My First Riding Mower Experience

This took place in the early 70's on the island of Pagan. First images that appeared to me as a two or three year old. Probably due to long term memory. Back then, it didn't occur to me to ask: how did I get here?, or what happened yesterday or a year before that? I have these memories of the past. I think it's time to share them. But before I go on any further, I would like to make a short note that Saipan is my birth place, and not Pagan. Two days after my mother gave birth to me, she got on the plane and so the raising of Gus began on beautiful Pagan. Yep...lots of memories about life began on Pagan.

Like I said, I was about three (3) years old. There were these tiny toys that I was playing with on the kitchen floor of my home on the island of Pagan. Check out my drawing below:

"MOM? MOM? Look, soldiers!" I was calling out to my mother, Matilde. I was playing with little Indian and cowboy toys. Back then, I didn't know what they were. I didn't care. I just wanted to get mom in on the fun! Instead of joining, mom stood over me and smiled. "Yes, they are soldiers." she said, then went back to the chores. I could tell that she was a little distracted. I went back to my toys and observed them real closely. They looked like real people even though they were made of plastic. They were great and I loved them. They were fun to hold and walk around with.

I sat there by myself playing with the toys while mom moved back and forth in the kitchen doing something. I would gaze back at her and then continued moving the toys around on my little play ground. I was thinking to myself that maybe mom was busy organizing stuff. I saw that she was moving plates and dishes out from a box and transferring them into the kitchen cabinets. I recalled that their colors were white, brown and blue. Big plates and little plates. All piled up neatly awaiting to be stacked away. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. I love my mom! I don't know why, but she is everything to me. She's my whole world." At that moment, I felt great about everything around me. My Mom, my toys and my grumpy little sister, Cecilia, who was brought into the room by my older brother, Saturnino. I think he was 11 or 12 at that time. He passed away in 1992.

I thought to myself, "What's bugging Cil?" I tried not to pay attention to the newly introduced noise. But, quickly the noise started getting my attention. "How could she be making so much noise?" I thought. The whole room was filled with a roaring sound. Then I figured that it was not Cecilia. The noise was coming from outside. It was causing the floor to vibrate. It kept getting louder and louder. Saturn was talking to mom as if nothing was happening. I was getting scared. Cil was still crying. Maybe Saturn wanted mom to make Cil stop, but mom was a little busy. Waaahhh....waaahhh." Cil looked really unhappy. I stood up and moved towards the window to take a peek as Saturn left the room with Cil. "WOW!" It was the tractor pulling a flat equipment across the field outside my house. It cut grass real good, but man it was kicking up a lot of dust. I got out of the house to check things out. Saturn handed Cil over to dad.

My late father, Francisco Borja Kaipat (Distat Rep. for the Northern Islands and member of the Congress in the early 70's) was with his staff looking at the equipment. It was one of mowers attached to a tractor. Something I have never seen in our yard before. It had just arrived from Saipan and the men were making some test run in front of the yard. I don't think dad knew what to do with Cil. He asked me to climb on top of the mower. I went and sat in the middle. Dad handed Cil over to me. "Gus, I want you to hold your sister tight. Don't ever let go. I am going to give you two a ride." Man! What a trip. I was so excited. It was the best deal in the world. I held on to Cil as dad was trying to get her to calm down. Dad gave the driver a signal and off we went around the yard.

Cil, on the other hand, was still crying. We were given a ride on the mower attached to the tractor. It was fun, but it was cut short. Cil started kicking herself out of my hold, so dad stopped the parade and had us off. That was the end. I was so sad. "Man. If only Cil were to cooperate."

Road to Recovery

It took almost a month before Kyle (my nephew with the broken leg) finally got his surgery in Guam. God bless our family and friends from Guam who took good care of Kyle and Daisie. The two just returned from Guam today, and now Kyle is on his way to recovery. I heard that he has six (6) screws attached to a metal plate that was inserted in his leg to hold the bones in place. Can you imagine that? All he has to do now is add some guitar strings on the screws so that he may be able to jam a few heavy metal tunes. Check out the sketch I made below:

I took my Sport Wrangler for a stroll up to Mt. Tapochau with my nephews (Saturn and Marvin) a few days ago. It was the best ever. : )

JOSE, CAN YOU SEE?

I had a strange experience last night. It had to do with the singing of the national anthem. It's strange that it's even strange. I was asked to sing the anthems at the kick off ceremony for the first ever Chinese National Day to take place in the CNMI. I felt honored to be a part of the special event. How cool is that?

After the crew checked the sound and the lights, we received the signal for a go. I took my place behind stage while the two MC's for the evening went up to the podium. The following was how the ceremony took off:

MC: (In English & Chinese) Please remain standing for the singing of the Chinese anthem followed by the U.S. and CNMI Anthems.

Audience: Everyone stood up. The Lt. Governor and other dignitaries in the front row placed their right hand over their hearts. (*)

ME: Walked up to the microphone. Put my right hand over my heart. Just as I was about to start singing the U.S. National Anthem...boom! Music got turned on.

I freaked out! At first I thought, someone hit the play button by mistake. "Thanks a lot, you guys! Now what do I do?" Of course, I did nothing. Then I thought, "Could they be playing the Chinese Anthem?" My first time to hear it. While questions were popping through my head, I had a chance to gaze at the audience. My eyes mostly on the Lt. Governor and some people I know. Later, I realized that they had removed their hands from their hearts. I tried not to make a sound while I stood there waiting with my mouth partially open -- my right hand still over my heart.

After the Chinese anthem got done played, I managed to perform the anthems without screwing up. At one point, I thought I was going to mess up...I almost did. What can I say? I felt funky. In a few minutes, I was done for the evening. I left the resort still psyched out. Later on today, I had a conversation with a friend who helped organize the event. She told me that someone else had informed the organizers that it was "proper protocol" to play the Chinese anthem before the U.S. Anthem. I wish I had known this...maybe it wouldn't be quite a shock. Whoever that someone may be, I think that he or she is confused about who the hosting country is. AI KARAMBA!

I would like to thank Gus Litulumar again for allowing me to borrow his ukulele, and sister, Cil for allowing me to borrow her car. That's all for now. Thanks for visiting my blog.

P.S.: Forgot to mention that Brad was one of the MC's. Nice hanging out with you, Bro. ; )

*Note: Even though the MC's announced the order of the anthems that evening, I was still thinking that it was a simple error. I later found out I was wrong. I first performed the anthems with my brothers back in 1990 before going solo in 1995. Since then I have always played the U.S. National Anthem before any other nation's anthem gets played. END OF SUBJECT!