The Return of the Living Tiki

Its funny how some things are present your entire life and you take them for granted. Growing up on the Space Coast of Florida, I took rocket launches, sunrises over the Atlantic and blue skies for granted. Soething else I took for granted were tikis. As a kid I had a pendant, probably of Ku, with red rhinestone eyes. I was always interested in primative art, tribal masks, and tiki gods. I find it strange that something like that could just fade from my memory over the years. I wonder what memories covered my tiki memories, covered them like a layer of dust that just got thicker and thicker over the years. It got so thick that I no longer acknowledged those memories, or at least didn't give them much consideration.

That was until about 18 months ago, probably February 2007. That is when I did my first acrylic painting, and the subject matter was a tiki. From that point on, the dust and cobwebs of my memory began to stir. That sediment that hid such an important part of my life had broken loose, allowing me access again to something important to my life. I know all that dust will have to settle somewhere, but I'll worry about those other lost memories in due time, when I am ready to rediscover them.

I have discovered that I am not alone in my love of tiki. My roommate, Greg, shares the same interest. Another friend Jason has recently rediscovered his (with our help). What I find interesting is that there are even more people out there that have the same and even deeper interest, and all of those people can be found in one convinient location: Tiki Central.

www.tikicentral.com

What bothers me is that it took me so long to rediscover tiki, and I'm talking real tiki. You see, there is a difference in what people consider tiki, and that difference is geographical. If you grew up on the East Coast of the USA, you were probably influenced by the Caribbean, parrots, pineapples, and toothy-faced tiki carvings. If you grew up on the West Coast of the USA, you were probably influenced by Polynesia, primitive art, Don the Beachcomber, pineapples and real tiki. At least, as real as real tiki can get since it is a post WWII import and interpretation. I've experienced both now, and I'll take the West Coast version, thank you very much.

July 4th, 2008

We just managed another successful Independence Day celebration at my friends house in Palmdale. The $2000 fireworks run in February (to Pahrump, NV) paid-off in a big way. We started the neighborhood show around 9:30pm and finished up around 10:30pm... just in time for the police and code enforcement to park at the corner to observe "nothing" happening at the house. There were fireworks going off all around us, but we were by far the loudest and most active the entire night.

No one got hurt or arrested, and no fires started, it was a great night.

I understand the reasons for fireworks being illegal, but we should have the right to celebrate our Independence! Sparklers and Smokin' Snakes just isn't going to cut it. Many people just use this day as an excuse to BBQ, drink and blow stuff up, but for me it goes deeper than that. Imagine the colonist and how they felt when it was announced that we were officially cutting our ties with Great Britain.

John Adams himself wrote about Independence Day, "It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Recovery is a long and twisting road

Well, it has been several weeks since my last post. I am still in Florida, and my father is still in the hosptial. I missed out on the details for the first week, but I can recap what I know. He was admitted on 01MAR08, complaining of abdominal pains, nausea, etc. He managed to call 911 himself, and was taken to the emergency room. From what I can gather, he was given "too much" delotted, and pain killer, and went into respiratory arrest. This is not the same as "coding" which is cardiac arrest.

I arrived on 06MAR08 on the red-eye flight our of LAX. His respiratory problems lead to the diagnosis of pulmatory fibrosis. The doctors say it is a condition he has probably had for a long time, just never discovered till now. This is a condition you can find more info on your own, you know Google and Wikipedia should be your friend. He was intubated 09MAR08.

He was extubated on 17MAR08. During this entire time he was feeding thorugh IVs and finally a tube in his nose. He had no real solid food since 08MAR08. He did not get any solid food until 19MAR08, when his speech therapist indicated his swallowing was adequate. He aspirated some water, and was given a barium swallow test, which he failed. The solid foods were removed from his diet, and he was placed back on the IV. I requested another barium test due to his sedated condition. His primary doctor agreed, and the following day a second barium test was successfully passed. Solid foods return.

Now there are still giving him some antibiotics due to some fluid in his lungs, but they are not ready to call it what it is yet. His liver enzymes are also elevated, and they do not know the cause. They indicate they are only elevated, not rising, so I suppose that is a good thing. Today we should learn if they will move him to a normal hospital room.