Category Archives: 2020

Setting up my youtube studio

As part of the Pandemicpreneur™ series, I’ll be creating video “courses” with information, inspiration and instruction about survival strategies in the age of Corona: Subscribe (and see the other channels) here: https://www.waltgoodridge.com/youtube-courses

1. Here’s the high-speed video of me actually setting up the in-home studio (Fans of Benny Hill may get a kick out of it!)

2. To prepare for the launch and re-branding,  here are the 5-second animated intro videos for each of my channels*:  https://www.waltgoodridge.com/youtube-courses

W

*I used www.introbrand.com to create them. You can create as many as you like for yourself free of charge! (I paid for the high-resolution 720p version without the watermark, for $19.99)

Walt’s Table o’ Food!

Just finished a 14-day extended, water-only fast (details here)! During that time, the stores here on Saipan had quite a few sales, overstock sell-offs and other deals on some of my favorite items. So, even though I wasn’t eating anything, I was stocking up in anticipation! Now that the fast is over, here’s what my “table o’ food” looks like!

In this shot: Arrowhead spring water, barley, grated local coconut, Follow Your Heart® Vegenaise, Spectrum® virgin coconut oil, Newman’s Own® tomato&basil pasta sauce, buckwheat noodles, Terra® plantain chips, Terra® taro chips, Wild Harvest® Blue corn chips, Lightlife® original tempeh, Green Vibrance® super food, Now® Flax seed oil, Sun Warrior® Liquid Light Fulvic Minerals, Inka® plantain chips, Bob’s Red Mill® TVP, Kirkland® maple syrup, local (scallion, sweet potato, bananas), Mestemacher bread, fresh malunggay aka moringa, Lara® bar, Bragg® coconut liquid aminos, Bragg® Apple Cider Vinegar, Wholesome® Organic raw unfiltered honey,  Bob’s Red Mill® Pear Couscous, Diamond G® brown rice, Culinary Circle® grapeseed oil, Lucky® Epsom Salt (for liver&gallbladder flush in a few days) + copy of Fast & Grow Young

BY REQUEST: AVAILABLE ON SAIPAN: (Leave your own comment or question below)
▪ Arrowhead spring water (Costco aka “Joeten Superstore”)
▪ barley (Joeten)
▪ grated local coconut (Garapan Public Market)
▪ Follow Your Heart® Vegenaise (Payless)
▪ Spectrum® virgin coconut oil,
▪ Newman’s Own® tomato&basil pasta sauce,
▪ buckwheat soba noodles (Joeten and other locations)
▪ Terra® plantain chips, Terra® taro chips (Joeten, Payless)
▪ Wild Harvest® Blue Corn chips (Joeten)
▪ Lightlife® original tempeh (Payless)
▪ Inka® plantain chips (Joeten)
▪ Bob’s Red Mill® TVP (Joeten)
▪ Kirkland® maple syrup (Costco)
▪ local (scallion, sweet potato, bananas (Garapan Public Market)
▪ Mestemacher bread (Joeten)
▪ fresh malunggay aka moringa (any street corner, backyard on Saipan!)
▪ Lara® bar (Joeten)
▪ Bragg® coconut liquid aminos (Joeten)
▪ Lucia’s whole cassava (Joeten)
▪ Bragg® Apple Cider Vinegar (Joeten, Payless)
▪ Shaman Shack® Sea Clear
▪ Wholesome® Organic raw unfiltered honey (Joeten)
▪ Bob’s Red Mill® Pear Couscous (Joeten)
▪ Diamond G® brown rice (Multiple locations on island)
▪ Culinary Circle® grapeseed oil (was on sale at Payless)
▪ Lucky® Epsom Salt (for liver&gallbladder flush in a few days) (multiple locations on island),

Tip: Speak with Gemma or Darlene at Joeten, and Morgan at Payless with any special requests.

ORDERED ONLINE
▪ Green Vibrance® super food,
▪ Now® Flax seed oil,
▪ Sun Warrior® Liquid Light Fulvic Minerals
▪ Shaman Shack® Sea Clear (kelp, miso, fermented chlorella)

 

 

A 2020 & 2021 Saipan COVID Update

SEPTEMBER 2021:

Great question, Maxine! As of Sept 4, 2021 (mvariety.com):
• 248 total confirmed cases since March 28, 2020

• 1 active hospitalization

• Two deaths

• The reported positive tests are passengers coming in on flights from Guam

• Search my jamaican in china dot blog for a-2020-saipan-covid-update for what things were like a year ago today

Everyone follows the mask and social distancing rules here! There was, however, video of one “Karen sighting” at a local restaurant that went viral.

