Muahaha, video games. They give the best quotes for titles, eh? Haha, sorry for the Call of Duty reference but anyway! With a group consisting of myself, Juliette and Mae Ann, we produced a podcast that is really just composed up of a discussion about music and Juliette’s constant bubbly laughter.
We are JAM. An acronym that consists of the first letter of each our of names.

Note: “Thingy”  may not be a word, but it’s seriously fun to say.

So yeah, I told you that I was going to be joining this thing called National History Day, right? Well, I did! I did along with my partner Mae Ann. It was a great thrill and was pretty awesome but grueling. You see, we had to create this website and then….we won first place for our school wide competition! Which was great, but that was only the first step. Now, away from that. I have questions to answer.

How’d you guys produce your site?

We used this online website creator on Weebly.com. It’s sorta standard, really. You have to use the NHD version of it, though.

What were some challenges you faced?

Well, we were going pretty smooth at first, then it got rocky. Mae’s laptop wouldn’t charge and her Internet got cut off. I had to rush and gather as much information as I could. You see, we had a big topic to do the site on, and we were only so far half way done. And the website was going to be due in two days! So I rushed. I took notes and slapped myself to stay awake and drank profuse amounts of water and ate lots and lots of sugary foods ( I gained pounds, dude! Just for some energy! Just kidding.) to get me all hyped up. I was stressing out and cursing myself for being such a fool and a failure, but then we did it in the end. I made the website legitimate ( Okay, it’s still a work in progress, but I guess I’m fine with it? For now. ) . I hugged Mae Ann so hard because we had done it! And we won the school wide competition!

Positive remarks?

(Mischievous smile) The food that Mrs. Carino gave us.

Haha, just kidding. Well, I liked the fact that Mae and I got closer. She was my first official friend at Untalan and I don’t regret meeting her in my first session of Gate/ Tech. She’s a character, you know. She’s bubbly and nice and optimistic while I was nervous and panicking throughout most of the whole creation of the site.

The friendly competition that ensued in our class was entertaining. Robyn kept on bursting out that she wanted to win and teased us playfully that we were too smart. We got closer, all of us. Mae Ann and I hung out with Juliette and Robyn at the University ( Sorry, I can’t relinquish any more details!) and ate food under a flight of stairs. Trevor and Reyn were good sports. They went along with our teasing and weren’t really negative about it. We laughed, we talked, and we grinned until our jaws felt like falling off. This was a great experience. I won’t forget this. Even with all the hair pulling ( Lucky I have thick hair! ) and the cursing and the self loathing, we had laughs and hugs and great memories to share at a later time.

Well, that’s all, folks!

( Well, not really. This Saturday is the awarding ceremony thing. If we win regionals, we get to go to DC! Yeah! I’ll get to mess around in the Smithsonian! Hopefully. I like traveling by plane. It’s spectacular.)

Okay, so my school’s doing this Guam History Day gig. It’s pretty cool. It’s actually a part of National History Day, but it’s the Guam division. We get to compete school wide, then island wide, then nation wide in DC. No, not nation wide as in the insurance, haha. This year’s theme is about political events and its effects on the island. We can’t write about anything other than events that have transpired on Guam because well, we just can’t. It’s in the rules. But the people in the States can write about anything, which isn’t really fair if you ask me.

My partner Mae and I are going to do a website about the Vietnamese refugees that stayed here in camps scattered around the island. We’re going to interview a lot of people and check out old books and documents which might give us black lung or something from the dust. Our topic may not be the Emancipation Proclamation, but it’s legitimate. I like the topic.

HOW MY TOPIC RELATES TO THE THEME:

Sorry for the bold. Hurts my eyes, too.

When the Viets came, their arrival obviously caused a major impact on the small island of Guam. You see, in that one night, Guam’s population doubled.

Did I mention how Guam was a small island?

Yes, rather small.

Who would feed the 180,00 new people? Who would treat the wounded? – the sick?

It was a political, financial, and economic frenzy and it all occured in one single night.

