I wish...

I were back here:
lounging on the beach

enjoying a cold beer in the hot, humid weather,


(sans geckos)



I miss the tropics.

Foot Fetishes

I’m in LA.

It’s almost as if I never left.

I spent Labor Day weekend apartment searching, knee deep in Craigslist posts trying to find JUST ONE normal person to share an apartment with. Here’s an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend after a particularly long day:

“…I’ve been here just over 24 hours and already met 2 'actors'-- one is a waitress and the other a math/Latin tutor (neither is currently acting) and a number of non actors in the film industry (like the neuroscientist turned film maker).

Here are some of the more memorable potential roommates: the practicing Mormon in her late 50s with all the furniture covered in sheets and strange stains on the golden/mustard yellow shag carpet in the apartment that smelled like fish. Another woman who seemed like she was on speed warned me that she sheds big globs of hair everywhere, or i think thats what she was saying. she could have meant her decrepit 15 year old cat; she was talking so fast and was so twitchy I couldnt quite follow. the 30+ electrical engineer who barely speaks English and wants to teach me phrases in Hebrew, admitted to frequently yelling at the crazy old lady nextdoor to scare her into being quiet, while assuring me the area was nice.

One of my favorites was the woman who claimed to be an environmental engineer and wanted me to go through her trash each week and find all of her recycling (like her old roommate used to do) because she wasn't going to recycle herself, but felt it was important that I did. And while I'm at it, it would be great if I could just turn my room into a little mini-recycling plant. honest to god. I might as well save the money i could have spent on rent with her and live in a cardboard box on a street corner, going through trash bins in search for those 3-cents-per-can-if-recycled gems of public garbage. she also offered to eat any food i cooked and then critique it for me. While this woman does not actually cook for herself, she claims her entire family is composed of gourmet chefs so she know's good food when she eats it. Although unwilling to help cook, contribute food to my cooking, or even help clean after i potentially cooked for the two of us, she was more than willing to eat whatever i potentially made then tell me whether or not it was actually good.

Do you remember back when you were 10, how all the girls at grade school had those hideous folders/organizers for loose-leaf papers with pastel pictures of kittens and horses, hearts and puppies? (maybe assuie girls arent as bad as american girls, but use your imagination if you dont know what i'm talking about). these same girls have grown up, are 28, but STILL dotting the "i"'s with little hearts.

this seemed to be the inspiration for the decor of said environmental engineer's apartment.

Now, all of these people had perfectly normal sounding ads posted on Craigslist. and while none of them are actually crazy, per say, i dont think i'll live with any of them.

then there are the ads online that i have not answered:

'$600 room in 2 bd apartment/FREE FOOT MASSAGE!!-- am male, early 30s seeking female applicants only (ages 19-25) to share 2 bed 1 ba apartment. will throw in added bonus of 2 free foot massages a month when you turn rent in on time! i'm not creepy, i just like feet.'

ummm... creepy.

even better: 'FREE room for attractive female in prime W LA location-- 28 yr old male UCLA graduate, in shape and good looking, has recently found success. searching for attractive and inspiring girl to share new found success with. Free room in my 2 bed apartment. PLEASE SEND PICS! I HAVE PICS FOR YOU TOO ;)!'

apparently this person was unable to find a girlfriend based on his own merit and personality and is now resorting to bribery for sex.

I am now simultaneously seriously rethinking the whole saving $$ by sharing an apartment and wishing i had pepper spray…”

My friend's sage advice:

just in case this hadn't occurred to you: DONT MOVE IN WITH THE FEET GUY

I'd say that's pretty good advice.

Day in the Life...

