Paradise Driver: 05/05/07

Saturday, May 05, 2007

男の子の日

KODOMO NO HI

The 5th of May is "Boy's Day" in Japan. It is a national holiday.

Oh, yeah, it is also the day that the American "booze biz" has adopted as a celebration of a very minor holiday in Mexico. Called Cinco de Mayo.

I remember hearing one early 20-something girl last year complaining that she hated Cinco de Mayo because she would do too many "Ta-Kill-Ya" shots and wake up naked, in a strange bed, the next day with a bleeding rectum.

The night started at a walk and progressed to a sprint. As usual, we were in the doldrums from 11pm to 1am. Those are the prime drinking hours and folks don't tend to move from one bar to another. Bar close was a madhouse.

I know there was some sort of incident at the "Triangle" on Thursday night. I thought it was minor but my opinion has changed. Those guys in the photo (left) are all plain clothes cops. The vans are their "Task Force" vehicles. The "Triangle" had also added 5 additional security officers for the night. Do you think all that stopped the idiots from fighting?

Yeah, right.

Just before 2am I was "flagged" in the FoodLand parking lot. 4 Tongans headed just past the northend of Kihei. ONE-NINE was seriously loaded. The smallest guy weighed about 350 lbs (159 kg). One sat shotgun and the other three somehow managed to squeeze themselves into the back seat. While mildly intoxicated, they were all very polite and well behaved. ONE-NINE has a rear "air-suspension" system and throughout the 5 mile ride I could hear the compressor motor trying to adjust/level the load.

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