Editing Blog/2024-12-31/End of the Year (section)

== March ==

While we were on O'ahu we visited the Pearl Harbor memorial sites, including the USS Arizona memorial. This last one is quite striking when you think about all those young men in their 20s heroically attempting to fight back against a surprise attack. War is fought by a lot of young kids. And the biggest discovery for me there was that ships of that time needed a lot of firemen because they were steam powered. Almost everything was dedicated to boilers and managing them etc. Automation and superior engines must be quite the advance in war these days.

[[File:Inside the USS Arizona Memorial.jpg|thumb|center]]

We hit up a few old spots we also like: The Honolulu Coffee House and Jai Dee Massage right by it on Kapi'olani Boulevard.

We then went to visit my childhood friends Avinash and Anisha and their two kids. This was the first time Julie was seeing them so unfortunately they all ganged up on me for telling her tales of my tough life in India. We watched the Netflix special from Mike Birbiglia called The New One which is about him, his wife, and his child. This is one of my favourite comedy specials. I just about died.

I also taught Julie how to play Carrom and we had a good few games. We've still got the board, but we don't play it so much anymore.

[[File:Playing Carrom at Roshan and Julie's home.png|thumb|center|Obvious novices]]

Ages ago, someone on Reddit's /r/sanfrancisco had been talking about a police cruiser with a picture of Texas on the back window and some chap who was a policeman replied that they don't get to do things like that and that all cruisers have to be identical and so on. Well, mid March I actually spotted this impossible police cruiser!

[[File:SFPD Police Cruiser with Texas outline in the back window.png|thumb|center|Clear as day! That's Texas!]]

We also flew to Vancouver for my cousin Monisha's wedding.
[[File:Roshan and Julie dressed for Monisha's wedding.jpg|thumb|center|I'm blue da-ba-dee]]

The actual wedding venue was quite stunning!
[[File:Julie near Vancouver in Canada for Monisha's wedding.jpg|thumb|center|Julie has clearly stolen my overcoat here]]

We also went to Pitt Lake which is quite the drive from Coquitlam in British Columbia but is a nice easy visit.

[[File:Julie, Roshan, and Roshan's parents at Pitt Lake, BC.jpg|thumb|center|There were a bunch of ultralights in the air]]

For the final day of the month, my buddy Sherif and I went to the local Gooner bar to see Arsenal play Manchester City. A nervy away game at the Etihad: 0-0.

[[File:Maggie McGarry's on a Sunday - Arsenal v City.jpg|thumb|center|A good day, overall. We stood in the street and had a morning beer watching the game.]]