Penny Hero (dot) Net

I was watching the news today… watching some of the newest crap about the “War On Terrorism”… and I felt suddenly this longing to see Lebanon… But not as the war-torn country it is now… but before the shit-storms… or maybe long afterwards. I’d like to see it when Western culture and Middle-eastern culture aren’t quite so… incompatible.

As a child I wanted to go there. When I was 9, I told anyone who would listen that I was “part Lebanese”. I was so proud to know that my last name came from some place special. In my mind, the country was bright, sunny, golden… with happy people wearing blue and black scarves… selling rugs and fruit and beads in markets filled with melodic voices. I knew Lebanon as a country of mystery and beauty long before I read anything about the conflicts in Beirut.

I want to go back to that. I want to be 9 again. I want to see that Lebanon.

But I can’t. And maybe I never will… And it is not fair.

I feel like I have recently inherited some old and rich estate… only to find it vandalized when I finally came to see it. I feel like a birthright, an anchor or a heritage has been shattered before I even knew I had it… or that it was fragile. I feel as if this entire section of my own history is forbidden.

As a child, I was naive. But I was happy. The world was a golden mix of sand and salt. It was beautiful. And that was all.

I do not feel free. I feel alienated. I feel cheated. I feel betrayed. And only this little, emotional intuitive part of me seems to understand why.

Today… Has just been one of those really good days. Like another one of those “all the right chemicals” days. I mean, it doesn’t matter that I had a shit-load of nightmares last night. And it doesn’t matter that I totally lost my voice today because of this sickness. And it also doesn’t matter that I crossed paths with Michelle when I least expected it.

I don’t even know why I have days like this. Nothing spectacular happened. Not like how you sometimes have a really bad day because your cat died, and then your tire went flat and then you broke a nail… Today was just an average mix of good and bad things. But somehow, everything clicked, and everything balanced and I came out emotionally on top. I don’t understand it. But I am very grateful.

NEW! From the continuing Adventures of Penny (Hero) Yoshinobu: The Super Haole! published by Pissed Individual Publications, Hilo HI.

Penny’s newest adventure takes us back to her home-town in Hawaii where she is on Special Assignment from her new employers in Japan to monitor the “Moke-bird” levels in the islands and then “wait for further instructions.” It was within the first few days of this recent mission that Penny met “Orchid”, who recently secured several partnerships with some of Penny’s old contacts in the islands. Penny has long been suspicious that the Moke Birds were getting smarter, and deploying spies disguised as humans to learn the secrets of the Super Haole network. And while Orchid fits the profile of “Moke-bird spy” in every way conceivable, Penny still is unable to secure any hard evidence that she is working for the enemy, or if her family history is just a sad coincidence.

Plot Teaser: Our story begins when Penny, disguised as Mild Mannered Starla, arrives at the home of one of her former partners-in-crime-fighting, code named “James”, in order to discuss covert operations and a possible future alliance. As she pulls into the driveway, her Haole-senses begin to tingle and she looks up just in time to see Orchid leaving the house. Because of her orders from her Japanese employer, Penny is unable to follow up on her suspicions and confront her. Instead, she smiles sweetly and asks “So are you leaving now?”
Orchid responds “Yes. I have to go.”
Penny is unable to ignore Orchid’s look of bewilderment or her eyes which seem to demand “what the fuck are you doing here?” but she responds with nothing else and waits for the car to leave the driveway before entering the house.

So the questions remain: Will Japan allow Penny to investigate the suspicious background of this seemingly benign woman? Will her future partnership with “James” be tumbled by her actions? Is this really part of the sinister twisted world-takeover plot of the Moke-birds? Or is it just that James simply really likes Orchid’s cooking…?

To find out the answers to these and other questions, watch “The Adventures of the Super Haoles (Season 3, episode 19) “Hawaiian vacation or Tropical Doom?” Only in theaters, starts September 7th.

Comment Topic of the Day: The Super Haole Adventures need an editor… and an artist… and a legit publisher because I Chris still hasn’t responded to my message asking if his name would be my fake publishing company… Anyone interested?

This is the first thing that has genuinely made me laugh and smile and NOT go back to being burdened and depressed in like… (counts on fingers) four days.

“Halo 2 is a lot like Halo 1, only it’s on fire, going 130 miles per hour
through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas! And the
Ninjas are on fire too!”

I have no idea where he got it… or if he said it. but thank you .

update: I updated my temporary page that tells the world that my website is down. Some new links. Like the return link I promised about, what… a year ago?

Stagnation shouldn’t be mistaken for rest. But at the same time, rest can easily become stagnation if you are not careful. Hawaii is a great place to visit. A great place to rest, but I believe that unless something changed dramatically, (either myself, or the islands) I couldn’t live here for another extended period of time before the age of fifty. I just had this sort of self-identifying anti-epiphany. How I love this place for how relaxed I can become here… but how I hate this place when things don’t change, but other things disappear completely, and other things get new girlf… do change.

*pause* It is time to focus on relaxing again.

*long thoughtful pause* Somehow, I feel more at peace after walking through this really ugly and anger filled (smelly) tunnel in my brain. But you, my friends, won’t get to read that entry.

Changing subject: It is my birthday and I am sick. Hawaii has many more bugs and things than Japan or Oregon. All the humidity. All the mold. I have some kind of bacterial infection in my throat. It hasn’t done anything except make a lot of noise painful inflammation and make it difficult to fall asleep at night. But I have enough pain-killers and cold medicine to last me until it clears up. I think I asked for this illness too. Exposing myself to sick people when I knew that my immune system still thought I was living in Japan. Disturbing my sleeping patterns probably had a bit to do with it too.

Ok… well, I am going to go back and play “Earthbound”… which I never thought would be so addictive. It has given me great joy in my time of illness. Thank you . And you were right. The mushroom growing on top of his head is cute.

Last minute thing to add: Listening to Judy and Mary puts me into this really happy mood. Watching the videos does something else… because Yuki is just soo cute.