ONE OF MY BEST DAYS, EVER

Day 177 of the Lower Puna Eruption.

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It was exactly three weeks ago that my life actually changed, and I today continue to be in a reasonable state of euphoria.  I thus now better appreciate each day, even if it is not totally perfect.

Yesterday, for example, I walked 18 holes at the Ala Wai Golf Course with my next door neighbor John.  Your first impression should be, terrific, what a good life.  Nope, I agonized all afternoon, and I do this mostly because I can then eat and drink whatever I want.  Worse, my blood pressure remained at a very low range of 100/60, with one dip to 89/56, which made me weak.  But I know why.  If I have a very big breakfast too close to tee off, this happens.  Not smart of me.  When I returned home, took a bath with a fancy cocktail to drink, my blood pressure normalized at 121/71, with a blood alcohol content of 0.027.

However, before we made it back to 15 Craigside, we stopped by Foodland to each get some poke, for we have Hawaiian food being served tonight.  Amazingly enough, in the annual Star Advertiser poll of the Best Poke in Hawaii, Foodland is #1, with Tamura's #2 and Tanioka's #3.

In my case, I ordered takeout for a personal luau.  Of course I had to enhance my poke, so added chopped pieces of shiso, komochi konbu, onion and cucumber, plus major splashes of hot chili water.  I have growing in my apartment green and purple shiso plants.  You can't really tell, but the taller one is just about 3 feet high.  I can supply a sushi bar.

I was planning on having a lanai meal, but I happened to turn on the TV and noticed at 4:45PM that the World Series game was still on, so I thought I'd watch it, and recorded the University Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Volleyball match with Cal Poly.

Laulau, poi, rice, lomi-lomi salmon, chicken long rice and poke with beer, Oolong tea and the leftover from my bath cocktail, which was Midori, gin and lemon juice over cracked ice.  It took me two hours to complete the above, and the game between the Dodgers and Red Sox teams was still into extra innings.  Finally, around 9:30PM, the Los Angeles beat Boston, 3-2, the longest World Series game ever, by time (7 hours 20 minutes) and innings (18--the previous mark was set in 1916 at 14 innings).  The happiest person in the world is a resident here, Gene Kaneshiro, who once ran Columbia Inn, and knows the former owners of the Dodgers.

When this marathon ended, so did the volleyball game, which had started at 7PM.  The advantage of watching anything recorded is that you can whip through the commercials.  But I had walked 18 holes and was further exhausted by the end of this baseball classic.  Well, I saw the entire 3-2 upset victory for Hawaii.  You need to appreciate that we have a mediocre team this year, with the two outside hitters playing most of this game being around 5 feet 9 inches tall.  Just about every girls high school team has taller players.  McKenna Granato is listed at 6 feet, but she's closer to my height.

Cal Poly, on the other hand, was 19-1, rated #11 nationally, and certain to win the league championship towards the NCAA finals.  It's not that Hawaii has no chance, but Cal Poly has to lose another game, while we win every match for the rest of the year.  Just not going to happen.  But I've been wrong before.

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Typhoon Yutu remains at Category 4, and is now expected to strike the Northern Philippines at this strength:

By the way, Tropical Storm Oscar in the Atlantic will become a hurricane, but not make landfall anywhere.

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42nd STREET: The First Grand Show about Broadway

Day 176 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and the USGS reported that Kilauea Volcano remains Number One on a list of most dangerous volcanoes in the U.S. Numbers 2 and 3?  Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier.  Happy Halloween!

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Cesar Sayoc was arrested on suspicion of being the pipe bomber.  He was previously known by authorities to be a super Trump loyalist who despised Democrats and the liberal media.  

In particular, he hated CNN.  In a collage on his van window, he includes a lot of Trump stuff and a CNN Sucks sticker in the bottom left corner.

About Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Royal Family and Donald Trump keep changing their stories.  The media continue to print details on these total reversals, which is the prime clue as to why they (media) are mistrusted.  But the primary reason is that they (media) are just reporting the best known facts at the time of publication.

But on to my posting of today, place yourself back to 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression.  I wasn't born yet.  Few could afford anything, but 42nd Street (and you are in luck--this is the whole movie---or watch this version, which is ten minutes longer) became a resounding success.  Rated (much later) by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers at 95%, this concept was copied a hundred times, but returned as a successful Broadway show only in 1980 (with a whole bunch of songs from other shows), followed by a revival in 2001.

Interestingly enough, in the same year came Gold Diggers of 1933 (again, the whole film), with essentially the same cast and production crew, plus more songs.  Rotten Tomatoes reviewers bestowed a 100% rating to this follow-up.  

However 42nd Street is the classic, being the first.  Further, it was rated #13 in AFI's Greatest Musicals, and Gold Diggers is nowhere in sight.

