Rage Against the Ewwness

I just got back from a brawl. I had declared war against a gang of roaches that I had found lurking in the trash bin under my sink. (I swear I have no idea where these pests are coming from—I had looked everywhere for any possible entry way that these bunch of creepy crawlers are using to come inside my lovely new apartment.)
 

I've killed a bunch of them since I moved in but still they come and go as they please. So once again I was armed with my ever-reliable can of Black Flag Flying Insect Killer (I assure you this is not an advertisement), I sprayed them all without mercy catching some of them square in the face. If there's one thing I hate most of all in this world, that would be cockroaches.

My sister and I, back in the day, used to scream our lungs out whenever one would fly about. We'd quickly dash in our room and cover ourselves with blankets and cower away until the coast is clear or until our bully of a brother stop threatening us with it. He would pick one up by its antenna and dangle it for us to see; more often than not he would feign throwing it on our hair much to our horror.
 

Well, I had changed a lot since then, I decided to no longer flee in terror and I certainly refuse to be afraid anymore of this dirty little insect that had sometimes terrorized me in my childhood. I am now a cockroach slayer (evil bitchy laugh). But no slippers or broom slapping mind you! Oh no! The thought of the thing being flattened out with its insides oozing out with all its invisible-to-the-naked-eye-gazillion-germs is way too much for my peace of mind. In any case, the cleaning after part is always harder as well and so I chose--and had since then embraced--bug's spray as a more convenient approach of ridding my house of it.
 

Well, I think I may have killed three of them already when I happened to look up and there at the wall at the edge of the ceiling were two of them coupling, with their redder than ever rear ends attached gleefully at each other. I pulled a chair slowly near the wall and carefully positioned myself directly at them (I shouldn't have bothered they were too busy to take notice), aimed the can and sprayed. Gotcha! They were stunned and didn't move at first. In that split second, I could just imagine what might be going on in their little roach brains as their carnal joy was cut short by this pestering human who couldn't just let them be. Alas, who said that they should be out and about doing that in broad fluorescent light? Soon they were wiggling, still together for a while, clearly in a state of shock of what had just transpired but soon the poison was too much to bear and they parted ways running to die separately, each on their own.
 

I of course, heartless when it comes to these creatures, ran after them making sure that both their ends were complete. Like any pest controllers and embattled homeowners know only too well, cockroaches are supposedly handy enough to survive anything — even a nuclear war. Some even goes about saying that the roaches will inherit the earth. Well, not today.
 

Happy Weekend folks!
 

Trivia: Scientists are exploiting the roaches weakness which is their rampant sex drive to help consign these insects to oblivion. After a quest of more than a decade, they have discovered how to create an artificial version of the sexual pheromone produced by willing female German cockroaches - a scent so irresistible that even males close to death by starvation will pass up a lump of meat when they catch a whiff.

The Biggest Loser

I got myself into a dare a couple of months ago, it was during our post New Year party with our friends. I didn't know how it started but as someone who never shies away from a challenge, I found myself signing up for a weight loss contest (concocted by our ever naughty group of friends) between myself and my friend Nina who has also been struggling with her weight for quite some time — she at least have two boys in her laurels whilst I had only myself to blame for being such an insufferable lazy ass.
 

With our friends as witnesses, both of us weight-in:
Me — 59 kilos
Nina — 67 kilos

Game rule:
The one who sheds the most weight until such given time will win either lunch or dinner in a restaurant of her choosing with her beau. The loser of course has to pay.

Our whole bunch of friends who are not included from the treat are still all excited and planning to come along.
 

Well, on my part, after two months of a few walks here and there, halfheartedly going to the gym for a while and trying to cut off with my rice intake with emphasis on the word "TRYING"—I lost...which was totally unsurprising.
 

Yesterday at lunch was the conclusion of our little game and we were all at Pizza Hut to celebrate our little contest. I of course paid. ;'(
 

Nina who looked a lot slimmer and had said to have undergone tremendous diets of salad and orange juice and has totally cut off her meals to meager portions has lost 5 kilos while I only lost 4. Not bad right? I was happy to pay, she deserved it.

