Author Archives: Aunty

About Aunty

Aunty is a new senior citizen and loving this phase of her life. Less responsibilities, less fear of being weird, able to do more of the things that I want to do! Older, yes, slower, yes, but life is even more wonderful in my golden years and I look forward to even goldener ones.

Monster house – let us stop them on Wednesday!!!

Posted on by
6

*** Update!  By a unanimous vote, the monster houses will be stopped, but it will take some time before the details are worked out and it becomes law.  We are all so happy, and it was Trevor Ozawa who really started the ball rolling because so many people in his district called and begged for help.  

Aunty recently got an update about the bill to stop the monster houses.  The council might vote and decide on zoning and permitting criteria this Wednesday, December 6 at City Hall.  The agenda is a pretty full one, so the Resolution 17-276, CD1 pertaining to the monster houses will probably be discussed a little later, perhaps even after the lunch break.  The meeting begins at 10:00 am, and live feed can be accessed on the Honolulu.gov website, under the “event calendar”, click on the “City Council – Live meetings”.  This will allow viewers to see the actual meeting in real time and get a better idea of when the resolution 17-276 will actually be heard.

Written testimonies can be submitted online.  Oral testimonies (1 minute in length) can be done by either registering online, at the door, or after others have testified about their opinions about monster houses, yea or nay.

Here is some info that Aunty received about the process:

Councilmember asked that I send you a copy of Resolution 17-276, CD1 relating to monster homes.  This resolution will be up for adoption at this week’s December 6th Council meeting at Honolulu Hale.  We anticipate that this resolution will be adopted by the City Council and will require the Department of Planning and Permitting to start the review process on the bill attached to the resolution.

We hope that you will be able to come down to Honolulu Hale to testify in person, but if you are unable to do so, please submit written testimony.  I have provided the link to both the resolution and Council agenda for your reference.  The resolution is listed on page 17.

Resolution 17-276, CD1: http://www4.honolulu.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-201637/Replacement%20sheet.pdf

Council Agenda: http://www4.honolulu.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-201875/120617%20Council%20Agenda.pdf

Here are the instructions on how to register to speak and/or submit written testimony;

SPEAKER REGISTRATION

Persons wishing to testify are requested to register by 10 a.m. as follows:

a. On-Line at http://www.honolulu.gov/ccl-testimony-form.html;

b. By faxing to 768-3826 your name, phone number and subject matter;

c. By filling out the registration form in person; or

d. By calling 768-3819 or 768-3814.

Persons who have not registered to testify by 10 a.m. will be given an opportunity to speak on an item following oral testimonies of the registered speakers. Each speaker shall not have anyone else read their statement and is limited to:

a. three-minute presentation on Public Hearing, New Business and Sunshined items;

b. one-minute presentation on all other items.

WRITTEN TESTIMONY

Written testimony may be faxed to 768-3826 or transmitted via the internet at http://www.honolulu.gov/ccl-testimony-form.html for distribution at the meeting.

If submitted, written testimonies, including the testifier’s address, e-mail address and phone number, may be posted by the City Clerk and available to the public on the City’s DocuShare Website.

Thank you for your support.

Let’s show up or send in testimonies to preserve our neighborhoods!  The last time Aunty went to testify, she was only 1 of 2 local people – outnumbered 10 to 1 by foreign builders, investors, and their support groups.  Let’s stop the monsters BEFORE they take over, okay?  Please?

Thanking you in advance,

Aunty

TV Aunty and Monster Houses

Posted on by
4

Honolulu, Hawaii news, sports & weather – KITV Channel 4

(Aunty on TV at the 2:30 time frame)

Some things really bother Aunty.  Some are small kind stuff, like personal issues such as age spots on her face.

One big thing that really bothers Aunty is when our Hawaii paradise is under attack.  You know the words to that song by Joni Mitchell, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.  They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.”

Those lyrics are so sad – bulldozing away wonderful mango, avocado, lychee trees and old houses – with an asphalt parking lot.  Imagine this happening to your neighborhood: contractors come in, remove all of the trees and put up a monster house with 20+ bedrooms with the minimum amount of setback allowed.  That is taking away paradise in a worse way than a parking lot.  In fact, a parking lot would be far more welcome because these monster houses do not build with enough parking on the lot for a potential 20+ cars.

