Musings from Manila

News Update!

2011-10-25T11:00:00.001+08:00

I know I hardly ever update Musings anymore (sorry!), but I do have some news to share: I am in the midst of sorting through the over 75 thousand pictures I shot during my time in the Philippines and will be assembling those and some musings into a book - or books. I hope to have this done sometime near the beginning of 2012. I will keep you all posted here and on my other blog: Jay Plogman Photography.

Until then, peace & love!

Comfort Food!

2010-12-31T10:50:00.009+08:00

Comfort foods have been important to me due to my having lived abroad a few times; two one-year stints in Japan and my two and a half years in the Philippines. A comfort food in these instances is a food unique to my home in the US - Cincinnati, Ohio. Here there are certain food items and dishes as well as bakeries, restaurants, and ice cream shops that are uniquely Cincinnati. After being apart from them and the place for a period of time a kind of psycho-gastronomic homesickness develops. When it does, nothing can bring mind and body back together like these comfort foods.

Foods I missed while in Japan and Manila included Graeter's Ice Cream, Steak 'n Shake steakburgers, Cincinnati chili, Montgomery Inn ribs, and La Rosa's pizza. White Castle hamburgersshould be included in this list, even though they are not unique to Cincinnati, but can be hard to find even within the US, as the chain does not have restaurants in all states.

What does this have to do with the Philippines, you ask?

I knew you would.

It is SO like my readers; wanting to know where I'm going with my musings!

Well, it just so happens Edson and I were at the supermarket the other day when I spied something I had not seen in our many times there before. I don't know if this is a new product, new to the Kroger supermarket chain, or just new to Cincinnati, but we are excited to finally see it on the shelves:Sunsweet Dried Philippine Mangoes - so delicious, and until now, Philippine dried mangoes had been such a pain to get. The nearest Asian market is extremely inconvenient for us; and that or a trip to the even more remote Jungle Jim's grocery and its extensive ethnic foods section were our only options until now.

Like US and Cincinnati foods are comfort foods for me when overseas, things like mangoes are comfort food to me here. Too bad we can't get fresh Philippine mangoes here - they're so much better than Mexican mangoes - much sweeter! It's a shame we can't get any fresh mangoes past customs and to us here! :( Until then it is good to know we can snack on these - and find them any time we shop!

OK, Yeah.....It's Been Like Forever....

2010-07-31T12:16:00.002+08:00

...and I haven't posted anything.

Well, it's only been recently I realized how much my mind was stuck in Manila as far as how I am adapting to life back in Cincinnati. I still often find myself trying to figure out the people here.

Back in October I met a woman who had moved here in 2008 and was still looking for work, and still trying to figure out the people in Cincinnati. A few weeks ago I realized I too had been here a long time, was still looking for work, and still trying to figure out Cincinnatians! I don't know if unsuccessful job searches and seeing the inhabitants of a place from the point of an outsider have anything in common, but there it is.

It took me a while - a long while - to understand many things about the Filipinos in Manila, then I left. I just hope I find a job before I figure out Cincinnatians; they're not as easy to figure out as Manilans.

Not Amongst Them

2010-01-20T11:12:00.002+08:00

Update:

Edson found published a list of the names of the dead Filipino seamen from the tragic fire aboard a ship off the coast of Venezuela in late December. It was great relief to know our dear friend Norman was not among them.

Thanks for a Great 2009!

2009-12-31T06:44:00.002+08:00

To: Ajjie, Aaron, Aris, Ben, Benjie, Bill, Billy, Booboy, Brian, Bryant, Caridad, Conan, Dania, Daniel, Darcy, David, Dee, Dennis, Dexter, Diwa, Doi, Donald, Don, Ed, Emil, Edson (and all the Cabalfin clan!), Erwin, Erwyn, Fil, Franco, Glenn, Greg, Iñaki, JaBari, John, Jappoy, Jason, Jong, Jeremy, Joel, Joey, John, Johnny, Josh, John, Kelly, Ken, Kit, Leah, Luis, the Malvars, Maki, Mark, Maricel, Miles, Mom, Marje, Nick, Norman (we pray you're safe!), Ombet, Reinan, Rex, Rhandy, Rick, Robert, Sean, Tim, Tony, Vinscent, Williard, Yucel and all the other people on both sides of the Pacific who helped to make 2009 a great year.

THANKS!

A Wish for a Dear Friend

2009-12-30T06:30:00.003+08:00

Edson and I received the troubling news on December 26th of six Filipino sailors who were found dead after the ship on which they were working caught fire off the coast of Venezuela. A very good friend of ours, Norman, is working on a ship which travels between Nova Scotia and Brazil. We are praying he was not aboard this ship.

Please keep "our son" and his safety in your thoughts and prayers.

My Book on Mangenguey Now Available on Blurb!

2009-12-25T10:58:00.003+08:00

A large, lavish book of my photography capturing the beauty of the paradise island of Mangenguey is now available!

paradiso

images of mangengu...

By Jay Plogman

Book Preview

(US readers: Blurb is having a sale! Save $10 through December 31, 2009 using promo code GREATGIFT. Just click on the badge above to order.)

Christmas Holiday Wishes

2009-12-24T01:03:00.002+08:00

*Thanks Mom!

Oh, I Remember You!

2009-11-15T08:42:00.005+08:00

Almost three years ago, just before Edson and I left the US for the Philippines, we had lunch with my father at a popular local restaurant in Cincinnati, named Ron's Roost, a restaurant rightly famous for its fried chicken. Edson loved it. Last night we returned to Ron's Roost after almost three years.

The waitress remembered us...specifically Edson.

After almost three years.

We figure he was the last, if not only, Asian at Ron's Roost.

We could've told her he was the president of the Philippines and she'd believe us. I'm not saying that to insinuate she's gullible, just that I'm quite certain over half the population of the US doesn't know the Philippine president is a woman, and likely couldn't find the Philippines on an unmarked map.

This afternoon we found ourselves at The Container Store, preparing ourselves for our move to our new place and decided we'll have to get ourselves some of their Lined Makati Baskets:They're now on sale for $19.99 - 29.99. Perhaps these will remind us of Makati?? Doubtful. But one never knows...three years from now, perhaps a few Lined Makati Baskets in our closet will remind us of our life in Makati.

Oh, I remember....!

Knock-Off?

2009-10-26T02:51:00.003+08:00

For better or worse, the world's largest retailer is America's WalMart. I wonder if that was the inspiration for the Philippines' Walter Mart?

Yes, Walter Mart. It isn't so much a retailer as it is another mall concept, smaller in scale than malls by industry leaders SM and Ayala and located in areas of more affordable real estate. Walter Mart is not the "sosyal" place to shop, but a good place to go when you don't want to deal with hordes of egotistical social wannabees loitering about like they do at an Ayala mall.

Advertising

2009-10-14T12:43:00.002+08:00

I find this ad funny. Note how it gives credit to the model. They've actually printed his name below him. Is that so you don't expect him to actually show up to build your house when you hire this company? Is he supposed to make you want to build a house with this company? That house?

I'm not asking...I'm just asking.

Variety Pack

2009-10-09T04:51:00.001+08:00

Something to love about living in the US:
8-pack of chocolate donuts + household of 3 = doesn't last long.

Lil' Bit & Crew

2009-10-09T02:45:00.006+08:00

Since moving back to the US a lot has happened here as well as in Manila. Keeping busy here has meant everything from getting a drivers license (again) to getting something to drive with said license to reconnecting with friends and getting Edson into sync with the system at University of Cincinnati, where he's on faculty.

Those first days here for Edson and myself were spent largely jet-lagged. Falling asleep at all sorts of inconvenient hours was OK, as being without a car in a place like Cincinnati means getting around is less than convenient, so we spent quite some time at home.

While at home we got to know our roommates Caroline, Figaro, and Gonzo rather well.

