My New Year’s Eve Traditions

I’ve probably written posts before of what I do on New Year’s Eve, but I know you'd like to be reminded. Right?

Things have changed since about 2000, when I stopped joining my wife and in-laws at their annual Sushi Hell on the eve.

I blame all my back and hip troubles that I’m now experiencing, on the sushi rolling.

Be that as it may … who’s complaining, right? What's past is past.

Throughout the years, I always have taken a shower just before midnight, so I can enter the New Year as clean as I left it. I always brush my teeth, I always change my towels, I always change my toothbrush, and I always remake the bed with clean sheets.

I always shave, and I always have a fresh haircut. I fill the car’s gas tank, and I pay any outstanding bills. I try to eat some “good luck” kuro mame (Japanese sweet black beans) and noodles.

I used to stay up until midnight, but these days, I tend to fall asleep earlier. It’s easier to do that now because the sounds of fireworks and screaming aerials have diminished drastically since the new permit system has been integrated into our lives.

Not since Hawaii ushered in Y2K has there been a cacophony as loud and spectacular as that one. Standing on a high roof, I witness it and thought I was in a war zone. Honolulu looked like it was on fire.

Now, the only thing that’s burning on New Year’s Eve is my indigestion from consuming too much good food at dinner.

Upstairs in The D

During the past couple of years since The D took over the Fitzgerald in downtown Las Vegas, it's been transformed into a much classier place. In some ways, I think it outclasses The Golden Nugget, long considered to be the jewel of The Fremont Experiences.

 

They even have flat-screen television sets for your entertainment at the elevators to the guest floors.

 

On their second floor, in addition to The D Grill and Andiamo's Italian Steakhouse, they've transformed the upstairs casino area into a Vintage Vegas Slots attraction. Now ... "vintage" in this case means slot machines that accept coins. Remember those? We're actually talking not that many years ago. Guess "vintage" is relative, huh?

Most of the slots in the area are coin slots.

I sat down at the dollar poker machine. Didn't have any dollar tokens, so I fed a $20 bill into the machine.

I didn't get a chance to get paid in dollar tokens because the damned machine took all of my money. So I couldn't take a picture of actual coins to show you.

Oh well, I wasn't going to take out any more money here.

I had better luck downstairs with the now-usual currency-ticket payment machines.

Fonky Denny's

 

Remember a couple of months ago when I ran a picture of a fonky (one step beyond "funky") Wendy's that I saw in Fremont, CA? Well, I think I found her boyfriend, a fonky Denny's in Las Vegas.

This Denny's is attached to the Neonopolis center just north of The Fremont Experience. The restaurant façade is an add-on to the actual restaurant, which occupies the left side of the entrance. I forget what used to be there.

So that's that, that's about the size of it. Weird, not very complementary to the building's design ... but then, what's weird in Las Vegas isn't really weird in Las Vegas, only when we juxtapose it into pictures we have in our minds of more conventional tourist places.

Nah ... it's fonky, even in Las Vegas.

Bad Work! Bad Work!

Cleaning out my files so I can enter the New Year as unencumbered and unbogged down as I possibly can, I found four more pictures that illustrate the disgusted complaint, "I gave you just ONE job to do and look what you did!"

No real commentary is required, just a look and a "shake my head" sense of humor. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 



Kiss the Blarney Stone!

You can kiss the Blarney Stone without having to travel all the way to Blarney, Ireland, to pucker your lips and mingle your mouth germs with the gazillions that have been deposited by tourists from all over the world.

Embedded in the wall of Blarney Castle, the bluestone, as you know, is called Cloch na Blarnan, and giving it a smooch will give you the gift of gab.

But you can partake of the tradition at The D, formerly known as Fitzgerald's at The Fremont Experience in downtown Las Vegas. The D's stone actually came from the castle and is on display at the casino's second-level Vintage Vegas section.

I'd never have found it if I didn't decide to have dinner at Andiamo's on The D's second level.

Did I kiss it? Nope. I don't share my mouth germs with anyone but special people.

Phone Pix 15: Let Christmas Linger

I always think it's a shame that we spend so much time celebrating Christmas before it actually arrives, then just wipe it out of our lives on the day after.

So here, thanks to my trusty cell phone camera, is one more little collection of Christmas pictures to enjoy before we turn out attention to New Year 2014:

Sister Karen's Christmas Tree Souvenir Ornament, Dec. 21, 2013

A Pair of Fluffy Snowmen at Long's Drugs in Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

Three Santas at Long's Drugs in Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

Two Stuffed Christmas Penguins at Long's Drugs in Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

A Singing Snowman and Kid at Sister Karen's House, Dec. 21, 2013

My Dinner Plate, Annual Hawaii Clan Gathering, Dec. 21, 2013

Phone Pix 14: A Hospital Merry Christmas

A few weeks ago (Dec. 2, 2013), I had to take the wife to Kuakini Medical Center for a check-up MRI, and had about an hour to kill. Instead of sitting in that frigid waiting room and reading year-old magazines, I did what I usually do on these occasions. I took a walk.

Actually, I went to the hospital cafeteria for a hunk of pastry and a cuppa coffee to wash down my meds. And along the way, I bumped into a bunch of Christmas décor in the medical center's lobby, cafeteria and gift shop.

On this Christmas Day, I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phone Pix 13: Travel Christmas Trees

There are Christmas trees at home, and Christmas trees in town. But sometimes, there's nothing like a Christmas tree thousands of miles away that one sees during one's travels.

Trees such as these:

Fremont Hotel & Casino Lobby, Las Vegas, Dec. 10, 2013

 

Honolulu International Airport, Dec. 10, 2013

 

Plaza Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Dec. 10, 2013

The Fremont Experience, Downtown Las Vegas, Dec. 12, 2013

Phone Pix 12: Christmas on the Shelves

It starts earlier and earlier every year, the appearance of Christmas items on store shelves. I don't think it's such a bad thing. The longer the Christmas season, the more time we have to reflect on the true meaning of the season.

So roll out the ivy, put those snowmen and nutcrackers on the shelves, break out the tinsels and garlands and decorations, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more!

Long's Drugs Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

 

Long's Drugs Manoa, Aug. 8, 2013

 

Costco, Nov. 19, 2013

 

Costco, Nov. 19, 2013

 

Costco, Nov. 19, 2013

 

Costco, Nov. 19, 2013

 

Costco, Nov. 19, 2013

Quite a Pliable Performer

It's fun to walk around The Fremont Experience at night, especially during the Christmas season. There are hordes of people from all over the world, and the conversations that go on are so interesting, even if I don't know what they're saying.

I mean, that's because of the variety of languages. I heard (and could identify) Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and of course English (American, British, Australian, and Hawaiian pidgin).

I saw SpongeBob SquarePants, Hello Kitty, Wonder Woman, KISS, Big Bird, and some other characters I couldn't identify (I'm "up-to-date TV character" deficient, you see).

There are kiosks selling anything you can imagine, caricaturists, spray-paint artists, and street performers. Plus there's loud music, scantily clad women who apparently don't catch chest colds, and, unfortunately, homeless people wanting a handout.

 

The one performer who caught my eye was a guy who was the most pliable person I've seen in a long time. He bent himself into all kinds of shapes and positions, balancing on one foot, on one hand, and on his head. All the while, the rest of his body was doing incredible things.

I was so impressed that when he closed his act by stuffing himself into a small box, I walked up to him and dropped $10 into his tip box. Man, was he happy. But then, so was I.

I felt good; I made someone happy this Christmas, someone I'd never met before in my life.