Fish Friday

This weekly outing with the girls is one of my top favorite things I look forward to... Today's catch was sailfish, mahi mahi, tuna, and red snapper. Krystal (black hat) came for snapper--an incredible white fish. Sarah (white shirt) came for mahi mahi.

 

(It's hard to obey that rule sometimes)

The ladies sell and weigh the fish...

... and the gentlemen clean the fish however you'd like!

"Bereft of passion & imagination! That is not who I am!"

Yes, I know I've been publicly tearing my hair out while here in the Caribbean, but that's mostly because I'm crushed no one told me that adventures sometimes have dull moments. I sure wished Indiana Jones helped me out with that one..

(On a really quick side-note, you've GOT to check out the first few paragraphs of this article: Harrison Ford to the Rescue ) (It would be worth getting lost in the woods, if you ask me...)

Anyways, I was talking to my dad on Skype tonight. I, of course, was telling him about my sunny Groundhog Day life here, and he helped me remember that at least 'I am living a little.' That reminded me of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that I re-watched recently.

• Background with my Star Trek experience: 100% delightful! Apart from it being a part of my childhood, I have always enjoyed the morality and philosophy, as well as the characters' interactions. And when the suicide bombers in Afghanistan, global financial crisis, and the gang-raping of women in Africa become too much for me, I enjoy watching the posterity of a high-functioning society from Earth in the 24th century. I recommend it, whole-heartedly. (Except for the first season; I can't believe how cheesy everything is!)

• Background of this Star Trek episode: Captain Picard experiences a near-death experience with Q, an omnipotent and rather asinine entity. Q sends Picard back in time when he was 21 to make a different choice that had, in effect, led up to his death. When Picard fulfills his Different Choice, he returns to the present. He is not the captain; he is a forgettable low-rank officer in astrophysics. Picard cannot take the limited life he's ended up living, so he seeks out Q...

(Click the title to see the scene:  "Tapestry" season 6, episode 15 )

Picard: You having a good laugh now, Q? Does it amuse you to think of me living out the rest of my life as a dreary man in a tedious job?

Q: I gave you something most mortals never experience: a second chance at life. And now all you can do is complain?

Picard: I can't live out my days as that person. That man is bereft of passion... and imagination! That is not who  I  am!

Q: Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be: one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth, one who was less like me... The Jean-Luc Picard you wanted to be, the one who did not fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the Ambassador; or take charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe - and he never, ever, got noticed by anyone.

 
I don't want to live a bland, vanilla life. Instead of allowing the negative emotional blows be the most emphatic events in my life, I want the colorful and strange experiences and exotic achievements outshine them by light-years!

Thank heavens that I grew up in a home where we Carpe Dium-ed!

An Educational Week...

I learned that if I'm going to be stuck in Grenada Groundhog Day, at least it's a sunny Groundhog Day.

I learned that too much fried Chinese food will not make me sick during the night, surprisingly.

I learned from When Harry Met Sally that I'm "the worst kind [of woman]:" I think I'm low maintenance, but I'm really high maintenance.  (Ha ha, Know Thyself)

I learned that finally snapping back at someone who has harassed you 3x at the gym induces a strong sense of pride and justice.

I learned that I like wearing purple.

Ugh, I learned how severely un-intellectually stimulated I am down here to learn that I like wearing purple.

I learned that Ryan is really, really going to love his birthday/Christmas present... Dun dun dun...

I learned that Star Trek: the Next Generation maintains my hope for my future and society's.

I learned that I'm being singled out by the school's gym staff because they are bored.

I learned that mosquitoes are brazen and fearless when they travel in flocks.

I learned how to make an incredibly fabulous chocolate cottage-cheese-protein shake.

I learned that I have roughly 11 weeks and 2 days left here. Sigh. (But who's counting?)

September so far...

BABY FROGGIES!!!

A Saturday night sunset

Oh my--?  Who sleeps like that?!

Good thing that guy has a hat for his hair...

Stormy, stormy Thursday night

Top Four Minor Disasters of The Week

Number Four
I have 2 dozen new bug bites, received in 36 hours. Yay for un-rainy rainy season!

Number Three
I've been stuck in a Caribbean version of Groundhog Day for I can't remember how long... What happened to the adventure of it all? I must find it...

Number Two
They've put in a new policy at the school gym--in order for me to continue going there to preserve my sanity, I need to have a meeting/interview with the Dean of Students of this medical school. I'm surprised she has that much time on her hands that she is able to talk to me about using the gym... I'm kind of embarrassed...

And the Number One Disaster of the Week is...

My kitchen sink was clogged today. I had to wash dishes in the shower. (But now it's totally fixed! So happy!)

Now I'm used to showering with bits of egg under my feet...

Moments I've Questioned my Own Femininity.

• When I finally learn about all of the fancy fashion names at age 19.
• When I still don't understand the importance of all the fancy fashion names at my current age.
• When I fell in love with a man whose lips were 4x the size of mine.
• When that man & I took a ballroom dancing class, and his hips swished better than mine. 
• When I kill spiders for girls.
• When I kill spiders for boys.
• When my friend exclaimed, "You warm up your hamstrings on a 60 lbs curl?!?" (True story.)
• When I didn't know what clothes to buy/wear in elementary school.
• When I have no idea who the Bachelor is.
• When I dated an actor.
• When I see women moving in 4-inch heels like swans gliding in a silver lake.
• When my shih tzu out-sprints me.

