Aloha Daze

Lately, I’ve had a itch that I can’t scratch: I’ve been wanting to go out to a local bar, and have a mai tai.

Over in the Ala Moana Shopping Center sits the Mai Tai Bar. Packed on a regular basis daily, and twice as much when they have the right band playing, it’s *the* place to hang out if you’re at Ala Moana.

Until now.

Now there is Pearl: A new nightclub that has opened at Ala Moana.

In fact, it’s just steps away from the Mai Tai Bar.

When I was at Ala Moana the other day, and wanted a mai tai drink, I walked [briefly] by the Mai Tai Bar. Packed, as usual, I just didn’t feel like dealing with the standing-room-only crowd.

So I thought I’d check out “Pearl.”

For a little background on this new nightclub, I suggest reading a column from local TV station KHNL: “Honolulu After Dark: Building A Pearl.”

Then read another article, written only about a month ago, over at the Honolulu Advertiser: “Brand New Pearl is cultured for socializing.”

What was my opinion of Pearl?

Well, from the outside, it looks rather big. Three different bar areas, large spaces, and lots of red lighting. (At least, on the evening I went, the lights were all red.)

The rest of the nightclub? No idea. I wasn’t allowed in.

You see, Pearl has a dress code.

To enter Pearl, you must be wearing a collared shirt, nice slacks or pants, and dress shoes.

What this means is that just about anyone walking the floor in Ala Moana isn’t allowed in Pearl.

No sandals or sneakers. No t-shirts. No shorts.

A glance around the nightclub [from the entrance where I could go no further] said a great deal about this dress code: Pearl was nearly empty.

I tried to explain to the pretty hostess at the front door that even Ruths Chris Steakhouse, with a serious dress code of their own on the mainland, adjusted that dress code to fit here on the island.

She seemed unconvinced about my point. “So, you think that our dress code won’t last?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but it seems to me that this dress code is eliminating just about everyone that shops at Ala Moana.”

And with that, I left Pearl, having never ordered that mai tai that I came in search of.

Too bad. To have three different bars available, and none of them want my money because I’m dressed too much like a local.

We’ll see how long that dress code lasts. Then maybe next time, I’ll be able to actually go IN to Pearl.

RLR

I realize that this poem is all over the web, posted on any number of other sites already, but that doesn’t mean it should be posted here, and reposted elsewhere, whenever possible. Particularly now, with our troops in harms way from the enemy on the outside, and the inside.

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

Support our troops!

RLR

After being on the island for about 4 years, Ashley Furniture, a discount furniture store, closed it’s doors last Friday (Nov 10 2006).

Up until then, it was business as usual. Making promises that they would never keep, it would seem. I’m sorry, but don’t tell me that you make sells all week long, but get up Friday morning and say “Well, today I think we’ll close!” The powers that be had to know ahead of time that they were about to close the doors.

A word to the saavy buyer: avoid Ashley Furniture stores. This was the only one we had on the island (perhaps in the state). But there are still many other stores back on the mainland. How would you feel if they’d taken the money and run? Bought a couch, but now wondering if you’ll ever sit in it, or see the money ever again?

When I’d heard about this from a local radio station on Saturday night, I happen to be driving by the location at the time. So, I stopped by the store. All the windows had brown paper covering any view to the inside. On the outside sat a security guard. He mentioned how it was pretty much a madhouse on Friday morning, with customers beating on the doors trying to get answers.

I’ve often said that on an island like this, you can’t take people for granted: they’ll remember you. If the company/group/whoever that is behind Ashley Furniture think they’ll be back in business on this island any time soon, then they’re smoking a special kind of plant that isn’t sold in stores. This group has screwed the people, and they’re going to remember that for a good, long time.

See the Star Bulletin column, or visit Ashey Furniture’s official website. (That is, if they haven’t closed it, too.)

RLR

It’s amazing how quickly John Kerry can flip-flop. I was amazed in 2004. I still am.

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Then later the same day, when it was suggested by both the RNC and the Dems that Kerry apologize for such an insulting statement about our troops that are serving, Kerry responded “I apologize to no one…”

Yeah. Until the next day when he says:

“I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted…”

Misinterpreted my rear-end. Kerry thought little of the soldier fighting in Vietnam, and thinks just as little - if not less so - of them today.

He’s just mad because he got caught with his foot in his mouth. Again.

As many times as that foot has been in his mouth, you’d think he’d have Athlete’s Tongue by now.

RLR