MARCH 2020:
In case you’re curious: I recently shared a “Saipan Update” with my previous tour clients. I thought it might be of interest to the HappierAbroad network! In case you’re curious:

Here on Saipan…

▪ Things are quiet.

▪ No school.

▪ No church services.

▪ restaurants are closed.

▪ No tourists driving bright pink Mustangs (not sure if that was a thing when you were here)

▪ Air is cleaner (It was always so, but I suspect it’s even better now!)

▪ Supermarkets are open, and other such essential stores have been asked by the government to close at 1pm.

▪ There’s been no panic buying–except a bit of a run on hand sanitizer,isopropyl alcohol,garlic and ginger! So, shelves are stocked and shopping proceeds as normal, albeit at a 6-foot spacing.

[img]https://www.jamaicaninchina.com/images/20200325_105419-reduced.jpg[/img]
[i]Well stocked shelves[/i]

▪ Mail delivery to the post office continues.

▪ There’s an 11pm to 5am curfew

▪ I canceled my March and April tours back in Feb since I wasn’t comfortable encouraging folks to travel and possibly put myself and others in the community at risk.

On another note:
No international flights coming or going.

No guests in hotels.

No tour buses around.

So, those businesses and individuals who relied 100% on tourism-generated income might be a bit challenged.

Hermits and recluses can cope. The incurably gregarious might be going stir crazy.

In general, though, I’d say things are pretty civilized….The nice thing about life here is that we’re more in touch with nature and less dependent upon supermarkets as the single source of food. (People fishing more, others have fruit trees on their properties, etc.) so I think that sense of desperation is less here.

W
p.s. I believe I’ve read somewhere, “1 confirmed case in the “hospital” at Kanoa Resort.”

*If it wasn’t a thing when you were here, I’ll explain the Mustang phenomenon:
It must have started about 2 years ago, then. The growing wave of young Chinese tourists were all renting Mustang and Camaro convertibles to sport about the island and (most importantly) take photos posing on the hood for uploading to the latest social media sites. The most popular of these “skittle colored cars,” as one my guests called them, was hot pink, but you could find bright green, blue and an occasional red! They were everywhere! And, the kids must have purchased their driver’s licenses at the same rental companies because they quickly garnered a reputation of doing odd things like driving on (and getting stuck in) Saipan’s sandy beaches, stopping in the middle of the road to read maps, raising convertible tops while driving and all manner of mayhem! (Fun to watch the trainwreck!)

I’ve included a photo of a Mustang convoy at Banzai Cliff.

[i]I don’t know if they knew each other before they arrived, or if the meetup was spontaneous![/i]

p.p.s. With an inordinate amount of time on my hands, I’ve been devoting more time to growing my 5 Youtube channels (feel free to subscribe and click the alert bell to help raise my numbers and future income):
▪ The Passion Prophet channel features a new “Turn Your Pandemic into Profit” series”
https://www.youtube.com/passionprophet

▪ The Ageless Adept channel features a new “Cleancell Optimized Vitality, Immunity & Detox” series (I’ll spare writing the obvious acronym) for folks who’ve asked what I eat and how I boost my immunity as a fanatic vegan of the past several decades!
https://bit.ly/AgelessAdept

And, if you were losing sleep worried about me roaming the deserted streets of Saipan to do my shopping, fear not! I did get a car a few months ago. Hmmmm.. “The Streets of Saipan” (I’ll probably do Covid Edition Drive Through Saipan to add to the video series) The first one I did when I first arrived on Saipan now has 20,000 views:

 

 

 

 

 

I’m Coming Home by Motion lyrics

Take a ride through the streets of Saipan a few minutes before the 7pm COVID curfew: familiar landmarks, a beautiful sunset, Saipan facts and trivia…share with those who miss home!

BONUS: If you hang out until (or jump to) the end, I’ll treat you to one of my favorite songs–a beautiful track I used to play to end my Reggae Riddims radio show way back when I was “Sir Walt” the deejay on WKCR-FM, New York!

 

I’M COMING HOME by Motion

Sitting in a railway station
with my suitcase in my hand
Going back where I came from
I’ve had more than I can stand

Of watching them destroy my dream
They picked my brain ’til it was clean
When I was up, they knocked me down
Ain’t gonna hang around, I’m going home

I’m going home
I’m going home
Send someone to meet me I’m going home
I’m going home
Send someone to meet me I’m going home

I came to this ol’ town
seeking fortune and some fame
I never had the chance to prove myself
Though I tried to play their game

But using people just ain’t my thing
and I won’t _________________ (please help out in the comments)
to please some fool I don’t care about
They turned me inside out, I’m going home!

I’m going home
I’m going home
Send someone to meet me I’m going home
I’m going home
Send someone to meet me I’m going home

Going home!

In Search of Her Joy on Saipan!

