It’s funny how I first met and talked to criminal attorney David Hayakawa. I was in a bit of a pickle, and he happily spent hours on the phone with me helping me prepare a statement, pro bono. I have him to thank for me never going to prison. Well, him and the fact that I didn’t do anything wrong, but come on, you have to agree that anything involving talking to police officers that aren’t wearing a uniform can be a little nerve-wracking. It’s best to have all your ducks in a row–just in case you break down and start blabbering about the time you stole a cigarette from your grandma’s purse when you were 12.

The next time I saw David, it was socially, at a private pau hana in the One Waterfront Tower building. It turns out he’s a very social guy. I was kind of embarrassed, it’s like seeing your doctor at a house party, but he totally pretended like he didn’t know me and after a while I wondered if maybe he really didn’t remember who I was. That was fine, because I was starting to like Party David. He runs with a pretty sophisticated crew in these parts, they call themselves the Slopes of Diamond Head Hui. You may have heard of them, they are a group of professional men that have been friends for years and like to do little happy hours at Pearl. They are pretty well known for their annual Halloween party that attracts thousands of intelligent professional Honolulu women dressed in the sexy version of every occupation, animal, TV and movie character under the stars. At first, I was a little put off by his explanation of their whole deal. “We, the men, like to throw a big party for females.” Oh. A little creepy, aren’t we? “I know it might sound a little old school,” he continues, “but we like the idea of hosting a party for our female friends. Now, how many tickets can I send you?” Aw, that’s actually kind of sweet. What’s sweeter? Saturday night when I realized I forgot my ticket, the guy at the door, realizing that even though I was dressed as a male, was in fact female, smiled and said, “Go right ahead, ma’am.” Really? Holy crap, no wonder there were thousands of women there. Chivalry is not dead, people. The Waterfront was literally bursting at the seams, and the boys donated some of their profits for the mega-hit party to the Make a Wish Foundation. Classy.

The rest of the weekend was one of those weekends you can’t stop talking about. Seriously. How many world-class acts can one magazine get to play in Chinatown? Probably just about as many cast and crew members from LOST and ABC executives that HIFF can get in to Waikl-kl-. From chatting with Damon Lindelhof about writer’s block cures one minute to a sea of guys in arty T-shirts and supermodel-looking girls celebrating Contrast magazine in every venue on Hotel Street the next, it was just one of those nights. The Girlfriends are really starting to shine as the next big thing, The Jump Offs solidified any question as to whether they are destined for greatness (they are), director Darieus Legg put everyone in a dream-like state with his new trailer for Eclia, and Producer Torry Tukuafu capped the night with my favorite nightlife question: “If I buy a bottle, do you think anyone would drink it?” I’m still not sure how I managed to get to all of this right on time, with a costume party in between, but that’s just the beauty of this time of year. It’s magic.