Deece's Deadliest Warrior

Deadliest Warrior - the show that answers the question that once only nerds were asking: in a fight to the death, who would win - Viking or Samurai? 

What about Apache vs. Gladiator? Or Spartan vs. Ninja? The show's first season proved, without a doubt, through weapons tests, computer simulations, and macho warrior banter that a Samurai would totally beat a Viking. And an Apache could totally kill a Gladiator. And also? A Spartan would whoop a Ninja! I mean, really, was there ever any doubt about that one? Have you seen The 300? 

How do you feel about Alexander the Great vs. Attila the Hun? That is exactly what I asked one of the hosts nearly a year ago on Twitter. And guess who battled it out on last night's episode? Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun! That's right, my guys! Do you think they put my name in the credits? I'll have to wait until it airs on Saipan next week to find out. 

Maybe they should hire me as a consultant. East Coast Rapper vs. West Coast Rapper - who is the Deadliest Warrior?

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of last week's Wednesday What Is It?

A Spool of Thread!

5 points to Sheila!
2 points to SharShine.

I'm sorry Bon and Plumeria. I spent a lot of time deliberating on this, and while ribbon and yarn are similar to thread, they also vary considerably - enough to consider them as seperate guesses.

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Invite your friends.
Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of last week's Wednesday What Is It?

Dog Biscuits!

5 Points to Plumeria Girl!
2 points each to Bon and Punken

Just Say No

"Just say no", you remember that? I do. I also remember how much I irritated my dad with that, and not just because it was a republican led campaign.

During my elementary years I would borrow a lot of books from the school library that I would never read. They were mainly Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys books - not that I was ever interested in any of them. It's just that those were the books my friends who liked to read would pick out, so I figured those were the good ones. Right? Ugh! I couldn't stand them! I've never cared for mysteries, I don't want to figure out anything, just tell me what happens! I would sit at the table, the only table in that tiny library, with a book open to the first page pretending to read. I did read. I read that first page over and over. It was so boring! My mind was always some place else. But because I didn't want to look like 1) I was a slow reader and 2) I was bored out of my flipping mind, I would turn the page every so often and make like I was interested. Can you imagine if none of us were really into our books, but were just reading for show?

"How's that book?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, it's good. Yeah. See - Nancy Drew. Good. How's yours?"

"It's, it's. . . um. . . mysterious. Hardy Boys. Yep."

I can't completely remember how it went, but a small number of us at a time would visit our school's library once every few weeks. The library was basically a very small room that was divided in two and housed the computer classroom on the other side of the bookshelf/divider (Oregon Trail on the Apple IIE rocks!). I would take the books home and they'd sit on my desk until it was time to return them and check out more books that I would never read.

Forget the library, that stuff is boring. Remember the Scholastic Book Club? Huh, member, member? The one from which my parents pretty much never ordered anything for me? Member that? No? Your parents let you pick out whatever you wanted, including the books with stickers and posters? You're so lucky! One of the few times my parents let me order anything was when I asked for the It's O.K. to Say No to Drugs book. You know, the green one? Don't tell me I was the only bike riding, day dreaming, hammer wielding daughter of a free spirited intellectual democrat who wanted to order a book based on a republican first lady's pet project. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's good to teach kids to say no to drugs. It's even better when they actually say no.

I read that book like it was going out of style. Which, for the most part, it actually was. I don't think I read it because I enjoyed it or because I was actually learning from it. I think I enjoyed it because it looked like a book, but it was written like a comic book (Archie rules!). I was proud that I actually read an entire book from cover to cover. I didn't feel like a total loser because I kept reading the first sentence over and over, yet not getting a word of it. I drove my dad nuts with that book. He was sick of it. He was sick of me talking about it and he was sick of having to read me those stupid caveats that would never play out in real life as written. [This is where I would try to make a joke about one of the caveats, but I no longer own the book and, amazingly, I no longer remember any of them.]

Katelyn brought home her very first book order a few months ago:

I was so excited! I wanted to order everything. Alas, there was no It's O.K. to Say No to Drugs book. So this is what we ended up with:

Kill The Wabbit

I like that I've been seeing a lot more cops on the road lately. DPS has stepped up its traffic enforcement and I like it. I like that there are fewer tour vans speeding past me in heavy traffic - you know the ones, the white ones. I like that more people are driving at the speed limit, although I'm seeing a lot of people driving under the speed limit - I hope they understand that driving too slow can also be a violation. What I am not seeing, however, is a reduction in the number of times I am cut off during any given drive. Simply driving at a reasonable speed does not a great driver make.

