Kinda long story but gotta explain fo’ get da “feeling” - I’ll try and “jet” it along…

As I was warming up da bike last Friday ready to go home from work, I geared up and saddled da seat. (Funny, how come I can touch da ground now?) Hmmm. Balance da bike upright. (Eh! How come BOTH feet can touch da ground now?!) Take a look at da rear tire….

Flat. Sheesh kabobs! Supposed to be Feel Good Friday!

Wassap Wit Dat!

So I inspect da tire. Nothing. Roll it forward, check it out. Nothin’. Wat, some punk wen rock plug my tire? Nope. Some fricka’ wen jus’ let out da air? (no trust cause had my bicycle stolen last year and my bike pump stolen a few months ago). Maybe.

Wat I goin’ do now? I no like call Da Wife (who went home real early cause she had some comp time) fo’ come all da way back into town through traffic jus’ fo bring all my tools in da truck. I wondah if I can make it to Lex Brodie’s? All I need is air fo’ now.

Vrrrrooooom. No can.

A couple co-workers pull by and ask if I need help or a ride.

“Nah. Can handle.”

So I’m thinking thinking thinking. Oh! Lexus next door should have a portable air compressor. Walk on ovah and ask one if they get one. Da guy behind da desk nevah seem too interested. Den I hear one voice behind a wall.

“I think we have one. Eh, you’re the guy that rides the red R6 right?”

“Yup. How you know?”

“I see you ride by everyday. I ride the blue R1 (pointing at his ride).”

“Cool.”

They let me take the compressor back to the bike and as I’m pumping air into the tire, I try to find the puncture, if any, but couldn’t. The salesman pops up out of nowhere and asks if I found the puncture. Nope. Then he asked if I checked for “rocks”. Nevah have. Then he says, “you hear that?”

No.

He finds a little puncture in the tread channel as air is hissing by.

Ok, jus’ gotta fill up wit air and ride to da nearest Checkers to get a plug kit. No problem. As I get onto Nimitz I’m thinking, “geez, da puka stay in da channel, there’s nothing slowing the air (like a nail head), I may not make it. Wat kine Feel Good Friday dis!?”

K-mart was coming up so I pull in and picked up one of the last two kits. Whew. Ok, air now. Fo’ some reason, the closest one I could think of was Waiakamilo Chevron so I head there.

As I’m at da Bob’s Bar-B-Que intersection I catch Firestone in da corner of my eye and notice they’re still open (it’s past six already - almost closing time fo’ dem). Great! I’ll stop there instead - plus if I need additional tools, they ‘geef um.

I pull up to the side and notice a mechanic working on a car with a customer. No biggie. He finishes up and asks if I needed any help.

“Yup. I can borrow some air?” (looking at him sheepishly)

“Sure.” (looking at me funny kine)

Looking at each other again as he’s bringing da hose I glance down at his name tag sly li’dat,

“Brandon?”

“Coach Lance?”

Holy moly! I’m always ecstatic to see former players. Wat’s even mo’ amazing is dat I coached him about seven years ago. He’s now one year out of high school, working and going to school trying to make something of himself.

As I’m plugging my tire we begin to talk. Let me jus’ say dat wen I had Brandon he wasn’t the “athletic” prototype. He was about 5′5 or 6″, probably pushing 200lbs, not agile and looked like a teddy bear. I remembah his group cause most of them exemplified “heart”. They were talented but it was their character dat moved me da most. Always willing to help each other, bus’ their okole’s, respectful and everything in between.

I still use their stories and experiences as examples for my players today. Let me share a quick one.

It was a playoff game and you could feel da tension from our team as they couldn’t loosen up. I believe it was the third inning wen there was a high foul side pop fly towards the first base dugout. I remembah thinking it was out of play wen I see Brandon, playing first base, on his horse going for it.

I was lining up da ball and da fence (thin plastic orange ones) and it was going to be close. Next thing I know he’s diving face first ovah da shoulder (THE hardest catch in ANY sport) right through da fence……… and MAKES DA CATCH!

WTF! Da whole team went wild!

They did loosen up aftah dat - we still lost - but I retell ”Da Catch” every year.

Jus’ as I was finishing up da tire, I was telling him how proud I was of him doing da things he’s doing now - being independent, working hard professionally and striving fo’ his goals in college.

He then thanks me fo’ all da stories I told them and the lessons I’ve taught him because he’s carried it through his time in high school - especially in football. He was mentioning dat da discipline and respect he’s developed helped him do da things he does today.

I almost broke down right there (teary eyed as I write dis now - fo’reals).

Every season I do da Favre - contemplating whether I continue coaching or not - and while I still see many players that come back to visit every year, none touch me like da moment I had last Friday. I sincerely believed dat if I jus’ could truly motivate and help one player it’d be worth it…. it was…. and then some.

So today I was thinking, wat if I nevah have one flat? Wat if I called Da Wife and waited? Wat if I caught a ride home? Wat if da salesperson nevah like help? Wat if I went to Checkers? Wat if I drove all da way up to Chevron?

I would have missed dat one moment…..

