Day #10: Kailua

We headed out to Pearl City (Guess what historically important harbor is there) trying to find a swap meet where we could buy some touristy stuff. We found it after some trouble but it didn't really have anything good. After that we headed to Kailua where we grabbed some pizza for lunch then headed to the beach. My brother, father and I body-surfed and boogie boarded for a while, until I started feeling a bit ill from swallowing seawater. I then sat on the beach and read Reaper Man until Karl and his family showed up. We hung out with them at the beach for a while and eventually went to Maui Taco for dinner. I didn't really enjoy the food because I didn't feel well. We headed home and it started to rain. Really. FUCKING. Hard. We're talking taking four steps and being soaked... Anyway after getting back I beat Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. VICTORY IS MINE!

Day #9: Noon 'till Now

Eventually LinZ and Dad returned from golfing and I continued to do nothing. This continued in a steady stream of laziness until Karl and his clan arrived around 4 or so. I played with Karl's kids for a bit them went and played in the waves with LinZ. We kept trying to bodysurf, but didn't do to well... the waves weren't quite big enough. At some point during the hour or so we were in the waves I hit the top of my foot on some coral and got a few little scrapes (I stepped on it a few other time but there was no damage) which I had to disinfect once I came in, because coral can infect cuts pretty bad. After disinfecting the cuts (hurray for tea tree oil!) I changed out of my swimsuit and as soon as I took them off sand fell all over the bathroom floor. After getting dressed I cleaned up the bathroom and helped prepare for dinner. We ended up having a really good meal that included Fish, Sausage, Steak, Chicken, Potatoes and Salad. Everything except the Salad was cut into small pieces. It was really good, the sausage in particular. Eventually Karl and his family left. After this my brother and Dad set to designing my Dads first tattoo (him and I are the only ones in the immediate family who don't have one (even my Nana in Penticton has one!)) while my Mom and Ashley planned our day for tomorrow. It should be fun.

See you tomorrow.

Day #9: Morning 'till Noon

We woke up and drove about ten minutes to a farmers market that happens every Saturday in a town near Haleiwa. We stopped on the way so my parents could grab some coffee, I got some Vitamin Water (Dragonberry flavour) and a piece of chocolate chip Banana Bread. We proceeded the rest of the way to the market and waited a few minutes for it to open. Once it did we quickly purchased some fresh Papayas and some other fruit. We also took a look around some nearby shops, one of which offered a quick tour of the coffee trees. It was kinda interesting I guess, after Ashley and I (LinZ was still sleeping and my parents had seen it a week prior) finished watching the tour we wandered around the store for a bit then, eventually returned to the condo. LinZ was awake and after some preparation he ran out with my Dad to play a round of golf. I've been spending my time listening to music, playing Zelda and reading Reaper Man.

Music #1: songs (a playlist)

Being that I'm a lazy bastard about these things I don't give the playlists on my iPod very creative names. Currently, I have one playlist and it is named (uncreatively) 'songs'. There used to be a playlist called 'all' that contained all the songs that I hadn't listened to yet on my iPod, but I became to lazy to constantly clear off songs I had listened too. Anyway, I'm going to tell you the musicians that appear in this playlist (because I'm bored and I feel like it... also you should listen to these bands and/or artists)

Agent Orange (1 song)
Alkaline Trio (1 song)
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution (2 songs)
Big D & the Kids Table (2 songs)
Billy Joel (15 songs)
Blondie (6 songs)
The Blood Brothers (2 songs)
Blur (3 songs)
Bomb the Music Industry! (1 song) (WHAT! Only one BTMI! song?! Whats the matter with me!?)
Cake (4 songs)
The Clash (3 songs)
The Cramps (5 songs)
The Decemberists (1 song) (It's nearly ten minutes long... it should count as 2)
Dr. Feelgood (3 songs)
Electric Light Orchestra (1 song)
Elvis Costello (2 songs)
The Epoxies (1 song)
Garlicado (6 songs)
Ghost Mice (10 songs)
Goldfinger (1 song)
Harvey Danger (1 song)
Hawksley Workman (2 songs)
High School Football Heroes (1 song)
Modest Mouse (1 song)
The Mr. T Experience (12 songs)
Piebald (1 song)
Raging Goldfish (3 songs) (Hayate, playing acoustic guitar)
The Rumble Strips (4 songs)
Talking Heads (1 song)
Television (2 songs)
Tom Waits (1 song)

