New Website

I have a new website to display my portfolio and other such creations. Go check it out at www.tufuga.net!

Roger Comes! Dolly's Brother-In-Law

Well, I dont know much more to say beyond the title. Roger came for a visit! We met up on Saturday night and got some ice cream at Angels Ice Cream Parlor, then made plans to get together on Sunday. Roger and his brother got an adventurous bug and decided to come trekking across the Koolau mountains. They pretty much hiked from Laie to the westside, spending one night literally on the top of the mountain where they managed little sleep because of wind and rain. They said they cut through lots of bush to get to their destination, folowing wild boar tracks and times and creating their own trails other times. Crazy!

Well, on Sunday, Dolly made all of us her famous stir fry and they came to my house to eat it with us. Roger and his brother brought their guitar and ukulele and they were joined by little Roger, their nephew who goes to school here right now, and his girlfriend. We crashed at my place. Roger and his brother are quite talented and very funny and entertaining. It made for a very entertaining evening. They did a lot of country folk song type music, and it was a great night full of singing about beer, women, and trucks! ha ha!!

It was a great weekend. I was glad we were able to meet up!

One Year!

Dolly and I have been dating now for a year. I officially asked her out March 5, 2008, and then I got on a plane the next morning for Kauai and she got on a plane that day for Samoa. Thats how we started :)

So we decided to celebrate by going to dinner and a movie. We went to Todai's Buffet. They have excellent food, and a kinda expensive price. BUT, we were celebrating! I loved their teri chicken and Dolly loves shrimp. I do too! We also got to have some seriously good deserts, including chocolate fondue, cheesecake, crepes, and ice cream! Mmmmm!

Then, we finished off the night by going to a movie, the Paul Blardt Mall Cop movie. I actually thought the movie was pretty good. It was a wee bit cheesy, but it had some pretty funny parts. The acting skills were a bit varied...some did good, some were bad, but overall, I would say it was worth the money!

Hauula Hike

Still catching up! :)

Dolly loves to hike, and although I dont always love to "hike", I do like to see great sights and try to take nice photos. And, if It will make Dolly happy, then I'm game for it too! Kind of last minute on the 26th of Feb, we decided to go for a hike, so I did a quick google search for hikes close to us that we hadn't been on and discovered the Hauula Loop trail.

-- Quick hint -- In going back I just realized that my camera's system date is off. Its really nice to have the system date on track because it is a great way to remember when you do something, assuming that your camera's date is set properly!

The trail wasn't too bad of a hike. It had a few steep parts but it was pretty mild. It was a couple miles from start to finish and indeed, looped back to the beginning. Thats kind of nice so you dont get repeat scenery, which is just awful! Joking! We realized we hadn't been on a hike since last year, which is pretty sad since we both enjoy it. School just warps your concept of time I guess, because we didn't realize how long it had been since our last hike!

So, we also found this leaf that someone had written "Chad" and "Janet" on. I thought it was funny so I took a picture.

Dolly had pink eye on this day, so if she looks out of it, thats why! She had been feeling kind of sick.

Computer Case

My buddy Aljay is a very talented individual. He is an artist of many forms. He can choreograph dances, write music, and draw. So, I asked him if he could spice up my computer case a little bit. I handed him a marker and off he went. He did this with no planning, no practicing on paper, or anything. He grabbed the marker, took off the cap and started drawing immediately. He's good! Lots of people have commented on my case...they thought I drew it. I dont think so!!! Thanks Aljay!

PS. No, he's not a gangster...he just tried to look like one when I took the photo I guess! ha ha! Funny dude! This guy is a lot of fun though. He does intimidate people. Kinda hard to tell from this photo, but he's HUGE! He's probably one of the top 3 strongest guys in the school. I have seen him bench almost 500 pounds before! But he's also one of the most chill guys I know. He only scares the people he doesn't know!

Linebaughs Come!

I know this is way outdated. I'm trying to do some catch up. On aproximately Feb 10, Carl and Kathy brought over the whole family on their way to Kauai for a retreat with the Keetches. So, of course they came to see their favorite nephew. We met up at the point and then they came to see my humble abode. Yes, they were amazed at the view! :) After that I was their tourguide of North Shore. We hit up a couple spots. Turtle Beach was a big hit. I think we had about 3 turtles sunning on the beach that day. Several people had wanted to see turtles, so they got their wish fulfilled right of the bat! We also took a stop at the Pipeline to watch the surfing. The waves were okay height, but it was still fun to watch!

Then we went over to the PCC just in time for the canoe show. I took them to my favorite island shows: Samoa, Tonga, and New Zealand. I think it was their favorites also, since they didn't see any others. Dolly joined us for the night show and we had a great time.

