Yes! I am still here! I realized I have been remiss in several different aspects. For one, I have not been maintaining this thread as I should. I just seem to have gotten lazy. For another, my recent entries have only been news of daily happenings. I can't remember when I've described the location or the day or the people or anything else. And lately I haven't even been good at keeping people abreast of my more recent activities. I'm a bad boy. I apologize.

As you know I went to the east coast for Amy's graduation and to visit the parents. I even got to enjoy some musical events. I saw my old group, Roll & Go, in concert at the Side Door Coffeehouse. I joined in the weekly chanty sing in Portsmouth and I went to a chanty sing in Boston. It was a good trip.

The graduation was fun. I have never been accused of being an average parent. I stayed in Amy's dorm room on a mattress on the floor, not something most parents would do and not something most college kids would want. Fortunately Amy and I have a close relationship. She and I enjoy each other's company. On the night before the graduation she took me with her to a post grad party at another college, a school where she has a number of friends. I haven't seen so much alcohol since my own college days. At the party I engaged in a pun contest with one of the kids and sang them a couple of songs, Being a Pirate and Zombie Jamboree. I was not only accepted but welcomed and made a part of the group. As I say, I am not an average parent.

After I left Lynchburg I visited Appomattox Station, the site of the surrender by the Confederacy, the end of the Civil War. It is very nicely maintained as a National Park but none of the original buildings are there. The courthouse burned down before the 20th Century. The McClean house where the surrender was signed was considered from the beginning to be an important site. So, in the early 20th Century a coalition of businesses bought it and took it apart to move to a more accessible location. Unfortunately they ran out of money (or maybe interest). So the house was abandoned in mid move and quickly dissolved into a pile of rotting timbers and bricks. The house on the site now is a copy. The result is a plastic copy of an important site. It was pretty but didn't "feel" right.

The visit with my parents was nice. I love the farm in any season and early summer is one of my favorites. There are few bugs yet and the weather is very comfortable.

It was great to see Roll & Go again. They are really working hard on their music and sound great. Charley gave me a copy of their latest CD. I couldn't listen to it until I got it home but it has been in my car since I got home. Good stuff.

An old friend at the coffeehouse, Allison, who also used to sing with the group, told me of a chanty sing in Boston. Since I was headed to Massachusetts the next day I decided to leave early and drop into the sing. Lynn Noel organizes that gathering and has a dedicated group of singers sitting in a circle looking out at the Charles River. Great fun.

The main purpose of the trip was to visit an old friend who is getting married later this month. She is well and the guy she's marrying seems to be a great catch. I wished her well. I think her life is taking a turn for the very good.

And then Hawaii. Ah, Hawaii, the magnet that draws people from all over the world. A land of mountains and sea, clear skies and friendly Polynesians, traditions and modern life melding in a whirl of color and sound. I wish I could have seen some of it.

You see, I had to stop there because flying on your frequent flyer miles requires a stop somewhere and I had never been there before. Plus I needed an MRI on my wrist and the machine to do it, an "open" MRI, is not available on Guam. Back in April my doctor had requested the procedure from the insurance company and we had been talking with them ever since. You would think, having a month to prepare they would have been ready with the appointment when I got there. But no, they were "…still working on it…" when I called them. They continued to work on it until it was too late and I had to leave Hawaii without getting the work done. To say I am pissed is an understatement. Instead of sightseeing I spent my time at a pay phone running through phone cards trying to get an appointment at a Hawaiian hospital.

But I came home, my wrist still painful and my doctor working to come up with a plan that doesn't require an MRI. And a lot of anger at the fact that I STILL have not seen Hawaii.

Of course there were compensations. I met some very interesting people there as I mentioned in one entry. And the hostel has a very nice atmosphere. I highly recommend it if you want to go to Hawaii and NOT spend a bundle on a hotel.

So now I am home again. Wakana is now working at the university teaching a summer session Japanese class. She loves it. The only time I've seen her spend this much time on anything is when she plays computer games or when she is trimming the brush back from the house. She says she'll be heartbroken when the job ends in two weeks. She is also still teaching at the Liberal Academy in Tumon and loves that work too. The bridal job is gone but not forever. They want her back. The Japanese school is on summer vacation and won't start up again until August.

In the meantime I am finally hearing from the Guam Public School System about my job application I submitted in January. Let me see, it's June so that means it has been, (counting on fingers) five months! And they called to ask if I was certified! I submitted that application in January too so that has also been, let me think, oh yeah, five months! They're still "working on it". I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Their last request from me was to get from the college catalog a description of the courses I took. I had to explain to them that I took those courses 26 years ago from a college that has since become one of the premier osteopathic medical universities in the northeastern USA. That didn't faze them at all. They still wanted the descriptions of the courses.

I called my mentor, my college history professor, and we discussed the classes he was teaching in the 1970s. I wrote it up in a letter and handed it into the certification office. Sigh, this place is so screwed up.

And, in the meantime I have been offered employment working at the Liberal Academy teaching English As A Second Language to Japanese students who would be shipped in from Japan to learn our language. I would have long term employment, they say, and the wages would be comparable with GPSS. What to do, what to do…

And last but not least, next Thursday I will be performing in a one man show of chanties, ballads, and drinking songs at the Mermaid Tavern here in Hagatna.