Daily Archives: January 1, 2013

On December 30, 2012, I helped pound mochi and make Kadomatsu at the Pearl City Urban Garden from 8:30 A.M. to 2 P.M. That afternoon, I fastened bamboo and pine on both sides of my door for my home in Waikele. I also placed a good look mochi I helped to make at the Pearl City Urban Garden in my living room.

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2012, I placed another good luck mochi I bought from Don Quijote in my living room. I also cooked Cioppino for my family dinner on my mom’s side that was held at the Matsumoto family home in Pearl City. The Cioppino was my 32nd new recipe I cooked in 2012. From the lanai, we watched fireworks popping high in the sky throughout Pearl City and out to the Ewa plains. It looked beautiful though not as much as before the change in the law. Before, we used to pop all kinds of fireworks. After midnight, my dad cooked everyone ozoni, which is a Japanese mochi soup for good luck that must be the first thing one eats on the 1st day of the year.

On New Year’s Day, January 1, 2013, my mom, dad, younger sister Lara, and I went to Honolulu Jodo Shu Buddhist Temple to get omomori & pray to my grandparents Maurice and Bessie Karamatsu. Then we went to Izuma Taisha Shinto Shrine in Downtown to pray, get blessed, buy omomori, drink good luck sake, and eat good luck candy. After, we ate lunch at Empress Restaurant in the Chinese Cultural Center. Next, I showed my family my office where I fastened bamboo and pine on both sides of my office door. Inside of my office I set a omomori on my shelf. Also on my shelf, I had a good luck mochi I got from my friend Tricia Nakamatsu, which I placed there the day after Christmas. When I got back home, I placed the Izuma Taisha omomori by the entrances of my home. I put the Jodo Shu omomori on the wall in the middle of my living room. I fastened two more Izuma Taisha omomori to my briefcase. Izuma Taisha also gave some good luck rice that we need to cook with the rest of the rice. I am doing some stuff for my home and then will head to my parents’ house to eat sashimi for dinner. Maybe we will be able to Skype with my younger sister Mia and baby Elyse. Later in the evening, I plan to work on my 3rd draft of my writing project.

Happy New Year My Dear Friends! I wish you good health, prosperity, and happiness!

I created my 2013 Resolutions that includes 55 goals as of now.

2012 was an exciting and challenging year. The highlight of the year was welcoming my niece Elyse Aiko Lee into the world. Elyse was born on August 11, 2012 to my sister Mia and her husband Mike, in San Francisco, California. I visited them in San Mateo, California for two weeks in August of 2012.

I ended my Intrenet retail business so that I could focus more on my legislative work, trial work, and my writing project.

I achieved 65% of my 40 resolutions I set out to accomplish in 2012. Some of my accomplishments are as follows: visited my sister Mia and her family in San Mateo, CA; helped Keith M. Kaneshiro get re-elected to Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney; finished the 1st and 2nd draft of my writing project (2nd draft has 77,446 words); exercised 100 times; got the Hawaii State Legislature to appropriate $1,811,133 for the Department of Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, which would add to our $17.8 million budget; got 6 Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney bills signed into law; updated my case law library; attended 24 networking events; cooked 32 new recipes; read 7 fiction books and 2 nonfiction books; remained undefeated in trials for violent crimes where the defendant intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly caused injury or threatened injury to the victim; achieved my best time for the Honolulu Marathon with a 4:41:37; and wrote 59 quotes or haiku poems. As a reward for myself, I plan to buy myself a new office chair.

Happy New Year! Have a great 2013!