Troop with a book group

Last night was the first time I've ever participated in a book group discussion. I felt as though I was in college again as we started off with the question: Why did Hegi choose a dwarf as her protagonist? How do the other characters respond to Trudi's "otherness"? How do you? We were discussing Stones from a river by Ursula Hegi.

The reason I bring this up is because I will be conducting the Library's book group discussions after my boss leaves. It will be a new thing for me to do, but I'm going to be a trooper for this one. Usually, after I finish a book, I move on to the next, preferably having learned something or having been thoroughly entertained. With Hegi, however, knowing that I'd be discussing her book, the wheels were turning in my brain as I thought about the plot, the characters, the setting, the symbolism, etc. It was great! And we had sweets during the meeting too!

If you've ever thought about joining a book group, check your local library or join one online at http://www.bookgrouplist.com/. Get those wheels turning!

Finally, I see the light.

Although the sun was setting, it makes such a difference to see it because it's been nothing but gloomy and rainy here.

Sunday afternoon basketball

Might as well JUMP!

They've got legs!

Up in the air

This way, please.

My village's Fasching parade

Toastmasters

Ever heard of Toastmasters? I've vowed to join the local club soon. I'm tired of having the jitters before I speak before a group. I consider it part of my ongoing professional training.

According to the web site and from what I've heard about the organization, soon I will be able to:

• Deliver great presentations
• Easily lead teams and conduct meetings
• Give and receive constructive evaluations
• Be a better listener

Last night

My database class last night went very well with a whopping three people attending. It was actually a nice bunch of ladies, and they were amazed at the things they could learn. [Use your library's resources, I tell you!] I was nervous at first, with my voice cracking a bit, but after about two minutes, I couldn't stop talking, and the words just flew out of my mouth. I look forward to doing the next one in May.

After the database class, I walked across the street to the gym and burned a total of 900 calories on the cross-trainer and treadmill. I was STARVING afterwards, and picked up a dish of beef curry at my favorite Thai restaurant.

I hope the beef curry was no more than 900 calories because I devoured ALL of it--coconut milk and all!

Snow White

Snow White came to visit me at the Library today.

A Faschinating Year

It is one year ago today that I arrived in Germany. Time has certainly flown by. It was a difficult decision for me to leave my comfortable surroundings and my family especially, but it has all worked out. It calls for a celebration, but I'm actually teaching a database class tonight. Here's to another faschinating year!

Today is also Fasching in Germany! I hope to get some pictures of my neighborhood's celebration. Apparently, some go wild during this time!

Near-choking experience

This morning I flipped my wet hair over my head, began blow-drying, and almost choked on the Halls cough drop I had in my mouth.

Lesson learned? Don't flip your wet hair over your head, begin blow-drying, whilst you have a Halls cough drop in your mouth.

A 14-hour nap may induce stress and panic.

I decided to nap for a bit at 5:00 last night. My nap, however, turned into a 14-hour one, I realized at 8:00 this morning. I did have an interesting dream/thought though. Here it is:

If I plan to live and work here in Germany for the next four years, and if I plan to have a baby the traditional (husband & wife make baby) way, then I will need to meet the father of this baby/my future husband very soon. The thought of this has made me a little panicked. After all, I am turning 32 years old in July. I know I don't want to have a baby when I'm over 40. And mathematically, I would assume, I've got to get to know, trust, and fall in love with this man, and this will take time obviously. (Unless he's Paul Walker.) Now these were thoughts I had when I was sleeping, mind you.

Now that I'm awake, calculating and absorbing this data, I'm stressing over it. I don't want to come across as if I'm in hot pursuit of a mate; I'm not (unless he's Paul Walker). But now I'm worrying about my biological clock and when/if I'll be able to find a hunk-of-burning-love soon.

See what happens when you take a 14-hour nap?

More thoughts on this later. I'm going to eat a pop-tart.