I have a fan!

I was shifting through some papers when I spotted my tax forms–the one that I wasn't able to file yesterday because the revenue office was already closed when I got there.

I looked up from what I was doing and informed my fiance.

Me: "Did I mention that I didn't get to file my taxes yesterday? They were already closing when I got there and it wasn't even five yet."

Him: "Nope, you didn't. But I already know from your blog."

Me: "Oh!"

Sooo, he was reading my blog I thought (smiling idiotically to self).  I didn't know that he was. At least now I know that I have an avid reader aside from myself! Hurray!

I would be star struck!

There had been talk (or should I say hope?) about the dashing President Obama dropping by here on Saipan en route on his first Asia-Pacific tour. Unfortunately, the Saipan Tribune newspaper quickly dispelled that news stating that the president will be visiting only Guam and not the CNMI on his way to Indonesia and Australia. Too bad!

While I was driving the other day, I heard a DJ fleetingly talking about it in the radio and he was saying how our people here are all still hoping that he would drop by and are actually planning to generate a thousand or so signatures to be sent to Washington to make it happen. Why not?

It would be so great to see Obama, the first President that I will ever see -- if ever. Well not to count Palau’s then president Tommy Remengesau, Jr. who my colleagues and I saw jogging on his neighborhood once when I was there a couple of years ago, since it was too dark and I barely made out his face from the darkness anyway. I only know that it was him because my colleague who had been a reporter there for many years said so. If Elias Camsek Chin, who I have seen there a number of times had won the Presidential election that year in 2008 against Johnson Toribiong, then that would have count. Lol!

Anyway, President Barack Obama will be in Guam on March 22 and 23 en route to Indonesia and Australia, his Asia-Pacific tour will then end on the 26th.

Shark Tale

(Travel Log: Saipan — Pau Pau Beach)

Living in Manila has its perks…once in a while you’ll get to witness stick ups (back there we call it hold-up or holdap), or in my personal experience -- even a straight-from-the-movies-like-kidnapping complete with goons and guns sort of thing right at your very eyes, or having your bag snatched away with you still clutching on it for dear life as if it contains more than a compact powder and a cell that is actually already screaming to be replaced. Pretty action packed if you ask me.

On Saipan, let me see… other than some rather rickety old metals scraped together as a sad excuse for an octopus ride at the Liberation carnival being put up every year…there's not much around here to threaten your peace of mind. Not that I’m complaining.

Well except that one time at Pau Pau beach, however, where we used to spend our Fridays night swimming.

That day after a scrumptious dinner of carbonara that a friend made for the occassion with matching grilled chicken from Cost Co. (which never disappoints), we jumped to the water and snorkeled the time away happily until quite late. 

The beach that night seems to have come straight from Japanese volcanic hot springs. It was a beautiful moonlit evening. The water was crisp and luxuriously warm, a more than welcome respite to soak the worries of the week away.

At about nine in the evening, there were only three of us left swimming in the dark. The rest were playing Bingo under a lamp light and the smiling full moon. We were having a laugh and a few giggles here and there (you know the usual sound girls make when they think no one else are within earshot) when one of my companions suddenly pointed something out in the sea asking what it was. I heard the urgency in her voice and when I turned to look, I saw something swooshed not far away from us making half a circle as it comes towards where we were. My mind went double time with thoughts of tsunamis, or humongous reptiles expecting to come any second to swallow us whole. Talk about paranoia on crack! But anyway, I heard myself scream and tried to run as fast as I can with my friends not far behind.

My whatever-that-is-spotter friend and I managed to reach safety of land first, but our other poor buddy had stumbled on her way and was crying for help. Despite fear for dear life, I had no choice but to ran back and help her up silently praying that whatever it was doesn't come yet to tear our limbs apart. When we finally reached shore again, we saw that she was sporting two scraped knees and a mantra to never swim in the beach at night ever again. Panting beyond relief, the three of us stood on the shore scanning the beach looking for any signs of whatever it was that we saw.  Looking back, I could just imagine how comical we must have looked.