Anyway, thats the playlist I'm listening to currently (well the bands anyway). It was awkwardly constructed of songs I listened to that i liked, whether I was listening to an album or on random. It's rather odd to listen too because I'll go from a long acoustic song to a 1:30 pop-punk song to a pub-rock song, to a Billy Joel song (Billy Joel should be his own genre). It's great fun. Check out some of those bands, will ya.

Side Note #3: Pictures, or the Lack Thereof

Some of you may be wondering why there have only been a few post's with pictures (or not, but I'm gonna tell you anyway). There is a simple explanation for this. We have two cameras and only one has the kind of memory card that I can stick into the laptop. My Mums camera has an SD card (or whatever) that I can stick right into Havelock (my laptop) and Ashley has a really nice camera that has a Flash Card (I think that's what it is). The Flash Card can't be used with Havelock without a certain device. Since Ashley has a better camera and takes pictures of EVERYTHING that goes on we have left photographic duties to her for the most part, hence, no pictures on my blog (often).

Day 7 + 8: Parents Away

On Thursday morning my parents left for Maui, LinZ and Ashley drove them out to the airport at about 7 and I stayed home. Eventually, they returned to the condo and we spent most of the day relaxing. All in all it as a pretty uneventful day, with the exception of when Ashley called me down to the beach (she called LinZ too, but he was sleeping) to see some Sea Turtles that were on the beach. There were three in total, a relatively young one, an older one and one that looked like it had some sort of tumor on the side of it’s face and on both eyes (Poor, sick turtle). Some time after that we went and bought some groceries and grabbed a Shave Ice. Later still we went and ate at a crappy Mexican restaurant (not the one we went to on our first morning here). After getting back we watched Ladder 49 (A lot better then I thought it was going to be) and then the other two went to bed. I eventually turned in around two (I got a bed for once, huzzah!).

This morning I slept in, for once. We got up and hung around until around 1pm, then headed to Diamond Head. Diamond Head is a huge, ancient crater full of trees and other scenery. It was also, apparently, used by the military at some point. It took us about an hour to climb up it and back down again. It was a lot of fun. After that we stopped at a restaurant to grab a snack and then went to pick up my parents from the airport. They had a great time in Maui. Also, my mom (okay both of them) got me a vintage Alice Cooper T-Shirt! After returning to the condo we hung around for about an hour and I managed to finish Bone (1,300 pages of comic in two days… not bad). It was a really good read, I recommend it to anyone who likes Comic Fantasy, it was a pretty Epic story. We then headed out to Banzai Sushi Bar and got some, you guessed it, sushi! I had some California Rolls and Philadelphia Rolls. They were really bloody good (though on a side note I think I’ll pass on the Philadelphia Rolls next time. It’s weird eating sushi with cream cheese in it.) After that we came back home, stopping to get a bottle of Coke (to mix with rum, AHAHAHAHAHA!). Now we’re going down to the beach to take some pictures apparently.

UMOTD (stolen from Gregorius III ½):

Driving along a road with diamond head to our right, the ocean to our left and Rock the Casbah blaring in the car.

Day 7: New Gecko!

I have spotted another Gecko! Bigger than Susan, smaller than Clive. It's name shall be Lucy!

