Bad Vibrations
After all the excitement from the previous day, my mom and I decided that we'd take Friday as just a day to relax and do whatever we wanted. So she decided she was going to walk around the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and I decided to hang out on Waikiki Beach and go surfing.Now, I'm not a surfer. I've only done it twice now, and both times have been in Waikiki; the waves are fairly forgiving there, the water's warm, and the people are really cool about getting out of your way if you lose control. I live 20 minutes from the beach in L.A., but the waves in Santa Monica are rough, the water's cold and there are like, piers and rocks to avoid. No thank you. Anyway, this time did not disappoint. The waves were a tad bit rougher than a couple of years ago, and I'm not in as good a shape as I was back then, but there's nothing like the feeling of standing up on that board as you glide along the surface of the water. It's totally dreamlike the first couple of times you get a good wave and ride it into shore. Wow. Just thinking about it kinda throws me off balance a bit. Gotta get back there soon.
I had an amazing time, but there was a price to be exacted for my time palling around with Nature (this had become the theme of the trip, it would seem). As you can see from the images, I wasn't wearing a t-shirt while I was surfing (trying to get rid of that farmer tan, also noticeable in the pics). Bad move. Now, yeah, the sunburn I got was irritating, but manageable. No, I would take the pain of a mild sunburn over the pain inflicted on my poor nipples that day. Maybe I was doing something wrong, or maybe I just have delicate nipple-skin, but I think I know why most surfers I see wear wetsuits : nipple burn from the friction of pulling onto and off the foam of the surfboard. It wasn't until a few hours after I had left the beach and was taking a shower in the hotel, that the pain actually hit. I guess the mix of water, salt and soap dissolved whatever callouses had formed to shield my nipples when I was surfing, because once washed off, pain ignited within each nipple that was more intense than even the jellyfish incident. And it wouldn't stop. I was frantically trying to rinse the soap off as soon as the horrible sensation began, but now the white "meat" was totally exposed and was crying out in anguish. After I got out of the shower, the pain continued, and I could barely put on a shirt. If I had had band-aids, I totally would've put the circle ones over my raw nipples as pasties, because the rest of the night, my nipples were on fire. I slept restlessly on my sunburned back that night, and when I'd turn on my stomach in my sleep I'd wake up, eyes wide, a stifled scream in my throat.
Anyway, cut back to earlier in the day, before I would attempt sleep, but soon after the shower, my mom and I went to check out an exhibit downtown where the artwork of a relative of Courtney's was featured in, but there was a scheduling mix-up and we got there late and everyone had already left. My mom's aunt Betty called while we were walking around, and my mom accidentally hit the speakerphone button on her cell phone and couldn't find the button to turn this feature off. So we were walking through crowds of people, everyone turning around, confused as to why my mom would want everyone to hear her entire phone conversation. Meanwhile, embarrassed, my mom was trying to tell Auntie Betty that the speakerphone was on and that she'd call her back, but Betty just kept gabbing away for all to hear. I was literally out of breath from laughing, which was driving my mom even more crazy. Ah, good times. We ended up going back to the Ward Center (where the Welcome Dinner was) and eating at a (engrish-y) place called Brew Moon where we had some great ribs and steak. I had a local beer (can't remember its name) that was pretty good.
Later, Ric and Court let me know they were hanging out at Duke's Canoe Club, a restaurant/bar at the Outrigger Hotel in Waikiki, so once my mom and I got back to the hotel, I ran out to try and catch the last trolley into downtown Waikiki. Unfortunately, I just missed it, so had to sprint across bridges and through a hotel to get to the next stop before the trolley did. Although I was out of breath and on the verge of an asthma attack, I made it on the very last trolley, and got to the bar in time to have a drink with Fig, Court and Co. They had all been drinking Tropical Itches, amassing a collection of wooden backscratchers (which came sticking out of each drink), so I joined in on that. We all talked and drank. It was all very low key. I think people were either pooped from the events of the day before or dreading their inevitable return to the mainland. Fortunately, I wasn't leaving for another couple of days and Fig and Court still had a trip to the Big Island to look forward to for their honeymoon.
The night over, the newlyweds were kind enough to drop me off back at my hotel, and thus, the night of tag-team sunburn and nipple pain could commence.