Yet, I didn’t know I was actually scared until I started shaking. But lo and behold, the scare wasn't over yet because the same friend who spotted the "thing" suddenly pointed out to the sea towards a slipper she left at her haste. It was floating quietly by itself and we all helplessly stared at it.

I didn't want to go back, to hell with the slipper, I thought. To my consternation, my friend insisted to get it. Loyalty won over good sense so together we huddled like conjoined triplets, went back in the water to retrieve it.

It had developed into a running joke afterwards when everyone else learned about it, until I heard some news of a shark attack in Hawaii where a surfer disappeared leaving his surf board behind with a huge shark bite as a tell tale sign of what had happened and I realized how it could have been really serious for us as well. 

There are indeed sharks in these waters. I know it couldn't have been very big but it’s big enough to create a huge swish and scare the hell out of us and I’m sure am not a very easy person to scare. 

Musing over what happened now though makes me wanna laugh. Anyway I’d probably still prefer to go swimming at night in Pau Pau rather than ride that piece of junk at the festival again. I’d much rather pick the adventure over an accident waiting to happen anytime.

Originally published at my Friendster sCUTEzophrenia blog on July 1, 2007

Rise and Shine

It's another beautiful morning on Saipan! I'm sitting here sipping my scalding hot coffee against my large bay windows overlooking the calm waters of Beach Road and the gently swaying leaves and branches of the trees lining the pathway. The sun had broken free of a few gray clouds as I write this and its warm rays filtered inside my apartment in cheerful greeting. 

Good morning!

I guess I'm not a woman of my word

I had said it again and again, to my sister, to my fiance, to my friends, to anyone who would care to listen...
 

I had declared I wouldn't watch the movie Hachiko, a dog's story. I just ate my words yet again.

Indeed never say never, but it's not as if I had planned it. I had simply come to drop by my friend's apartment for a little tête-à-tête but lo and behold, the movie was on and just about starting. Scurrying away immediately had crossed my mind, fleeting it may be, but Hachi's cute puffy dog face nailed me to to my seat.

Well, lots of heart-warming Richard Gere acting and balls of fur later, I was sobbing non-stop—tried as I might not to.

Trivia: Hachiko is an Akita, a breed that has originated in Japan and is one of the most ancient dog breeds. It is said to be the accepted escorts of royalty and considered the first companions of men.

A Brush with the Ghost of Managaha

(Travel Log: Saipan — Managaha Island)

I had been on Managaha Island too many times to count. It is a flat coral islet that sits off Tanapag Harbor at the West Coast area of Saipan and is apart from its main land area that could be reached by a 15-20 minutes boat ride on the ferry. It is one of the main tourist destinations out here and boasts one of the finest white sand beaches around.

Every year, a celebration of a festival of sort is observed for its resident hero, Chief Aghurubw — a historical navigator who brought Carolinians to this part of the globe. He was buried in Managaha and is very important to all the Carolinians on Saipan. For them, Managaha—known as Ghalaghal in Carolinian—is a sacred and taboo place. A statue of the chief stood proudly on. There was also a tombstone that suggest that he is buried somewhere on that island—although no one knows its exact location to this day. Aside from him, there is no permanent resident there.

Last year in September 2009, my friends and I all decided to spend the night on the island. I was excited though it certainly wouldn't be my first time. We had to acquire a special permit to be able to stay there complete with warnings and guidelines as to what to do and what not to do. Managaha was just another one of the sanctuaries around and fishing of any sort was strictly forbidden.

There were nine of us that night: Three girls and the rest were boys. We came complete with food, booze, lights, mats, blankets, pillows, jackets — you name it — except for the most important thing, a tent. Something went kaput with the plan and so the tent went missing in action. It only meant that all of us will be sleeping out in the open under the stars.
 
Romantic you might say, if not for the ravenous mosquitoes that feasted on us for the rest of the night.

