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1/1/2021

Happy New Year – welcome 2021 – as we push out the old and hope for a better future – it’s time for reflections. Last year put many road blocks up for us to overcome. With the advent of Covid, many found themselves in dire straits, losing their jobs, losing their businesses and mostly losing their self esteem. Government tried to help but it was lame so much red tape and people got fed up. I do not condone everything that happened however things could’ve been handled a little more compassionately.
For those of us that were considered essential workers – we were the lucky few even though hours were cut we continued to be able to live somewhat in the style we were used to.
Our state went from agricultural to depending on tourism, this I think hurt us, because so many of population worked in the industry that when we shutdown, these were the first to feel the impact. This is where I believe the snowball effect started – layoffs and furloughs created a huge impact on unemployment (which some waited months to get any kind of assistance, some are still waiting), then came the rentals and mortgages (people not being able to pay), which created a moritorium on rentals, but did we think that landlords might also be paying a mortgage on their rentals? how would they pay if the renters couldn’t pay them? Businesses were in the kind of the same dillema, they could not pay the rent on offices or stores and even with the moritorium they could not meet payroll for their employees. At this point as more and more people joined the ranks of unemployment health insurance went by the wayside. Some employers tried to keep up health insurance for their employees but as things took longer and longer to find relief, the employees suffered. Yes, it’s advertised that there were jobs to be had, many people tried to get work this way often times working multiple jobs because they could not get enough hours to sustain their expenses. Business’s that were hiring kept these new employees as part time workers and they got minimum hours because they had to take care of their permanent employees first. As a part time worker if you did not make 32 hours you were not eligible for benefits such as health or dental insurance. We are a society that is not used to living off the land nor are we equipped with making due with what we have. The old timers know and they are the ones that are doing ok. Many have had to move back home with their parents, which poses another problem of having too many in one household and – the this won’t happen to me attitude puts many kapuna at risk.
I am just venting here – I hope with the new State government coming in will have so sort of resolution to our needs and will open their eyes to what’s happening around us. I pray that this will fine everyone in good health to continue the fight against Covid and not each other.
The light on the horizon is that we now have a vaccine to help with this fight, hopefully this will enable us to move towards a better tomorrow and people can return to work and be employed whether it is the same industry as before or a new one that you have learned since all this began.
As this virus continues and now we have seen a new strain, hoping the new vaccine will help with this one also. I am skeptical because every year we have a flu shot and every year there’s always a different flu coming around. I pray that this is not the case with Covid and we can end it this new year. Projections are to get everyone vaccinated, and I hope and pray this will end this. I will stop for now, family coming for lunch today and I must prepare the food.

12/19/2020

I have a lot of stuff on my plate right now and I don’t know how it will affect 2021 – I’m looking forward to the New Year for many reasons:
First off our house plans for the 9th Avenue property has finally been approved by the building department after about 5 months going back and forth with them and the architect that drew the plans. We had to deal with the board of water to move the water meter from where it was to a new location – this included the water meter from my neighbors house as well. Cost me a small fortune out of pocket.
Next I had to put a down payment with the building company that’s going to build my house and down payment with the bank for the appraiser to appraise the property before we can build. We are in suspense on the bank loan still even though we had to submit many documents and signed so many papers. According to the bank everything looks good for the loan, now it’s wait and see. Still stressing until they say it’s a go.
Had our first meeting with the builders went over the plans and made small changes to the plans – they want to have all their ducks in a row so when the bank says yes they will start immediately. All of this is mind blogging right now.
Once that starts we will be paying rent and mortgage while the house is being built – lots of changes monetarily will happen. Basically for seven months I will be paying duel and then comes what we will need in the house beds, furniture, curtains etc. So much to think about.
My only regret is that I will have to cut back on my spending for the tournaments that I run. I’m thinking that Fun Friday’s will continue, however Saturday’s tournament will have to be less add ins. Thinking of asking the players to help with entry fees and I will match the pot based on the number of players participating. Right now we average 11-16 players if I added $5 per players would be less than a $100/week that I put in now. Something to think about for 2021.
As this year ends especially next week is Christmas and Monday the 21st marks 1 year since the passing of my oldest (Jondon Thornton). I still have not reconciled with that, even though Jon did not want anything to do with family unless he needed money which was often – he always relied on me to bail him out and over the years I grew to resent that. The fact that he was an alcoholic and and a drug user and aerosol spray user did not help him. He spent and stole money to appease his habits – he was still my son and I loved him. I don’t know whether I could’ve helped him, he never took the blame even if he was wrong always blamed someone else. The house fire was his doing first he said it was his fault then awhile later he said it was someone else’s fault, but he let that person stay there with his permission and he said he feared for his life. We will never really know what happened that day but fire destroyed everything. And I will never know if there was anything that I could’ve done different to save him from himself. Rest in love Jon I hope you are in a better place and I will love you till I die. I truly believe the saying a parent should not outlive their child, it’s heart wretching.

