I’m in the process of uploading my pictures and writing my entry but the vacation is catching up with me (in other words, I need sleep) so I won’t have an entry ready until Friday.  But I’ll leave you with one picture for now:

Treasure Chest poker: 4-of-a-kind brings up 5 treasure chests then you pick one.  The treasure can be 140, 180, 250, 500, (that’s credits) and the jackpot is $1199.  Close but no cigar.  Considering that 140 usually comes up a majority of the time, hey!, I’ll take it.

Type in one word associated with the previous word.  Pretty much the same rules apply like the 3 Word Game.  Full names and phrases allowed, such as, “Banana Fish” or “sunny day”

I’ll let both word games play out while I’m away.  Queenie will be watching

Camaro

#1: Back in the
#2: day, there was
#3: a goat and
#4: a banana fish
#5: that were best
#6: friends.  They went
#7: steady for 20
#8: months until they
#9: had a baby.
#10: It was one
#11: ugly thing that

You get it?

Now, the rules are simple:
- Only 3 words per entry
- Can’t reply to your own post
- Keep it clean (as much as possible)
- Acronyms count as one word such as: “one SBD fut”
- Emoticon don’t count as a word
- Hit the refresh before posting (you shouldn’t lose your work)
- Feel free to write comments under the 3 words
- If a late post sneaks in between, try to ignore one and keep it going as I won’t be here to clean up.

And Queenie (Shauna) has graciously volunteered to moderate (and play) in the game so don’t think just because I’m gone nobody is watching.  She has permission to whack the back of your hands with a ruler if you don’t behave yourself.  *Shauna, call me if they’re not playing nicely.

So, let’s get started!  Let’s see how far this will go.

Once upon a

I guess time flies when you’re having fun. 

So I won’t be blogging until I get back.  Between the shopping and eating and gambling, I’m going to need what little time is left to sleep.  But I’ll take my camera and snap some pictures for a later entry.

But first, let me share this funny story.

Ever since I was little, we always celebrated my birthday on July 20th.  It was a pretty good day - after all, that was the day that man first walked on the moon.  Then when I turned 15, I went to get my driver’s permit.  After I filled out the form and gave it to the lady, she looked it over along with my birth certificate and said “You wrote in the wrong birth date”.  I said, “No, July 20th”.  Then she said “Look at your birth certificate, it states July 21st”.  Huh?  I’ve never seen my birth certificate before and sure enough, it stated July 21st.  I look at my mom and she shrugs her shoulders and says “Eh, hard to keep track of all 4 boys, you know”.

So for 14 years, I celebrated my birthday 1 day early.  Wassup Wit…, I mean, ho, da ODD… I mean - Sheesh!  Talk about a Midlife Crisis!  At 15 years old!

So anyway, while I’m away I’ve set up another entry for a word game to keep you folks busy until I return.  Play nicely.

Remember the Dillingham plaques that I challenged you to find in the July 3rd entry?

NickInMoiliili knew he had seen those plaques before, it was just a matter of following his hunch to locate them.  Then he send me this on Monday:

Hi Rod,

Never being one to turn down a challenge… so those Dillingham Markers were just too tempting to pass up. Attached are the photos of our quest on Saturday to locate them. My wife and baby had fun and I knew the location (sort of) as I remember reading one of those markers a while back. I am convinced there are only three as the area around Macy’s was never re-tiled when Ala Moana went through one of its many renovations. I find that kind of odd as Sears on the Ewa end was re-tiled. Liberty House was an anchor tenant so that was a good place to start! You may use the photos on the blog if you wish but they are low resolution form my iPhone.

See the plaque at the bottom of the picture?

    
NickInMoiliili and family next to plaques.

As you can see, the plaques are located in front of Macy’s.  The large picture and the one with Nick is located on the mall level, diamond head side of Macy’s.  The picture with Nick’s wife and baby is one floor right below that - the street level, diamond head side.  And finally, the one were I took my picture of the plaque is also on the street level, but the mauka side - where the colognes are.  Go figure. 

Way to go Nick!

btw, Nick passed on the 2 free Blockbuster rentals.  He did it just to follow his hunch and have a fun day out with the family.  Congratulations Nick!

Maybe if I can think up another contest, I can give away those free rentals.  How about it folks, any good contest ideas?

Left: The food vendors were lined up like a buffet. 

Right: Only food picture I took - Kim Chee Pancake.

Left: Families picnicked under the trees. 

Right: Kids were kept busy playing on the inflatables.

Left: While standing in line to spin the wheel this lady was literally breathing down my wife’s neck.
Right: Been there, done that, wore the costume.  Must be an election year.

Left: Couldn’t help but think of BananaFish.

Right: Korean version of the Hawaii Chair.  What’s a Hawaii Chair?  Click on the picture to find out.

Left: This haraboeji had the right idea.

Right: What memories are made from.

Through his blog, he has “met “so many wonderful people who have shared their thoughts, feelings, anecdotes, and witticisms.  I enjoy reading his and others’ blogs and feel like we kind of get to know each of you, and I thought you might like to know, as Hemajang suggested, a few things about the real Rodney.  So, here you go…

I remember he used to imitate an Ant.  He sucked his stomach in so it looked hollow and said, “Look, I’m an ant”.  He tried that last night, but the muffin was too big.

He always smells nice.  He currently has 34 different colognes in his drawer.  (Honest, I just counted!)  He can go for more than a month and not smell the same twice!

He loves shoes.  He gives Imelda competition.  He has more shoes than colognes.  Heck, he has more shoes than me!

