Lifesaving stereotype...

It's very PiC (Politically inCorrect) to place any stock in stereotypes these days. Well let me correct myself, it's PiC to put stock in negative ones about minorities. White males are still fair game. Just watch TV. Any commercial with a goofball and a smart guy will typically have a black or Asian smart guy and goofy dumb white guy. Any commercial with a husband and wife will portray the wife as the smart one who knows about the right product or service and the husband (also usually white) as clueless.

Since whites are not going to be the majority in a few short years, but rather the plurality, i am interested to see if this will be the norm in 10 or 15 years. Will it be harder to make fun of white males since they too will be a minority, or easier since it's already the norm and the more marginalized you become, the harder to fight stereotype or injustice.

Today, a stereotype saved my life. i was riding my bike home from campus. As i pulled to the head of a street and was about to cross it and turn in, i saw a flashy new Lexus. i noticed that the man driving was wearing a nice striped polo and expenseive sunglasses. i autmotically assumed this was a man who was self-important and cluessless. i assumed that he wouldn't see me or pay attention and that even if he did, he wouldn't care or give me the right of way, despite his stop sign. i slammed on my brakes to wait, although i had the right of way and no stop sign. Lucky for me. Sure enough, he slowed for the stop sign saw no cars coming from his left (i was on the right) and pulled right on out. As he began to again pay attention to the direction his car was going, he saw me slammed on the brakes. He wasn't in danger of hitting me (he was a couple feet in front of me), but he didn't know if i was moving or stationary because he hadn't been paying attention. He then of course, glared at me. Anyone surprised? i wasn't.

Do i feel bad about stereotyping him? Yes. And why should i? Because society says so? Do i feel bad enough to change? Absolutely not. i like living too much for that. And for that, i make no apologies.

My Life...

Brief

i'll keep this brief because frankly, i am tired of defending McCain, or any republican candidate, but especially McCain. i'm just continually amazed at people who attack Palin's experience and defend Obama's. Is this a joke, seriously? She's worked her entire career in politics, not the "political arena," politics. Do you know the difference? Besides the fact that she's actually been present AND active. This is a big difference when compared to someone who hasn't been there for much of his very little political experience, and then didn't even vote most of those times. Do you realize how easy it is to have a job where you show up, sit in a chair and raise your hand at the right time? He couldn't even do that most of the time.

PS: You do realize she's the VP candidate, right? If Hillary can learn all she needs to know about being president whilst being first lady, me thinks Palin might learn a thing or two whilst being VP. Where's Obama's learning curve gonna be?

The Wrath of Grapes

i spent a summer in undergrad serving a small rural Baptist church down the highway from Enon College. Here, i got into a little trouble with the notion that drinking was not in fact evil or of the Devil. i'm afraid this was on instance where my Biblical knowledge was not welcome. Keep in mind, i was the president of Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) in high school and i myself am not a drinker.

Indeed, there are many references in scripture to drinking. Some warn of the dangers, others not only extol it, but claim that wine and drink are gifts from God that show us how much he loves us. i can get on board with the modern day folk who say that the Biblical wine was likely watered down, but i can't at all believe those that perpetuate the myth that the Biblical wine was non-alcoholic. Were that the case, there would be no need for verses about drunkeness or drinking wine in moderation. Anyone remember the story of Pentecost? The crowd immediately blamed their speaking in tongues on wine. Would non-alcoholic wine have this effect?

To my delight, the AJ Jacobs book i'm in the midst of reveals an expert on the subject, a Christian oenophile, Daniel Whitfield. These are the results of his exhaustive research on wine and drink in the Bible...

On the negative side, there are 17 warnings against abusing alcohol, 19 examples of people abusing alcohol, 3 references to selecting leaders, and one verse advocating abstinence if drinking will cause a brother to stumble. Total negative references: 40, or 16 percent.

