If Japanese people were water, I would have drowned in Hawaii

True story by the way. I kept waiting for the national news to mention that Japan is reporting half of its population missing. So for those of you that knew I was in Hawaii, good for you. For those of you that didn't, good for you anyway. I don't know how I want to organize this post (days or events) so I will wing it.
OOH I GOT IT. OUTLINE FORMAT.
Nah I'll go by days.

Monday 8/6:
Got on the plane this time with plenty of time, which was nice. The plane ride was the first in about 3 years of plane rides in which the person in front of me did not recline their seat. Sure nobody was in the seat in front of me, but I don't care, it was a welcome change. We touched down in Honolulu at 12:30 and caught another 45 minute flight over to the big island. Then it was a 20 minute drive to the hotel.

Note: On the big island, everything is either 5 minutes away or upwards of 6 miles. The west side is very barren and covered in volcanic rock(basaltic!) and the east side is very tropical and pleasant to look at. The east side gets several feet of rain each year and since there is no running water, people have ginormous rain barrels in which they collect water.

We got to our place and it was like our timeshare that we have on Maui, so it was very nice. We hung out for the rest of the day.

Tuesday 8/7:
That was our day to do nothing at all. It was very nice. We did not use the car at all. I saw many hot girls on the beach.

Wednesday 8/8:
We got up early(early in this post means 6:00 am) and drove to the east side of the island for a helicopter tour. While waiting for the choppers to arrive, the guy in line next to me asked if I was from the Netherlands because he actually recognized my soccer shirt! His name was Friesland(a REGION in Holland, while my name is merely a city(ironically from which I do not hail)) It was cool to see all the lava flowing out of the volcano. After that, we went to the Macadamia nut factory tour. I really didn't want to go because I thought it would be really boring, but when we got there I was pleasantly surprised. It was a self guided tour looking through some windows in at the factory. It took 5 minutes to see. After that, we drove to Kihleuea(sp) crater to see it. On the drive around, we would be just leaving a section as this hot girl and her family were coming in. Each time we passed she smiled at me and the last time she winked(had something in her eye?). After that, we headed all the way back around to the west side of the island and got back at 9:00pm, so a big 15 hour day.

Thursday 8/9:
We hung around all morning doing not much, then around noon went to rent bicycles(more on those coming up) and golf clubs. The guy at the bike shop was a punk rocker, but he was actually not high(I know wierd right?). When we said we were from Seattle he got excited and said that he really wants to visit it sometime(probably because we have many punk rock concerts). Later in the day, dad and I went golfing while mom and Kathryn went horseback riding. The golf was cool; we got paired with a guy named Charles and his father in law Vincent. They were from Bermuda. Charles was really good, getting par on almost every hole. Vincent, well he was older, so he was hitting about the same as me(not very well). They were nice guys though. We played twilight, so it was cheap, but you don't have enough time for 18 holes, so we ended on the 12th, which overlooks the ocean and is the course's signature hole.

Friday 8/10:
I knew I could do it. All I had left to do for Eagle was my project and a 50 mile bike ride for the cycling merit badge. Dad and I planned a 50 mile route starting at Mauna Kea's peak (approx. 3,700 ft. The first 25 miles was mostly coasting downhill. At points we reached up to 30 miles an hour. We ended the first 25 miles in just over 70 minutes. The other 25 miles were big uphills and slight downhills, so I destroyed my knees, but we finally finished and I can safely say I don't want to ride a bike for a long long time. Those bikes were very nice though. We rented them as I said earlier and they were worth $2,400(dads) and $1800(mine). Even mine was way more than I would ever pay for even three bikes. They were nice nonetheless even if mine had a horrible seat. It was about the size of a piece of toast. It felt like said toast had been charred, then made horribly stale, then was frozen for 90,000 years. In short, it was very hard. After that adventure, we relaxed the rest of the day. For dinner we ate at a restaurant where we were seated at a table next to, of all the people, our neighbors back at the hotel. Here's the real small world part though, they are from Seattle. They had a nice looking daughter, but she mostly looked around shyly.

