IMR: 1997: January: 01: "Porn"
Tangent: The "Pacific Pleasures" Story

Wait, let me explain.

Back when I lived in Hilo, some friends and I got the ridiculous idea of starting an "adult toy and novelty" catalog business. For those who don't know the neighborhood, this was about as wise as trying to opening a drive-through abortion clinic in Alabama.

Still, we had a plan. We checked out our "competition" (generally limited to back alley video stores and tacky pink-neon stores that sold boob mugs). We designed flyers and crafted a sales strategy that focused on discretion, privacy and class. We got our tax license and set up sell-through deals with half a dozen wholesale smut companies on the Mainland. We were... "Pacific Pleasures."

We even got listed in AVN's directory of adult video sellers before we gave up the ridiculous and futile enterprise.

The end result, however, was that we ended up on the mailing list of all manner of adult companies. The kind of stuff we got made for hours of entertainment. When the rental on the post office box ran out, I thought it would end.

But it didn't. They found me. And they even found me after I moved back to Honolulu.

So every couple of months, I'd get some "wholesale" catalog, usually bundled in bubble-wrap with a couple of sample videos. I'll admit Jen and I watched the first few out of curiosity (she'll be the first to tell you I'm generally not an admirer of the busty Caucasian variety -- present company excluded), but lately they've been going straight to a drawer and forgotten.

As we are soon to serve as models for an impressionable young girl, however, we decided the stash had to go.

There's an interesting endnote to this story...

The next morning -- as we were walking out of the driveway -- the pile of tapes were discovered by a garbageman, who gleefully waved a neighbor over. Jen and I scurried off, unsure if the collection was traceable... or if any tapes were quietly adopted.


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© Ryan Kawailani Ozawa · E-Mail: ozawa@hawaii.edu · Created: 1 January 1997 · Last Modified: 1 January 1997