On the positive side, there are 59 references to the commonly accepted practice of drinking wine (and strong drink) with meals, 27 references to the abundance of wine as an example of God's blessing, 20 references to the loss of wine and strong drink as an example of God's curse, 25 references to the use of wine in offerings and sacrafices, 9 references to wine being used as a gift, and 5 metaphorical references to wine as the basis for a favorable comparison. Total positive references: 145, or 59 percent.

So eat, drink and be merry... for tomorrow we may die...

Memory

September 11th. i almost didn't realize it was today. It has only been 7 years and it didn't even occur to me until i saw the date today. i guess a lot has happened in 7 years. i was a senior in high school when the attacks occurred. i was in my AP Biology class when the teacher next door came in. She was like a drill sargent, always barking things at students, a stoic, hardened older woman. She came in, tears coming down from behind her thick glasses. She told us what had happened and to turn on the news. We saw one of the towers in flame. Suddenly a second plane hit as we were watching. We watched for awhile in shock and then turned it off. The other teacher came back in and said one of the towers had fallen. We turned it back on and saw the second tower fall.

Our teacher, Ms Driscol, said that there were more important things in the world than AP Biology and ignored the instructions from the principal to turn off the news and go about business as usual. i've never been more thankful. We needed to watch that and remember it. We still do. i think people were right to say the best way to move on is to live a normal life, but we have to remember. Someone said once that history doesn't repeat itself... but it does rhyme. This is true and perhaps one of the best reasons to remember it.

News 'creep'-ing in...

Yes, today's creepy news...

http://www.lifegem.com/index.aspx?BannerType=QuigoText&BannerMessage=LoveLivesOn.

That's right folks, turn your loved one into bling, ice, floss, sparkle, rock, a girl's best friend...

Quick Thought

Caught most of a new show tonight between my Greek translations. An interesting thought was posited by one of the characters. The gist of which is...

Science and technology have both advanced so far, and at an exponential rate. They may both now be beyond the ability to be monitored or controlled by the people whose interest/responsibility it is to do so.

A simple update on my complicated schedule

i realized i haven't let many people know about my upcoming school year. When i was a senior in college, i thought i had experienced my last first day of class (i hoped). However, i hadn't officially decided on seminary. TOMORROW (God willing) is my LAST... FIRST day of class. i graduate in May (we hope).

To do this, i am technically overloading this semester. For us, three classes is a full load and 4 (or 3 plus a year long internship) is maximum. i am taking 3 classes and interning at St. Mary's as Chaplain for my CPE (clinical pastoral education). Unlike most CPE programs, mine is squeezed into September-Jan instead of Sept-May (which most of them are). So, technically, both of my CPE credits land on this coming semester, putting me at 5 credits in theory. i had to get special permission.

i am taking the first half of my New Testament class now that i've had Greek. i am taking a class called Evangelism in the Congregation which will take a look at how to do that and how it is and has been done in the past. i will also take one called Images of Jesus which will take a look at Jesus as pictured and imagined in art and media, including cinema and TV over time.

i'll also be exploring a Direct Study idea for January with a professor on Pastoral Care to Adolescents.

What does this mean practically? i'll have 3 courses that take up about 6 hours of class each week, plus their workload. They say to estimate 2 hours of work for every 1 you're in class. Then, i have 6 hours of class each week for CPE and must perform 17 hours of clinicals each week (hours in the hospital visiting patients.

Since Ashley and i share a car that she drives to work and the hospital is 6 miles away, i'll be trying to schedule my massive hosptial hours for weekends and an evening or two. Suffice as to say, i'll be mondo busy. Please don't take it as a sign that i don't love you if i can't visit or see or spend time with you this semester. i would almost certainly rather be with you!

i'll also be unofficially job hunting all this semester and officially start some time next semester when i am certified ready to receive a call. If you're the praying sort, now's a good time to start ;-)

PS: i also got a steroid shot this week to combat the lingering effects of the poison oak i got a month ago after 2 rounds of steroid pills. That stuff is evil!