Know what else I am not seeing? The point in widening back road. I really don't know much about this project, but like the security gate at the hospital, I don't think it is necessary. People already drive recklessly along the twisted hilly back road, do we really want to open it up to four lanes? Do we really want to say, here's another lane so you can pass that car along a curve at the peak of an incline?

Was there a traffic study that uncovered a need to cut into the limestone hills and back fill the long deep drop offs destroying vegetation because we need to add two more lanes to the entire length of the road? (This is going to be done to the entire length of the road, is it not?) I just don't buy it. Sure, back road sees its fair share of use, but I never see it truly congested; slow cars eventually turn off, big trucks pull over. I mean, really, four lanes? Really?

I am generally not in the know when it comes to this sort of thing, but I did not hear that such a pressing need existed. Could we not have put this money to better use by adding a center lane at certain points of high traffic and fixing the many other roads on island that are full of pot holes and are in dire need of repair? Could we not have put some of this money to use in repainting the many lane markings that have faded into nothing making certain intersections dangerous, especially for our guests who are not familiar with the lay of the roads? Did we decide on this because the funding is specific to this type of project and we wanted to spend the money which, on the one hand is helpful to our economy, but on the other hand is being spent on a project that really isn't needed and may potentially prove to be harmful? I don't know. But I'm not happy about it.

Another thing I'm not happy about? The chicken tree on Capitol Hill. You know, the tree that is on government property that si dude decided to paint into a chicken, or perhaps it is a duck? The tree that dude thinks is fun to dress up for each upcoming holiday or major event - a graduate in June, a fowl Santa in December, a leprechaun in March, and most recently a bunny in April.



I was pretty irritated when the chicken first appeared. I think others were too because I saw a government worker paint the chicken brown one day in hopes to make it look more tree-like. I don't understand why they didn't just cut it down, because soon after the paint job, dude was back, re-chickening the tree. I later came to laugh at it. But now I'm just sick of it. It is not on his personal property, the area around it is not maintained by him, it's a stupid joke really. The more I see it, the more disrespectful I find it to be. Maybe I should go into his yard and paint one of his trees into a giraffe. He'd probably like that.

In honor of Looney Tunes, won't you sing it with me? "Kill the Waaabiiiit!"

Wednesday What Is It?

What is it?

Invite your friends. Here's how to play.

Wednesday What Is It? Results

The results of last week's Wednesday What Is It?

Sneakers!

Great guesses everyone!

I'm sorry I can't award any points for last week. But please stick around, I'll be posting this week's WWII in a few minutes.

Good luck! Let's play!

Ike!

I've super glued them twice before. This time I used hot glue. If I had me some little gems I could bling it out.

Alas, this is what I've got:


I think it's time to get a new pair.

Movies and Cookies

Fantastic Mr. Fox - Fantastic! Absolutely amazing! Funny, superb writing, wonderful characters, and absolutely stunning animation. James, myself, and the kids all love it. It isn't necessarily a kids movie - you may prefer not to have your kids watch it what with the violence, smoking, drinking, cussing - literally "cuss"ing, it's funny really. Wow that makes it sound pretty harsh, doesn't it? It really isn't that bad, we love it and plan to own it. I don't think it is negatively influencing our kids in any way. Unless by negative you mean having my two year old son repeat funny lines from the film and wait for me to respond accordingly.

"Do you still feel poor?"

"Less so."

But I say that's more cute than anything. I've never read Mr. Dahl's book, have you?

An Education - Wow. I was conflicted early on as I really enjoyed it and I was rooting for Jenny and David. I loved the acting, I loved the environment, I didn't love how I didn't see it coming and although it ends well, I was still sad.

Up in the Air - I liked it. It is an interesting story, which I thought would end differently. Sweet, sad, and suprising. I think somewhat subtle also.

