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No Train. No Life!

Thursday, December 29, 2011


Ayana on acid.


Kermit on acid.






Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Gold Tooth




Got me a gold tooth. So dental stuff done on this trip is a gold cap, implant, and cleaning and temporary filling on a tooth that needs an implant and root canal. The other tooth needs surgery to either to a root canal via the gum or extraction with an implant.

Supposed to tour the Waianae coast tomorrow with Uncle Dexter and Auntie Linda. Should be fun. I'm making a list of things to do before we leave and figuring out our return and getting stuff together on that Sunday for school on that Monday.

PBS is the only station with shows worth watching.

...the Supposed Free Clinic

So the luck we had with the Christmas holiday is over. Not only is traffic back, but Ayana's fever increased throughout the weekend which left us with two choices: wait until today for the urgent care to get antibiotics or go to the emergency room for minimum of $300 and up...the $300 just being allowed into the ER. At times she got very bad that we were on the verge of grabbing her and heading out. Luckily she calmed down and we ended up taking yesterday morning and she's got a virus that "should" subside in a couple of days. Her cough is horrible and non-stop and was great while we were there.

She did give us a sample inhalant for free but didn't have the adapter and said we'd have to get a prescription for the adapter...a piece of plastic which costs $25. She called it in to Longs and said give it about an hour. So we head across the street to the Salvation Army. We slowly make our way to Longs and stand in the pharmacy pick-up line with one lady in front of us. We get called and we go up and they can't find out thing and finally do and say to go into the drop-off line, so we do. There is one person in front of us. We finally get called and they say they'll put it in and page us when it's ready. So we wait.

We walk around the store for a bit and grab some coffee for home. And wait. Then get Ayana a toy to mess with while we wait. After about 40 minutes, I'm getting pissed and wondering why it's taking so long for a piece of plastic. I decide to go ask and now both pick-up and drop-off lines are 6-10 people deep. Fuck this! We head to the front to just pay for the coffee and all lines are long and winding into the aisles. So I, of course, pick the wrong one.

There is one lady just finishing up getting rung up. Next lady had a big load, but not too bad, mostly canned goods. I have two 10 oz bags of coffee grounds; this shouldn't take long. The cashier proceeds to ring up the canned-goods lady at a rapid pace of one can every 5-10 seconds. I stand there looking like, "Are you fucking kidding me?" and getting all antsy and impatient. I start stating loudly how this place is ridiculous and people seem to be going out of their way to piss me off. Jeanne mentions that we should probably not go to post office today. Me, still being in said mood, says, rather loudly and pissed, "Why? They're not going to have the same retards here working over there!" When I go to get rung up he says nothing to me and doesn't look at me.

We leave and I'm still upset. I get home and call the pharmacy which makes me more made because I'm dealing with a stupid automated thing that ends up connecting me and then it disconnects. So I go through the process one more time and get someone and explain that we left. She says that they're busy because of the holiday weekend and all. I said it's dumb. 45 minutes for a piece of plastic. She says they have to sort of do it first-come-first-serve type of deal like they've got some orders in front of the others. I say again, "It's a piece of plastic! Protocol or not, it's there in a box already. Not too mention when we first got there, nobody was in line."

I understand there are different types of worlds out there and jobs that I don't understand and how simple things to us is completely different to the ones involved. I also am a huge advocate against people with little to no knowledge of things to argue against say an expert in Foreign Policy or one of the Joint Cheifs of Staff. But I'm also someone who has worked in customer service in the field of moving lines. I know that if I see something already done or a moment in which a person could be taken care of and moved along, it's done. A fucking piece of plastic in a box should've been moved along at the onset. It should've been, "Oh, this prescription, it's right here. Take it; it's fucking cluttering this pharmacy. We've got work to do," and we'd all be on our way.

Ayana stayed with my mom while Jeanne and I went to the post office to a huge line. I went at this time on the Thursday before Christmas and had three people ahead of me. We had to wait in line because we had an international package to send, so I stood in line while Jeanne did the manual postage thing. She started going and with robotic precision entered numbers and labeled them and stacked them without letting any time lag. As soon as she started some bitch walked up behind her on the phone waiting for Jeanne who overheard the conversation saying that "this lady's taking a long time." Personally, I would've said something and/or slowed down. There's a difference between taking a long time and having a lot to send. on top of which, had Jeanne seen her walk up she would've let her gone. I wouldn't. The one person I let would be with all the problems and we'd all be there longer.

