The Saipan Blog: Mayoral Candidate invites voters on a tropical island tour

Vote for Angelo for Mayor of Saipan!

To all my friends from Saipan who read my blog, I'm asking you to cast your vote for Angelo this year. He's done so much for us already, and I believe that he can do so much more as Mayor. I couldn't help him in person, so instead I made a donation to his campaign through Paypal. I'd like for you all to do the same. It doesn't matter how much you donate, because any donation helps his campaign out. This time around, Angelo is offering a tour of one of one of four great spots on island to those who donate $20 or more to his campaign. Click on the link below for more information. I believe in Angelo, and I ask that you do the same. Let's all vote for Angelo Villagomez for Mayor of Saipan so that we will have a safer, cleaner, and more beautiful island whenever we go back home.

The Saipan Blog: Mayoral Candidate invites voters on a tropical island tour

VOTING IN THE CNMI GENERAL ELECTION 2009

Greetings all,

Seeing as how the time to vote is coming up, and a lot of us are still in the dark about what exactly these gubernatorial candidates are planning to do if they win, I went out and did some research to try to find their platforms.... It didn't take me long, mind you, as all I had to do was go to their websites and click on Platform. Who'd've thought that it was really that easy, huh? Lol. Anyway, we need to all be educated voters this year, so for those of you who still don't know anything about these candidates, here are the links to their platforms. I highly encourage you all to take the time to read through them all before you make your decision on who to vote for.
Juan Pan & Joe Camacho: http://www.juanpan.jncamacho.com/platform.php
Heinz Hofschneider & Arnold Palacios: http://www.heinzarnold2009.com/downloads/HP_Brochure.pdf (For these two, the link to their Platform is broken, but on their main page they have this little brochure that I'm pretty sure serves the same purpose.)
Ramon Guerrero & David Borja: http://www.yes2kumoiborja.com/platform.php
Ben Fitial & Eloy Inos: http://www.ben-eloy.com/platform.asp


I hope you all go through these pages and read and get as much information as possible so that you can make an educated vote this year. You'll feel a lot better about yourself after the election, knowing that you didn't just do some spur-of-the-moment random vote this year (I know a bunch of my friends back in the last election really had no idea who to vote for so they all voted for Fitial just because everyone else seemed to be so positive about him). I will try to also find the platforms and websites for the candidates for Mayor and the other offices, but I can't guarantee you anything. Let's all work together here to help make our islands a better place. It starts with YOU, the voters. You have the power in you to help make a difference.


Thank you for your time.
Remember to vote responsibly this year,


ASAN Kelvin Rodeo
AIMD/IM-4
Command Color Guard co-coordinator
Command Exhibition Rifle Drill Team co-coordinator
USS John C. Stennis CVN-74
Bremerton, WA

Gi Talo Gi Halom Tåsi

So for today I am a lot more homesick than usual, and I thought I'd go over something that will always be a part of me and will always take me home, no matter where I am in the world. It's our very own CNMI Anthem. It's what we all grew up learning and singing at just about every special event back home, and it's definitely something that hits home every time it is sung. It's definitely a song that will always be special to me and will never grow old, no matter what. For those of you who can't understand Chamorro or Carolinian, I have included an english translation of the lyrics. So, without further ado, here it is, the CNMI Anthem, sung by my MHS Student Council President (I was her Vice President in '07) Juanette Villagomez.

Gi Talo Gi Halom Tåsi/Satil Matawal Pasifiko (CNMI Anthem)







Chamorro:







Gi talo gi halom tåsi



Nai gaige tano-ho



Ayo nai siempre hu såga



Malago' ho



Ya un dia bai hu hånåo



Bai fåtto ha' ta'lo



Ti siña håo hu dingo



O tano-ho







CHORUS:







Mit beses yan mås



Hu saluda håo



Gatbo na islas Mariånas



Hu tuna håo







Carolinian (Refalawasch):







Satil matawal Pacifico



Igha elo faluweey iye



Ighilal igha ebwe lootiw



Tipeey iye



Eew raal nge ibwe mwetesangi



Nge ibwal sefaalitiiy Ese mmwel bwe ibwe lighiti



Bwe falaweey







CHORUS:







Sangaras faal bwughuwal



Ay tirow ngalugh



Ling ghatchul teel



Faluw Mariånas



Ay Mwareiti







English Translation:







In the middle of the sea



Is where my home is



That is where I will spend my days



It is my desire



If I ever leave this place



One day I will return



For I can never leave you



O land of mine







CHORUS:







A thousand times and more



I will honor and salute you



Beautiful islands of the Mariånas



Glory be to you

My Labor Day 2009.

So, while the rest of America is out at parks having picnics or in the wilderness having a little mini-campout, I am here, at home, with Dylan. All day. It's just been the two of us, until just about half an hour ago, when Den came home, with an unexpected guest. Yeah, she brought her little guy friend over, the one that she had spent like the whole weekend with. I guess it's a good thing that we cleaned up the house as soon as we got home. Still though, I'm stuck here at home just using the internet on labor day while the rest of America is out having picnics and family gatherings and shit. What a bummer. I ended up spending most of my day analyzing the rest of the audio files of our Ouija board sessions (which I am not even completely done with) and monitoring for EVPs. Yep, that's my labor day for ya. I can't even have fun and drink on Labor Day, because of my surgery.... ugh this sucks!!

The New Routine.

