41st KALANI REUNION
Las Vegas, September 18 – 22, 2003

 

1st night get-together

After checking into the Stardust, we had a get-together in Stan Wada’s “suite” There was a mixup and Stan didn’t get his suite until Sunday; in the meantime Stan and Carol were next door to Alan Fukushima and me in an “ordinary,” but still very nice, room.

As a friend of mine commented, for $33.75/night (double occupancy), including 3 meals/day, you can’t even live at home at that rate!

Jim Varner, Paul Kaneda and Allen Shinsato discuss their golf plans for the following morning.
 

1st night get-together

Alan Fukushima, Earl Christian Jr., George Arnold (Carol Galbraith’s husband) and Shirley (Odani) Castro.
 

Jim, Carol (Galbraith) Arnold, Patrick Niemann and Calvin DeGuchi, as we were gathering for the tailgate party.
 


me

Carol took my picture taking a picture. Actually, this was taken the following day, on the way to the reunion dinner — since I’m wearing my 40th-reunion golf shirt, designed by Robert Morgan — but it was in the same lobby location. Thanks, Carol and George, for sharing your pictures.

 

Self-portrait

Most of you are probably not aware of how very rare it is to see such a “tiny” camera in front of my face. This is some of the camera equipment I normally use for my “Telescapes” (telephoto landscapes).

Clockwise from lower left,

  • 2,000mm Pentax mirror lens for 35mm
  • 600mm f/4 lens for Pentax 6x7 (2 1/4" x 2 3/4")
  • 1,000mm Pentax lens for 35mm
  • 800mm f/4 lens for Pentax 6x7 (four 8"-diameter glass elements in front so lens alone weighs 40 lbs. and is very front-heavy)
  • Toyo 8"x10" camera with 600mm/800mm/1,200mm Nikon large-format (8"x10") lens; Pentax 6x7 camera attached on back with custom-made adapter
This is a self-portrait that took me hours to set up. If you think about it, it required 5 tripods (4 to hold the equipment shown in the picture, 1 for the camera taking the picture) plus light stands, 3 flash units and sheets of white foamcore propped up to serve as the background. The space between the lenses was pretty tight so getting in place and looking “casual” before the self-timer went off took several tries — actually the “out-takes” from the session are very amusing.
 


tailgate party

Tailgate party at the UH (University of Hawai‘i) vs. UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) game: Patrick, Allen, Cal and Alan Takamori.
 

tailgate party

Carol, Eric Mitobe and his uncle, Paul, Pat and Allen.
 

tailgate party

Cal, Alan, Stan, Carol, Nancy and Jim.
 

Korean BBQ bento

Paul had arranged a great Korean barbeque bento for us.
 

Korean BBQ bento

The only problem was, we can’t eat as much as we could as teenagers so we stuffed ourselves in the true Hawai‘i tradition.
 

tailgate party

Stan, Carol and Allen.
 

tailgate party

Eric, Paul and Pat.
 

UH game

The UH football game was good company and the seats were great but the result (UNLV 33– UH 22) was disappointing, although not as disappointing as the USC game the previous weekend, which Allen Shinsato also attended because his son is at USC. USC easily racked up 62 points in that one.

It was funny, both at the game and in the hotel, there were so many Hawai‘i people that it was like being back in Hawai‘i. There were as many UH as UNLV rooters. When walking through the hotel lobby it was hard not to notice that just about everyone was speaking pidgin: “I go take my stuff up to da room an den come back down. You go stay ova deah, ’kay?”

How can you tell people are from Hawai‘i? Click fo’ fine out.
 

UH game

Yet another penalty, interception or fumble discourages the UH fans. At least Jim and I found some satisfaction in photographing each other.
 

UH game

The outcome was beginning to look pretty hopeless.
 

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