I don't like the fact that there's a drive to the store. It'd be nice to have the choice to walk there. I've made a decision that once I get a new bike, I'm sending my current one here so I have a bike to use the next time we're here. It'd be nice to have it on this trip; I would've not just contemplated but done the Mililani to Kaimuki ride. It's not that hard; it's all relatively flat ground.

Have a crowning appointment today at 3:15pm. Gonna leave early to hit the beach ahead of time. Hopefully a cheerful blog.

Talked to Jeff yesterday; that was good.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Early X-Mas







Hawaii gave me an early X-mas present by allowing me to experience little to no traffic. Went to the food court at the Pearl City Holiday Mart yesterday. Good stuff. It wasn't as busy or as full as it used to be, but still, how can you beat having Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and Japanese stuff in one place that's not a sit down restaurant? All good stuff, too.

We opted for Korean because it's hard to get good beef short ribs in Omaha. Those cuts are geared mostly towards prime rib roasts, so even beef ribs you get little to no meat and may as well just use it for stock. But here for $10 you get seared kal bi, beef short ribs, with a lot of meat on it.

I helped Aunty Linda and Uncle Dexter roll sushi today and found several things I'd been doing wrong with my sushi with the rice and rolling and picked up some good tips.

Mom's b-day today, stopped by the beach and lost my sunglasses. That's why I don't like paying more than a dollar. Luckily, too, the Goodwill I bought it from in Vegas had tons of those. Gonna pick up another when we go back there.

Hopefully there is nothing screwing up my financial aid and it goes through on the 2nd. I want to be able to go to Jelly's and look for stuff...if they have stuff. Gotta a bunch of eating left to do as well.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

GD-it







So just like I've hardly ever cut myself with a knife but from stupid things like dried beans on the side of a steam pan, egg shells in the sink, nubs on the ice cream freezers, I always break coffee carafes by tapping them on the side of the sink while washing them.

I've knocked them and dropped them into the sink and nothing. Small taps, though, happen to be in that right, soft spot. Fuck! Running low on cash I luckily (finally!) sold my trig book, but that won't come in until January when (hopefully) my student loan goes to my account. So I was more than happy to receive a card with $40 in it. Then I wash my frech press and small tap to the sink and crack.

I'm not spending more than $20.

Met up with Robert briefly yesterday in China Town. Wanted to check out China Town and his Kung Fu school. Good to see him and talk to him about Kung Fu, Jeet Kun Do, Dan Inosanto, Anthony Bourdain, and Kung Fu films. He's good to talk to about that, very informed and fun.

After that we went to the dentist to get more bad news about my bad mouth. Which leads (on the worst of three teeth) towards redoing a root canal which may solve the problem unless the crack is in the gum area which it most likely is. Or going through the gum and redoing and sealing the root canal by that way which is surgery and expensive and still, may solve the problem if the crack isn't in that area. Three (the more likely and we'll talk to the cosmetic dentist about) is that it needs to be extracted, which will solve the problem and get a fake tooth there (which would be temporary), and then when I get a real job I can see a specialist and finalize all this dumb shit.

Finally got to a Ramen shop which is legion in this place. Ramen shops, not this one in particular. I like that they can all survive on their own and be individual ones and not franchised. It's how it should be. L&L on the other hand I don't like. I'd like to do my thing back home before those guys do one. They expand all over and their motto is basically "Where next?" Literally, that's it.

F-them. It's like Tupac said, "Fuck the World" and "...my role model, it's in the brown bottle"...and "Brenda's got a baby."

Going to the Swap Meet today. Went to the Wat's the other night and saw Jeff's parents. Really great to see them, if only for a short time. Hopefully we'll get to again. We'll see how the next weeks turn out.

