Cocktails at the Sunset Bar

After over a year of silence, I'm back to this site with a couple of Piñacolada cocktail drinks for a re-starter. Against a spectacular sunset, the drink was superb at the Pacific Islands Club Sunset Bar last Friday with a  buddy.

Hopefully, I will not be hit with extreme bouts of laziness again and keep this site active.

Expert driver

Each driver has his own unique way of parking...this is my favorite.
(I passed this car at the Compact Road on my way to Melekeok in Palau
sometime in 2007.)

Locked Out!

HAVE you ever experienced being locked out of your car, where no matter how much you tried fitting in the key won’t work? We did, a week ago and it was not pleasant. It was getting late and both fellow reporter Junhan and I wanted nothing more than to be home from a day’s brain-draining work. We stopped by H-Mart along Middle Road to pick up a few groceries for a late dinner. I insisted on locking the car because I left my laptop on the seat (don’t want to tempt others) but when we were ready to go, the car doors won’t simply open.

Short of smashing the windows and after an hour of poking, praying, twisting, and finally swearing in vain, I decided to dial 911 for help. I know that rescuers have special instruments to poke locked car doors. A male voice answered my call.

911: Hello may I help you?

Me: uhmmm (trying to make my voice sound as “un-emergency”-like as I could) do you offer assistance for locked cars?

911: locked car? Is anybody inside the car?

Me: no, no one’s inside but we can’t open it from outside.

911: where are you?

Me: in front of H-Mart in Middle Road

911: don’t you have a key?

Me: yes we have, but it won’t---- ( LOUD CRASH on the road interrupts my conversation with 911, then my jaws dropped as I saw a scooter fly and two individuals flying in different directions…

Me: oh mG! COME there’s an accident come quick! (gone was the un-emergency sound in my voice, replaced by a screech. I took the cellphone away from my ear)

911: hello, hello (from a distance) an accident? just now?

Me: yes just now come quick!

911: what’s your name?

I think I never answered that question, or if I did, I can’t remember what name I said because I was already rushing toward the middle of the road where a Ford pick-up with shattered headlight stood. A few meters away were the red remains of what was once a scooter. A woman lay flat on the road, blood oozing from her head. She was struggling to keep her fingers moving. A few feet away lay a man who had a concussion but was forcing his way to limp to check on the woman.

The next thing I know, a crowd had gathered at the sides, everybody seems to be whipping out his or her cellphone to call 911 while an onlooker who said he was a medical practitioner struggled with the man to keep still until help arrives. “Can anybody speak Korean here? Tell the man to stay put! He is injured,” the medical practitioner bellowed. A Korean-speaking onlooker talked to the injured driver, but shook his head and said the driver won’t listen. Several police cars with blue lights flashing arrived on the scene to manage the flow of traffic. It took about 10 minutes before the ambulance arrived to take the woman away, and more minutes before the second ambulance arrived to take the man to the hospital.

Finally only the pick-up that hit the scooter remained with the police cleaning the road of broken glass and shards. Then I remembered we were locked out, and we just left our purchases on the hood of the car. Thankfully, no one bothered to take them home for us, and thankfully, as though it has tested our patience far enough, the passenger side gave in to Junhan’s non-gentle poking. Thankfully, too, I always have delayed reaction in emergencies. My knees and limbs started trembling only after I had dinner. What a night!

Chillin'

MyFotoForToday
Jan. 7, 2009


These kids slipped into the egg chiller in one of the stores in Saipan unnoticed by their mom who was busy doing last minute shopping on New Year's Eve.

I flunked culinary class!

So what’s new with that? I have never been at home in the kitchen, whether to eat or to cook. I mean I’m not a hearty eater (ever hear of the phrase I eat for survival?) I cook for survival too. Living alone for as long as I can remember has its effects and one of those is developing the habit to buy ready to eat or order from a fastfood whenever hunger strikes. Which is not very often in my case. The best and must-not-meal for me is dinner. Breakfast and lunch I can go without, but not dinner.

Anyways, I signed up for a culinary class for overseas Filipino workers at the OWWA office in Susupe a couple of months ago with 'ranch-mates' Junhan, Raymond, Tita Lits and Terri. What never occurred to me was that the classes would require five Saturday afternoons because if I did, I would have relegated my slot to somebody else. I know I just don’t have 5 consecutive Saturday afternoons free.

We missed the first session which was soup making. The second first session was into Japanese cuisine. Haha when I came into the class I felt I flunked right away. Everybody had an apron and a head gear or hair net. It never even occured to me to get one huhu.

Not a big fan of Japanese food myself (or any other cuisine in that matter) I just observed as Hermie the instructor whipped up sushi and all those rolled Japanesy-foods which I always thought comes in ready made packages.

I kept notes but now I can’t even read what I wrote. If I give it to a pharmacist Im sure I will be given prescription medicines. Tasting time proves rewarding for everybody else except for me.

On our second (and my last alas) session we were into pasta making. Alas, I never cared that much for pasta. I eat them but I can't or wouldn't die for pasta. We were taught how to whip up red and white sauce, spaghetti, soba, and the whole noodle family. I just sat on a corner feeling so drowsy for five hours of staying in one room (*ewww you don’t know how hard that was) The fourth Saturday I had to be on Tinian to cover the Poker tournament at the Tinian Dynasty Casino, so another absent.

