Wait Long Enough, and It'll Be in Style Again
June 1976.

Music pours out of the open windows of the community center. Liquid Space, a band comprised of kids from local high schools, is playing songs by Earth, Wind & Fire and the Doobie Brothers. Fuzzy posters glow under black light lamps. The pulsing strobe light makes everyone's movements jerky and robot-like.

Guys are sporting striped OP and Hobie shirts; girls are wearing puffed sleeve dresses or baby doll tops and hiphugger jeans. Everyone's got fluffy hair.

Unlike the dances held in the high school gym, we're allowed to wear shoes on this dance floor. 4" wooden platform shoes.

This is not a scene from That 70s Show. It's my high school sophomore class potluck / dance, held at the Puunene Clubhouse on Maui. Why this scene popped into my head this morning I'll never know. But it's a nice memory.

Summer Daze
I keep telling Scooter and Fluffy to stop growing up so quickly, but they just don't listen! I can't believe Scooter is ten and Fluffy is already seven. Scooter still screams like a girl, but I'm sure that won't be for long. He still has little traces of the little boy, like when he was going through his goodie bag from Bailey's birthday party this weekend and said, "There's a froggie in there." Not a frog, but a froggie. He's so cute!

Fluffy and I are in the middle of a huge love affair right now. She always wants to sit right next to me, if not on top of me, and she wants lots of kisses. We have matching slippers with flowers & sequins, and we went to Costco one day with matching Clikits purses. I'm sure I look ridiculous, but I love being best friends with Fluffy. In a few years she won't want to share her Valentine's "love hearts" candy with me, and I'm sure she won't even want to go shopping with me, let alone dress up alike.

I can tell they are really enjoying this summer vacation. No Marymount summer school this year; instead they've gone to a myriad of specialty camps. And when they get home, they just kind of cruise until I come home. We eat a casual dinner, and if we're not out running errands, then we sit and watch That 70s Show. Scooter really needed a break like this after such a hard year in 4th grade (and the prospect of an even harder 5th grade).

A Dog, A Cat and A Turtle
Sitting around the Marketing Department conference table after lunch...
FF: I saw three dogs on the freeway today. I think someone left them there.
WF: Did you see "Homeward Bound?"
FF: They were just watching the cars go by.
SS: Did anyone see "Good Boy?"
WF: Wasn't there a beagle in that movie? Wasn't a beagle the star of the movie?
SS: I don't think it was a beagle. It was a Benji-type dog.
MK: Snoopy's a beagle.
WF: But Snoopy doesn't really look like a beagle.
SS: Don't beagles have kind of squared off noses?
FF: Somebody dumped them there. How'd they get there?
SS: You know how your dad says, "If you don't settle down, we're pulling off the road and letting you out? Well..."
WF: Did you see "Homeward Bound?"
FF: Why were they on the freeway? I think someone left them there.
WF: In "Homeward Bound," they had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.
MK: Snoopy's a beagle, right?
WF: Did anybody see "Homeward Bound?"
MK: You know what would make a good movie? A dog, a cat and a turtle.
WF: My friend had a cock... A cockatiel? A cockatoo?
FF: Oh, I thought that was it. Your friend had a cock.
WF: No, she's a girl.
WF: So, my friend had a bird... Is that Darth Vader on your watch?

Impropriety
I guess the big news in our neighborhood is that our school's PTA president just got indicted for having sex with some high school boys. I don't have a very strong opinion one way or the other (OUTSIDE of this case is another story). Although it may be legally wrong for an adult to get it on with a teenager, those boys were practically adults (16 and 17), and I'm sure they knew what they were doing. But she IS an adult, one with a lot of visibility and influence in the community, being PTA president, soccer coach, and booster club member, so she SHOULD have to live up to a higher standard. She goes back to court on the first day of school. Wonder what it will be like for her FIVE kids?

Funny that it should come out the same time that Mary Kay Letourneau got out of prison. If SHE could have sex with a TWELVE-year-old boy, many times, and even have a couple of kids with him, and spend only 7-1/2 years in jail, Mrs. PTA will probably get a slap on the wrist.

The big question now is this: Who is going to handle the gift wrap fundraiser when school starts in a month? (am I shallow or what?)

Happy Birthday Fluffy!
Celebrated another Fluffy birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Unlike a lot of other parents, I really like that place. It's very convenient, fairly affordable, and they have SKEEBALL!

Fluffy had an assortment of friends from school, Rainbow Maidens, basketball team, and a couple of oddball ones that don't fit into any of those categories.

After opening presents at home, we went to Lauren's house to swim in their pool, and then to eat dinner at Koraku.

What a great day!

