Aloha!

It's the Aloha Festivals again this weekend. Aloha Festivals is celebration of Pacific, Asian and Western cultural influences ~ The festivities were planned to honor the Makahiki - a time of sports competitions, music, and feasting in ancient Hawaii. The mission of Aloha Festivals is to foster the "Aloha Spirit" through the preservation of Hawaiian culture and the perpetuation of the diverse customs and traditions of Hawaii. It started last week with a Ho'olaule'a last Friday evening in Waikiki and yesterday evening another one called the Downtown Mele along Bishop Street stretching until Aloha Tower Marketplace. Initially, I'd planned to go downtown yesterday to check the Ho'olaule'a but decided otherwise as I didn't want to bother with the massive auto as well as people traffic and the headache of trying to find a good parking spot!

Instead R and I drive to Waialae to buy korean take out place for dinner and spend the rest of the night at home...watching Hard Candy on DVD. The movie was a little too slow for me. I've read several reviews prior to watching and it was describe as a suspense/revenge-thriller movie ~ NOT (well at least not for me)!! Not enough blood and gore. Here's a summary ~ it aims to be a provocative, viscerally troubling, puzzlingly clever tale of a young girl's vigilante justice against a man who may well be a child molester. Hard Candy never locates a satisfying, believable tone and I found it BORING!

I wake up early Saturday morning and head out to Ward Center. I am scheduled to meet my group member at 10am to go over a case study which we will be presenting in class on Wednesday. I arrive at Ward Warehouse at 8.45am, find a good parking spot and head out to Ala Moana Blvd to watch the Floral Parade which was to begin at 9am. This year's Festival theme is Na Paniolo Nui O Hawai'i - The Great Cowboys of Hawaii, a tribute to the life, music, spirit, and family of the Hawaiian cowboy, or paniolo. I was able to see floats presented by Hawaiian Airlines and Hilton Hawaiian Village, various school bands, military guards and several queens of the Aloha Festivals.

My meeting lasted about an hour and once I was done...I head straight home with the intention to study for a little bit before heading downstairs to the pool. However, by the time I get home, unload my book and laptop bags in the living room...I realized it was too nice outside to be indoors so I decided to take the bus down to Ala Moana Shopping Center and then do some walking as exercise. Pretending to be a tourist, with my ipod and camera in hand, I start from Ala Moana Beach Park, walk towards Magic Island and ending up in front of Hawaiian Hilton Village, then riding the bus into Waikiki where I walk the strip to take more pictures. After all of that walking, I stop by Fatty's for a late lunch of ginger chicken and roast duck on rice (yum! and yeah...I've just gain back those pounds I just lost during my long walk) before deciding to head home. But while riding the bus, I took a short detour to Aloha Tower Marketplace to take more pictures before finally heading home; tired and hungry again!