HAPPY NEW YEAR and Thank You!!!!!

Happy New Year to all of you here at Tiki Central. This is my first Year on Tiki Central and it was the most rewarding fun I have had in a long time.

It all started with my first event (the Tiki Oasis in Palm Springs) in May. I was overwhelmed to say the least. Never have I ever received such a great vibe from a group of complete strangers.

After the Oasis my wife and I began our summer of parties. Showing up to someones home whom you have never met is a unique experience and one that many people would not choose.

No matter what function I attended I never even once was concerned that I would fit in or find interesting people to talk to.

I have entertained overnight visitors from other states whom I did not know. I received the same treatment from other TC members on cross country business trips. I loved to see the expression on the faces of family and freinds when they would ask "Do you know these people?" "Are you sure its a good idea to have these strangers in your home?"

I have finally found a community of creative and artistic friends whose opinions and approval are very important to me. You have all been very kind with your compliments on my rookie work.

No matter what our day jobs might be, I see you all as Musicians, Painters, Computer Animators, Disc Jockeys, Carpenters, Wood Carvers, Landscapers and so on. The amount of talent we have here on Tiki Central is really impressive.

I have a strong feeling that even if Tiki was not our common thread that many of us would still be great friends and enjoy eachothers company. I find it incredibly coincidental how many other commonalites many of us share. I eagerly read the lists of favorite music and movies and find it amazing how many of us enjoy the same obscure films and bands that most mainstream people have no knowledge of.

I am rambling as usual but wanted to simply say thank you for a memorable 2003. I look forward to more great times with all of you in 2004.

Monkeyman
aka- Derek Weaver

CHEERS!!

Happy 2004 to you Monkeyman and all the other swell people I have never met on Tiki Central!

Happy New Year TIKI FREAKS! It's 04! Score!

(how lame is that!)

Well put Monkeyman. I've had the same experience and feelings, and have had the same reaction from other family and friends too about attending. I dont think you were rambling on at all. Happy 2004 to you and yours at Tiki Central.

Well put Monkeyman!!
Hapy New Year TC Ohana.
I raise my mug to you all and hope for much aloha in '04!!
:tiki:

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou from Basement Kahuna!

Okay I had to edit all of that becuz it was too much silliness. Thanks Derek and I hope everyone has the best year ever!

"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space." Lou Whitaker

[ Edited by: jungletrader on 2004-01-01 10:06 ]

Happy New Year all!

Derek, what a cordial and classy way to ring in the New Year on TC. Happy New Year to you and to all on TC. May 2004 be another year full of tiki fun!

Right on, Monkeyman! Happy New Year to everyone at TC!
BK - hope you sent a few mortar rounds up to celebrate (I went for the century missiles, myself).

I just test-fired me latest new rifle a couple 'a times...

Have a great 2004!

Test fired, eh? I hope you didn't wing "Sleepy LePooch" in his usual napping spot...

Yes, Alohas all around. A splendid New Year to everyone.

On 2004-01-01 17:33, Kava King wrote:
Test fired, eh? I hope you didn't wing "Sleepy LePooch" in his usual napping spot...

Bill just covers his head and says "Sonofabitch...there he goes again...Why, if I had opposable thumbs I'd break that damned firearm over his head...can't a dog get some sleep around here?"

Happy New Year everyone! I'm glad to see 2003 gone & welcome 2004 with renewed hope and optimism.

Aloha & mahalo nui loa to da ohana here at TC for all the positive energy,

Shipwreckjoey

On 2004-01-01 21:57, Shipwreckjoey wrote:
Aloha & mahalo nui loa to da ohana here at TC for all the positive energy,

Hear, hear!

Confession time! I know I don't usually look it, but I've been battling depression for most of my life. This time of year is always difficult for me (especially when there's no New Year's party at the UGH House), but the ohana I've found here has helped me through each day more than you will ever know.

So, when do you want to have my next party? I'll see you, Humuhumu, on that Star Wars Holiday Special, and raise you a Pufapalooza and a Schoolhouse Rock! 8-D

Yeah,2004!

Yeah,2004!

Monkster!
May the tiki gods give you the creative juices for your art, in 2004.
All TCers, only the best to you in 2004.
Unga

[ Edited by: Unga Bunga on 2004-01-02 10:03 ]

Happy New Year to all!

I also have a confession to make. I keep reading about get togethers and parties and staying at people's houses. When/where/ and who? I'll admit that I am a greenhorn around here so can someone please explain?

I hope that Humuhumu's departure from the suicide capital hasn't left us without a party initiator. (Yes, I have been reading archives...)

Let's get some TC events rockin in 2004 so that I can meet you all in tiki-rific style!

On 2004-01-01 23:29, cynfulcynner wrote:
So, when do you want to have my next party? I'll see you, Humuhumu, on that Star Wars Holiday Special, and raise you a Pufapalooza and a Schoolhouse Rock! 8-D

You're on, sister! We can join forces and hold a massive 70s geekfest.

