Happy New Year's!

 That's how they say it in Hawaii, the land of putting a gratuitous "S" on the end of things. And here's now they celebrate: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hawaii/comments/100gxg9/happy_new_years/

I tried embedding the video but it can't be done. But they know how to do fireworks right back home. One year a newspaper columnist likened the fireworks to the Tet Offensive. I remember the streets having the red paper confetti from firecrackers piled in the gutters like a light snow would be on the mainland. When I was in the army and they had a demonstration of various smoke grenades and such, I was the one smiling ear to ear and inhaling the lovely smell of black powder from my childhood. 

I'm corresponding with the Oahu guy just fine; I'm really sorry that he had a stroke and to make it easier for him to read I'm typing in all caps. It reminds me of when I was in college and I got a manual typewriter that typed all in caps. I was told it's a "Speech" typewriter, for typing out speeches and the all caps makes them easier to read. But now that I think about it, I think it was a "mill" as the Morse code guys called them, for copying Morse code messages. There's no provision for upper and lower case in International Morse Code or in continental code... 

But in any case, my new/old friend turns out to be an anti-vaxxer, which means I can't really work with him. Apparently he blames the stroke he had on the vaccine, when even when I hiked the Haiku Steps with him in the early-mid 80s, he was really, really, fat. He wasn't even sure he'd make it to the top, in fact, and at one point sat down and told the rest of us to go ahead. He did make it, though. 

I've tried to explain to him that even if there *is* an increase in strokes in the population at the same time as the vaccines came out, it will be due to how much more sedentary people became during "the covid times", their increased drinking and weight gain (the joke was that the 19 in covid-19 was for the 19 pounds you'd gain) and so on. Considering the batshit-loony video he sent me, none of this will register, and it appears I won't be helping him sell antiques and stuff, now or later. 

I left here at maybe 4:30, riding all the way up to Capitol Expressway where the new Dai Thanh store would be. On this auspicious day I thought I'd find a real grand opening with plenty of confetti, maybe some firecrackers, a real party atmosphere. And the workers there would remember me as the guy who was there at the grand opening. 

Instead, I found the store empty, workers frantically working to get it ready to move the food etc., in, contractors' vans out front, etc. I went to a little place called Tea 4 U and got some lobster flavored fish balls, and watched the Dai Thanh sign being finished, the letters put on or something. The workers in the tea place were having a hell of a time, as somehow the money in the register was $100 short. They were going back and forth, knowing no one took any, but just trying to figure out what had happened. And they didn't have any $1's so I got my change in quarters "Handy for laundry day" I said with a smile. 

After eating I got out of there, and rode back to H Mart. Halfway there, Ken called and said he's bringing over "stuff from the house". So I went into H Mart with a plan of getting in and getting out quickly. At the bike racks, there was a huddled figure, a zombess it turned out. I gave it $1 in quarters and asked if there was anything wanted from inside the store. "A Monster, no, a Coke, ... no wait a Monster ... or a Coke ...." OK.  (What *is* it with crackheads and energy drinks, anyway?)

I went in and got two 12-packs of watery beer, putting tape on each one so they don't burst open as they easily do. And got some veggies and stuff. It was very busy inside, and I kind of forgot about the aisle where Coke and such things are, figuring I'd grab something on my way out. But of course I didn't see anything. As I packed things onto the bike I told the zombess about my failure to find a Coke, and suggested she try sitting in front of the convenience store on Brokaw and 1st, as they have all the "American things" and they're open 24 hours. This was not met with enthusiasm. 

I got back here and Ken was here. He was putting things that were scattered all around the tools area, onto the shelves he'd installed. Once that was done, he brought in the tubs of stuff from the house. While he did that and we talked a bit, I put things I'd listed away, got out a couple of things that had sold, and in general futzed around in a somewhat useful way. 

Once Ken was done he didn't want to stick around for tea, although we talked a bit about ... capacitors. And then it was, "See you during the week!" and he was off. 

The Parking Lot People(tm) seem to have installed one of those truck-bed campers on the really nice red pickup truck, the one that was hauling a trailer a couple of weeks ago. I theorize they've become homeless, but still have their nice truck and, having some connection with the unit on the end, and after unloading a lot of things using the trailer into the end unit, they now have this truck-bed camper to actually live in. It's a guy, a kid maybe 8 years old, and a medium-large dog.  

They can probably live here indefinitely as long as they don't fall into full-on zombiedom. The truck looks nearly new, and the truck-bed camper looks new and even has one of those roll-out awnings on the side. The truck is now lower in the rear than the front, a feature common with zombie cars. A real zombie car will always have the trunk held closed using one or more bungee cords, pieces of rope, or re-purposed safety belts. 

I suppose the fall into full-fledged zombiehood for this bunch will be expired tags (I'm not gonna look) damage from accidents that never gets repaired, fights and yelling matches in the parking lot, the kid running around at all hours indicating he's being kept out of school. We'll see.