This is Caroline:I call her Lil' Bit because she's a lil' bit crazy. There must be multiple personalities going on inside her, as you never know which one you'll wake up to from day to day, or which one will be with her when she comes back into a room she's just left. She's the real character of my brother's three felines as well as the most vocal; mewing and mewing and mewing when she's not growling or hissing...and you never know which to expect.

She's also our little helper. She's quite good at holding pages open in books, although she tends to cover much of the page; making it impossible to read. Edson and I figure she's ensuring no wind will ever blow the page. Little does she realize the windows have been shut for weeks due to the cold. Lil' Bit is very handy when it comes to laundry, though. She usually will let me know when the load in the washer is done and needs to be transferred to the dryer if I ask her to do so when I begin the load. It doesn't work two days in a row though. All that work one day means she's lost out on some of the eighteen hours of sleep cats get each day, so the next day she's good for nothing.

This is Figaro:Figaro is the eldest of the three and the second-most vocal. She used to be extremely shy and until I returned to the US I'd never actually seen any more than her tail as it disappeared beneath the bed in all the times during any of the seven years I'd been to my brother's place. Now she's quite the socialite. She enjoys coming out to see Edson and myself, and loves getting brushed. In fact, she begs for it...but she will only allow it once she's in the bathroom. She's very picky.

This is Gonzo:Gonzo is the Ricky Ricardo to Caroline's Lucy and Figaro's Blanche. He's the long-suffering schmuck who remains quiet while the other two go about mewing and meahr-ing or hissing at each other. His favorite thing to do besides sleeping is shedding, which he (as well as Figaro) does rather well. The proof is in the vacuum cleaner each week.

He's here now reminding me he is also a good purr-er.

About two weeks ago they kept Edson and I company in the office area here as we scoured the internet for news of the typhoon and flooding in Manila. News of the event was hard to come by on television here, as the US news networks virtually ignored it until days after it happened and was then bearing down on Vietnam.

Caroline, Figaro, and Gonzo remind me much of some of the people I got to know in Manila.

I knew many people who have strong personalities and are a lot of fun to be around - real characters like Caroline. Caroline also loves posing for pictures; so she's a lot like some of the models and other self-professed cam whores I knew through my photography.

Figaro is the classic case of the quiet, shy person coming out of their shell at long last. I know several people in Manila who denied themselves true happiness for years or decades until they finally came out and began to live and love life. She is also the most regal of the three here. Her great posture also reminds me of the models and their posing abilities when I worked with them in Manila.

Gonzo is much like some of my clients in photography as well. Very quiet, some summoning up all their might to pose before the camera. Others as if emerging from their shell to shine, actually transforming themselves into another being for the duration of the shoot before returning to themselves and walking back into society the quiet, unassuming types they were before our session began.

Having the three around was also painful in ways. There are the stories written of widowers who lost their home to the flood...and their pet as well as they tried in vain to rescue it; watching as the rapid current swept their beloved pet away. They survived, but have now lost everything...and everyone...who mattered.

Edson and I were at our laptops for hours poring through pictures, articles, and videos of the massive destruction, feeling guilty we weren't there. We have a friend and an acquaintance who lost everything and know plenty of people whose homes were flooded. I've heard the stories from friends of being stranded in their second-story apartment for a day with no food (or bathroom), or being stranded on a rooftop for two days in the rain with no food or water. I've also read of some who felt the flooding was nothing more than something that ruined their weekend plans and I wondered if they ever thought of anyone but themselves. I've heard of friends helping their friends and neighbors clean up after the waters receded, sometimes traveling to get to the affected areas to assist in the cleanup efforts. They came home aching, but happy to have been one of the ones able to help...

...little helpers like our Lil' Bit...

(Hiss!!!)

....er, Caroline!

Coming to Life

2009-09-24T23:47:00.008+08:00

It's one thing to go out and walk around through a new city in a new country and feel you're the subject of the One of These Things is not Like the Other song on Sesame Street. It's another to go out and walk around in the area where you were born and raised and feel the exact same way.

In metro Manila this would be due to my seeing others stare at me while I was out and about. Here it is like some surreal dream, where all the faces I've ever seen in movies have suddenly come to life. For my first two weeks back, every other person I saw had a face I recognized from somewhere; though I couldn't tell precisely where.

And, of course, everything and everyone was bigger, louder, taller, etc. as compared to just a few weeks prior.

This was all most evident at the Covington, KY Oktoberfest, September 12th and 13th. I went there with my longtime friend, Dennis. We've known each other since we were both seven years old.

The surreal dream was coming to life during a festival, of all things. Now I know what Edson was feeling when we would go to places like New York City and he would exclaim, I feel like I'm in a movie! Even though I was there, I still felt like I was watching; not really a part of it all.

Of course, I took pictures to share.

Rides for the kids:Lots, and I mean LOTS, of crafts:

(There were more crafts then food, whatever that was all about.)

Balloon fun!What festival is complete without balloons? Let's face it; what beer is for adults, balloons are for kids!

And of course, what is most important: Good food...

...and more good food...with good friends attached:
Thanks, Dennis!

On the Menu Today...

2009-09-20T10:34:00.005+08:00

If you're having any trouble interpreting, just think hooked on phonics!

For more fun like this, check out http://engrish.com/

One Last Look

2009-09-11T21:19:00.014+08:00

It is just before 8am, the morning of September 2, 2009. Northwest flight NW80 bound for Narita has just departed the boarding gate. I'm half awake, but fully miffed that immigration never bothered to look at the Emigration Clearance Certificate I spent two trips over two days to Immigration in Intramuros, five hundred pesos and four bothersome cab rides (that added another six hundred pesos to the total) to get.

Upon takeoff I look down and see the color and patterns that make up the squalor of the squatter areas all around the airport, the already thickening blanket of smog over Manila, and I know I'll miss it. That gives way to the shoreline below, the ocean waves and ships upon it. Later I see the various greens of rice fields etched into the flatlands, forming outlines around the hills and mountains, then we're above the clouds and the Philippines is gone from view.

It's all just memories and photographs now.

And what memories!

And what photographs! (Over seventy-thousand!)

Hopefully the friendships will continue on. In this information age, keeping in contact can be as easy as a quick Hi! in an email or instant message. But we all know that often even that is forgotten.

Out of sight = out of mind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There's an older Filipino woman seated beside me. She pulls out a large, hard-bound book, turns to me and asks if I brought anything to read.

No, I said. I can't concentrate on what I'm reading on airplanes. When I pick the book up later, I can't remember any of what I've read.

Me too, she replied. That's why I read trash.

So there you go. Next time I fly I'll be sure to bring along People magazine or one of those books on sale at 80% off by a conservative radio or television pundit. I could always put it to good use later propping something up or using its pages to light firewood...or leave aboard the aircraft for the crew to dispose of later.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Narita there was a layover of three hours, which gave me time to enjoy a great bowl of ramen noodles. It isn't that I find there to be anything that spectacular about ramen, but when it is made in Japan, it is always better than anywhere else. The meat, vegetables, and quality of the noodles is so much better. Just waiting in line to order was enough to jar my memory and bring enough of my Japanese language ability back to place the order correctly.

It is here, and then again later in the US, where I realize again the pronounced differences in the passengers milling about. In the Philippines, many travelers were leaving the Philippines to start life anew in some other country, as thousands do every day. They are loaded down and carrying as much food from home as possible. Narita has a clean, cosmopolitan, technological comfort about it, as do its travelers. They do not stumble about awkwardly. They are dressed in a trendy, yet travel-smart style. Many Europeans are in the mix here. They can be spotted by the fit of their clothing. It isn't sloppy and baggy like Americans. Their hair isn't tussled and they walk with a better posture than most others. Almost all American air travelers look like they just rolled out of bed, are still in their bed clothes, and are still half-asleep. Those who don't fit that description are the ones trying to get groups of those who do (read: their family) to the proper gate on time.

After twenty-three hours in transit, I arrive at 7pm, September 2, 2009 in Cincinnati. The roads are amazingly empty compared to the congestion of Manila. The air is perceptibly cleaner. Tired from not being able to sleep at all the entire duration of the flights, I am able nonetheless to manage enough coherence to enjoy a 3way for dinner at Price Hill Chili with my family.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Many days later and I'm finally over my jet lag.

