PixlBit

Good morning Pixlpeeps! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and for my peeps in other countries I hope Thursday treated you well. Turkey Day was fun because I got to eat a lot, spent time with the family, and watched The DALLAS COWBOYS BEAT THE HATED WASHINGTON REDSKINS. Yes that deserved to be in all caps. So a couple of days ago I talked about why I was absent from here for about a week and today I thought I would share some pictures I took. Surprisingly I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would but hey I still got some cool shots.

Before I get started I just wanted to mention how much I love Amazon Prime's Video service. Even though the selection isn't as massive as Netflix, the thing I liked the most was that I was able to download content onto my iPad and watch it offline. This was a life saver on the plane especially when they were offering The Life of Pets and Angry Birds The Movie. On the way to Hawaii I watched Spectre which was freaking awesome because of the Bond easter eggs, and a damn good movie, and on the way back I watched Mission Impossible which was also a damn good movie. Alright let's get started!

 

Chris Takes Pictures

So the day after I get to Hawaii (stayed on the island of Oahu) my uncle drives us around to where all the new resorts are in Kapolei (pronounced Kap-O-Lei) Hawaii. The one we wanted to see was of course Disney's Aulani

 

There was no way we were going to stay here because it's like $400 a night and this island is full of family so it was fun to look around. My uncle said that when his family stayed there for the weekend they have a scavenger hunt where you roam around the property with an iPad. There was a certain part in this water fixture where you hit a button on your iPad and the rocks raise out of the water to form the island chain of Hawaii. We saw random Disney characters walking to and from their eatery (for you folks who have been to Disneyland Hotel, it's like Goofy's Kitchen).

 

Along with the famed Hidden Mickey's that are all over Disney Property, they also added hidden Memehune, which in Hawaiian mythology are little people that live deep in the forest. I only found a couple of Hidden Mickey's during our little trip through the property.

The next day we spent some time in my old stomping grounds, the north shore of Hawaii. My pops used to take to the beach at Waimea all the time, and I believe I spent one Christmas at the beach (it's kind of odd singing about snow, while eating barbecue and getting ready to go back into the water with my cousins.)

 

The big rock that all the tourist (and my dumbass) jumped off of didn't look as imposing as I remembered but if I were to stand on it again, I would probably say I was wrong. After spending time here we went down the Highway a bit further to check out what was going on at Pipeline

 

There were a handful of people sitting on the beach watching some folks surf. I was never great at surfing but it is fun to watch folks who can stay on a board long enough to ride a wave. After this it was time to make our way back to Haliewa (Ha-La-E-Va) for some lunch and to go tourist for a bit. When I was younger it was a tourist spot but it still had that small town charm, and is home to the first McDonalds I ever went to that sold rice. My favorite place here will always be Matsumoto's Shave Ice

 

Tourist trap? You bet, but it was also a small store, that felt a little dirty, and sticky but had tons of pictures all over the wall of celebrities who stopped by for their shave ice. This was also the first place that I ever had ice cream on the bottom of shave ice. Right next to it was this patch of dirt covered in trees where you would sit on the bed of the truck and enjoy your shave ice before heading home. Now that patch of dirt covered in trees is a little shopping center, and my favorite little dirty, sticky shave ice spot has cleaned up and the original location has been converted to a souvenir shop while the new shave ice location behind it, is a little more formal. Things evolve but I do miss the little shop.

A couple of days later when we were back at my uncle's place we took a trip to a luau I've never been to before called Germaine's which is also in Kapolei but hidden behind an industrial park. It's smaller than the ones on Waikiki or the big production at the Polynesian Cultural Center (this one is really nice.) I liked Germaine's because its more intimate and some of the performers are walking around before their show taking pictures and answering questions. The show starts with a story about the king and queen and the description of how they tell a story through dance

 

It then pauses so we can all walk to the back and watch the ceremony where they pull the pig out of the ground

 

There's a little bit of comedy and the emcee explains the process. From that point we go back to our seats and the show continues and a lady informs each long table when it is their turn to go to the buffet. While in line to grab some pig (I skipped some poi, sorry folks its just not my thing) I saw my cousin who was working there. Small world. After forming a small mountain of food on my plate it was back to the show.

