Well it was a little more subtle than that. We all just got back from the airport after Evan told me which bag claim column to find them.

She had a great look of surprise on her face when the car pulled up and her *good* son (oh yes, E. I went there. Again.) got out the car and gave her a wordless smile.

Before than that, it was lunch with a couple of old coworkers and general good times with good people. Wading through bad service at Zen Shu, to the unofficial/impromptu HBA attendee reunion at B-dub-dub, and then afterwards meeting a dude with an 800-dollar bottle-of-wine story.

It was about 4 hours between coming home and heading back out this morning. Depending on how she’s feeling today I might just be staying home with family tonight, and covering my dogs’ ears. Yeah. I know how to party.

So today makes two days in a row that I’m up before sunrise. Yesterday when I told Joel I watched the sun rise, he asked if I caught the segment with that morning’s guest. And I was like “Oh no dude I was watching the actual sun” Don’t worry man I’m watching your show right now though. Man I still can’t get over that two channels merged. It’s like WORLDS COLLIDING!

I’m back in Hawaii. This is where I come back to recharge (yeah my phone charger doesn’t work back in Vegas, see). But really though, it’s been nice to be back. Evan and I visited Dad’s grave on Christmas and left a poinsettia plant for him. I was getting sick earlier on, but I think I’m finally getting better, so of course I’m back on a mission to ruin it all over again.

The epicness of Bar35 and Blue Ribbon Karaoke two nights ago ensured yesterday’s day-long hangover, and a nice, quiet early night. So it wasn’t so bad when a friend on the East Coast texted me at about 5:30 this morning (Benefit of the doubt rules that said friend was not aware I was no longer in PST).

So I’m up at 5:30 and trying to get back to sleep. An hour later I say “screw it” and drive out to see the sun rise.

I used to do this all the time, back in the day. This used to be my standard Saturday night - after the clubs shut down around 4, I’d usually end up riding around aimlessly and make my way out to the east facing shores around Hawaii Kai. I’d normally sit there, usually alone, but sometimes with a few tourists to see the sun come up.

It’s an experience to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Only ‘easterners’ and ‘islanders’ can get it. When I lived here, I had 365 chances a year to watch, but I’ve mostly taken it for granted.

So I was out this morning. Quick drive down the Kalanianaole, and over to the Blowhole (which I usually used to avoid it in favor of the lookout right before it, but for some reason it was really crowded there this morning but the Blowhole was near empty. Go figure.)

Somehow I made it just in time to see the sun come up. Sitting there this morning, I realized that it had been years since I’d done this. Exactly ten years ago today, I was getting ready to watch the New Year’s Fireworks launching off the Sydney Harbor bridge.

Sitting there trying to think about all that’s changed in my life since then became a pretty overwhelming task. I ended up just thinking back a few weeks ago to one of the all-nighters out on the Strip.

After the club closed down, Reid and I got some food at South Point for their ‘cab driver specials’. It was a little after 6 when I was driving home, the sun was coming up over the mountains, and I just started feeling blue…or at least maybe nostalgic? I guess it was more than I could handle, being reminded of another time in my life that seems like…well, another life (well, that and all the gin in my system). I don’t know why though, but it wasn’t a good night.

So sitting there this morning felt like things came around. I was feeling a lot better, a lot more..well, recharged.

But enough with my rambling. You’re just here for the pictures. Aren’t you.

There were also a few other people there:

For a little while, this couple went off to a corner together. I thought they were going to do something romantic, but the girl just had to light her cigarette. Classy.

This is the first time I’ve been there since they renovated the blowhole. In addition to the metal railing, they also put up this sign. I think it had something to do with whales. I’m not sure.

Anyway, that’s about all for now. It’s about 12 noon right now; gonna meet up with Tyson and John for lunch in a little bit, and mom finally comes home tomorrow. Surprise, mom!!! It’s your deadbeat son again!

I’m sitting at Terminal 2, Gate 6 at McCarran right now. Usually the flights home are at like, Gate 4 (I remember taking at least two or three there) but then I saw that Virgin had a plane there, which explained all the English accents I had to listen to while I was waiting in security.

Again, it’s going to be good to see the dogs again. Evan also said that he’s got the rest of the week off, so it’ll be great hanging with him again too.

I don’t have a really huge to-do list while I’m back. I hate to admit it, but I want to eat at Tenkaippin at least a few times while I’m there. I hate most of the staff there (who are a little better when the owner and/or his wife are around) and I hate that I can’t stay away from their food. And I also hate that the ramen in Vegas is kind of a joke, too (an overpriced joke).

So I’m flying back on Hawaiian, of course. And it’s weird being surrounded by this many Hawaii people again. I’ve seen at least two or three people that look like people I knew from high school or at work, but I guess that’s how it is when I’ve been away for so long (wait it hasn’t even been that long).

I’m rambling now. Oh here’s an oddity - the bookstore here at the airport wasn’t carrying any copies of that new Dan Brown book. Weird, huh? You’d think that’d be one of their top shelf items. Anyone read that book? Kerri started it and pointed out a few passages to me and we started to realize what a crappy writer he is.

