Back on the Island
Jan. 2nd, 2026 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aMy last day in California was spent (shocker) gaming! With my old Thursday night crew.
We got to try out _Seven Wonders Dice_, a brand-new game that I purchased during a brief break on Monday. I'm always looking for more 6-7 player games that are actually good, mainly for familial gatherings. This qualified, though I'm uncertain if it's actually simpler than my standard, _Between Two Cities_, which had been my hope. In any case, fun game that adapts _Seven Wonders_ without just being a copy of it. Dry erase markers will work better than the grease pencils that came with it, but otherwise: no notes.
We also played _Pathfinder ACG_, a long-running hobby for our Thursday night group. I really liked the work Mike Selinker & co. put into PACG 2e, so it's a shame that Paizo cancelled it. We started Curse of the Crimson Throne (the major 2e adventure) before I left, and the group has made slow progress on it since (because they only meet in person about once a month), so it's still going. We played a late chapter 4 scenario on Tuesday that was all fighting, which was not the game at its best, but it was still fun to revisit it.
--
Wednesday was our travel day. A direct flight from Oakland to Lihue. Nothing of note. I had found myself not really in the mindset to work when we flew out, so I didn't even try on the way back, other than some editing that C.A. had asked for help with.
I'm ready to start work again on the fifth after what's likely been my longest holiday since we moved (unless you count some of my European trips for Rebooting the Web of Trust, but there was work at the heart of those).
--
I always say that New Year's Eve is the worst day of the year on Hawaii.
That's because of the fireworks. Huge amounts of illegal fireworks flood the island and so from sundown until midnight you get a constant cacophony of exploding aerials, earthshaking mortars, and dogs constantly howling in distress at the above. Mango cat is horrified too, and usually spends the night under a chair. (That's why we always make sure we're home by New Year's Eve, despite hating it.)
This year was ... not bad. Maybe worse than a New Year's Eve in Berkeley, but it was 90% legal fireworks (which tend to be pop-pop-pop-pop instead of BOOOOOM!).
It turns out that this can be a really local issue. For our first few years here, we had some car racers living across the street for us, and they set off illegal fireworks for hours, but they moved out a few years ago. But then last year, at both July 4 (often not well-celebrated here because of local hatred of America for stealing the islands from the Hawaiians) and New Year's Eve, there was a huge, illegal gathering at the field also across the street from us. They were constantly firing off aerials and mortars from about 6pm until 4am. I sat up with Mango for a few hours in the middle of the night (him under the chair, me on it).
But I now have to assume that last year's New Year's party, which was really horrible, must have caused the land owners some problems. (And to be honest, I was prepared to cause them problems this year because last year was so bad.) Like, their ability to build houses there might have been threatened or something. (In 6 years they've got as far as putting in 3 or 4 septic tanks, and a big fence that cut off lots of parking for the neighborhood, but no more, but there's clearly a *hope*) I didn't get my hopes up when there was no July 4 party, because see above about hatred of America. But there was no New Year's party either.
So we heard occasional explosions down in the valley below us, and pretty frequent legal fireworks. But it was so much better than every other New Year's here.
I thought at first it might have been less illegal fireworks coming in after a crackdown due to the fireworks tragedy on Oahu last year (six dead including a child, 20 injured, many so bad they had to be sent to the mainland, altogether making it the biggest fireworks tragedy ever on Hawaii: https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/02/death-toll-from-salt-lake-fireworks-explosion-rises-to-6/). But no, other people have spoken about it being bad as ever.
So apparently one or two bad seeds (race car drivers and/or vacant lot owners) can turn an OK night into a terrible night.
--
Speaking of last year's fireworks tragedy: there were somewhere around a dozen arrests at the time. As is appropriate, since peoples' irresponsible use of illegal fireworks led to numerous deaths and injuries. A year later, there are no charges however, due to a lack of cooperation from victims [https://www.khon2.com/local-news/no-charges-a-year-after-deadly-aliamanu-illegal-firework-explosion].
This is maybe the the bit of Hawaii culture that has shocked us the most. We've similarly seen families hiding murderers and other people on the run from the law.
And I was shocked by the response to a single-car high-speed fatality yesterday morning, which seems likely to have been caused by drinking and driving given the date, time, and speed. Apologists there were talking about how maybe someone had spied out the victim's work schedule and set an ambush for her. Complete fantasy rather than apportioning responsibility.
Ohana apparently trumps community, to the point where you'll protect family even if it endangers everyone else. (At least for some.)
--
Since we've returned: sheer laziness.
K. and I are both very tired, which has led to lazing about, playing games, reading, and napping.
I'm prepared to continue on with that theme for a few more days, and not return to real life until Monday.
I think it'll be a good antidote for a hard year.
(I remember thinking how rested I felt when we got back from our few days in Oahu mid-year, and then we immediately started working on the very stressful rehoming of Elmer in Boston, and it's been non-stop since ... until we got on that plane to California last Monday.)
