A few weekends ago I was in Honolulu for the Mele Songwriter’s Conference. On Friday evening, after the conference events wound down, my buddy Tarvin Mākia and I headed to the Tapa Bar at the Hilton Hawaiian to listen to Jerry Santos. Jerry was on a break and talking with some visitors, so I snuck up behind him and waited for him to finished. After we chatted I turned around and there was a Japanese woman in front of me who asked, “Do you know O___ H_____?”
I was flabbergasted, and all I could muster was “Excuse me?” She repeated, “Do you know O___ H_____ who works at M______?”
(To backtrack, I’ve been corresponding with O.H. regarding some Hawaiian technology issues for a few months, and M. represents the name of the company that he works at)
Was she psychic? If she knew I knew O.H., why didn’t she just ask if I was Keola Donaghy? I replied, “Yes, but how would you know that?’
”I’m O.H.’s wife”, she replied.
“Yes,” I replied, “but how in the heck would you know that I knew him?’
Tomo (she finally got around to introducing herself) explained that she was preparing for her trip to Hawai‘i, and her husband O. H. mentioned that he had been corresponding with someone in Hawai‘i about Hawaiian language technology issues. Tomo then went on the internet, looked up my name, and found my website, which included a picture of me. When she was me talking to Jerry near the stage, she noticed the resemblance and decided to find out if I was indeed the fellow that her husband had been corresponding with. Guily as charged.
All in all one of the more interesting encounters I’ve ever had.
