Hittin' it off at San Fran, part 2...

So came Friday morning,

I woke up to the sunshine peering through my hotel room's curtains and got myself all ready for the day.  I had some time to kill before my buddies and their family arrived at the hotel so I decided to explore the town around my hotel.

It just so happen, that it was the town's Farmer's Market, hella cool stuff.  I was trippin' at all of the goodies they had for sale, we're talking from flowers, to fruits to pasta.  The colors were off the hook...

More photos from the city...

I love this bw photo...

Eventually my friends and their fam bam made it to the hotel, and got checked in.  It wasn't too much later that we caught a taxi to check out Alcatraz.  I was kinda stoked for this adventure, being that it was my first time checkin' out and learning about the historical significance of this place.

Some photos from the ferry...

 And then we landed on Alcatraz.  Along with its unreal history, are the unreal places to snap photos, man I was in heaven...

Another killer bw photo I took...

A photo of the bay area from Alcatraz...

The Alcatraz Water Tower...

From one of the jail cells...

A photo from the Alcatraz library area...

The Alcatraz cell hall...

The Alcatraz Cafeteria...

The outside Alcatraz Recreational Area...

Bay view from Alcatraz...

Photos of the prison from the outdoor recreational area...

Man, I love these bw's...

If you look kinda closely, you see those "dash" markings and then those cement covered holes.  Well apparently these were where grenades were dropped during one of the most infamous Alcatraz prisoner takeovers...

Alcatraz Lighthouse...

Alcatraz warden's home...

Bay view...

A couple more bw's.  (Take note of the photo below, it's a hole that was actually dug by one of the Alcatraz prisoners in an attempt to escape.)...

After that adventure was done, we headed on over to Fisherman's Wharf for some grubbage.  On our way over, I saw this cool sculpture.

It was time to get our eat on at the Fog Harbor Fish House.  My godson ordered a Shirley Temple, whew, this place don't play, lol...

Bluecheese bread...

Clam chowder...

Shrimp salad...

 Salmon with garlic mashed potatoes...

Wharf photos...

After a day of adventure we caught the "bart" aka subway back to our hotel...

You gotta love it, it was quite the day of adventure, good food and killer photo op's!

Hittin' it off at San Francisco, part 1...

So a couple of months prior,

My good friend, the mother of my godkiddies invited me for yet another travel opportunity, this time for San Fran.  Unlike the past out of state adventures, this one is to check out the Ohio State vs. Cal Berkley football game, being that my friend's father is one of the coaches for the Buckeyes.  I've been invited to other football games, when my friend's dad coached for the Gators and what not, but I never jumped on the opportunity, mainly because of work, and partially because...meh...lol.  But a number of people convinced me that I was basically an idiot for not jumping at an opportunity like that, so I had a change of heart and a wanting to go n travel like that during the summer.

So here I was back at the airport to catch my flight...

I also took some "miniature effect" photos, pretty cool stuff...

Mmm, and you gotta love airplane food, good old teri chicken.  It was a pretty cool flight, I had my own row, and one of my classmates was one of the flight attendants, so it was nice to catch up on stuff...

Sooo, when I landed in San Fran, I got my luggage n what not, and then headed outside to catch a taxi to my hotel.  So I walk outside n this dude asks me, "You lookin' for a taxi?"  And I was like, "Ya man, I am."  

So he grabbed my suitcase and I followed behind him as he was walking to the parking lot.  Man, I was totally suspect out because one, I was expecting a taxi to stop n grab me right at curbside, but instead we had to walk to the parking lot.  And then two, when I saw the car, it WASN'T a yellow taxi cab, instead it was like this four door Cadillac.  In all honesty I got nervous, lol.  

So the guy grabbed my luggage and put it in the trunk of the car and then I sat in the back seat and then told him where I needed to go.  Well, I got even MORE nervous when I hopped in and noticed that there WASN'T a meter.  Holy shiznit, I was hella nervous.  To top it even more, as we went to exit the parking lot, and as my driver went to pay for his parking ticket, his friggen credit card wasn't accepted at the machine.  So the dude ended up reversing and paying one of the in person employees at the booth with cash.  