Hopefully.
We got to try out _Seven Wonders Dice_, a brand-new game that I purchased during a brief break on Monday. I'm always looking for more 6-7 player games that are actually good, mainly for familial gatherings. This qualified, though I'm uncertain if it's actually simpler than my standard, _Between Two Cities_, which had been my hope. In any case, fun game that adapts _Seven Wonders_ without just being a copy of it. Dry erase markers will work better than the grease pencils that came with it, but otherwise: no notes.
We also played _Pathfinder ACG_, a long-running hobby for our Thursday night group. I really liked the work Mike Selinker & co. put into PACG 2e, so it's a shame that Paizo cancelled it. We started Curse of the Crimson Throne (the major 2e adventure) before I left, and the group has made slow progress on it since (because they only meet in person about once a month), so it's still going. We played a late chapter 4 scenario on Tuesday that was all fighting, which was not the game at its best, but it was still fun to revisit it.
--
Wednesday was our travel day. A direct flight from Oakland to Lihue. Nothing of note. I had found myself not really in the mindset to work when we flew out, so I didn't even try on the way back, other than some editing that C.A. had asked for help with.
I'm ready to start work again on the fifth after what's likely been my longest holiday since we moved (unless you count some of my European trips for Rebooting the Web of Trust, but there was work at the heart of those).
--
I always say that New Year's Eve is the worst day of the year on Hawaii.
That's because of the fireworks. Huge amounts of illegal fireworks flood the island and so from sundown until midnight you get a constant cacophony of exploding aerials, earthshaking mortars, and dogs constantly howling in distress at the above. Mango cat is horrified too, and usually spends the night under a chair. (That's why we always make sure we're home by New Year's Eve, despite hating it.)
This year was ... not bad. Maybe worse than a New Year's Eve in Berkeley, but it was 90% legal fireworks (which tend to be pop-pop-pop-pop instead of BOOOOOM!).
It turns out that this can be a really local issue. For our first few years here, we had some car racers living across the street for us, and they set off illegal fireworks for hours, but they moved out a few years ago. But then last year, at both July 4 (often not well-celebrated here because of local hatred of America for stealing the islands from the Hawaiians) and New Year's Eve, there was a huge, illegal gathering at the field also across the street from us. They were constantly firing off aerials and mortars from about 6pm until 4am. I sat up with Mango for a few hours in the middle of the night (him under the chair, me on it).
But I now have to assume that last year's New Year's party, which was really horrible, must have caused the land owners some problems. (And to be honest, I was prepared to cause them problems this year because last year was so bad.) Like, their ability to build houses there might have been threatened or something. (In 6 years they've got as far as putting in 3 or 4 septic tanks, and a big fence that cut off lots of parking for the neighborhood, but no more, but there's clearly a *hope*) I didn't get my hopes up when there was no July 4 party, because see above about hatred of America. But there was no New Year's party either.
So we heard occasional explosions down in the valley below us, and pretty frequent legal fireworks. But it was so much better than every other New Year's here.
I thought at first it might have been less illegal fireworks coming in after a crackdown due to the fireworks tragedy on Oahu last year (six dead including a child, 20 injured, many so bad they had to be sent to the mainland, altogether making it the biggest fireworks tragedy ever on Hawaii: https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/02/death-toll-from-salt-lake-fireworks-explosion-rises-to-6/). But no, other people have spoken about it being bad as ever.
So apparently one or two bad seeds (race car drivers and/or vacant lot owners) can turn an OK night into a terrible night.
--
Speaking of last year's fireworks tragedy: there were somewhere around a dozen arrests at the time. As is appropriate, since peoples' irresponsible use of illegal fireworks led to numerous deaths and injuries. A year later, there are no charges however, due to a lack of cooperation from victims [https://www.khon2.com/local-news/no-charges-a-year-after-deadly-aliamanu-illegal-firework-explosion].
This is maybe the the bit of Hawaii culture that has shocked us the most. We've similarly seen families hiding murderers and other people on the run from the law.
And I was shocked by the response to a single-car high-speed fatality yesterday morning, which seems likely to have been caused by drinking and driving given the date, time, and speed. Apologists there were talking about how maybe someone had spied out the victim's work schedule and set an ambush for her. Complete fantasy rather than apportioning responsibility.
Ohana apparently trumps community, to the point where you'll protect family even if it endangers everyone else. (At least for some.)
--
Since we've returned: sheer laziness.
K. and I are both very tired, which has led to lazing about, playing games, reading, and napping.
I'm prepared to continue on with that theme for a few more days, and not return to real life until Monday.
I think it'll be a good antidote for a hard year.
(I remember thinking how rested I felt when we got back from our few days in Oahu mid-year, and then we immediately started working on the very stressful rehoming of Elmer in Boston, and it's been non-stop since ... until we got on that plane to California last Monday.)
Hopefully.