Becoming Hardcore

Aloha from deep in the Islands! Following many months of prodding and a final push by an awesome week of interaction with the social media guru’s during #rethink Hawaii, I have finally broken down and initiated a blog…Hardcore Surviving will be an inked/ether version of my primitive mode as I talk trash/brain smack (there is a some intelligence in there) as I go to the edge and come back on several fronts.

While my on-shore incarnation manifests as an accomplished scientist and inventor (Dr. Robert Yonover, @robyonover,“RescueStreamer“), the real me is a primitive water-ape, with a unique perspective on life in general and (an intelligent Ape approach to) problem-solving more specifically. By approaching problems with a loin-cloth mentality, I am able to get to the root of the most basic solution – Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) is my mantra and the SEE/RESCUE Streamer (“RescueStreamer”) is a perfect example. A little background might help you understand the animal you are encountering on the other end of this keyboard.

I did not talk much as a kid and always felt more at home deep in nature and/or among wild and domesticated animals. As a small child, I was turned on to the ocean and surfing and I became a black tar addict! (Thick Face, Black Heart: “Embrace your perceived negativity”) The problem was that I grew up in one of the worst places to surf in the country (besides inland locales) – Miami. The waves were tiny and girls were mean – a Double Loss! In the meantime, the place was tropical like Hawaii and we were on the receiving end of surfing movies and magazines – the ultimate tease! The result of being deprived for all those formative years was that I had to become HARDCORE (pronounced, “HAAARDCOAR”) – it was the only way to survive.

One cold night, hanging with the boys, getting amped on the possibility of surfing in the morning, we started to wuss out relative to getting up early and getting into ocean while the cold front was kicking in, the fateful words that change my life were uttered in a slow drawl by a “real surfer” whom we all looked up to in a hooded sweater and chucka-boots as he leaned back against the wall in a classic surf bro stance, “You gotta be HAAAAARDCORE!” He was right that night and that message to “always charge with everything you got with NO excuses” has rung true for me ever since in every aspect of life.

Fast forward 35 years, and you have encountered the result of living a HARDCORE life – a primitive, ultra-competitive, driven, passionate beast. Being HARDCORE is not easy, especially if you strive for a HARDCORE life relative to mind, body, and soul. No one gives it to you. You have to work for it. Train everyday, go deep into nature – testing and pushing yourself to the limits on every front: physical, mental, and emotional! I try to share this unique primitive perspective with regular land-dwelling people – most people don’t get the whole thing, but usually just enough to be intrigued and inspired. Welcome to my world! Aloha, Rob

Pool Boy Underdogs

There were many more jobs over the years, including valet car parker and swimming pool construction, but the best one of all was the job of destiny, pool boy at the WAIKIKI BEACH HOTEL in (North) Miami Beach! Through our street football games in the neighborhood (details to follow), I met Ken whose father, Mr. B, was pool manager at the Waikiki Beach Hotel. Who knew that I would move next to Waikiki 10 years later and for the rest of my life – maybe this job was the stepping stone (or brick thrown to head)?

In fitting with the transition to the ocean lifestyle, Through Ken and Mr. B, along with their associates the Hawaiian “K’s” (pool manager of the Sun City Motel nearby), we learned the Hawaiian ways of surfing, diving, and fishing. After we set up the lounge chairs and umbrellas for the tourists in the morning, we were usually free to go surfing or diving. We would dive for fish and lobster and sell them to the tourists for spending money to supplement our pay/tips from the pool boy gig. It was a great life, another irony being that one of my favorite ways to make spending money to this day is selling fish I catch here in Hawaii! I guess you are very impressionable in your teen years and having the imprint of Hawaiian-style surfing, fishing, and diving was indelibly pressed on the hard disk in my head.

The other major advantage of the job was the tourist girls. I was never much on dating, the girls used to chase me around in elementary school, but I didn’t want any part of them, especially when it came to holding hands in the halls and other long-term public hassles. The tourist girls were always leaving in a week or two and that created no hassle, not that we ever dated that many, but we sure chased after a lot of them. It wasn’t until I read the classic book, “How to Pick Up Girls” and learned that the key is to at least go for it (as in life)…say “hello” or anything, but just say something. The Beach Boy lifestyle was larger than life, even in Miami. The bonds that grew between us, the Pool Boy Underdogs, was permanent and is just as strong today, 35+ years later!