Saturday, December 10, 2005

It's about 7:15 AM, and I'm at San Francisco airport. I realize around this time that I didn't pack a watch, so I don't know exactly what time it is, but it's about 7:15. Checking in with Hawaiian Airlines was confusing because I didn't know where to start. It's my first time flying since 9/11. I ended up having to wait in a line for the ticket counter which was really just a row of self-service computers. I punched in the number called "reservation code" on my web receipt printout (the screen asked for "confirmation code" instead). The machine printed my boarding pass. While waiting at the gate, I realize I forgot to bring earplugs and of course there are a fair number of very young, very loud children who appear to be waiting to board the same airplane. The thought of a 5-hour flight with them scares me more than paying $7.57 for a single pair of Samsonite earplugs which I will use and a Samsonite eye mask which I will not use from Marilou at the "I Love San Francisco C-2 Beyond Securi" store in the terminal. (The word "Security" is chopped off on my receipt.) So as of 7:51 AM I have my earplugs now. The flight is uneventful. I have a window seat sit next to a young woman who appears to be Japanese. She says nothing to me for the entire flight and either sleeps or listens to her iPod mini (or maybe both—I don't know). The meal I chose on the flight was a cold turkey sandwich, Sun Chips, and cookies—it's not bad but not great, either. In retrospect, the BBQ chicken meal looked like a healthier choice. The film was Wallace and Gromit (Were-Rabbit). That film is funny even without the sound (though the sound helps a lot). The flight has some turbulence but is otherwise uneventful. I arrive in Honolulu 35 minutes early (the website said "ON TIME" but the actual flight time was 4:40 instead of 5:15), but since I don't have a watch I'm not certain of the time. My round-trip flight costs $351.90. Chris and Nate meet me at Avis. I chose Avis because I remembered in Massachusetts with mikeob they didn't bat a discriminatory eyelash at having two gay men be signed on as drivers. I also chose Avis because they weren't the least expensive. I have stood in very long lines before for car rental, and it's not fun at all. At Avis, I waited less than 10 minutes for help. The entire checkout process took about 20 minutes. My rental car for the trip costs $402.61. A joke I thought up: What do you call a person who has been working too long at the University of Hawai'i? Answer: An academia nut! Chris and Nate give me a beautiful lei made up of dozens of orchids. Nate rides back with me in the rental car, and I follow Chris in the other car to their place. They give me a tour of their apartment, the upper level of a single-family home nestled in the St. Louis Heights neighborhood of Honolulu. They have the largest screen door I've ever seen—it must be at least 8 feet by 6 feet—is it the world's largest? I briefly met their downstairs neighbor Valerie. The first thing she says to me is, "Hi! You look like a lot of fun!" and I am flattered and charmed. After I got settled in, we all drove down to Waikiki to lunch at Tiki's Grill and Bar with Mike and Mike. I hadn't seen Michael Pellegrino in years when we both had lived in Seattle and knew each other through Chris and Nate and Steve M. Mike P's boyfriend is also named Mike, which makes their coupling quite handy for people who can't remember names. For lunch we had deluxe nachos and other bar food. I had the Aloha Friday Hawaiian Plate (which, confusingly, is served daily) with kalua pig, steamed rice, mashed Okinawan sweet potatoes, ti-leaf-wrapped lau lau, and coconut haupia—very yummy. Afterwards we walk along Kuhio Beach Park a bit, then Mike and Mike have to leave. Chris and Nate and I walk further down to Kapiolani Beach Park, onto a breakwater to see fishes and tiny crabs, then back through the park to the car for the drive home. On the way, we stop at Times and Longs for groceries and drug store stuff. Chris took a nap while I glued orthotics to my Tevas and wrote postcards. Nate prepared dinner: roasted potatoes, grilled chicken boob. We talked in the living room until about 11:00 PM. I left Outlook running at work when I left thinking that the e-mail I had scheduled to go out would send, but it didn't send as I had expected. I also realized around now that I was unable to set a vacation notice in Outlook Web Access, which I had forgotten to do before I left. Oh, well. I guess if you set a vacation notice in OWA, you need to be certain that you're not logged in to Outlook anywhere.