Ponyo - I put it on for the kids while I made jam one day. The beautiful animation, cute characters, and lovely music grabbed their attention immediately. But it was a long movie. Their interest in it would come and go, they'd get up and do other things then come back to it. I wasn't really paying attention the entire time so I didn't really understand the story, but it seemed like a nice simple little story. Although at the end I thought maybe it was a little too simple and I felt like it just didn't make sense. But anyway, it was very pretty.

~~~
The kids and I made these dessert pizzas a while back for a bake sale that Katelyn's class held to raise funds for the Haiti earthquake victims.

Green sugar cookie topped with cream cheese and kiwi.

Welcome to the Wednesday What Is It? Round 6

What is it?

Here's how to play the WWII:

Every Wednesday I will post a small part of a picture of some object. You tell me what you think the object is. You have until I post the results of that week's WWII to submit your guess by leaving a comment.

I will post the results on the following Wednesday in the morning, around noontime, or in the evening. Sometimes I am late, but I will never be early. Note that the WWII is played on Saipan time (GMT+10).

Submit one guess per person; you may not change your guess - your first guess is your final guess. Please be specific. Don't say, it's food; instead say, it's a chocolate chip cookie. Anonymous guesses will not be accepted.

The first person with the correct answer will receive 5 points, all other correct answers earn 2 points. On the following Wednesday I'll post the answer along with the results, which will be tracked in the sidebar.

The first person to 35 points wins something handmade by Deece. I'll mail it to you if you live off island.

Let's play!

Pretty

I cut the ties off of a blouse I bought at the $3 store a few years ago and turned them into a headband for Katelyn. I also refashioned this.

Please follow/subscribe to www.ayorata.com to follow along with my jamming and crafting adventures.

Starting Over

It's 1:20 a.m. on Easter Sunday and, as a Christian, I feel like I should be blogging about how amazing Easter is. Not the commercialized Easter that we all know, but the original Easter, the reason behind all the hoopla, one of the most amazing days in history. I often wonder what was the most important day in history and I can't decide, but I'll tell you what the top three are: the day Jesus was born, the day he was crucified, and the day he rose from the dead.

I want to tell you something beautiful, something profound about this day. But I can't. I mean, I could (if I were a better writer), but I would feel like a jerk. The nerve of me, to give you the impression that I'm this upstanding woman of God. I'm like any person - I fail. And I've been failing a lot more lately and I don't like it. I fail as a mother, as a daughter, pretty much just write down every role I have and then write "FAIL" next to it. Not that I'm failing in huge ways, but what is the difference really? A fail is a fail.

But I guess that's what is so significant about this holiday, I can fail, yet my God still loves me. I can turn to Him and He will forgive me for those fails all because Jesus, his son, was killed and rose again. He took the weight, the emotion, the pain, the wrongs of all those fails I've done and all the fails that I will do in life and he served the punishment for me so that one day, when this life is over, I will live again and walk freely with him. It almost pains me to write that with the amount of failing I've been doing lately. Do you ever do that? Do you ever feel like you just keep making the wrong the choices? Tonight, as I have done many times before, I will ask my God to forgive me for all these fails, for all these wrong choices. And you know, he will. That's what's so amazing! I can start over. I can try again. Because of his blood I am born again.

That isn't an easy concept to grasp. It took me years. I had already become a Christian before I really understood what happened that day on the cross, and I'm not sure that I'm articulate enough to explain it well. But let me ask, do you have children? When your son is sick, don't you wish you could be sick for him, in his place, so he wouldn't have to suffer? That's what Christ did for us. He took on the suffering for us - think about all the terrible mistakes you've made in life - he took on the pains of those wrongs and served the punishment for you. And now nothing should stand in the way of you and your God.

It takes less than a minute to turn your life around. I hope you have a blessed Easter.

Chamolinian My Foot

This is why no one believes me when I say I'm from here.



Do you see anything other than "white" in me? Any Chamorro? Carolinian? Maybe you can't see the brown in me because you're being blinded by the bright red sun burn I got almost two weeks ago. You should see my shoulders - I'm like a tomato! Well, not anymore. It has finally peeled and turned into a nice tan . . . at least as tan I can get. Too bad it's only on my shoulders! This darn sunburn took over a week before it stopped hurting. I haven't been burned this bad since I was a kid. Five more minutes under the Saipan sun and I probably would have blistered.

It is Good Friday today. It certainly has been a good Friday so far, even with the gloomy weather. I hope you have blessed Easter.

Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!" ~Matthew 20:17-19