So that was the short version about the Linebaugh's trip to Oahu. I hope they had a good time and were able to have a great trip in Kauai. Mahalo nui loa and ALOHA!!!

Cultures of Oceania class

I have really enjoyed my cultures of Oceania class, taught by Professor McArthur, where we study the cultures of the Pacific Island, including Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Our first project was about the legends of Polynesia. Our legend was taken from the Samoan islands. It told of how the traditional Samoan tattoo called the tatau came to Samoa from Fiji. We then elaborated more on the history of the tatau, its meaning in the culture, and even performed a song which tells the story in music. This was my group here on the left. The group dancing is in the photo below.

The second project was about dancing and music. My group did the Maori Ka Mate haka for our presentation. We presented it in the traditional haka war dance as well as a lullaby rendition, yes a lullaby. I found this project harder because we didn't really have any natives in the group to rely on for information, but the presentation went well. I led the haka, as we only had two boys. The other didn't know the haka well enough to do so. It was interesting to me to find out that the haka has recently been copyrighted by one of the tribes in New Zealand, the Ngaati Toa Iwi tribe. This meant a large settlement where those who have used this haka had to pay royalties to the tribe. The All Blacks have had to pay a significant amount for their use of the haka. If they use it in the future, they will have to pay for it. We were fortunate enough to have a member of this tribe teach us, so I think we dont have to pay any royalties. :)

The most recent project was comparing and contrasting the tapa cloth of Hawaii, Tonga (ngatu), Fiji (masi), and Samoa (siapo). The culmination of the project was creating our own tapa and presenting it to the teacher. Tapa cloth is made using the bark of the mulberry tree which is stripped from the trunk into large rolls. The outer bark is cut off, leaving a fiberous material. A mallet made of hard wood is used to beat this bark and spread the fibers. This is combined with other strips of bark. It takes a LONG time! Some tapa is over 30 ft long and 10 ft tall, so you can imagine how long that would take!

The painting is traditionally done with black and brown dies primarily. The black is harvested by burning kukui nuts in a rock oven, and scraping the soot off the rock. The soot is used for black coloring. The brown is bark off another tree which is scaped off, then squeezed/strained similar to how coconut shavings are squeezed to get coconut milk. Crazy long processes!

Well, we used acrylic paints harvested from the BYU Bookstore, but we used coconut husk and nuts from a pandanus tree as brushes, so we were partly authentic :) I think the final product looked okay! You can see designs from the different islands. Samoa is on the outside, then Hawaii, Tonga is in the center flanked by Fijian designs as columns. It was very difficult to make look good, and we gained an appreciation for the true artists who make tapa for their respective islands. Tapa is still made in Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji. Though it was once used for clothing, bedding, etc, it is now mostly used ceremonially or as currency or gifts.

A new Blog

For everyone's information, I created a new blog for one of my classes. We use it to post our projects to when we are done. I dont anticipate having any real spectacular projects on the blog, but you can at least look at it if you want.

http://meaofo.blogspot.com

We're back in Hawaii!

After a wonderful trip to Utah, Dolly and I made it back safely to Laie. I may do some blog posts on our trip, but that will require some serious catching up! In the meantime, here are a few photos I took when we went to watch the sunset on Friday. These were taken at Sharks Cove, North Shore, Oahu.

The colors of this sunset were particularly neat. It transitioned from a yellow to a deep red. We were able to see the full shape of the sun as it sunk over the Kaena point. Not a bad one!

The FLOOD! Where's Noah when you need him?

This morning, I had a final exam scheduled at 8. When I drove down, it was raining hard, but I didnt realize how hard until I got to school. Several parts of Laie were flooded. Mostly the block contained in Kulanui St, Iosepa St, and Naniloa loop. I saw some men with water up to their chest. Hard to realize since yesterday was warm and sunny, and it didnt start raining hard til about 3 am. I was up til 1:30 doing homework, and it was just windy the whole time. Look what blew in!

I realized that this is a unique experience, so I went back and took these photos. I wasnt in the thick of it like before, but these are some pretty convincing photos. I felt like I was in a third world country. There were chickens on the roof, people cruising in kayaks and on surf boards, cars with water up to the dash, flooded homes, dirty water all over, the works.

Since today and tomorrow are the last day of finals, I dont know what is going to happen. Hopefully we hear soon. Fortunately, I am safe from all of this. I live at the point which is very much elevated from Laie, where all this is happening. My only concern is that my car has a leak I didnt know about and now theres a nice puddle in the drivers side feet area. :)

*********Update!

Well, I spent about 5 hours yesterday vaccuming water from my Jeep. I pulled about 5 gallons of brown, dirty, rusted water from that thing!

