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With the release on October 3 of her latest best-selling album, Taylor Swift turned the page, as this album finds her in better spirits than on many previous offerings. Obviously, her engagement to football star Travis Kelce has put her in a good mood.

For fun (and only for fun), I thought it might be interesting to look at some of Swift’s #1 hits (she’s had 12 as of this editorial) and re-imagine (as she has done with many of her songs when she obtained ownership of them) what these titles might have been hinting at if they portrayed local events, people, times, items, debacles, et al. Here we go:

“Shake It Off”- surely this one would focus on “ainokea”, where things just sort of happen and people locally shrug their shoulders (at best). We sometimes (often?) just accept “the way it is” (to quote Bruce Hornsby) and move on. Civic action often seems to be an oxymoron locally, like jumbo shrimp, as its pretty ugly…

“Bad Blood”- Ooooh, where to go with this one. While we may deal with passive aggressive behavior locally at times, you know things are not quite what they seem an inch below the surface when people leave employment positions “to pursue other interests” or “to spend more time with family”. Yeh, gotta be some “bad blood” somewhere…

“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”- one of the great things about an island is that (usually) you get along to thrive/survive, since invariably we all bump into someone we’ve quietly written off; there does seem to be a kinder, gentler  side to this phenomenon here vs. elsewhere…

“Look What You Made Me Do”- nothing ever seems to be the fault of someone in charge locally. It’s always “the system”. You don’t see enough mea culpa from leaders locally, but admitting mistakes is actually a sign of being human, learning, and growing. Actually, this is systemic of our country right now. It’s always “them”, never “us”…

“Is It Over Now?”- boy, where do we begin on this one locally? The TMT? The HART project? The Waikiki Natatorium? The Ko`olau Stairway To Heaven? Road repairs? Aloha Stadium? UH autonomy? An east Kapolei high school? Add your favorite drawn out project here.

So here’s to Taylor and her swift ascent to superstardom, happy times, and fan idolatry. Maybe she’ll perform here one day… at the new Aloha Stadium?

Think about it… 

A mongoose was caught last month at Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor; it took 12 traps to capture the wayward intruder on the Garden Isle’s leeward side. Mongooses (yes, you can also say mongeese) were brought to our islands over 125 years ago from India to help eradicate rats from the sugarcane fields.

Alas, rats are nocturnal, and the frisky mongooses are diurnal. Committees were formed; nothing changed. We should’ve brought Dracula in to rid us of rats; he works nights only. These low-rider critters do pose a threat to indigenous birds, their eggs,  and other species, but they also dine on insects, rodents, and lizards. And their incredible quickness and natural ability to fend off venomous snakes make them sworn enemies of cobras; not an issue here, of course.

Mongooses are present (if not prevalent) on all our populated islands, except Kauai. Thus, a running rodent that somehow managed to slip through the ICE vice was news. Luckily, mongoose sightings are rare on Kauai, and the one found last month was euthanized and subsequently tested for rabies and other unpleasant diseases.

While mongooses seem furtive and cute darting into bushes and forests, they are not play-things. Mongooses captured as pets are illegal in the USA and elsewhere; leave ‘em be. Much like mankind, some mongooses are extremely solitary, while others form close social networks, with mothers even timing their birthing around the same time so the whole group (or “mob” as its known) can watch over the young ‘uns. The mob rules.

While “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” is probably the best-known mongoose, I’m partial to the main character of the song “Mongoose” by New York’s Elephant’s Memory in 1970. A slab of psychedelic, storytelling wonder involving inventive subterfuge by the title character, it was a minor hit (top five in Chicago), but the group did back up John Lennon and Yoko Ono for a brief spell!

Just as a pineapple is neither a “pine” nor an “apple”, a mongoose (from the Hindi “muṅgūs”) is neither a “mon” (a dialectal variant of “man”) nor a “goose”, though one may appear to be a silly goose as it pilfers a musubi from your abandoned golf cart. They are complex little buggers, with research suggesting that an intricate form of mongoose communication involves sounds made that appear like vowels and consonants. But I digress; please enjoy a rodent-free day/night.

Think about it…

And so ends 2023… I’m just riffing here, but how did this year treat you, and vice versa? Did it fly by or drag? Was it a nerve-wracking rollercoaster ride or a smooth trip? When you gather your thoughts about 2023, are you saying “good riddance” or “good times”?

Calendars encapsulate windows in time- and we normally focus more rigorously as the clock edges toward January 1 annually. It’s a convenient way to bundle up the passage of time. I don’t know too many people (or companies) that celebrate the end of their fiscal years- often June 30 or September 30; it just doesn’t feel right. 

Some relief this year was things opening up further- less paranoia, fewer masks, more “getting back to normal” in many ways. Yet, as always, there were events and human-induced things not planned for that remind us of forces sometimes beyond our small, immediate control- wildfires, wars, polarization, tribalism, scarcity, lack of empathy. Sometimes it’s the not planning that causes misery.

Many choose this late-December opportunity to look ahead for ways to right wrongs, to make personal investments to get “better”, become more tolerant, fit (mentally, physically, spiritually- your choice), engaged, family-oriented, and/or focused. Ingrained traits or personality niches that you may wish to alter are often deep-seated- old habits die hard (especially as we grow old…er). So, give yourself some time and some realistic benchmarks along the way to allow yourself to transition in a way that is promising, yet achievable and meaningful. Remember- personal kaizen?

Wanna exercise more, or at all? Try short walks before you get sweaty at the mere thought of hitting the advised 150-exercise minutes weekly… daunting for those who are relatively sedentary, or even semi-sedentary. Cut back on things you overdo and/or ones unhealthy or unhelpful; trying to change cold turkey could cause self-doubt and self- defeat. Incremental steps, small victories, a sense of doing something with intent, realizing that doing something with purpose is better than doing nothing. You can change directions, revise personal goals, create activity.

And finally, be thankful for “things”. My friend, Chef Chai, recently suggested that people should simply try to be grateful. It struck me that we often don’t accept what we’ve got because we’re concerned about what we want or don’t have. It’s a new year, a turn of the page; time for reflection, and time to think about it…