So little time to update my blogs, but here are a few belated condolences
1) Mr James Kealoha - He was a Special Education teacher at various schools. His most recent school was Palolo Elementary School. Before that, he was teaching at Niu Valley Middle School (NVMS).
NVMS was where I met Mr Kealoha. Back in March 2009. I was called by T-SEAS (an automated calling system hooking up substitute teachers with vacancies) to work at NVMS. That was the one time I was called to sub at NVMS. Before that, I worked all the other public middle schools in the Honolulu district!
He was on campus, but he was in conference, so he couldn't teach the class that day. But he did stop by the classroom after 2 students were expelled from the class for play fighting. He talked to the students about proper behavior when there is a sub teacher in the classroom.
About a year later, I was hired as a para-professional tutor at NVMS. So I'm there 2-3 a week. While I still occassionally work as a substitute teacher, I haven't subbed at NVMS since that day in Kealoha's class.
In January of this year, Mr Kealoha had a heart attack while surfing. The ambulance took him to the hospital, but it was too late!
Mr Kealoha has been missed by many at NVMS. We send our condolences to his family
2) Another teacher that I subbed for, and later passed away was Daniel Fong. Fong was a Special Ed preschool teacher at Lunalilo Elementary School. I subbed in his class back in Spring 2006.
Fong seemed to be a happy and friendly person!
I found out last year that Fong has passed away via Facebook. I learned it because one of my Facebook friends became a fan of "We miss you Daniel Fong" facebook page.
The page didn't mention the cause of death, and I didn't want to ask how it happened.
I send my belated condolences to Mr Fong's family and friends
3) Now, my next condolence is NOT related to a death of any person. However, it is related to a shut down of one of my favorite businesses.
Netstop, an internet cafe located on the corner of University Avenue & King Street, has shut down last week.
Netstop was a place of many of my favorite memories. I will always appreciate the great customer service, even when there were technical difficulties from the computers I was using.
The most popular staff member was Eric. He was a very easy person to talk to! He was able to talk to a very diverse group of customers. I had many interesting conversations with him on various topics, from current events, sports, schools, and life in general.
I also remember when my former high school classmate Russell was working there. We didn't talk for a while until he was hired at Netstop. So there was a mini-reunion right there. Many interesting conversations with him there too!
Netstop was where I wrote many of my blog posts. It was where I watched many YouTube clips, from old news clips to music videos I haven't seen in a long time! I also did some research there too!
While I usually go to the library to do my internet stuff, Netstop was a great place to go when the libraries weren't open. Plus, the public libraries blocked "generic streaming websites" (ie. YouTube) so I went to Netstop for that!
I currently don't have a computer at home. I used to have one, but it was outdated and not working. I didn't want to go through the trouble of buying a new one. Plus, if I did have a computer at home, I might spend too much time on my favorite sites (ie facebook, YouTube). LOL! While I LOVE the internet, being at home is my time to take a break from the internet and focus on other areas of my life!
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Last week Tuesday, I noticed that the neon sign outside Netstop was not on, even though it was usually open that time. So I went up to Netstop just to find out why! I looked inside and it was EMPTY!
I asked the parking attendant about it, and she said she also found out last minute.
Coincidentally, I saw Eric later that day. Netstop shut down and the staff was given last minute notice. Eric still seemed to be in shock over it. As you can assume, Eric seemed very worried about the near future, and I sense some sadness from him. It's never easy being laid off from a job!
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So while there was no death involved in this case, I still send my condolences to Eric and the rest of the Netstop staff who just got laid off! While I am saddened by the closing of Netstop, I will always appreciate the great memories being there!
4) Also, today was 14 years since Notorious BIG was killed! I wrote about it in 2007 which you can read at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2007/03/life-death-of-notorious-big-10-years.html
