Filed at 2:06 pm under Blogroll by glennstu
Posted 12/20/2007
The average Joe on Roi-Namur is not allowed to have a weapon. Nor is the average Eric, Matt, or Glenn. I mention those names because just about every man and maybe one or two women on Roi have one of those names. It makes it a little easier to remember names. There was one Glenn on Roi who was allowed a weapon, a Marshallese police officer known at the station as the “Real Glenn” as opposed to me who was generally known as 2NGlenn because of my neurotic insistence that my name be spelled correctly though I was also called “Off-road Glenn” by at least one guy for an incident on Pohnpei involving a chicken and a rent a car. But I digress, and for a good reason, the story I am about to tell you has virtually nothing to do with Roi-Namur other than the guy who told it to me once had a friend who lived on Roi (me).
My friend whom I will refer to as Russell told me over lunch today that his nephew recently passed the red neck test. Naturally, being a city born Yankee, I asked him how one passes a red neck test and Russell who is from east Texas related the following story. First he noted that one should always be concerned when a red neck asks you to hold his beer and you should be down right afraid, apprehensive, beside oneself, bothered, clutched, distracted, distraught, distressed, disturbed, fearful, fretful, frightened, hung up*, ill-at-ease, nervous, on edge*, overwrought, perturbed, solicitous, tense, tormented, troubled, uneasy, upset, uptight, worried stiff* if he follows that up with “watch this.” In his nephew’s case it turns out that at a recent routine doctor’s visit the doctor found a bee-bee lodged in his groin. This explained the very visible pain he was in but not how he entered that state. If I got the story right, the nephew had told his mother that he fell while out in the woods and a piece of metal had somehow broke off and stuck there. But it is difficult to explain the presence of a bee-bee. So he finally admitted the truth. His friends were using his belt buckle for target practice. I know cowboys wear large buckles but I can’t believe I could ever be comfortable with the idea of letting someone take pot shots at a belt I was wearing no matter how large the buckle. But I’m a Yankee and a bit of a coward and perfectly sober at the moment so perhaps all those factors make me look at it a bit differently. I am certain that if I did consent to allowing my belt to be used for target practice I would take it off first. Russell did not mention if his nephew had been drinking with Dick Cheney at the time.
Technorati Tags: target practice, red neck, Texas, Texan, gun, beer, belt, worried, Marshall Islands, Kwajalein, Roi, Roi-Namur, Micronesia, travel
Thanks to Thesaurus.com for the synonyms
Filed at 9:02 pm under Blogroll by glennstu
Posted 12/12/2007
Ask Mr. Rat
Most of my original stories of my life and adventures on Roi-Namur have already been published on this site so I decided to start a new feature. You the reader can ask me questions, preferably about life on Roi or there abouts, and I will answer them. I have already opened up my mail bag and here are some of my first questions.
Q: Mr. Rat, I am planning on retiring next year and am considering moving to Tucson. How can I find in-depth information on a variety of topics having to do with Tucson? - George W B of Washington, DC
A: I’m glad you asked me that George, if I want to know anything about Tucson, whether it would be golf courses, parks where I can walk my dog (if I had one), great restaurants, hiking or a variety of other subjects I go to www.tucsoncomplete.com.
Read more »
Filed at 10:56 pm under Island Life by glennstu
Roi Namur Survival Kit
Posted 12/7/07
OK, let’s say you’ve just landed what looks to be a challenging and highly rewarding job working on Roi-Namur and you’ve started going through all the usual steps of preparing to relocate there such as the thorough physical examinations that are required to insure you are in the prime of health. You’ve also put most of your household goods in storage, stored or sold your car and now you’re wondering what is it you should take with you to this island paradise. Here are a few tips. Read more »
Filed at 10:49 pm under Island Life by glennstu
Day in the Life
If you’ve been checking out this web-site for a while or even a first time visitor you may be saying, “OK we’ve read all about your many exciting experiences in a highly entertaining format but tell me what day to day life is like on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific.” Well today I will walk you through what it is like to live on Roi-Namur. My first caveat is that Roi-Namur is not your typical south sea island that you may have fantasized about. It might look a little like that in places but the presense of several radar antennas, an airport, and various buildings does not solicit images of living on a beach and talking to a volleyball. But that aside I will walk you through what life is like on this island. Read more »
Filed at 12:53 am under Cultural and Uncategorized by glennstu
It is with great sadness that I write of Lucky Dube passing. Dube, 43, was shot dead in a hijacking in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, on Thursday night, police said. He had just dropped off his son when he was attacked.