Here's a few memories from the last couple weeks in the Philippines: The great food at Amici:The guards at our Bank of the Philippine Islands' Columns branch:
Final workout in the Columns' gym, with Bryant, a.k.a. Bryan, a.k.a. Butch:Our going-away party in Bulacan:
Last haircut by the infamous Art:I probably should've waited until he was finished before taking the picture, but he had impatient clients in waiting.

One last lunch at JiPan in Glorietta 4. Delicious Katsu Curry for Edson and Omelette Rice for me!
One of our friendly guards at the Columns:The movers, packing up the last two and a half years of our lives:A final trip to the University of the Philippines Campus with Edson. For a change, the weather wasn't unbearably hot there:And finally, a sight of Manila disappearing from view:
So, you may be wondering: If Jay has left the Philippines, what will become of Musings from Manila? Will it end now?

No. Not quite. There's still a lot more stuff to include here; I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Of course, it will end eventually. Then you may find yourself directed to another blog. But for now, this one will continue. Although not from Manila....about Manila!

On a dark desert highway...

2009-08-26T22:34:00.005+08:00

OK, so today I went to Immigration to get something called an exit clearance certificate. This allows me to leave the Philippines. Without it, I'd be stopped at the airport and redirected to Immigration, which is about an hour to an hour and a half away to get one.

Needless to say, the person without one will miss their flight.

So I went today to get one.

The system for getting a visa renewal has been quite streamlined and now only takes one hour, so I was prepared for this to take about as long.

Silly me.

After being handed one piece of paperwork and filling it out I then had to have photocopies made from my passport, which is usual. Then I had to have 5 2x2 passport pictures taken. Fortunately they do it there and for just P100 ($2US). When I returned with that I was given three more sheets of paperwork to complete, including pasting of the 2x2 pictures and fingerprints all over each of the three forms plus an additional index card.

This all took an hour.

Then I submitted all my completed, photocopied, photographed, pasted, fingerprinted forms and was told I could return at five o'clock.

It was only eleven in the morning.

Six hours.

The cost: P500 for the express lane fee.

What's express about six hours?

Well, considering it does take the post office across the street two to three weeks to deliver our mail, perhaps six hours isn't all that bad.

But I had things to do. I couldn't wait six hours. And the thought of returning to pick something up at the precise time the offices are closing is just ridiculous.

So I didn't wait. I can return some other time.

But first I had to get all the black ink off my fingers. So I went to the men's room to wash it off only to find there's no soap in the men's room; not even a dispenser. There was however, plenty of stink from all the urine which covered quite a bit of the floor. That was lovely. Even worse is that the door sits propped fully open, so all passersby see and smell the stuff. (Keep in mind, this is a freshly-renovated building.)

I did the best I could to wash my hands. Like all other restrooms in the Philippines, there are no towels with which to dry your hands. There was also no electric hand dryer. So I left with semi-clean, wet hands, being careful where I stepped on the way out.

On the way home in the cab there was a tune running through my head. It's a tune I haven't heard in quite some time and it wasn't on the radio. It was the Eagle's Hotel California.It wasn't until it had been running around in my head that I realized the reason I was thinking of that song. It's lines in the lyrics:

You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave.

We'll see if I get out of here...

How to Speak / Interpret Filipino

2009-08-25T23:24:00.002+08:00

Filipinos are often surprised that foreigners cannot speak Tagalog. It is often believed Tagalog is an easy language to learn. That could be true for the foreigner living in provinces here where little English is ever heard, but not in the metropolis of Manila where every third word in a Tagalog conversation is actually English. It is hard to isolate oneself from English if it is your native language and become immersed in Tagalog enough to get any real learning done.

Jokingly, one could simply mispronounce in stereotypical fashion some English words in ways that mimic the vernacular; such as switching the sounds for p and f in words. That's not what this post is about though.

This is more about how Filipinos use English to suit Filipino thought and/or customs.

Here's a few helpful phrases to keep in mind for anyone planning to come to the Philippines:

What you hear: I'll be there at 1:00.
What it means: I'll leave my house around 1:00.

What you hear: I lost my phone.
What it means: My phone was stolen.

What you hear: It's very traffic.
What it means: a. Traffic is heavy. b. I left late and I'm blaming traffic to cover my ass.

What you hear: For a while, sir/ma'am.
What it means: One moment, please.

What you hear: I will try to be there.
What it means: I will not be there.

I hope these are a big help for a new traveler or expat.

Babbling Boobs

2009-08-24T19:01:00.004+08:00

Yes, Babbling Boobs!

No, this isn't about the usual babbling boobs - Sarah Palin and other politicians. This is about something a little different.

This is about the informative cartoon we received with our Meralco electric bill.

In it I found babbling boobs! Check it out:See?

She has talking tits! Well, maybe tit. Neither Edson nor I can spot the other.

Perhaps that's not a she at all. Could be a transvestite or transsexual. This is the Philippines, after all!

Note how the guy with the funny mustache points and laughs, liking the fact that they talk. Of course, at the top of the page he's seen checking out the lineman's ass...the same lineman who is later flirting with the, ahem....women...in the cartoon.

I'm not going to bother with the talking house lizard. America has been long accustomed to a taking gecko (with British accent, of course) pitching Geico Insurance for over ten years. So talking lizards aren't so unusual, are they?

Bills aren't this much fun in the US, especially since all of mine had been taken care of on-line for so many years.

Corregidor

2009-08-23T11:05:00.011+08:00

Friday, August 21st, Edson and I headed off to the island of Corregidor. We'd talked about going to Corregidor for over a year, and now was finally the time to do it.

Corregidor today is a tourist location, but had been used by the Spanish and American colonists as a military fort, as the island effectively helps control traffic in and out of Manila Bay. Aside from a few newly-constructed buildings, the bombed-out remains and tunnels of the American fort are all that remain; a shrine to the tens of thousands of soldiers killed during WWII.

Here's the Middleside Barracks:Personnel of the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment and the 91st Philippine Scout Coast Artillery Regiment were billeted in this barracks.

4 12-inch mortars like this one here make up Battery Way:Housing MacArthur's headquarters was the hurricane-proof Mile-Long Barracks, so named because if you were to run the length of each of its three 1,520 ft. storeys from top to bottom, you'd have run a mile:Beside the Mile-Long Barracks sits Cine Corregidor, a movie theater:The Pacific War Memorial was constructed between the ruins of the cinema and bachelor officer quarters. Part of the memorial includes the Eternal Flame of Freedom:One of the two 12-inch "disappearing" seacoast guns of Battery Crockett:You can read around the barrel that this 45 ton gun was manufactured by the Bethlehem Steel Company.

The scars of war show at Battery Crockett:Top view of the other of Battery Crockett's guns:
We did manage to choose a great day to visit Corregidor. Amidst all the scattered thunderstorms we've been having recently, we had a sunny day perfect for our outing.

Tearing Down

2009-08-19T14:25:00.005+08:00

For weeks we've watched as the Sime-Darby building across the street form us in Makati has been gutted, in preparation for its demolition. Everything form inside has been torn out and sent out for salvage. Walls, wiring, flooring, everything. The building is just a post-modern 1960s shell at this point...and less and less of a shell with each passing day!

A few days ago (my usual late posting) we were awoken by the sounds of mallets striking concrete. The crews who had gutted the building are now (even as I type this) destroying the concrete roof of the building, exposing the steel reinforcements for salvage. And they do this by hand.

Look:Note also the protective footwear some are wearing -- flip flops!

These guys have been out there bashing those mallets into the roof now for almost a week. Every day. Eight hours a day. That's endurance!

The only thing that might be worse than standing on top of the building you're tearing down one bash at a time in your flip flops might be that you are also essentially living in it at the same time.

Yep.

These guys don't go home. They live on site until the job is done. After they finish work each day, they clean up, eat, and do their laundry, which hangs on lines below the building each night.