Separation of Church and State

"There is no greater violation of the theory of separation of Church and State than for the State to take on the mantle and responsibility of the Church."*



*This statement should not lead you to conclude that i believe that the actual premise of separation of Church and State is found in the Constitution.

The first half of Hawaii

i only blogged on the second half of our Hawaii trip. It was all i had been able to type up while we were there. The rest of it was handwritten by me and Ashley. So i transcribed it...

Sunday- We landed a little ahead of schedule after a long flight. We checked into our hotel and then got dinner with Ashley's cousin, Clara, at the Like Like (lee-kay lee-kay) Diner. We had a great time and then Clara took us back to her place, this fantastic studio apartment above a pool house and by a large garden and stream. Windows covered the back wall and Geckos covered those. Vents above the windows carried in the sound of the babbling stream down below and almost sounded like rain. Ashley zonked and Clara and i stayed up late talking and getting to know each other. She's in school at U of Hawaii, studying drama. We headed back to the hotel pretty late.

Monday- We got up around 7 and went in search of breakfast. We hadn't bought groceries yet. (we ate cereal in the room most of the rest of our stay) We found a little coffee shop, but it was only cold breakfast and gelato. However, the owner could tell we wanted hot food, so he told us about a local favorite diner down the road, which we walked to, Eggs 'n Things.

They had seriously the best pancakes either of us has ever had. Ashley had them with eggs and i had them with eggs and spam. WOW to the spam too, not kidding. Even Ashley had to agree. On the way back to the hote we stopped into several shops. Ashley headed up to the room and i wandered into crazy shirts. i talked at length with a local in the store, Devynne, who recommended Kailua beach, so we went. It was great! We got a little mixed up with directions and Ashley got us a little turned around in a neighborhood. i then got us to the Marine base. Go figure. A nice Marine at the gate gave us directions to public beach access.

This beach had soft white sand and the water was warm (the water at all the other beaches seemed mild colder to me). We found some pieces of coral and swam for a bit. We headed back into Honolulu and went to Walmart for groceries. Then we hit the streets for some browsing and some gelato (from the nice shop where they told us about Eggs 'n Things).

We headed to the recommended Irish pub and restaurant, Murphy's in the financial district. The food was delicious. i had a steak with the best sauce/gravy. One of the five best/most tender steaks i've ever had. Ashley had the crab and shrimp sandwich. Amazing fries too for her and fresh, gravy covered mashed potatoes for me and an amazing veggie medley with green beans and carrots and cucumber (cucumber is in every vegetable mix at every restaurant in Hawaii). We finished the evening by watching Jurassic Park in the room in preparation for the ATV rides at Kualoa Ranch the next morning.

Tuesday- We headed up the road to Kualoa Ranch, took pics along the way. The ATV rides were great. There was a group of 8 and us plus a couple from Europe, so we were paired with that couple, so we were paired with that couple. He was from Great Britain and she from Italy, maybe our age. Our tour guide was a teenage Hawaiian, Shylah.

She took us up to a bluff too small for most groups. From there, we could see the valley where they filmed a battle (w/live ords) in Wind Talkers and the mountain of Mighty Joe Young. i took panaramic shots.

Shylah picked us fresh guavos along our route, which we also ate, skin and all. Tasty! :-) We also saw a hillside bunker that was in Pearl Harbor. The terrain was gorgeous. i did get yelled at once for being a little too rowdy on my ATV, but he gave me a smile after and a hang loose.

When we got back, we had lunch outside and i drove so Ashley could take pics. We stopped for a few minutes at the little park across the way for some palm tree waterfront shots in front of what might be Chinaman's Cap? Then we stopped at the Macadamian nut place, Tropical Farms. We tasted the coffee, got nuts and souvenirs and saw pics of Barack Obama's recent visit to the farm. Then we stopped a little farther down the road and got fresh bananas that were delicious! 50 cents

[Somewhere in here we slipped out to Pearl Harbor and out to the USS Arizona Memorial]

We ate in the room and then drove up towards Hanama Bay looking for a spot to swim. We stopped at a scenic overlook that was a rock outcropping a little bigger than a football field out into the ocean. i climbed down and out where this lone fisherman was. Ashley took lots of pics and then we explored the whole thing.

