded at all so I had my own “private beach”. 🙂
Radim – Scouting
Radim – Go snorkeling
Sculpture- by Nature
We played some frisbee before we called it a day.
What a super fun and relaxing day — for me. 🙂 It was a little stressful for R & K because the RED camera malfunctioned at the end, although they still managed to capture several hours of great footage in the morning. Malfunction reason — to be figured out.
See ya, Kualoa Park. :ohbye:
5/2
Just when I thought I no longer had to bother about the traffic noise and could finally have a restful sleep. I was wrong.
I got woken up at 4:30am today. First, a rooster decided that he had a very important announcement to make. Then, a family of birds disagreed with him and offered their ideas. That woke up the whole neighborhood of bird relatives. Soon, everybody had something to say. Finally, a bullfrog (or whatever that was) decided to do a protest 24/7!
I rolled my eyes and told myself to enjoy this symphony of nature. But with the lack of much needed sleep, I couldn’t help but to curse at the birds. They were really not so cute when they started to chat away so early in the morning.
“Someone please arrest those birds and kick the bullfrog into the ocean.” I thought.
Anyway, it was impossible to sleep in. The sun rose at 6am. Then, the sunlight started to beam through the skylight in my bedroom. By 8am, the sun was at 70degree position. How could the sun rise that fast??
Did you know that Hawaii doesn’t observe daylight saving? So, the time difference between the mainland and Hawaii could vary throughout the year.
Anyway, today was the first day of shoot.
It was not my job to shoot. I was simply tagging along happily and helping out here and there when I felt like.
We get in the car and started driving north.
10 miles later, we reached Kualoa Park.
“Let’s check it out.” Radim said.
This park wast not crowded at all.
Kualoa Park parking lot
It is primarily open lawn with some palm trees. As you can see, there was someone camping there.
Radim and Karan immediately spotted a good place to shoot.
Mountains with low hanging clouds, pond with clouds’ reflection, some palm trees, simply perfect.
Karan and Radim were setting up the video equipment.
Apparently the video equipment, a.k.a RED Camera is all capitally VERY EXPENSIVE. We’ve been told that the car break-in rate in Oahu is high. So, we never let the equipment out of our sight.
I also had a very important task at hand –setting up the … beach chairs and umbrella (got them from the cottage). 🙂
The park with Kualoa Moutains in the background is stunning. The mountains are so majestic.
I have never seen something like this. They are so different than Bukit Matang and the mountains in Boulder.
Wait a second. Don’t you think these mountains look somewhat familiar?
Where have i seen these mountains before?
Hmm… where???
Think harder….
Where???
…….
…
Bingo! It was the Jurassic Park!
Did you know that part of Jurassic Park was shot at the Kualoa Ranch? 🙂 Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? 🙂
A family came here for a picnic. I love the mountains in the distant.
Ok. Ok. Back to setting up the camera.
Getting ready
Checking the microphone
Checking the sound
Scouting
The thing about outdoor shooting is that we can never know how the clouds are going to look like today. Clouds are constantly moving and changing. As for today, as soon as K & R finished setting up the equipment, the sky started to turn a little gray and drizzle. 🙁
We had to protect the camera with the beach umbrella. The one who brought the umbrella must be a genius. ^_^
At the end of shoot, I volunteered to jump in the bush to retrieve the microphone. While I was in the bush, I “kindly suggested” Karan to snap a few photos of me. Oh, what I wouldn’t do for a good photo.
I jumped out from the bush. More photos, please, with the mountains!
“Mountains! Mountains! Make sure the mountains are in the photos, okay?”
And all Karan had in mind was “turkey”. So, I was reluctantly crowned Miss Turkey (not the country, think turkey the bird). Thanks, Karan. “Great shot.”
We were pretty much done with the shoot by 11am. Not bad for the first shoot!
We came back to this park on another day for a beach shot. I will cover that in the next post.
There are no hotels on the east side of Oahu. So, we had to get a rental place.
http://www.vrbo.com was a great resource.
We looked into the accommodations in Kailua (since it has a nice beach community) first, but then decided to go with this cottage at the end. Our cottage is located just north of Kaneohe. It’s a little remote, but it’s cheaper than the accommodations in Kailua.
This cottage is truly a bayside country retreat! Check it out.
Surrounded by beautiful tropical vegetation
Gorgeous sunrise views over Kaneohe Bay and Chinaman’s Hat Island
View of cottage from tea house
A stone throw away from the water
Wrap around lanai (deck). I loooove the wood.
We’ve had many breakfasts here.
Comfortably furnished with Hawaiiana rattan and Indonesian furniture.
Dining room
There’s tv in the living room. We wouldn’t know if the tv was fake since it was the last thing we wanted to look at. It’s a crime to watch tv when you are in Hawaii!
Full kitchen with fridge, blender, utensils, cookware, microwave, coffee pots, toaster, etc.
Full kitchen is definitely a blessing since I usually feel depressed after too much eating out.
There’s also a bbq grill. Can you imagine grilling some fish and vegetables in the backyard? How chill can it be?
Bathroom. Look at the real shutter windows.
Bedroom 1 on the loft. I hit my head many times on the beams (accidentally, of course).
Bedroom 2 on the loft
This cottage is also equipped with washer and dryer.
Now, let’s have a walk in the garden, shall we?
Pots of flowers on the deck
What flowers are these? They are not hardy enough to be grown in Iowa. They are everywhere in Kuching and I miss them so much.
Plumeria
Jasmine vines by the tea house – the biggest I ever seen and they smell divine!
Papaya tree
Banana tree
Mangoes! Not ripe yet.
Tropical plants. Except they are lucky enough to be growing outdoor, unlike those in the pots in Iowa.
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Do you know the names of these plants?
Karan: Can someone fan me?
I made Karan a jasmine head wreath (oh, so pretty) and made him wear a plumeria next to his ear. How nice it was for him to enjoy the natural scent from the flowers while i-touching. 🙂
BTW, the wireless connection here was great!
Starting tomorrow, we’ll be traveling all over Oahu to find the most scenic locations and shoot footage for Sky Factory’s products.
Stay tuned.