Up the creek

I'm up the creek this morning because I have to work on this U.S. holiday. I'm short-staffed at the Library. Dear federal government: Please send the Library some money to fill the one-and-a-half vacancies here.

Have a safe Presidents' Day tomorrow!

All to myself

Last night I had the cardio room all to myself, which is a miracle because there's always someone working out. It was wonderful, and it smelled so much better!

Kuche offen

Say it out loud. Doesn't it sound nasty? It sounds nasty to me.
What it really means is that the kitchen is open in German.

A collection of boring

Boooooooo-rrrrriiiiiiinnnnggggg.

Not much going on with me currently. This morning I had my car inspected and renewed my registration. Although I'm going to the gym faithfully, the scale is not showing it. It must be those Oreos; they've become my friend too. I'll keep trying. Even business at work has been slow; it's that time of year when business is slow. Sometimes, while at the desk, I just want to scream, "Booooooo-rrrriiiiiinnnngggg!" Perhaps it will wake up my customers too. I've decided I can't read only one book at a time; my brain refuses the idea.

You ever get that feeling that your neighbor is looking out his/her window in the morning to watch you go to work? I feel that with my neighbor across the street. She's a housewife and isn't too friendly. I have a feeling she wants to see what I'm wearing and how I've done my hair that day. I could be wrong, but it is my instinct. After I lock my front door, I want to do cartwheels to get to my car. Or maybe look through binoculars towards her house while walking to my car. Or even ring her doorbell and twirl for her when she opens her front door.

Perhaps she is bored too, and I'm her entertainment in the morning. Perhaps one day, she'll yell out to me, "Boooooo-rrrriiiiiinnnngggg!"

Love is in the stacks.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day ...

My Zina

I love this woman. Her name is Zina. She is my sister.

If you are in her life, then you are blessed to have someone who is smart, beautiful, talented, generous, funny, creative, loving, and dependable around you. She's the kind of person you long to have as a friend.

I love you, Gin! Thank you for the Valentine's Day gift! I'm going to eat it all by myself. Like you didn't know that, huh?

Can you say Neuschwanstein?

One of the places I definitely want to visit while in Germany is the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. King Ludwig built it in the 1800s, but didn't live to see it completed. It takes about five hours to drive there, and according to my coworkers, it's a must-see. Did you know that the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland was modeled after this castle? Anybody want to go with me? I'll drive.

(photo from EBSCO Host image database)

We all fall down.

I'm due for a fall.

Once each decade, I fall badly. And there are always people around to witness my fall.

Before the age of 10: I accompanied my mom to the commissary. Strolling through the aisles forever, and trust me, my mom takes forever at the commissary, I became restless and decided to go for what I thought would be a fun ride on the shopping cart. Not in the seat of the cart, not at the front of the cart, but ... on the side of the cart. Obviously, it did not occur to me that I would be heavier than the groceries in it. So what happens? I fall backwards while grasping the metal cart and the groceries within it, forcing it to follow me to the floor. I open my eyes, stunned at what just happened, ready to sob as I'm being crushed with food and a shopping cart on top of my body, embarrassed as fellow shoppers eyeball me. I can't move. I'm paralyzed. I remember wishing the floor would just swallow me up along with the can of Spam next to my head.

Before the age of 20: My sister and I were given a moped as a gift by our grandfather. Little did my grandfather know that he just signed us up to be couriers in the Baza Gardens area. One day, my mom baked a cake for my dad and his friends who were up at the baseball field, about half a mile from our house. Well naturally, my mom sent me on my merry way to deliver the cake--holding it as I drove the moped. I was in my pre-teens, without a license, without driver's ed. And incidentally, the moped didn't even have a license plate. But my mom trusted that I'd be fine. Well, as I neared the baseball field, it began to drizzle. And if you've lived on Guam, you know that means the roads become slippery as hell in an instant. I'm almost there, I'm almost there, I told myself. The drizzle turned into pouring rain, freaked me out, and made me press the brakes abruptly! The moped went on its side; I went down with it. And the cake was just fine.

