Happy Halloween!!!

Okay, so let me let you all on a secret: I don't like Halloween.

It's probably the only holiday that we have in the year that I don't care for at all -- even if the "treats" are the best part of it. But I do get into the spirit of it all and enjoy the whole dress up thing. However, I NEVER, EVER dress up in a scary costume! The closest thing I've had as a scary costume was when I dressed up gothic, but I didn't even pull that one off that well....as a matter of fact, I think I got it all wrong!!! My costumes always range from being something cute, funny, original or just plain weird. This year I was a punk rocker...with attitude and all!

I hope you all had a great Halloween! Okay, now the countdown to Thanksgiving day...oh geeze!

Chinchule's Rules of Order

We’ve had so many weddings in our family lately (every 6 months!) and everyone knows that when you attend a wedding, your wedding gift would most likely be the notorious CHINCHULE. But who do we give it to?

I recently had a discussion with my cousin about the “rules of order” for chinchule. I notice that at some weddings, people give chinchule to the parents of the newlyweds, and some give it directly to the newlyweds. But why??? I always thought you gave your wedding gift directly to the newlyweds. OMG! What happens if both the parents and the newlyweds pay for the wedding? Well, I guess I’ll have to split that chinchule in two….oh wait, but which set of parents get the chinchule? The bride’s parents or the groom’s parents?

I’ve searched high and low, and even the great Tun Yoda and Obi-Juan cannot tell me why. After much discussion with my cousin, we both agreed that whoever pays for the wedding will get 100% of the chinchule. Otherwise, it gets split up. I was happy with that decision. But is that the correct one?

All those in favor of giving the chinchule to the person(s) who pay for the wedding, say ‘aye’, all opposed say ‘nay’……

Colorful morning...

On my morning drive to work, I saw a rainbow.

What a beeautiful way to start off my day :)

The Sound of Music

*singing* The hills are alive....with the sound of music...

Call me a nerd, but I absolutely LOVE the movie: The Sound of Music. For those who haven't watched it, it's a classic musical with a love story and a bit of history...mostly expressed in song. For those who don't like musicals, this movie is not recommended for your viewing pleasure.

Maybe it's my love for music that makes me love this movie, but every time I watch it, I feel this happiness that runs though my heart and it's inevitable that there's a smile on my face as I sing along to (almost) every song in the movie. YES - I'm a dork like that!

Please tell me I'm not the only person that cares to watch (and sing-a-long) to this musical.

*singing* So long, farewell, auf weidersehn adieu......

Anti-Socialite

I may not be a super social bird, but I also know that I’m not an anti-social person either…well, for the most part at least. I’ve got to admit that there are those days where I’m just not in the mood for the world. I guess you could call me an Anti-Socialite on those days.

I don’t know what it is, but there are days where I want to step out of my house and enjoy my freedom without being sociable. This ideal day would consist of: going shopping without having to deal with the casual hellos or eyebrow-raising greetings, enjoy a relaxing mani-pedi (manicure-pedicure) without having to talk about my life, let alone other people’s lives, doing a bank errand without having small conversations in line while waiting for the next teller.

Okay, so the Chamorro people would call me matapang in this case, but I do admit that I have those days where I would rather dodge people to avoid any social activity. Do you ever have those days?

YAY!!!

Earlier this week I received confirmation from my brother, Ton, that he, his son (my godson) and his girlfriend will be on Saipan for Christmas! I was beyond excited to hear the news and I'm looking forward to their arrival.

The last time I saw my godson, Anthony Jacob (aka: Anthony Jakey), was when I baptized him in Portland, Oregon in October 2005. Since then, I have seen him grow up through pictures and have only verbally communicated with him over the phone.

Here are some recent pictures of Anthony Jakey...

Preserving our Culture

Today I attended a diversity conference and one of the topics of discussion was about the importance of preserving our culture. The following question was asked: Do you think federalization of the CNMI would impact our culture?

My answer: YES, but we must stay strong and hold on to what we have left of our culture. I see the Chamorro culture on Guam and see the impact it has on the local people. Everything has been so “Americanized” and the Chamorro way of life has definitely changed. I would hate to see that happen here in the CNMI, but the only way to avoid that is to ensure that we all preserve our culture – or at least what we have left.

Language is an integral part of any culture. Our Chamorro language is definitely an area of our culture that is slowly fading away. I believe that your language really makes your culture distinctive and makes you unique. It’s something that can never be taken away from you! Okay, so I am not one to speak – LITERALLY – of the importance of speaking the Chamorro language because I do not speak the language as often as I should, but I am working on it. My “practice time” to speak Chamorro is usually at work. Since I started working at MVA, I can honestly say that I speak more Chamorro that I did before. Why? Because most of my co-workers speak Chamorro. When I speak Chamorro at work, I don’t feel like they’re judging my limited Chamorro-speaking skills. I’m sure there have been times where my Chamorro was all broken up, but my co-workers never made fun of me. I also attentively follow along the novenas in Chamorro and read Chamorro by practicing every Sunday when I read the Chamorro readings out loud from the North Star also fondly known to the man’amkos as the Matuna Si Yu’us.

Family values and respect are also an integral part of our Chamorro culture. As a kid, I didn’t understand why I had to fa’ngingi all my aunties and uncles at family gatherings. Honestly, I thought the only ones that deserved such respect were older people like my grandparents and anyone that had gray hair! But even going through that small act over the years reflected and embraced a part of our culture: respect. If my parents didn’t drag me to those parties, novenas, rosaries or funerals, I wouldn’t know who was part of my family (we’re all related anyway, right?) and I would understand the importance of respect in our culture.