Recent news articles and news reports have brought these eyesores out for our view.  Aunty feels so bad for the broken hearted residents of Koko Drive, where a monster house has invaded their quiet street with a massive 16 bedroom 3 story house, and another one soon on its way, with 16 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms.  These are not houses.  They are apartments.

These monstrosities have to be stopped.  Thankfully, our district’s councilman, Trevor Ozawa (808-768-5004), is introducing a bill to change the current regulations, and councilwomen, Ann Kobayashi (808-768-5005) and Carol Fukunaga (808-768-5006) are asking for a moratorium on the permitting and construction of these huge houses.

However, we all need to get involved for these measures to be passed.  Show up at your neighborhood board meetings.  Call the mayor’s office (808-768-4141), call your city councilperson, send in testimonies.  It could happen to you next door, so what you do today will affect your piece of paradise in the future.  Go to the public hearings at City Hall.  Aunty testified at the November 16 meeting.  We locals were very underrepresented, and most of the testimonies were by foreign contractors and their representatives who are opposed to changes in the regulations to limit building size in residential neighborhoods.  Their reasoning was that what they were doing was actually good for Hawaii.  Ha!

Please get out and reach out to whoever you can grab.  Otherwise, our residential single family home neighborhoods will turn into a high density apartment housing like Makiki.

Aunty is on a mission, not just for herself, but to protect our fragile island paradise.  The next City Council meeting on zoning will probably be in December.  Aunty will be there, hopefully with smaller bags under her eyes.

How to win in Vegas

Posted on by
9

Aunty just got home from a 5 day Vegas trip – for the 15th (and last, boohoo) Clay Carnival.  It was outstanding and Aunty is all-in to start playing with her polymer clay again.

The Clay Carnival was held in the Linq Hotel, on the Strip.  It was always held at this location, though the names and ownership have changed over the years, for it was originally the old Imperial Palace (dinky but charming), then the Quad, and now the Linq.  Aunty had to request a room change after the first night because the nightly booming music from the Harrah’s side would have made her a wreck for the rest of the week.  Because the request was made midweek, rather than on the crazy busy weekends, Aunty got an even better room in Tower One, close to the elevators.

Tables unplayed

Aunty likes to play table games, such as Pai Gow poker and Craps.  (note:  did you know that table games’ winnings are not reported as income?)  Unfortunately, or maybe it was fortunate, Aunty’s Carnival playmates did not play table games, and so Aunty went along with them to donate her money to the slot machines.  Bleech.  They truly are bandits with bells and whistles.

People play slot machines because of the potential of a big easy win.  Big, and super easy to play, no real decisions to make other than minimum or maximum bets.  They make so much noise to stir up the excitement of a small win with “cling cling cling!” and lights flashing.  The pattern becomes – win some, lose all.  Vegas takes more than it gives.

Regardless, it is a place of hope, unconstraints and possibilities.  Where else can one wake up too early (4:00 AM) and play a giant popping rubber dice Craps machine with a complete stranger from Georgia for a few minutes and start high five-ing mutual victories?  Or to shout out “Winnah!” when your number is finally called at In and Out Burgers?

First class benefits

Aunty almost always flies home on first class (using Hawaiian miles to upgrade).  Life is too short and the difference in comfort and food is worth the expense, in Aunty’s opinion.  This recent return flight was exceptional because it had seats that became flat enough to lie down with just the right amount of legroom and storage.  Aunty’s seatmate was quite a character, with a black top hat, black skinny mustache and black clothes on a skinny frame.  He kept jabbing Aunty with his elbow or poking her with his finger as he talked, to emphasize his points.  And he had many points.

He was almost a professional gambler, being an emerald/platinum/high roller status in several hotels in Vegas.  Hotels would have limo services at his disposal and complimentary rooms whenever he visited Vegas, and he visits Vegas at least once a month.  Even the flight attendants on our flight knew him well since he was such a regular to them.

His game was roulette.  He tried to explain his theory – breaking the wheel into 8 parts and playing the board in such a way that 60% of the numbers were his.  It was Greek to Aunty and much too complicated, so Aunty mentioned how slot machines are for losing money.  He poked Aunty with his elbow.  “Not so,” he said, “I always make small money on the machines and then play for big money on the tables.”

How does he win in slots?

