good god, glorious golf ...

It's one thing to be able to play golf on a weekend, with good golf buddies. It's another thing to play on the finest golf course on the island. The only way that gets better is when you get to play for free. That was my Sunday afternoon.

The above photo is a shot of the back nine of the course, shot from just outside the starter's area. It's cut along the eastern shores of Guam, including a spectacular peninsula hole where you have to hit a scary shot (165 yards from the whites) over crashing waves.

This is a photo of me, the giant ham, on the tee box of that said spectacular hole. That image right behind me is a co-worker and frequent golf buddy, Ryota. He's a thin Japanese man,which explains why he disappears behind me. The actual hole is about 70 degrees to the right, but I wanted a nice, clear Pacific Ocean to serve as the background for this shot.

We got really lucky as it poured for most of Friday and Saturday, and while the course was a little muddy come Sunday, the weather pretty much stayed clear. And even though I crapped out early, due to a combination of no real sleep the night before, the pounding heat and choking humidity, my still-short-of-up-to-snuff physical endurance, and some kind of bug that really hit me full force today (blech). I pretty much didn't play the last four or five holes. But it was free, it was fun and, all in all, was a pretty glorious day. Then I slept, on and off, for about 12 hours.

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• The highest ranking male in ancient Chamorro society was called maga'lahi, and he usually was titular head of one tribe; there was no over-chief or king. The maga'lahi's wife was called maga'haga.

Just thought I'd share ...

I know we can all identify with this ... If you're not already paying more than $3 a gallon, yer damn lucky!!

Random Guam Fact Of The Day:
• Guam was created by an ancient, long-dormant volcano and is made up primarily of part of the volcano's crater and limestone.

Lewd, rude and tattooed ...

For those of you who have bothered to scroll down along the right side of my blog to learn more about me (I'm guessing two or three folks at most), you would know that I have four tattoos. Since I don't have anything deep to write about tonight (like I ever do), I thought I'd share them with you.

These are cropped photos for two reasons: 1. To show as much tatt detail as possible; and 2. To spare you from seeing any more of my fat, flabby flesh than you absolutely need to.

I give myself bonus points because none of these are the "typical" tattoos you see on so many people. No barbed wire. No butterflies. No tribal banding. None of these were chosen out of a book. I brought in each and every one and had the tatt artist make a template for the tatt, and then took the originals back with me.

Oh, and my godsons love how I have "pictures" on my skin. Their mom and dad don't know it, but on their 18th birthday, Nino is gonna hook them up! LOL

This is my first tattoo. No, it's not completely original, but it is very cool. Comic book fans will recognize this as the logo of "The Punisher" of Marvel Comics fame. Not the movies. Those all sucked major ass. But in the world of comics, Frank Castle was THE man! And I love the stylized skull. I really do wish it was a bit more crisp, and yes, I know that I have to get some touch-up work to even out the black.

Tattoo No. 2 was something of a whim. I kind of collect kokopelli images, art, knick-knacks, etc. I think the kokopelli looks pretty cool, and I love the mythos attached to the imagery. The kokopelli comes from the American Southwest and is found in a number of different Native America mythology, though most strongly with the Anasazi. You want to know more? Google it, ya lazy bastiches.

Tatt No. 3 was the most painful one I got. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise — high-speed repetitive piercing of your skin by a metal needle hurts; it's all about degree of pain. I've heard ankle tatts are pretty painful because the bone is so close to the surface of the skin, but a needle dancing across your spine HURTS! And I got it done with my then live-in girlfriend watching the whole time (Remind me to tell that story sometime. I don't think I'll ever hook up again because I used up all my significant-other points with her; she was just toooooo beautiful), so I couldn't even cry like the bitch I felt like. I toughed it out and only had one break ... "to smoke a cigarette." It's a tribal gecko, and all that matters is at the time SHE thought it was hot. I need to get someone to take a pic of it; it's hard to get the right angle shooting it by myself.

The cardinal rule with tattooing is to NEVER ink a woman's name into your skin, because no matter how much you love her and she loves you, it could end. The only exceptions are for your mom or female daughters. Ask my brother how much of a pain it was to cover up his ex's name over his chest (heart). Or the guy I saw in the tatt artist's book, who had his lady's name tattooed in six-inch tall letters across his shoulders. The cover on that took a LOT of ink ... LOL. This is the closest I'll ever come to putting a woman's name on my body — a cartoon version of a very special woman who, though I'm still friends with, will never again feel the way I still do about her. Oh well, that's life — all sucky and shit.