You guys don't really know what New Years is like if you've never experienced it in Honolulu or another city with a large Oriental population. (I know, I know, on the Mainland the P.C. term is ``Asian,'' but here there doesn't seem to be much objection to the word ``Oriental.'')
At this point, it's 1:30 in the morning, and there are still sounds of sporadic firecrackers outsider. When I look out my window (17th floor -- and me who used to have a fear of heights!) the view is still obscured with smoke. A heavy drizzle tonight didn't put much of a damper (so to speak) on the New Year's spirits. People still set off their firecrackers in their carports or wherever.
The attempt by the City Council to put restrictions on where firecrackers can be set off has not been very successful. For a year or two there was a system where you had to get a permit to buy them, and there was a restriction on how many you could buy, and you had to prove you lived in an acceptable part of the city -- no high rises, etc. -- to get the permit. That was sort of a joke. After all, private aerial fireworks have been illegal for years, and yet every New Years and Fourth of July I look out my window and see Roman candles, bottle rockets and other aerial fireworks being shot off all over the city. Anyway, the courts shot the permit system down (so to speak).
So.... New Years in Honolulu! Hope you like lots of loud noises, if not: too bad! Put earplugs in your pets' ears. Close all the doors and windows if you have asthma. It's quite an experience, although I'm not sure I need to keep repeating it year after year.
Me, I go to my neighborhood bar -- Anna Bannana's. I'd rather listen to the jukebox than firecrackers. Lots of good music from the Sixties, although every once in a while somebody insists on playing Alanis Morissette.
Happy New Year, everyone! I don't have a Sound-blaster card or audio software, so I can't let you know what you're missing, you on the Mainland. Just imagine the Fourth of July at the end of December.
It's cold here now, by the way. Not by your standards, maybe, but I get to wear my leather jacket and I try to pretend it's San Francisco -- not very successfully though.
Love & kisses,