I want to find out more. I’ll do anything. I’ll interview the people who went through this, I’ll backstroke through oceans of dusty books, and I’ll strain my eyes to the extent of popping just to get  a good outcome.

It’s a gamble.

But I only have three dollars. Haha.

Well, wish me luck! Or, er, us luck.

Do you know what a war reparation is, my friend?  It’s this payment that is given to the winning country after a war is over. It’s like compensation for blowing ‘em up.

So here it is! An article about Guam and its awaiting war reparations canceled. Guam PDN!

You see, these reparations were supposed to go to those arthritic war survivors and veterans to compensate for their traumatizing experiences in WWII according to this bill that the US Senate tried to pass. Guam was supposed to be sent money for the build-up, but the war reparations were supposed to come with it. Now, they’re just going to send the money for the build-up.

Look here!It’s from the Pacific Daily News!

According to Bordallo’s office, the Senate can pass the defense authorization bill only by unanimous consent. Because Senate leaders knew that several senators continued to object to the war claims language in the defense authorization bill, they made the decision to amend the bill and pass it without war claims.

Now the elderly are pretty ticked off about this, obviously.Read this quote from a war survivor named Rita Cruz:

To be honest with you, then if that is the case, then no buildup. Forget it,” said the 73-year-old war survivor. “You know, the leaders of Guam better wake up, because we, the manamko’, are not kidding them.”

Now, this is pretty messed up. The elderly have feelings, too! They need new couches and bingo boards and some new facilities in the senior centers. They need some dough, or we’re going to have to answer to the sticks they’ll bring to spank us! I’m serious, it’s been like what? 70 years? That’s a lifetime!

For me, making Guam a state sounds a lot better than making it into a commonwealth. Well, it’s kinda too bad we’re not talking about Guam becoming a state.

Really, Guam’s okay as it is…well, not really. I mean, why make it a commonwealth? Too much paperwork. Maybe the GU just needs some better people in the government. I hate the monotonous droning of local newscasters explaining that Guam’s economy keeps on getting worsens and worse  because of some governmental scam. But being under federal custody means that Guam’s practically the lost sock in this cause for a better island. I mean, does the US even care for us?  They ignore our plan to change our political status and then say sorry by dumping about ten thousand more people on us to take care of a few years later. What kind of hospitable gesture is that? Guam’s a tiny island. It might one day capsize.

Why doesn’t Guam have an equal relationship with the US? Why can’t we respect each other?

I think we need to change around the people in Guam’s government. We have too many re-elections and we keep on running into the same problems. I’m tired of hollow promises. I want something done. I want results, not the same brick wall to run into. I want people with new ideas. Honest people. Good people. We can’t always rely on the US to catch us every time we fall.  It has its own problems to work on and we have ours. It’s time to throw away the walker and run. So what if we stumble? As long as we learn and better ourselves. Guam’s not ready to be a commonwealth. We still need the US to lean on, but we can’t be wholly dependent on it. I say we let Guam be what it is. Under the US.

Sure the commonwealth act was a failure, but the determination that fueled the continuance of that act is admirable. The idea for the act may have been left to collect dust, but the people behind it will never be forgotten. We need to be motivated!We need to change! We need to have more online retailers ship to Guam because they keep on saying we’re not a part of the US and that bugs me!

( I mean, I’m not mad, I’m just saying. It’s just not fair, you know? )

Usually when I read a blog online it’s about girl troubles and tween/teen tribulations. Oh come on. Like that’s interesting.

I’ve just come across this blog called ‘zenhabits’. It’s pretty cool. I like it a lot. The blogger’s name is Leo Babauta. He grew up on the island of Guam and has made an appearance in Time with his blog as one of the top twenty blogs of 2010. Now, that’s pretty awesome, right?

Well, yeah. It is.

Now, I’m going to tell you the qualities of a good blogger. So maybe you can match up to him in a sense.

DUN DUN DUNNN!!

Okay, that was just for dramatic effect. Doesn’t really work if you’re reading it.

Anyway,

THE THINGS!:

* Your life should be worth writing about.