Before the age of 30: (This time, my mom is not in this story.) I worked in Washington, DC. Part of my commute was taking the metro in the morning, then walking several blocks to work. One morning, I put on my favorite long, black skirt, a cute blouse, and my socks and tennis shoes--you know, for the walking I'd have to do after the metro. The metro ride went just fine until I literally stepped off it. As I took a step onto the platform, my shoe caught on to my skirt causing me to lunge forward like the Matrix but backwards. The floor was approaching my thighs, my belly, my chest. Next thing you know, I'm sliding forward towards a trashcan and barely kiss it. I look up, and all is blurry. Blurry because my sporty red eyeglasses are on the tip of my nose, diagonal across my face.

I turned out to be fine and without injury in all of these falls. And people did come to my aid, but I will never forget the embarrassment I felt and the acrobatic skills I never thought I had.

I'm waiting for you, Fall. Bring it on.

Are you due for one too?

Snow wish

I wish. I wish. I wish the snow melts off my car so that I don't have to clean it off after work.

Things to stop

I've decided to stop:

• not saving money
• biting my fingernails
• putting off car maintenance
• drinking Lipton raspberry iced tea
• reading more than one book at a time
• being prejudiced towards some people
• parking in the customer parking area at work
• squinting at the TV and update my eyeglass prescription
• getting first dibs on new items at the library but encourage my staff to
• checking the Lifestyle section of guampdn.com to see if "he" is getting married

50/50 or 20/20/20/20/10/5/5

I'm not sure how I should take this. The Command at my job sent an email today to all personnel advising us not to watch the movie, Valley of the Wolves Iraq. They recommend waiting until the movie comes out on dvd instead of going to the theater to watch it. Apparently, this Turkish movies depicts Americans as savages according to a CNN story.

On one hand, I can see they are trying to prevent any harm on Americans at European theaters. On the other hand, they're censoring. Half of me wants to see it; half of me doesn't.

What would you do?

I'm going to go off on a tangent here because I'm just all over the place today. So excuse me.

If I did go to the theater to watch the movie, would I be seen as an American? Technically, I am, but I am not the stereotypical American. I'm different, you see. People can't tell where I'm from. They think I'm Hispanic, Filipino, Indian, Asian, Hawaiian, even Samoan. I can even pull off a British or Australian accent if I have to. [You'd have to be really dumb to believe me though.]

Anyway. Things that make you go hmmmm ... or even hmmmm?

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Courtesy of Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzina.

Forwards by co-workers

Not only do my co-workers forward jokes, but they also share photos that their family is proud of. Here's an example.

Khayleb

I love this kid. When I babysat him in the States, I'd try to fill our days with activities. One day, while I was driving and he was in the backseat in his carseat, we played a game called Pretend You're Lost. The purpose of the game was to make sure he knew what to say and do if he ever got lost at the store, zoo, etc.

I'd ask him questions like: What's your name? How old are you? What is your telephone number? And he'd respond with the correct answers.

And then I asked him: What is your address?

He paused for a moment, looked to the left, to the right, down, pensively. Then he popped his head up.

"Rubberbandman@aol.com."

God, I love this kid.

Me. Robot.

I think I've turned into a gym robot. My circuits give me a jolt at exactly 6 in the morning to brush my teeth, transform my pjs into gym clothes, drive to the gym, work on the cross-trainer, and then lift weights.

I think it's okay to be a gym robot because honestly, it will take another miracle of science to get me into a gym routine again.

Must. Work. Out. Go. To. Gym. Sleepy. Head.

Hi Sky

Only once in a while do I have a chance to see the sky like this here in Germany. But it's not like sunrise on Guam. For really great photos of Guam's sunrises and sunsets or just plain great photos, browse through L13; it's one of my favorite sites in the world. You'll be hooked.

A view of the sky above the flight line. Criss-cross makes me wanna jump, jump.