We drove another couple hundred yards and i spotted a tiny cove. It was just a mile or two before a public beach at Sandy Point. We parked on the side of the road and climbed down to it. There was a middle-age couple just leaving. We pretty much had it to ourselves then. It had a 15 foot wide sandy beach and was surrounded by a crescent of rock outcropping. There was a cave up on the beach that went all the way under the road. We swam for an hour or so and then drove back to the hotel.

We were exhausted, so we wanted to go to dinner nearby. The Japanese place was very expensive and Ashley wasn't in the mood, so she took me to Planet Hollywood, which i had never been to. It was a lot of fun. i had the biggest, tastiest loaded Texas nachos i've ever consumed. i suddenly like guacamole and sour cream? Then we crashed.

Wed- We headed to Honalulu's Aloha Stadium for 45 minutes at the Swap Meet and jetted back to the hotel for our pick-up. Our catamaran captain, Captain John, only had us to pick up for his boat and so he took us on a tour through Alamoana Beach Park. He told us all about the Banyon Trees, with vines that grow down from the branches to the ground to form new trunks. It's wild. He also gave us the skinny on what to do where and where to eat. He was a pro windsurfer from Seattle and moved down to Hawaii and now does this. Nice business. The boat was beautiful. He was pretty funny, dry wit. Some kid asked about the name of the boat, the Makani. He said, "It's Hawaiian for 'no refund.'" It actually means wind.

The cruise was great. We saw sea turtles and lots of fish, no mermaids. We also saw the Junk Boat. We then went to the Swap Meet again for and hour and then back to the hotel for the time share presentation which scored us $100 gift certificate that we used at Crazy Shirts and on dinner with Clara at Keoni's by Keo (Thai). That food was spectacular. i had a seafood medley of shrimp, scallops, and crab with veg and rice in hot sauces; Ashley had fried rice and chicken; and Clara, the salmon in coconut milk and ginger. It was a late dinner and we lingered with Clara, so we crashed back home again.

More on the Anti-pro-life Movement

This was inspired by a conversation with a friend of mine. If you're offended by the blog title, feel free not to read this, but i'm doing my best to get through an entire book with an oposing view, so you'll probably survive my blog entry.

i'm currently reading Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, an Evangelical's Lament.

The book is interesting. Some of it is lacking in thought. It's a typical uber liberal who doesn't understand the conservative mindset at all and has made no real effort to see things from that perspective. It's just as frustrating from the opposite side too. He goes on and on about how the Bible has nothing to say about abortion. He says this because he doesn't consider abortion killing or murdering someone. If you're a super conservative, you see it as exactly that. So then the Bible has lots to say about abortion. It's all in how you define it. i am probably more frustrated on this topic than any other topic. NO ONE in the medical field can precisely determine when a fetus becomes a "person." There's no exact day or moment. For practical purposes, they define an early stage and late stage and when it's legal to "terminate/kill" a fetus. However, every doctor will tell you that there's no magical day they SUDDENLY become a "person." Just like no sudden day you're no longer a kid or no exact moment you become elderly. It's developmental. So from a purely secular stand point, there's no way to determine when a baby is a legal person because you can't declare when they suddenly become a person and stop being a fetus which apparently is not alive.

Some medical experts will say it's when the baby can live without the mother's help. Well excuse me, but that's not until a kid is 5 or 6. No 3 or 4 year old could survive alone in the forest or on the street. They'd be killed or starve to death. What about being able to breathe on its own or biologically survive outside the womb? Well, many full-term babies are unable to do that. And many premature babies need the same care. As medical advances get better, babies can survive younger and younger. Does an advance in medicine change the definition of when someone is a person?