Your blog won’t be very exciting if you haven’t done anything. I mean, don’t write anything if your have a boring life!  How do you know if you have a boring life? Let’s see…only if your favorite colors are beige and white and your favorite ice cream is low-fat vanilla and you love wearing pressed khakis.  And ranting about how bad your life is on the Internet is not going to get you that many subscribers. Leo’s no exception. He quit smoking, doubled his income, became more organized, and lost some weight. So, my suggestions? Do something crazy. Shave your cat. Get a hamster. Go on a random impromptu vacation.Go running for no reason and then when you reach ocean, stop. Then turn around and keep running. Oh, that sounds a bit Forrest Gumpish.

* You don’t have to famous.

Well, you don’t. Just be yourself. I know that sounds corny, but you really don’t have to be a Trump or a Palin or an Obama to get a thousand subscriptions. You can just be your regualr average self and not hide behind a blog. A blog is supposed to kind of reflect you. Now, let’s see what Leo says.

“What exactly are my qualifications? My answer is that I have no formal qualifications. I am not an expert, or a doctor, or a coach. I haven’t made millions of dollars and I’m not the world’s greatest athlete. All I am is a regular guy, a father of six kids, a husband, a writer. But I have accomplished a lot over the last couple of years (and failed a lot) and along the way, I have learned a lot. “

*Be a good writer….and have good grammar

This is one thing that is pretty important and is very crucial to be. It’s like the bread and butter of your whole blogging life. You know, Leo was actually a reporter for a newspaper, so he had that spark. You kind of have to be if you want to get into the writing industry. Oh, and remember to have a thesaurus or a book on grammar at arm’s reach. You won’t believe how important simple things like those are.

*Relate. Relate. Relate.

A good blogger knows what his/her readers want to read. Now, why would you be writing something if you knew no one would even want to relate to? I mean, duh. No one wants to read some technical malarkey or a screaming preteen’s hormonal outbursts.

*Be organized

Archiving is a very efficient way to organize all your posts or what I call ” blogetries”. No, it’s not a real word. Now, if you would like to look at Leo’s blog and see what I mean by archiving, just go to his blog zenhabits. That’s a seriously good example of what I mean.

*You don’t have to be perfect

A good blogger isn’t perfect. He/she just writes. Writes about anything and everything and doesn’t aim to please anyone. Let’s see what Leo says.

“Now, I have no claims to perfection. I fail all the time, on a daily basis. But I don’t let it stop me. Maybe I didn’t run today. But that doesn’t mean I won’t run tomorrow, and it won’t stop me from achieving my goal. And there’s still a lot of things I’d like to achieve, habits I’d like to change, and hope to change this year and in the coming years. But so far, I’m pretty happy with myself. “

Now, I’ve told you pretty much everything about the qualities of a good blogger. Hehe, I admit I’m not entirely a good one. My Tumblr isn’t all that exciting, but I’m still learning and maturing and getting better. Anyway, you don’t have to be a Dalai Lama or a Gates to achieve total awesomeness on one blog. Just be happy and write. Write. Write.

Oh yeah, and I found out that Babauta is one of my awesome friend’s uncle. Awesome.

It seems as if I must be going now.

Until I blog again.

Guam’s gubernatorial elections were held yesterday. According to Guam’s PDN, former Senator Calvo, a Republican, took the lead over Democratic Party’s Guttierez with a difference of 583 votes, according to Calvo got an estimated 49% of the total votes. A lot of speculation has been going to as to whether or not cheating of the votes was involved. However, Tom Fisher, legal counsel for the Calvo-Tenorio campaign said that a recount of the votes wouldn’t be needed as said here.

” I think the people of Guam have spoken. I don’t think a recount is necessary,” he said.

Calvo said he felt “very good about the count”as stated in the Marianas Variety. He even wanted to thank his opponent, former Governor Carl Guttierez for being such a good spirit. He celebrated by partying with his supporters and his running mate, Ray Tenorio. Calvo may have won, but Guttierez wants a recount which will be issued on Friday stated on KUAM’s website. Calvo stressed that great change will come to the island and people will finally experience the Guamanian Dream. He also said he wanted the people of Guam to come together and unite as one…

Yeah, right.