By not being greedy.  By not going for the big win.  His goal on machines is to NOT win more than $1200 or else it will have to reported to the IRS as income.

He poked Aunty as he started his lesson.  First, you put your player card in the machine of your choice (though he does move around a lot testing out different machines in a casino).  Then, insert your money into the machine and begin playing.  Machines almost always pay out a little bit in the very beginning.  $2, maybe $5, sometimes even more.  After a very short time, while you are up in profit, push the “cash out” button and take the ticket.  Get cash for it.  Go back on the same machine (your player card is still in it) and play again for a short while until you are up again.  Aunty got the elbow jab.  “Cash out” again, take the ticket and get cash.

Poke, poke.  By cashing out on the machine, the machine thinks that you are leaving.  If you stick the cash out ticket back into the machine, it knows that you are back.  Poke, poke.  So don’t play the machines with your tickets.  When real cash is put in the machine, it thinks that it is a new player and it pays out a little again in the beginning.  The machine is attempting to hook you in early with easy small wins and then keep you in the seat, chasing the bigger win that usually does not come.

Bing!

The light bulb went off in Aunty’s head.  Almost every time that Aunty sat down at those machines, it paid out wins in the beginning, with a lot of clanging and lights.  $20 became $24 quite easily.  And what does Aunty do?  Keep on playing and hoping for a bigger pay off, until the $24 goes down to nothing.  The machine knows better than us – we hope like fools, and fools will lose in the end.

Rinse and repeat to win

If we could get away from our natural tendency of playing to win big, and instead play to win small consistently, then we are not gambling.  We are investing and having fun at the same time.  Meanwhile, because our player cards are in a machine, our play credits are piling up on our account which start adding up to enough credits for some comps or bonuses.

A very successful stock market guru taught Aunty the same thing.  Rather than going to bat for the homeruns that rarely happen, hit for 1st or 2nd base, every time.

Very good advice.  Well worth listening to and doing.

Well worth all the elbow jabs and finger pokes, don’tcha think?

Update:  Aunty tried this machine theory in Vegas, and it works!  Well, not in a homerun way, but in a way that losses are limited, and gains are small (though it COULD potentially get big if hitting it lucky).  Pai Gow was Aunty’s downfall this time, but machines were good, with small gains, small losses, and still taking money home.  It did take discipline, cashing out from machines when $20 went down to $16, and when $20 went to $24 (or higher on a good last win).

A new tip is to hold your $20 and $100 bills in a clear zip lock quart size bag along with your cash out tickets. Cash out and write down how much went into the machine (i.e. playing a machine(s) 6 times with $20 bill = $120, and the total that the cashier cage gives you is your net.

Also, the higher the max bet on the machine, the larger the bills you insert otherwise you will hit the low limit of 20% too soon.  Never insert $1s or $5s because they are “cheap” bills and don’t mean much to you, and the machines know this and will take them from you very quickly.

Good luck, happy playing, and bring at least some of your gambling money home!

 

 

Angels All Around You

Posted on by
10

Do you believe in angels?

Aunty kind of did.  Some friends knew they were real, even saw them and heard from them.  But Aunty wasn’t sure – until meeting Estelle Small at a recent “Angels, Intuition, and Making Sense of it All” talk, and then a subsequent private consultation ($95) to learn the particulars of the team (!) of Aunty’s own angels that help fulfill Aunty’s purpose in life.

Some people have 1 or 2 angels, some have lots and lots of angels.  Aunty has 7 of them – 4 female and 3 male.

7 helpers

How do we know that they are real and good?  It is up to you to decide, and then once you do,  you are able to clear and cleanse your spirit and then ask them questions.

Aunty being Aunty, the first thing to pop into her head was being able to win in Vegas.  Ha!  Is that against the rules?  Or are there rules?  Not sure.  Maybe Aunty will try when she next goes there.

Cleanse thyself first

At the consultation, Aunty was taught how to do spiritual cleansing.  It took several tries because it involves moving hands across, and down, and shaking, and then across, up, back and down, around, down, and shaking, beginning at our 7th chakra that is located just above our eyebrows.  All the while breathing in and then exhaling, and repeating a sort of prayer, “In the name of God (or Universe, Love, Spirit, etc.), I cleanse my body and soul.”