Ugh. If the medical profession can't agree on any magic moment, then the best you can do is say conception, at least as a secular person. And the Bible says that God knits us together in our mother's womb. So from a faith-based point of view, the same is true.

This is usually the point where an anti-pro-life person will launch into all the practical reasons why it should be legal. They'll talk about incest and rape and teenage mothers, etc. These are all tragic cases and the require compassion and sympathy and more than a firm no. They'll talk about back-alley abortions, etc. The same people who think that we can solve war and racism and sexism and genocide homophobia with words and societal pressure and discussion and love and compassion and understanding don't think we can do the same for mothers of unplanned pregnancies. They don't think maybe a society open and accepting and supportive of adoption could change all that. Why would it work for problems as big as abortion and hatred and genocide and not for unplanned pregnancies?

Mostly, these arguments come up when they don't want to discuss how tricky it is to label a fetus and when it becomes a person. That's too hard to accept. They want to discuss how it's a woman's choice and a woman's body, etc. Well, we live in a society that believes your rights only extend as far as they don't hurt or infringe on the rights of others. We are a society whose very first amendment is the right to free speech, and YET we limit it. You cannot yell fire or bomb in a crowded theater because it would endanger people or incite a riot. We don't even have the freedom from harm or danger or fear in our constitution or amendments, but we uphold it OVER one person's right to yell a particular word. Is not protecting the rights and life of a baby more important than the right or choice of someone to a certain lifestyle or body choice?

i know it is not easy for anyone deciding about abortion. i have had friends face those tough choices. But when you think about all the issues, it's much much harder, although maybe it's harder because the right thing to do is easier to see. i think most people try to avoid that. i think my own responsibility as a Christian is to help build a Church and a society that accepts, supports, and loves the mothers, families, and children of unplanned pregnancies. i think THAT's what Christ calls us to do.

Book Hunting

If you're in college or grad school, this post is a MUST READ.

i spent most of College trying to figure out the best way to buy books cheaply. Amazon frequently didn't have the books i needed 6 years ago or they took so long to arrive that it wasn't worth it. Our reading lists weren't always available until right before classes started. In addition, my parents gave me book money the first couple of years of college and they put it in my student account instead of giving me the cash, so online wouldn't have worked.

i typically rushed over to the student book store as soon as they listed all the books, then wrote them all down with their prices. Then i'd run to the other bookstore in town, compare prices and buy the cheaper ones. Then i'd head back and buy what was left at the student store, hedging my bets on the used ones. It was pretty crazy.

The internet is slowly catching up with the needs of students. This year's book buying was aided largely by the extreme ingenuity of my fiscally savvy wife.

Option 1
To begin with, Ashley posted all my needed books on Paper Back Swap. This is a particularly good site for those of you with mounds of books you are looking to get out of the house or access to mounds of books you're trying to get rid of. It works like this... you join and list all the books you're trying to get rid of. This gives you a certain amount of credits. Every book is worth 1 and every audiobook is 2. For every book requested from you, you get a credit to spend. So each time someone asks for your book, you get a chance to ask for others. It's not your best bet for time crunch, but if you know any ahead of time or they're not being used until later in the semester, free is cheapest.

Option 2
We all know and love Amazon for the used and new for dirt cheap. Most of us also have gone to Half.com and AbeBooks. However, the best option is www.AddAll.com. Why? You plug in the title or ISBN or anything else, just like those other guys and it searches through 30 or 40 sites and finds the lowest price (including the shipping and handling).

Option 3
Many of you may not be aware, but there are free bookstores where you can borrow books for a couple of weeks. You can't write in them and you have to return them, but this is a good option for you if you have no desire to highlight or keep the book. They are called libraries. Check it out.

Hawaii

i'll transcribe my written notes on Sunday through Wednesday soon, but here is Thursday through Saturday...

