auwe...

Like I wasn't already homesick enough with my parents relocated to some summer-tourist town in NC without me even having a chance to get in a last trip home*, and with this winter being a real one** -

My friends Steve (aka "Tetefano") and Camilla have just spent 5 days on Oahu. They did make it up to Aiea, I wish I had known, I would have begged them to go get lunch at & take pictures of the Forty-Niner***, the building, the saimin, maybe lau lau & lomi lomi salmon, yum. No pix from my hometown except Arizona Memorial tour though, they didn't like the Aloha Swap Meet much & that was what they went to in Aiea proper. More in Waikiki, froufy drinks, spam musubi, surfing lessons, hula, all kinds of tourist-kine stuffs, silly to sublime, all part of the fun. They have been vlogging diligently & I had a great time catching up last night. Ended up a little weepy, though. God do I miss that place.

The surfing lesson is the best - longboard surfing, plenny good fun, Steve got Camilla having a great ride, and Camilla having a great wipeout, and he even tried to get a couple of his own rides - not entirely successfully, but a noble effort.

*I was invited, but it was on too short notice during a bad time at work & would've been an awful trip anyways, kind of like going to Disneyland the day after your favorite auntie died.

**It does seem to be relenting, we've had a few stunning days lately, hear it's a good one today, will be working late but maybe it'll be a walk across the bridge night!

***One of the weirder things that bugs me about the whole move thing is that the last time I was out there was the first time I was there with a digital camera. I wanted to take pictures of everything that was same as I remembered from small-kid time. 49er, Aiea Snack Shop, the library (with the alley with the crowing roosters behind it) - all sorts of peculiar things, not obviously photogenic, just stuff that was part of my childhood environment. But taking pictures always meant asking people to wait, and I was taking so many anyways, and I felt stupid asking, and I figured I'd leave some of those sillier pictures for my next trip. Ha.

There will be a next trip, though. I swear. Maybe not this year, but yikes, next year's my 25th high school reunion - haven't made any so far, but now I have some serious impetus.

If I can get myself back to my hometown, then maybe my parents not living there anymore will stop bothering me so much.