Hello Birthday Frens!

I said Discord, but it turns out Zoom's going to work mo betta.

We want the video chat, not just audio this time (more on that later.)

If you've already got Zoom installed / updated and have a user account, then you're all set! Feel free to skip to the next section. I'll be sending out the Zoom link in an email, along with your character info. More on that in the next section.

Otherwise, please visit this site (https://zoom.us/) and download the software for your preferred device, or fire up the browser version (which I think these days actually tries to launch an app, but Idk, because I've been a Zoombie forever.

You'll need to create a login to actually use Zoom. If you'd like a silly-but-checkable email address for this purpose, please let me know!

I'll be sending you specific details about the character you'll play in an individual email, but here are some general ideas for getting onto Island Time:

• Get into that upper body fancy dress spirit! If you want, you can dress up and be silly. Hawaiian shirts, leis, bikinis--whatever's fun and comfortable.
  • I would say board shorts, but since we're sitting down, most of us won't be able to appreciate them
  • But if you want to wear a full grass skirt, you'd have a good shot at winning the costume contest
  • Half the people at the Oscars forgot that we'd only see them from the chest up, so what do I know
  • If we need to do Shoe Cam to really celebrate your outfit, we will totally do that
  • For extra extra credit you could support AAPI by getting a Pacific Islander-made lei. I found a bunch of cute ones on Etsy. Get ready to not really be able to see my face through the shrubbery, assuming I sort out delivery correctly. Or you could make your own! There are tutorials on the Internets!
  • I also enjoy a good Random Festive Hat. Basically do whatever makes you feel pretty.
• You could set your Zoom background as something tropical
  • Maui conveniently has a lot of beautiful beaches, landmarks, and skylines to celebrate
  • I personally may not be doing this bc my camera is finicky so don't worry too much
• You could set your Zoom name as your character name, once I tell you what that is!
• You could make yourself a piña colada or a Mock Turtle or a Mai Tai. Recipes in a later section!

The invite list for the annual charity gala is long and glamorous. Here are just a few of the luminaries that might appear:

• Nate Acharya:
• Lanj Benoit:
• Dr. Emily Breathnach:
• Bébe Cruz:
• Ivan Dahl:
• Dana Diamandis:
• Henry Lawrence:
• Kai Magnum:
• Yvonne Moore:
• Buck Rogers:
• Tabitha Rogers:
• Cici Samaras:
• Shannon Mizuki von Sutner:
• Stella von Sutner:
• Dr. Julian Virtanen:
• Leonid Volkov:
• Donny Wo:
• Rebel Wong:

This one's nonalcoholic, but it will get you that fun mixologist experience.

Also if the ingredients make your face spin, you can just grab that piña colada mixer from the Target shelf, and combine it with some ginger ale and orange juice. I won't judge. We're just trying to have a good time here :D

Ingredients for one Mock Turtle:

• One ounce pineapple shrub (not a shrubbery!)
• A half ounce almond orgeat
• A half ounce lime juice
• A half ounce pineapple juice
• Ginger beer
  • Here's a pineapple turmeric shrub from Element
  • You can buy almond orgeat from a fair number of grocery stores, or if you really want to go culinarily wild, you can make it yourself
  • Ginger beer and ginger ale are different (fight me) but also you're the one drinking it, so you decide what it's in it :P

I'm not going to tell you what to eat. But the Internet is happy to. My search algorithms are all now making strong recommendations, so brb, gotta figure out how to turn a taro root into poi...