Thursday - We got up to have our North Shore day. I drove us up the center of the island to Shark’s cover, a good hour or so. We rented masks, snorkels, and fins from a little shack and headed across the street to Shark’s Cove to snorkel. We had trouble getting in since it’s a very rocky and treacherous beach entry, but once in, we swam for an hour or two around the huge cove and took lots of underwater pics. Not sure how well they’ll turn out, but it was lots of fun.

When we got out, we scoped out a nearby cove, where Ashley went wading and picture taking and I went rock hopping out on a long rock outcropping, where I found a cool isolated pool and took a swim. Ashley got pics. We also saw this beautiful golden swimming with his owner as she snorkeled. We were pretty hungry by then, so we drove into town to hit the places we’d been recommended. Captain John had told us about Kua Aina for lunch and we went and had the best fish burgers ever. I have never had such a good burger ever in my life, or fish for that matter. I had a Mahi Mahi burger on Kaiser with some special sauce and jalapeno Tabasco and tomatoes and lettuce. Ashley had the tuna, which was also really good. We split a basket of these fantastic homemade fries, the skinny, super greasy kind that are all stringy and crispy on the outside.

The travel channel (and every single person who we told we were headed to the North Shore, both in stores and restaurants) recommended Matsumoto’s as the MUST VISIT for the North Shore, or even all of Hawaii. It’s shaved ice, and a local legend and landmark. They do shaved ice with various flavors. You can get it with vanilla ice cream in the bottom or without. And you can get it with or without the sweet red beans. Yes, beans, cooked beans. I got it with both the beans and ice cream since I knew I’d only be here this once. It was alright, but admittedly, I am no shaved ice king. Ashley loved it (although she didn’t get beans). We hit up one of the local shops and I talked at length with this local mom, Cindy, who owned the shop about faith and work and astrological signs while Ashley tried on dresses.

We went back down the road towards Shark’s Cove and stopped at what might have been Table Top, a long narrow sandy beach that becomes slippery, algae covered rocks immediately. For a quarter mile, sea turtles were trying to come in for the algae. There were no signs where we were and so I got in and fed algae to several turtles and touched a few before a local came over and told us that we were supposed to give them their space, but we got lots of cool pics before that. They are beautiful creatures.

We found some space to get in and swim for a bit. The water was colder and had quite an undertow. Then we headed to town again for dinner. We had already done Irish, so we had ruled out Jameson’s as recommended by Cpt John and we tried for the Sushi place where you can sit on the floor at low tables, but they were running a fundraiser, so we drove back down the road. I spotted Cindy in her parking lot, shutting down the store, so we stopped and asked her advice. She directed to us to Rosie’s Cantina, which she mentioned had good “seafood.” This consisted of the night’s special of fish tacos and a shrimp appetizer. The rest was Mexican, and a bar, but it was very good. They had homemade chips and salsa and I did get the fish tacos, which were fresh, local mahi mahi and some amazing ranchy sauce and beans and rice. It was pretty fantastic and hit the spot. It was pretty late when we got home and crashed.

Friday- We got up and made our way to the Ala Moana Park for beach time. We swam a little and then got hot dogs for a mid morning brunch in the park. They were huge yummy jumbo dogs, about a foot long and hanging off both ends of the buns. Then we sat in the shade of a coconut tree and read. Then I went back in and swam out to the reef and back a few times. It was only about 150 yards out, but nowhere to touch down till you get there and the reef itself is very sharp, so you have to swim back after a quick break. We lounged a little more before heading back to the hotel. We tried to get into the Hilton Hawaiian Village to see penguins, but the parking itself was a zoo and very expensive, so we nixed it. We also wanted to hit Helo Hattie’s before our Luau.