This post has little to do with Roi-Namur I admit but still Lucky Dube presence was felt even on that tiny island. I always began my radio show with Bob Marley’s “Rastaman Vibration” followed by Lucky’s “We Love It”. Other of his songs were requested by my audience. I had the great pleasure of going to one of his concerts years ago, in the early 90s in Seattle Washington. It was actually one of the first reggae shows I ever saw, a sunsplash. At the time I am ashamed to admit, I did not know who he was but was greatly impressed by his singing. I’ve been to many concerts, both rock and reggae, seen many of the most popular artists, The Who, Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, Moody Blues, Ziggy Marley, BB King, Wise Rokobili, and so many others but honestly I am not sure I could name an artist with greater range of vocals than Mr. Dube. He was a good man, who lived a clean life. He did not use Marijuana, did not drink or smoke cigarettes. He was devoted to his family and to his country. It is terribly sad to think that greedy criminals could take the life of one who has given so much to the world and to South Africa. This great man did more for the world in his short 43 years than most of us, including myself, could ever hope to do in 70 or 80 years. I don’t imagine they will ever read this blog but still I’d like to offer my thoughts and prayers to the family and loved ones of this great man.
Technorati Tags: reggae, bob marley, radio, kvzi, lucky dube, wise rokobili, South Africa, Johannesburg, Marshall Islands, Kwajalein, Roi, Roi-Namur, Micronesia, travel
Filed at 9:55 pm under Island Life by glennstu
Posted for the first time October 17, 2007
My radio show started from humble beginnings and over time it grew into a show that was not quite humble anymore but still close to being humble. I think I can say with all due conceit that it was the very best reggae show on Kwajalein atoll. I guess it was also the worse reggae show since it was the only one but I’m a glass half full guy except when drinking beer. But all seriousness aside, it did grow as an island event. When I started I was by myself at the station but at some point we turned it into an event where folks would come down to the station and BBQ (outside) and play frisbee and generally hang-out keeping me company while I did my show. At times we had maybe 15 people there, which was about 15% of the island population. I wonder how many radio stations in the states could boast of having 15% of their city at the station or even listening to their show. We had a stereo system that we would carry outside so that the folks could hear my show while they BBQ’d and played frisbee. You might be asking yourself how I could enjoy the show when I was hard at work spinning the hits. Well, I had a number of CDs that were compilations of various artists, such as Roots, a mix of Jamaican and Hawaiian reggae. I could put one of those CDs on and go outside and play frisbee through several songs…. Read more »
Filed at 10:40 pm under Island Life by glennstu
While on Roi I was a DJ at the local radio station. Here is a letter I wrote home after my initial show originally dated March 27, 2002. My next blog I will describe what this show eventually grew into from its humble beginnings described here, the KVZI 97.9 FM Roi-Namur Rastaman Vibration Reggae Hour(s) Extravaganza with DJ RG Dread.
I guess you are wondering what antics I’m up to now. I am now a radio personality here on Roi-Namur. They have resurrected radio Roi-Namur 97.9 FM also known as Roi Rat Radio. We are broadcasting 50Ws of raw power. With this much power we can broadcast all the way to third island and beyond (have even had reports of hearing it on 7th island). Of course, they don’t have electricity there so if they want to hear my show they will have to listen to it on a battery powered radio.
On Friday nights I host my own reggae hour. My first show was last week and I got rave reviews so I am keeping my 8 PM time slot. I made it through my first show without playing a single Bob Marley song just to see if I could do it. But I did finish my set with a Ziggy Marley song (Dreams of Home).
