Post #172473 by Kono on Sat, Jul 16, 2005 4:32 PM

Personally, I don't care what other's think about my tiki hobby/lifestyle (I hate to admit it but I think it is verging on a "lifestyle"). I don't even tell most people about it and unless they come over or it just happens to come up in conversation then they don't even know. I've worked with people for five years that don't know anything about my tiki life (and I even have a friend at work that is always blabbing about it). That's just a personality quirk of mine, I'm not quick to divulge personal info (glacial is more like it). We hired someone a few months ago and one day he says to me: "You're a very private person aren't you?" I'm like "Yeah, whatever, mind your own business!" :wink:

I hate explaining tiki, tiki bars, tiki drinks, exotica music unless I feel that the person is genuinely interested. Otherwise it's just too much work for nothing. To most people I just say that I collect Hawaiian and Polynesian stuff and leave it at that.

Every now and then I meet other fellow travellers from all walks of life. I was talking to an older couple a few months ago and noticed the lady had a purse with King Kamehameha on it (how could you miss that?), so I ask her "Hey, where'd you get that purse?" and it turns out that they were both obsessed with Hawaii for like 50 years. They honeymooned on Waikiki and go back to the islands every other year. They have tikis at home that they bought over there and they told me that they go to Hilo Hattie's regularly every two weeks! A couple days ago I met a guy who was a missionary in the 1950s in Irian Jaya (Dutch then Indonesian held western New Guinea). He had some great stories to tell. He worked with the Dani tribe and of those that he worked with, he was the first white man that they had ever seen. But even then I just talk to them about their area of interest. That missionary doesn't care about Les Baxter or want to hear about Trader Vics so we just talk about New Guinea and that's good enough for me.