 

SHOUT OUT: Mahalos to Tony Thairathom at Servco Lexus used cars (right next to The Honolulu Advertiser Building) for helping me out with the air compressor!

 

DA PIDGIN WORD OF DA DAY! -
(as quoted from Da Kine Dictionary & Pidgin To Da Max… wit a Braddah Lance twist)

CHICKEN SKIN
(you no can pronounce dat, something wrong)

Haole Translation: Goose bumps

Use: Wen you get da “chills”, or one ghost past through you

Sentence: “Wen I kiss Da Wife, I still get chicken skin.”

Sentence: “You can see da chicken skin on Bryan Clay getting his gold.”

 

 

As some of you have read by now, Uncle Rodney from “Midlife Crisis”, Queenie from “Odds & Ends” and myself had the pleasure of meeting a long time reader and poster of our respective blogs IRL (in real life).

Spooky? Of course.

Nuts? Maybe.

But being dat Ynaku has been a faithful reader, I can fairly say we’ve all gotten to “know” him by his posts. Funny how da internet can bring people together - and we nevah even use eHarmony! 

So it all started with Queenie and Ynaku exchanging food comments on a few blogs and one thing led to another. I get an email from Ynaku asking if we were going to be in on Monday and unfortunatly Queenie was off. Ynaku offered to drop off da goodies or we could meet him at a job site in Moanalua and since I knew the area, I offered to pick ‘em up… and tough luck to Queenie. 

So Monday comes and I ride ovah jus’ before 3:30pm and see no one. I ring da bell and a worker steps out and I ask,

“Excuse me. I’m, uh, supposed to meet someone.” (kinda looking at him hoping it was Ynaku)

“You know who? I’m the only one here.”

“Oh. His name is Yn…. (wat da heck was his real name?! WWD!) Eh, nevah mind.”

“_ _ _  just left a few minutes ago.”

“YEAH! Dat’s him! From Big Island right?”

“Yup. He said he had to meet some people and went to their office.”

“($h!t) Dat’s cool. I’ll head back right now.”

“Try wait. I’ll give him a call…..(dialing) Hey _ _ _, get somebody ovah hea asking for you. You stay at their office already?”

“Mahalos! (zooming away)”

As I walk into da lobby, I see three huge grins staring at me. Ok, they were laughing.

“Eh, I thought I was supposed to pick ‘em up?”

Queenie: “You didn’t read your email?”

“I did! Wen I wrote last last I was supposed to pick ‘em up.”

Ynaku: “No, I thought I wrote I’d meet up with you guys after.”

“Did you? You guys probably right. See dat’s wat happens wen you barely pass English and go into finance instead.” 

Ho da shame!

I wen reread da email and yup, smack dab in da sentences were, “I’ll be by at 3:30pm”.

Sorry, my bad.

Ynaku, as Uncle Rodney said, is a “gentle, down to earth (guy) with a big heart”. No doubt about dat! It was cool to meet “Uncle” Ynaku and it was very generous of him to bring us da goodies! I wen pound ‘em wen I went home… yeah, wit Da Wife of course.

And why did I wait till Friday to blog about it? Cause Ynaku said he wouldn’t be home to use da computer till then….

at least dat’s wat I heard. 

 

Yeah, we all got da same pic but used different cameras

 

 

Mochi manju variety pack

 

 

Au’ kine mochi manju

 

 

Azuki bean middle… dunno wat da white stuff is but was ono

 

 

Dis was onolicious! Mochi covered strawberries with azuki filling

 

 

Hea’s da insides

 

 

Da buggah was hugemangeous!

 

MUCH MAHALOS YNAKU!

 

DA PIDGIN WORD OF DA DAY! -
(as quoted from Da Kine Dictionary & Pidgin To Da Max… wit a Braddah Lance twist)

ONO
also ONOLICIOUS
(OH no)

Haole Translation 1: Delicious, taste good
Haole Translation 2: Look good

Use: Usually wen speaking of food or good things

Sentence: “Da manju was frickin’ ono!”

Sentence: “How’s dat chic, she ono yeah!”

 

 

Lawsuits, layoffs, performance enhancing drugs… oh my! Troubling times these days from KSBE lawsuits to Olympians being stripped of medals to….. 54 of our fellow co-workers from the original RIF being laid off today (at least from what I was told).

Not so good Friday on a date - 888 - that is supposed to be lucky by Chinese standards.

I still feel sick that not only people I grew friendships with lost their jobs but just losing your job in general. My sentiments were shared awhile back while popping a few of my imaginary cans and it still remains the same.

Kitty’s have been going around the office and people give what they can cause we all show aloha in times of need. Monetary and moral support always helps but a J-O-B would be way better.

I wonder if any of the people getting laid off had a keiki being denied from KSBE? Hmmm…. 

Nah, they get waaaaaay more class then that. 

I sincerely appreciate the support - as posted in the comments - on the previous blog and I aim to do the same for those who are forced to leave.

And being da “jestah” of da blogs, hea’s a couple of jokes to at least make you chuckle… even if it’s fo’ a few seconds.

