I guess it's time to make another entry. I'm sorry I've been so lax in adding to this but work intrudes. For those in a romantic frame of mind who might think I was distracted by a lady you can guess again.

I had a few things I wanted to do today. I had a package to pick up at the Post Office in Barrigada. I wanted to buy the wood for my new sawhorses. I needed to look for some epoxy putty for sealing holes in the bottom of fancy flower pots. And I wanted to go to the cultural fair at Gef Pago. I decided to skip the Seafarer's meeting.

On the way up to Barrigada I finally found Hafa Books. It is the ONLY used book shop on Guam. I've been looking for it for 8 months now. Actually I gave up the search because I assumed the typhoon had blown it away. And for those who think I should have called, I did. There was no answer. Hafa Books is cleverly hidden behind Green Video (or VIDEO Green as the banner proclaims). It is in the same shop as Creations In Wood. It's in the basement of the building but there is a little sign that says Hafa Books and Creations In Wood.

It's a lovely shop with a good selection of used books and artifacts from Asia. There is a glass case with a variety of items such as a copper Chinese warrior about a foot high, a carved wooden skull from the Philippines, Inuit scrimshaw on mammoth tusk, an ingot of Chinese silver labeled "not pure", and a tray of carved stone Buddhas. There are also a number of baskets and glass and pottery items. I found Pills To Purge Melancholy. That book seems to turn up everywhere. I also found a compilation of NPR interviews from 1996. And I paid $10.00 for a DVD, Space Truckers, a Dennis Hopper Godawful science fiction farce that I have always enjoyed.

It was raining when I left Hafa Books. Someday I'll have to get the windshield wipers fixed. I had decided to do so when we get to the next rainy season but I may not be able to wait that long if the dry season stays this wet. I figured the cultural fair would be rained out so I headed home.

My neighbor is planning a huge fiesta for tomorrow. The festivities start at 1:00 with hula dancing at 3:00. Our dooryard is a 60' paved parking lot and he has covered the whole thing with a set of canopies. He has power washed the pavement and is working hard to clean up his side of the property.

This morning on my way out I met a friend of his who came by to help. We talked for the longest time. He told me of Sumay, the old village when the Navy base now stands. He remembers playing in the area called the Spanish Steps before the Navy built the ammunition pier and closed it. He described the fish and how they would stretch their nets. Then they lay back and waited for the tide to change. When they hauled the nets they were always full of fat large fish. He talked of hunting the coconut crabs and when he described the crab he hunched his body and held his arms out to portray the crab's pincers. He described the work of his sister who dabbles in taxidermy and how she has mounted a coconut crab and a monitor lizard. He is a very interesting person.

Yesterday evening I went up to South Finegayan to help the junior officers build a cardboard boat. The senior officers in the wardroom had decided the wardroom had to have a boat in next weekend's cardboard regatta and had tasked the junior officers to do it. I got drafted when I convulsed with laughter at their "design" which included the phrase "pointy front end".

We went to one member's house to do the work. when I got there they had cut out a twelve foot polyhedron. We broke down the boxes and got to work. I think I gave them pretty good design but they haven't got a chance. When I left they we gluing it together with white glue. I hope the paddler can swim.

Something happened that evening that still rubs me the wrong way. Our host made the comment that he wanted his wife to meet the other wives so they could get together and do woman things while we worked in the garage. The whole implication was so bigoted and tossed off so lightly that I just stared at him. Consider, if he had said, "Let the black guys get together and do black things." he'd have been strung up for not being sensitive to racial pride. But here the women seem to agree and see it as the natural way of the world. Men do men things and women do women things and if there is a need for some crossing over they wait for the other gender to come along and take care of it. When I went into the house for a trash bag our hostess and one of the other wives were crouched in front of a China cabinet looking at antiques cups and saucers. Our hostess leaped to her feet to make sure I, the man, had what I needed. There was something almost apologetic in her attitude.

I finally did get down to Gef Pago. I drove down the east side of the island after a shortcut through Talafofo. What a disappointment. The "cultural fair" was little more than a set of carnival booths without the carnival. They were selling plastic toys and cheap CDs, games of ball tossing abounded. Everyone a winner! Pitiful. The only craftsman there was Taitano the wood carver.

But across the street a woman had a booth selling fruit and tuba. I bought a bottle of tuba and a papaya. Now, some of you may wonder how you get a huge brass instrument into a bottle. The simple answer is you get the orchestra drunk and they lead the tuba player into the bottle. The real answer is that tuba is fermented coconut sap. It is sweet and very surprising in it's power. If you drink it for a while your legs forget how to hold you up according to my friends at work. They say it's even better if you add a little beer to it.

I guess I'll have a drink and go to bed.