Okay I’m going to log off already.

So this past weekend we were staying downtown at the California for some video poker tournament that they invited me to. They also gave us a room for two nights, which was good because our heat’s out again (they fixed it, it worked a few days, and broke again, just in time for the dead of winter).

It was good times, except that the first night was a really long night. There were a bunch of super loud mokes in the room right next to us and we could hear them through the adjoining door. On the first night, we could hear them partying(?) or…either partying or fighting I’m not sure.

Then the next morning, they were yelling at each other. Some guy kept yelling “WHY DID YOU ASK ME THAT WAY? HUH? WHY DID YOU ASK ME THAT WAY? WHY DID YOU ASK ME THAT WAY??”

This was around 7am and was more annoying than an alarm clock on buzz. I guess he wanted to find out why his friend asked him something in a certain way? I’m not sure. Anyway I headed straight down to the check in counter and asked for a different room. They were nice enough to give us a room with no adjoining door.

Ever since getting that room at the Golden Nugget back when BT and Nicole came to visit, I started just drawing pictures of the rooms we’ve stayed at.

The second room we got had two beds, so of course we had to take flying pictures like last year. I’M FLYING!! AGAIN!!

And then there was the video poker tournament which just came and went. Like last year’s slot tournament again, it was me and a bunch of old people, doing two 10-minute rounds with me totally zoning out toward the end of each round.

There were 250 participants and in the end I placed 111th place. Prizes stopped at about 40th place.

Good times all in all, though. Throughout the weekend I also hung out with Reid over at Rok. Always good seeing that guy.

Anyway I’m flying back to Hawaii in a few days. Wooo!!!

So it’s that time of year again. About this time last year I was invited to a slot tournament over at the Main Street. This year they sent me some invite to a video poker tournament over at the California. Just like last year, it’ll be me and a bunch of old people, but with more button pressing this time around.

I don’t know why they keep sending me these. I’m probably on their “Good ROI list” because whenever I get a freebie from them I usually end up dumping that much plus extra into their machines. I got the fevah man! the fevah!

Anyway I’m gonna go check in to the hotel tomorrow and am hoping that I do just as well as last year’s stellar 192nd out of 240 players. Awwww yeah! The good part is that they’re giving us two nights at the hotel again so we’re going to blast their heater instead of using our own.

In other news, I’m going back to Hawaii for Christmas! It’ll be nice to see the dogs again! Oh and all my friends and family too! But moreso my dogs, because my dogs can’t use the telephone or email to contact me whenever they want. Hint hint. (yes that’s me hinting to my true ‘friends’ to go and teach my dogs how to use teh internetz)

Not a big deal though, right? I mostly just took things easy. Reid and Lori took me out to the M Resort buffet for lunch and I was stuffed for the rest of the day (still am).

Before I left the house this morning, a FedEx truck stopped outside the house and brought a package over to the door. Tammy over in Sydney had sent a cake and box of biscuits over from Godiva (packaged in styrofoam with a bunch of ice packs). Totally unexpected, but thanks, Tammy!

After that I also hung out at Reid’s place. It’s nice to hang around a house that’s warm. Oh, our heat is out by the way. The AC repair guys came earlier this morning and told me we have some sort of weird heating system where it draws hot water from our water tank and heats the house that way. He says he doesn’t see it often, but those heaters always break down because they’re only used once a year.

I thought we’d have heat tonight, but when the AC guys were working on our heater, they found out that the pump was leaking. So a plumber’s going to have to come down and change something out before we can get heat. Bottom line: we’ll probably get our heat restored just in time for the summer.

Anyway tonight it looks like Kerri and I are headed out to Rok a little later tonight. The Spazmatics are playing there, so that’ll be annoyingly fun. After last weekend’s food poisoning though, I’m going to just take it easy. Well, that and because I’m old now.

It’s been a hectic past few days. BT, Nicole, Steve, and Zach flew down on Wednesday and were only there until Saturday morning, so we did our best to make the most of their few days here. We went to Rok both nights and did a lot of running around otherwise.

It’s always good having friends visit.

I took them all to the airport on Saturday, and then the weekend totally kicked my ass. I went out to dinner with Kerri on Saturday night and had a piece of prime rib that must not have been very well cooked - because a little after waking up on Sunday, I felt sick to my stomach. Like that feeling you get when you eat something too oily.

I spent the entire day in bed. To make things even more fun, part of the Las Vegas Marathon was set up right by our house that day, with some rock band playing about a hundred feet from our house. The band must have had an affinity to Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”, because of all the songs they played for the runners that were passing by, that one came up at least a dozen times.

Eventually I felt better (after hurling into the sink). It was like my body didn’t want any of Saturday night’s dinner in my system and just kept it at the front, waiting for me to puke it up. Kind of gross.

I’m doing a little better now though. But that’s the last time I order my prime rib medium rare.