Repeat until we get a warm glow or chills.  Aunty got goosebumps.

This sets the stage for our angels to communicate with us.  Or be closer to us.

Guardian angels

It isn’t quite like Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan in “City of Angels” (btw, Aunty LOVES that movie), but how wonderful to know that we have our own special angels to help us along our path of life.  Even better, to be able to ask and get connected to their wisdoms to situations that we may not be sure about.

Since Aunty is a novice at this, and a bit of a scaredy cat, she will be sticking to simple questions, like, “Is it a good idea to blog about this angel thing?”  (answer was Yes) or “Would it be a good idea to go out right now and weed?” (answer was NO).

Later, Aunty will ask about Uncle, but for now, will keep it light.

Light

One practice after cleansing involved imagining a ball of white light in front of us, around us, growing bigger and bigger, enough to fill the room, building, neighborhood, island, world, space.  The circle of light was love.  This part reminded me of Master Sha’s training.  A rather Taoist practice of sending love out to the far reaches of the universe, for our souls are part of the universe.

Who are we, What is our purpose?

Aunty can list her goals and plans for the future but she doesn’t have the answers to those 2 questions – yet.

Goals are easy enough to figure out since they are usually materialistic and measurable.  Aunty has a little bulletin board filled with them.

However, if Aunty were asked, by a booming voice, “WHO ARE YOU?” Aunty would stutter and mumble something rather vague and contrite, like “ummm.  I sorta blog as Honolulu Aunty and I went to Kaimuki High School.”

If the same voice asked “WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE?” Aunty would have to say, “I don’t know.”

Perhaps, now, with Aunty’s helper angels, Aunty will figure out those very important answers.  At the very least, it is quite wonderful to now be able to “hear” them and have some guidance from wiser souls than ourselves.

Your turn

Estelle Small and Patrick Kilhenny will be having another introductory session ($15 at the door) at Manoa Library this coming Tuesday (October 10, 2017) at 7:00 pm.  Aunty will be there to absorb more of this positive energy and possibly sign up for their 5-part series ($225).

More info about registering for consultations or workshops can be found at www.AngelsAndLifePurpose.com or at the Tuesday meeting.  See you there?  Aunty and her 7 angels will be.

(Actually, there are several more intro meetings, 2 on October 23rd at 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm at the Oahu Veterans Association on 1298 Kukila Street, and 2 on October 24th at 1 pm and 7:00 pm at the Manoa Innovation Center, 2800 Woodlawn Drive.)

A more in-depth 3 1/2 hour training will be available to those of us who want more tools to connect with our angels on Saturday, October 28, from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm at Manoa Innovation Center.  Cost is $55.  More info on it can be found at http://www.spiritualgrowthkeys.com/event/technique-workshop/ and pre-registration is required because we will be receiving workbooks with the workshop.  Individual consultations (like the one Aunty received and learned about her specific angel team) can be ordered at the same time as registering for this event for a discounted price of $90.

Aunty’s Googling day

Posted on by
8

barFirstly, Aunty wants to share her current favorite granola bar – 18 Rabbits.  This bar has been in Aunty’s purse for ages – carrying it around in case of hunger attacks while away from home, but never trying it – yet.  During the very (very) long car ride to Google’s Mountain View corporate offices, Aunty needed something to eat and opened this stored bar without any expectations.  It is rather flat (thus being easy to keep in purses), and “sounded” healthy, which meant that it might be not so delicious.

It is gluten free, certified organic, no refined sugars, and made with coconut, pecans, pumpkin & sesame seeds, cranberries, and whole grain oats.  This particular bar was the Cherry, Dark Chocolate & Almond.

Normally, Aunty doesn’t like granola bars with chocolate because the chocolate isn’t very good and makes it more of a sweet snack, but this one was el perfecto.  The dark chocolate was sparse and fine, the texture was chewy but didn’t stick to teeth,  pleasant to the taste buds, and it made Aunty’s tummy happy, like a welcome guest and not like a bomb of grainy oatmeal.  The entire bar was made with finely chopped ingredients all smashed together for easy eating .  LOVE!

Aunty is now going to actively search out and buy another one for her purse.