His latest interest is kites.  Dual line sport kites, the kind people fly at Sandy Beach.  If anybody likes to fly kites, call Rod.  I think he has more kites than his colognes and shoes put together!

And finally, I have a fear of birds.  He has a fear of B-52 cockroaches.  He protects me, I protect him.  It’s this kind of yin and yang that has carried us through the past 23 years and will continue to keep us going for many more.  Paula.

So there you have it.  She is special, isn’t she?  And she’s all mine.
So, now that you know all about me, let the ribbing begin…

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Shauna asked to see our wedding picture.  Damn you, Shauna!  Remember, this picture was taken 23 years ago!  Okay, let the snorting begin too…

Also, 23 years ago while we were holding our wedding reception at C’est Si Bon, there was this young girl, probably at Chuck E. Cheese’s celebrating her birthday.  Our own Odds and Ends Queen, Shauna!  So go bombard her latest blog entry with HBD wishes. http://oddsandends.honadvblogs.com/

  <— clickable!

The festival hours are from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM.  Admission is free.  Parking at Kapiolani park is limited.  It is recommended that you park at Kapiolani Community College where a shuttle bus will take you to and from the Korean festival.

For more information, click on the poster above and it’ll take you to the Korean Festival Hawaii website.  btw, there is a recipe for Kalbi and Bibim Gooksoo on the site, so check it out.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Since it’s Friday, let’s have a little fun with a word game.  I’ll start off with two “or” things to choose from.  The next person will choose one of the two, then use it to create another “or” set to choose from.  It doesn’t have to use all the words of the item chosen nor does it have to have the same meaning.  Also, adding in additional words helps.  For example:
#1: Ginger or Mary Ann?
#2: Ginger.  Ginger or Green Onion?
#3: Green Onion.  Green or Red?
#4: Green.  Greens or Sand Trap?
#5: Red.  Reds or Cardinals
#6: Sand Trap.  Sand Trap or Speed Trap?
#7: Speed Trap.  Speedos or Boxers?
#8: Boxers.  Boxers or Bulldogs?
#9: Bulldogs.  Kaimuki Bulldogs or Kalani Falcons?

• I’ll allow slight variations on words like Green to Greens or Speed to Speedos or Beatles to Beetles - just to keep it interesting.
• If there are multiple answers to the same posting, use the first one posted.  For example, #4 and #5 were both replies to #3.  Since #4 was first, that’s the one to reply to.  As I check in every so often, I’ll try to delete the duplicates.  In this case, #5  will be removed.
• No replying to yourself.
• Proper names allowed, ie. Dog Chapman, Boulevard Saimin
• Keep it clean.  Innuendos allowed.
• Hit the refresh key often.

Ready?  Here we go:

Korean Drama or Chinese Kung Fu? 

 HOWARD HIROSHI EGAMI  77, of Honolulu, died May 14, 2008. Born in Honolulu. Retired custodian at Aloha Motors, roving vendor at old Honolulu Stadium and after school custodian at Kaimuki High School. Survived by half-siblings, cousins and supportive friends. Private services held. Howard was an avid fan of all Hawaii athletic activities. He enjoyed the friendships of many stadium managers, sports casters, and professional athletes. His family would like to thank everyone who befriended him throughout his lifetime. Special thanks go out to Dr. Glenn Uto and his entire staff and to Gina’s Care Home and her family, for the extra special care they gave to Howard.

If you’ve ever visited the old Honolulu Stadium, you’ve seen Hiroshi.  With his distinct raspy voice, he’d be walking up and down the gray wooden stands, hawking his goods: “Hot dogs!, peanuts, chips!, coke”.

I was just a young little league wannabe when my dad used to take us to Islander baseball games.  My dad would wait until Hiroshi came along to buy some peanuts and drinks from him.  The first time I saw Hiroshi, being just a little kid, I was afraid of him.  I couldn’t help but stare at him.  After the snacks were paid for, he said thank you - and smiled at me.  Then I knew that he was cool.  After that, I used to wait to hear him coming up the stairs because I knew that it meant that my dad was going to buy us snacks.

What’s kind of ironic, even eerie in a way, was that I was just thinking of Hiroshi last week as I was trying to come up new ideas for my blog.  And then I read his obituary in Monday’s Honolulu Advertiser.

If you missed it, Ferd Lewis wrote this nice column about Hiroshi in yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser.

After the old Termite Palace was torn down, I’d see Hiroshi riding his bicycle around town every now and then.  Seeing him always conjured up memories of the old stadium.  I guess in my mind, he was the Honolulu Stadium.

Take a visit of Hiroshi’s obituary, (click here).  And while visiting, feel free to view/sign the guestbook by clicking on the link located just above his picture.

And as a tribute to Hiroshi, let’s reminisce about the old Honolulu Stadium.  The gray wooden bench seats with the seat number painted in black.  The billboards around the top of the stadium and the Columbia Inn circle along the right center field fence.  Walking underneath the seats getting hit with peanut shells.  Sometimes soda or beer.  The Islanders’ booster club store located under the seats on the mauka side of the stadium.  The boiled peanut table outside the stadium on the sidewalk.  The huge sliding doors at the entrance of the old stadium.  The saimin.  The other vendors walking around shouting “cooold beeerer”.  What was his name - Red?  The guy with the red hair and beard.  The dirt parking lot that always sold out fast.  The guy sitting at the entrance of Bowl-o-drome to make sure that no stadium fans parked there.

What are your memories of the Honolulu Stadium?  Share your stories, your memories, your experiences of the old Termite Palace.  Hiroshi would’ve wanted it that way.