Here it is the year of the rabbit. Long ago, I thought about it and decided Bugs Bunny was, by far, my favorite cartoon character. Every other character, it seemed, was always being defeated, but not ol' Bugs. He always overcame. Plus he was witty and handsome, and liked raw carrots just like I did. Could a cat or a dog character be this great? Felix The Cat was pretty cool but is almost forgotten now. They tried later with a cat named Top Cat and I doubt much of anyone remembers him. There was Yogi Bear and the Hair Bear Bunch, but they came and went. Deputy Dawg's side kicks were always more charismatic than him.
What major Western holiday is rabbit-themed, anyway? No, Santa Claus isn't an animal, reindeer don't count, and neither do monsters and mummies and ghosts and stuff. But Easter's all about the rabbits and even though the Christians have tried to pre-empt the holiday and make it about the day their guy rose from the dead, but for most of us it's just the good old pagan holiday it's always been.
In any case, I hope this is truly the year of Bugs Bunny. A year of the resilience and ebullience of my favorite rabbit.
As is standard procedure in San Jose, there's a new year's celebration in Japantown that I only found out about after it was just over. It was 11AM - 3PM and I woke up at about three. I'd gone to bed at 1AM, deciding I'd try to wake up early, and I guess it worked because I *was* up at 10 or 11AM but then wanted more sleep - it's so nice and warm in bed! - and then woke up at 3.
I got going at about 4:30. The idea was to go to the new Dai Thanh market that's opened on Brokaw and Capitol, and it being new year's there ought to be some celebrations going on. It was clear and cold and windy, but also pretty calm and quiet.
I got up there and there were signs on the door saying they'd be closed today to celebrate the new year. I shrugged and following a shuffling zombie into a liquor store that's in the same strip mall, to check it out.
It turned out to be like the bodega I go to to get rubbing alcohol when I can't get it anywhere else. There's everything in there from every kind of booze and beer and wine, to bike tire repair kits and can openers and religious candles and so on. All arrayed in long narrow aisles in higgledy-piggledy order. No prices on anything. Years' worth of dust on most things. Where "my" bodega is adorable, this place was just kind of dystopian.
As I walked out to my bike a zombie, skinny and in rags with filthy bare feet, came staggering along. I rode a wide route around it and was outta there. Sorry guys you're 2 for 2 and not working for me.
I thought, OK, I can get French Market coffee just about anywhere, and the only other thing I really needed Dai Thanh for was fried shallots. I'll see if 99 Ranch has them.
99 Ranch turned out to have them, and I got a jar along with a couple packages of "White Curry Mee" because it was on sale.
Then I went to H Mart and got a whole split grilled mackerel because it's utterly delicious, some small cucumbers, beer, and yet another brand of Korean rice wine, this one "Slow Village" brand. I'm pretty sure there's no better name for a couple of the places I live in growing up, Punalu'u and Hau'ula for sure and as for Waikane, it wasn't even all the way up to being a village. Even Hawaii Kai's a pretty sleepy place, however much they try.
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