My next show is tomorrow night and this time I am going to play some Bob Marley. I am the only DJ broadcasting reggae music here. Pat has a blue’s and rock show that is pretty good. Ray follows my show with a blend of rock and country. There are 2 Marshallese gentlemen, Dino and John, who host a Marshall Islands music show. They are broadcasting right now while I type and the songs sound kind of Hawaiianish with a lot of slide guitar with almost a reggae beat. A lot of them told me they like reggae. I heard a CD from a band on Ebeye that is a reggae band and they are pretty decent. I want to buy the CD. All of us are having fun playing DJ. They listen to us in the bar and the cops listen to us as they make their rounds in the police truck, other than that I am not sure if people are listening to us in their rooms. I have to get back to planning my play list for tomorrow so for now this is DJ RG Dread signing off.
Technorati Tags: reggae, bob marley, radio, kvzi, ziggy marley, ebeye, Marshall Islands, Kwajalein, Roi, Roi-Namur, Micronesia, travel
Filed at 10:59 pm under Island Life and Cultural by glennstu
The day that I am posting this blog is Daisy’s 7th birthday. It seemed appropriate to post it today. When I met her she was only 3. I talked to her mother’s cousin last night and he told me Daisy still calls me baba (father). This article is also about a trip to 1st island with some guys I knew.
I’ve had few zany adventures to write about since my return from Ailinglaplap last month. Life has settled down to the drudgery of day to day living on a tropical island. Last week though, I received a phone call from my friend Atma telling me that my friend Jabyokwe’s daughter Daisy had nearly drowned and was in the hospital on Ebeye. It was too late in the day for me to catch a plane down to Kwajalein so I would have to wait until the next day to visit her. As it so happened Atma and Jabyokwe’s sister Rosalina came up to visit me that day so we all flew down together. Read more »
Filed at 11:02 pm under Travel and Diving by glennstu
One of the best things about working on Roi-Namur was that once a year I got to take a one-month vacation. Typically I would stop in Honolulu for a couple of days to get use to civilization again. It is quite an adjustment to go from an island of about one hundred people where nothing moves faster than maybe 20 mph to a bustling city the size of Honolulu. I would see more people in one city block than Kwaj and Roi put together. I would always stay at the Ohana on Lewers St. (spelling?). It was close to the beach and there always seemed to be a lot of activity going on. There was also a breakfast place I like to go to close by. They had pancakes with cocoanut syrup on it that was very delicious. The rest of the time I would usually spend in Seattle with my children. I was always careful to return to the Marshall Islands in enough time so that I would not have to pay US income taxes. That was another benefit to living there.
Something I could have done was to visit San Carlos, Mexico on my vacation time but I didn’t. Instead I went there last weekend with my company’s dive club. Read more »
Filed at 10:10 pm under Island Life and Cultural by glennstu
A Dave Barry article that was posted this week on the Miami Herald web-site brought to mind an incident on Kwajalein atoll. The article discussed modern art in public places and questioned whether the average tax payer would appreciate large sums of money being spent on an object that essentially looked like a mangled air conditioner. It was something like that. It reminded me of a controversial art object on Kwajalein. In this case it was a mermaid statue that (parents don’t let your kids read this part) had her breasts exposed. I would not say it was exactly anatomically detailed if you catch my drift but if you looked at it and were a love starved bachelor you could imagine that they were breasts. There are many such bachelors there especially on gender deprived Roi-Namur. Well, a certain well intentioned woman decided the statue was pornographic and complained to the authorities. I hope this lady never goes to Europe because I’ve seen photos of the statues there such as Michelangelo’s David and Venus de Milo and they are much more detailed than this mermaid. But the authorities on Kwaj are sensitive to offending the public so they covered the mermaid with a t-shirt. I don’t know if the lady in question (who is an otherwise nice lady that I was friends with) did not consider that good enough or they were worried the t-shirt would come off but eventually they removed the statue altogether based on one person’s complaints. Read more »
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