Last night around 6 it started pouring again. Dolly and I were going to try and do some shopping in Kaneohe, but the road was shut down because a power line came down in the road and was bouncing around in the rain....not good. So we came home, which was probably the best choice anyway. At that point the rain was coming down so hard that even with my wipers at high speed I still could hardly see. The roads were covered with water and the brakes would be wet requiring a purge every once in a while. Not ideal conditions for the Kamehemeha Hwy.

So, we went and got dinner at the Foodland shopping center. When we walked out of Subway, it was pouring rain. We were talking to someone when, BOOM!!! Lightning struck about 30 feet away around the corner. Instantly, everything went dark, almost in a wave. You could the dark expanding around us. It was pitch black, which was eerie after such a stunning flash of light and an earsplitting explosion sound. Car alarms were going off all over the place. This weather has created some crazy experiences. Unfortunately, many homes were flooded and people are living at one of the school buildings which doubles as a shelter.

Thanksgiving

I am just testing a blogging software, but thought I'd throw up a picture of my Thanksgiving dinner!

Scat and Flora's Wedding

Yesterday, one of my best friends, Sekati Fiaui, got married to Flora Ah-chee. I roomed with Scat during the summer, and we did quite a bit with each other at the beginning of this year and through the summer. He is from Savaii, Samoa, as is his wife. They didn't really know each other though until after Scats mission.

I got to do several things with the wedding. My work schedule prevented me from doing some things, but I was able to help drive them to get flowers and the tux on Friday. Friday night we stayed up til about 3 setting up the chapel. Saturday I attended the sealing, then arranged for my roommate Joe to do the filming, and then I did photos with my camera, and drove them to the "Point" for more photos, then I went and got food ready, set up speakers, and I was the DJ for the wedding (thats what I'm doing in this photo! I have my laptop and I am hooked into the amp and speakers). Then, I helped clean up and take people home. It was a long day, but it was very nice. They had a lot of people help out, which was good since both of their parents were unable to attend.

Here are some of the photos.

Duane's Last Day

Duane, my boss here at BYU-Hawaii, is retiring. Friday was his official last day, although I know he still has stuff to clean out of his office, so he'll be around til Thursday I believe. Duane and I first met before my Senior year of high school. I was interested in doing an internship with BYU Broadcasting, and Derek Marquis gave me Duane's name and said that I may be able to get an internship through him. My dad and I went and interviewed with Duane. However, I never actually did the internship.

Years later, after my mission, as I was preparing to come to BYU-Hawaii, I started asking about jobs in broadcasting over here. You'll never guess who the contact was...Duane Roberts! When I came to Hawaii, I interviewed with Duane and then did another interview with Tom Griffiths over at the TV Studio. Duane was extremely interested in having me work for him, while Tom didn't seem to care too much about my skills, saying that they "might" be able to find a place for me. So I worked for Duane which, in retrospect, was the much better choice. Duane has always supported me in what I do. He trusts me and is a great motivator. I never felt managed with Duane, I always felt led. I'll miss having him around, but I know how much stress his job gives him. I know he'll enjoy retirement, but I doubt he'll be able to sit around for long!

Sunrise at Laie Point

When I got home from the gym this morning, this is what I saw. Keep in mind, this is the view directly from my house. What a great way to start the day eh?

Operation: Hauula

Yesterday, I was invited by Wes to join in on an airsoft battle. It was my first time ever really doing something like this, and it was fun, and kind of an eye opening experience! We gathered around 10 in the morning. I quickly noticed that everyone else seemed to be experienced, and that I wasn't. Most people were wearing camouflage gear, had their own guns, and by their conversation, I could tell this was because they were pretty expert. I decided to go change out of my blue gym shorts and shirt into something a little more organic/dirt colored. It was a good thing I did! Everyone had automatic airsoft guns, which also indicated to me how into the game this group was. (group photo before we left my house)

We drove about 10 minutes to Hauula, the neighboring town. There are some trails that go up to a ridge. We played on and around the trails. The setting was pretty cool. There was an old Hawaiian heiau (temple or worship site) we started at. It provided a good base with a rock wall about hip height. There were lots of thick trees, so these guys with the camo were hard to spot. Our games were quite organized. Each game had different objectives. Some were assigned to take over, others defend. We even played one game called "president" where one man was the president, flanked by his armed escort. He had to get down the road before the rest of us, the assassins, could shoot him. So we hid on the side of the road in the thick brush. Some even hid up on top of a cement wall on the side of the road. They were particularly hard to spot, and had a good shot. (This is my gun on the heiau)

I felt a little lost for a while. I had no sense of strategy in comparison with the other guys, and I was much easier to spot. One game, Wes's brother in laws and I tried to sneak around the back to surprise the other team, but we ended up going so far that by the time we got there, the time had run out. We had hiked through grass over our head, tight trees, over rock walls...it was intense! I also discovered that I had to crawl to sneak up on people sometimes. I gained a whole new respect for what goes on in the military. It is not easy work, and I know my airsoft wars dont compare to the real thing!