Googling

#1 son (only son), the crown prince of the family, works at Google.  He was always a computer nerd even though we didn’t have a computer at home until 1990.  In this day and age, young people have a great edge over us old people – computers and such have made them smarter than us.  Our advantage is that we are wiser.

google dayGoogle recently sponsored a “Take Your Parents to Work Day”.  It was like a huge college campus with a variety of free restaurant quality food in every building and in excellent food trucks.  Free quality snacks and drinks in convenient locations.  Recycle bins, personal gardening plots, ample parking, easy secured building entry and shuttle buses to the shop, demos and expos.

At the end of the day, we all gathered in a stadium that had a Harry Potterish canopy to hear about Google’s current and next phasing from co-founder Sergei Brin and CEO Sundar Pichal.  They were very unassuming and nice!  Loon is a Google project that brings balloon powered internet to remote areas.  Nest is like having a personal butler.  Medical tools for eye disease diagnosis to prevent blindness.  Couldn’t remember all the other stuff they talked about but Aunty walked away with a good feeling about this company.  It is a company that seems to want to help others and give us a more convenient life with self driving cars and free apps.

It ended with a queue of parents asking questions or making comments.  Aunty refrained from joining that queue to avoid embarrassing #1 son.  If Aunty had gone up there, she would have suggested gifting each parent with one share of Google stock (that would have gotten a standing ovation), making a “find my car” app so she doesn’t forget where she last parked, and having them hire Aunty to be part of their think tank with her non-techie point of view of what would make life easier and better for “maturing” people.

It was a full and wonderful day, under a cool cloudy sky.  Aunty’s absolute favorite part of it was in the bathrooms.  Every stall in every Google building had heated toilet seats and electronic bidets.  Wow!  Aunty was too chicken to try it out in case water squirted all over the place, so next time Aunty will bring a change of clothes and sit in the lap of luxury and enjoy.

Aunty is now old enough for Zippy’s!

Posted on by
6

card2 Aunty has been waiting forever to be eligible for Zippy’s Senior Discount Card.  Last week, on her 65th birthday, Aunty got her card!!!  Woohoo!

With photo ID and an annual fee of $20, Aunty gets 10% off all food and drinks – dine in, take out, bakery, and free parking!  (Actually, parking is free but it was a good way to end the sentence.)

Happy Birthday to Aunty

To tell the truth, Aunty really doesn’t like birthdays – going to them or having them.  Bah, humbug!

And spending a lot of money on a little bit of food is really not Aunty’s style, so when the kids asked “where do you want to go?”, the answer was easy.  Her favorite, Zippy’s Sushi in Kahala (there’s another one in Pearl City).

hamachisaladWe sat at the counter (which got much smaller after the renovation) and Aunty ordered her favorite sushi – hamachi nigiri ($11.55).  The very nice waiter said he liked the salmon skin, so Aunty ordered the salmon skin salad ($7.05), which came on a bed of iceberg lettuce.  Both were very very good, and perfect for a semi-light dinner, with a little room for dessert. (Jalna, you would LOVE the salmon skin.  It reminded me of bacon, yum yum yum.)

teishokuDaughter on the left got the 2 choice teishoku ($19.50) with sashimi and salmon.

Kids on the right ordered the monthly special dragon maki sushi ($10.95) and the Chef’s special ($21.60) which came with assorted nigiri sushi, udon, and tempura (sorry, no pictures).

As we waited for the food to arrive, the sushi chef gave each of us a wonderful dish of deep fried battered salmon cubes in a cold vinegar ponzu sauce (SOOOO yummm!) and double bonus of some fish sticks that were cooked to crispy crunchy perfection.

donutRosie’s John picked up the tab, saving money with Aunty’s NEW senior discount card, and Rosie treated Aunty to her favorite dessert – glazed donuts.  With Aunty’s discount card, she saved 14¢ per donut – which doesn’t sound like much, but it was still – Wooohooo!

The best is yet to be

Becoming 65 is quite wonderful.  Zippy’s senior discount, getting Medicare qualified (easy to do on the ssa.gov website), and also being eligible for a senior bus pass.

After a year, Aunty will be 66, and eligible for FRA – full retirement age social security benefits, regardless if Aunty has wages or income from other sources, WOOWOOHOOO!

It is great to grow older.  It really is.