 

 

I really liked the show and I was bummed that when it was over the gift shop was closed. I usually buy a DVD of the shows that I usually never watch afterward but its nice to have. Everyone involved was very friendly and after their show the cast came back out to pose for more pictures and answer any questions.

The day before I was supposed to fly back I went full tourist mode and took a trip down to Waikiki. I usually avoid this part of the island because all my family lives on the other side of the island where it feels like the country and everything is at a slower pace.

 

One of the spots we checked out was the new International Marketplace. When I was younger this place was an open area where these big trees provided a canopy and under it there were stalls that sold everything from little trinkets to these really cool big candles where the vendors would dip what seemed to be burrito sized cylinders of wax into different colors, hang them on a hook and then slice into the sides of it revealing a rainbow of colors and then twirling the slice portions and then made the burrito shaped candle into flower shapes. Really cool stuff but I would never buy one. There was also this funky Chinese food spot that I liked but it was nowhere to be found. Anyways the new Market Place has become an outdoor mall with swanky stores. The middle of it is a little open play area with a water feature and two statues of the King and Queen. My cousin was telling me the history of them which was really cool. The marketplace lost some of that charm that Matsumoto's had but everything has to evolve.

 

We walked down the street a little bit further to check out one of the coolest spots the Moana Surfrider Hotel. Bonus did you know, the Surfrider was part of the video game Tony Hawk's Underground. The next day I spent roaming around the Aloha Stadium Swapmeet going full tourist, spending time with my pops and little sister, before going back to my uncle's to pack and sit in a metal bird for 6 hours. That was my trip to Hawaii. Thanks for looking at my pictures and reading through my random recaps!

 

Black Friday Pickups!

My Black Friday Shopping started on Tuesday when still a bit jet lagged I went to my local music store and bought a lot of CDs.

 

 

Ok so I added more Christmas Music to the library and I found a bunch of Etta James CD's that I wanted to add to my library, and I went over my usual of buying either eight or sixteen CDs (Buy 5 get 3 free at $1.99 each)

 

Growing Up I really dug the song You Come To My Senses off Chicago's Twenty 1, but after listening to it, I'm not a fan. Oh well. It's one of those things I guess.

 

The Rolling Stones album was actually $12 but I was ok with that because I didn't have it in the library. I thought the NeYo CD would be good but when I opened it, it was 50 First Dates, a CD I already own. Kind of fitting considering I just got back from Hawaii. Anyways it goes on the donate pile. On the way home I stopped by Goodwill and they had a bunch of Guitar Hero stuff but I passed on it and picked up another CD

 

I've never heard of them but I guess its Pop Punk from what the people on YouTube say, and it's ok.

 

I think on Wednesday the Steam sale went live and I bought

 

The Halo Spartan Bundle for $2, Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for $5, and the Just Cause 3 Land, Sea, and Air DLC for $8. Bonus with the JC 3 bundle is that it broke my game and my character can't shoot. It seems like other folks are having this problem. I hope there is a patch.

From GameStop they gave away a Final Fantasy Soundtrack

 

 

From Toys R Us I got the following

 

While everyone is reselling the NES Classic on eBay, I was waiting for the handheld Genesis to drop in price because there is an SD Slot to add more Genesis games...like the entire library. I also got these fun packs because it was 3 for $20 (take that Target!)

 

I also found some Spider-man bag sets on the pegs. I'm shocked that the local Lego nerd didn't buy all of them (yeah there is actually a guy who buys a ton of Lego, and its not me)

 

From Target I bought

 

We all know I like Jennifer Lawrence, and now I own the Hunger Games Trilogy. The next step is actually watching the trilogy. I really need to find my copy of the first flick. These were all $6 and I really bought them so I can add the digital copy to iTunes.

 

I really like Supergirl. It's a fun superhero show.

The final pickup from Target is a CD

 

More Christmas Music.

 

The final stop was Walmart where my cousin bought a couple of games and I bought an SD card for my new Sega Genesis Handheld.

 

Turns out the Sega Genesis Handheld can't read a 16GB card. Thank goodness I had my old 3DS XL card (4GB) and I used that and it works fine.

 

Alright Pixlpeeps, I am off. I bought some ice cream last night, and I have a full apple pie to eat (not in one sitting) so have a good Black Friday, be safe and I shall talk to you good people soon!

 

That's all for now, more later!

-Chris