The Ultimate Role Model for Young Girls
Scott went to Toys R Us in search of a boy Barbie for Fluffy's birthday. All he could find was an expensive Rollerblading Ken with too many accessories. Therefore, we came up with the following suggestions for Barbie and Ken line extensions:

Sexually-Active Barbie
Crackhouse Barbie
Gangsta Barbie
STD Barbie
IBS Barbie (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
Incontinent Barbie
Nip `n Tuck Barbie
Liposuction Barbie
Botox Barbie
Bulimic Barbie
South Bay Barbie (minivan and overextended credit)
Viagra Ken
Male Pattern Baldness Ken
We-Ho Ken
Mid-life Crisis Ken (fat, bald, driving a Porsche)
Pussy-Whipped Ken - oh wait, that's redundant

Dashes are our Friends
For a copywriter, my grammar and punctuation skills aren't so great. So I need to keep looking things up in my Chicago Manual of Style and New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage. I spent a good part of the afternoon reading up on dashes and hyphens. I went to share all this wonderful information with the graphic designers. Boy, did I take a beating in there.

"So I was reading up on dashes and I think..."

"Where the hell do you read up on that kind of stuff?"
"Were you saving the racy stuff, like semi-colons, for the weekend?"
"NERD!!"

So has anyone read "Eats Shoots and Leaves" yet?

Granny Wild Flower
Technically, I'm old enough to be a grandmother. In theory, Fluffy could be my granddaughter instead of my daughter. So I told her to start calling me grandma once in a while just to see how people react.

So, anyway, I went to Trader Joe's recently to buy some wine and the cashier asked me for I.D. I told her, "Oh, you're kidding! You're really going to be surprised." She took a look at my license and started asking the other cashiers, "How old do you think she is? You'll never guess!" Then she told me that it's good to look younger so I can date guys ten or fifteen years younger, and they're way better than older guys. Hmmm...

Fluffy is Seven
My little fluffball is seven. It was kind of a non-descript birthday day, since she had to go to summer camp and I had to go to work.

I brought cupcakes to her basketball practice, and we sang a lackluster "Happy Birthday" before everyone ran off.

We went to Ruby's (her favorite restaurant) for the annual birthday macaroni and cheese.

Happy birthday, my fluffy-headed friend!

Love-Love
This morning, a client gave Vickey tickets to the JPMorganChase tennis classic, so we ditched work for a couple of hours (an extra-long lunch hour) and drove down to the Home Depot Center in Carson. Wow! We had some great seats! We actually wanted to see Serena Williams play, but she was scheduled for later in the afternoon and we had to get back to work. But it was still fun to be out there in the middle of the day, when everyone's supposed to at work, pretending to be part of the privileged set. Ha ha!

We had so much fun that tonight we took our families with us to watch more tennis. Tickets in the general admission section were only $5. I was stuck in a late meeting at work, so Guido took the kids, and I caught a ride later with Vickey.

Those women tennis players are STRONG. The daytime players were serving around 80-95 mph. The nighttime players were serving over 100mph and it was good!

Countdown to Cheese
Fluffy's been counting the days to her birthday and party. Two more days to birthday, eleven more to party. She can't read yet, so I can say that Scooter and I bought charms for her bracelet. And I got her a Groovy Girl. And a fancy headband. And that's it, coz her party is going to cost me $500. I can't believe we indulge our kids that much. I never had a birthday party when I was a kid or as an adult. I did get to invite two friends to eat dinner with us at Kula Lodge when I was ten. That was as extravagant as it got.

This Blog-Builder Sucks
What the hell happened to all my entries for July?! This sucks!

Okay, my July entries are back. This sure is unreliable.

The Grove
Fluffy had another basketball game yesterday. Afterward, we drove up to The Grove to shop at Nordstrom. People think I'm nuts to drive so far just to shop or eat, but I love going on little adventures. Life in suburbia is good, but a little boring.

Parking was a b*#%@. I drove around and around, using up precious free parking minutes. In the meantime, I spotted quite a few slugbugs (our own little game). I finally parked in the very last spot on the roof!

We spent too much money at Nordstrom (but got free parking for it), hung out by the dancing water fountain, then went to Barnes & Noble to read books.

What a nice day!

I love hanging out with Fluffy!

World Team Tennis II
Since the kids just wrapped up a week at tennis camp on Friday, we got up early on Saturday and walked over to the tennis court with our racquets and a bucket of balls. Boy, even at 8:30 in the morning, it sure was hot. It was still fun. I don't think they learned very much in that one week of camp. I had given them a crash course the previous Sunday night, and they were at about that same point this weekend. Oh well, I guess if we keep going, they'll get the hang of it.