Alive & Well

I got into a car accident on my way back home this evening. BOOM! A car hit me hard from behind! Everything happened all so fast I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember Floyd asking me if I was okay and hearing one of the passengers from the other car saying (over and over) that it was God's good will that kept us all safe. Although this was all true, I was so freaking pissed off at that very moment. Why? Well, first of all the accident could've been worse...it could've been more than a two-car collision accident...my car could've been hit hard enough to fall into that ditch near the scene of the accident. And most of all: I COULD'VE DIED!!! Some people know this, some don't, but I'll tell it to the world without hesitation that I'm afraid of death and I'm afraid to die!!! I think that's where my anger was streaming from. I was truly happy to be alive instead of dead. Call me melodramatic, I don't care.

After this whole episode, I noticed that I was shaking as I tried to open our front door with my keys. I guess it didn't hit me until after because as I tried to relax my shaken body, I started to cry. It's funny how something extreme has to happen before you realize all the things you have right before your very eyes. I realized all the things that I do have that are important to me: my family, Floyd, my friends, MY LIFE! We all seem to take the little things for granted or put things off for another time. I'm not going to be that person. I want to live my life to the fullest!

Presenting...the Sunday Crew!

As promised in my post last weekend, here you have the people who make up the "Sunday Crew". From L-R: ME, Jack, Carol & Chris. The pose for this picture was all Christopher's idea...LOL!

For My Eyes Only

How the hairy-heck would I function without my "eyes" aka: my contacts or glasses???

I've been wearing my glasses for the past couple of weeks in order to see the world. There is no one to blame but myself for my lack of contacts because I was procrastinating with the purchase. Supposedly, according to my eye doctor, I'm required to wear these special contact lenses that allows my eyes to get a lot of oxygen while wearing them and yet, is still safe to wear when I sleep. But all that luxury for my eyes comes with a pretty hefty price -- $88 for a box which has a pair of three. Oh and it doesn't stop there...I have to change my contacts every month! YUP! Go ahead and do the math on how much I spend a year.

I just bought myself a box of contacts today. I'm super excited to get out of these glasses and back into my contacts. Tomorrow I wear my contacts so I can see the world while wearing my coolest pair of sunglasses. Oooh lala...WATCH OUT!

Today was a good day :)

Today I received the clothes I ordered from Old Navy. You could only imagine the excitement I was feeling when the Post Office guy gave me my bag in exchange for the yellow card notice! Thank goodness for online shopping :)



As I was driving down beach road, I hit a red light and looked around. WOW! How many people have this kind of scenic route driving back home from work??? I am the luckiest girl ever to have such a route driving back home after a long, hard day of work.

Lunch with my sisters

Last Friday I had lunch with my girlfriends: Tenta and Maisie and their daughters, Hannah & Mariana at Hard Rock. It's always nice to hang with my sisters and their kids. It's so amazing how much their kids have grown!

Hannah (left) and Mariana (right) pose to show me their full outfit, including shoes! Do they know how to dress up or what??

The Sunday Crew

It all started with a small get together to watch our favorite TV show episodes on DVD. Soon it became so uncommon NOT to get together on Sunday and hence, have now been known as the "Sunday Crew". We do many things together: shop, eat, hang or watch DVD's together.

One of the main reasons we get together: we're all big fans of the TV show Will & Grace and since I own all the box sets (yes, all 8 seasons), it only makes sense to get together at my place. Of course we get together because we're so fond of each other (ahem!), but really it's because we just want to watch Will & Grace for some laughs on a Sunday afternoon :)

Who's part of this Sunday Crew??? Just a bunch of fabulous people. Pictures soon to come. Stay tuned.

I am SUPERWOMAN...hear me roar!

Once upon a time I had 200% passion for my job. I had great ideas, great things planned and above all, was pumped up with this natural adrenaline called motivation. I love working in the Human Resources profession, but somehow my passion is deteriorating from my career. So now I find myself looking for another career that will tickle my tammy ;)

I want change! I want a change in my life! I want a change in my career! I want to continue with my education, I want a job that doesn't make me feel like crap when I take a day off, I want to truly settle down and I want to start having babies! What kind of job would give me that? Reading various publications from SHRM's HR Magazine, employers now cater to their employees and make so many investments towards accommodations for employees. In turn, employee absenteeism is reduced, healthcare costs are low and work is done! Unfortunately, that will never happen here. If it does, I'll be dead by then because people don't handle change well around here. C'mon is the CNMI Government going to invest in ME as their employee? In the words of Alicia Silverstone in the movie Clueless: WHATEVER!!! Who is going to let me do some work from home? Who is going to recognize my knowledge, skills and abilities? Who is going to recognize the positive things I've done? Who is going to allow me some time off so I can take some classes online or at the college? Who is going to allow me to get to work an hour late or leave an hour early to exercise to reduce my stress? Not this CNMI Government, that's for sure!

I've learned the hard way that when people notice that you do your job well and can multi-task (by helping others), they think you would be the best employee to do EVERYTHING! So if you work hard, you'll basically be punished for it by being assigned more tasks to do. Oh and don't expect any recognition because over time those little tasks will end up being your job anyway.

I was once called "superwoman" by someone in my office and asked why they labeled me with such a name. They told me it was because I got things done and I got them done quickly. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a way for that person to tell me indirectly: you're going to do more stuff for me. OH CRAP!!!