The Chopper Shocker

31 December, 2006

I awoke late in the morning, and for good reason, we didn't have any assignments for this day. Today was to be our first true "free day", and I must say that it was a welcome gift. It took some time before everyone woke up and was ready to go out and face the day, but soon we rallied and decided to visit the Army Museum that was literally across the the street.

There, we saw many an interesting thing, my personal favorite was a rifle collection of every rifle that the U.S. Army had adopted over it's 231 year history. There was also an exhibit for every war from World War I to Vietnam, the latter included a strange entryway that nearly made Roger jump out of his skin. The entryway literally told you to hit the deck as NVA rounds pelted the Huey. After this, we went upstairs to where they have a display of every medal earned by a Hawaiian company that served during WWII. On the roof of the museum was a retired attack helicopter that Big Fat Paulie took a picture with.

After we left the museum, we all decided that the time was right to visit Waikiki beach, after all, it was literally across the street as well. After changing, we went to the beach and marveled at the clear yet coolly soothing waters. It was there that we saw European tourists, a site that no man should ever see. Not because they were from Europe, but due to the skin tight speedo's that they wore, which left little to the imagination. Well, after being horrified by this, we returned to the hotel and decided to take a break and await the coming of the New Year. Several people said that there was a celebration as this new year came, and I for one was whole heatedly or that. But I had also heard that at midnight, a great dragon flew down from the heavens and ate the souls of those participate in the rhythmic ceremonial ritual that went on on the beach. Of course this information should be taken with a grain of salt, because the man who said this was wearing a sandwich sign saying that the end was near. It wasn't the sign that ruined his credibility, it was the fact that he said the world had ended 15 years ago, it was just taking time for it to catch up.

Well, 8:00 PM came around, and soon the phone's started to ring when people back in the great nation of Texas began to call, saying that it was New Years. Of course to us it was still four hours away (if we were actually in Hawaii, if we were in Wyoming then it was only an hour away). I remember becoming quite fatigued and started to watch a Dog the BountyHunter marathon on television. The next thing I know, the TV is still on, but Sean and Charlie are passed out. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:59 in the p.m. I walked to the balcony and looked out, but my window didn't look out at the beach, so I couldn't see if a dragon ate anyone or not. I was going to tell the others in the room that it was New Years, but since they were passed out I decided not to wake them up. Instead, I called Misty to see where on the beach she was and if she had seen a dragon. But as luck would have it, she too was in her room, tired from the day. After this, there wasn't much else to do, so I went back to bed and continued to watch the exploits of Dog before I succumbed to the depths of my own mind as sleep set in.