Welcome To My Day

Aloha y'all! It's now 7:30am, the coqui frogs have stopped "singing", the birds are just picking up their daily duty, and your old pal Tiki Dave is about to start another day at The Shaka Shack/Ukuleleville/Hale O Elua. That means I'm at my desk, and will pretty much stay here until the end of the "work day". It's a strange thing, as most of us who went into music and the performing arts did so with the understanding, (tacit or otherwise) that we were not going to be riding a desk, or punching a clock. That is one of the appeals of this life. Well, I am here to tell you that during this pandemic, I now know what it is like to have a desk job.

My mornings, unless some other appointment needs my attention or attendance is spent at my desk, working on song sheets and music tracks for either my ukulele play-alongs, my Shaka Shack shows, or for our next musical engagement...whenever that may be. For ukulele sheets, I have to format the sheet, type out lyrics, add chord diagrams, graphics and such, and then turn it into the PDFs that are downloaded, as well as JPGs which are displayed during he sessions. I then program the music for the backing tracks, mix that down, record it and load it into the iPad. From start to finish, each one takes about two hours to do, and I do at least ten a week...sometimes more.

Once that is done, I will usually be taking care of email, doing some promotional business, some work on other musical projects that are in the hopper, (my Ukuleleville project for instance) and doing research and other Google-ly things. Once that is done, I will usually try to get in an hour or two of practice on things that I would like to improve on or that need polishing.

Somewhere in there I also will take care of lunch, possibly run some errands, do some food shopping, and if it is Tuesday I head out to my weekly acupuncture appointment with Kim from 2 The Point Acupuncture here in Hilo. (I have become a big believer in acupuncture in the last few months...I hate the process, but love the results) Then when that is done, I am back at home, and usually back at the desk for a couple of more hours. Quitting time? Usually 6 or 7...then it's off to slumber land.

By the way, for those asking what Leialoha is doing in these pandemic times, take my schedule, take out all the musical work, substitute in crafting and creating for her Kini Kreations and there you have it. Except she usually starts earlier then I do, and will usually work later then I do. I have never seen someone with such singular purpose and energy for their work...she loves creating, and many of you know that she is quite quite good at it.

So there it is...a general idea of how each day goes for me during pandemic times. I'm sure that at some point, my little routine will be ending, and I will be back to work, but for now, to quote Jimmy Buffett, "it's my job"...and I love it!