Day 6: Waikiki

The day started off slow. We woke up, milled about and were lazy until about noon. Then we drove to the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu. We parked outside the Zoo and headed for lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. My brother and I each partook in a It's All Good burger which contained 1 beef patty, 1 slice of swiss cheese, 1 slice of jack cheese, 3 pieces of bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, 1000 islands sauce, lettuce, avocado and a bun. It was bloody delicious! After lunch we headed over to the international marketplace to get some trinkets. I managed to get most of my gift-buying done for my friends (I got Christine's surfboard necklace and the back scratcher I promised Nate, as well as other stuff), excluding Justine and Adria. While I was making these purchases, my brother snuck off and purchased a ninja star (Awesome, pointy action!). After the finishing our adventures in the marketplace we proceeded back to our transportation unit (Stupid, bloody, fucking SUV), stopping on the way to purchase shirts that gain colour from UV rays from a store where I bought a shirt in tenth grade when I was last here. We then proceeded to drive to the Honolulu Mall, though we had originally planned to go to the zoo (it was closed). After much trouble in rush hour traffic we eventually made it to the mall, where we split into two groups, my brother and I in one group and everyone else in another. After vaguely looking around in a store or two and finding a map of the bloody place (the mall is open air, which is actually pretty cool) we decided to hit up an electronics store. my brother had decided he wanted a DS after playing around with mine (he used to have one ages ago (before the DS lite was introduced) but got rid of it due to lack of interest. First we checked in a RadioShack, where they were sold out. We then proceeded a few shops done to some sort of video game store (similar to EB, but not EB) where my brother stood in line while I went to Sam Goody to look for CD's. My brother eventually met me there where he gave me the news that, while they did in fact have DS', he wouldn't buy one there... they only had pink. After receiving this news I purchased 3 CD's with some birthday/christmas money. I picked up these albums:

Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? - Harvey Danger (only $5!)


Dinosaur Sounds - Catch 22


All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater-Kinney

I'm pretty happy with the albums, I've only ever seen two Catch 22 albums in stores back home, one I don't have any interest in buying and the other one I already had on my computer, but I haven't heard any songs from Dinosaur Sounds yet (glee!). Sleater-Kinney are an awesome all-girl punk rock band (I'm listening to them right now and I really like the songs). I already had the Harvey Danger album on the computer, but I've wanted a physical copy for a while now. The album has some really great songs (Spencer will agree). After, buying said CD's my brother and I proceeded through the food court so my brother could get some shorts (it's hard to get them the right length) and some shoes, and so I could check out Hot Topic (really disappointing actually, though there was one awesome thing there). After this we headed to Barnes and Noble Booksellers, after making a brief stop in the food court so my brother could get a Pepsi. In the store I (finally!) purchased a copy of Bone: One Volume Edition, which I am enjoying quite a bit, I also bought Reaper Man from the Discworld series and the original I Am Legend (which is better then the current movie if only because it has vampires instead of mutants (though the movie was pretty awesome (for the first half anyway))). After this we ran to Sears to search farther for a DS. We had no luck there, either. We then went to a Longs Drugs (crappy clone of London Drugs) where we were supposed to meet the rest of the family. Instead of finding the family my brother managed to find a non-pink DS (it was white, and while he would have preferred black, its better then pink). We then found my Dad outside of Longs, my brother ran back into the Sears to buy a copy of Final Fantast XII: Revenant Wings. Eventually, we had everyone back together and returned to the bloody SUV. It was about 9pm by this point and no one had eaten yet. We drove all the way back to Haleiwa and checked three restaurant for food. One was closed for the night and the other two were only serving drinks. IT WAS ONLY 9:30! Seriously, what the fuck man! We found the Pizza Hut to be open and purchased some pizza's there and returned to the Condo.

Also, Susan has been relocated to the floor under the TV stand.

