Blog Revision

On my blog, I changed my background, header, and title. My title represents how I feel about the life I was living this whole time, and that I enjoy it. My background is a picture that I took on the plane ride coming home from Florida. I changed my background because my other one was plain, and I wanted a picture of my own to be my blog background. Lastly, my header is a collage of my baseball team, pictures of when I was in Florida, and a picture that I took when we went to Florida. The header shows my graphic skills because I put together all the pictures with Photoshop. I had to make two of the pictures slightly more transparent so that it looks nicer. I also put text in there which has my name, and the title of my blog. I made lots of changes to my blog.

Coming of Age Draft

February 2010 was the day that our family faced one of our biggest problems ever, which impacted us negatively, but also positively. It was a cold weekday morning, I woke up at about 6:00 to eat breakfast and get ready for school. As I walked into our family room, I asked my grandma, "where's mom?" She responded gently, "something bad happened to Kai, so mom and dad drove him to the hospital 2:00 this morning." I didn't know what to say, this isn't the first time it happened, but I was too young the other time. When he was 6, he had a medical issue called Wilms’ Tumor, which is a kind kidney cancer. I was finally old enough to realize that someone's life was at stake, my own brother's. My grandma said that his stomach was feeling very sore and unusual, so they rushed him to the hospital. I was only in 5th grade, so I was very worried and didn't know what to say. I still had to go through school before I could visit him.

Going through the school day was a terrible feeling. I was still in Elementary school, I should be having a great time because all the work is easy, and you get to play around all day. That was not the case. I had a queasy feeling in my stomach the whole day. Each class period was wasted. All I did was stare off into space, thinking about my brother. My heart had one-thousand beats per minute. I never had this type of feeling before, I felt confused and worried at the same time. 

It was finally 2:10, the time that my school finished. I quickly walked to the front of the school, we weren’t allowed to run. My grandma picked my brother and I up, and we drove to Kapiolani Hospital. As I walked in to the building, it had that hospital smell, which was like hand sanitizer. Chills were running down my body as I walked into my brother’s room.

The sight was disastrous, there were tubes going in his body. I felt like I was going to faint when I saw all the nasty guck being sucked out of his body. I was worried sick for him, I didn’t know if he was going to be okay or not. I was speechless. I didn’t know if it was right to ask my mom if he was going to die, but I was just too anxious. “He’s not gonna die, he’s gonna be fine.” I felt a sense of relief, but just the point of him being in the hospital worried me.

About a month later, the Punahou carnival was up and it was close by the hospital. My aunty and cousin took me and my little brother. I had one goal to do before we left, I was going to win my brother a stuffed animal. At this age, I wasn’t much a fan of roller coasters, so we mainly just played carnival games. There was one game in particular that I knew I wanted to play, it was the ring toss one. I have some pretty good luck on this game. So I knew I wanted to play this game, and win something for my brother. Sure enough, I won him a stuffed unicorn, but I also ended up winning him other stuffed animals. I was so excited to see my brother’s reaction to the prizes I won for him, especially because I never told him about it. When we got back to the hospital I said, “Kai look what I won!” He said, “Wow! You’re pretty good huh?” With a grin on my face I said, “I won these for you.” A big smile from the both of is brightened up the whole room. It showed my sympathy and care for him.

After the two months that my brother was in the hospital, he finally got out. He was happy because he hated hospital food and lying down in bed all day. Although he was not too excited for all the school work he had to catch up on. I learned a big lesson from this family incident. My mom now talks about it all the time. She says that we should never stay mad at anyone because you don’t want your last memory of them being angry, or making them sad. You’ll live your life in regret and sadness. What this incident did was help to make my family closer to each other, especially with my older brother. We realized that we should cherish each moment, because someone’s life could end at any moment. I try not to stay mad at anyone for a long time. I learned to love life, and live without any regrets.

Now, all my brothers are closer. Before, we just use to argue. We weren’t brothers, we were just people that were related to each other. It turns out that we all have a lot in common. My brothers now come into my room just to hangout. We do stuff for each other and just enjoy each other’s company. I like the way things are now, we fight and argue, but in the end, everything goes back to normal. Our family is just that much closer now. If this never happened, I don’t know what our family would be like. I’m sad that my brother got hurt, but I’m glad that our family is now closer than ever. The most important lessons are learned through bad experiences.

Hawaii Incidents: Mini Essay

Hawaii, known for its interesting and marvelous natural attractions. From volcanoes, to lookouts, and the wonderful ocean blue. But, there are many downsides to these tropical attractions. Due to them being "natural," anything can happen, you can't stop it, but you can be warned. That is what the government lacks when the tourists come from all over. Warning signs are needed so people that aren't aware of these dangerous activities, are ready and cautious for negative outcomes.

Visitors of these dangerous, but beautiful attractions, are not warned about the bad possibilities that can happen to them. Is it there fault? Maybe. But who's to blame for when they get injured? The government is, for not putting up signs and warnings for these off limits, or dangerous places. In Maui, there is a popular blowhole called Nakalele Point. David Potts, a tourist from California, approached the blowhole, unaware of any bad outcomes. "... a large wave struck him from behind and knocked him into the hole." The Maui Fire department had to do a 3-day sea, land, and air search for him, but there was no sign anywhere. Another story about a 22 year old man that got hit by wave, happened just the day after the blowhole incident. "... was killed when a wave knocked him off a rocky cliff in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision and swept him 100 yards offshore." The landowners did not put signs of potential hazards. These tourists are not warned and are losing lives, or getting injured because of simple signs that aren't put up.

The Hawaii state government is responsible for the injuries and deaths of tourists that are unaware of the possible outcomes of these natural disasters. These victims are innocent and did not know that their lives were in danger. The Hawaii state government is at fault and should be sued. Can you imagine how these people's families feel? Maybe the government will learn a lesson and put up signs and warning, so incidents like these don't happen.

Hawaii Incidents Position Statements

The tourists that visit Hawaii and attractions are responsible for their actions. They should not be disobeying signs and warnings. Anything can happen with these natural attractions, so these tourist should be responsible for their own safety.

The government is also responsible for the injuries of the tourist if they are not aware of the incoming damage. There should be warnings of possible things that could happen on trails, ledges, etc. People need to be aware of what can happen to them. It could save a life and money. 

The location is responsible for restricting people if the area is off limits. There should be gates and warning/hazardous signs to warn people of the dangerous outcomes.