Dinner With Abnegazar
On March 27, 2003, I, Aaron, had the pleasure of meeting a fellow TVRules.net member, Abnegazar, a.k.a., Paul. He was in town for the local Baseball Fantasy Draft. Although he had come down to Hawaii before, this was still the first time we had met. This entry was originally from my AsianAvenue page.
March 28, 2003: Yeah,
it's the 28th here now, 12:35 AM to be exact. Here was the events of the 27th - after the 2:40 AM entry:
Okay, so I wake up at 8:30, after having finally hit the hay at 4 AM. I do absolutely NOTHING for the morning...just catching up on some game shows, go online to TVR and post...same
ol' day thus far.
But the fun part of the day has to be dinner with Paul (a.k.a. Abnegazar on the TVR boards).
Second time I get to meet a person on a message board in person...but it came with a very bizarre fiasco.
To take a line from Peter Tomarken (and twist it up a little): "And Aaron, it’s all your fault!!!!"
-_-'
I plan to set out at about 5:15 to meet Paul at about 6:30 to 7:00, since I know traffic is a brewing.
I am told by my dad, "No
sweat, I checked, there should be no traffic." So I trust him and leave the house at about 5:40.
I hit Vineyard...still a way’s away from the Outrigger...and traffic hits.
-_-' Heck, I still make good time, hitting the Outrigger area by6:05. I think I’m gonna make it!
So I head down the streets my dad told me to go down. No problem. I then get onto Royal Hawaiian, another street. Now the fiasco begins:
Since I know the Outrigger Waikiki, where Paul is staying, is on Kalakaua Avenue, I decide to find Kalakaua first. I go straight on Royal Hawaiian...to find a DIFFERENT hotel sitting there, and nothing more, from what I saw.
I U-turn out of there and find Kalakaua. Now, no sweat, right? There is just one tiny problem...
...I don’t know where the hotel is! Now, sure I have an address handy, but it's of no use without being able to find my bearings – and no time to stop and look for addresses.
So, I am scurrying to find
address numbers while I have a map in one hand and the steering wheel in the other.
It says on my paper: "Outrigger Waikiki, 2535 Kalakaua Avenue." I search for address numbers still...and I find one!
It reads: 2907!!! BAH! I had gone too far down a one-way street!
Circle around and try again.
Try #2 starts off with me getting back on Kalakaua. Again, I try to find a street number, nothing.
So, feeling I had passed the hotel again, go up a side street and circle around to try again.
Try #3. This time, going down Royal Hawaiian, I call my dad, since he knows the place better than me....obviously ANYONE living on this island would know the place better than me!
He tells me to go straight (like the first try), and find the parking structure of the Sheraton/Royal Hawaiian.
No sweat, right? WRONG AGAIN!
I turn right, just like my dad says...and I look around to find no structure.
I head out on Lewers St...."too far!" my dad cries out through the cell phone.
So yes, now I have the steering wheel in my right hand, the cell phone on my left, and the map on my lap.
He tells me to turn right – and I’m in the LEFT lane. So, looking stupid, I take a right while in the left lane, and try a FOURTH time.
I decide to go left, since right didn’t work. I find...the Sheraton LOBBY?!
BAH!!! Doubling back, U-turning around. Okay, Lewers Street again.
Dad tells me to look left...and YES! I find the structure! I find a compact stall...the only ones I could find, and park.
Woohoo!
BAH! I leave something in the car, so I go back and get it...and lock my keys in there instead!
-_-' Yeah, I had a spare, so no harm.
So, due to lost time, I say, "Screw the shoes, I’ll make it on foot with slippers...what’s the worst that could happen?"
EVERYTHING!
I go into random stores and ask employees for the address of their store to grab my bearings again.
I hit where I am supposed to be...2535. I look out and I find...NOTHING BUT THE BEACH!
No hotel?! Argh! I search around, doubling back and forth for like 10-15 minutes, making sure I didn’t miss anything...but eh, no use.
I go into an ABC Store, and this nice conversation rang up:
S2X: "Can you tell me where the Outrigger Waikiki is?"
Man: "Well, there are many Outriggers here…about 5 or 6." (this is true folks)
S2X: -_-' "Okay...how about the one located at 2535 Kalakaua?"
Man: "Well, we are located at 2552, and there should be an ABC Store down there *points right* at 2522...so it should be between the two, but across the street."
S2X: "Great! But all I see is ocean!"
Man: "Okay, let’s find a map of this place...can you go get one?"
*S2X looks, but can’t find map*
S2X: "I can’t find the map."
*Man shows S2X where map is and opens it up*
Man: "Okay, we are here *points* so Outrigger should be...THERE!" *points to Outrigger Waikiki on the beach*
S2X: "Thank you!" *runs off*
So now I get to the Outrigger, and meet Paul, still waiting patiently. I tell him about the fiasco, and he says it’s cool...yay me. :-D
We continue to talk as we search for a place. We decide on a nice restaurant.
He has NY Steak, I have Sirloin and Shrimp. Nice guy, he picked up the tab.
I got to know a lot more about him, how he is great with numbers and such.
Really loves his sports, interested in all sorts of stuff, like comics, movies, sports, reality TV, etc.
I now know where he got the screen name of "Abnegazar." Real nice guy, easy to talk to. :-)
We talk some more and head out...I swear there was something about Mike Myers or Austin Powers around the vicinity of where we were dining, but eh.
We continue to talk as we head down Kalakaua...to where I parked. We talk more about TVR members.
All of a sudden, I look around, and the places look unfamiliar again. I stop to look at the map...and we deduce: we had gone PAST the structure!
BAH! Double back again. We eventually get to the structure. I thanked him for dinner, tell him to check out my AA page later, since I would write about this, and we parted ways.
I certainly hope we meet again as well.
Now, back home, I post on TVR some more, and see that Paul started a thread about our dinner.
After a shower, I set out to write this ordeal down, and I’m about 2/3 done...
*click* The page inadvertently goes to another page! I lose everything.
BAH AGAIN. So here I am writing this on MS Word now and saving this every three seconds.
And so ends a wacko seven hours. Oh, I’m done? Woohoo! *copy/paste to AsianAvenue*
Done!