Side Note #2: Stuff we can get here that we can't get back home

I've already mentioned several things that we can get down here in the states that we can't get at home (anymore). Vanilla and Cherry Coke, my favorite kinds of coke, Pizza-licious Pringles, Orange Fanta, good Shave Ice (You can probably get this in Canada, but not as easily as here, I mean they sell it almost everywhere in Waikiki), Gecko's in your house (Gecko's are awesome... and lucky), Booze in grocery stores, Hot Topic and Black Pearls. It may be true that we can get some of these things at home, but we can't get them as commonly.

Keep in mind I don't think that all of these awesome things would justify living in the states (though one might make a exception for Hawaii (Okay, I wouldn't. I like living in Vancouver... the heat out here get's to me quite a bit)).

Day 6: Midnight Gecko's

I just managed to snap a few shots of Susan and Clive.

Only got one usable one of Susan though.
The rest are of Clive in the kitchen, on the toaster.
I never said I was a good photographer...

Day 5: Christmas Dinner

After kicking around the apartment playing Zelda for a bit, my brother and I headed out to buy some more water and beer (my brother has been drinking coronas with lime wedges consistently so far (I prefer rum, meself, mixed with whatever)). Shortly after returning home we headed out to Honolulu to have early christmas dinner. We ate some awesome turkey (so moist *drool*), yams (purple!) and stuffing (mmmmm). After food we had some desert and I showed Karl the technomonkeymedia profile on YouTube, which he's gonna take a look at later. I also played with the kids for a bit. We eventually returned to the condo, where my father, brother and I are watching Dogma. On a side note, I also got a rainstick type-dealie for Christmas which my parents had forgotten about.

"I really don't think a killing spree will make things better for us!" - Bartleby

"If I had a dick I would go get laid. Let's do the next best thing... kill people! ...Oh, not you." - Loki

Day 5: Christmas Morning

Woke up really early this morning for no reason, wasn't very happy about it. Around eight we finally were all up and started opening up presents. I got some pretty cool stuff. A slinky, a mini vodka bottle, a Hawaiian t-shirt, a chocolate J, some cash, the complete series of Planet Earth (i never heard of it either but apparently it's amazing) and Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. I had some cookies 'n' cream poptarts (awesome, eh?) and a bagel with peanut butter. Also, orange juice. My parents are preparing some stuff for dinner at Karl's tonight, including sweet potatoes that are (drum roll please) PURPLE!

Merry Christmas

Day 4: Gecko in the Bathroom

It was the night before Christmas,
And all through the condo,
Not a creature was stirring,
Except for me and some geckos...

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and put on my sleeping clothes and as I opened the door I saw a baby gecko running on the floor, initially I thought it was a bug and was prepared to kill it. Luckily I realized it was a gecko before I had the chance. I'm glad I didn't kill it, geckos are supposed to be good luck. I have dubbed the gecko Susan, after one of the characters from the Discworld books who appears in the Hogfather movie. After brushing my teeth I checked the kitchen for Clive, who was still on the toaster.

Merry Christmas, I hope you have a good Christmas morning.

Day 4: Clive #2

So I saw Clive in the kitchen again tonight, he was on the toaster but escaped before we could get a picture of him. Will we ever capture an image of the ever-elusive Clive?

Also, I watched the first half of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, but no one else seems to want to watch it, so after the first disc was done I turned it off.

Merry Christmas

Day 4: Haleiwa Joe's

For dinner we went to Haleiwa Joe's (Haleiwa is the town on the North Shore of Hawaii in which the condo is located) and I had two pupu's for dinner (pupu's are appetizers), Ahi Tuna Spring Rolls and The Works (Baked potatoes with cheese, sour cream, green onions and bacon bits). It was good, however, there was some drama with my brother.

They have Vanilla Coke here, I shall mix it with rum!

