I'LL LIVE: EUPHORIA 3

My blog around eight months ago introduced Euphoria One, which ended when I went to France for what turned out to be a fabulous tour to taste Chateau Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux and Louis XIII Cognac, plus several memorable meals.  However, the stress level was too dominant for anything like continued euphoria.

But back in Honolulu, euphoria returned.  Call that E2.  But only weeks later, on to the Orient.  While that too was fabulous, I can't maintain a comfortably enjoyable state of mind on the road.  Then when I came home after 42 days of travel, all my medical treatment deadlines arrived, procedures I should have addressed many years ago, summarized in my 1June2019 posting.

Well, this past weekend my skin tag removal doctor left a message on my phone and said all went well.  The polyps (or skin tags) were not malignant.  So that called for a minor celebration.  I went out for lunch at Merriman's, followed by a movie:

I ordered what looks like escargot, but this time with octopus, a far more desirable victual.  With snails, you wonder if they are poisonous or not.  The garlic bread was also sensational, and they brought an extra slice, for a good part of the consumption is to absorb the butter concoction with the bread.  Perfect with a Pinot Noir and Oahu-crafted beer.

However, they can still improve this preparation, for the essence of octopus was only barely there.  If they fry, dry or otherwise eliminate more water, the taste should intensify.  Growing up we could actually afford a whole dried abalone--where you need a pocket knife to thinly slice a portion--which has a flavor totally absent from the abalone you now have in restaurants.  Same for scallops.  Yuki was my server, and he did well, allowing for variations.

So, anyway, next on to Rocketman, the story of Elton John.  The Tomatometer showed 91% (reviewers) and 88% (audiences).  Taron Egerton does a decent job as the matured Elton John, singing 100% of the songs.  While he does not quite mimic John's voice, that was okay, and Egerton is a bit better looking.  I just couldn't quite figure out who was Elton's mother, and she turned out to be 38-year old Bryce Dallas Howard, of Jurassic Park fame, and daughter of Ron.

Yesterday was potentially the most important day for the rest of my life, as I was scheduled to meet my colonoscopy doctor to get the results of the lab test. The previous afternoon, I got a call from her office, reminding me of this appointment.  That spooked me, for never before has any of my doctors ever called for that reason.  Unfortunately, my mind worked overtime, and I thought, the message must be bad, for why would they do this unless it was really important.  I had difficulty sleeping.

I've been so lucky all my life, and have long been expecting some balance occurring, meaning unlucky news.  Thus, with trepidation, I showed up early.

We met.  You quickly look for special body language, or some sign on her face to alert you on what to expect.  Well, the two polyps turned out to be benign.  The news were all good.  I don't know why, but we talked for more than 20 minutes, very little about my health.  At the end she indicated I should return in three years, not necessarily for another colonoscopy, but just to see how I'm doing.  I am the happiest human on Planet Earth, and entered into a state of Euphoria 3.

So where  do I go for lunch to celebrate?  I couldn't think of even one restaurant to match my elation.  Plus, as I would be driving, can't have any wine or beer.   What about my 15 Craigside lanai, where the view is wonderful, and I'm surrounded by my herb garden?

So I went to  Tamashiro's and Marukai.  I noted that there were several varieties of "cheap" fish at Tamashiro's, as for example, to the right, $1.98/pound.  But that is tilapia from China.  I can't think of something I would more want to avoid.  But awa chunks for less than $4...yet, those bones.  Even oio, which can only be made into fishcake. I picked out a dungeness crab.

At Marukai I bought some Miyazaki wagyu beef and a pound of local ahi chu-toro.  Guess which one?

They were both caught in local waters, and the one on the left certainly looked close to being real chu-toro (the relative whiteness indicates fattiness, a desirable trait of tuna, with more omega-3 fatty acid).  However, I purchased a pound of the left yellow-fin tuna and saved $26.

I had the crab and some sashimi for lunch on my lanai, with cold beer and hot sake.  Note that package of potato chips, which will later be explained.

