Hawaii One

high over the pacific.

I'm on my second flight. PHX->HNL.

Sweet. No madness getting to the plane, no endless driving between EWR and PHL. No Anger. No Rage. Just Ease On In. Kaimanastate of Mind. So different than 07.

Even with the sleeping bag and tent all and all, this coulda been a single-bagger. But I brought my team's sweet-ass 5ultimate jerseys. Gotta be worth it. Brought the new laptop too. Got a playlist to end all playlists. At least until the next long trip. An amalgamation, focusing on a soulful blend that ranges from classic rock to Texmexicali blues to paranoid dance music to flat-out dirty-south redneckrock to cut-with-a-knife-funk representing Philly, Jersey and NYC.

The glory of the mix isn't that the songs are good and that they all fit a singular purpose (we do that with every mix!) but that it is a mix that can be played in two specific ways: Straight ahead and on shuffle. That is, listen to it straight ahead if you want more of what you're listening to. If for some reason you hit a patch or a song you don't like, hit shuffle. The variety is there to support a complete and instant genre change without leaving the listener feeling that there has been a departure for the larger theme. Once you hit shuffle, keep with the shuffle until you find something that you want to listen to more of. Or at least listen to more that is tangentially or directly related either through artist, reference, sample, quote, album, sound or whatever struck me at the moment.

179 Songs, all killer, no filler:

Full albums:
Blu and Exile, Below the Heavens
M.I.A., Kala
Jay-Z, American Gangster

The rest:
Alicia Keys
Allman Brothers
Basement Jaxx
Beastie Boys
Beatles
Bobby Womack
Cam'ron
Cee-Lo
Clipse
Cypress Hill
David McCallum
DJ Shadow
Doug Sahm
Dylan
Erykah Badu
Franz Ferdinand
Jay-Z
Jay-Z/Dangermouse
k-os
Kanye
Kings of Leon
Lil Wayne
Maceo Parker
Mad Decent Worldwide Radio
Method Man/Redman
Mos Def
Nas
Nate Dogg
Notorious
Outkast
Prince
Snoop
Soulive
Steely Dan
Steinski
Talib Kweli
Talking Heads
THE BOSS
The Police
The Roots
Tom Petty
Traffic
Tupac
War
Wu-Tang
Wyclef
Zero7

Very Excited about this one. Got a couple of other back-up mixes as well, but I think this one will truly emerge victorious over the next 10 days. It's like... 17 albums of music that fit together into a cohesive whole in multiple directions! I spent time on this shit, and it is good.

Outside of that, I've got a couple of books Go and Go-Moku and The Inner Game of Tennis which are both re-reads and ostensibly related to ultimate, but at very least are well-thought out and reasoned skinny-though-intelligent books on different aspects of competition.

This weekend promises to be a great time again. The team is good on and off the field. We'll be at the damn beach and then playing ultimate in paradise. Should be some good games too!

The week after that is a trek over to the Big Island for a week of camping and a night of hotelery. Volcanos, Green Sand Beaches, Black Sand Beaches, Coffee, green, ocean, beach, surf, joy! When I retire, I will be on a beach. Preferably where the mountains rise straight up outta the damn ocean. DAMN!

So excited. Time to stop typing. Woohah.

(hawaii two)