Every raging, screaming hot-button issue (sovereignty, same sex marriage, any issue at all involving “pidgin”) was started by 20 lunatics with way too much time on their hands. On the whole, we’re a very placid bunch and don’t give a damn about those issues, so don’t bother trying to get a discussion started on that. Or flag burning. Or school prayer.
There are way, way, way too many freakin’ stoplights.
H1 westbound is the Freeway of Death. No other streatch of roadway in the state (not even H1 eastbound) has as many accidents, out-of-nowhere jams, blocked lanes, and other craziness. We recently extended it to six lanes, and it hasn’t improved one bit. That bad. Be advised, too, that if you’re heading west from downtown (up until at least the Chinatown/Liliha area), it can go from 40 mph to dead stop in one second. It’s happened to me twice.
Ala Moana is a much nicer place to shop than it used to be, due mainly in part to all the added parking, but you still want to get there either early (before 10:00) or in the evening. Pealridge is very nice, and you should definitely spend at least one day there. Waikele is good if you don’t mind the pervasive corporate atmosphere. The worst shopping place is Windward Mall; no logic whatsoever to the layout and all the parking spaces are under the sun.
As long as you’re not a jerk about it, you won’t get hassled about your race. Yeah, we have a bazillion stupid jokes, but overt racism is almost nonexistent. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who openly supports any serious form of discrimination, even homophobia.
We elected Linda Lingle governor because we were tired of the Democratic hegemony and needed a change. This does not translate into a blanket approval of George Bush, the war in Iraq, religious fundamentalism, a flag burning amendment, tax cuts for the super-wealthy, gross bungling of natural disaster management in coastal cities, etc.
Our bus system isn’t the greatest (and it’s way too expensive), but if you need public transportation, it’s your only real option. We are not building some asinine monorail to shuttle a few hundred University of Hawaii students.
Aloha Stadium has seen better days, but there’s nothing structurally unsafe about it, and heck, it’s not like we’re going to bring over an NFL team or anything. It’s not going anywhere.
We knew Jasmine Trias wasn’t that fantastic. We didn’t care.
Pidgin To Da Max was a goofy project written about 20 years ago. It was never meant to be any kind of instructional aid, a lot of the terms are hopelessly dated, and a few were never in common use. In other words, only use fo undastan da kine, no try da kine yoself, eh?
The island of Hawaii is called “the big island”. Nothing else. Also, anything with “Kam” in the title is spelled with a K and is short for “Kamehameha” (and not “camera”).
Everyone who uses “ufa” is Samoan. If you use it, the most likely response you’ll get is derisive snickering.
It’s not steaming hot about a month and a half of the year. If that. Fortunately, at least it’s a steady uncomfortable heat, not like those insane 110-degree summers you hear about on some parts of the mainland. Hottest it gets is around the low 90’s.
And finally, belting out “Allloooooohaaaaa” is for large formal functions only. And only tourists and federal workers wear aloha shirts.
Questions? 
