The day began at 9am. Breakfast, laundry, workout, shower. Then it was time to meet DC and Jimmy to check out what was going on at Murphy's in downtown Honolulu. Murphy's is an Irish pub and restaurant that, surprisingly, I've never been to but every year they host a St. Patrick's Day block party. It starts at noon and goes on until 10pm. During the afternoon things are pretty tame. There were food booths set up along with a few places to get beer and Celtic Maui T-shirts. I wanted some food.
I got a corned-beef and cabbage sandwich with some fries. I've never really been a huge corned-beef fan but this was pretty good. Then I came across somebody selling whiskey cake. Now how could I possibly pass that up? It was awesomely delicious.
This was the first event I've been to in Hawaii where the majority of people were white. Me, DC, and Jimmy were joking about it. At one point I realized DC was the only Filipino there, “how's it feel to be the minority for once!” I said.
There wasn't much going on downtown in the afternoon but I could see cases of Jameson being unloaded and stages being setup for that night. The real party begins when the sun goes down.
The three of us walked around the downtown area for a while and somehow ended up at the state museum of art...not sure if that's what it's called but it's next to the state capitol. We checked out some art.
I came across one cubist-style painting. Reminded me of Picasso a bit. With Picasso, even though it's abstract if I look at his work for a minute at different angles and distances I'll eventually start making some sense of it or at least start to have some kind of emotional reaction. But with this painting, nothing. It was just confusing so I left. Another painting that stands out in my mind was titled Death Scene. It was slightly abstract painted using only black, red, and pink. Even though there were no solid figures I could see a scene of people slaughtering and being slaughtered. Kind of morbid but it was cool. It was fun going from one artwork to another and switching back and forth between appreciation to making fun of it.
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| Now there's a Picasso for ya! |
After the art museum we walked through the State Capitol Building and peeked inside the state senate and house of representatives. The rooms were small, uncomfortable looking, and both were adorned with a chandelier made of nautilus shells. I hear those things piss off any environmental groups that end up there.
The sun was getting low and DC and Jimmy had to leave. It was almost time to for me to head back downtown to meet some more friends for the next phase of the Murphy's block party.
Sundown, back to downtown! Parking was surprisingly easy to find and the streets were packed with green. I met up with Kalani, Marlon, and Lori. A few minutes later Waimea showed up. I remembered the cases of Jameson from earlier in the day and Waimea and I set forth toward them. Jameson with ginger ale, good. Jameson with coke, good. Jameson straight, nothin wrong with that.
Waimea and I circled back to where everybody else was and Pilita and her friend Lynea (I hope I spelled that correctly) had showed up. They needed a drink, we had a solution. That's right, more Jameson!
This time on our way to the Jameson stand I noticed people had fake Jameson tattoos. I needed one. As I paid for another Jameson with ginger ale I asked for a tattoo and the ladies working there promptly slapped one on my neck. Nothin like advertising how much whiskey you have running through your veins.
We cruised around the block party a little more. One stage had an Irish rock band playing. The other stage was a DJ playing hip-hop. When I stood in the middle of the block party I could hear both and I didn't know if I wanted to bounce or river dance...not like I can really do either.
Our group left the Murphy's area and we walked around downtown for a while. I picked up a Gatorade to rehydrate and thin out the whiskey a bit. But it wasn't long before more drinks were back on the menu and we made our way to some place called Da Vin, it's near the Honolulu Theater. It was packed with a line out the door so we went to another place a few doors down. It was also packed, but no line out the door. Still too crowded. Finally we decided to go to a bar in the Japanese Culture Center...yeah, I wasn't sure I heard that right at first but I guess part of Japanese culture includes small, kinda dingy bars.
Sticking with the Irish theme I had a Guiness Black and when the waitress brought it she gave me some green beads. There was a cover band playing. I requested Dropkick Murphys but to my dismay they didn't know any. At least they played some Journey and Cranberries so that was all right.
The night wound down steadily. Throughout the night I had plenty whiskey in my veins and hearty laughs in my lungs. It was a good St. Paddy's Day!
Historical did-ya-know: St. Patrick originally wore blue. He switched to green likely to be in theme with the Shamrock, which he used to illustrate the holy trinity as he spread Christianity throughout Ireland.
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