Tonight is our last night here in Honolulu. S/O and I always block off the last evening we're here so that we can have a wonderful family dinner, but my 83 year old mom got a better offer so she's blowing me off for the chance to go eat dungeness crab at my auntie's house!!! WTF??? (Just kidding ...).
We went out for dinner with my mom and sister last night and we all had a really good time. My mom was in good spirits and good humor--She's pretty much a kick in the pants! She said, "Hey, it's dungeness crab ..." That's pretty much all the explanation that was needed. My cousin is a sea food distributor so I guess it is REALLY FRESH dungeness crab to boot!!!
Tonight we're gonna go over to my brother's house for dinner and hang out with his family. I get to spend a LOT of time in Hawaii--six weeks in the summer, a week a Christmas, and a week-and-a-half in the spring, but I really miss being "everyday" close to my family. Before I moved to L.A. we always had a standing dinner date at my mom's every Sunday. I miss that. I really enjoy hanging out with my brother and sister and would probably enjoy doing so even if we weren't siblings and as I've mentioned here before, I'm a BIG momma's boy when all is said and done.
From here, we'll be back in L.A. for four days then we're heading over to NYC for two-and-a-half weeks so summer will go on ... I just won't be in Hawaii. It's been one of my best summers at home ever. I got to set up and outfit our new condo and I've had a chance to get together with many (though not all) of my friends.
I'm sad to be leaving ...
I like to eat from a bowl. Given the choice of eating my meal on a plate or bowl, I'll choose a bowl nine times out of ten. I think that my love of food in a bowl goes back to my childhood. When I was a kid, we ate out of rice bowls. I mean, as I am a fourth generation Chinese-American we grew up thoroughly Americanized in just about every way possible, but eating from a bowl is probably the vestige of Chinese-ness that lived on in my family most powerfully (With the notable exception of Chinese-Mother guilt complex ...).
Anyway, S/O is Italian-American and loves everything about my family except our propensity to want to eat everything out of a bowl. For S/O, eating anything except cereal, soup, or ice cream is just kind of wrong. You know what? I don't friggin' care!!! If I want to eat my salad out of a bowl with chopsticks ... I'm gonna eat my salad out of a bowl with chopsticks!!!
Today, I was walking down to the local shopping center when I happened upon this WONDERFUL establishment of fine dining ... Hanazen: A Fun to Eat Meal in a Bowl ... I think that kind of says it all!!!
I read about this on someone else's Vox blog, but I got so involved with the site that I lost the original poster so apologies to whoever sent this site my way ... Check this out! You can get 360-degree views of parts of cities from all over the world. Pretty damned amazing!!! 360 Cities: The World in Virtual Reality.
The Market—J.M. Steele
Kate has been satisfied to make it through three years of at Millbank High School as just one of the girls in the crowd. She earned good grades, admission to Brown University, and had good friends with whom she could pass the time. Kate’s high school life changes, however, when late one night she stumbles across the Millbank Social Stock Market (MSSM). Of the 140 girls in her class, Kate’s ranking is a bleak 71. Kate and her friend develop a plan to raise the value of her stock from “junk bond” to “blue chip” before the end of their senior year.
While the plot is thoroughly clichéd and can be very easily mapped by anyone who has seen Mean Girls and three episodes of a teen drama on the CW Network, middle schoolers and younger high schoolers will likely enjoy the fastpaced story telling in this decent enough beach read.
Okay, so ... as a general rule going back as long as I can remember, lesbians have LOVED me!!! I don't know why, but it just has always been so ... The lesbians in my life have always been good to me! I LOVE lesbians!!!
Anyway ... Everyone in the building that S/O and I bought into is friendly and wonderful with the exception of the two lesbians "handsome" women that have the parking space right next to ours. I suspect that the two of them are lesbians, but I have no way of really confirming this since they have never once even acknowledged my existence when I have cheerfully greeted them in the six or seven times that I have run into them. This is how it goes. I say, "Good morning!" and they look through me like I am made of glass and they are reading the newspaper through my head.
I mean, WTF??? RIGHT???
Anyway, the two hypothetical lesbians have two very nice cars--A Jeep Grand Cherokee and a brand friggin' new blue Audi. As all of the units in our building only have a single assigned space and there are a limited number of street spaces available, residents in the building that have more then one car sometimes have to resort to the "space kapu maneuver." The "space kapu maneuver" is when someone in your household has a street space and when he/she is going to leave, a second person moves a car from your assigned space into the street space as you vacate it. This is understandable to a point, but the hypothetical lesbians have made space kapu-ing into such an art that they have LITERALLY held the parking space in front of our building EVERY DAY since we arrived in Hawaii on June 10th. I KID YOU NOT!!!!
WTF??? RIGHT???
I find this rather odd in that, effectively, they only have one car that they can drive around town as they always have to have one "kapu-ing" the space. The blue Audi in this picture belongs to the hypothetical lesbians and this is the space that I covet above all others. I'm down to less then a week to be able to find a way to get my car into that space so the pressure is now on. I've come to realize in my middle age, that I have not outgrown being vengeful toward those who I think don't like me ... And forgiveness is not one of my good things ...
