2024 Dec 15 | Gilbert, Christmas bar at Tiki's, DAC Holiday, XXXMas, Holiday Market, Hawaii Kai boat parade

I've gotten bored watching full NFL games, so I watch the game highlights on YouTube of interesting matchups.

The ads are for investing and things, not beer like you'd expect for football. Maybe rich people don't have the time to watch the full games and watch these recaps instead?

One of our neighbors has these great lights on their balcony: Aloha, a shaka, and a palm tree with the sun. It's always nice to see them.

A clinic in Waikiki that has optometry as part of it.

Another stop at the laundromat to wash a few more large blankets.

Both of the change machines were empty, and the 7-Eleven next door will only give you $2 in quarters.

Good thing I have a bunch of quarters in the RAV4 in film canisters.

It's annoying that some of the machines are out of order, although this one has been broken less than two months.

Although this one is four months.

And this one is five.

Surely it can't take five months to get parts, right?

Don't forget to clean out the lint filters on the dryers.

There were a couple of other people there and they didn't have any quarters, so I exchanged some of mine for their bills.

As I was leaving, at 7am, someone came to refill the change machines.

Now I need to go to the bank to refill mine.

Some ducks walking around.

One last Cookie Crisp hiding behind the other cereal boxes at Walmart.

20 bows for $3 is a great deal.

I can't believe spam is locked in a security box.

One can of Coke has 78% of your daily sugar? That's insane. No wonder stopping soda is a major component of losing weight, although we already drink very little.

A store is ready for Christmas in Hawaii.

This tiny pizza place closed.

Or just moved a few blocks over. I wonder if rent got too expensive, if they wanted a location with more people walking by, or if they wanted a larger space.

The clothing store beside them also closed.

This homeless guy is walking when the cars have a turn signal. Most of the homeless in Hawaii seem to be better off than homeless elsewhere, but there are still some that seem to have mental problems and who aren't aware or don't seem to care about other people by doing stuff like this.

I like honey with my chicken nuggets, but this McDonald's doesn't have it.

They do have the McRibs again.

I went to Party City to buy some light-up Christmas necklaces.

Online it says they're $6.

But in the store they're $7. I guess I could put the online one in a cart and then pick it up, but I don't think the time waiting for that is worth $1.

And one with mini lights for Ogii.

I'd also like one of these light-up hats.

But they're unavailable in the store, and shipping would take too long.

They're also unavailable at Walmart. I guess no light-up hat.

Next to Party City is 5.11.

I have some nice tactical pants from there.

But they've changed the material and I don't like the new one as much.

I could also use a few new cargo shorts; mine are too heavy for Hawaii and are getting pretty ragged on the edges.

Although I'm not paying $76 for them.

I stopped at the lei stands at the airport to buy three leis.

Then went to the Ewa cell phone waiting area.

Google Maps says it's in the parking lot, but I think that's actually parking for USPS employees.

The waiting area is on the side road right beside the highway, not in the lot.

You're not supposed to be there for more than one hour.

I picked up Gilbert and his friends and drove them home.

This car is really lit up for Christmas.

Even the trolleys have lights.

We had Thai for dinner.

The walked along the beach.

Christmas colors on the trees.

By the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku statue.

What's this?

The Wave sculpture by Dane Nishikawa.

We were here for the hidden Christmas Bar at Tiki's.

When you walk in, you're overwhelmed by decorations hanging from the ceiling.

Us.

A list of their specialty drinks.

The two bartenders stayed busy.

Toasting the marshmallows in one of our drinks.

Cheers!

The drinks were very neat and tasted great.

Checking out some of the decorations. A snowman made out of disco balls.

Ogii giving the polar bear some of her drink.

They did a great job decorating the place; it's completely covered in stuff.

Some art out front.

Some Jeeps have a few rubber ducks on their dashboards; this one is packed with them.

I never noticed this gas station fairly close to our home has a vacuum. That's useful to know to clean up sand from the beach.

Breakfast at The Happy Hawaiian Cafe.

They used to have malasadas, but no longer, so I walked a few blocks to Penny's Malasadas.

And bought a half dozen of them.

Then walked back to the Happy Hawaiian to finish up.

I was going to send a package from Safeway, as they have a USPS self-service kiosk, but it was out of order.

At least there wasn't a line for their $5 Friday meal.

I stopped at UPS to mail the package instead, and this crazy / drunk / homeless person was just leaving.

Friday evening was the DAC Holiday Extravaganza. There were artists and activities at three locations and then a finale. Our first stop was The ARTS at Marks Garage, where Jeff Gere had a shadow puppet show.

Some other artwork there.

Then we went to Honolulu Printmakers, where you could make leis out of paper.

James McCarthy sang and played guitar there.

The to the Downtown Art Center.

Where we could decorate gift bags.

And listen to electric violinist and soundscape artist Markus Mars.

Finally back to The ARTS at Marks Garage.

For songs by the Honolulu Blend Chorus.

Some clips of each artist.

After that we headed to Nextdoor.

For Friday The 13th: XXXMAS. Some people had some great outfits. My favorite was a woman with a dress that looked like a Christmas tree with battery-powered lights, although I didn't get a picture of it.