Found out that Nordstrom's anniversary sale started the day before, so that's where we spent Saturday afternoon! Fluffy has a lot of new clothes for school now. Got some shirts and shorts for Scooter, but he likes Quiksilver and even the sale price is pretty high, so he didn't get very much.

That night we went down to Hyatt Newporter for a World Team Tennis match. Actually, Scooter did learn something - what a volley is. So we kept calling it everytime they did a volley or a smash. We didn't get to see any really famous tennis stars. Maria Sharapova is on our team, and Anna Kournikova plays for the other team, but neither one was there. It was still very nice to be out at night.

Akai Swim School
Took both kiddies to Fluffy's swimming lesson yesterday and let Scooter swim on his own while Fluffy had her lesson. Fluffy can kind of swim now. She can actually move forward while horizontal. But she has to stop when she needs more air. And to push her hair out of her face. And wipe her eyes (which she keeps closed anyway).

Scooter still has good form, but he is so out of shape. He got tired swimming across the pool just once, and anyone familiar with Akai knows how small the pool is. I thought all the running around he does everyday would keep him in shape, but I guess not.

Every year I have the same complaint about Akai. It's just a social club for the lifeguards. I watched yesterday as they all chatted with each other at one end of the pool and were oblivious to the kids in the pool. They tease and flirt with each other while kids are forcing each other's heads under the water, and every so often they stop to yell at someone, and then return to their flirting and chatting. Last year Fluffy said a couple of them were even smooching. I guess they can afford high liability insurance; we pay about a hundred bucks for a total of 45 minutes of personal instruction. (Figure it out: 9 30-minute classes, 6 kids in a class = 5 mins a day for 9 days = 45 mins) Family members are allowed in the pool, but it costs $3 pp each time. What do public pools charge?

Polynesian Cultural Center
Gee, it's rains every single #@%*ing day.

We walked down to the International Bazaar or whatever it's called to buy overpriced trinkets. Fluffy bought a slipper necklace (and one for Lauren, too). Scooter finally got a necklace, but not kukui nuts or puka shells. The vendor was kind of B.S.ing us until I said I was from Maui. Then she said the puka shells are really clam shells. And she dropped the price for us. By then Scooter decided he didn't want puka shells and got this other shell necklace that looks kind of like broken pieces of shells. Maybe it reminds him of shark teeth. He's always intrigued by shark tooth necklaces.

We headed out to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, and took the scenic route, around Hawaii Kai. Around the Crouching Lion it started to rain really hard. Since we had already paid a fortune for tickets, there was no way we were going to turn back. The scenic route took longer than Guido thought (even though I told him it would take a long time), and we got to PCC kinda late.

There's a bunch of villages, and each village has activities and shows at set times. It's impossible to see all the shows, do the activities and see the IMAX movies if you're also planning to do the luau. You can use your pass to come back within three days, but realistically, how many tourists are going to drive all the way out there again.

Anyway, one of the guides was nice enough to tell us to make sure we visited the Marquesas since that island group wouldn't be featured in the night show. We also visited Samoa, where Scooter and Fluffy learned how to make fire by rubbing two sticks together. (It really does work, but the trick is to use two pieces from the SAME TREE and peel the bark off the sticks.) And we visited Tonga.

We threw spears at a coconut tree, and Fluffy and Scooter went fishing. Scooter caught a big fish.

The luau was pretty good. I always wondered how they cook a whole pig without it falling apart under all those rocks. Duhhh... They wrap it in chicken wire and put it on TOP of the hot rocks and cover the whole thing with banana leaves. Neat.

The night show was really good. Fluffy was literally sitting on the edge of her seat. Of course, everyone went wild when the Tahitian dancers came out. Scooter loved the fire dancer (of course). I'm always partial to the Hawaiian dancers.

We drove home through town instead. I am so lame. Is it Likelike Highway or Pali Highway where you go through the Wilson Tunnel? Well, anyway, that's how we came home.

Remember Pearl Harbor
We are definitely on Hawaii time now, waking up around 7:30 and not leaving the hotel until around 10:00. Damn! We're wasting precious daylight hours!

Since we can't afford TWO frou-frou dinners on this trip, instead of eating at the nice Sam Choy's for dinner, we ate breakfast at Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch & Crab. Crab? I had a kalua pig omelette and Guido had a poke omelette. Perfect Atkins fare. But the pants are starting to get a little snug.

Visited the Arizona Memorial and the (U.S.S.?) Missouri. Pretty impressive ship, and the memorial is kind of creepy. They show a little movie before the boat ride out to the memorial. I wish I could get a copy of that video. Hard to believe little ol' Hawaii played such a crucial role in America's history. I think most people kind of forget about Pearl Harbor.