Sigh, that's the worst--when my 12-pounds of fluff who sleeps professionally, totally and completely out-sprints me.

Survival Techniques From an Ironically-Uptight Yoga Instructor

If you're just having one of those massively-chaotic days, I recommend these life-saving quick fixes and long-term sanity maintainance techniques:

4 Life-Saving Quick Fixes

• Thinking about Johnny Depp "arriving for story time [at children's hospitals] in full Captain Jack Sparrow costume—and stayed in character while reading stories for four hours."
• Listening to In the Hall of the Mountain King
• Recalling the part in Three Amigos during El Guapo's birthday party and he grins: "It's a sweater!!!"
• Smiling. Smiling like an idiot. (You can get away with anything if you smile sincerely; this comes from years in the food service business.)

3 Long-Term Sanity Maintenance

• Kindle!! Buy a Kindle, keep it in your purse. I know, major product promo, but it saved my brain from self-destruction after 45 minutes in line at the local bank and that random broad cutting in line.
• Running shoes. Or gym shoes. It must be some kind of attire that is strictly for a heart rate increasing activity, and that gets you out of the house. Afterwards, you'll feel like the world is (as they say in Grenada) "not too bad."
• Friends on speed-dial. Enough said. :-)

Last few days of August...

I've seen this old lady before. She had several long branches on her head that time...

Yes...

Yes, he did.

He made me sushi. :-)

I have a new baby lizard in my house! Yay! :-)

More delicious dinners!

More yoga on Caribbean grass...

Monday, Monday, Can't Trust That Day...

"Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time"
 -The Mamas & The Papas

I decided that I love the Mamas & the Papas. This post is a tribute to them.

(Those of you who were around when they were popular, please note that I have little-to-no actual knowledge about this group and the reality of that era. I only know their top 4 hits.)

(Those of you too busy listening to your poorly-written, overly-synthesized Top 40 ear vomit, The Mamas & The Papas were a sunshine pop-slash-psychedelic rock group in the 60's.)

And it's two tall, lanky dudes, a flaquita, and a really, really fat woman.

And I love it! 

from rockandpop80s.com

I love that these people have blown so many current stereotypes of today's music world out of the water. I mean, look! Their freakin' Best Of album cover was shot by someone's grandma in Sugarhouse Park! I can almost smell the baked beans dish at the pot-luck barbeque for the family reunion behind the camera...

Today, popular music requires visual beauty, often at the cost of audible beauty (huh?).

If you're a guy singing pretty songs, you must be pretty boys. The Papas are lanky guys, singing about California Dreamin'. I am not confident that these boys aged well...

The flaquita is cute and blonde, and needed to add about 200 more calories of lean protein to her diet, along with a flat iron, but her voice is so cute! And then we have our 300(?) pound woman---stunning voice! I'm so glad she became famous and rich!  But her wardrobe people... wow, massive failure. You don't give apple-shaped bodies tent-like tops to wear! Poor thing died of a heart attack at a high point of her career in '74. :-(

It seems like that would never, ever happen now: "In the music business, we don't truly care about the music... Just money, looks, sex, ratings, money, sex, money..." 

Why else do you think Britney did so well? (No hard feelings...)

"Here I stand head in hand, Turn my face to the wall..."

A recent MSNBC article entitled Docs warn about teens and Facebook depression  revealed that because of the censored profiles portrayed on the online site, some teens may feel like their real lives don't measure up to their peers

I bet blogs do that as well. Although I wish I were a little more snarky in my writing and more knowledgeable about computers, I am very proud of my blogs, as well as my maintenance of my Facebook profile, pages, and group. However, they are extremely censored. To emphasize reality a little more, and to not fall into the chronic habit of making everything constantly, perfectly fine, here is a short list of the normal-to-wretched things about my everyday life:

1. Cockroaches got into our uncooked pasta. We cooked and ate it anyway.
2. I have tan lines that look like I'm two different races of people.
3. I haven't worn make-up in 3 days... Why bother?
4. Chewey's damn mites have sprung up again, as well as my allergies. Now I have to deal with the incompetency of the animal "hospital" here.
5. I'm afraid when we move to the East Coast, most likely NY, I'll get no job, mugged, sworn at by cab drivers... generally viewed all-around as an incompetent Utah girl.
6. I've re-watched the Harry Potter movies one at a time before I go to bed. Ryan is either immersed in his schooling or his digital galaxy.
7. This high-backed rock-hard dining chair I'm sitting in right now totally sucks.
8. I held a big yoga class a few weeks ago, thinking big bucks, only to find half of them saying thank you after, and leaving. Donation-based means donate!
9. My delicious vanilla whey protein powder is all gone. I slurped up the last of it 15 minutes ago.
10. 
    

(Oh crap, my chipperness has kicked in... I can't even think of a 10th one. Massive failure.)

That list is supposed to be sharply amusing, not a warning bell. I'm not any more depressed than your average Cup-Half-Full chap. My life is just normal. In my opinion, it's better than normal. And just because I say it is so great, well, to those of you who know me well, know that my optimism is my main defense mechanism.

Frankly, I don't know how all you cynics manage to get out of bed everyday... At least I have oatmeal & cinnamon to look forward to!