Good morning, all …
Boy did it rain hard last night … there was even thunder & lightning! I’m sure there was some minor flooding here in Manoa but hopefully nothing was damaged. And if you’re thinking about visiting Manoa Falls today – DON’T! I know a lot of our visitor friends who were here for the Honolulu Marathon were planning to hike up there this week, but it’s extremely dangerous whenever there’s a big rain because of flash floods. Please be very careful!
I’m still not feeling 100% yet … can’t seem to shake the last remnants of this damn cold that I’ve had for over a month. Of course with our crazy schedule, I really haven’t allowed my body to rest and recover either! If I can just get through this week, I’ll be ok because we’ll be on R&R after this weekend for the next month or so. Of course, this final week will be pretty nuts … tonight we perform at the convention center for the APEC wrap-up party, then tomorrow we’re at a Hilton reception for Japan’s pro baseball team, the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya). Friday will be our final 2011 performance at Lulu’s, and then we wrap it all up with a private event out at Ko Olina on Saturday. And that will do it for ManoaDNA in 2011 … whew, it’s been one HELLUVA year!
Last night I had dinner at Paesano’s in Manoa with my good friends Leon and Gregg. 
Leon also brought his good friend Yujin Kitagawa of YUZU, one of Japan’s most popular musical bands, along with Yujin’s trainer “Geta-man”, and his webmaster, Jun. They all ran in Sunday’s Honolulu Marathon and were still showing some of the after effects (ie. difficulty walking and standing up). Geta-man is very well-known in the running world since he always runs in Japanese geta, which are sandals made completely out of wood! Can you imagine running 26 miles in a pair of wooden sandals?! (He even showed me the blisters to prove it!) The guy is in tremendous physical shape and is also a very knowledgeable trainer … really nice guy too! He challenged me to a triathlon next year and I told him he was NUTS! I especially enjoyed talking with Yujin, who seemed very down-to-earth even with all his fame. Of course, we talked a lot about the music business and he seemed genuinely interested in our island music since he loves Hawai’i so much … plus, we’re both guitar players! Anyway, we had a really nice time and by the time the night was over we were all good friends! A big mahalo to Leon for hosting this great evening! And can you believe it?? I actually enclosed two photos which I took with my new iPhone! Will wonders never cease??!!!
Aloha, “D”