To be brutally frank, the plot was corny, the new star, Ruby Keeler, (who at that time was married to Al Jolson) was a clunky dancer, amateurish actress and only passable singer.  Yet, that was perfectly acceptable in those days, especially since she was likable.

The person who carried the film was the person in charge of putting the stage show together, Warner Baxter, the original Cisco Kid in 1929, the first all-talking western, where he won for Best Actor.  By 1936 he became the highest-paid actor in Hollywood.  The memorable statement of Baxter to Keeler, after five weeks of rehearsal, where a day before the first public performance, the real lead literally breaks her leg, picked out of the chorus line with five hours to rehearse as the replacement:  You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!   You can better appreciate now why he won the Oscar.  And here is a rare clip of Keeler in color.

There were only three big songs:  You're Getting to be a Habit with Me, Shuffle Off to Buffalo and 42nd Street.  That 1980 revival added:  We're in the Money, I Only have Eyes for You, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Lullaby of Broadway and About a Quarter to Nine.

I should elaborate that the other performers in this 1933 42nd Street were Ginger Rogers, Dick Powell and George Brent, who, keeps popping up as the nice guy.  See my recent blog involving him. 

This was also the first major Busby Berkeley extravaganza.  His kaleidoscopic routines became famous.

At the age of 75 he returned to the revival of No, No, Nanette in 1971.  Ruby Keeler, who had divorced Jolson in 1940 (and avoided talking about him for the rest of her life), got married to a businessman in 1941, and immediately retired from show business.  However, she surprisingly appeared in that same 1971 broadway production and  made a wonderful stage return.  I can identify with that time period, for I was born in 1940 and was a year from my PhD in biochemical engineering in that interval.  Songs like  I Want to be Happy and Tea for Two came from this show.

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The eye of Typhoon Yutu is now projected to pass just north of the Philippines, with serious damage anticipated in the impacted coastal region:

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ONLY AN IMPERFECT STORM INTO THE NOVEMBER 6 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Day 175 of the Lower Puna Eruption, and nothing.

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A dozen days to November 6 and the USA is on the verge of validating the reign of President Donald Trump, or not.  Here is the current sad state of the nation:

• The economy:
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday fell 606 points, but that is not even in the top ten of all-time one-day lows.  The worst three?
• #1  -1175 on February 2 of this year
• #2  -1033 on February 8 of this year
• #3  -  832 on October 10 of this year
• Is this precarious metastability a sign of something worse to come?
• The two largest world economies (China and the USA) are in a serious trade war, and no talks are currently planned:

The tariff rate will increase from 10% to 25% in January 2019, and U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on another $267 billion worth of imports if China retaliates. That would then cover the entire $505 billion in Chinese imports to the U.S. in 2017.

• Actually, I'm with Trump on the basic unfairness of this all, but our trade partners got used to our being nice for the sake of politics.  So Trump says no more, and while he is right, the world is now on the edge of something worse to come.

• President Donald Trump will be pulling out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, but because of the way this treaty is written, he can't until November of 2020 (which happens to be when he will kicked out of office anyway).
• In the meantime, change in the leadership of Brazil is a sign that it, too, will pull out.
• French President Emmanuel Macron, the guardian of the effort, indicated that the European Union will end free trade with the USA because this agreement says that will be need to be done if the U.S. leaves.
• However, Macron himself is now in trouble in his own country because of his environmental attitude.  What is the problem?  Macron is listening to lobbyists and not doing much about global warming.  His environment minister Nicolas Hulot just resigned.
• In the meantime, what about states like California or counties across the country railing that they will unilaterally take necessary environmental protection measures even if Trump withdraws?  Forget it!!! The nature of global warming reality is that everyone will need to be in agreement or it will not work.  Those who conscientiously take protective steps will not be able to economically compete with those who do not.
• So what is the bottom line?  If the next president of the USA does abandon the Paris Agreement, Planet Earth is doomed.

• War or Peace?
• Last week President Trump announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.
• Worse, earlier this week:

President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that the United States would increase its nuclear arsenal until other nations "come to their senses," threatening an arms race days after he said he would withdraw the US from a Cold War nuclear treaty.

• He specifically stated that not only is Russia cheating, but why is China not in this agreement, anyway?  Good point.  Oh, Russia responded by saying they are not violating anything, why blame us?
• We are already spending more for war than the next seven nations combined:

• Incidentally, did you notice in the above bar graph that Saudi Arabia now has a higher defense budget than Russia?  Much to purchase armaments from the U.S.  This is the primary reason why Trump continues to waffle on the Khashoggi matter.

• Trump last year said we are paying too much to the United Nations.  With 25% of the World Gross National Product (WGNP) we supply 22% the annual UN budget.  China, with 14% the WGNP only provides 8%.  But Japan, 6% the WGNP bankrolls nearly 10% the UN cost.  The European Union picks up 30% the tab.

