idiosyncratic planetary!

(mad props to the beastie boys)

OK, apparently I've been "tagged." I am now "it." I'm just glad I wasn't freeze tagged! Anyone ever play that? Where you have to freeze as soon as you're touched, until someone else on your team touches you? Man that was fun.

Anyway, back to the tag-itude. I'm supposed to list five of my idiosyncracies. So here goes.

1. When I eat Grape Nuts™, I pour in the milk about a quarter inch or so over the level of the cereal and then leave it to soak for 10 minutes. That way, the Grape Nuts™ are milk-filled squooshy instead of crunchy hard, and even taste a little sweeter.

2. I have minor obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Repitition is sometimes soothing. Repition is sometimes soothing.

3. I hate changing tires. After my first flat with my pickup, I bought an apparatus that mounted inside my truck bed, so I wouldn't have to crawl under it to get my spare. After my second flat, I bought a hydraulic floor jack; scissors jacks suck major ass. After my third flat, I bought a lug-nut drill device that plugs into my lighter, a cheap version of the pneumatic lug-nut wrenches at tire shops. While I'm not as fast as the Duke boys at changing a tire, it's now much faster and easier. By the way, if you're a man and call AAA or your equivalent to change a flat tire, you are actually a woman.

4. When I was a child, my favorite sandwich was peanut butter and mustard. Sometimes, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I eat one.

5. I'm an inveterate peeker. Nuff said.

I'm not sure if this is the expected thing, but I guess I'm tagging buttah, t-money, allison, amateur and the toe-steppin' guammie girl.


Random Guam Fact Of The Day: The only mammal indigenous to Guam is the Marianas fruit bat, which is considered a delicacy by many (crispy wings ... yummy!). All others — notably wild pigs and deer — were introduced by the conquering, slaughtering Spanish bastards.

a lot at steak ...

Cost-U-Less has one of the greatest pre-packaged foods ever — 10 bacon-wrapped filet mignons for $13.95. They grill up great. How can you beat filet mignon for $1.40 a piece?

Random Guam fact of the day: Pottery shards have placed the arrival of the first inhabitants of Guam around 3000 B.C. The original inhabitants of the island are believed to have come from the Indonesia/Melanesia area ... in proas, which are basically outrigger wood canoes with a sail.

some miscellaneous meanderings ...

• Did you know that if you are a one-in-a-million person and live in either India or China, that there are more than 1,000 more just like you.

• More than 90 percent of the dust in your house is composed of dead skin cells. But relax; most of it's yours.

• Your fingernails and hair don't keep growing after you die; your skin contracts, making it seem as if they're still growing.

• Pity fucks should be the community-service that beautiful/handsome people have to perform.

• On a pound-for-pound basis, no place consumes more Spam annually than do the people of Guam.

• Going back to work after a two-day vacation is going to blow in the blowingest blowing way imaginable.

vacation, happy to get away ...

well, I'm not actually going away, but I am taking two days off during the middle of the week for some quality me time. That basically means vegging out and sleeping a lot.

I prefer to break up my vacation time into little chunks — week here, few days there — rather than take it all in one shot. Maybe that's because I'm not big on traveling and going places and doing things. When people find out I'm going on vacation, they ask me, "So what are you going to do?," I reply, "Nothing ... and a lot of it."

Because isn't that what a vacation is supposed to be all about, getting away from the monotony, craziness, tension, stress and general bleah that is the job? So why replace it with a crazed traveling schedule, flying somewhere, touring all over, dealing with hotel beds and meals, etc.? Most people I know who come back from one of those big vacations are actually relieved to get back to work — so they can recuperate from their vacation! They need vacations from their vacations.

Maybe I got all my traveling out of my system as a child in a military family, moving every two to three years and traveling all over the country and to some parts of the Pacific.

The most work-like stuff I plan to do is catching up on a few chores, doing 4 days worth of dishes (a character flaw, yes) and do 3-4 loads of laundry. Maybe, if I can break out of my laziness stupor, I will be able to summon the energy to sweep and maybe even mop. Don't look so stunned!!!

Hmm ... OK ... do look stunned. You got me there.

perfect harmony ruined ...

Has anyone seen the new Coke commercial? The one in which they take the melody from the classic "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" and changed the words to make the song super sucky. Remember the original? One of the most iconic commericals of all time! All these different people, of different races and different cultures, united by two things — a Coke and a song.

I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow white turtle doves

I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace throughout the land


It was a cool song. It was a cool commercial.

And now it's ruined.

"I'd like to teach the world to chill?" What the fuck is that?

I appreciate the need to attract new and younger consumers. But this shouldn't be the price. Come up with a new song, a new melody. Don't ruin the good thing.

But then again, this is from the company that brought the world "New Coke." Idiots.