So share ‘em if ya got ‘em - jokes, wishes, feelin’s… beer - let me know wen and wea.  :lol: 

To da 54, A Hui Hou, Malama Pono.

——————————————————————–

Why you never question a Drunk!

I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:

   A half-gallon of 2% milk,
  A carton of eggs,
  A quart of orange juice,
  A head of romaine lettuce,
 A 2 lb. can of coffee, and
 A 1 lb. package of bacon.

As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier.

While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated,

“You must be single.”

I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict’s intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said:

“Well, you know what, you’re absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?”

The drunk replied, “Cause you’re ugly.”

——————————————————————-

A woman was unhappy with the way her laundry was done at the local Chinese Laundry, so she wrote a note and put it in the bag with the next collection of soiled clothes :

“USE MORE SOAP ON PANTIES!”

She got the clean laundry back, and was still dissatisfied with the results, so the following week she enclosed another note:

“USE MORE SOAP ON PANTIES!”

The Chinese laundryman became very annoyed, and when her clean laundry was delivered, it contained a note from HIM:

“I USE PLENTY SOAP ON PANTIES!!!

USE MORE PAPER ON ASS!!”

 

You gotta love dat one!

Have a grrrrrreeeeeaaaaat weekend!

Happy Feel Good Friday!

I said I’d have the DK Steakhouse review but fo’got da Queen does her “fuud” review on Fridays now and Uncle Rodney seems to be doing da same… so you’ll just have to wait till Monday, guarans-bombarans. You definitely don’t want to miss it. 

So wat to blog about? Nothing. It’s Feel Good Friday! No “substance” needed today. 

I hope your plans fo’ da weekend are good cause it looks like it’s turning out to be a good time to spend outdoors. Da Wife and I need to do some serious detailing on da car and truck - da bird poop almost looks like it’s part of the paint job. 

We’ll probably head out to da North Shore too and cruise at our “secret beach” cause we haven’t done dat in a long time plus da dogs have been couped up too long.

I just found out dat my first two dates of golf for the year has been canceled already cause get one funeral and one wedding. Ai-goo! I waited eight months to pick up a club…

Wassap Wit Dat!

I guess one mo’ month not going kill me. 

I’m going to try a li’l somethin’ somethin’ next week too and hopefully you’ll enjoy it as part of WWD! (sorry, not a game - remembah, substance stuff, not no need fluff)  

So I’ll leave you with dis, a joke and a thought fo’ da day:

A woman went to a pet shop & immediately spotted a large, beautiful parrot..There was a sign on the cage that said $50.00. 

‘Why so little,’ she asked the pet store owner. The owner looked at her and said, ‘Look, I should tell you first that this bird used to live in a house of Prostitution and sometimes it says some pretty vulgar stuff.’

The woman thought about this, but decided she had to have the bird any way. She took it home and hung the bird’s cage up in her living room and waited for it to say something.

The bird looked around the room, then at her, and said, ‘New house, new madam.’

The woman was a bit shocked at the implication, but then thought ‘that’s really not so bad.’ When her 2 teenage daughters returned from school the bird saw and said, ‘New house, new madam, new girls.’

The girls and the woman were a bit offended, but then began to laugh about the situation, considering how and where the parrot had been raised.

Moments later, the woman’s husband Keith came home from work.

The bird looked at him and said,

‘Hi Keith’

 

 

Remembah, no be uptight and let loose da caboose!

Have a grrrreeeeaaat weekend!

Unreal.

Uncle Rodney leave fo’ a few days, throws up a game and BAM! 420+ posts!

Wassap Wit Dat!

Jealous? Heck yeah!

Queenie Shaunabee (jus’ fo’ you Jason, Shauna’s title has changed :smile:  ) once mentioned,

“Hey Braddah Lance, this isn’t a competition.”

Uh, Queenie? I’m a guy with testosterone - EVERYTHING is a competition!

Jus’ joke - but I as I’ve mentioned countless times before, I enjoy reading EVERY SINGLE post and also interacting with each of you. You make da time to post, I make da time to make some wise a$$ remark!

Well on with it!

Since dis is Feel Good Friday, and we usually have one Feel Good Story, jokes or unproductive games - sometimes all three yeah? - I get one but I know not going come close to Uncle Rodney’s 420+ comments… but I like try eh!

Da Game (sorry no prize dis time - was choke hard jus’ giving away “free” movie tickets last time - WWD!):

Movie quotes - post a line and the next person has to say wat movie it’s from. No can go on until da movie is correctly noted but feel free to post comments, jokes, Watevahs cause it’s Feel Good Friday and we do watevah makes you feel good… right?!

Example:

Post - “I’ll Be Back”

Post - Terminator

Oh yeah, no cheat and Google ‘em eh unless you get one good line fo’ post.

Get it? Got it? Good.

Have a grrrreeeeaaaat weekend!

 

 

SHOUT OUT:  For all you animal lovers out dea - check out Leslie Kawamoto’s Island Tails blog (yeah, she get one good pic too so she should have hits no?) She wanted some traffic on her blog so I told her I’d send a shout out… plus she bribed me and put up Oneone’s picture… go check ‘em go check ‘em go.