What an odd day it's been. Got up super early in order to set out for Pearl Harbor via TheBus. As an avid bus rider in many cities round the world, I have to report that Oahu's bus system is reliable but takes FOREVER to get anywhere. Too many stops and I was shocked at how long it took us to go such a short distance, really. As expected as well, this is the centralizing force of all the local wingnuts and crackheads, and there were some colorful folk aboard this morning. First up, Twitchy - with his ratty flipflops and dandruff-ridden long hair (major disgusting) could not stop moving for the entirety of his journey, which included accosting the tourists with mindless chatter. This, after the man at the bus stop with a "foreign" accent (that is, I couldn't distinguish it except that it was neither Asian nor American nor Hawaiian) asking me if my bus pass was "some kind of Canadian money" while dressed in a mismatched suit, sneakers, and carrying a child's (a girl child's, might I add) backpack. He then walked away after I told him it was a bus pass. Didn't wait for the bus, just asked his question of me and kept going.
Next - Babyhead and his Two Stupid Minions. Seriously, this Asian guy looked JUST like the guy with the baby head in Brazil, and the other man and woman with him were clearly impaired somehow, but it was not apparent in what way. Yes, it's cruel to make fun of people with obvious mental impairment (though I'm going to venture that the diminished capacity was due in large part to simple stupidity than an organic disorder), except that they proceeded to be directly in my line of vision (and subsequently my way) all day long and thus will escape neither my attention nor my ire. They, and several other freaks, accompanied us all the way to Pearl Harbor, and by the time I got off that bus, I was beginning to wonder if I had been riding the proverbial short bus. The woman who got off in front of me was wearing (no kidding) Pajama Jeans - which was totally embarrassing on several fronts, not the least of which was her lack of consulting a mirror and the stretch capacity of the elastic in the butt-crack area, and then I encountered her in the restroom a few minutes later. I had to pee something fierce, and I had to wait for her to do a series of severe-OCD hand movements in all four corners of the stall before I could have the space. She even turned herself in several circles as well and had an incantation of sorts. Totally bizarre and irritating given the state of my bladder at the time.
And this was just the FIRST hour of my day, people.
{Sidebar: there are people around here who are, simply put, WAY TOO tan. It's ridiculous - they are completely, unnaturally brown and leathery, with too-white teeth and often bleached hair (the women). It creeps me out and recalls Brazil once more. Why would someone think that having your skin look like cooked meat is attractive?}
Pearl Harbor was genuinely interesting, however. Despite the hordes of morons (and I'm not being overly critical or hateful, either, it really did seem to be bring-your-idiot day), it was a moving experience to watch the short film and see the sunken Arizona. Knowing that the people who died when it blew up and then sank are all still there is haunting, and even though the tour guides remind you that it's a place of entombment, I'm shocked at how many people do not treat it with any kind of reverence at all. In the shrine, there was a guy in there with his hat on, and I felt a strong urge to smack him hard and say "Where's your sense of respect? Do you know how many dead people lie here? Take off your damn hat, fool." But I didn't, because it IS in fact a place of reverence and the least I could do was show it. Here's something that choked me up: the sunken remains still leak drops of black oil ("black tears") that rise to the surface and dissipate. It is remarkably like tears and it seems poignant to me that after all this time, there's oil left to leak, and that speaks to me in some way. I took a video of it.
From there, we ate our packed lunch of sandwiches and Doritos with a great deal of attention from some cute little doves. And while they seemed to be begging, they wouldn't actually eat anything we dropped. Perhaps they simply wanted to be friends. We then got on the bus (this time, not the short one, thank the gods) and rode over to Ford Island to visit the Pacific Aviation Museum, which was neat and interesting (though not entirely my thing). While waiting for the bus to pick us up and take us back, I did note another group of idiots, this time two girls, an older man I assume was their father, and a baby carriage were tending to a clearly newborn infant in a stroller. I was disturbed by (1) that they were vacationing with a newborn (mostly because that sounds like way more trouble than it's worth), and (2) that the grandfather of said baby was attempting to give her red licorice to quiet her crying, rather than the standard bottle or pacifier. He seemed to find it incredibly funny. I did not.
Once we got back, I was ready to head out but Jamison had to look at the torpedos and guns and other boy-stuff first. Then, back on The Bus, which was every bit as bizarre as it was this morning. There was a guy and girl who got on, and he was - quite literally - twice her size. Not that he was that large; she was just that small, and it was such a strange picture. Then, it turns out that she's f-ing CRAZY or high or both. She stumbled around the bus, taking off her shoes, leaning on strangers, changing seats a few times, and giving her boyfriend high-fives and speaking incoherently (but remarkably loud).
{Another sidebar: I have to write this in the lobby of the hotel because that's where the wi-fi is, and the receptionist is typing on a TYPEWRITER. This hotel is really the place that time forgot...}
I feel like I should be writing more about my vacation today, but I am all about people-watching this afternoon. And this place does not disappoint in any way for that.
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