Day 4: Shopping and Lunch

So I got up, woken again by my parents getting up. We went out, leaving LinZ and Ashley behind, to buy some stuff. My Dad bought himself some vegan shoes and we looked through some other stores. We then drove back to the condo to pick the others up and grab lunch at Kua 'Aina, which is supposed to be the best burger place on the island (Oahu). It was quite awesome, I got a 1/2 pound bacon burger and it was delicious. My brother got a avocado burger and they actually put a whole avocado (peeled and the core removed first) on his burger. Afterwards, we went into one of the many surf shops and I found an awesome hoodie and some gifts for a few of my friends back home (Greg & Brian). Me and my brother then proceeded to get some Shave Ice (the best god-damned thing about Hawaii, shaved ice with flavored syrup (root beer in my case) on top of ice cream) while we waited for everyone to finish shopping. Eventually my brother went off to get a haircut and I took a nap in the rental car. After I woke up we returned to the condo. My Dad and Brother ran off to do some more shopping and I am currently watching Dodgeball on TV (I just saw a commercial for One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which sounds pretty awesome, and Masi Oka from Heroes was the celebrity promoting it (I love Masi Oka, he's awesome)).

Adios!

Day 3: Now with Pictures

I woke up early (not by choice you understand, but because I sleep on a couch that is located in the main hub of activity in the condo) and my parents were out on the balcony. They spotted a rainbow off in the distance. Eventually the day got moving and we drove for about forty-five minutes to drop LinZ, my brother, at a golf course... where it was overly windy and raining a bit. It rains constantly here, but the rain is a refreshing drizzle instead of a torrential downpour. Afterwards, with about an hour and a half to spare the rest of us went here!

Where we ate these!

Me and Ashley weren't convinced that these giant, underwater, insectoids were actually food, as can be seen here.

After my dad strong armed them a bit...

... and we ate them.

After that we had enough time to briefly stop by a fruit stall and look around a resort before we had to pick my brother back up. We then stopped at a Foodland to get some more groceries. While my parents and Ashley shopped, LinZ and I went and got some grub for ourselves... and by grub I mean (I know you'll like this one Paul & Nate) Smoothies so thick we had to eat them with a spoon. Mine tasted like peanut butter. It was awesome. After finishing with the groceries we proceeded back to the condo where we relaxed for a few hours until Karl and his sons came to hang out, have dinner and teach Ashley and LinZ to surf. My brother ended up swimming with his smokes and lighter in his pocket. Sucker (...I lost the fucking game for the first time on this trip just now). When he eventually went to buy more (after dinner) I got him to bring me back some (drumroll?) Orange Fanta. That's right, they have Orange Fanta here in pretty much every store. I am pleased. It tastes good with rum. After Karl and his sons left we watched Johnny English, which I found incredibly amusing, Rowan Atkinson (Andy Szabo looks so much like him) is always good for a laugh. At some point after that, when LinZ and I were hanging out he caught and killed a big cockroach. I fucking hate cockroaches, perfectly evolved or not. Anyway, I'm about done. It's really fucking hot in here and having a notebook on my lap doesn't really help things.

Just before midnight and hot as hell (even with the screen door open!)

Day 2: Clive

There is a Gecko in the kitchen, I have named him Clive. He eats bugs so he is awesome.

That is all.

Side Note #1: My Dad

My Dad was born and raised in Switzerland and moved to Canada in '87 or '88. Because English is a second language to him he messes a lot of grammar up. He pronounces "Black Sabbath" as "Black Sabbatt" for zeus' sake. Anyway, I can see him being confused about grammar... but he thinks a roundabout is called a rondell... also he made a passing comment on how the roads might be icy last night... it's 21 DEGREES CELSIUS!

Obviously there's something wrong with this picture.