Funny but I took more photos of my classmates and of the food and ingredients than what my mind absorbed. I still find it still easier to just point what you want and leave the messy job of food preparation to the expert chefs in the kitchen. I was a misfit in the kitchen. Maybe I was thinking of photography class afterall when I submitted my application form.

The graduation was last Saturday. Only Junhan and Teri were able to make it. We three flunked the classes because we had more than two absences.

Somehow there are some people who could never be at home in the kitchen and I am one of them. My sis and my brod took that talent when I was away and only two were given to each family I guess…

What I would have wanted to join though was the bread baking and cake decorating classes. That im sure I wouldn’t feel drowsy but the list is long and the next classes may be held next year yet.

Maybe I will just have to content myself with taking photos of food, not preparing them.

Let there be light...and there was no CUC

Welcome to Saipan…bring your flashlights.

9:20 p.m. I have an hour and 40 minutes before the lights will go out (again? Yes, again and again and again!) and I will have to grope my way around to my bed and summon all my forces to fall asleep. 2 a.m. is a long way off and If you are a nocturnal being like me, you could understand the torture I go through every night. Or until the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. change the schedule next week.

I mean power outages is nothing new in this island. We have tasted power outages at all shifts but this 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. has been my biggest problem so far. It leaves me with no choice but to grope my way toward the bed guided only by the blurry light from my cellphone.

I prefer the darkness of my room because I can not bear to light a candle. It’s been over three months since I suffered the biggest blow in my life but I can’t even look at a lighted candle without breaking down. It just digs up the pain that I had been bottling and forcing to bury inside me. Enough about the subject of candles, tears are threatening to fall.

The continued power outages on Saipan is nothing new and everybody’s suffering from it. Since my two housemates left, I have learned to monitor the load shedding schedule CUC publishes in the paper every Friday. I mean it’s actually useless because CUC never follows its load shedding schedule anyway. The power just goes off anytime.

I was rushing toward the Attorney General’s Office after a press conference at the public safety on Thursday, skirting the puddles of water on the way, but with three minutes left to be on time for an interview with Atty. Ed Buckingham, I was not successful in totally preventing the heels of my sandals from sinking in the muddy portions. I was directed to go straight to a room where Atty. Ed was waiting, and had to hesitate in the doorway.

The room was engulfed in darkness and I was sure I had come to a closet or a darkroom. I was about to back out when a figure turned around. Atty. Ed was working on his laptop using miner’s flashlight attached to his forehead. What a way to work. At the Justice building on Monday, court proceedings were suspended and the hallways were filled with a mix of lawyers, clients and court staff fanning themselves to survive the heat. The court needs at least 50 gallons of gas an hour for the generators to run and the court’s dwindling budget can’t afford to pay for gasoline.

Oppsss, gotta grab some dinner before the lights go out. I don’t fancy groping my way in the kitchen. I've got a flashlight bought for $1 at a garage but I have to buy batteries yet.

Time off

The gentle rocking of the yacht and the cool breeze blowing is making me drowsy, not minding the noise and laughter my companions are making as they drowned bottle after bottle of wine in rapid succession.
We were in a cove in the Rock Islands and I was sprawled at the helm of the “Great White”, a yacht owned by Sam’s Tours, one of the leading dive operators in Koror. I had just photographed one of the best sunsets I ever saw, with the big red sun slowly setting over the horizon and splashing hues of reds, orange and vermilion over the darkening sky.

We were a few miles off the shores of the Palau Pacific Resort where a welcome party was in progress. Big waves started to roll in, prompting our yacht operator to head for some place where we can simply relax without feeling nauseous.
After finding a comfortable cove between two smaller islands, we dropped anchor and the party began.

Minutes later, a semi-full moon bathed the surrounding with a soothing glow, making the trees in the islands around us look like eerie figures that I almost imagined one of them will jump at us any moment.
This was the first activity of the yachting club and I grabbed the chance to join although I am not a member.
For the past year and four months, Wednesday nights had always been the busiest time for me and ex-Sunstar layouter Celina because that’s our newspaper deadline and we have to stay by until the last page is ready to go to the printing press.
Although we are a weekly newspapers, the manana habit rules, making us delay writing until Wednesday morning and by then that is too late.

The appointment of a new editor from Saipan lifted much of the burden of closing the pages from my shoulders. I was finished at 2 p.m. and was free to go with editor Fermin’s permission.
“Just keep your cellphone on all the time,” he warned before I and co-reporter Junhan dashed off.

I was in a trance-like state, half-awake and half asleep when three cubes of ice landed on my head and my feet. I jerked alert and discovered that my companions (Americans and a few Palauans) were engaged in an ice cube battle. They were getting noisier as the night went deeper. We were supposed to be home by 11 p.m. but from the looks of things, nobody was thinking of going yet. I was already shivering in my thin shirt when I heard the engine of another boat coming towards us. More people were joining the party and as we didn’t drink or smoke, we were starting to feel out of place. Luckily the boat operator had to go back to shore after dumping his passengers into the Great White so we grabbed the chance to go ahead of the others.
So much for the time off, it was time to go home but it was worth it.