On set at Hawaii Five-O

Living in Hawaii, there are tons of fun stuff to do - go to the beach, eat A LOT of local grinds, surf, hike, whale watch - but none compare to my recent "hobby" - playing an extra on Hawaii Five-O.  I've had the privilege of being on two episodes.  While my first experience was great, my most recent one was awesome!

My very first episode was episode 11; in this episode McGarrett and Dano track a serial killer who had been killing women that look like his ex-fiance.  The scene was on a cruise ship, although the actual scene was shoot in the lobby of the Kahala Hotel.  McGarrett and Dano are chasing the suspect in the lobby.  Surprisingly I was in 3 of the scenes that were aired.  There were about 40 plus extras that day and Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan were the main actors on-site.  It was about 3 hour of shooting and we were basically done by noon.  No interaction with the main actors; matter-of-fact, the casting agency warns us about not posing, taking pictures, approaching, etc the actors while on set.

My recent episode, which I shoot this past Friday, is called "Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau."
Not sure when it airs or even the story behind it but this was a much more fun episode to shoot.  There were only about 10 of us extras that pose as business workers at an office.  I was chosen to be the one waiting for the elevator and as soon as the elevator opens, McGarret and Chin walk out and I walk into the elevator.  Simple and straight forward but the fun stuff was in-between takes.  I was able to talk and laugh with Daniel Dae Kim and Alex O'Loughlin.  Funny guys!  We were asked to arrive at 9 am, but didn't start shooting until about 3 pm.  What did I do for 6 hours you ask?  Well, they stuck us in a room full of food, snacks, and drinks.  Occasionally the main actors came in to take a break etc, but all of us gave them their space in fear that we'd be asked to leave given the warning NOT to approach them.

Overall, my experiences on Hawaii Five-O have been fun, not to mention  I've made a lot of new friends.  Future episodes...possibly, hopefully, most likely.

It's Official!

Keaolani has been accepted to Island Pacific Academy!  We received her acceptance letter last week and are very excited!  Now, we're just going to take advantage of her time at home before she goes to school.

What's Jr. Kindergarten you ask?  Yeah, I had that same question.  What I found out is that, at least at IPA, Jr. Kindergarten is similar to kindergarten with just the age differences.  JK is for 4 year olds, as kindergarten is for 5 year olds.  It's not the same as preschool either as they stay in school for 7 hours and within those 7 hours, are actually learning.  They even start a foreign language at that grade - I believe Hawaiian is the first.

One of the benefits that Mike has as a teacher at IPA, is that he's allowed one-tuition free enrollment, so Keaolani gets to go to a private school for free!  Chee-Hoo!!! If you ask Keaolani, she's very excited to commute with her daddy!  Praising God for answering our prayers!