So I spent the weekend moving into Denyale's house.... I am now living with Denyale and Dylan out in town, and it's pretty sweet. I am not going to move all my stuff out of my barracks room, obviously, but just the stuff that's taking up a lot of space here. I'm only gonna be using my room for the nights that I have to come in to work on the messdecks. The weekend was alright, I went over to Mango's pad for a little BBQ with other people from the shop and everyone got wild and crazy and drunk. I drank a few drinks, but I knew that Den and Dylan would get way too trashed that night, so I eventually cut myself off so that I could drive us home when everyone was ready to leave. It was quite an experience, the drive home. It was dark and it was raining pretty hard so I was kinda on edge already, and then Den, being absorbed into her phone and reacting to it with "oh my god" and "gasp" from time to time, would really freak me out. I'm not usually a jumpy driver, but keep in mind that I haven't driven a vehicle in over 8 months (probably even longer), and I have never driven in Washington, AND it was dark and rainy.... all of that makes the perfect recipe for a nerve-racking night.

So anyway, we got home and the absolutely wasted Dylan went to bed eventually, after a couple of embarrassing moments with Den and quite possibly some hidden truths that came out unintentionally. The next morning we were gonna drop Dylan off to work, but when I woke up to my alarm I was so tired that I passed out again and they left. I woke up when Den came back and I couldn't sleep after that. I ended up watching the second half of Heroes Season 3, because there was a marathon running on G4. Den and I stayed in our own little worlds pretty much all day, except for the times when she would cook us a meal, and then later on in the night she had decided that enough was enough and we couldn't stay in the house any longer. She said we needed to go out and do something or she would go insane, so that's just what we did. We went over to Silverdale Mall and hung out for a while, and then on our way back she said she was too lazy to cook again so we decided to go get some pizza from LIttle Caesar's.

We ate the pizza and watched ghost shows on TV, and then she and I went to bed because she said she had to go fishing early in the morning the next day. She ended up not going because she had ended up staying up so late (she said she didn't get to sleep till around 5:30), and I woke up to the sound of Dylan entering the house. We all hung out for a couple of hours, and then Wolf and Connor came over and chilled for a while and we all got drunk at the house and all that shit.

IDK, it was a pretty boring and uneventful weekend for me, but it was good down time spent with Den and Dylan. We have accepted that the three of us are all we have for the next year and a half (I, unfortunately, have longer on the boat than that, but Den and Dylan are getting out before I do) and that this was our family until then. It's cool, though, because I really do see Den as a sister and Dylan as a brother. They're the ony two people in the shop that I actually do trust fully and wholeheartedly and I know won't fuck me over on anything.

Memories...

So today, on the walk back to my barracks from the front gate of the base, I started thinking about Great Lakes outta nowhere... and then suddenly all the memories came rushing back in and I started remembering things like they has just happened yesterday. I remember how late it was when we all checked in to the base across from boot camp, I remember how shitty our first barracks was, meeting my first roommate, who was a buds/seal candidate (but is now an IS on my ship! haha), I remembered getting moved around to different barracks 3 times while I was there, I remembered how close everyone in the Franklin was (we truly were like a big Family in that barracks); I remembered that Michael Stuessy was my best friend, but I don't quite remember how we met... haha all I know is we hung out all the time and times were good. So many memories came to me out of just a single thought; the thought that my second year anniversary in the Navy was approaching. God, it has been a good but trying two years of my life. I miss everyone from the very beginning of it all. Back when times were good. Back in Great Lakes. Those were the good ol' days, indeed. I'd even go as far as saying that those 6 months that I spent in Great Lakes, IL were the best 6 months of my entire Naval career to date. It's funny, too, now that I think of it, because back in those days we were all saying how happy we would be to get out of there, how we couldn't wait to make it to the Fleet..... and now that we're all out here in the big United States Navy fleet, we all wanna go back.... we all would like to return to our old A school days... back when the Navy still cared about us, back when things were still good. We didn't realize how good we had it back in the day.... all we did was complain, complain, complain about how much bullshit we had to go through.... but we had no idea just how much worse the bullshit is out here in the Fleet. Oh, no.... Not a damn clue.

That is such a recurring theme throughout life; when you're somewhere doing something in particular, you complain and say you hate it, but once you're done and you've moved on you tend to look back and wish you were still over there doing what you were doing. Why is that, I wonder?

Torchwood.

So I just got done watching the tearjerking season 2 finale of Torchwood (Series 2, as they refer to it in the UK). All I can say is, WOW. It takes a lot to make me cry. It really does. But somehow, this tv show managed to do it. The various elements of the story that led to this point in the finale just really made you love the characters, you know? So for two of them to die is just heartwrenching. I mean, I spent the past month watching these characters grow over a span of two seasons, and it really made me feel like I was right there with them, learning more and more about them and shit like that. It's weird, I know, but idk that kind of shit just happens sometimes, you know? Russell T. Davies is a genius for creating Torchwood and everyone involved in the production of this show should be very proud for being able to produce such a great show. It kinda sucks that I watched the third season miniseries before I was compelled to download the first two seasons, but at least now I have an understanding of the history and background of everything that occurred in the third season, Children of Earth. It took me a while to download the torrent for seasons 1 and 2, but it was most definitely worth it. I'm glad I waited and waited and waited for it to finish. So now, after watching all three seasons of Torchwood, I humbly await the release of the fourth season... if there will be one. And there better be. Such an epic show as this deserves to run for at least 2 or 3 more years, if not more.