If you check this picture closely, on the left you can see a small wooden enclosure at the bottom of the building:There's a water line there. The guys use this for their laundry and shower.

I do find it odd that it is located directly below, and in plain sight of, our 28-storey condo tower, with 114 units looking right down upon it. That's not exactly a good guarantee of privacy, seeing how there's no roof or door on the thing.

Only In the Philippines!

2009-08-07T21:32:00.003+08:00

I was in Antipolo doing a photo shoot at a friend's place Tuesday. On the way home that night, as we were making our way out of his neighborhood I noticed a sign by the side of the road. Nobody would ever believe me if I just said I saw what it read, so here's proof:Given that this park is located on a very dark street in a very sparsely populated and remote place, I'm betting this park, like so many others around the world, is where many have lost their virginity!

Yes, keep Virginity Park clean - help clean up all the used condoms and wrappers.

Faith In Transit

2009-08-07T21:11:00.004+08:00

Buses in the Philippines come in several forms: new, old, second-hand imports (from China or Japan), air-conditioned (freezer on wheels), air-conditioned with video (watch Hollywood's worst B-movies on pirated DVDs while riding in a freezer on wheels), and non-air-conditioned (also non-upholstered wood slats for seats). But they all have one thing in common: most eschew some religious message somewhere in or on them.

Here's one of my favorites:Yes, you read correctly. That is The Shrine of Jesus.

I know some Christian and non-Christian religions are against iconography, but I never thought the Catholic church and its love of religious icons would go so far as to include stuffed animals and fuzzy dice! Bingo cards, maybe. This bus is like a church festival on wheels!

I also like this second bus:Great is thy Faithfulness: those are the last words you see if your brakes fail while driving behind this bus at high speed. (Well, that or How's My Driving?) Actually, that's there probably due to the fact the thing is so old, faith is the only thing going for it maintenance-wise.

A Nation Mourns

2009-08-05T16:14:00.006+08:00

Today, former Philippine president Corazon Aquino was laid to rest beside her husband Ninoy Aquino.

The four-hour, over ten mile transferral procession of her body to Manila Cathedral passed through Makati Monday. Millions left their offices to bear witness, as many had done back in 1983 when her husband was laid to rest after he returned from exile to the Philippines and was assassinated as he deplaned. His assassination led to the eventual overthrow of the brutal regime of Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon's election to the presidency, which took a nationwide revolt to seat her in office.

As the mother of the Philippines as a nation of people free from martial law, she will always be seen as an icon of democracy.

Educate yourself further if you like. Here are my images from the procession. Click on each for nice detailed views.

The view from Ayala and Se. Gil. Puyat Avenues:People atop the People Support call center building. (Calls about your mobile phones and online travel sites are handled here.) Note Makati Med in the background. That is where Cory spent the last month of her life, before succumbing to colon cancer.Getting the best view from ground level:The lead vehicle in the procession, with flags of Ninoy on them:Cory's casket:

Observations on Communication

2009-07-31T17:42:00.007+08:00

I received this message from another user of an online networking site:

hi there . your a photographer. I love photography. wish I can Improve my skill. I have really I good eye. but I don't have srl. Planning to buy a camera. what would you suggest? I also like photo retouching. maybe it can be my job. Don't have a job. right now. I' m sorry were not even friends. It's fine with me if like. love your photos. hope to here from you.

Then I read his profile:

Well i am a well educated guy who loves to travel and meet people. Creativity is key! I look for the challenges and the opportunities that make me a better person. I love my family and friends and I always there to support them. I am here to meet great people and to find common interests.

Ummm, wait a minute!

"Well educated"? Look at all those mistakes! (I cut-and-pasted his message to me as well as his profile text; so what you see is what he sent.)

Really makes you think, huh?

No, I didn't reply....

But I did start to think about the deteriorating state of the ability of people to communicate well in the 21st century.

It reminded me of an observation I made the other day about a news piece (if you call it that) I read online. This "news" was about William Shatner reading Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation speech on NBC's Tonight Show. This "news" was covered in Yahoo! and the Huffington Post. The news was featured the same in each, stating how Shatner read, in his own uniquely distinctive "beatnik" style, Palin's convoluted and incoherent language to hilarious effect.

Then I read the reader comments!

Wow, what a difference a website makes!

Yahoo! Buzz users were overwhelmingly conservative in their thinking. I know, I may want to reconsider the use of the word thinking there, but let's just leave it at that for a while. They used a large amount of profanity, name-calling, threats, and virtually all had copious amounts of spelling and grammar mistakes, most worse than in the message sent to me above.

They all wholeheartedly supported Palin and were downright hostile towards Shatner, who probably doesn't care what they think, since he's the one making all the money while they sit at home watching him on television!

Huffington Post users are usually liberal or progressive thinkers. They use few profane words, rarely was there any name-calling, no threats, had maybe 1/4 the number of spelling and grammar mistakes, their sentence construction is more complex, and they display a more highly developed vocabulary.

This group appreciated the entertainment value and absurdity of hearing Palin's speech delivered in Shatnerian fashion. Face it: anything Shatner reads in that unique way of his is funny. I'd laugh listening to him read my address. What's wrong with him reading Palin's speech that way?

Now, this may show why Sarah Palin enjoys the popularity she does. Her train of thought is scattered in box cars all over the railroad yard. That makes her public speaking a bit of a nightmare. While politicians usually dance around a topic, rather than addressing it directly, her speaking style is comprised of words that have her dancing, tumbling, skiing, rolling, and orbiting about! Finding the message within is something akin to locating a needle in a haystack - a 12th century haystack uncovered in an archaeological dig that may, or may not have had, a needle in it. She includes just enough what have come to be termed "folksy" sound bytes to keep her base audience cheering, regardless of the chaos between said bytes. Her voice is just grating enough to remind listeners of radio and television pundits.

Actually, the loudmouth, screaming, conservative political pundits talk radio in the US has come to depend upon so much the past 15-20 years have likely created the tone of hostility in the message boards online, especially in Yahoo!'s Buzz. The tone is much more moderate in the Huffington Post.

I'd just like it if the people who post comments would learn to pay attention to the psell cehck, use proper! punctuation; USE CAPITAL LETTERS ONLY WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE INSTEAD OF ALL THE TIME (the same holds true for lower case. all computers have the ability to type in both upper and lower case, believe it or not!), and sTop InteRmiXinG the LoweR caSe and UppEr CasE lettErs bEcAuSe ThaT rEaLlY mAkEs ReADinG hArD.

The View

2009-07-30T18:01:00.005+08:00

No, not the television show.

The view from our condo, ever-changing as always.

These have been collected over the past few months. Enjoy.

Dragon Boat Races

2009-07-19T21:16:00.012+08:00

Last Sunday I attended the Dragon Boat races at Manila Bay. As always, I'm a bit slow to pore through photos and pic the best to post here...

...so here they are a week later!

As fortune would have it, several of my friends were there participating in various teams.

First, I was greeted by Wally:After we spent a few minutes chatting, he ws off to take part in the next race and I had spied another friend, Dexter:He's on the University of the Philippines' team, as can be told from the printing on his shirt, featuring the silhouette of the institution's famous "Oblation" statue. (I want one of those shirts! So Dexter, if you're reading this....hint, hint...wink, wink!)

As I continued on, I was spotted by my friend Booboy, who called out to me as he was doing warm-up exercises before his race:On his same team is my friend Erwyn:Also present (and a teammate of Booboy and Erwyn) was Edson's officemate Nina:(This shot is from a previous race, but I post it here because in trying to catch candids of everyone, Nina was under a tent and she is but a dark blur in the shots from last week. Sorry Nina!)