Which reminds me, this girl named Dana was really mean to me in eighth grade. We were standing in front of the water fountain by the French classroom when ... Well, perhaps that one might be best left for another blog entry ...
But anyway ... Here's the space that I am determined to make mine!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha ...
Gah! Unsightly back hair got you down? No worries!!! More info. available here, but also available at Target. Yay!!!
S/O and I are back from the luxe life in Wailea. We spent a total of four days and three nights on Maui, but just one night in the previously documented lap of luxury at the Fairmont.
The first two days were spent with S/O's friends in upcountry at about the 4,800 ft elevation level on the slopes of Mt. Haleakala. Maryanne and Bob live in a small town called Kula. About a thirty minute drive from the Kahului Airport, Kula is an aggricultural community where people take adavantage of the cool climate and grow everything from flowers, to peaches, to artichokes, to strawberries, and more. In recent years, Kula has become one of the many communities of choice for people with a lot of coin on hand so the community has evolved into a kind of interesting mix of wealthy folk looking to get away from the city and old time Maui farmers.
During the day when M. and B. were off at work, S/O and I spent the day wandering around the island. We got famous cream puffs from an old school bakery in the charming town of Makawao, got some sun in Kaanapali, and went shopping for art in Lahaina.
Maui is great!
S/O and I are on the island of Maui. For those of you who are geographically impaired (no judgment intended since I am one of the geographically impaired of the world), I grew up in Honolulu which is on the island of Oahu. The way that it works here is that people from Oahu take vacations to the other Hawaiian Islands just like ya'll from the "Continent" do. It happens that S/O is doing a favor for a friend and is attending and helping out at a destination wedding on Maui so the friend is PUTTING S/O UP at the FAIRMONT KEA LANI HOTEL in Wailea and I am tagging along. In case you are like me and generally don't know much about the luxe life, "FAIRMONT KEA LANI" is in capitals because it is one of the most friggin' expensive hotels on Maui ... We're talkin' like, $675.00 and up for night for a night in a regular room. S/O and I DO NOT normally travel this way!!!
Anyway, hypothetically, I am appalled by Americans who travel around the world and lock themselves up in fake luxury bubbles and don't really ever get out and meet the real people who live there. I mean, people go to Mexico or Bali or Maui and never leave their five star resorts and meet people who live and work in the locales that Americans visit. Errr ... I have to say that now that I am on the inside of the luxe bubble looking out, I can see why it appeals. OMFG!!! It is so beautiful (Artificial, yes ... But indeed, one cannot deny that it is beautiful ... And when you get out of the swimming pool you just help yourself to the nice thick plush towels. You don't have to sign your life away or anything!!! Just help yourself!!!).
I suppose that I really wouldn't want to ONLY travel this way, but boy, it is a pretty SWEET splurge ... Especially since I'm getting to enjoy it on someone else's coin!!!
Gah!!! It really frightens me how easily I will sell out on my "principles" when a free night at a five-star hotel comes my way!!! THE SHAME OF IT ALL!!!
But then, check out these sweet pictures!!! So damned beautiful and believe me when I say that the pics don't do the real thing justice at all ...
So ... I'm a tad confused by Target this week. Ya'll KNOW that I LOVE Target and since Hawaii does not yet have a Target (under construction and due to open in 2009, though) I have had to deal with some of the symptoms of Target withdrawal this summer. In order to mitigate some of the most severe symptoms of Target withdrawal, I studiously peruse the weekly Target ad online every single week (I know, that's weird since I can't BUY anything, but just ignore that for now and go with the flow). This week's ad, however, has me in a bit of a pickle. You see, according to the ad, it is "Dollar Week" at Target, but ... err ...
What can I actually buy for a dollar? Am I the only one confused by this advertising concept???
If you have just an hour to read an entire book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons is the book for you.
Greg Heffley, who, he is certain, will be famous one day, is living the unfortunate life of a middle school boy. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is precisely what it says ... It is Greg's diary (although he does make very clear that boys keep "journals" NOT diaries, it is just that his mother failed to follow directions and purchased a blank book with the word "Diary" printed on the front). Greg hates writing, but is taking the time to indulge his mother by writing in his journal so that when he achieves the fame that he is sure that he will acquire, he won't have to rely on his memory all the way back to his days spent with middle school "morons."
Jeff Kinney strikes just the right tone with his protagonist, Greg Heffley. This quick and easy breeze of a read is laugh-out-loud funny!!!
Recent Comments
-
SweetMisery said:
[this is good]Very Amazing. I get lost with Google some times. It is great. The whole world right at your mouse pad. read more
on on going round -n- round -n- round ... -
crankypants said:
[this is good]LOL...I think you need an accomplice to hatch the perfect scheme of distraction and space de-kapu-ing!! read more
on on haters and parking spaces that i covet ... -
♥Lady M♥ said:
[this is good]you are too funny...i hope you get the parking space and hog it just like they do...bwahahahaha! read more
on on haters and parking spaces that i covet ... -
on on haters and parking spaces that i covet ...