I have lived in Hawaii for exactly one year today.

I've been here long enough to know my way around the island decently, to predict the weather, to understand Pidgin and some of Hawaii's other quirks (see my Hawaii page for more on all of them) and to have my fave beaches picked out.

But every once in a while, I have a blonde moment.

One of the things I love about Hawaii is the fact that people let you over in traffic. You don't have to force your way over. In Maryland, if you put your blinker on, people purposely didn't let you in. Then of course you thank them for ignoring you by blessing them with a sweet little hand gesture. (I don't, of course.) True story.

Here, I've barely seen the bird given. People let people into their lane with no problems and in response, the polite thing to do is a little wave back or, even more commonly seen, the shaka. People will do the famous "Hang Loose" relaxed hand gesture as a thank you by waving it out their side window (which makes me smile every time I see it) or over their shoulder.
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After being here for nearly a year, I've attempted pidgin and have even been known to throw the shaka on occasion. However, as I mentioned, everyone has their blonde moments.

A few months ago I was at a sunset premiere on the beach for the premiere of Hawaii Five-0. I had been an extra on the show the week before and had made friends with another extra named Sabrina who came with me to the premiere- a laid back viewing of the show on the beach. We were discussing "haole shakas." She pointed out the group of older white women (obviously tourists- you know the look) who were huddled around the red carpet waving their cheesy shaka signs back and forth every time a news camera pointed their way. "That," Sabrina had said, "is a haole shaka if I've ever seen one."
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Even Santa gives the Shaka.Photo Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/
I had to agree with her. I had never thought about there being a distinction before but could clearly see the difference. Picture if you will, a laid-back surfer throwing the shaka to you. Now picture a 50+ something sunburned blond lady wearing a giant, obnoxious Hawaiian shirt and giddily waving her over-extended shaka back and forth. See the difference?

Only a week or two later, in my early days of tentatively throwing the occasional shaka when people would let me over into their lane in traffic, I made my biggest Hawaii FAIL to date.

After a bright blue Honda Accord let me over into their lane, I raised my hand cockily to throw a shaka as a thank you. When I brought my hand back down I blushed furiously.

I had the right idea...and technically they have very similar meanings....but, no, it just wasn't right...
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Yes. Oh, yes. I had managed to give the kind person in the Honda Accord behind me the sign language gesture for "I Love You."

I guess everyone has their FAIL moments.
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Brain farts. Senior moments. "Acting Blonde."

I think you need to have them once in a while to remind yourself that you're human and to force yourself to laugh at yourself.
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Hmmm?
Lately I've been by myself at my office an awful lot. We have new people starting but mostly it's just been me alone in there working lately.

Today I had a few errands to run on the town and was planning to do them after going down to the mini mart on the first floor of our building and getting myself one of those yummy avocado salads I'd been drooling over all week.

Now there's something you should know about my office. We have a history of some creeps hanging out. I've only seen one but my previous boss told me how this one guy came in with a dirty purse one time and was acting really creepy and kept trying to give the purse to her. He left it behind when he finally left and when she opened it up, her passport was inside. She still has no idea how it got there. But that's the reason we keep our office locked at all times, especially when it's just one person there. Oh, yeah, you see where this is going.

At about noon I went down to the first floor to retrieve a salad from the mini mart. On the way I noticed the tall maintenance guy (not creepy- actually close to my age and cute which is why I avoid him since clearly he doesn't ever seem to notice that flashy bling on my left hand) smiling and waving to me. I smiled back kindly and hoped he wouldn't discover the location of my office any time soon.
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PS. This was a hilarious movie!! Loved it!
As I made my way back into the office and maneuvered the key in the door, my salad dressing container slipped oh so innocently off of my Styrofoam to-go container which held my much-desired salad inside. Splat! it went on the floor spilling all over the hallway and our outside of our office. I hurried back into the office to grab napkins and our little container of Lysol wipes to clean up my mess before someone saw it. Got out into the hallway and squatted on the floor cleaning up the mess....and letting the door close behind me. With my phone inside. My lunch. My wallet. And my keys. Crap.

I stood there in the hallway holding my bundle of dirty napkins, an empty ramekin of salad dressing, and a container of Lysol wipes pondering my next move. I hurried down to the first floor to the building manager's office to retrieve a key (fortunately finding a trash receptacle along the way to throw away the napkins before I accidentally wiped anymore salad dressing on my jeans) but was still clutching my Lysol wipes. I stopped into the mini mart to get another salad dressing on the way. Only to arrive at the building manager's office about 5 minutes after 12 and to read the sign on the door saying that the office is closed for lunch from 12-1. Crap again.

I went back upstairs (seeing the maintenance guy again smile at me) to see if I could call the emergency building management number from one of our neighbor offices. My friends in the engineering office were all out of the office. The chiropractor was closed on Fridays. I tried my dentist across the hallway. They were kind enough to let me use their phone to call. The lady on the other line said she would see what she could do and give me a call back. Twenty minutes went by of my chatting with the poor dentist receptionist (who was probably trying to get work done!)

I decided to give up and try to find a maintenance guy (hopefully NOT the cute one!) to see if they had a master key. So I went to the elevator and tried guessing floor numbers. Lucky number 8. Nope, no maintenance guy on that level. Level 4. No one there except for the maintenance guy who was working on the windows outside. Thanks for misleading me, outside maintenance guy. Level 3. No luck. Level 2. No one there. Back to level 1. Still clutching my salad dressing and Lysol wipes container.

Found a maintenance guy outside (not the cute one! yay!) but he didn't have a key. Ended up waiting outside the management office (yup, still clutching my Lysol and dressing but wishing I at least had my iPhone...I was going through Twitter withdrawal already!) until someone came back from lunch.

I ended up being locked out for an hour total. Then I checked my Facebook and realized that my previous post had complained about being stuck in the office by myself and how I couldn't wait to get out.

Just goes to show you, be careful what you wish for. I really wanted to get out of the office but didn't expect I wouldn't be able to get back in. :)

Happy Friday.
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