Anyway, here's some shots of the races and "stuff":

Now, here is something that is really best to never, never, never ever do: swimming in Manila Bay. Erwyn was sick for days just because a little water from the bay got in his mouth during a practice. These kids must have immune systems that can handle anything and everything, because that's what's in Manila Bay!Here's Wally at the front of the boat in red. His duty was just to beat the drum that day:

Now, if you've been wondering, as I was (and I'm sure too, my sister, also a dragon boat aficionado), where the dragons were; here's your answer:All lying on the ground! Why someone bothered to haul all these out to the event just to leave them laying in a pile is beyond me, but there they are. They belong on the ends of the boats. Without them, it really is more of a boat race than a dragon boat race, as there isn't much dragon about a boat without...well, a dragon!

Anyway, it was a great start to a great day nonetheless; and so good to see people I don't see near often enough.

What a Wonderful Country!

2009-07-15T17:28:00.002+08:00

Yes, the Philippines is a wonderful country!

Where else could you buy a pirated DVD of Ice Age 3 before it appears in theaters...in front of the Intellectual Property Philippines office?!

The pirated DVD, manufactured and imported from China, is only 50 pesos ($1US).

Seeing it the next week in the theater is P150($3US)!

When the studio's actual DVD is released it will likely be P1000 ($20US).

...and we can buy it now right in front of the office that's supposed to be supporting intellectual property rights...but apparently that only applies to Philippine intellectual property.

What a wonderful country.

Calauit

2009-07-13T11:58:00.012+08:00

Also part of our adventure in Palawan was a trip to the island of Calauit and the African safari there.

African safari?, you ask?

Yes. African safari.

In the 1970s the Philippines took on a collection of animals from the African continent and they've been living on this island ever since. It sounds a little Jurassic Park in a way, these animals uprooted from halfway around the globe and living here in a different world. But there we all were walking among zebras and feeding giraffes and Calamian deer (a species native to the Philippines).

Safari and wildlife expert Don Young was with us for the trip. He was sad to see how the giraffes were suffering from wounds the snare traps local squatters had set on the island and also how no new giraffes had been introduced to the small herd that was relocated here so long ago. If anyone wants to send some excess giraffes they may have to Calauit, they need them there now for the survival of the herd.

Here's Don with Rudolph, the Calamian deer:Rudolph is very friendly - and loves to eat.Some of the giraffes in an enclosed area where they are being treated for their snare wounds and other ailments:Lunch time.Zebras grazing.
This is an endangered native type of bear cat and now the only one of his kind on the island. His mate was eaten by another endangered species - a reticulated python - on the island. He's kept caged now to avoid being the python's next meal.It really is an incredibly beautiful place.After several hours it was back to the dock for our boat ride back to Mangenguey:

What You See Is What You Get, Honey!

2009-07-05T21:07:00.003+08:00

The comedian Flip Wilson used to do a character named Geraldine who had a catchphrase that went "What you see is what you get, honey!" I was reminded of that recently when reading some signs along the road.

Honesty is something lacking in today's world, especially in politics, but one Barangay captain outside Coron advertised himself with a big sign that read "I'll try my best, but I can't promise anything."

What a slogan!

Obama had "Yes we can." That was short, simple, positive, and fit easily on t-shirts. That was a good slogan. Not so for our Barangay boy.

If this guy here sticks with his "I'll try my best, but I can't promise anything", I'm afraid his political career might end at Barangay captain! Too bad, sounds like he might be an honest guy.

Another sign I saw was the actual name of a restaurant along E. Rodriguez Ave. in Quezon City: the Ditzy Diner. Now, you'll be hard pressed to complain about bad service and receiving the wrong order at a place named Ditzy Diner! It's like they are already apologizing for your experience there...and they have the perfect excuse! They hire ditzy people! Part of the fun eating there may be you never know what you're going to get....

...but like Geraldine said, "What you see is what you get, honey! -Woo!"

Images from Mangenguey

2009-07-05T09:52:00.004+08:00

Here's a few pictures of and on Mangenguey. Going through over 1300 pictures (and posting them here) is proving to be a daunting task!

The main house on the island.
The 2-storey, seaside red cabin:
Our cabin on the beach.More of the rest of the island:

Not bad for a little 13 hectare island, huh?!

Riding the Banka Boat

2009-06-27T20:05:00.008+08:00

Here's some video I caught on our banka boat ride from Mangenguey back to Coron. Our boat was headed by Normita Portuguez, a feisty and fascinating woman who not only bosses the guys around on her boat, but is also an amazing cook; doing all the cooking right in the back of the boat!

Watch on. The scenery is simply amazing!

Island Life (Helena's Island)

2009-06-23T22:20:00.007+08:00

Just sit right back and you'll hear the tale...

No, I wouldn't put you through that...

...or would I?

Well it is a tale!

...the tale of a fateful trip...

Which it wasn't.

...that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship...

Well, banka boats are tiny vessels!

OK, that's where it kind of stops. (Yeah, you're welcome.)

There was no Gilligan, though in our party there was a photographer, an architect, an IT guy, an African safari explorer, and the lively former fashion designer and restaurateur who owns the island where we were to stay.

Edson was invited by Helena Carratala Mander to aid her in sketching out her vision of how she wishes her island Mangenguey to be developed. To do this it would be best if he actually saw the island and worked there with her to do the sketches. I spent time photographing the island (over 1300 images total), many of which he will use to aid his final work.

We just arrived back in Manila last night.

At any rate, it was a beautiful ride there.

A beautiful time spent in exquisite weather conditions.

A nice side trip to Calauit Island to see the Calauit Island Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary, where African animals mingle with native Filipino species, roaming virtually wild. Helena had invited Donald Young along to help her formulate plans for possible ways in which they might together help the suffering park of animals the Marcos regime had transplanted from Kenya in the 1970s.

The sand of the beach at Mangenguey is a fine powder on par with Boracay, but the waters are much clearer, due I'm sure to the presence of only a handful of people on Mangenguey compared to the umpteen thousands crowding Boracay nowadays.

Pictures speak better of the beauty of the place than can I, so look on.

That not enough for you?

How about some video!
And here we are!
That's all for today. More pictures and video clips to come!

Lovin' Lasagna Pizza

2009-06-16T18:36:00.003+08:00

Pizza Hut here has a new menu item: Viva Lasagna Pizza. It's my new favorite thing and, as luck would have it, it's not available in the US. I checked. Pizza Hut's menus here and there are available online. All you have to do is click on the "here" or "there" to read them. I also have a serious weakness for their Insalata di Verdura Salad. The dressing is perfect: not too tangy or tart...and the croutons are buttery...nice....!

It's a shame the Viva Lasagna Pizza won't make it in the US. I'm sure it would fail, despite how delicious it is. Although Americans would fall in love with the taste, they'd never go for a pizza they couldn't eat without a knife and fork.

Let's face it: lasagna is a messy kind of food. And lasagna noodles, once criss-crossed over each other, placed atop a pizza and baked, are assuredly going to be firmly attached to each other, coming off each pizza slice as one.

You know what that means? You'd get slapped in the chin by a long lasagna noodle full of cheese, meat, and sauce! Let's not even think about that white shirt or blouse you were wearing at the time!

No. Americans like their pizzas cheap and ready to eat, with no utensils required. Filipinos usually eat their pizza with a knife and fork. The famous Kentucky Fried Chicken "finger lickin'good" slogan is also lost here, as I've yet to see a Filipino eat it without a fork and spoon.

Americans don't like our pizza places to look good either. Did you see the interior of the ones they have here? No? Well, go back and click on the link that says "here". I'll wait while you do and say "damn!" In the US we think every pizza place (and way too many other restaurants) have to be sports bars with televisions in every corner tuned in to as many sporting events and channels as are available. The restaurant is usually in good need of proper cleaning, is using the same hard, laminate benches and tables that were installed during the Carter or Reagan administrations, worn carpet (if it wasn't replaced with cheap, dark tile for easier cleaning), and dingy team pennants and jerseys to cover the walls that are in need of painting.

See, not everything in the US is better than here! Pizza Hut US could use a serious makeover and use their operations here as a starting point.

I better get my fill of Viva Lasagna Pizza and Insalata di Verdura Salad while I can, since I'll never see them in the US.

Am I?