Aunty’s war on slugs

Posted on by
10

slugsAunty has been trying to grow vegetables from seeds.  Carefully planting Manoa lettuce seeds, Chinese parsley, and red lettuce in small raised beds.  Watering gently and keeping the surface moist.  Looking for sprouts that haven’t shown up.  Failure!

The next strategy was to buy starter vegetables from Koolau Farms for $1.49.  Carefully breaking up the clumping sprouts and transplanting them in the formerly unsuccessful raised beds.  Shade the transplants with a cut branch of mango leaves (neighbor Mrs. Fujitani taught Aunty that trick) and water gently, twice a day.  However, after about a week, these would become sparser and sparser and start to disappear.

Why?  Because of dang slugs.  Brown ones, blonde ones, black ones, and African snails – ooojey slimey mullosc that invade Aunty’s garden at night and hide behind rocks and pots during the day.  Creeps.  AND they are the carriers of the very bad rat lungworm disease that has become a problem in Hawaii.

War!  Humpf!  Ho – What is it good for?

A slug free yard and garden.  Aunty’s war on slugs is fierce, cruel, gross, and fun.  Pal Cookie calls Aunty “sick”.  Aunty calls her a wimp because just the thought of going out slug hunting at night will send her home immediately.

Slug bait is okay but they seem to have an innate sense of avoiding what will kill them.  Beer in a pan doesn’t seem to work with the slugs in Aunty’s yard.  Instead, Aunty now uses 2 relentless hunting methods that work.

Slow and torturous

The first method was taught by a sweet old neighbor, Mrs. Fujitani, who also taught her how to grow a garden full of great Manoa lettuce from seed.  She would wait until dark ~ about 9:00 pm or later, and go out into her garden with bamboo skewers in hand, and a flashlight.  Each slug would be poked all the way through the middle of their oojey bodies.  The next one would be poked, pushing the first one deeper on the stick, and so on and so on until she had a stickful of slugs (see the opening picture of skewered buggahs).  She would then insert the dull end of the skewer into the ground, and they would die in the sun and dry up the next day.

Faster and still torturous

Mrs. Fujitani’s method was good, but Aunty expanded her nightly hunts to the entire yard, and several times, the “harvest” included African snails, so Aunty discovered a new use for ziplock bags.

Latex examination gloves have also become Aunty’s favorite fashion accessory.  Donning those on both hands, and holding an open ziplock (sandwich size is just right) and lightweight LED flashlight in the gloved dominant hand, Aunty would wait until dark, and shine the light on the grass, sides of pots, inside gardens, even on concrete.  Each slug and/or snail would be picked up with the non-dominant gloved hand and popped into the open ziplock bag.  Find, pick, pop.  Find, pick, pop.  Occasionally one or two of those slimey buggahs would try to escape, so the non-dominant picking hand needs to push them back in the bag.

It is very important that only one hand touches the slugs and the other holds the bag and flashlight so that the flashlight doesn’t become slimed out.  After the bag is full or the hunt is over for the night, put down the flashlight, seal the ziplock bag up tightly and throw away in your rubbish can.  Then, carefully remove each glove, starting with the slug gathering non-dominant hand and then the “cleaner” hand.  Toss those.

Slime bagging tips

It seems that the slugs and snails come out into the open at night to socialize and party, as well as to destroy Aunty’s vegetable starters.  They like wet or damp grass or concrete.  So, water during the day before it becomes dark.  You are preparing the canvas for battle.

Hunt every night, if you can.  The first night is the biggest catch.

Make it a contest between friends – who can catch the most slugs.  Count and laugh – one slug, ah ah ah ah, two slugs, ah ah ah ah (just like Count Dracula from Sesame Street) but don’t be surprised if your friends decline and go home instead.

Make sure the bags do not have a puka or opening, or your rubbish can will have them crawling all over the next day (very gross, very gross, especially in the big grey bins that the City and County provide to us.)  Sometimes, Aunty will put the bag in an empty plastic bottle with screw on lid as an added precaution.  They are stinky while they are dying.

The best night to go slug hunting is after a heavy rain.  They really come out to party and your bagging fingers will be busy and the bag filled up in a very short time.  If you are feeling victorious and want even more of that feeling, go out again a couple of hours later when it is even darker and catch the latecomers.

If your neighbor asks you what you are doing, be honest.  It is better for them to think that you are weird than for them to think you lost your marbles (and are looking for them).