12/15/2020

Christmas 2020 is upon us and for everyone it will change the way that we celebrate the birth of Jesus whether you are religious or not – things have changed.
This year will be very hard for me, on December 21st will mark one year of my oldest passing, though we were not close and he constantly ignored the family, it still hurts when your child passes before you. He chose the path he was on and he chose to do what he wanted instead of conforming to reality and society. He was a square piece trying to fit in a round shape. From the time he was young he constantly fought to have his way or convinced everyone that his way was the right way and believe or not he had people that went along with it. You were on your way to recovery from addition, but you had to have that one last fling which cost you your life using computer aerosol canned spray. This year on the anniversary of your passing the Christmas star will be seen when 2 planets come together – there will be brilliance in the sky – what a beautiful way to remember you.
Christmas is a time for children and families – I hope that we can all be happy with all that has happened this year 9 months of not being able to associate with each other – not groups of more than 5, no bars open, restaurants party of 5 and no social gatherings, If you’re in the hospital with Covid no one is allowed to visit you, it’s just so sad. New hope on the way with a vaccine that is 95% effective however the major population will not get it till next year. Globally this pandemic has hurt a lot of businesses and people. This has changed our way of life. I hope and pray that this will be over soon.
I’m looking forward to 2021 in hopes that we can return to a some what normal way of life maybe a little more cautious in our endeavors and be able to have family gathering and being able to travel again.

To make manners even more gloomy since I’m venting one of my orders for Christmas gifts will not arrive till after Christmas – if I had known it was coming from China I would not have ordered it. I ordered almost a month ago and now I find out not going to get here till January 3rd. Now I have to go out and buy gifts for the kids I was going to give it too.

Ok done venting for now. Happy Holidays everyone and be safe.

11/29/20

Update Covid 19 Best of the Best Open

Congratulation to Malo Kuhns for the win with Leo Price taking second. Tied for 3rd was Henry Potts and Guy Wong (Hilo). Thank you everyone that participated in this online sort of Best of the Best. Thank you to Ron Shioji who added to the add in which allowed us to pay out to 3rd place with $$ or prizes.

11/17/20

Update Covid 19 Best of the Best

5/Dn group finished with Jelyn taking Win and the trophy for this category followed by
Jo Ann who came in second. Peter and Iris were tied for third. This was fun and it allow people to compete without interruption while playing. Playing best of 5 no handicap gives you a feel for how true competition is and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. Congratulations and thank you for your participation.

11/6/2020

Here’s an update on the progress of Covid 19 Best of the Best:

Due to the number of participants 8/Dn is complete with Chance taking the Win and the trophy for that category followed by Jason who came in second and Markus/Jo Ann tied for third. Thank you to Ron Shioji for adding into the pot that allowed us to pay out to third. This has been fun and I thoroughly enjoyed playing. I think the best of five brings out a little more competition and the no handicap allows even more concentration while playing not to mention it’s a little more quieter with not interruptions.

The 5/Dn group is still playing however tied for third is Peter/Iris so far. 11/Dn and Open are still up for grabs – I will post updates as it happens.

I want to thank all that signed up.