Oh yeah, and Guttierez  said he wants to continue his role in politics and improve on it. Grah, sore loser.

And lastly, according to the Pacific News Center, it seems as if Guttierez wants to go as far as issuing a lawsuit against the GEC ( Guam Election Committee) on the basis of the score of complaints received.

For me, I’m kid of doubtful of all these proclamations of change and dreams. But we’ll see how well CalvoTenorio does.

You can see the election results on this chart by Jason Salas who is from KUAM.

Calvo and Tenorio After the Election

Photo Title: Guam Micronesian Kingfisher

Photographer: Peter Shanks

Link: Click Here

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is really just a term referring to a type of free copyright license for users on the Web. You may have seen the logo on some sites…it’s this: (cc) or (CC). Either one. Creative Commons is important to everyone on the Web, especially bloggers and online novelists and such.   And, if you get one, you can choose to sue a person for stealing – or plagiarizing- whatever you posted up. So, you can even rake in some moola with stuff like that. Haha, but don’t abuse that. Creative Commons is important to the people who can’t afford the paperwork and money used to get a standard copyright license. If you get one, you can choose what your posted material can be used for so you won’t have to worry about anything. I guess I’ll stop stealing images from the Web from now one. Haha.

For Gate/Tech this month, I had to make the people in the class take a survey with three questions. We had to find out the averages, the medians, and the modes of the data we were given and make charts for them. We also had to plug in the charts into Powerpoint presentations we were supposed to make.

Now, I must tell you about the interesting parts and the difficult parts of doing that project.

I guess I’ll start with the difficult things that this project had me go through. One of them was the time and working with a mouse-less laptop as my fingers aren’t used to the touch pads. Another one of the difficulties is that Googledocs isn’t really a good place to calculate stuff. Also, my inexperience dragged me down as I am more of a bookish person. Haha.

One of the interesting parts of the projects was collecting the pictures and assembling the presentation. Though, staying up until two in the morning isn’t really enjoyable for one, it was pretty fun. Regardless of the exhaustion and the drowsiness I experienced later that day. Coffee is one of the miracles of life, isn’t it?

Anyway, over all, it was a good fun project full of frequent grunts and screaming for life to end and paranoia setting in from physical and mental exhaustion…BUT it was all worth getting on the computer for.

Here’s my super awesome sexy presentation!

Amanda’s Survey Presentation

Well, they’re both basically the same on the concept of information. They both provide the main headlines, but the physical newspapers (you know, the ones you get by the people who drive by your house at five o’ clock in the morning and you have no idea who they are yet they still wave at you- yes, those ‘physical’ newspapers) contain the ads- which aren’t shown in the digital, or online, newspapers. But, those are the differences which we will get back to later in this entry. Anyway, back to the similarities between the two. Yes, the information is the same both ways and they both have the Classifieds so you can check out what extra jobs you can take to buy that Blackberry you’ve always wanted.

Now, the differences. Well, the online newspapers are of course, online. So that means you can go on Facebook and check what’s been happening. Pretty convenient, isn’t it? As for the physical newspapers, well, you’ll have people whom you don’t know, driving by your house everyday. Creepy, but still ( kind of ) convenient. The online newspapers won’t make your fingertips black with fresh ink, so that’s still a plus, and they won’t bore you with useless ads, so that’s another plus. But still, online newspapers and the physical ones have a lot of pros and cons so don’t be too quick to get an iPad or get on your comp yet.

Anyway, which would I use?

The physical newspapers, duh.

I mean, aside from the possible stalkers I might have, (The black cars they have have tinted windows! That’s creepy! ) I still prefer the plain old physical newspapers. I mean, when you’re done, you can just make it bedding for your pet hamster or something. Or, you can reread them when you go do your ‘business’ in the bathroom. I just don’t like the artificial feel I get whenever I read an online newspaper. Sure, I’ll go on Facebook, but then what else would suit as better bedding for my hamsters than a shredded up article on corporate politics? Nothing.

Oh yeah, I forgot. I don’t have any hamsters…

…I have goldfish.