O'Kay, by now you already know that I am from Hawaii. Born and raised on the island of O'ahu. Honolulu is the capital of the state. We presently have eight (8) islands. Of course that really depends on who you ask. Presently I think that there are approximately over 100 islands being developed below the sea due to active volcanoes creating them. When that will happen who really knows.
I grew up on O'ahu in a casual way. Blue jeans, cut-tee shirts and barefooted. My first car was a rusted-out 49 Ford. It was "cool" though, cuz I had big old "moon-discs" on the rims. That really makes a difference you know! Those days we never locked our doors. Everyone had the same type of locks, the old "skeleton key." (One size fits all.)
My early years before I became a teenager, "night-life" was not heard of. My night exposure was restricted to school football games on Saturday nights. Hadda be home on the last trolley or else. (that was at 10 pm.) Once I got to high school and had my own wheels, my life really changed. Much thanks goes to my "typing Teacher" who paved the way....
Well here I am on the island of Maui now...been here since 1970. This island has really grown. In 1990 the poplulation was around 25K and since 2000 I believe it is well over100K people. In the old days, the policeman would go around and manually shut the streetlights down until 5am. (saving energy you know!) All the stores including restuarants (if you knew where they were) closed at 5pm. If you didn't eat dinner by then...fasting was in order until morning when they opened again...usually around 8am., or later, depending what the restaurant owner did the night before.
And now, well it's like any other big city type place in the world,
"peak hour traffic, fast food chains, hotels, more hotels, more traffic, more crime...much more people moving here." And the people that move here (usually after their third visit) quickly adapt to the Hawaiianlife style. Their hair begins to darken as well as their tan. They smile more and no longer rush about. And they even start "talking like us." We're really glad that they do come!
There are still two (2) types of "life styles" here. The refusing to change locals, and the people who are labeled as "snow birds" that migrate due to seasonal changes back home. All is really good here if you focus on your roots and try to live "within" your means. No local people really worry about tomorrow...itgently introduces itselfas you awaken from a good night sleep of less care of what happened while you were asleep.
Peoplewho visit Hawaiiare generally quite amused to the"Hawaiian life style." Our clock time here is referred to as.."Hawaiian Time." We do what we can today... and that's it. Tomorrow is another day.
I could go on and on and on....but tomorrow is another day!
Edited by: Maui Joe