The boys elected to stay at a small shed at the left wing area of the island. We arrived shortly before 5:00 pm so it wasn't long before it finally grew dark. We girls had laid down the mats, blankets and pillows that we brought along and plopped ourselves comfortably while the boys built a fire from the grill pit where they cooked our dinner (as we had also left our butane stove in the car back on the docks) and soon we could smell the aroma of Chicken Adobo.

After dinner, while some went ahead to swim, the rest of us stayed put chatting and trying to scare ourselves with ghost stories. Jake who is a local have TONS of spooky tales that he would share in the slightest opportunity. Even up to saying that things unseen may be watching us at that moment. It was dark and breezy and there were the occasional sounds of critters right on cue to add to the plot. Perhaps I would have been spooked easier if the mosquitoes weren't having such a grand party of their own eating me whole. We had on mosquito repellent and we're already under some blankets but the pests had their way of getting to us girls that we were slapping ourselves all over the place.

Soon it was too much to bear that we all decided to take a walk on the beach and also check on our other companions. We left everything at our shed except the blankets and pillows that we took along with us and we walked towards the shore away from the cluster of trees and the ravenous mosquitoes that were eating us alive. A wide open space bare of anything but pure and beautiful white sand beach greeted us welcome while the moon shone brightly casting a generous glow on us. It was a beautiful evening with clear skies with the sound of water splashing against the shore not far away.. We rearranged our mats then settled ourselves besides each other staring at the vast evening sky and its gathering of stars. Since we can't do bonfires, we busied ourselves in eating and playing truth or dare. After sometime though, clouds drifted in and the sky let out a soft drizzle and we all jumped up and ran from it dragging our stuff with us back to our mosquito-infested shed.

On our way back though, the rain stopped as soon as it started. All of a sudden, we heard an ear-piercing scream that shattered the silence of the night. A weird sound of someone crying vibrated from the trees that stopped us in our tracks. It sounded like a cry of an infant, clear and loud for all of us to hear. We listened intently and looked around us trying to figure out where it was coming from. Back in our shed, I could see everyone was all alert undecided whether to be scared or not.  All of us have different opinions of what we had just experienced. Jake especially had started again with his ghost and Tautaumona stories yapping nonstop about it which was seconded by the drunk Joven.
 

My mind was running double time trying to come up with a logical explanation for the noise. It wasn't an imagination, that's for sure since we all heard it loud and clear. And then I thought maybe some other tourist and their baby was also staying over that night on the island and it was its cry that we were hearing.  I quickly brushed the idea off knowing for a fact that we were the ONLY tourists on the boat on our way there and we saw no one else staying behind but some skeletal crew of the island.

That left the possibility of the crew making some prank in trying to scare us a little bit maybe through some speakers. After all the cry sounded too recorded in my opinion to be the real deal. It was sort of repetitive. I turned to my boyfriend who had been quiet and merely observing the whole time what he thought and he said that he thinks it was an animal of some sort.

After a while, the cries started again only this time it was louder and more insistent. The boys decided to check it out but all of us decided to tag along, not wanting to stay behind not doing anything. We followed the sounds towards a cluster of trees and plants. The cries would start long and eerie and then it would stop abruptly only to repeat all over again. Our flashlights illuminated the trees and the surrounding vegetation very well but we saw nothing.

We walked further along and then suddenly the cries stopped altogether. We continued to look around and poked at some bushes and then suddenly, we spotted a bird that looked part gull and part duck with a long rather dangerously sharp-looking beak. It was sitting inconspicuously on the ground paying us no heed. All of a sudden it opened its beak and from it came out that same ear-splitting howl.

Back in our shed, Jake looked sheepish exclaiming that somehow he knew that it was a bird all along. I should tell you that all the while we were walking around looking for the source of the noise, he and Joven were calling out to the then unknown saying things like, "Hi! Hello! Show yourselves! We are friends! We are not gonna harm you!" over and over again while the rest were trying to stifle our laughter.