The other night at the Chuck BBQ was fun. I saw Kai pull up to the side as we did so I assumed that was Chuck's house to went to the end circle to turn around and saw some guys in a garage hanging out and thought it was a moke party. Turns out the moke is Daniel. Brian said, "You always wonder who the moke is going to be."

I kept making fun of Daniel all night. Like the whole time we're in high school we're making fun of Sherwood and Daniel was apparently taking notes. I couldn't stop laughing at him just looking at him.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011





Had to pick up parents from the airport today in the afternoon, so I figured we'd go to Haleiwa. Didn't get shave ice, but went to Ali'i beach park. There was a sign up to expect delays because of a surf meet. Luckily it was this past weekend or the one coming up so the stands were up but no contest. The waves were there and a lot of surfers. We got to see kids going into the water to surf in waves I wouldn't go swimming in. I jumped in the shallow area but didn't swim because I didn't want to deal with the shore breaks and undertows.

Gonna just relax tonight and head to Chinatown tomorrow.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride







I got some cool anime bag for $5 because its zipper is gone, but I put a safety pin and it's good. Hope it's a cool show so I'm not a chump sporting some lame deal.

We stopped along Kam Hwy at a roadside grill that was broiling huli huli chicken and grilling huge garlic shrimp. As a plus, it's ride on the penninsula where Daniel and Mr. Miyagi pulled into the small village in "Okinawa."

Laie Point was nice. It's funny that in Sarah Marshall they're walking and he says, in exhaustion, how he's never sweated so much in his life. Unless they walked there from Turtle Bay, the walk from the parked cars to that point is like 10 feet. Waves were kicking and locals were blazing.

Went to Pearl Harbor today, more on that in a bit. Stopped at Jacks and John and Curing were working and got an unexpected comped meal. Good thing Chompers doesn't come here, he'd be back everyday expecting that free meal.

Relaxing at the parents' place before lunch with the Miyamotos and BBQ at Chuck's with Brian, Daniel, and Kai.

Getting lots of stuff crossed off our list and keeping busy and still looking forward to getting back to the beach. Still need to hit Haleiwa. Here's that dumb "Defend Hawaii" deal and another deal.

Stopped by Patrick Swayze beach aka Swanzy Beach Park. Didn't remember that there's little to no beach there, but nice shots.

Friday, December 16, 2011

hh;l;h


Blogged earlier today:

Before taking my parents to the airport we hit the beach. We headed back and my mom called to ask if we could stop in Chinatown to pick up some leis that were an issue.

Luckily we were just passing Aloha Tower and moved to the right lane and turned into Chinatown. She called back and while on the phone I made a few twists and turns and saw a sign that read "Otto Cakes." I hadn't thought of him in years and approached the stop sign while still on the phone getting directions and the lei shop was right on that corner. So I turned back around and found a parking spot and went to Otto Cakes.

It's a tiny shop, really cute, simple, done well up in a professional DIY fashion. Then Otto came up and I said, "Hey dude. I'm not sure if you remember me, but we used to hang out about 10 years ago; I'm Brett."

He looked at me, all straggily hair, messy beard, board shorts, and a lady and child. The gears were turning in his head as he began to register who I was and said, "Semper Fi!"

I totally forgot about that. We talked a bit and mention Cory (who I corrected was Tory and I have no contact with) and Sheri and mentioned his new band was playing a show Friday night and they were nominated for a Hoku (?) award. First punk rock band ever to be nominated. He also brought up the Pettyfords who had played shows recently but not in a bit. I mentioned that Jeremy lives next to my parents and is in Air Force Officers training to be back on December 20. He gave me a copy of one of their CD's. Cool.

WE ordered a cranberry cheesecake while he and Jeanne talked about their shops and the first thing he asked her was if she makes bacon ice cream. I didn't forget how great his cheesecakes were. His shop had an old, decorated by him register that's just as simple as it needs to be. He's still as awesome as ever and does it all himself not even with a mixer...all by a whisk. He handstamps each to-go container with his basic logo.

Talk about random run-ins. This is like how it is when I took acid or shrooms. I take it somewhere completely alone and away from anyone I know and head out and somehow I end up with and where everybody is. Or with people I haven't seen in years.