I noticed my apartment flowers were also particularly cheerful.  Water lily (and, if you look closely, with two new buds popping up--in the year here, there has been a bloom 90% of those days, and, always, only one), anthuriums and honohono orchids (and, remember, this is June):

As a quick aside, I bought a new version of Terro ant trap, and this one definitely works:

Ants bring aphids and disease, and my battle with them is constant.

Also new, which I had for lunch (see photo above), Foodland now produces its own potato chips, which get awfully close to Maui's Original Kitch'n Cook'd  legend.  I thought it was no longer around, but, apparently must still be available, at double the cost of the one on the left.

I then for dinner splurged on the wagyu / onions and chu-toro over ogo (seaweed), with the latest Stanford Cabernet Sauvignon, spot of hot sake and cold beer:

What a lunch-dinner combination on my lanai, enhanced by Euphoria 3.  Then in the evening, I promptly lost my initial poker buy-in (all of $5).  However, E3 evokes an attitude of indulgence, for, after all, we're laughing all the time.

To further amplify E3, I'll join the Pan-Pacific Festival this weekend in Waikiki.  All events are free to the public, ending with a parade on Sunday.

I tried to get a room for June 8 and 9, but those Starwood properties on the beach went for close to $1000 for those two days, after you add all those exorbitant and outrageous fees.  So I'll be staying at the Princess Kaiulani (right), which still had Kamaaina (only for people who live here) rates.  And, just think, my transport cost will be free, for our 15 Craigside Photo Club has an outing to the Honolulu Zoo Saturday morning.  I'll have the van hold my roller, and at 11:30AM walk over to the PK.  Most tourists spend a fortune and lose two days getting here and back.

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EUPHORIA 4?

It's only been a few years at my rather advanced age that I have now and then experience a period of euphoria.  It all began with my posting of 6 October 2018.

Since I decided a couple of years ago to just enjoy life and give up on trying to organize or run anything, my enjoyment of life has materially increased.  Combined with cataract surgery, which restored my eyesight to 20-20, the mostly disappearance of tinnitus and walking 18 holes at the Ala Wai Golf Course twice per week, I think I now also have increased the percentage of black hair on my head.

There have been ups and downs, of course, which is what life is all about.  But what can elevate your life to euphoric status is a significant alarming incident...a potentially life-changing physical scare, that you somehow overcome.

You can read how I then entered into Euphoria 1.  This state of mind disappeared when I went on a fabulous champagne, wine and cognac tour of France.  Yes, went away, because there were just too many stresses involved with travel and the dangers of France.  This is the one where, because of connections, we drank a $900 bottle of Chateau Lafitte Rothschild in their cellar for free.  When I returned to Honolulu, security and comfort lead to a few weeks of Euphoria 2.  Then, on to the Orient in the Spring of 2019 for cherry blossom season.  But this travel ended #2.

After 42 days in the Orient, I arrived home to hear the results of my medical treatments I took before I left on that trip.  First a few tags removed were not cancerous, then the the results of my colonoscopy.  I had envisioned an end to my life.  My mind tends to exaggerate reality.  In my blog I said.

Yesterday was potentially the most important day for the rest of my life, as I was scheduled to meet my colonoscopy doctor to get the results of the lab test. The previous afternoon, I got a call from her office, reminding me of this appointment.  That spooked me, for never before has any of my doctors ever called for that reason.  Unfortunately, my mind worked overtime, and I thought, the message must be bad, for why would they do this unless it was really important.  I had difficulty sleeping. I've been so lucky all my life, and have long been expecting some balance occurring, meaning unlucky news.  Thus, with trepidation, I showed up early.  We met.  

You quickly look for special body language, or some sign on her face to alert you on what to expect.  Well, the two polyps turned out to be benign.  The news were all good.  I don't know why, but we talked for more than 20 minutes, very little about my health.  At the end she indicated I should return in three years, not necessarily for another colonoscopy, but just to see how I'm doing.  I am the happiest human on Planet Earth, and entered into a state of Euphoria 3.

That was a rather long background to lead you to what happened on this cruise.  Started innocently.  I had a pedicure, where the dremel to smooth out the nail trims were rounded off.  However, the edge of my small toes, apparently, are very sensitive.  So this finalization polish caused my whole leg to jerk a few times.  Has happened before, so should have been nothing of concern.

