Yellow legal pad lined paper
Dear Mom,
Had to buy a new pen and envelopes since I ran out of everything. I’ve written 130 pieces of correspondence. Plus I’ve read 4-5 books (trying my second Louis L’Amour book) and write in my journal. I’m getting tired of my tapes that I brought with me. Joe sent me 2 tapes so that helped a little but when I exercise, lay out by the pool, or write letters, I listen to music. Yep, a little tired of my tapes. I go to the doctor tomorrow for an annual (if the supplies came in on the boat!) to check my back, my white spots, and my hematoma from my wave excursion. E-tai! (painful!) My back seems to be healing which is very good. I am being careful, know this is my only body, and try to take care of myself.
More about the caves. We had to go down with flashlights – there’s no light once you go in. There were no bats in the cave. The pools of water are fresh with all minerals filtered out. The water seeps from the ground through picking up minerals in the dirt and then as they drip from the ceiling, they leave the minerals behind (making the deposit formations e.g. stalagmites). Some of the formations are crystals. If you aren’t too far down, you see long tendrils of roots hanging from the ceiling. We should have tied a string to the entrance but Dave said he knew the way around so there didn’t seem to be an issue of it. It seems if one clubmate’s been somewhere before, there’s always an “expert.” There was one side journey though that he hadn’t been in and we got a little lost. We decided that when we went again, we’d take a tape to tag our trail (dropping bread crumbs?) We could see each other pretty much and we stayed close together so we didn’t need to tie string to each other. We (5 of us) had the day off so we rented a Samurai (Jeep put out the report that Samurais were unsafe – so it was really propaganda rather than real info) and asked around for what we should do. That was the day we went to the blow holes too.
I’m sorry to hear Mrs. Kalter’s mom and Mr. Toya died. Reality is just that. Give my sympathies to all involved.
I’m glad you got to see “Phantom.” I haven’t been to a big name show in a long time. Missed Cats, Les Mis, Phantom, etc. Maybe next time?
There’s a story that Saipan was the first place they used napalm. I know it was used in Vietnam but in WWII? It makes a lot of sense if it was used because I do know after WWII, the island had to be re-foliated, a natural consequence of napalm. It also makes sense since there are no poisonous plants on the island. I mean if you had to re-foliate someplace, would you purposely put in poisonous plants? It would also make sense re: napalm since there’s no wildlife here. Given the environment, there should be critters but they’re mysteriously and eerily missing. There are tons of coconut trees and the fruit is good. I don’t know if there’s breadfruit here but there’s star fruit. There’s some stuff I don’t’ know the name of but I have eaten.
My boyfriend accepted a job in Newport and leaves Oct 2 to start his job in December. He says he wants to go alone. Sigh. I’ll give him a few months there and ask if he wants me to come out again. I won’t ask 3 times though. This means I need to plan for myself. What I’d like to do is go to Bali in November, for 3-4 weeks, extend my contract 3 months so I can save more money so I can go to Japan and or go on an island hopper on my way back to CA. I don’t think I want to be a supervisor for clubmates because It’s like babysitting although the experience would look good although I’m trying to get AWAY from responsibility. I’ll stay a clubmate. I’d like my relationship to be a 9 (big) on the serious scale but you gotta have 2 people agreeing on how serious it is. He’s from NorCal although he’s lived in Colorado as well. Actually he lived in Oakland and worked for the city of Piedmont (rich white people – old $$) Comes from a good family and he’s well liked by everyone – truly a nice, gentle, caring person. I will miss him terribly.
S**** is fine with being friends. He sent me truffle chocolate topping so I guess it’s a truce. It’s ok to be friends with him now. Neither of us are heartbroken.
My roommate is L**** and she’s from Chico. She just graduated in finance from Chico and she’ll be 23. She’s responsible and a good clubmate. She and I are the only Caucasian brunettes. The other brunettes are Asian and the other women are blonde & blue eyed. In the states, blonde/blue eyes are rare. Here at PIC clubmate life, I’m the oddity. Lenore is tanner than I am. She’s enough years younger than me that it feels like a little sister situation. I like it.
Call AT&T to find out prices to call Saipan. I think it’s $1/minute. It’s cheaper if you call me than if I call collect or if I call on my new international AT&T card. I’ll call for your birthday. Is there anything you’d like me to send you?
Since I may stay an extra couple months, I need to pay my bank loan and extend my contract on my storage area. Everything’s payed (paid?) through December but if I’m staying through March, I need to keep finances afloat. In my brown accordion folder, is my contract/storage space number probably under “L” for Leavesly Storage or “G” for Gilroy. I think I already showed you where my car payment book is. Could you send me my payment book and my storage info so I can make appropriate arrangements? I’m not 100% sure I’m extending – but I have a desire to do so. I’ve saved $1000 to travel so that would be enough for one excursion. I want to do tow so I’ll need another chunk of $$ and need to stay longer to get more $. If I’m gone for 9 months, it’s like I went away to school for a semester. Think of it that if you think I’ve run away never to return.
9/12 (same letter)
Last night in the tennis shack, a grey shrew showed up so D*** and I tore it apart (the shack, not the shrew) looking for the shrew. We finally got it outside. Two nights before that, there was a cockroach (one of the 2” kind – I think it’s the only size they come in here) in our room and L**** refused to go to sleep with it running around so we went through a chase to find it. But at the end of the chase, no piece of furniture was in its proper place. This is self-made entertainment in Saipan.
Gotta close this up. Going to drop this off at the post office, go to my dr. appt, go to the hospital to check on our entertainment coordinator who had an asthma attack so bad she couldn’t breathe, and possibly get my haircut. Depending on the circumstances, I’ll either go diving or go on a helicopter ride around the island this afternoon. Talk to you soon.