So that leads to me being at Longs in Kaimuki picking up bottled water and coffee for our stay at Uncle Dexter's. We're standing in line and I glance behind us and notice the dude in line and say, "Hey, Norm!"

He hesitantly looks at me and says, "Yeah," and then we go through the whole song and dance of the years gone by and ask about Jelly's since I hadn't seen them in several of the previous locations. He said there are two: one in town somewhere and the other by Cutter Ford Aiea.

There are Jellyfish approaching and the Obama ships out in Kailua awaiting the President's stay. I found where he's staying at, but I actually just want to take photos of the ships.

Went out to Makapu'u and hiked up to the lighthouse. Nice walk. I really wish I had my bike here, but luckily I have access to bikes, although they're mountain bikes.

We've got a Pearl Harbor visit and luncheon with the Miyamotos on Sunday afternoon and then a BBQ with Brian and Chuck folks that night. I need to call Mr. and Mrs. Wat to meet up and then Patryk.

Later that night:

Talked to Pat earlier. I haven't seen him since they played the Warped Tour which I think was in '98. Caught up and was just like old times. Gotta meet up with him later.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Forgot About This


Been playing this game here and Vegas and finally got a good score. "Why is there only one T in your name?"

Try using the controller to write it while your daughter is pulling you to come with her in the other direction.

Senor Frogs

Why does Hawaii have a Senor Frogs? I'm sure that Hawaii can have its own establishment with alcohol and party atmosphere. Everybody here is so eager to be like the mainland but don't want to become the mainland. At least their annual awards for restaurants don't have any franchise or chains. I wish Omaha could catch a hint.

Speaking of hints, I, of course, do not do any fast food normally; let alone on a trip, especially to a place with good food. In-N-Out is usually the exception, along with Jack in the Box. Jack in the Box is the only exception in Hawaii, because Omaha has none and I used to work at one and the one I worked at still employs my friends. Unfortunately, out of my hands (and money) we ate at a busy McDonald's and Burger King in Waikiki.

The McDonald's was because it was after two and the closest (cheapest) place closed until dinner and my grandma wanted to go to McDonald's. Next time we were waiting for Chad and Angela at their hotel and there was a Burger King across the street with no cheap places to eat around. So Burger King it was. But no more. That's why we have a schedule, right?

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Ho, cuz!

I found out what that dumb decal that everyone has means. Not the "Defend Hawaii" one but the one I thought was a hip way to spell Heki. It's He>i. That should hit Omaha soon.

I don't know how people can stand driving here. Driving is bad enough, dealing with parking lots is dumber. This week we'll be at Uncle Dexter's place so we shouldn't need to drive for that week. I'm probably gonna ride their bikes unless we go to the North Shore.

Went to meet up with Chad folks before they headed off yesterday and ate at Duke's. If we had money Chad said the buffet at the Kahala Hilton is worth it. It's $60 a person, but good prime rib w/ real au jus, lobster tails, racks of lamb, fresh juices...those alone would be worth the price. They got their kids' meals free as well, so it worked out better.

I left early for my dentist appointment near Ala Moana. Got there way early so debated hitting a lame coffee house or something when I realized the beach is right there. So I pulled into Ala Moana beach, on the Magic Island side and went for an early morning swim.

There were some people about, but not much. Three in the water, plus me. I got a half hour swim in and felt really good. After that I just swam under water a bunch and went to the appointment.

I headed to Kahala Mall only because I needed to get a charge reversed on Jeanne's card for $10 for something that she didn't order from (gulp!) Whole Foods. Doesn't matter where Whole Foods is, it's the same annoying clientele. It's appropriate to be at Kahala Mall, though, now affluent people can finally eat healthy. I hate going to malls anywhere and here is much stupider.

People in Hawaii need to all learn common sense and relearn to drive. I have to abandon all safe driving techniques because it just makes it more dangerous. How does that work, right? Well for one thing, say you're driving in traffic leaving a normal, safe following distance. Then you want to go into the lane next you, which has a lane next to them. You signal your turn signal ahead of time to regulate traffic and thus make your lane change legal and safe. But as soon as that space opens up the other lane's driver sees an opening and without looking they enter there. For no reason other than they saw an opening. So if you do your safe techniques, you lose your space and pontentially get into an accident.