11/1/2020

The Covid 19 Best of the Best started yesterday – I was a little disappointed in the turnout for the 5/under and the 8/under. Due to the kindness of Peter Antonio and myself we were able to start these two catergories. Wishing everyone the best of luck. I want to thank Ron Shioji for the additional add in for this event which will allow us to give out placement money to 2nd and tied for 3rd per Ron’s request.

I will continue to have weekly tournaments until this Pandemic allows the bars to reopen again, I know that some bar restaurants are open and I hope that all you dart players are supporting them by patronizing their efforts to maintain during this trying times.

I also want to give a shout out to all the essential workers – who have been working through out this mandated Lock downs and Tier openings. I know it’s hard when we see people not adhering and those that do are being punished. The mask wearing is essential for now as well as social distancing. I wear the mask because I do not want to bring home this virus to my family as well as I am in the percentage that is high risk, not to mention that I am diabetic and could get it easily.

I really miss seeing all of you and hopefully in the coming months we can – you know think about this – it not necessarily the tourist that’s causing the numbers to go up. We didn’t have visitors for approximately 6 months and our numbers rose due to social gatherings. I don’t believe that bars are the problem either – as long as they adhere to the guidelines.

I know that this has been hard on everyone and I hope that soon we can travel and be able to socialize soon. Maybe not as open as before but safely. I feel for the children they are missing out on a lot. Halloween being one of them though I did see some go trick or treating – so in a way it brought it back to the kids and not parents going to costume contest instead of being with their children. I liked that part – well I’m not really a dresser anyway haha!!

Have fun with your families and most of all take care – this has not been the year that we all expected but we have to make the best of it. Thank you for reading Just My Opinions.

10/27/2020

This Pandemic has put many of us in dire straits whether it be emotional or financial. Many have been furloughed or terminated due to closures. If anyone says they are not affected by this – I would call them a liar.

Everywhere there is confusion on what can be done – on what is being done – how we all are reacting to it. Is it politics is it violence is it right wing or left wing is it secret society agendas. Bottom line people are out of work people are sick people are dying. Does anyone ask how can I help to make the problem better? Instead of arguing instead of blaming instead of bickering instead of critisizing – can we not look for the solution.

Yes we all know that there needs to be another stimulus for the nation and yet we bicker on the wording and the dollar amount. It’s needed now what about the person that has a family and they cannot feed their children because unemployment is screwed up or they are not eligible. Can you look that child in the eyes and say oh sorry little one but the government whether it’s state or congress cannot decide fast enough to help us.

Everyday when I drive to work I see more and more homes being put up for sale for whatever reason, I believe these people who need to move in order to survive but then they have to find another place to live – are they going to move back home or try to rent a place that may not rent because the landlord cannot afford not to get paid because they have their own money problems, it’s a catch 22 and it’s snowballing. We need to get something done soon, just my opinion.

2019 was hard for me – in January my mom’s house had a house fire and totally demolished the house. In the aftermath we had to pay out of pocket to have it completely demolished. We know that there were some squatters living there and creating havoc in the neighborhood. My son let them live there and we try to get them out but that didn’t work and then the house fire came. No conclusion by the fire department on the cause. Finally things started to calm down and then another devastating thing happened my oldest son passed away 4 days before Christmas.

So when 2020 came along I thought things were on the way up for me and I was looking forward to Super League in Vegas well we all know what happened to that scenario May. Now here we are in October and I really don’t think that we will have the freedom to fly comfortably in the coming months with Covid-19 still playing havoc with us globally and the mandated restrictions on coming back. We’ve been at this for 8 plus months and I really don’t see the light at the tunnel yet.

The one thing that I think that I have contributed to is being able to have some weekly dart tournaments for some of the dart players that are stranded at home, It’s been and I try to contribute a little something to help them have some little extra to do something with or to be able to feel that someone cares.

I have been lucky with the fact that I am considered an essential worker so I have been working this whole time with only being cut back 8 hours a week. Though it does make a hole in ones pocket – it’s not totally needed when you think of all the extras you used to do that you don’t do now. I have had more family time until the second lock down. Well enough venting from one end to another – I’m calling it a night -see you all later.

God Bless Everyone – may the Lord watch over us and surround us with his white light of protection-Amen

Aloha Jo Ann

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