The Fireworks started weeks ago. But now that New Years Eve has arrived here in Hawaii, I see that everything up to this point was but a prelude.
A year ago today, I wrote about our experience in the apartment in Waikiki, which is beginning to shape up much like this evening. The kids are asleep. The wife is asleep on the couch, and I am outside on the porch writing, powered by candlelight and Andre Champagne. It is 10:39pm, Hawaii time, and the fireworks have been constant since 5pm.
While there has been rain tonight, the sky cleared up briefly. Both the smell and fog of powder fill the air in a way that is only overshadowed by the noise. In our small neighborhood, there are probably 120 homes. By my estimate, I would guess that 117 have purchased copious amounts of fireworks, which were on clearance at Foodland tonight.
Back home in Jersey, Fireworks were an event. One had to travel to see them-it was a big deal, and often, watching them on TV was a more amenable prospect. Here, they are constant. I’ve seen more fireworks in the last few days that I’ve seen geckos, rainbows, and children riding unsecured in the back of a pickup truck combined.
This year is very different that last year. I remember sitting on that balcony and watching what I thought were different towns lighting off their community fireworks, but as it turns out, every display I saw last year, and there were many, was one person shooting off their New Year’s Cheer. As I sit here on my porch, which faces the South Shore of Ewa, I see fireworks from every possible angle. My neighbors both up and down the street have taken turns shooting things off, some of which have been as impressive as anything we’d see in NY or Philly.
They take this stuff seriously. I’ve had people tell me, that yeah, we might have gone slower on Christmas, but you don’t cheap out on New Years in Hawaii.
The funny thing is, as the smoke builds up, I can’t see and appreciate the good ones. I can see the streams and the colors from the Beach that I like to go write at, but the colors are all blurry with the smoke. But the noise…that’s for real.
There’s a family down the block that strung their part of the street with firecrackers. They went for about 20 minutes until they just stopped, but if the hollering I heard is any indication, the fire went out, and they are re-gearing it…yup-there they go. Crack after crack, followed by ¼ stick… wow.
I just spent the last half hour talking with the guy next door. New Years Eve seems to a time in our little neighborhood where people walk around in broad darkness and talk to one another. It was cool.
You can’t believe the noise. I heard a ½ sick of dynamite go off a while back, and fully credit the miscreants I grew up with for my ability to discern the difference between an m80 and a ½ stick. I’ve actually impressed my neighbors with that knowledge.
The firecrackers have been constant, although there was a lull of all noise at 11:30 PM Hawaii time. I think everyone was reloading.
It’s been constant for the last, and the constant bombardment of sound has been intense. From every side there are celebratory flares both percussive and visual. The guy on the other side of us seems to really like the m80s.
Time Shift: I’m finishing this after the fact, On New Year‘s day actually. Happy New Year.
I was outside for the actual turn of the year, and there was no grand countdown…no ball, and no Rockin’ Eve. Just all of a sudden, everyone lit off their best stuff at once. There’s a guy around the corner that built a scaffold, and set off what he claims was 2009 firecrackers, all in a row. It sounded like more than that in execution. What I really liked was that he and his crew went through the wreckage and pulled out any that did not go off, and then set them off, to make certain that they had all been fired. The attention to detail was impressive.
I walked around the neighborhood a bit more, and what was most surprising was as loud as both the build up and blow-off to the New Year actually were, what was most impressive was the absolute silence that followed. Once the fireworks were done, they were done. People swept up the street, and went to bed. The next day was eerily quiet, like I’ve never seen our street before. It was like the entire neighborhood was asleep when they wouldn’t normally be. It was quite a turn of events. There was a light rain overnight, so the smoke and grime have been washed from the street, and you'd never know anything had occurred last night.
So-that was New Year’s in Hawaii. A lot of noise. A lot of lights. A lot of smoke…and then, quiet.
Like a wave, so to speak.
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