Tag Archives: graffiti

Hawaiian Vacation 2019

In July 2019, I flew to Hawaii to meet Anela and visit Jordan and Christin. I hiked a lot, putting my recently healed foot to the test, ate a lot of foods, snorkeled, and more! But for some reason, I didn’t blog about it for a long time. This has been in my drafts in various levels of completion, but it’s time to publish!

Saturday

I flew in Saturday, Anela and I both arriving at nearly the same time. Our AirBNB driver had never heard of milk tea or boba and didn’t think there was any in Hawaii. But he did suggest bubble tea. *facepalm*

We checked out our AirBNB in a touristy area of Waikiki. Anela instantly liked the stairs, and we stopped for a picture. We did a little shopping across the street for things we’d need before meeting up with Christin and Jordan.

They knew a ramen place they liked, so we went to Volcano Ramen in Yokocho Village for some delicious ramen. Is the ramen served in bowls or in upside-down volcanoes?

After dinner, it was time for tea because of course we needed tea. And look at the mustaches on the cups! We bought some drinks on the way back to our AirBNB, where we ended the night talking and hanging out.

Sunday

Sunday was a day for pineapple shorts!

We started the day with tea from Starbucks near the bus stop at Jordan and Christin’s.

Our first adventure was Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which was beautiful!

After exploring on land, we decided to explore in the sea at Waimea Bay Beach park! We started by jumping off a big rock. I don’t know where the footage of that went. But then we went snorkeling!

Here’s a video with some clips of the snorkeling! I put a few together; the clips of me were filmed by Anela.

For dinner, we got some pizza at Spaghettini. Tasty!

There were a lot of lizards hanging around the pizza too 🙂

Monday

Monday started with Teapresso and Mitsuwa for breakfast with Anela!

After meeting up with Christin, we headed to Koko Head Crater for a hike to the top! Jordan worked during the days Monday-Friday, so it was just the three of us during the day.

The views were beautiful! I was pretty much soaked in sweat by the time we got to the top. It was quite the hike! Runkeeper said it was a 2.07 mile hike with 1334 ft total climb that took 4:31:33 and burned 1075. I say it it was gorgeous. There were definitely breaks on the hike to rest and to take a ton of photos.

Once we were at the top, Christin and I hiked a bit out to the ridge and back while Anela stayed at the top. It was a bit narrower, which wasn’t great for Anela’s lack of love for heights, but it wasn’t too crazy. The hike was a relief for me because I now knew that my foot could handle hiking. I had recently broken my foot, and while recovery was going nicely, I was a little worried.

This was also at the top, so we took some photos with it and on top of it!

Time to head back down!

After hiking back down, Jordan joined us and we went to OMG for Mexican food. After dinner, we had another Teapresso run before heading back to our AirBNB.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with a bath tub shoot for Christin and Anela. Nope, I didn’t get in the tub! I mostly zoned out and killed time while they did their shoot.

Christin, Anela, and I had lunch at Fatboy’s, but I was pretty focused on the chicken hanging out in the bushes.

No day is complete without tea it seems, so we after lunch we got tea at Bee & Tea.

Then we headed to Cash Beach in Lanikai to enjoy the water!

I also did some photographing of Anela and Christin, although I still haven’t edited them! I think we spent much more time with photos than swimming. I was a bit reluctant leave.

Walking back, we stopped for a photo in front of this beautiful gate!

After Jordan joined us, we walked around their neighborhood to check out the cool murals and spent some time in their apartment before going to dinner. We enjoying some food at Waikiki Brewing Co. Oh, and I caught a shiny Koffing that evening too!

Wednesday

Wednesday was tide pool day, but first we stopped Makapu’u Point Lookout for some beautiful blue views.

The tide pools were next! They did require some hiking on a nice trail that felt like nothing compared to the previous day’s hike, and then we went off trail a bit and trekked down a hill.

Floating in the water chilling with fish!

After we eventually decided to leave and trek back up the hill, we moved on to Alan Davis Beach. We enjoyed the water as well as watched a group of guys try to get their huge, inflatable multi-person lounge thing into the water.

Time to jump into the Pacific! While the rock wasn’t huge, it was bigger than the video makes it seem.

Jordan joined us for dinner at what my notes say is “Ramen Village.” I’m fairly certain it was Shirokiya Japan Village Walk, a huge food court with many different shops, some small stages, and rows of gashapon machines. Anela certainly seemed happy with her ice cream. I’m really surprised I didn’t take photos of the building itself, but it seems I only have this one and a close up of my sushi.