Saturday 8/11:
In the morning we went to this place of refuge where if you broke a law in ancient times, all you had to do was come here to avoid being killed. Kind of like an ancient game of CTF. On the way to the airport, we came across a crazy hippie that owned a store that looked exactly like my grandpa's shed(not enough room to move because its full of crap). Later, we had our plane ride to Oahu, and not a moment too soon. Hurricane Flossie had just become a class 4 hurricane and was aimed at the big island. We just hung around in our hotel all day, which I recognized as the hotel in Tony Hawk's underground. The Surfrider. It was the oldest hotel on the beach. The lady that greeted us was very attractive and definately a college student. Unfortunately I didn't see her for the rest of the trip.

Sunday 8/12:
Snorkeling cruise. No hot girls. The only one that could have been considered hot was about to throw up over the edge of the boat. Oh yeah she was also probably 22 or 23 and her boyfriend was there with her. I am not a fan of snorkeling at all(its hezza boring after a while), so I went in for only a little while then hung out on the boat. We popped around town most of the day, going to the International Marketplace and exploring town afterwards. That night, we went to rent a car for our next 2 days. We ate dinner at this place that is owned by the same company as Leilani's in Maui(our favorite). This one, Dukes, was way better though. It had an open salad bar WITH STICKY RICE OMFG. It goes without saying I assume that I ate a ton of sticky rice.

Monday 8/13:
We got up early again to got to Hanauma bay(good snorkeling(emphasis on the SNOR there). If you go to Hanauma, get there early because its paid admission and the line pwns you starting around 8am-when they close. The snorkeling was indeed legendary, but as I hate snorkeling, I did not really use the gear which we had not purchased for me anyway. Many cute fish did however take the pleasure of giving me a pedicure. It was interesting because skin on my heel was peeling and they would come up and bite at it then jet off in the other direction. There were many hott girls at Hanauma bay as well soaking up the sun.

After that, we went to a place I wanted to go. Sandy beach. Very tall waves, they broke higher than me. They were good constant 8 foot or more waves. Good bodysurfing. Many people walk away in ambulances. Last time dad was there in his navy days, he got hurt. This time he did not. I only got a slight neck soreness from a wave that I rode too early and it flipped me under it. I was ok because I had my hands out in front of me and they broke my hit into the sand. After that we went back to the hotel.


For dinner, we ate at this place where you order your meat and they give it to you raw. Then you go to their enormous grill and cook it yourself. It was an interesting concept, which turned out to be cool. The area around the grill was almost unbearably hot. On the grill to my right, I had my dinner entertainment. A bunch of rich Californian teens my age were trying to cook their meat. They had obviously not ever done it before. A few kept looking at dad and I to see how we did it. I laughed at their incompetence. The restaurant was good because it also had an unlimited salad bar with, you guessed it, STICKY RICE.

Tuesday 8/14:
The best day of the trip, well at least until the highly odd and overpriced dinner. We got up early to go to Pearl Harbor. When we got there, the line was already very large. It was fine though because we had time to look around the museum. I really had a good time there, despite what my dad though. He didn't believe I was THAT interested in WW2, but oh dad you are so wrong. I felt bad for getting angry at Japanese people that were there too even though I didn't say anything to them. So we rode the ferry out to the Arizona memorial, which was cool, but not the best part.

After that, dad and I went to the USS Bowfin, which was a submarine that was nicknamed the Pearl Harbor Avenger because it was comissioned a year after Pearl Harbor. The sub was cool. It was way bigger than the U-505, even if the hallways were much thinner.

The 4 of us then proceeded to get shuttled onto Ford Island(I really wanted to do all 4 exhibits because I wanted to see them and I wanted to bore everyone else in the family like they bored me with Hanauma Bay and the snorkeling cruise.

We got off at the Aviation Museum, which just opened in December of 2006. They were still making it a lot bigger, so someday I will have to come back to see the finished product. In the museum currently, they had a Zero, a B-17, a civillian Plane, a Biplane, and a Mustang(plane). The big hangars next door are for restoring planes and will be the next additions onto the museum.