At this point I thought one of two things were gonna happen to me, one, the driver would take me to some dark alley n mug me or simply jus' cut me the hell up.  So I grabbed my atm card and my driver's license and tucked it in my shoe, lol, so that one, I could be identified if I was cut up and/or two, if I lived and was mugged, I could grab me some cash and still get around.

Long story short, the driver took me to where I needed to go, lol, but wheeeeeeew.

That alone was quite an adventure, so I checked in, ordered me a pizza and called it a night.

Hangin' out with da boyz (again)...

So today,

I met up with a couple of collector buddies of mine, mainly to catch up on our latest happenings, being that the last time we met together was nearly 6 months ago, sheeeesh!  (It's mainly my bad though, with all of my happenings going on.)  But ya, we finally met up n talked story with some hella good food from 99 Ranch Market, a place here in the 808 with a food court and some lil shops.  My buddies got seafood chow mein and chicket katsu with meat jun, and I got me a Vietnamese mixed plate complete with lemon grass chicken, shrimp salad and a spring roll, mmm good stuff.

As usual the day was filled with jokes comin' from every angle, and we geeked out talkin' about the latest in our collections and 411 in the urban art world, good times, good times.  FRUITY PEBBLES! (Inside joke, lol.)

Bday celebration day 5...

My sis gave me a ring,

And let me know that we'd be celebrating my niece's bday on nearly the other side of the island.  Being that my niece is one of my pride n joys I had to be there.  So the immediate fam bam (sis, fiancé, niece, brother, sis in law and nephew) headed on over to Kailua to Boots n Kimo's.  This particular restaurant is on the grid of many, and I agree it's a good place to have breakfast.  It also helps too that the staff there are very nice, they got it all organized to a science and the food is pretty good.

For breakfast I had the "pakalolo" omelet, complete with tomatoes, ham, mushrooms, onions and cheese, along with their fried rice and....

A waffle, with a side of their trademark macadamia nut sauce.  Now my brother, my sister's fiancé and I had a pretty lengthy convo about what we think is in this killer macadamia nut sauce.  We've come to a consensus that it's made up of melted vanilla ice cream with a little bit of condensed milk and vanilla, lol.  Whatever the hell is in it, it's goooooooood stuff....

Later that day I attended rehearsal for UH's half time show which will feature the 5210 initiative at this year's UH vs UMC football game.  5210 in a nutshell is a health initiative promoting 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, two hours of tv, 1 hour of exercise and 0 sugary drinks.  It's endorsed by a number of companies and famous people including Mrs. Obama, cool stuff huh.  Well here in the 808 a song was made, along with a video and even choreo by some of the 808's greatest talent to promote this initiative.

But ya, this past Saturday we had rehearsal for the half time show, which includes kids from dance troops,  different schools, and community organizations.  Oh and I forgot to mention that the choreo for this song was done from my good friend Mara Bacon Chang, the CEO of Street Jamz Werkout.

After rehearsal, the gang headed over (again) to Shinsho Tei's for some grub n the final celebration day of my bday.  Good times, good times...man I love their friend noodles, haha.  Man, it was another evening of fun!  I had all of the gang sing at least one song...happy camper, lol.

You would think the madness would end there...wrongo!  After dinner n karaoke, a small trio of us continued our evening adventure for...dessert, hahahaha.  So Lililiha Bakery we went, and we put in our order for our personal favs: grilled butter rolls complete with Liliha Bakery jelly, hot fudge sundae, orange dream shake and a chocolate shake, HOT DAMN!

  So much mahalo to Mars, Kau'i, Jarjar and Soopamaria808 for the good times, karaoke action, grub up the ying yang and an evening of laughs, much aloha to all of you!

Goodbye Betty...

To Betty (my backpack)...

You've given me over 10 years of literally "getting my back".  You've held it all, my most deepest secrets, even my undies.

You were there at all of my travels, you were there during my "get fit" phase, you were there waiting patiently at all of my dance rehearsals and you were there at a number of my performances, I can't thank you enough.  You've also got the "pass" at many o security checks at the airport and at concerts.

It looks like our road has finally come to an end, and the final draw was when your zipper broke on me, revealing all of my goodies for everyone in public to see.

You have been replaced Betty by Blossom, but not to worry, you will always have a special place in my heart...err, on my back.