2009-06-15T12:19:00.002+08:00

I received this text the other night at almost midnight, just as I was drifting into a good sleep.There are several problems with this:

1. I don't know who sent it. There is a rule regarding calling, emailing, and texting others, and that is: One should always introduce themselves when initiating contact.

2. They sent me a text at midnight! Good manners (severely lacking nowadays) says you don't call or text someone (especially someone you don't know) outside of normal working/awake hours. Between 10am and 10pm is a reasonable time period. What is it with people who text others in the wee small hours of the morning?

3. My name is Jay Plogman, not jayplogman. Two words. The first letter of each is to be capitalized.

4. I am unaware of any fame I may have, and if I am the famous photographer they claim me to be, I'm really not interested in it at midnight when I'm trying to sleep.

It does remind me of the text Edson received once asking if his Jay Plogman was THE Jay Plogman.

Yep.

There's only one of me. In fact, Plogman is a pretty rare name - anywhere. Smith, Gonzales, or Chang it isn't!

Answers

2009-06-14T20:25:00.003+08:00

In their online profiles, the vast VAST majority of Filipinos state they are "simple", "a simple person with simple needs", "lead a simple life", "want a simple man/woman", etc....

All the simplicity is not only nauseating, but nothing could be further from the truth. (Surely there are many who are simply simple-minded, but that's another matter.)

Filipinos are quite complex people, especially the gay...excuse me, bi (they're really messed-up on this one!)...so, let's just say the non-heterosexual ones.

I think I've found the answer as to why there is all this annoying "simple" talk, and the answer was found in Facebook, of all places!

Facebook has all those cute quizzes people are always taking to find out "Which Osmond are You?", "Which Superhero are You?", "Which Sex and the City Character are You?", etc. A friend of mine took the "Which Wizard of Oz Character are You?" quiz. He is Dorothy. We knew he is "a friend of Dorothy" (ie: gay), but this quiz says he is Dorothy.

So, who is Dorothy?According to the quiz, if you're Dorothy: "You're a simple person with simple needs. Family, friends and home are very important to you. You want to help others obtain their goals, even if it means sacrificing your own."

This also answers part of the other question about Filipinos and the martyr complex so many have. (It's worse than H1N1, I tell ya!) Edson and I are constantly hearing of others giving up their dreams so they can be the only breadwinner in the family while the rest of the family members sit at home doing nothing, even those who are perfectly intelligent and able-bodied. Others are forced to give up their friends, sacrifice their individuality and dignity, all to try to cling desperately onto their abusive, self-absorbed, uncaring, or cheating boyfriend.

So there we have it.

Dorothy.

Dorothy.

Dorothy!

Of course, knowing the love Filipinos have for telenovelas; if the Wizard of Oz were filmed here, the Wicked Witch of the West would have killed Dorothy (and her little dog, too!), making her the perfect simple martyr.

Of Slugs and Men

2009-06-13T22:06:00.002+08:00

While out at the far end of the pool the other day I noticed a slug making its way along the side of the stone privacy wall. It was headed downward towards the concrete walkway and infinity water return for the pool water.

It was a very hot and sunny day. Knowing there was nothing of any value or interest for a slug in the direction he was heading, the Dr. Doolittle in me told it to head back up and over the wall to the garden area on the opposite side. At least there a slug might find itself not being fried 'n dried by the unrelenting summer sun.

And it did.

Well, it headed back up the wall, turned right about three-quarters of the way up and then headed right back down where it started from, plunking it's head right into a puddle of chlorinated pool water.

So much for talking sense to a slug.

It's a bit like talking sense to people. It usually doesn't work. Giving them a good slap upside the head helps, but I find the effects to be mostly temporary.

In the end people, like slugs, learn from their own mistakes, if even then.

Explanation?

2009-06-05T16:08:00.002+08:00

Edson received a piece of mail. It was sent May 14th from New York state and arrived in Makati May 20th, as indicated by the postmark.

How long do you think it took for the Post Office across the street from us to deliver this piece of mail?

Think good and hard, now.

Ready?

OK, here is the answer:

It took two weeks for it to be delivered here!

Six days to span half the globe and fourteen days to cross the road.

What do people do who work at the Philippine Post Office? (Obviously not their jobs.) Why does the Post Office even exist if they can't deliver something across the street any faster than two weeks?!

The sad thing is we've had mail delivered from one part of metro Manila to another that has taken as long as three weeks as well...

...and I'm still waiting on that letter my mother sent me in August of 2007...

...and those two packages from Australia, October 2007.

Entry via Lexan

2009-05-30T21:01:00.003+08:00

I found today's blog post by reading the post of another blogger who had read this and posted it to his blog in his Multiply site.

If you weren't able to follow that, never mind, just keep reading.

The blogger who posted it is named Lexan. I didn't know a polycarbonate resin could blog either, but that will all make sense to you once you've read this to the end. The initial writer has a style I'm sure many of you who appreciate my posts will enjoy.

So without further interference from me:

The following is from a British journalist stationed in the Philippines.

His observations are so hilarious!!!! This was written in 1999.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matter of Taste
By Matthew Sutherland - UK

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.

The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.

It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat.

They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines:

Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!"). This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great!

In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.

Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.

I also share one key Pinoy trait ---a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it!

It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS. Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.

Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.

And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet. What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"

Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum, yum. Bon appetit.

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches"-- (Proverbs 22:1)

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have
nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, Iam glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never
make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech.
Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names".

These are nicknames that sound like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping. None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.

Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic. Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent.

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.

More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.

That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila -- taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.

Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin?

Where else but the Philippines!

Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

And that's from Lexan's blog.

Being a Filipino Celebrity

2009-05-29T16:14:00.008+08:00

All seven thousand-plus islands of the Philippines are abuzz with the scandal of one doctor who videotaped his sexual trysts. Due to undue meddling by the church in public affairs here, the national senate is now "investigating" these leaked videos, all persons participating (knowingly or not) in them, and who leaked the videos over the internet, causing YouTube sensation Susan Boyle to become Susan-who? in less than a day.

Dr. Hayden Kho is a 6'2" celebrity doctor and fashion model who bedded many famous women, including actress Katrina Halili (seen here dancing with the good doctor)and his mentor, celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Vicky Belo.

The term hidden camera has been revamped, and is already hayden camera in the popular jargon.

Although it seems a friend of Kho's stole the videos from Kho's laptop and is spreading them online, the senate is not concerned with that. They want Kho's medical license stripped, and several provinces of the country are now forbidding him to enter. Despite the fact in a sense he is as much a victim as some of the women involved, he seems to be the one who will be left completely to blame, not the person (whoever it may be) who is posting these videos online.

This is hardly anything the national senate should be spending day after day investigating. After all, this is a group of people who busy themselves most days taking bribes, skimming profits for themselves off public works projects, getting kickbacks from businessmen they aid...and they're supposed to be investigating the morals of a guy who enjoys videotaping himself having sex? Really, all they are doing is watching one amateur porn flick after another every day and then bringing the man and women featured in each in for a Q&A session!

The videos have been viewed online many hundreds of thousands of times each.

The person posting them claims there's around forty videos in all and releases new ones every few days.

Let's see: A nation that proudly proclaims its Christianity is fixated on viewing the private sex acts of others and the senate is a very active participant in this. As much as I don't want to think it, I am quite certain the senate members are very...no extremely envious of Dr. Kho, despite their calls to strip him of his license to practice and humiliate him further in public. They all want to be him. They all rush to the men's room with extra tissue in hand after each investigative session I'm sure.

But today attention was distracted from Dr. Kho.

No, Susan Boyle isn't here to sing. Although Davy Jones is going to have a concert here shortly.No! Not that Davy Jones!Yes, that Davy Jones. Although he looks more like this (add in some gray) now:He's no Susan Boyle, but I'm sure he'll pack 'em in at Araneta Center.

So what could distract all those Christians from their porn?

News of yet another celebrity sex scandal! And this one involves produce abuse!

Of course, this is completely a work of fiction in the same manner National Lampoon has been doing for decades and a number of websites have been for several years now. But it is diverting attention from Dr. Kho's problems today.