I pull off my mask and squint past the glare off the turquoise water and look towards the shore. Its time to head back to the beach. We’ve spent the morning snorkeling through a thick tangle of seagrass off of 13 Fisherman’s, attempting to find humbug populations for our boss. She's investigating effects of estrogen pollution on fish behavior, but first we have to locate suitable study populations. Yes, humbugs are fish. So far, the morning efforts have been a bit fruitless. Humbugs prefer coral, they like to dart in and out of the calcified fingers of the saghorn, hiding in crevices when we approach. There isn't much coral amongst the sea grass. And I've managed to drop the measuring tape into one of the beds, getting stung across my face by the hydroids covering the grass blades as I reached to retrieve it.

As I peel off my wetsuit, worn for sun protection, not the cold, the seawater on my skin transitions directly to sweat without drying. It is HUMID. Wringing out my knotted hair, I reach for the sunblock-- I have the sneaking suspicion that all this sun is giving me a line of freckles along my upper lip, which from a distance, resembles a mustache. By the end of the month, I will look like my Costa Rican field assistant Mauricio.

Despite the heat, humidity, stinging hydroids and my fledgling ‘stache, it has been yet another amazing morning. We came across an anemonefish pair along one of the transects. An eagle ray, with at least a 4 foot wingspan, glided past me as I stopped to adjust my mask. A juvenile golden trevally followed me back to shore, swimming between my body and clipboard. And now, after a late picnic lunch in the shade of the ironwoods, Lucy suggests an afternoon off to relax at Wing Beach.

---

Snorkel and mask in one hand, fins in the other, I scurry across the hot sand baking under the mid-afternoon sun. Sitting halfway in the water as I pull my fins on, I pause to take in my surroundings. The tide is out, the water calm, and we are the only people on the beach. The warm water feels great on my bare skin (finally, no wetsuit!) as I slip all the way in and lazily swim along the edge of the reef. The water is so calm that the garden of coral and fish are reflected perfectly above me at the surface. I come across a huge jellyfish, trapped among the staghorn by the falling tide. The long white antennae of a pair of red and white cleanershrimp jut out from the crevice they have tucked themselves into. A bluestreak cleaner wrasse busily attends to two pennate bannerfish as a school of orangespine unicornfish and bullethead parrotfish zip past. I watch a small, chubby, jeweled blenny greedily ripping off chunks of algae.

The rough life of the field biologist…

A few hours later I pull myself out of the water. Its nearly sunset and the tide is lower still, the tops of the staghorn coral are beginning to protrude from the smooth surface of the water. Tomorrow, the tips will be bleached white. A few more people have joined us at the beach. Fish and coconuts are roasting over a fire nearby, a brother and sister chase each other along the waters edge.

Its time to head back, cook dinner. My stomach growls as I catch a whiff of the fish.

Walking back across the sand, now cool in the early evening, I pause again and look back over one shoulder.

Tomorrow. I’ll be back tomorrow. Or the day after...

Wing Beach

One of our study sites and my favorite snorkel spot on Saipan, Wing Beach is located at the northern end of the lagoon. The barrier reef comes within meters of the beach, providing awesome snorkeling right off the beach. Although rough and slightly dangerous at high tide, low tide is perfectly calm and offers the best viewing of staghorn corals and an abundance of reef fish.

me
longnose filefish
Pennant Bannerfish
peacock flounder
jeweled blenny
redfin butterflyfish
yellow saddle goatfish


orangespine unicornfish
blenny
shrimp
convict tang
blackspotted puffer
cleaner shrimp

filefish and humbug dascyllus
snowflake moray eel
six-lined soapfish
wingbeach

Lucy demonstrating her expert fish ID skills

Checking out the sights of Guam

As I mentioned, a number of men from the Australian Royal Navy were aboard the MDA boat when Michelle and I went on the last dives for our course. After the dives, we ran into 3 of them while Michelle was giving me a scenic tour of the island. We all ended up driving around together sightseeing, then met up for a delicious Korean BBQ dinner and drinks that night, courtesy of the Australian government. Here are some pictures around Guam:

One of Michelle's study sites

Mongolian BBQ

View from U of Guam's WERI and Marine Labs

Apra Harbor from Michelle's Apartment





Church near the miliary hospital