THANKS. GIVING.

Monday, November 24, 2009 was, for me, the best day in months.

I was at Farrington High School in the Kalihi section of Honolulu, there to discuss my book OBAMALAND: WHO IS BARACK OBAMA? It was released on Inauguration Day, back in January. The book is the #2 non-fiction best-seller in Hawaii for 2009. A nice way to begin the year.

But, things started sliding in August, when I did something, a definite no-no: Shooting baskets with an 11-year-old boy. That resulted in two broken ribs -- and my being pretty much immobile for three weeks.

The day before Halloween I awoke at 6:30 in the morning to discover that the house next door (eight feet away) was ablaze. So was part of the house that I have been renting since 1997. It was a nightmare. The fire inspectors said that I would have died of smoke inhalation in another four minutes if I remained asleep. The adjacent house was destroyed, leaving a family of four homeless. Way too close for comfort.

And the back end of all that has been a continuous hassle since October 30.

But Monday I crawled through traffic to reach the school. The staff and students were wonderful. The older folks remembered specific things from listening to KPOI-AM … from 50 years ago, 1959. The kids were quiet at the start. By the time I was finished I was getting laughs from usually taciturn teenagers, most of whom are one-fifth my age.

A successful encounter with young people is always a good trip. Best way I know to keep up with their reality, not the Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. digital, distant and disposable means of "communication" used by many "kids these days."

Thanks, Farrington Governors, for giving me a much-needed reality check.

Better than Turkey Day. Mahalo.