We got to Helo Hattie’s and they gave us shell lei’s. I wasn’t super impressed. It was just a large gift shop. A little overhyped, I think. However, they have a jewelry counter where you can pay 15 bucks to open an oyster and see if it has a pearl. If it does, it’s yours and they will sell you a mounting for a necklace or ring or earrings if you so desire and mount it on the spot. We weren’t especially interested, but they had these keys you could try for opening a treasure chest. Mine didn’t work, but Ashley’s did and she fished out a coupon for half off the pearl thing, so she tried it. You have to tap it three times and shout “Aloha!” And she not only got a pearl, but the pretty, much sought-after pink pearl, and a good size. So Ashley decided to make this her big honeymoon purchase and we got it set in a ring. Because we bought it, the lady gave us another oyster to try. It not only had a big pink pearl, but it had two! That’s apparently quite rare and we had them bagged up for later. They might go to a little girl in several years with a fun story of how they’re connected to mom’s ring. I got a burnt orange t-shirt with a turtle on it.

We headed to the luau and it was very nice. We got to see hula lessons and take a shot at throwing spears and stuff. We made palm-frond head bands with flowers with one of the islanders and Ashley made a bracelet. I got an island-tattoo of a turtle in some sort of drawing pencil that has yet to wash off after a swim and bath, although it is much faded. We also saw a guy climb straight up the trunk of a 40 foot coconut tree and throw flowers all over all of us below.

The meal was wonderful, especially the pit cooked pig. They do the whole buried pig with hot stones inside for 8 hours and then pull the pork. On rice, it was fabulous. I was less impressed with the egg fried fish. The luau hula show was beautiful and the fire twirler guy was incredibly impressive. We sat between a group from Australia and another of mixed Hawaiian and Tennesseans who were celebrating the night before a wedding between their two families. It was a lot of fun. We headed back to the hotel and finished off the night with a nice sit on the balcony and the bottle of sparkling cider the front desk gave us when we checked in.

Saturday- We got a later start this morning and headed over to the swap meet again. It was the first time we had no fixed end time and could meander. We finished off our souvenir shopping for folks back home and Ashley finally got an Indian silk wrap skirt from recycled sari material. She’s been searching since high school and the one she found is gorgeous. We headed back to the hotel and finished off our leftovers from Planet Hollywood and began packing. Then we went out to the beach in front of our hotel group, which was by far the worst beach we’ve been to. It was tiny, crowded, and very rocky once you were in. We didn’t spend long there and then came back to the room to read on the balcony.

We did an early dinner, too early as it turned out. Roy’s, another recommendation from Captain John, was not quite open for dinner, so we put our names in and wandered down to this art gallery. The paintings of a local Romanticist artist were on display, all ocean scapes and cliffs from Hawaii. It’s the first time landscapes have ever caught me so dramatically. The woman in the store had moved here only a year ago from the west coast and told me all about the artist. Turns out she is originally from Austin. The artist moved here 20 years ago to study art and first displayed his paintings on the fence down the road at the Zoo, where many artists still do on Saturday evenings. He used to sell his paintings for 20 dollars, with a frame and box. Now, he has $175,000 painting on the wall in the gallery and people buy them like crazy. I’ve never seen such beautiful frames either, all made from local Kua wood.

Dinner at Roy’s was amazing. It was probably our nicest meal here, a good one to end on. Roy’s is Hawaiian fusion. There’s all kinds of seafood and sushi and sashimi. Originally, Ashley was skeptical that there wasn’t anything really amazing to be had. Neither of us was in a big fish food mood. However, she got the ABCLT sushi, which was avocado, bacon, two kinds of crab, rice, lettuce and tomato. I sampled some and I can honestly say I’ve never ever had sushi that good, that quality, or that well put together. I had stuffed blue crab with some sort of sweet glaze that just sort of melted in my mouth like warm butter, and wasabi. It was incredible. We also split a flourless hot chocolate soufflé. It was molten deliciousness with vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Probably one of the 10 best desserts of my life.

Being us though, this wasn’t enough. We went to Cold Stone with our two for one coupon and got ice cream. I got a variation on one of their specials, vanilla ice cream mixed with apple pie filling, crushed graham crackers and cinnamon. Ashley had a chocolate chip cookie dough mixture thing and gave me her whip cream. We packed a little more and then headed out to try and find the salux back washer things her mom has been asking for.