I'll warn you, this is quite a bit on the adult side:

Showbiz talk show host Jobert Sucaldito is recovering at the Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City after a successful emergency surgery to remove a large piece of cucumber that got stuck in his rectum, according to reports.

Sucaldito, one of the hosts of ABS-CBN’s “The Buzz,” reportedly met with the accident Sunday night and was rushed to the hospital after complaining of “extreme pain” in his bottom.

X-rays subsequently revealed that a broken piece of cucumber, about five inches in length, had gotten lodged into the lower end of his large intestine.

It was not immediately clear how the cucumber got there.

The surgeons who operated on Sucaldito were tight-lipped and refused to discuss his case with media, citing doctor-patient confidentiality. Oddly enough, they all looked like they were trying vainly to keep from laughing and refused to look reporters in the eye.

Members of Sucaldito’s household who declined to be named said they recovered the other half of the cucumber, also five inches in length, in Sucaldito’s bedroom.

They said it had “bite marks” and was in a “soggy” state.

Besides the cucumber, they said they also found “a bottle of Johnson’s baby oil, pictures of scantily clad men, and lots of tissue paper.”

Reached by phone, Sucaldito said he is fine and will be discharged from hospital soon. He explained that it was all an accident.

“Gumagawa kasi ako ng salad. Napaupo ako dun sa chair e meron palang pipino dun na patayo ang pusisyon. Basta, mabilis kasi ang mga pangyayari (I was making a salad. I sat on a chair but there was a cucumber there in an upright position. Everything just happened so fast)” he said.

In a related development, a group of vegan Filipinos is reportedly thinking of filing an abuse complaint against Sucaldito for allegedly molesting a harmless and defenseless vegetable.

OK. OK. Yeah, that was pretty tasteless.

But it did make you laugh.

And that's the news of Filipino celebrities for today. Now if they could only get the archbishop and the senators to stop hitting rewind on the Kho porn all day...

Incident on the MRT

2009-05-22T17:12:00.004+08:00

Thursday Edson had an incident on the MRT very similar to one a friend, model, and fellow blogger, Wayne had several years ago. (Check out the link to read So She Screamed for a lively account of his incident. It's well worth the read!)

Edson was stepping out of the train when people pushing and shoving pushed him and his foot fell between the car and the platform. He fell with his leg hanging down in the space above the rails.

Wayne had his ankle twisted badly when his leg also fell between the car and platform of a NY subway train.

That's pretty much where the similarities end.

The difference is in who helped out when the incidents occurred.

Fortunately for Wayne, two people came to his aid; one to ensure the train did not begin to move, and one to see if he was OK.

An excerpt from his account:

I looked up, and saw a woman in her early 40's, came running toward me. Behind her, a man was following her.

Then I felt a sharp pain on my left knee... I looked down, just to find that my entire left leg in the gap between the train and the platform. Upon instinct, I used both of my arms to pull my body back... Pulling my leg out of the gap...

"STOP STOP! STOP!!!" The man behind the woman yelled, as he banged his fist on the windows of the train.

Just as I got my left leg out of the gap, I felt the grip of the woman on my right shoulder.

She too, was pulling me.

I turned to her...."Thank you... Thank you very much..."

The Lady: "Are you okay?"

"I... I think so...."

Unfortunately for Edson, the citizens of Manila do not seem to care that he could have lost his leg (or worse) if the train moved on.

The stereotypical simple, friendly, smiling Filipinos the tourism industry tries to exploit were nowhere to be found.

Friends here who heard the story replied:

Oh my...I may be Filipino, but mostly Pinoys are assholes that don't give a f**k. Yeah, times have changed---for the worst I'm afraid. Just being frank about my race. :( As a matter of fact, almost every time I'd assist a woman to go down from either a jeep or FX, she'd sneer at me and say "hmp!" Geeze!!! Ungrateful BITCHES! Filipina women do NOT know, much less appreciate, chivalry. Just goes to show how much the latter generation (and some oldies) of Filipinos have sunk as regards breeding, ethics, and manners.

That is the very bad part of the Filipinos. They are stupid when it comes to sharing their help. If they do not know the person, they will not make a move to help.

Oh no! I know the feeling. I once got dragged by the train a few years ago and nobody cared. It sucks...

I'd like to think that is not so true. Most of the people I know would extend a hand to help someone up off the ground if they'd fallen in a situation like that. A few friends who are doctors, nurses, and physical therapists, have all volunteered their services and/or advice; something that touches us deeply after how such an incident transpired.

Could the citizenry of metro Manila be so desensitized to seeing maimed, crippled, amputated, and deformed beggars sitting and limping about that to see another about to be created while they get to watch is as if it's a video game, where one can maim and kill (virtual) hundreds in a quest to earn points? Or is this a greater problem, reaching outside the metro area? Outside the Philippines to the rest of the world?

When I lived in Japan, I would see television shows that often staged scenarios to see how Japanese people would react to someone in trouble and stage like scenarios in other parts of the world in an effort to study how different cultures react to the same situations. One I remember had a woman sobbing uncontrollably in a public space; one a foreigner in Tokyo, a Japanese woman in Moscow, and a Japanese woman in San Francisco. Muscovites allowed her to weep for just a few minutes before coming to her aid. In San Francisco, she waited around ten minutes before someone came to help. In Tokyo, the foreign woman wept and sobbed until she couldn't act it out any longer. Of course, in Japan, to be viewed publicly in a position of weakness is to lose face. The Japanese idea is to ignore the troubled person so that person will not feel as if they have lost face. The basic concept is that ignorance of another's weakness or trouble is politeness in the Japanese culture. As much as that may be the case, even then I doubt the Japanese would prefer to see someone lose a leg or life over them losing face.

In the end Edson sustained less physical injury than Wayne. Just a bruise on his left leg is all the damage done. Wayne had a big blue cast on his ankle for long afterwards which provided great fodder for his blogging...and his whimsical illustration skills. Here is one in his series of what he had to go through in taking a bath:
Um, no...there will be blog posts with like illustrations from Edson. A simple bruise doesn't lend itself as well to such entertaining Lucy-like situations!

Visitor

2009-05-22T16:52:00.005+08:00

Some of you may have seen my business card or seen the picture on it in my website, www.jayplogman.com

Whether you did or not, here is what it looks like:

Many, many, many people thought that was me and that I am Filipino. (Nothing could be further off than that...I have 3/4 Irish and 1/4 German ancestry, and they all migrated to America in the nineteenth century.)

The very handsome face you see in the image above belongs to John San Juan, a wonderful guy from NYC, and he came to visit the Philippines last week, giving us the chance to see each other for the first time since our shoot back in October of 2006. (This should end the confusion and quash any delusions I may have had that I could say we are twins!) We only had a few precious hours in Greenbelt to spend together, but it was time very well spent. Reunions from such great distances don't happen very often, and it is important to make the most of them.

Were it not for my hectic shoot schedule, I would have found time for another session with John, as he's even better built now than he was three years ago. (Well, so am I, not that it shows....hahaha!)

Extra Gravy?

2009-05-14T23:29:00.003+08:00

Filipinos love their brown gravy.

If they're eating fried chicken, it is always with rice and brown gravy. Lots of it.

Wednesday night Edson had a chicken roll at Tsoko Nut. It is served with rice and a small cup which contains, at most, about two to three tablespoons of gravy. That's hardly enough to get through half your meal, even if you don't slather gravy all over it!

Anyway, that night the gravy had the consistency of a thick paste. Gravy should be more saucy and actually have a pourable quality; hence the existence of gravy pourers. One shouldn't be required to eat it with a fork, as one might choose to eat applesauce. A spoon was wholly unnecessary for this gravy as none of it could run through the prongs of a fork.

Well, Edson ran out of gravy halfway through his meal and called to one of the servers for more.

Ten pesos, sir, was the reply.

Ten pesos for another few teaspoons of gravy?

Jollibee, McDonalds, and KFC all have free gravy refills for their diners.

