anniversaries

I was going to write something about my one-year anniversary in Guam. But I never finished the entry.

This is as far as I got:

Something about New York, about missing it, about time passing, about being far away, about the time you can't get back.

Things I learned about the solar system today

I decided for absolutely no reason at all to research the solar system today.

I think it occurred to me while reading a story about Mars -- the fourth planet from the sun (apparently) -- that I couldn't actually name the other two planets between earth and the sun.

Besides being embarrassing, this also makes it sort of hard to get a mental picture of the space in which our planet exists.

As I find it very hard to pay attention to anything that I cannot immediately picture, I did a very brief google search, and ended up on this incredibly useful website, clearly intended for people who had not yet taken 5th grade science class. (So, me, basically).

While reading the entry on Venus, I discovered this:

"On June 8 2004, Venus passed directly between the Earth and the Sun, appearing as a large black dot travelling across the Sun's disk. This event is known as a "transit of Venus" and is very rare: the last one was in 1882, the next one is in 2012 but after than you'll have to wait until 2117. While no longer of great scientific importance as it was in the past, this event was the impetus for a major journey for many amateur astronomers."

I tried to remember what I was doing in June 2004 when this happened, but nothing immediately came to mind. Thus, I consulted my voluminous library of journals, which detail fairly accurately day-to-day mood since I was about 13.

Shockingly, there seems to be a complete lack of entries from May to August 2004, which I can assume was due entirely to the fact that I alternately spent most of that time in a park somewhere making out with a loafing Strandite and then crying about him while on public transportation. That, or I just lost that journal, which is entirely possible.

But, good news. It turns out that I will get a spectacularly clear view of the next transit of Venus, if, for example, in 2012 I happen to be living on an island in the Pacific ocean, just south of Japan and east of the Philippines.

Also, on a side note, I was assured by this very rational and down-to-earth website that the occurrence of this rare astronomical phenomenon has absolutely nothing whatever to do with the world maybe possibly ending in 2012.

Totally, totally reassured.

Above and below

The view of Apra Harbor and the (oil-burning) Piti power plant, from the sky and sea.

Pictures of flowers

I found this spot the other day along the corner of a World War II memorial site in Asan.

Someone had propped up a wicker bench against a lone palm tree, presumably to facilitate gazing into the blue horizon while writing pensive thoughts in one's journal.

I took an immediate liking to the place, if for no other reason than the surrounding low bushes and tall reeds made the whole place seem like it had been transplanted from a New England coastline.

It sort of made me want to reenact scenes from Anne of Green Gables -- but since was lacking an early 20th century dress with puffed sleeves, I instead decided to take pictures of flowers.