A Parade and a "Darn" Car Alarm

Saturday, 11 June 2005

Went to Bikram yoga this morning to drink two liters of water, sweat all my toxins out and stare at my toes over my head; then I went to my dad's to relieve my brother Jay. I convinced Dad to go on an excursion today to see the Kamehameha Day parade, which includes many floats, marching bands, and pa'u riders (people dressed in the respective island colors, adorned with leis, riding on horseback), going through Waikiki, along Kalakaua Avenue, and ending at Kapi'olani Park. It was nice to sit in the shade and see wave back to all the beautiful people waving at us, Miss Teen Hawai'i, Genoa Keawe, pa'u riders, and military men. There were three high school bands from Missouri, all dressed in their mainland outfits, and my dad laughed at how next time they should wear their t-shirts and shorts; you could see the relief in their faces as they marched towards the end of the parade, after miles of sweating and getting water poured into their mouths in their long sleeved shirts, pants, boots, gloves, and hats...they might as well have done Bikram themselves this morning!

We walked around Waikiki a little bit and went to "Walls", as we reminisced about the days when Dad used to teach us how to boogie board as kids. As I took pictures of the sets coming in, with young and old laying on their boards, looking back and trying to time it so they could kick, kick, kick and catch the wave in towards shore, I fondly remembered when my dad would hold the board, coaching me to paddle with my arms and legs. When the right wave came, he would give me a hard push and send me off; and, as I heard him yelling in the background, "Kick, Tanya, kick, kick, kick!", I would glide on the surf, heading towards the shore, with a smile on my face.

I took a picture of him next to a surfer statue fountain, one of the newly added structures (in recent years) to revitalize and beautify the Waikiki beach area. We stopped by the Kapi'olani Bandstand (also another place where we could reminisce, for during my high school years, my dad was the manager of this park, and I would catch the public bus for the 2 hour ride from Kamehameha to the end of the line to meet him at the bandstand), where there was a taiko drum exhibition going on.

It was a nice day, and now I am getting the hang of tranferring my dad by myself. After we got home, I went to meet my childhood friend Nina at Ward Warehouse so we could swap bags (We had borrowed each others' bags before I left Thailand.) and so I could go to dinner with her and her parents. After chatting a bit, we decided to get on our way in our separate vehicles. I turned the key to get into my truck, and as soon as I opened the door, the car alarm starts to go off. OH NO! (I start to have visions of the last time this dreaded noise pierced my ears...No, it was not the time I passed a random car in the shopping mall parking lot with a darn alarm going off --Oh, wait a sec, that's me --, nor was it the time I often complained to friends about why people do not turn their darn annoying car alarms off (Note: "Darn" might not be the word I used, but rather the word my editor is choosing to use for the purposes of this public blog entry.), but it was the time my dad and I were sitting in this very truck and had a similar experience I am about to describe (Please insert profanities where "darn" may be, or whenever you feel necessary.).

Now, let me pre-empt this my saying that I never use the darn car alarm because I don't know how to shut it off, and because of my past experiences with it, so I must have inadvertantly armed it when I put the keyring in my purse. As soon as the alarm started going, I pressed one of the buttons on the remote, hoping it would go off. It did....for about ten seconds...and then started all over again. I saw my friend Nina already leave in her car, but I didn't want to call her, so called my brother instead (who was no help, as he said he had no idea how to turn it off....he never used the darn thing so to call Dad), and then I called my dad. By this time, Nina has come back to see what's going on, and I tell her to enter the car (even though the darn alarm is just going to go off again, but who cares, it's already gone off about five times already). She tries to call two different friends who install car alarms to see if they can help us in this unfortunate situation. Unsuccessful. As we are sweating in the closed car, because I was too afraid to turn on the ignition to open the windows, or to open a door for fear that the alarm would go off again, people are walking back and forth in this open air mall without even batting an eye, and a little toddler in a stroller just outside the truck has taken a liking to the rhythmic sounds and is now bopping his head to the darn car alarm, my dad proceeds to tell me, via cell phone, how to find the button to kill the alarm (and believe me, at this point, I'm about ready to kill anything.).

Dad: "Okay, look at the console, and go down where your knee hits it, to the left of the clutch. Go 45 degrees, and there should be a button."
Me: "Okay, console, knee, clutch, 45 degrees...no button."
Dad: "No, go down where your knees are, to the left. Do you see the hood release? Go there, go 45 degrees, and there should be a button."
Me: "Is it on the console? I see three holes, but I don't feel a button."
Dad: "No, it's not on the console...Just look under there. There's a button. Is the alarm going off right now?"
Me: "No, it's not now. But, in about ten seconds it will. Yup, see, there it goes."
Dad: "Just look for the button."
Me: "Nina is helping me now, and all we feel are cables, and no button."
Dad: "Okay, well there might be another button....Go left. Do you feel a button?"
Me: "Uh, no button.....But, the light and the alarm are going off."

After about ten minutes of unsuccessfully trying to disarm the darn alarm, which has now gone off about ten times, even after starting the ignition at one point, but then being shot down by the darn alarm one more time, my dad decides to just come down and show me where the darn button is. Although it sucked that Bernice had to get him into the car and drive 15 minutes to come rescue me, there was no way I would have ever figured out where that darn button was. Meanwhile, as we waited for them, we asked a salesperson in a nearby shop if she could call security to come help us. After telling her that we're the owners of the car alarm that's been going off, she almost seems unphased that it might be a good idea to see if security could help us. But, my dad got there sooner than security did (which just goes to show you how effective car alarms really are, as when the security guys bicycled over (at first in the wrong direction) and walkie-talkied their superiors to let them know they had the situation "under control", one guy asked, "Oh, is this the car whose alarm has been going off?...Yeah, I heard it. It's been going off for awhile huh." Uh, yeah, great help you are. I could've been stealing the darn car already. Glad to know you're watching out.)

It took a few more minutes to transfer my dad to his wheelchair and for Bernice to wheel him over to the car, but only about ten seconds for my dad to show me where the darn button was...which, by the way, was no where near the console, or the hood release, or 45 degrees of anywhere...It was more on the left hand side panel of the door. But, anyway, we got it disarmed, and I was about ready to throw the alarm remote away, swearing to never want to hear the darn alarm again. My dad asked me to test it again, by arming and disarming the alarm (as if I want to do it again just for kicks)....and I quickly retorted with a "Hell No! I'm taking this remote off the keys, and you can cut the cables for all I care. I never use the darn thing anyway...and well, you can darn well see, how effective car alarms are."

And, so the moral of the story is: The next time you hear a darn annoying car alarm going off, you could A) Just ignore it, or B) Call security, or C) Be a good samaritan and go and see if there are people stuck in the vehicle that perhaps just don't know how to turn the darn thing off. It really could save people a lot of headache from those darn useless things.