Luckily for me, I think everyone's stupid and see their move ahead of time. But then it keeps me more focused on that than safe driving. Fuck these assholes.

Are there any records shops anymore? All the ones that were here either moved or are out of business.

Gotta get our itinerary ready for tomorrow for the rest of our visit to maximize our time here and see all we want to and everyone we want to...radio stations still suck here...good thing there's NPR and two CD's I brought since my mom's car doesn't have an Auxiliary plug and I forgot my tuner.

Monday, December 12, 2011

"Aloha Means Goodbye"



This Primo's for Jeff.



We were advised to make an itinerary for the remainder of our trip so we can actually fit things in. It's been busy so far and lots more to do, which is good for making use of the time here. There's little to no down time, though. And while I enjoy that, it's tough on Jeanne and Ayana's not napping. I've been sort of good on my going to the beach every day.

The waves were up for the Pipeline Pro and had to skip Haleiwa because Ayana wasn't handling it too well. Need to head back to that.

My aunt gave us tickets for a bus ride through downtown to see the lights. It was on a double-decker bus which gave us some near misses with low tree branches (one of which hit my glasses) and low wires. We had extra time so it drove through Kahala in the residential area and then around Diamond Head.

We need to check out those noodle/ramen shops. They're legion here. It reminds me of those shots of downtown Tokyo where there are those cute, brightly lit noodle or sushi shops, some so small that there are only a few seats at the counter.

My parents leave Wednesday for Portland and we'll be staying in Kaimuki at the Grandma's place. There's lots of stuff to do right in that area and Aunt Linda and Uncle Dexter are taking us around...reef walk on the itinerary. There's a thrift store and pho shop and other things...like the comic shop that used to loan out Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes before Hawaii got the WB.

My cousins have bikes that they don't use, so I'm going to pump them up and ride around. If I lived back here I would not have a car. It's so bike accessible and I hate the traffic and drivers. I'm going to try and ride from Kaimuki to Mililani. They live up the hill in Kaimuki which will be fun to ride down.

Going to head to Waikiki today to hit the beach with Chad and Angela before they leave and come back and hang back a bit to list the remainder of our trip.

Friday, December 09, 2011

Dumb Show

Watching a show called Sid the Science Kid. It's done by Henson studios but it has that Jim Henson's on the title. I don't think they should be allowed to do this. They should just put Henson's Sid the Science Kid, since this show is dumb like Barney and nowhere near what Jim would have done.

Gonna leave soon to go up the H3 (not sure why they're considered interstates) to Kaneohe and visit Grandpa and Grandma Kurihara's graves. Then take the long way back via the North Shore. The waves are supposed to be insane today so we'll see, and then stop at Matsumoto's and head to the lights tonight.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Hawaii Post

I've had this post started and forgot to get back to it. But it was good to see Jeff and Margaret during the Thanksgiving break, though wish did more. I greatly enjoyed the bike ride to work and hanging out with Robert and Steve Micek.

Got to see part of the Muppets, but Ayana needed a nap. we've been getting good rides through traffic here to that soundtrack.

Vegas was good but short. Hawaii is good so far, but after this week should be more relaxing. It's been sort of non-stop and have several dentist appointments (which sucks) getting very important, very expensive things done (which is good).

I've also stuck to a new plan due to a ruined day yesterday. I'm not leaving anything plans vague. It's all going to be that we have to do this or be there at this time.

Hawaii is dumb. There's so much traffic but it's all because people don't know how to drive. I can't spend time listing things here, but the driving on shoulders to get ahead and the constant, unecessary lane changing to not get ahead are two things, along with learning to merge, which could stop much traffic. There are about five other things that are totally changeable. I can't even do my normal, safe leave a following distance or at a stand still leave an out, because some dumbshit pulls in partially. Any available space!

There's another dumb thing which I have to get a photo of. I first noticed it on a shirt in Vegas and am seeing it as decals here. It's picture of a semi-automatic rifle between the words "Defend Hawaii." There's too much to elaborate on that now, but I'm tired.

Ayana's totally loving the beach.