What did you miss the most?

[bluesboy]

people being honest and open.

[steve1]

Political Bumper Stickers and Critical Thinking.

[Royall]

Getting into a car and going 1 direction for hours and hours with out coming back to where you started! Really good Mexican food. County workers that will answer your questions with out saying "read the code book".

Royall

Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani

[Kelena]

I didn't miss anything when I first got here, other than my dog. She arrived a month later and all was well.

As time goes on, here is what I have missed the most:

1. PEOPLE. Disappearing into a crowd of people, both physically and metaphorically. There are only about 185,000 on this entire island -- about the number of people living in the city I lived in, in a county of six MILLION people. I kind of liked being somewhat anonymous, except in professional circles.
2. CLEAN AIR: Lately, my mauka facing windows and doors let in air that smells like someone has just fired up the BBQ and is burning mesquite to get that nice, smoky flavor. There is a myth here that we have the cleanest, freshest air in the world. Complete nonsense. Practice your eye roll with me: raise eyebrow, eyeballs up and to the right, now bring them down and look at the ground, now snap them back up and look directly at the speaker. Maximum extension on your eyelashes.
3. DRY WEATHER. We have had a long period of dry weather here, but that is the exception, not the rule. And, when you DO have dry weather, see Number 2 -- the air quality is likely to suffer as dry weather often means a Kona wind.
4. CRISP PROFESSIONALISM: Here you have well-regarded attorneys that fail to make court appearances without informing the client; vets who confidently state your dog has heart disease when she does not; accountants who know less than you do about a specific tax issue and then google it right in front of you just to get up to speed on the QUESTION (not the answer -- the question), at $200 an hour and then guess at an answer. I could go on.
5. PLACES TO HANGOUT AFTER 9 O'ÇLOCK: We all must be in our homes by no later than 10 or the night marchers come out. Would you like to meet someone new at a public place? Okay, where in the hell are you going to do that?
6. TRADER JOE's
7. BORING PEOPLE. Every one over here is very interesting except the locals, who are generally gorgeous, friendly, guileless, talented and charming but otherwise uninteresting. After awhile you will start to crave contact with people who do not have a profile similar to this: Worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratories after a career as a field service officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, but has chucked all of that and now wants to be known as a ukulele player. Yes, the gorgeous thang is very interesting, and like no one you have ever seen in your entire life, but at some point it is like eating an entire tray of eclairs.....it just becomes too much. You long for normal looking and sounding people. You want someone who will bore the crap out of you.
8. ROAD TRIPS. I really want to drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico right now, which brings me to number 9.
9. REALLY GOOD MEXICAN FOOD AND REALLY CUTE MEXICANS. Red or green? Baby, I don't care. You make the call.
10. SILENT NIGHTS, AMPHIBIAN FREE NIGHTS: Really, the coquis create this horrid white noise every night. Add to that, the deadly buffo frogs that skulk around and you will wish for utter silence at night and will cherish it on your trips back to civilization.

There are many positive, wonderful things about living here as evidenced by the fact that among the 6 billion people on Earth, some of whom had a choice, 185,000 people have chosen to live here. That means it is a coveted place, cherished by some.

[birdmove]

I miss being able to go visit my coworkers at a Harley-Davidson dealership I worked at the last 5 years before I retired and moved here. I miss some of the backroad routes I used to ride my motorcycles on, though I love riding here too. I do miss a few of my favorite restaurants, but it didn't take me long to get new favorites here.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[mac nut]

fast shipping, no shipping

[bluesboy]

I miss my mom

[Super8]

Kelena, Holy ****! Too funny. You are truly an artist with words. You have a real talent, there. Mexican food, I feel ya. I married a Mexican-heritage woman. Once you had Authentic, there's no goin' back. I understand there are high hurdles to jump if you're gonna open a restaurant?? And What the hell is a night marcher?

I find it very interesting how many folks on this forum are dissatisfied with their representation. I've already read about Faye Hanohano and Fred Blas on here. Has there been no one willing to step into the political arena from Puna that has done any good for the District? Sounds like practically everywhere else on the mainland. I was on the BI and in Puna about ~2009 and I got the vibe that nobody really wanted the kind of infrastructure or development of Waikiki or even Kona to start popping up in Puna. Solar, Catchment,... I get that. Part of the whole appeal of the area even. But internet being unusable, that's just a travesty. No sarcasm. How else are we supposed to educate ourselves? Public Schools?

[csgray]

Hey, I work in a Public Charter School in downtown Hilo and we still have iffy internet. Try holding an audience of middle school kids while you are waiting out the spinning wheel of death! Infrastructure on the whole Island is really hit and miss.

Carol

[MarkP]

Joy San Buenaventura is running against Faye Hanohano.