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Airport Bloggin'

So, it's been a few days since I posted last. Hey, I was on a cruise in Hawaii... sue me. Or, better yet -- you know, don't. Anyways, I'm in the Honolulu International Airport paying something like 6x less/min of Internet than I was on the cruise. So, that helps with the motivation to post.

Lots of stories to be told and, if I didn't loose them, quite a few postcards to send out. I'll look for them sometime in the next 2 hours 15 minutes before my flight, and if I find them, I'll try to write them all out on the plane. They won't be stamped from a Post Office in Hawaii, but... they'll have cool pictures or artwork on them. If you were wondering why I didn't write and send them while on the ship, I didn't have stamps. And I don't know how many of the addresses I have are still current. So, you know, I'll double check before I send stuff off.

So, quick breakdown of the trip (I think I'm going to mess up when a lot of this stuff happened... it happened, just probably not in the order or on the days that I'm saying). I'll post more about a few things later...

• Day One:
  • Arrived in Honolulu and went to "Little Roy's". Ended up playing poker at his... I think sister's house.
  • Was the big stack playing for $100+ and I didn't believe for a second that my cousin (or second cousin... may he's a cousin once removed. I can't remember how all that works) had that ace. F*ing river.
• Day Two:

• Got some breakfast at Roy's house. Went down to the dock. First thought, "Holy s*t that's big." Said 'bye to the old man (He's almost a hexagenarian) and Roy (he just joined the hexagenarian club) they drove off whilest the girls and I wandered towards the check in.
• Met up with some of the family on board, had some fine, fine dinner and met Richard, our waiter. Well, my waiter. I think throughout the couse of the week everyone sat at a table that was outside his area at least once. I stayed put.
• Did some ice breaker activities, and started learning all the names that I didn't know already. Which was most of them.
• Went to bed on the early side...

• Day Three:
  • Got up and we were now on the Garden Island of Kawai.
  • I think that on this day I stayed on board... ... ... no. That's not true. I stayed on board for a while, ended up on the beach with my cousin Darren, his wife -- otherwise known as cousin-in-law -- Christine (or is her name spelled with a K? I can't remember), my sister and step-sister.
  • Got some sun, and went ocean kyaking.
  • Dinner again w/ Richard and some other folks. We were still kinda quiet that night.
  • Stayed up later and wandered the ship ending up at a bar. Found out that the crew stays on board for 21 weeks w/out any days off. Crazy.
• Day Four:
  • Stayed on board. Lazy days are good.
  • I think I might have finished The Bourne Ultimatum that day.
  • The boat left dock at around 1 pm and we sailed around the Napali coast of Kawai. Georgeous coastline. Seriously...
  • And I think this was the first night I ended up dancing w/ the Cousins Lori, Lance, Kristen and Lisa. Brent might have come out that night with his girlfriend... ... damnit. I'm so bad with names... Kori? That sounds right. I think Darren and Christine may have come out that night too... yeah, that sounds right. Ended up back at the same bar as the night before, but the bar was closed. We got pizza.
• Day Five:
  • This is the first day on the Big Island of Hawaii, on the Hilo side. Darren, Christine, Alison, Lauren and I went out to see the Kiluwa'a crater. It was trippy, like walking on the moon. Really wild stuff...
  • Got back on board and I think this was the around the time (plus or minus a day) of our first cocktail party. A cocktail party with an open bar. With the Kameya family. Suffice it to say, I drank a lot. With Bill. Bill rocks. We ended up doing a bunch of Irish Car Bombs over the course of the week. Brent, Lance, Bill, Lauren, Alison?, Christine?, Darren, myself and maybe one or two others ended up doing a few shots together. And I learned about a new drink, it's called a Lava Flow. Pour Strawberry purre into a glass, coating the sides, then fill it with a Pina Colada. Yummy.
• Day Six:
  • I stayed on board again, read a bunch of Without Remorse -- my personal favorite Clancy book. Hung out with Lauren, got some sun, and read a bunch. Ended up at dinner and we were loud. Really loud. I think the table had Kimberly, Lisa, Kristen, Lori, Lance, Lauren, Alison and myself. We were all sorts of loud. I don't even remember what all we were talking about, but it was a great night.
  • On a few different nights I saw shows in the theater. One was a polenysian (could I have spelled that any worse?) dance show, another was a magic show. I also got to see a dude in a leather vest do some really intense stretching from like three feet away.
  • We went dancing again. For three hours. I was a madman, and I finally figured out how to do the running man -- maybe.
  • At some point in the evening I realized that I had sunburn. Bad. And this didn't happen on day six, it was more like day three. The burn stopped hurting sometime around day six. And it was splotchy, stupid spray on sunblock -- don't trust that stuff.
• Day Six (for reals):
  • Ended up on Maui, so we got together with the land folks at the Guri Guri shop. You probably don't know what Guri Guri is, and that's fine. Most don't, it's only sold at the one shop on the one island of Hawaii... ... but if you ever find yourself on Maui, you Must go get some.
  • Went around with folks and saw where the old Kameya farm was along with a bunch of other heritage type stuff. It was called the Heritage Tour. Go figure.
  • We had activities at night by Downhouse (my Grandmother's place -- and yes, there was an Uphouse but it's since been sold), and I ended up singing a bunch of songs. Only I didn't know any of them and I stayed in the back. Then I got to pick up a guitar and play some Jack Johnson. Folks seemed to like that.
  • Then the younger generation was going to go to a bar and get our drink on, only there were underage folks and we couldn't get in to the bar. Which isn't to say we didn't try hard, Darren talked to the bouncer for like 10 mintues -- and he's a lawyer so I'm sure he was being all sorts of persuasive, alas to no avail. So, Party at Downhouse. With box wine, and playing Spoons. Good times.
  • Ended up back at the bar w/ Kristen to get a bite to eat before bed. Good times.
• Last day:
  • I'm running out of time, so this is gonna be real quick.
  • Another heritage tour. Sai min. Said goodbye to pops and everyone else. Cooked some teriaki beef -- lots of ginger. Uh... lots of other stuff... I'll write more later, I'm almost out of time.