I watched "The Corpse Bride" on my flight back. Talk about a weak story! I started getting so annoyed with Johnny Depp's character, which is a not a good thing for a movie audience. You couldn't root for this character at all. I kept thinking if they only flushed out his character better, then the movie might have been decent. I was very disappointed with this Tim Burton movie, very disappointed.

It's becoming increasingly hard to read the business news. GM and Ford are laying off tens of thousands of people. Kraft is laying off people as well. How many more layoffs can the country take? People keep saying that how well General Motors is doing is an indicator of the rest of the economy. Well, GM is not doing so well are they?

The scuttlebutt is that Ford or GM will merge with a japanese automaker. Boy, that will interesting won't it?

I'm back at Honolulu Airport waiting for my flight to take me back home to San Francisco, and I'm blogging at the airport internet access kiosk where I remembered I had some extra minutes.

The last 2.5 days have been a whirlwind. It's always been that way when I'm in Honolulu. My brother took my sister and I up to Punchbowl Cemetery to put flowers on my mom's grave. My mom is lucky to be buried there. The cemetery is full and they aren't burying people there anymore. There was some kind of official visiting because there was a military colourguard there, along with what looked like navy and marine personnel. But we didn't stay because the rain was pouring.

As much as I've visited Punchbowl, I've never looked at the statue of the woman, which is famous for having been in the opening shots for the old tv show Hawaii Five-O. We went to take a look at it this time, and the statue is huge. There's also mosiacs of the battles in the Pacific during world war II.

Being in Honolulu always reminds me that Pearl Harbor is a huge military outpost, and that sailor boys are roaming the island. You always see them running around in threes in downtown Waikiki. We never quite get the military presence shoved in our face in San Francisco. I think their absence makes you forget that the US' power has always been based in its military power. The televised church ceremonies that happened 9/11 really brought home that fact to me. News about the military make the nightly news here. It did when I was growing up and it still does today.

For Veteran's Day in Hawaii, all elementary school children in Hawaii (at least this what they said to us), make floral leis to put on every military gravestone throughout the islands. My island has a military gravesite. My uncle, whom I was visiting this trip because he was ill, was a major in the Vietnam War serving as s doctor somewhere in Vietnam. You know, he never talked about his time there. God knows what kind of medical horrors he saw, but to this day he still wears his dogtags.

My brother took me out to a really great thai restaurant for lunch. I was surprised because the the thai was as good as what you would get in San Francisco. Then he took me to some famous cafe called Onjin Cafe. The chef who runs the place is considered on of the finest chefs in the islands. I thought the food was good, but my brother said it was an off night. We had some kind of fish, that I think I remember eating growing up. It's called olua, but my brother doesn't know the american name for the fish so who knows what I was eating.

My time is running out. It was a good trip, but packed full of stuff to do. I never spend enough time here in Honolulu. It's always been a trip to run around and do things and shop and not relax. I really wanted to visit the Arizona Memorial. I haven't visited since I was a kid, and one of the guys in my screenwriting gorup is writing a screenplay that takes place at the Arizona Memorial. I think I just need to spend a week in Honolulu and be a tourist again one day as an adult, and see all the sites I visited as a kid.

Today is my last day on Kauai. I put flower leis on my grandparents' grave, saw my uncle who has since March been eating through an iv tube, checked out all my old stomping grounds, and even took a swim in the ocean.

It's been raining since yesterday, which is good for the island because the guy at the car rental place told me it's been very dry here these past few months.

I wish I was staying longer, but it's time to leave. I hope my next time here will be when M-Square and I are together and I can introduce him to the family.

My birthday was yesterday ... yeah me! My aunt gave me about $3,000 worth of her old jewerly including a $1,000 silver bracelet with garnets, which is my birthstone. For my birthday treat to myself, I had a shiatsu massage at the hotel. The girl who gave me the massage was terrific! Then I went to Lappert's, which is the local iceacream palce here, and had a Lava Tube. A lava tube contains a scoop each of vanilla, macadamia, and caramel ice cream. The scoops are then covered with hot and caramel fudge, and topped with more macadamia nuts, whip cream and a cherry. Perfect vacation food yes?

My aunt and cousins took me to eat sushi at the best sushi place on the island called Kintaro. The sushi was ordinary except for the handrolled sushi crabcakes, which was divine. The crab was fresh and it was a type of sushi I'd never seen before.

I leave for the airport in about three hours, and now I'm off to take my last swim in my hometown waters. It's been a fun trip, short and sweet, and definitely worth it.