a wolf angel is not a good angel

All the ice cream places here have tropical flavours instead of the standards. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and mango, pineapple, coconut, macadamia instead of mint chip, cookie dough, cherry.

This is a replica of a Buddhist temple in Japan, set in a interdenominational cemetary. You need to pay to get in; I assume that if you’re visiting a grave, you don’t pay. The names of the areas in the cemetary are sort of weird, but I guess it’s good for directions. Uncle Teddy is buried in Wisteria Valley (sans wisterias). Also there are no gravestones, just markers. I’ve never seen that.

But luckily there are for sale signs, in case while you’re there you think “Oh no! Mom’s on the brink! I must find a place to bury her now! And it needs an ocean view.”

It’s serene. But, more importantly, it’s *breezy*. And buggy, unfortunately. The itch doesn’t last as long; I don’t know what the mosquitos are on, but I prefer them.

There are supposed to be peacocks walking the grounds. Although we heard their somewhat eerie calls, they were hiding in the forests. Bad peacocks! I wanted to see you walking around and out of all my photos. We saw weird looking ducks and black swans doing balancing acts.

The pond has lots of koi, which are the world’s ugliest fish (kept as pets; I will grant that catfish are uglier).

The pond also has fountains. Friendly frogs who spit at you.

Yesterday morning, we went off to the USS Arizona. It opens at 7:45. We got there around 8:15. (Do you see a theme in getting places late? I see a theme.)

It’s like Disneyworld! Except free, and no one’s dressed up in costumes.

At 9ish we get to the front of the line; our tour is at 11:15. (When we left, around 12:30, there was no line; people were picking up tickets for about 3 hours later.)

Lots of interesting stuff about why the radar that showed planes coming wasn’t looked at as a concern: in essence, the guy who it was reported to had been on the job for 2 days, hadn’t heard that there was a submarine sunk in the bay, and was expecting planes in (which did arrive, though later). It ended with a “What would you have done in his case?” I guess they feel he was unfairly villified.

I sat in the store and read about cave divers who worked on the Arizona (Submerged: Adventures of America’s Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team). Do you know that if you bring up a dead body, the air in the lungs will expand so the lungs explode and blood and other stuff comes out the nose and mouth? Aren’t you glad to know it?

They show a movie with lots of movie news reels, which was really fascinating. Also it was cooler there.

The memorial, from the boat.

People who are interred in the boat now have their rank in 1941 placed there.

The Arizona is still leaking oil; efforts to deal with this have to ensure that nothing is done to it as a memorial site.

You can look down into part of the boat, they provide flowers to drop as a memorial. There are tropical fish swimming there, too.

I want to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell : A Novel.

Mostly I am posting this so that I don’t, a week later, forget the title and author.

Ms. Frizzle posts a puzzle.

One hundred people have been selected as prize winners. Each will get the same amount of money, from $1000 to $100,000. This is how the prize will be distributed. The 100 people are lined up so that each person can see everyone in front of her, but not herself or anyone behind her. So, person number 100 can see #99-1, and person 1 can’t see anyone. They will be given time to plan a strategy, then lined up in this way and either a red hat or a blue hat put on each person’s head. Then, starting with person 100 and working forwards, each person will say either “red” or “blue.” The prize will be $1000 times the number of people who say the color of their own hat. The idea is to maximize the number of people who get their hat color right since each person gets the same amount of money in the end. Also, the organizers of the contest can listen in to the strategizing session and will try to minimize the amount of money they have to pay out, so definitely take into account worst-case scenarios when thinking about this problem.

Think! I’m about to discuss what I thought for my solution, though not my solution, exactly.

Now, I think I’ve read the puzzle right, and I think I can guarantee that 99 people will get a correct answer, with a 50% chance of all 100, though given that the organizers minimize the amount of money, it should be a 100% chance of 99.

This feels *way* too easy. Am I right?

The plan was to go to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling. Everything we’d read said to get there before 8, or we wouldn’t get in. Everyone we’d spoken to said to get there before 8, or we wouldn’t get in. Let’s get there before 8, I said. Let’s get there before 8, my father said. Too early, everyone else said. So we straggled out of the house well past 9.

Let’s not go today, I said, let’s wait until we can leave early.
Let’s not go today, my father said, let’s wait until we can leave early.

No, everyone else said. That will always be too early.

Of course we got there too late; of course we couldn’t get in.

I’m shocked, my mother said, I didn’t really think we needed to get there early.
I’m shocked, my grandmother said.
I’m shocked, my grandfather said.

My father and I were not shocked.

The way back was lovely, though; we drove around Koko Head, up the Halona Coast. (This is the southeastern point of Oahu.)

You could live on the bottom of a volcano.

You could look at the rocks pretending to be a whale. Silly rocks. We can see you’re not at all a whale.

You could climb around the rocks. The water is warmer than in Maine, but much more dangerous. Rogue waves could wash you off into the water. Rogue waves. I like the term. Pirate waves. Ne’er-do-well waves.

We also went to Sandy Beach, which has the highest number of lifeguard rescues and broken necks. (I hope these things don’t have the relationship that the Lonely Planet made it seem. Hanaumo Bay has the highest drowning rate; we are still going there — early, this time — on Monday.

The waves there are great. I haven’t seen many places here with real waves. I love that I can walk into the water without a shock of cold, but I miss waves. (I have been to the North Shore; surfing season there is the winter.) I’d like to go back and swim there, but my mother would prefer I not go with my sister, or alone, or at all. We’re trying a beach that is supposed to have waves tomorrow, at least. An Air Force Base, in fact.

I did get to go in that water with my sister, sort of. We waded near the shore and the waves would come and knock her over. (One splashed water and sand onto my mother’s face, after which she left the water.) You can’t jump these — you’d never catch your feet when you land. You could use a boogie board, if you’d brought some, and if your mother wasn’t irrationally scared of your brains being dashed out against the rocks. (Yes, I’m old enough that I can make my own decisions, but I’m not actually paying for this trip, so I am not making these decisions.) Actually, all the “You might die! Be careful!” signs amuse, though probably that’s why your mother is so scared.

No one was pulled into the ocean and drowned, though.

Waikiki Aquarium. My sister, as usual, has the camera; it’s like a pacifier for a cranky 11-year-old.

Throughout the aquarium you can hear little kids crying out “Nemo! Dory!” Nemo, we know, is a clownfish. No one ever calls the clownfish Marlin. Dory is a butterflyfish. Factoid!

Also we see jellyfish. They’re pretty in the blacklight; the photo doesn’t quite do justice to them. The other day on a beach there were, apparently, little bitty jellyfish in the water (my sister caught one that was beached, then, in getting rid of it, accidentally dropped it on her leg).

I shall call him Squishy and he shall be my Squishy.

There’s been a problem with people bringing non-native fish to Hawaii. Piranhas haven’t got a hold here yet, but the appropriate agency caught people with pet piranhas and fined them. I’m curious how they knew to search the right houses for piranhas. I’m also curious why anyone would keep a piranha as a pet. They’re pretty, but.

I guess the sparkle is what attracts other fish. The piranhas had to be kept separate from other fish, as did some other carnivorous guy. That one had to be kept separate even from a mate, because they eat each other first, at least in captivity.

They also kept cool fish from Australia in a tank.

Leafy seadragons.

Later the very same week we went to this indoor walkthrough aquarium tube. Smile!

I got my father to post to a family-vacation-group-blog. He doesn’t quite get the concept; his post (of July 29) was titled “July 28, Allan”.

Waikiki beach at night.

I have a Quicktime video I’d like to edit. Any suggestions that involve not paying? I don’t need to do too much to it.