After several games, we moved to another nearby spot. This place had been designed for airsoft and paintball games, it seemed. There was canvas tied between trees providing hiding spots. One team took the uphill, the other the downhill and then the downhill team would try to take over the hill.

It was about this game where I finally started to get the feel for the game. Kimball, the only Samoan who was there, and I were on the team that started downhill. He and I moved to the left side of the hill, while the rest of our team was in the middle and the right. We managed to sneak up the far left. He would fire uphill, causing the opponents to hide so that I could move undetected, then I would do the same for him. I got far enough up the hill, that I was actually uphill from several people on the opposite team, and could see them huddled behind their canvas barriers. They were surprised when they got showered with the bb's from behind and to the side! We won that game. (This photo is the two of us moving up the side. I'm the one further up the hill)


Overall, I thought it was pretty fun. It was tiring, but it was nice to do something a little different for a change. Hawaii is a great place to do airsoft because of all the vegetation.

Here are some other photos I like. Kimball is on the left, on top of the wall. And then the one on the right is after the "president" game. Looks like these could have been taken in some major conflict dont they!

And then he was 23.....

Yesterday was my 23rd birthday. Overall, pretty much a normal day. I woke up, went to the gym, did laundry, worked on some homework, showered, went to class, went to work, etc. Although, in class we happened to do an activity that required a spokesperson. It was selected based on who had the nearest birthday...so when it was discovered that it was my birthday, the class burst into song.

Dolly treated me to a great night. We started out by going to watch the sunset. It looked promising as we left Laie, with the sun's rays coming over the Koolau Mountain range. However, as we got near the beach, we could see there was a heavy cloud cover on the horizon. We sat down anyway and ate the stir fry that Dolly had made. When it started raining, we darted for the car and finished our meal within the safety of the Jeep.

We stopped by Dolly's auntie's house, Lagi, and visited for a bit. After a short visit, we took off to Mililani. I talked to Grandma and Grandpa Linebaugh on the way there, and then my parents while we were in line to get gas at Costco. After we filled up, we went and got tickets to watch Madagascar: Escape to Africa. While we waited for the movie to start, Dolly treated me to Jamba Juice. Then we went into the movie theater.

We had forgotten that you cant take drinks into the theater. The lady taking tickets was not very amused by our innocent blunder, and so we sat down and treated ourselves to a fruity brain freeze. The movie was quite entertaining, actually. It had some funny characters and I thought the animation was quite good. The story was fresh and interesting to me. It was fairly predictable, but certainly a good show.

The Laughing Samoans Performance

Last week, on October 17, Dolly, Hannah and I went to Honolulu for the Laughing Samoans show. The Laughing Samoans are a group of 2 comedians who have become the Bill Cosby or Brian Regan of Polynesian comedy. They do a lot of jokes making fun of the Polynesian customs, the way they sometimes speak FOB English when they leave the islands (Fresh Off the Boat), and anything else they can think of. They pack a lot of laugh into an hour of entertainment.





I got 3 backstage passes through my roommate, Wes, and our buddy Rob Poleki. They had commited to create a video in trade for a booth that visitors could visit before the show. Although the booth didn't get used, I got to use the backstage passes.

We got taken straight back stage where we interviewed the Laughing Samoans, Eteuati Ete and Tofiga Fepuleai. They were shocked when they found out I spoke Samoan, in fact they ran and got their video camera to get video of me. The famous people wanted to take video of me! ha ha ha! We had a fun interview.

We also got to meet Augie T. He is a local comedian who is a household name in Hawaii. He was surprisingly funny. He had the crowd completely riled up. He was really fun! Like the Laughing Samoans, he was a very nice guy.

The opening band was Laga Savea, who is a local artist. He is pretty young, down to earth guy. There was a surprise performance by Fiji, who was not a very impressive individual, which was kind of dissapointing because I really like his music.

After getting all the interviews I needed, we went inside the general seating of the Blaisdell Center and enjoyed the show. It was a pretty full house, and the crowd just loved the show. It was definately worth every penny I spent on the tickets...! Wait, I didn't spend any money.

We also met Mayor Mufi Hannemmann, mayor of the Honolulu area. He was a surprise visit to the crowd, and boy did he cause a stir. Being of Samoan descent, everyone in the crowd is very pro-Mufi. He was very tall! Look at him next to Augie T. Philipino...Samoan....any difference?

We then just hung out to film the guys signing autographs, then we said our goodbyes and went home. We got home before midnight since we opted out of the after show party we were invited to. Overall, it was a very fun night.

I have been working on the video. Once it is approved, I will post it...well, maybe I'll post it anyway....you can click on it on the sidebar.