“Can you tell me what has happened to Her Joy Apartments in San Antonio, Saipan? (Large apt complex, White with blue, right on the beach) I lived there many years ago.”
–Joseph Reynolds (comment on the PassionProphet Youtube Channel)

 

My response: hey Joseph! Thanks for checking in! You can find the answer to your question in this brand new video on my DiscoverSaipan Youtube channel, created for tour clients and “Saipan on Demand” requests like yours!  Join me as I go in search of Her Joy here:

 

 

The Reconstruction Crisis, toxic people and taking advice from Donald Trump…yes!

Here is an interview from the archives shortly after my 6-months in China! I explain the Passion-to-Profit phenomenon I refer to as the “Reconstruction Crisis,” I talk about how to “manage” toxic people and you’ll want to hear what I say about taking advice from Donald Trump (This was in 2012! Who knew?), and more in this (a favorites) interview hosted by Lisa Bullard of Blogtalkradio’s A Ripple Effect!

 

 

The Streets of Saipan! (a C.O.V.I.D. Drive Through Saipan Edition)

I filmed a video yesterday to update my previous tour clients about what things are like in lockdown here on Saipan! Check out “The Streets of Saipan!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULdEtBPaoio

2. Over the years, I’ve filmed a series of popular “Drive Through Saipan” videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2A6EAE46C908CD89; the first one now has 20,500 views). I decided to do a C.O.V.I.D. version after sending out an update to my previous tour clients. FYI: C.O.V.I.D. stands for “Car-less, Open, Vacant, Inactive & Desolate!”

3. One of those tour clients, a travel writer named Fran Bryson, reposted my update email to her blog! Fran has some cool posts from her own world travels as well as peeks into her regular life on Flinders Island, “largest of the Furneaux islands, in the treacherous waters of Bass Strait in Southeastern Australia.” Check out Fran’s blog: https://www.franbryson.com

Read Fran’s post of my Saipan Update:
https://www.franbryson.com/travels/lockdown-life-on-sapian-island-northern-marianas-pacific-ocean-by-walt-goodridge/

A Skype interview during my 6 months in China

My buddy, Winston Wu, founder of www.happierabroad.com, suggested I post my archived radio and skype interviews for the Youtube audience. Great idea, Winston!

Several years ago, as part of my 6-month adventure through China and beyond (Beijing, Kunming, Hainan, Laos, Singapore), I found myself in a small hotel room in China, Xishuangbanna, being interviewed via Skype by KY of the KYShow Podcast. We talked about turning passion into profit, the nomadpreneuring lifestyle and much more! It’s one of my favorite interviews from that time! Check it out here as part of the Passion Prophet channel’s “Turn Your Pandemic into Profits” series!

____________________________________

Everyone has a passion.
Every passion has value.
You CAN make money doing what you love!

Take the Personality Test: https://www.passionprofit.com/itest

____________________________________

WHO IS WALT?

Who is Walt: https://www.waltgoodridge.com

Media Kit & CV: https://www.passionprofit.com/cgi-bin/new/redirect.pl?LL=mediakit

Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/author/waltgoodridge

____________________________________
1. PandemicProfits-1: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EpsNndvFU-0
2. PandemicProfits-2: https://youtube.com/watch v=yP3WGmKTdsA
3. PandemicProfits-3: https://youtube.com/watch?v=QQSDf8F8Kgg
4. PandemicProfits-4: Radio Interview-When I was in China https://youtube.com/watch?v=sSYfGIl7YvU

It’s MLK Day in the Marianas! Who you gonna call? The Jamaican on Saipan!

1. “Marianas Stories” host, Catherine, had to re-upload the MLK interview video for technical reasons. Please like/love/share/comment again at the new link location! Thanks!

NEW LINK LOCATION ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/670humanities/videos/473130970051332/
MLK Day special! Catherine Perry of the Northern Marianas Humanties Council asked me to share a few of my thoughts about civil rights, human rights, my travel experiences, life in America and life in the CNMI from a non-American, Jamaican on Saipan’s perspective on Martin Luther King Jr day in the US and its relevance to life in the CNMI! Watch and share on Facebook:

"Marianas Stories" with Walt Goodridge

"Marianas Stories" on this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day features Walt Goodridge and a discussion on civil rights in our nation and our community.

Posted by Northern Marianas Humanities Council on Sunday, January 19, 2020

2. Here is the same “Marianas Stories” interview on Youtube for easy sharing

3.I may now have become the de-facto “go to guy” for things MLK!
Here’s ANOTHER MLK Day piece with KSPN-2 TV News reporter, Sally Limes features my thoughts on MLK Day in the Marianas:

p.s.

If you’re curious about news on Saipan in general, here’s the full 30 minute news broadcast for that day:

 

Walt F.J. Goodridge!