I’m not judging, quite the contrary; I just wanted to share several of the sometimes surreal, often entertaining, and mostly enlightening things I’ve observed in the last year on Maui Nui, all of which continue to make this place a magnate for true individualism as well as an exemplary example of community.

Many of these thangs are simply new cultural experiences that have brightened and enriched my life.

But a few of these observations just flat-out confounded me. There’s been times I’ve nearly gotten whiplash from all the double-takes. And no one should be surprised that some of this happened in Paia.

Whatever way it was seen or heard, ya gotta love Maui County. So here it goes:

*A very pregnant woman riding a skateboard down South Kihei Road

*For that matter, all the skater talent here (Gareri, you might want to do some scouting here)

*A short, middle-aged hippie wearing a tall bowler hat

*An elderly man walking his six dogs ala “Moonstruck”

*The pride -- and good nature -- of people who restore native plants and fight invasive species

*A teenage girl standing with perfect balance on a 6-inch ledge over Black Rock while she joshed with the boys

*One of those boys do a triple flip into the water below (She didn’t seem impressed and matched him soon after)

*A man walking down Baldwin Avenue with a red flower in his teeth

*Neighbors shout out their differences at community meetings then join hands afterward, bow heads, pray and sing the state song, “Hawaii Pono’i”

*Overhearing people complaining that the word “pono” (Do what’s right) has lost its luster because it’s been abused

*A family riding unicycles together

*How good it feels when I order Asian food and they only give me chopsticks. Conversely, how silly I feel when the wait staff just hand me a fork (Oh, well, I do look like a tourist from Minnesota)

*How aloha so many people can be to tourists because they are so proud of this place (Misgivings and fears of being overwhelmed by outsiders aside)

*Cockfighting or chicken fighting, as many people prefer to call it, being a campaign issue (No opinion. Just saying that one’s new to me and worth more investigation)

*Watching a farmer’s market worker deftly slash open a coconut with a machete and place a straw into it for a drink (That’s just cool)

*Farmers’ markets galore

*Graduates with so many lei around their necks you can’t see their faces (It seems like a contest)

*How many people are into extraordinary activities like hang gliding and kite surfing

*Loving how people describe the ocean as “our icebox”

*Watching four police officers manage traffic and seeing lines around the building for a week when the first Zippy’s opened in Maui

*Listening to a man practice “Oh, Danny Boy” on the bagpipes to perfection in a park at sunset (Always makes me tear up)

*Watching taro farmers work their lo’i

*Hearing about poker games getting broken up on Molokai (Well, I guess gambling is illegal, but poker is fun)

*A fierce hula orchestrated to protect La’au Point and watching another group practice hula on a tennis court in Lahaina

*Hearing a choir sing Polynesian songs in another park at dusk

*The same volleyball players doing their thing every night

*A guy indignantly offering a hostess at a popular sushi place $50 to seat him and his gal before everyone else who’d been waiting in line for a hour

*Ten people rushing to help a fella who fell off his bike

*Another guy who smiles in delight as he peddles around playing Will Smith and other old-school hip hop from a boom box hanging from his handlebars

*Hitchhikers (I didn’t know they still existed in America until I arrived here)

*Motorists who wait, let you merge into traffic, smile and give ya a shaka (Shaka right back at ya)

*An (obviously?) homeless man depositing his collections/portfolio into his bank account

*Fishermen who have no problem telling you what they’re using for bait and tackle

*The words keiki and kapuna and the respect given to both

*How competitive yet willing people are to share their knowledge about sports, even surfing sometimes (Probably for their own self preservation when it comes to hacks like me out there)

*A resort security guard on break helping me maneuver back to the road from a public beach after my flashlight failed

*The innate ability of other resort staff to recognize that I am just a sloppy journo looking for the conference room

*Despite the perfectly normal conflicts between tourists and locals (I know, I come from a tourist town), aloha is alive and well

Well, this was an abridged version. There’s lots more to say, and I plan to revisit this topic in the near future.

Mahalo