Thursday

Thursday started with doggos while we headed to our first real destination.

I found a mermaid! We visited the mermaid cave at Zablan Beach at Nānākuli Beach Park.

If I remember correctly, it was a little tricky to climb into and out of it. There wasn’t an easy way to do it without getting a little scraped up, but it was worth it! How cool was this place?! The walk was very rocky, and here’s where I learned what my foot didn’t enjoy – very uneven terrain. The hiking we did so far was relatively flat despite being an incline or decline. The very rocky terrain caused my ankle to move at weird angles and the pressure on my foot wasn’t great.

We tried to get to cat cafe after our mermaid adventure, but we didn’t make it back in time. Someone got hurt on our bus. I don’t remember the specifics, and maybe we didn’t fully know. I think he tripped getting on the bus and cut his leg. There was a decent amount of blood. I think there was a medical professional on the bus who helped him.

In the evening, we got some tea again, and Anela and I had some Korean food near our AirBNB. Before turning in, I bought and wrote some postcards!

Friday

Unicorn Cafe, which was a block or two from our AirBNB, had a cute sign that pulled us inside. Obviously we needed more tea this trip.

Fueled by tea, Anela and I visited Epic Aloha, a nearby selfie museum. I still haven’t gone through these and posted, but it’s on my list!

After enjoying Epic Aloha, Anela and I stopped at Coffee Shop 831 for a panini and tea! It was right across the street from our AirBNB, so it’s surprising it took us this long to have lunch there.

After lunch, we joined Christin and went on a quest to hike to the pink pillbox!

As usual, the view was great. The structures were pretty cool and, as you can see, had quite a bit of graffiti.

When the sun started to set, it was time to go. We hiked down and headed back toward home to join Jordan and grab some dinner at McDonald’s!

Saturday

After a quick stop at Mitsuwa, likely for sushi but I don’t know for sure, Anela and I met up with Jordan and Christin and we headed to Aloha Stadium swapmeet.

I had to get this cologne, right? It’s not really possible for me to walk past it even though I don’t wear cologne. Plus, I got a couple magnets and such as small souvenirs.

Once we had our fill of shopping, we filled ourselves on BBQ at Dixie Grill, which was pretty tasty.

At the end of the day, Anela and I went back to our AirBNB and then spent the last evening in Waikiki.

Since we were wearing pineapple clothes, we stopped for photos with a giant pineapple statue! We explored some shops, and I specifically remember Anela doing some shopping in a Christmas ornament store. I might have spent a little time catching Ralts for community day too!

We also caught some hula dancers!

It was a nice way to spend our final evening in Hawaii 🙂

Sunday

I had a nice morning on Sunday even if it was time to leave. After trying a few times to get a bagel breakfast sandwich from the place across the street, Coffee Shop 831, we managed to get some! This is a tasty avocado, egg, bacon, and cheese bagel sandwich! There wasn’t much time to do anything Sunday morning, so we talked a little and relaxed at the AirBNB before it was time to go.

By the time I got to the airport, it was time for lunch. The mushroom chicken hit the spot!

And then it was time for my bear that transforms into a neck pillow to join me for the flight home. Aloha, Hawaii!

Edit: And then Duncan picked me up from the airport! Alas, I didn’t take a photo. I’m sorry Duncan.

Murphy Ranch hike

Murphy Ranch is a compound built by Nazi-sympathizers in Los Angeles. Local police seized the compound, and it’s currently owned by the city of Los Angeles. After hearing that it was going to be demolished (I’ve since learned that only parts of it were removed), Anela and I decided to pay it a visit. Thanks for taking our photo, kind stranger.

It was definitely a bit of a hike with a lot of stairs, but it was also very enjoyable. There were a number of people out to see it, and it was fun to run into the same people throughout the day.

The building was completely covered in graffiti and very pretty.

Kitty Pryde enters the building through the wall. Either that, or I embrace mistakes.

Here’s the wall without any X-men. There were a few people spray painting while we were there. I got a few photos as well, but I’d rather not post them.

This was Anela’ favorite piece of art, which I find beautiful as well. She reminds me of tokidoki art.

This was the back wall on the outside. I like the minion.

This was, I think, a water tower behind the building. Not quite as neat as the building itself. Photo credit to Anela!

Here’s a look at the back side of the building as we returned from the water tower.

There was a ladder that went up to some catwalks that I used to take more photos. You could use it to access the roof as well, although I didn’t climb out there. I like this shot looking down at Anela. Yes, I removed a word from the wall.