Mahalo to Monkeyman for so nicely expressing a sentiment I think we all have felt to some degree. This past year was absolutely brutal for me, far more difficult than any period I've been through in my entire life (the divorce was the easy part!). I shudder to think what it would have been like trying to get through it without my friends, and Tiki Central is a big part of that. The warmth and hospitatilty I've encountered in my travels this year -- from New York to Florida to California to Chicago, and back home in Seattle -- has been astounding. It's a great feeling to have a friend in every port, and I hope that everyone knows they've got one in me when they're visiting LA.

Here's to 2004, may it hold many more wonderful new experiences for all of us.

Sassattack -- if you want to get together with folks, all you have to do is ask! Keep your eye on the Tiki Events section (sounds like you're already doing that), and if you want to see something happen, throw up a post and make it happen. If you're visiting another town, let it be known, and folks will come out of the woodwork to greet you. In Seattle you're extra lucky, because Selector Lopaka is at Fu Kun Wu on Tuesdays -- it's like a miniature tiki event every week.

Thanks Humuhumu for the good vibes and the info...
Good luck in LA!

props and alohas to all in the TC Honeycomb Hideout!

dis is totally the place to be.

when i told my wahine about posting some recent finds on TC, she paraphrased it as "showing the kids at school."

that summed it up nicely!
feel the luv
j$

Ha! Johnny Dollar, she's right! We are like happy kids at school sometimes (but we have more fun together on weekends!).

Derek, speaking as one of those strangers whom you invited to sleep in your home, I too wish you the very best New Year!

And believe me, on the other side, some friends ask WHY I would "spend the night in the home of people whom you don't even know except over the INTERNET! Are you CRAZY?!". Of course, as it turns out, Monkeyman opened the door exclaiming excitedly, "Oh, I KNOW YOU! You sang at Tiki Oasis!" Ohana from then on. (And I want to adopt his two kids, if he and the wonderful Mrs. Monkeyman, Olga, ever wanted to trade 'em in!)

Nothing but fun like that. I've gotten out to Basement Kahuna's KTPR twice now (and i PROUDLY remind everybody that I was the first TC-er to get there!). Again: "You're driving an hour and a half out into the North Georgia woods to see some guy from the INTERNET?! Are you CRAZY?" Damn, it's not a wife-swapping ring we're talking about here - more like mug-swapping! Rum-swapping!

But nothing but wonderful experiences for me from some of the NICEST people I can ever imagine. I've roomed at tiki events with gals whom I didn't even know before (Tressa, Humuhumu), and it ONLY made the time more fun! Damn, it's practically what made the best memories!

Humuhumu's right when she says people come out of the woodwork to show you a good time. SugarcaddyDaddy, Traderpup, and Mig all ensured that I saw the maximum number of tiki places/TC people on my trips to LA and SF. Werzmo Derenc and co. came in on their night off at the Purple Orchid to welcome me to California, and even saw that I got my inebriated little self home! The Conga Room in SF opened up on a closed night to allow a nice ending to my birthday that night, after great folks, some of whom I had only barely met before or not at all, joined me at Trader Vics overlooking the bay. That doesn't even begin touch all the sweet things TC folks did to make my time last summer in California one of the GREATEST trips there ever for me.

Y'all are just the BEST. I'm getting all misty...

(It still amazes me how much more we are than a group of strangers who post on the internet. Is there ANY group like us, who associate SO MUCH offline too? I have to so quickly TRY to explain about how we're not some conglomeration of cyberfreaks with no communication or lives, save "TikiWorld Online" or something. I mean, people here help each other MOVE!!!!)

Have you ever noticed that the people who think you are crazy for meeting up with 'strangers' you met on the internet, seem to be the same people who have no problem going to a bar and meeting up with strangers there... and sleeping with them?

On 2004-01-02 15:30, Sassattack wrote:
I also have a confession to make. I keep reading about get togethers and parties and staying at people's houses. When/where/ and who? I'll admit that I am a greenhorn around here so can someone please explain?

Hey Sass: Tiki Oasis, Hukilau, and (possibly/probably) Exotica 2004 are all happening this year, not to mention the grand re-opening of the newly extensively remodeled Aku Hall...

Closer to home (for you), Huumuu x2 may have flown the coop, but keep your ears open: I was there for the first gathering of the Seattle Tiki Tribe (non-neon, natch) in October, and I am sure the northwest is in for some good times: Lopaka, Woofmutt, and the rest of the gang have too muh access to good Tiki to let it rest.

Formikahini is right -- the tiki events are fabulous, but having a roomie makes it way more fun, and ends up being the best part.
I could tell you some great stories, but I fear that Formika & Inky would bust my kneecaps. :) Great, great memories, though.

On 2004-01-06 15:17, tikifish wrote:
Have you ever noticed that the people who think you are crazy for meeting up with 'strangers' you met on the internet, seem to be the same people who have no problem going to a bar and meeting up with strangers there... and sleeping with them?

Yeah, either that or they mistrust everyone including their own family.

When I told my mom and dad we were going to the Hukilau, I think they thought it was going to be like the opening scene in Natural Born Killers.

Ok, i'm late but happy new year everybody...