Its hard for me to write about myself
because I am truly a modest person. So forgive me if this seems like I am boasting
about myself...
I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in
September of 1979. We lived in a place called Tropicana West where I spent most of
my younger years. My most vivid memories of these times are of my father teaching me
how to ride a bike at age 4. I would coast down a little grassy hill trying to keep
my balance until I crashed into the bushes at the bottom... ouch!
Afterward, we moved to a place called
Lehua Gardens farther down the road where I met my kiddy sweetheart Samantha (Sam, if you ever read this I personally thought you looked cute with your
two front teeth missing when you gave that goofy smile).
I attended Our Lady of Good Counsel Elementary and Intermediate School during the
day and spent my afternoons playing in a little clearing.
It was at about age six that I started
watching the Saturday Night Black Belt Theater on Channel 6 and discovered my infatuation
with the Martial Arts. After watching the movie "Drunken Monkey vs. Snake
Fist" I ran out the next day to practice some of the moves I had seen on TV the
night before and as I practiced, my father saw me and thus enrolled me into Aikido.
I honestly hated the gentleness of the art when I first started. I wanted to be the
Karate Kid, not some wussy... but my parents insisted and I joined the Pearl City Aikido
Club. Later in the future I relaxed that joining the Pearl City Aikido Club was the
greatest gift I could have ever received from my father and mother. So I found my
passion and studied the arts during the years to come.
When I made it to the sixth grade I had
moved to Pearl City and made two lifelong friends at school, Jason & Paul.
Together we would spend Saturday afternoons at Jason's house at Palisades in Pearl City
playing video games (My other passion in life, hehe) and pool. Those were some of the best days of my life.
After completing Intermediate I entered
the Kamehameha Secondary Schools (KSS) to get my Diploma. Now if I even attempted to summarize the events
that transpired in my life while attending KSS, I would have a short novel before you so I
am leaving out a LOT of details.
At Kamehameha my freshman year I joined
the Kamehameha Armed Military Exhibition and Regulation Drill Team, taught by the Kings
Guard of Hawaii, attended the JROTC Spring Camp 1993 where I was promoted to the rank of
Corporal, nearly flunked out of school because my grades were too low, and met a person
who would become my girlfriend later that year, Nicole.
My sophomore year proved to be better.
My grades improved significantly, I was First Sergeant in JROTC, I had made even
more friends than I can remember and life was good with Nicole. I joined several
other clubs and activities that year expanding my knowledge of the Martial Arts. I
remember my Sophomore year as being my most stable year of Highschool.
Then My Junior year came along.
For the past three years the KSS Drill Team had been training HARD to compete in the
National competition in Florida. We went and did our best and shocked everyone with
our performance in Exhibition Drill. We flew home from the competition with our
heads held high knowing that we had won first place in Armed Platoon Exhibition Drill.
I became a National Champion. But while things were going great in JROTC and
school, my personal life crumbled away. Nicole and I broke up for the first time in
three years.
My Senior year was just a gigantic
party. Everything seemed to go well during that time. I met Renelle, still one
of my best friends and closest confidants, over the summer which was good for me. My
senior year was one of the best and worst of my life for while everything seemed great on
the outside, there seemed to be something missing on the inside. But I made it and
graduated. I walked away from that chapter of my life with regrets and blessings.
So now I am in College at the
University of Hawaii. Life is going good, classes aren't hard, and the friendships
are great. I have an awesome girlfriend Amy Rose and a legion of friends, most of
whom you can read about in this web. Otherwise that's about al I have right
now. I will be adding and removing information to this page, come back and visit if
you like... or send some questions you may have.
To my friends... I didn't forget you, I just don't want to
put anyone in here that hasn't given me permission to. If you don't mind being in
here, let me know... I'd love to have you included.
Photo Taken by Kahealani @ Bernice Pauahi
Bishop Memorial Chapel, Kamehameha Secondary Schools.