Day 2: Aloha Tower

After my last post we drove for about forty-five minutes and eventually we arrived at Aloha Tower. After some initial looking around at shops we went to a brewery/restaurant called Gordon Biersch. I ate a pulled-pork sandwich with garlic fries. The whole time I was suffering from allergies pretty badly. After eating, my mom and Ashley (my bros fiance) went for a pedicure and the rest of us went and got me some meds for my allergies and then waited around for them to be finished with their pedicure. After they finished we killed some more time at Aloha Tower until Karl & Co. showed up for dinner. We went to a place called Don Ho's. They serve square pizza's there... and they serve them on mini surfboards. I didn't end up getting a pizza, but I did eat a piece or two of other people's pizza and it was pretty good. After dinner we decided to head home and, somehow, between my brother navigating and my dad directing we got sort-of-lost on the way back to the condo. Eventually we returned here safe and sound. Now I am having rum mixed with what I think is a Lytchi Green Tea. It is tasty.

Also, my allergies have abated a bit.

Day 2: Straw Fedora

It's just past noon here, we just got back from getting breakfast-or-maybe-lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Cholos that is only a few minute drive from the condo. I had an Ahi Tuna Burrito, it was pretty damn good. After eating we looked in some of the shops in the area, my brother and I looked in a Quicksilver shop while the others were in a jewelry shop that specialized in black pearls (insert "Curse of the Black Pearl" joke here), in the store I saw an awesome straw fedora, which, though awesome, I declined to pay $30 for. Showed it to my dad and when he thought I wasn't looking he bought it with the intention of giving it to me for Christmas, but he was foiled by his own obvious plot. So I got it early. We then bought some groceries at a local grocery store. Among the awesome stuff we got was a box of Apple Jacks, a large bottle of rum for $20, some carbonated juice, kiwi-strawberry arizona ice tea and some orange juice, which they sell everywhere in the world more or less... but it's still awesome. While my parents were paying for the groceries, my bro and I went and got some smoothies at a nearby juice bar. They tasted like orange creamsicles. Orange Creamsicle flavour for the win!

Day 2: Morning

I just woke up and it's (pauses to look at clock) just after eight in the morning. Last night we got to the condo so late that I couldn't see outside... turns out were maybe a sixty meters from the ocean. Also, there are palm trees. Temperature is "walk outside in nothing and won't get your ass frozen off warm"... in other words, pleasant. Unfortunately, we don't have any food other then chips and yogurt yet, but my parents are remedying that as I type. I'm really bloody tired and apparently we're driving back to town later today to do some Christmas shopping and some more extensive grocery shopping. This might be interesting, and hopefully we won't get demolished by crowds at the shops... also I might be able to find a awesome thing of some sort to buy with the cash that my Grosspapi and Grossmami sent me for my birthday.

Ugh, I need a shower, and maybe a shave.


Nah, fuck shaving.

Day 1 + 2: Planes and the Heat

Nearly 9 hours of plane travel after waking up at 4:30 in the morning and I am in Hawaii. I hate flying, for the record. At least I got to watch Stardust twice and another movie that I think was called "The Ultimate Gift" or something along those lines. We waited at LAX between flights for about four hours, eating crappy pizza at a place called Wolfgang Pucks. I managed to sneak a bit of sleep while we waited. After arriving in Hawaii we went to visit Karl and Kristin (I don't know how to spell their names) and their kids, while we waited for my brother and his fiance to arrive. I had some awesome sushi (Teriyaki Chicken Rolls, California Rolls, Flying Fishes Egg Rolls, Salmon Rolls, Ahi Tuna Rolls) and some not bad beer, I believe it was called Rogue, or something. We eventually picked up my brother and sister-to-be-in-a-few-months and headed to the condo we're renting. Before picking them up though we went into a grocery store to get chips and water. It's weird to see Lays and Doritos in different packaging. On the plus side however, they have orange fanta here, Hurrah! I have decided I'm happy to be in Hawaii, despite missing Paul's party (thats right, it's a bloody party not a BBQ), because it is generally warmer outside of buildings then inside them. Anyway, I've been awake for about 24 hours, I'm fucking tired, and I still need to figure out how to set up this bloody futon.
Good night you poor chilly bastards.