Duh! Duh-duh-duh! Duh-duh-duh! Duh-duh-duuuuuuuuuuuuuunh!

I was going for a "Final Countdown" title (are the band members of Europe NASA rejects? How 'bout that frontwoman's eyes? He'd totally make the Asian babies cry), and just realized that I typed up the "Eye of the Tiger" intro - that's okay, it's actually more applicable because I did my time and I took my chances going the distance in Asia and the South Pacific, now I'm not going to stop. And everything did happen too fast, but I suppose that's life.

601 days away, 38 to go. SIX HUNDRED AND ONE!! That sounds like an awful lot, and if I were tally-marking on a cell wall I'd be really sad. I know shouldn't be counting down, I know this, but I'm just so excited and scared and uncertain and curious. (Terrified beyond words to tell you the truth, especially when I read things like this, but pretty excited too. I frequently go back and forth on the subject if you couldn't tell.) Thirty-eight, and they're going to fly. I'll be unemployed in America and forced back out into the global workforce before I know it.

I'm actually attempting to apply for jobs I applied for "ah" job in Chicago (and put all my eggs in that basket, so fingers crossed. Seriously, cross your fingers, pray, meditate, hold your lucky rabbit foot, do whatever so I'm not living on your couch indefinitely - neither of us want that, and neither do my student loan collectors), but lack of internet - apparently the guy who set up the system on Guam (or maybe just at PIC?) was fired a month or two ago and that's when the problems of no connection began... so the rumor mill says - and my embracing of the laid-back island life is making that attempt more difficult than I imagined. So I shall just be for the moment, with minor panic attacks striking at random intervals. I haven't started breaking into sobs yet, so that's a good sign.


I might be turning into Jimmy Buffett, but I've finally come around to island music!! (Leave it to me to start loving something right before I get ready to leave.) It took me about three and a half months, but I finally embraced the songs comparing women to mangoes and talking about love on the beach and it being 96 degrees in the shade. A lot of the stuff they play at the waterpark is from Hawaii, but my most favorite song is Guamanian... (I'm not even kidding. It makes me happy. And while the only version I could find was this low-ceilinged Vegas banquet hall video, you get the jist. HAFA ADAI! HAFA ADAI!! HAFA HAFA HAFA HAFA ADAI!!!!!!!! HAFA ADAI!!! Only watch/listen to the first song. Isn't it fun!? I heard it five times yesterday, I kid you not, and I sang along and clapped every time - I was at work, so it was entertainment for the guests.)

America. I'm afraid of you, just like David Bowie being chased by Trent Reznor circa 1997.

In other, less panicked news, I'm going to have a two-day layover in Oahu before heading to LA and then onward to KC before hitting up STL and finally CHIIIIIIIIIIICAGOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've never been to Hawaii, and I've only stepped into the LAX parking lot to meet a dear friend during my layover in August 2009.

I started feeling a strange nostalgia for this place as I was walking from clocking out to yoga this evening. It's so awesome here. Everyday is paradise even when it rains and the cockroaches come crawling, and despite some bogus rules and regulations at work, there are more pros than cons to this job. And even though I miss my family and friends with a heart-wrenching squeeze, and have worked at the waterpark at least one shift every day for the past two weeks and I'll be there almost every day next week, I'm happy here. How could you not be with the sunshine and the ocean? And the people I work with are lovely, from my fellow Clubmates to the housekeeping staff, F&B cats, maintenance guys and just everybody.

I have 38, more like 37, days left to enjoy Guam: diving, hiking, hopefully doing a hash run, karaoke, going back to Ritidian Beach, checking out Pagat Cave, jumping off the short tower at Inarajan, climbing Mt. Lam Lam at sunrise and doing meditation and yoga, and a few other things that I haven't thought of yet, or are slipping my mind at the moment... I don't have that many days off, but luckily we're currently at 57% guest capacity so I won't be working that much and a few of those things can be squeezed into one day.

Guam is good. I hope things are great with you and that you're happy wherever you are, because (so I've heard) where you are is where you are meant to be. So enjoy this moment because soon it will fade into a fond and fuzzy memory.

(This song just came on my iTunes and I like it quite a lot, so I'm sharing, though this is my favorite Fruit Bats song, ever.)

PS - I'm just joking about the unemployment... I hope. I'm really looking forward to using all these overseas experiences in whatever comes next, job market willing.