185. Random Thoughts

The traffic lights were out in places on the drive to school & work this morning. It was busy. People were not stopping or taking turns. No police were directing traffic at the intersections. It was not the way to start the day.

It seems we will continue to face this problem, as CUC continues to have power problems. I wish the Legislature would address the traffic light issue with a simple law, and the police would enforce it. If a traffic light is out or malfunctioning, it should become and be treated as a stop sign. This slows traffic down--true. But then everyone knowns what to do, and everyone gets a chance to get through intersections, even if they're--heaven forbid--turning left.



Don Farrel's letter in the Variety today-here--is really good. The Governor, Howard Willens, Cinta Kaipat, and possibly Deanne Siemer all seem to be trying very hard to spread misinformation and fear as the means to combat the federalization effort. I know that there are important issues that the US Congress must tackle, but the CNMI needs their attention and an end to the current mess. We are stuck in this quaqmire, the worst of which may be listening to the distortions being thrown about by our current administration. Could we just get on with federalization now, please?


January in Saipan is my favorite month--weather-wise. The moon at night is huge, with a deep field of stars playing back-up. Days are sunny, warm, with a cool breeze coming in. Green and lush, tangerines and star fruit still plentiful. It's a tough life in the tropics, but someone's got to live it. :-)

57. Typhoon Warning

It's hard to concentrate on work with a typhoon tracking you down and threatening to smash your house in. Presently anticipated at 9 AM tomorrow morning. So back to work.

It looks pretty from the sky, but I'm worried about the tail (which can be worse than the eye of the storm).

39. The Weather

Yes, I'm going to blog about the weather. In Saipan, the weather is usually a given--mid 80's, sunny, breezy, occasional showers. You can give this weather prediction for almost every day of the year--high 80's in the "summer" months, and low 80's in the "winter" months, some other variations, (less rain in dry season, more in rainy season), but really, the most consistent temperature and weather in the world--that's Saipan. So weather becomes a part of the background.

But today was not typical. The temperature hovered around 70 degrees all day--even in the middle of the afternoon. That's one degree above the 60's, which are NOT tropical temperatures. And the incessant rainy mist was downright unpleasant.

All in all, it was a good day for a murder mystery. I'm in the middle of two--both by Stephen Greenleaf. I loaned the first one I was in the middle of reading to a friend who found herself suddenly in the hospital. So then I started the second one. Now my friend is too sick to read, having moved to ICU, so I got the first one back. And I read while she sleeps, or when I'm cozying up to a hot cup of coffee somewhere. Does anyone else read two books at the same time? And two murder mysteries?! I find it rather enjoyable.

Also, it was a good day for soup. I like to eat soup (never slurp!). On a cold, gray, wet day, nothing beats some hot soup. I tried the Thai soup at Cafe at the Park today. It was yummy. Pica and maipe.

Did you notice--I got no editing done (even though it's nanoedmo--see post # 38). I'll blame my lack of progress on the weather! And now, back to the mysteries (books, I mean).