Trivia: Our "ghost" is called Shearwater Bird and it is using the island as a nesting site. According to Wikipedia: "Shearwater come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimize predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their night-time visits. They lay a single white egg."

Mystery solved.

Taste of Saipan: Monte Vista

Formerly Marianas Restaurant, Monte Vista is one establishment that is a little hard to find. My friends and I saw an ad one day in the paper and decided to check it out. Unfortunately, even though the ad indicated their address on Navy Hill, still they didn't include a map and we had a little trouble locating it. We had to call a few times on our way there because there was no signs to guide us along the way.

To find the place, you had to go up on Navy Hill and then turn left up at the fork of the road towards WIC. There's a baseball field in that area and you should just go straight until you see a white mansion and then turn right after that and look for the rather inconspicuous sign of the restaurant ahead.

The trouble was all worth it when we got there though. The place was fantastic and I love the huge windows where you can enjoy a beautiful view of the ocean and of the Managaha Island. The place was bright and very comfy too and I like the blinds and the overall look and feel of the place. I'm such a sucker for Asian designs and furnishings like their sofas that I didn't want to part with anymore as soon as I saw it. :)

They have a wide selection of dishes to choose from and every order comes with an all you can eat buffet of their soup and salads. If ever you find yourself there, I recommend that you try their potato salad which is simply delectable. ;)

Marley and the dog lovers in us

It's a film guaranteed to appeal to tender-hearted pet lovers out there. It is a dog story that is more than a dog story. Marley we could say is the icing on the cake—the one who made an ordinary couple's lives extraordinary. It is a delightfully satisfying, heart-tugging surprise that made me teary-eyed.

Taste of Saipan: Diamond Restaurant

I was supposed to be writing about Mariana Resort Hotel's restaurant today but our lunch plans there with our friends was canceled up until next week so we'll just have to wait until then. My fiancé and I had lunch alone at Diamond Chinese Restaurant in Beach Road Garapan instead and according to him, that would be the first and last time he will eat there. I felt the same way but I could hardly say the same thing since that was my second time there although the first experience was a hell of a lot better than what we just had today.

The restaurant looked pretty much the same from the first time I was there more or less three years ago, only their furniture of course looked older and the surroundings had the unmistakable impression of tiredness. The place was deserted except for a group of old folks eating near the entrance and two Chinese waitresses who seems to be having a bad day for they looked like they have the world on their shoulders or maybe they just hadn’t received the memo about smiling to customers.

The table we picked had a printed menu under its plastic covering aside from the back to back table tent card on it. I asked if that was all they have and she handed me a real menu in response. I scanned their selections and ordered the one that was described as “Celery Chicken, Beef or Fish” and opted for the chicken, while my fiancé asked for their “Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp.”

I commented on my fiancé that the menu listings should be Chicken with Celery or Shrimp with Scrambled Eggs and not the other way around. Well, how wrong can I get, the menu turned out to be correct as the realization came only when the food was delivered on our table. My order was indeed all about the celery as chunks after chunks of it was served to me while the chicken was lost somewhere under it. The scrambled eggs with shrimp were the same story. In any case the taste wasn’t so bad especially when we added Tabasco and soy sauce to the egg. Their corn soup though was a little bland.

What I particularly didn’t like was when the waitress had served the food on our table. She had just set down the plate when as an afterthought, she grabbed the spoon that was already on the dish and dissected the food to see if it was indeed the chicken that I ordered. I sat there in disbelief of what she did that she had already walked away before I had realized what just happened. My fiancé and I looked at each other managing to laugh.

God will make a way...

Here's another inspirational thingy that my mom shared with me once while we were chatting online and I'd like to share it here for anyone who might come across it and needs a good word or two. 

"No matter how our dreams may seem unreachable, dream anyway. No matter how we have been hurt by the people we love, love them anyway. No matter how hard life is, live it anyway. No matter how our prayers seem unanswered, pray them anyway. GOD will make a WAY."

—From my mom (excerpts from the Bible)