The last part of the day was going to see the Missourri. Mom and dad last saw it when it was stationed in Bremerton several years ago. It was cool to see the ship and see dents where the Kamikaze plane struck the ship and where the treaty to end WW2 was signed. At one point in the ship, some kid randomly played with some lights in a room and turned them off. People had trouble figuring out how to turn them on(it was actually confusing), so dad turned them on since he had some kind of experience with it. After the Missourri, we headed back to the hotel.

For dinner that night, we ate at the Hula Grill. It is upstairs from Dukes. Don't go, the prices are driven up because of the grill's unfortunate location(right above the best restaurant in Waikiki where people would rather wait an hour to get in than go upstairs and be seated in 5 minutes or less). The waitress there was mildly attractive. Something odd that she did was place the napkin I had on my lap for me. Like her hand was less than one inch away from touching my balls. I was also the only person in my family to which she extended this service. Also, when I said something mildly funny, she let out a very deep rapidfire laugh. Not very ladylike. Very awkwardlike.


Wednesday 8/15:
We relaxed the whole day. I didn't like it because the waves sucked and Waikiki is too crowded. For dinner, we went back to Dukes. Our waitress was quite hot and quite nice. She was a good waitress to go out on(in more ways than one now that I realize that pun).


Thursday 8/16:
After a ride to the airport with a crazy driver that had James Brown's hair, but did not look like it fit him, we caught the plane and got back in Seattle at 10:00. When we got home, I got Steven's message on my phone from earlier saying they were going to Superbad. I guess I didn't miss anything there.


Friday 8/17:
Wow I totally forget what I did. I think I may just have played Call of Duty 2 all day long or something. It's a very good game, just like the 3rd one.


Saturday 8/18:
Planning for the eagle project, then grandpa's houes for dinner and Seahawks game watching. After that, I went to hang out with Davis, Steven, and Orion. We got Taco Bell(twice because she didn't give us everything(Orion: bitch)). We ate the food up on those new bridges over Aurora.


Sunday 8/19:
The eagle project was rained out in the morning, so we did it in the afternoon. Davis came and helped as I proceeded to break one of the tennis nets in trying to replace it. The gear had been frozen in place since the early 90's, so Moreno said it probably wasn't my fault. Afterwards, Davis came over and we played some Guitar Hero 2 and GoW insane mode. Only half of act 4 and all of Act 5 to go. I think that's about 5 parts.


Monday 8/20:
Tennis tryouts started. The rules were enforced this year, whereas last year you only needed a physical if you made the team, this year you couldn't get on the courts without one. I couldn't play on monday, so I went and searched for a place to get a quick physical. I wound up at CarePlus. Bad place to go. N00b doctors. Enough said, although I did enjoy the lack of checking my junk.

Tuesday: 8/21:
More tennis tryouts in which I was chosen to move up to varsity practice.

Wednesday 8/22:
Varsity was pretty intense. I am above JV, but not at the level of varsity. Mr. Moreno offered that if I didn't make varsity, he would make an exception for me to play jv. That sure was nice of him and I felt somewhat cool being only the second person in all of SW boys tennis for that to happen to. They do it for other sports though, so it makes sense that I should be able to do that.

Thursday 8/23:
Second chance to impress Mr. Moreno. I didn't do so well and my partner was a toal n00b. He missed shots, then if I missed one he would say work on your ground stroke, so I reminded him to hit the ball OVER the net. Our team dynamic was screwed after that point. I just can't play with douchebags.

Friday 8/24:
Well I didn't make varsity, but I did manage to get on JV and I am going to be at pretty much the top of the ladder, so it will be cool. Granted I can't come to the second match due to Seabrook, but its against Mariner so I trust the guys that are going to be playing. If it was against Kamiak or Jackson or Edmonds-Woodway, I would be slightly more worried.

Pax was on friday as well, but that is coming in a separate post after pictures. Hurry and skim this post. Skim like the wind.