• While this is hardly War vs Peace, guns are akin to war, and here is a graphic that surely must mean something (note:  these are not people killed--these are number of separate school shootings):

A Gallup poll reported earlier this year of 134 countries on world leadership showing that Trump's USA has dropped to a new low of 30% from the 48% during the final year of Barack Obama's term.

In the USA, Trump's approval rating actually has improved a bit, now at 43%.  However disapproval is at 52%.  The chances of Republicans retaining control of the House after November 6 is, as of two days ago, between 1 in 7 and 2 in 9.  In other words, the Democrats will most likely regain control over the House of Representatives.  However, there is only 1 chance in 6 of Democrats becoming the majority party in the Senate.

Ah, but on 3 November 2020, it will be Trump versus, no doubt, a female Democrat.  Michelle Obama?  That would be fun.  Most of the Senate incumbents running for re-election will be Republicans (red states):

I've already almost forgotten 6 November 2018.  However, I'm getting excited about 3 November 2020.

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Super Typhoon Yutu is now only Typhoon Yutu, but still a Category 4, and currently projected to move further south, more probably towards the northern Philippines rather than Taiwan:

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THE BEST NIGHT EVER AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

Day 174 of the Lower Puna Eruption.

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Arcadia is now half a century old.  Around a decade ago a sister property was officially announced for 15 Craigside Place off Nuuanu Avenue.  I was living in the adjacent building, Craigside, since 1982, and saw the building come up.  This photo was taken in August of 2010.  People began moving in around seven years ago.

One Saturday morning late in December of 2014, for no particular reason, I decided to take a look.  Nothing serious, just a lark.  A few minutes into the tour I was asked if I wanted to especially look at an apartment that was long reserved, but just released.  I would be the first occupant.  I thought, if I were the first person to sign up for an apartment, this was the one I would have selected:  top living floor, view of the Pacific Ocean (the other side features many graveyards), with the two Craigside towers to each side so they couldn't see me.

Without much thought I wrote them a $20,000 check and moved in six months later.  To the left is the view this morning from my computer as I'm finishing this posting.

I had not checked anywhere else, mainly because I was not ready for this form of life.  While I'm truly happy here anyway, turned out to be a rash and questionable decision.  The main attraction is that, once you qualify, they will take care of you for the rest of your life.  The last thing I want to do is exist in discomfort and boredom on the second hospital floor for any length of time.  I'll find my way to Switzerland instead.  Plus, we are provided 90 meals/month, and I probably averaged 25/month since I've been here, meaning that I've wasted a lot of money by eating somewhere else.  There is no credit system of any kind.

Basically, if you want to move in here, or Arcadia (right), and there are vacancies, you will need to pay $400,000 to be accepted.  Then, for a single, $4500/month, you are provided those meals, cleaning of your apartment once/week, changing your bed and towels and high security with no cockroaches.   A couple would have a bill of $6500/month.  If you go on a trip for a month, you still pay that amount.  There is a small food reimbursement that amounts to very little.

My one worry was that I would be living with a lot of old people and that might be depressing.  Turned out to be just the opposite.  My relative youth makes me feel healthier and happier.

The people here make the difference.  From the staff to my fellow residents, I'm glad I'm here, for I was becoming a hermit in my Craigside penthouse.  I can now live life my way even though there are 200 people around me.  Part of why I dine alone regularly, but mostly because I have only a few years left, and I want to maximize pleasure as much as possible.

All which leads to our fabulous retirement party last night.  This was the best one thing that has ever happened here.  The food, wines, entertainment and ambiance.  If you look closely, you can see me taking this photo.

Emmett White, a former lawyer, has served as president and chief executive officer of the Arcadia family of companies since 1996.  His daughter Suzie is taking over.  Norman Chong took care of the finances and first came in 2000.  Vivian Lai will replace him:

The head table with Kathy and the two honorees, with their wives:

Above, the head table from the other end dressed up to join the entertainment crew.

The wines were excellent.  The white was a La Crema and the red from AtoZ.  That's the hand of Mark, who returned from Ruth's Chris for this occasion.

The food was incredible:  shrimp, Alaskan crab legs, rack of lamb, steak slices, Oysters Rockefeller, fish, asparagus, assorted other vegetables a fancy parfait.

Here are a few photos, beginning with Pepper at the seafood bar:

Above, Bree, a former lawyer from Hawaiian Electric, who runs this place, with Marilyn, at our table.

The entertainment was special.  Charlotte and her dancers, plus Masaru and Bob with the Sounds of 15 Craigside:

Everyone, everyone, thought this was the best night ever at 15 Craigside.  

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The strongest typhoon of the year, Super Typhoon Yutu at 180MPH, just slammed into the Northern Mariana Islands, and is moving towards Taiwan:

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