We survived the weekend and now are struggling to survive the week. This is the last full week of school before the semester exams. I need to write two tests. By next Friday it will be all over... for a while.

We have our tickets for Japan. We are leaving on December 29 and return January 3. Unfortunately for Wakana that means leaving her precious cats to board at the vet's office. And we have to drop them off the day before we leave and we cannot pick them up until the day after we return! It'll kill Wakana.

Recently Guam defeated, once again, the efforts to bring legalized gambling to the island. With this vote the dog racing track in Tamuning closed. They had claimed they would have to if they couldn't institute gambling. So, they closed, and they gave away all the dogs. Today there was a story in the paper that people are abusing some of the dogs. There was no effort made to make sure they went to good homes. I read the story to Wakana while we were driving home and she burst into tears. She has such a soft heart for animals. It took a while for her to calm down. We stopped at the Chalan Pago Hao Mai for fresh lumpia and iced tea. That helped.