Janelle and I visited a jewelry peddler on the seaside today. We struck up a conversation and found out that she had moved here three years ago from Alaska. Janelle mentioned that I was Tlingit (Alaskan Native), and we found out that she was too! Now, bear in mind, I have never, to my knowledge, met another Tlingit outside of my family, and here was another one in Hawaii! Pretty exciting.

More stories later.

I’m leaving tomorrow on a big plane bound for HAWAII! I don’t know if I’ll have Internet access there, so if I’m not around for a week, don’t think I died. (If I’m not around for two weeks, I may have died.)

I actually grew up in Kona, Hawaii. This time around, I’ll be staying in houses where I spent some time growing up, including a house on an old coffee plantation. I’ll try to take some pictures and have some good stories to tell when I come back. I’m egomaniacal enough to believe that you will be bored without me here, so feel free to teach yourself web design.

Little-known fact: Spiderman is a democrat.

(Click for larger version.) Yes, that’s Barack Obama. Yes, that’s from a real Spiderman comic that just came out. Presidents have appeared in Marvel comics before, but never before has one had a starring role.

Obama’s senate page used to have a picture of him posing in front of a Superman statue. Citizens rejoice: we have another geek in the White House.

I don’t know that I’ve ever talked about St. Rescue in this blog. We had broken up shortly before this blog was launched, so it wasn’t really in the forefront of my mind. Justice Jam last night (which was a huge success, by the way) got me thinking about it again, since we played at the last one.

St. Rescue is a band I was in from 2006 – 2008. It was a bit of an interesting case, because we were a Christian band, but none of us liked a lot of popular Christian music. Our favorite bands were Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Mogwai, and Angels and Airwaves.

Anyway, rather than trying to explain what we sounded like, I’m just going to refer you to our MySpace profile so you can hear some of our stuff. “Exposure” might just be our best song, but “Cold War” is the one I had the biggest hand in writing. (I came in one practice with the bass line, drum part, and main guitar riff and just taught everyone their part.)

Playing in St. Rescue was probably my best experience as a musician. The music was complex, creative, and challenging—none of this cookie-cutter pop-rock nonsense. Ok, ok, the vocals are a little rough, but the musicianship is excellent.

Since we broke up, I haven’t joined another rock band. I’m in a really good church band (we’re thinking about recording, actually), but we don’t exactly play rock music. I’m still debating whether or not I should get back into it. Rock is actually the hotly-debated new addition to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (it falls between love and esteem), and I can only listen to my Radiohead CDs for so long before I start wanting the real thing.

I’m holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night.

A few posts back, I talked about getting an interview with Nyx, a RLSH (real-life superhero) in Kansas City, for an article I’ll be writing for The Pitch. I’ve since asked her if I could do a patrol with her, and she just agreed. Not only that, but she alerted me to a SUPER TEAM-UP that may be occurring in May. Several other RLSHs would travel to KC to patrol for a while. Among them is Zimmer, the recently-elected President of the Heroes Network. So this could turn into a much bigger project than I had originally anticipated (in a good way). Needless to say, I’m pretty pumped about it.

I have decided on my superhero identity. From now on, I want you all to call me Blogodon! I will be a blogging superhero. Mostly, this will involve wearing a mask as I type these entries up.

At Truepenny’s request, I’m going to write a bit about my teenagedom with Jesus. This isn’t quite as entertaining as yesterday’s post, I’m afraid, but it’s not really dull or depressing either. It’s a happy middle ground.

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I was inspired by Truepenny’s post on her teenagedom with Jesus (which is quite good) to write my own similar story down. But, given that I’m still a Christian, it came off as really preachy. Don’t get me wrong—I like the faith, and it’s a huge part of who I am. It’s just that I got in enough preaching when I was a teenage fundamentalist, so I’m a little self-conscious about that now. Anyway, I’ve decided to just write about the puppets, which was the best part anyway.

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I don’t know if any of you are following The Bachelor this season. If any of you are, you know Kari from Kansas? The “advertising executive”? The one that recited a poem entitled “Is there such a thing as love at first sight?” I work with her. She’s an account executive at my advertising agency.

Out of respect for her privacy, I’m not going to share her last name with you. And anyway, if you’re a sufficient stalker at all, you probably already have it.

As a Kansan, I’m somewhat ashamed that she talked about being from Dorothy country and had been through a tornado. Our company recently acquired another company out in New York, and jokes about us country bumpkins abounded. One of the jokes ended with a Kansan in tears over the absence of Dairy Queens in New York. Don’t get me wrong—these things are funny, IF you know they’re only jokes. A perceived culture based around the first movie in color is a tough stereotype to overcome.

I feel like I should point out that Kari is not a total ditz. I didn’t actually watch the premier of the show, but I’ve heard that’s how she came off. At work, at least, she’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders.

I wish I had some fun Kari stories to share from work, but I haven’t worked really closely with her. I’ll ask around at work and see if I can find anything out.

If you’re a real fan, you can be her friend on MySpace. As for me, I’m off to the Dairy Queen before I go cow tipping in Missouri.

Sesame Street has changed a bit since I watched it. (You might not want to play this through your speakers at work.)

: P