Of course, we stayed at Pearl Harbor too long and had to rush back to the hotel to shower before we headed to Hawaii Kai to join Leann's family at Roy's for dinner. Wow! No traffic on Kalanianaole Hwy. We were still late since we couldn't find the place.

Dinner was quite good. Kids had the overpriced prix fixe 3-course dinner, which was very exciting, since a kid meal usually has everything slopped onto one melamine tray. Guido and I both had fish, but prepared in different ways. He also had a crabcake appetizer and I had tofu. I think Leann and Russell had short ribs and prawns. The waiter was such a local guy. You can dress 'em up, but you can't take out the local out of the blalah. He was joking with us and was just so laid back. The desserts were awesome. We even took pictures. Such tourists. Then we hung around in the parking lot for another hour or two talking story while the kids played Leann's new car.

Beach Day
Amanda must have had a lot of fun with us yesterday, coz Lisa called this morning and asked if Amanda could hang out with us today. We were supposed to get together with Guido's friend John in the morning, so we told her we'd pick up Amanda after brunch.

I could have sworn Yum Yum Tree was at the Ward Centre, but Guido and John insisted it was at Ward Warehouse by the Spaghetti Factory. Ha! I was right! Of course, nobody listens to me, so we went to W Warehouse and then had to turn around and go to W Centre.

I don't know why people like Yum Yum Tree so much. The food sucked! Maybe it was my fault for ordering an artichoke pesto omelette. They ran out of artichokes and subsituted with more mushrooms, onions and red peppers. And cheddar cheese! With basil pesto! Local people should stick to cooking local food.

Anyway, Guido's friend John is very nice. Even nerdier than Guido, but very kind and gracious.

After brunch, we went back to Ward Warehouse (just couldn't get away from that place) so I could get matching T-shirts for Fluffy & me from Taj.

We picked up Amanda and went off to the beach in Kahala. It used to be the Kalaha Hilton, but now it's Mandarian Oriental at Kahala or something like that. The water wasn't that clear, but it was very calm, and there was a diving platform which Amanda, Scooter & I swam out to and jumped off of.

We took showers at the hotel and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. I wouldn't normally eat at a Cheesecake Factory, since there's one right by our house, but Amanda had never eaten there, so we had dinner there and bought extra slices of cheesecake to take with us. I swear, that had to be the biggest restaurant I've been in. It was huge! And this is kind of weird - it's 80 degrees and they had lit torches next to the outside tables.

We walked around Waikiki a little bit. One of the shopping plazas (maybe Waikiki Shopping Plaza) had a store with an aquarium in it. Pretty cool. Those walk-through tubes seem to be very popular, but it was weird to have one in a store. They had the requisite sharks and manta rays and assorted fish. You could see it from inside and outside the store, which was on the corner.

Duck-Hunting
Mood:  mischievious
Fluffy & Amanda were eating Pringles and putting them in their mouths to look like duck lips. I said, "Oh, there's a little family of ducks." Scooter came along, "And I'm the hunter. Pow!" [sound and gesture of a shotgun]

Chili Burritos
We're still on California time. Woke up around 4:00 a.m. and forced ourselves to stay in bed until at least 5:30. It's nice to get an early start, though, so we can make the most of the day. Had breakfast at Zippy's (chili burrito - yeah!), stocked up on bottled water and misc. supplies at Longs & Times, and headed to Waimea Bay for some swimming.

I LOVE driving through the country. Brings back good memories of cruising with Leann on the weekends. We stopped at the Dole Plantation just outside of Wahiawa. Took a little train ride and a walking tour; got reacquainted with the local vegetation and crops, and learned a lot about pineapples. Fed hundreds of fish in the giant koi pond. Then we broke into teams (Fluffy & me, and Guido & Scooter) and went through the giant pineapple-shaped maze made out of hibiscus shrubs. If you follow the map they give you, it's really easy. Of course, Fluffy couldn't wait for me to read the map and took off haphazardly through the bushes with me chasing her, and we immediately got lost. It took us an hour to get out of there! (The record is five minutes!) The guys beat us by seven minutes, and were enjoying lunch on the big, breezy porch when Fluffy & I staggered out of there. It was a great team-building exercise.

It was late by the time we left Dole, so we said screw Waimea and drove over to Haleiwa for Matsumoto shaved ice instead. Wow! That place was really crowded. Busloads of tourists actually stop there, and we got there just before four buses unloaded.

We got back in town just in time to meet Lisa, Lance & Amanda for dinner at Gyotaku. Had the weirdest dinner - poke don - poke over rice with tempura. After that we went to Chuck E. Cheese (leftover tradition from our last trip to Hawaii).

I'm sure we'll be on Hawaii time tomorrow, coz we stayed up REALLY late.