So yeah... I'm a geek, in the best and worst sense of the word.  Ever since I was a child, I was a little quirky, a lot dorky and almost always geeky.  Though I never had to wear glasses growing up (and always wished I needed them), I still found ways to separate myself from others and not fit in.          I am what most consider cerebral and introverted (in person at least) which is why, perhaps, I prefer working behind the camera.  It's sort of a detachment thing... where I can be around people but stay in my head and create without really communicating too much with people except to tell them how to pose or where to move.

I was always someone who floated from group to group or clique to clique growing up.  I never quite belonged so I was either floating from group to group with different friends or alone... and I was perfectly fine with that.  I'm one of those people who prefers the quiet sound of silence but can function in the noisiest of places.  I think that being a mom helped me fine tune that whole focus amidst chaos thing we all tend to have where we tune out the noise and focus on the task at hand.  Thank God being a woman has afforded me the ability to multi-task and tune noise out, otherwise I'd never get anything done!

Lately life has been an amalgam of different chaotic and hectic things that monopolize my time and make me feel scatterbrained even though I'm not.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I swear the days are going by faster and faster... It seems like I took the silly photo above yesterday when in fact, it was taken on Sunday at Nordstrom while I was waiting for my niece to try on a dress.  Those are green neon frame glasses, the cheap $5 kids kind and she told me to try them on because she thought they were silly.  So being the ever obliging aunt that I am, did so and took a silly picture which I never intended to share with anyone, let alone the bloggy world.

I look at this photo and the phrase "psycho" comes to mind because of the crazy look in my eye.  My niece Kaliko thought it was hilarious though.  Another word that comes to mind...well two...  is "double chin".  Can't wait to see that go... coming sooner than later now that I eat right and work out every. single. day.... every.single.day..  Yikes.  But I digress, this blog is about me being a geek.  Though I'm an introverted nerd, I have a good sense of humor and am rather funny (or that's what I've been told).  Anywhoo.... I wasn't going to share this photo that I took that day because I thought it would be more useful as a funny photo album memory than something to share with the world.

This week is like a paperwork extravaganza at my office.  Billings, reimbursables, contracts, emails, payroll, walkthroughs, inspections and the list goes on and on.  I feel like I'm literally drowning in it sometimes and it comes home with me because I leave at 2 to pick my son and finish paperwork at home which is awesome...and also not awesome.  Lately, drowning out noise and distraction at home while I work has become increasingly difficult as my brother and his daughters come for dinner and it's like a playground in my house.  Bananas.  So while the noise ensues, I have to finish my work and it. is. hard.  So I turn on my iPhone to a playlist I call "instrumental" and I put in my earbuds and tune out the world.  Classical and instrumental music really does the best job for me as far as focusing and tuning the noise out.

Did I ever tell you I was a music major in college?  I wanted to compose symphonies.  Yeah... like a million miles from what I actually ended up doing as my "day job".  From elementary through high school, I was a band geek and it inspired me so much.  Being in my high school marching band really lit a fire in my soul to perform and create music.  Though my forte was the flute or singing, I could play anything.  I think it was one of the few gifts I've had and appreciated and made good use of in my life.  Being in the Kamehameha Schools Marching Band in high school allowed me to not only do what I loved, but travel the world performing.  I owe so much life experience to being in band....to my music.  Oh how I miss playing.... I miss high school marching band practice or college marching band practice...or chamber choir... Oh how I miss playing my instruments...and I played them all.  I miss writing music and conducting and I even miss the boring music theory classes.... I told you, I'm a geek.

Music was my outlet growing up.  My escape from bullies, from loneliness (wait Jean, I thought you liked being lonely?), from my type A mind and thoughts.  Being alone has it's advantages but anyone who says they honestly prefer being alone always, is lying.  I like being alone but man, sometimes it got lonely.  But I'm not going to go dark here.. Gonna keep it light.

So I'm doing my paperwork listening to a playlist of shuffled classical and contemporary instrumental music.  From Chopin to Mozart to Beethoven to Marianelli, to John Williams compositions....oh how I love his music.  John Williams, the composer who does like every Stephen Spielberg movie soundtrack (he created the themes from Jaws, ET, etc. etc. etc) can move me in such a way that I feel like I can do a million things at once and my productivity doing paperwork increases exponentially.  His music evokes emotion and fond memories for me not only because it's so excellently composed, but because of the wonderful movies he composed the music for.  Would I be a total dork if I told you that John Williams is arguably the greatest composer of the last 50 years?  Maybe longer?  I would argue my case were you to refute it.. though there are a lot of amazing composers alive right now like Dario Marianelli (you might know his music from the movie Pride and Prejudice/Jane Eyre/Atonement) and  Michael Kamen (most notably composed An American Symphony from Mr. Holland's Opus) or Mark Mancina (composed August Rush).

I could go on and on because I'm a geek, a dork and a music aficionado but I won't.. Perhaps I'll save more of that geek-ness for another post.  If you ever have a hard time focusing, try listening to the main theme from Adventures on Earth from E.T. (John Williams) or Georgiana from Pride and Prejudice (Dario Marianelli) or An American Symphony from Mr. Holland's Opus (Michael Kamen) or August's Rhapsody in C Major from August Rush (Mark Mancina).  Those are just a few of my favorites that move me and help me to get the work I have piling up done.

Hope you all have a lovely and wonderful day.  This geek is excited that it's the end of the week!



Aloha,