However, when I tried to go to sleep that night, I couldn't, because the toes involuntarily jerked every ten seconds or so.  I could get the timing up to 40 seconds, but couldn't stop this condition.  I might have slept all of two hours.  The next day I therefore tried to take a nap, but couldn't, for the same reason.

So I went to the internet and discovered the following:

• This condition is rather common, and is called hypnic jerking (my computer keeps changing this to hyping her, so if that is what is indicated, no), or sleep twitch or night start.
• This is a serious reason for insomnia.
• Around 70% of people experience them, and 10% of so are affected daily.
• 
  Supposedly, stimulated by nicotine, caffeine and alcohol.  Perhaps insufficient magnesium.
• I thought I was the first person to be so affected, and came to a conclusion that if this continued for weeks and months, my health would decline so seriously that death might be possible.
• There is a wide range of reasons why this happens, but mine is pretty specific.  The condition was triggered by my pedicure.
• The scary thing is that scientists do not know exactly why this occurs.
• 
  You begin to worry about epilepsy and Parkinson's.
• In some cases, people develop a fixation leading to anxiety, resulting in NO sleep.
• One possible medication is a low-dose of clonazepam or Rivotril, at bedtime.  But the taking of pills to fall asleep is just not tenable for me.

After not sleeping at night, I had a poor day.  I tried to nap, but couldn't.  Here is when my mind went into overdrive, and I feared going to bed, but did at 10:30PM.  Couldn't sleep for hours because of this twitching.  I tried everything.  Then, just like during one of my morning exercises (see photos), I thought I would quickly wriggle my toes for ten seconds.  Turns out that these movements do strengthen my toes so that I am more balanced when taking a shower.  Most important of all, one leg began to stop twitching, then, in a few minutes the other.  I think.

These simple movement, imagined or not, allowed me to mostly sleep from around 3AM to 9AM.  What a huge relief.  Maybe I'll now live.  However, I wondered about the next night. 

Then came night #2.  I had a great sleep of the night from 10:30PM to 10AM.  But I needed another night without those twitches.

So am I now in Euphoria 4?  Not quite.  I again had difficulty sleeping last night, mostly because I was worried that the twitch would return.  I don't think it ever did, and I guess this is progress, but I'll know in a few days if my "life-threatening" ailment is over or not.  And the cruise continues

We spent the day in Bora Bora.  Well, on the ship moored in a bay, anyway.  The only tour we might have considered was overbooked since before we first boarded in Sydney.

Bora Bora is not what I thought,  It is really an atoll, the remnants of an extinct volcano.  The total land area is only 12 square miles.

This was our best opportunity to ever get here, for it takes at least 25 hours by plane from Honolulu.  First flight to Papeete, then transfer to BOB, a small airport known for mosquitos.  Then a boat to Bora Bora.  Would cost $5000 roundtrip in economy, plus $2000/night if you stay at the St. Regis (right).  You can possibly get a couple of business class flights, but that takes the roundtrip cost to $17,000.

Bora Bora is called the Jewel of the South Seas.  My analysis goes something like this.  If you ask most people where does the best rice in Japan come from, they would say Niigata.  Why?  Because this area produces the most rice and has the largest budget for marketing.  Over time, they have done a terrific job in building a reputation.  Bora Bora?  French Polynesia noted that Bora Bora had some merit.  So sometime ago a decision was made to tout this site as a must see.  Once established, those major hotel chains oversold the beauty of this place.  We asked someone on this ship how beautiful was Bora Bora.  Basically, nice, but not as fabulous as several other sites on this cruise.  When you add the mosquitos and difficulty of getting there, forget it.

So here is Bora Bora from our veranda.

Lunch.

A rarity.  I had a dessert, with McCallan on rocks and a glass of Tawny Port.  I was celebrating my promising recovery.

Went for tea in the late afternoon.

Then we had dinner with Jay.  A special sashimi beginning dish.

Salad and pasta, with some lamb.

Soufflé and petit fours.

The Let's Dance Party around the pool.  Our personal pod.

Nikki, Violetta and Olivia.

A good day.  Walked 6259 steps.

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