Why were there metal bars on the windows? I don’t really know.

We saw this guy on the way to a second building. While I liked this, the building itself wasn’t anywhere near as cool as the first so I won’t bother posting any photos of it here.

More photos are in my Flickr album, but it doesn’t include any photos I didn’t take myself.

It was a really fun day. I should check it out again to see what’s changed!

Coup de Comedy Festival 2015 featuring Kindred Hearts singing to gem

The Coup de Comedy Festival 2015 was this weekend, hosted by UCI’s Improv Revolution – a four day festival celebrating all sorts of comedy. Wednesday opened with Improv Revolution and Live Nude People playing together, referring to themselves as Nude* Revolution. Great name, and great comedy.

It was followed by The Resistance. They were amazing last year, so I was really looking forward to them this year. The video at the top depicts a flashback scene they performed of a pirate’s curse. The Resistance improvises action movies. This one was about kids finding a skeleton with a map to a treasure, full of karate, the nerd winning the girl, and useless adults. I didn’t realize until that day that Derek Mears, who I had just seen with Dr. God, was performing with them. Awesome!

Here’s another scene near the end – a karate montage.

The night ended with Delicious Moments, a duo who switches characters rapidly, usually going back and forth between roles during a single conversation. It’s, uh, long-form, I suppose. They don’t really do scenes exactly. They just talk on stage about their show, and then things happen. It’s pretty funny.

Thursday started with Improv X, but I didn’t catch it. My comedy Thursday started with KINDRED THROATS! They don’t style their name like that or anything. I just really loved them.

Kindred Throats consists of Kevin Stafford and Tom Risenmay who play guitar, sing, and generally act hilarious. Unlike most of what I’d seen so far at the festival, Kindred Throats performed sketch rather than improv (although bits are of course improvised).

This was the only show gem could attend, and I’m glad she did. During one part of the show, Kindred Throats began talking about various historic seats in the theater, including the two seats in the front for lovers. One pointed out gem and me and while the other pointed out gem and the guy sitting on her other side. They kept amusingly confirming that they were looking at the same two people while obviously being in disagreement until settling on gem and the other guy.

Once they were singing directly to gem, I had to record it, and you can see the video above. Basically, they’d get to parts in the song where they’d talk about something the lovers would do, and then they’d abruptly stop and stare until they did it. God it was funny, and I think gem really enjoyed it too.

After the show, I watched Sparks to Fire, which was a bit stand-up, a bit improv, and… a man eating a cactus?

L.A. Beast was there. I hadn’t heard of him, but he’s a competitive eater who also eats strange things on YouTube for entertainment. I saw him eat a dozen raw eggs, including the shells, a whole, raw cactus, and three ghost peppers. He apologized to the women in the audience, noting that his male fan base is much larger than his female fan base.

After the show was Stand-Up on the Spot with Jeremiah Watkins, but I skipped it. I did, however, see Kevin and Tom from Kindred Throats outside getting ready to leave. gem was on her way back to UCI, hoping to bring them homemade cookies. After telling them about the cookies, they agreed to stay and wait, so I had a chance to talk to them for a bit.

They really were in disagreement over who to pick. One wanted to pick gem and me and realized we were there together, while the other wanted to choose gem and the other guy because the other guy was using his phone to record the entire time. They said sometimes they choose people who are obviously together, sometimes they choose obvious strangers, and once they just chose two guys who were clearly just friends.

I think they enjoyed their cookies!

I didn’t attend Friday at all. I missed some Open Mic, Red Door & Triumph, The Mechanicals, OBGY-Not Sketch Show, and Stand-Up with Zoe Rose Moacanin.

Saturday was the last day (and a bit annoying due to breaks). It began with Second City’s Really Awesome Improv Show followed by a two hour break.

I spent that break taking a picture with Peter the Anteater.

Two pictures, actually.

And I also read Scott Pilgrim and messed around on my phone.

I also found this graffiti. THIS ART: FULL OF POOP?

After the break was Doctor Who Live! – an improvised episode of Doctor Who. I don’t really care for Doctor Who, but it was still entertaining. After another two hour break during which I read more, I watched the Count Gumdrop improv performance, which was pretty funny. The night ended with Impro Theatre’s Chekhov UnScripted and Revolutionary Comedy Award honoring Keegan-Michael Key, but I bailed on those to head to my friend’s place for a game night.

It was a laugh-filled weekend!