Here, the server immediately apologized, it was ten pesos.

Here's the receipt to prove it:
Now Tsoko Nut's food is very good, and we will come back. But tacky charges such as this do blemish an otherwise great place to eat.

Defiance

2009-05-13T09:55:00.003+08:00

The headline of Friday's Philippine Daily Inquirer read: Pacquiao Defies WHO - Ring legend due Friday amid A(H1N1) alert

OK, the guy is a great boxer. And he's had to defy incredible odds just growing up here in the Philippines to get where he is today. But the headline is rather ridiculous. There were, after all, several hundred other passengers aboard the plane he boarded to return to the Philippines. Weren't they defying the WHO as well?

Tens of thousands of people arrive in the Philippines every day, but from the headline you'd think he was the only one. Why don't they just announce his return free of contrived drama?

Red Hot and Right on Time

2009-04-28T22:02:00.006+08:00

Sometimes things just work out in a way you are certain someone "up above" is looking out for you. Our guardian angel, whoever he, she, or it may be has been very good to us lately.

Cases in point: As Edson and I were talking about taking up new projects to supplement our income calls began coming in. Text messages were received. All from people wanting to hire us for projects. Several even wished to make partial deposits (that is unheard of here)!

So now I have several appointments for photo shoots in May, with a deposit already placed on one and Edson has a project wishing to make their deposit soon.

Call it fate, answered prayers, or our guardian angel working for us. It all seems to be working out somehow.

Anyway, last week I was texted by someone saying she(?) was a big fan of mine "from the magazine". I assumed that referred to my two pictorials done for Outrage magazine, an online magazine.

Then on Sunday I was emailed by someone asking for some information about my shoot he saw published "in the current issue" of Red Hot magazine, kind of a Philippine version of Playgirl, but without the articles.

I had sent images to Red Hot almost a year ago and had forgotten about them. Apparently the issue was finally printed, and here it is:My shoot was one done back in 2007 for Felino Tañada, the director of the film Hanggang Dito na Lamang at Maraming Salamat. My shoot was to showcase the new actor, Jerwin Mercado, who played one of the three main roles in the film. Due to the film's theme, a racy pictorial was called for. Thanks again to fate or guardian angels, I was the photographer chosen for the shoot. While the shoot went extraordinarily well, the magazine the shoot was intended for folded before I could even get the images to them!

A year went by before Red Hot decided to do an issue filled with guys who had acted in films which were fresh out on DVD. Well, that was in May of 2008. I hurried to prepare the images for them by the middle of the month, when they were doing the layout of the magazine. The magazine hit the stands a week or two ago I'm guessing. As I mentioned above, I was notified by the magazine's readers it was out on stands.

Anyway, here's a couple shots from the 11 pages I have of Mr. Mercado in the magazine:

Now, being featured in Red Hot itself isn't going to help us financially, but getting two responses already in one week can only serve as a sign a potential future response may involve more photo work!

National Geographic at the Column's Swimming Pool

2009-04-24T22:47:00.002+08:00

Today, while swimming at the pool here at the Columns, I noticed two millipedes copulating by the base of the wall at the end of the pool. OK, I wasn't swimming at the time. The millipedes here aren't that big! But I had just swum to the end of the pool and there they were, doing their thang.Just thought you'd all like to know.

Click here if you'd like to read about how millipedes procreate.

Sunday Outing

2009-04-08T17:22:00.009+08:00

We rode out into the "countryside" with some friends Sunday. We were stopped in traffic when out the window of the car I see this:

The 974 Eatery & General Merchandise:

I don't know about you, but all I see are tires on that lunch counter. And they are allllllovahdaplace! We all laughed in agreement at what a great name the place has/had, though!

Oh, did you notice the Decepticon insignia on the wheels of the jeepney?! Maybe they read my previous blog post??? Hahaha!

Later that day I got some other pics at our destination:

Sons of our friends: Elias and Xavi:Elias doing a little brain surgery with a rotary saw:Nobody ever said Do It Yourself was easy. Just always remember to wear your safety goggles!

The whole gang (minus the photographer, of course...:And we finally get a good picture of the two of us!

Filipino Transformers

2009-03-26T14:13:00.006+08:00

I was chatting with Bryant, the fitness instructor at the Columns a few weeks ago. He was telling me about things he'd read about the upcoming sequel to the Transformers movie and joked about a Filipino version.

I don't know if he saw this online, but here you have it: the Transformers in a Filipino context!

And you can't stop with that!

I knew there was something missing. An online friend found it, though:

No Philippine version of the Transformers would be complete without a pedicab to transform!

Let's face it: Filipinos can't relate to the vehicles in the movie. There are few enough Filipinos who can afford cars, much less big American cars! So what they see in the film is completely alien here....

...hmmm, alien. Kind of like the Transformers themselves, huh?

Screwed

2009-03-20T19:09:00.002+08:00

I was chatting online with a Filipino friend who works in Dubai last night.

I hadn't heard from him in a while and he told me why. He'd been stuck in Kish, Iran (a beach town) for forty-eight days!

He was only supposed to be there ten days, but stayed on for over a month because he was screwed. The Filipina he hired to renew his visa in Dubai took off with his paperwork and money...over one hundred seventy thousand Philippine pesos! That's roughly $3400 US! She essentially left him there to die. Hundreds of other Filipinos are also stuck in Kish for the same reason.

As is typical of Filipinos, she would always end her text messages and emails to him with God bless.

She represents the typical lying, cheating, hypocritical Filipino hiding behind their claim to Christianity. She is no different than the many evangelists in other countries in some way using religion to make money or cheat other people out of theirs.

What's even worse is this is the second time a fellow Filipino has done this to him over there.

So, if you are Filipino, working overseas, and reading this: don't trust your fellow countrymen with anything important to you. If it regards your livelihood, finances, or ability to stay in the country, do it yourself! Pass this on to all you know. Don't let the God bless fool you!

From the Headlines

2009-03-18T09:01:00.002+08:00

This from the Reuters news wire yesterday:

Driving lesson on runway, pilot averts crash

Tue Mar 17, 8:59 am ET

MANILA (Reuters) – A Philippine plane with 80 passengers aboard was seconds away from a crash when a man teaching his girlfriend to drive sped across the runway as the aircraft landed, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The Cebu Pacific plane briefly touched down at Legazpi airport in the central Philippines Saturday but took off again as the van being driven by the couple crossed the runway, the Philippine Star newspaper said.

The man is the son of a local aviation official, who has been ordered suspended from duty.

"It could have been a disaster if not for the presence of mind of a veteran pilot," Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal told the newspaper.

See what I mean when I say all those horrible things about drivers here?!

Nobody seems to know how to drive. Most people I know did not get their drivers licenses legally. All you have to do is slip a few hundred pesos to the people at the DMV and you've got yourself a license!

And here is a guy who can't even tell he's driving around on a runway that's in use, giving lessons in driving!

I gain my knowledge of the driving habits of Filipinos from observing their behavior at the intersection of Ayala and Buendia, where we live. At the average change of the lights from green to red:

-Four to five vehicles run the red light.

-Three or more make illegal left turns.

-Two will block the cross walk.

-Two to three jeepneys will simply stop just before or just after the intersection and wait until they can find enough passengers to make it worth their while to move on, no matter how many vehicles are behind them needing to move on. Usually a bus in the adjoining lane will do likewise (but not for as long), thus blocking two of the four lanes of traffic.

There's lots of money to be made here if the city of Makati were interested, especially on weekends when the offenses are even more egregious...but policemen don't work on weekends.

BoA

2009-03-10T17:47:00.006+08:00

BoA (Bank of America), itself virtually DOA, seems to have come up with a unique way to tap a source of revenue. We've been experiencing this newfound source of cash firsthand.

We've been trying to make a payment on a credit card.

Usually that is easy. Like millions of people, we have opted out of receiving unnecessary paper statements that cost money to generate and mail and mail back a check the old-fashioned way and now with just a few keystrokes and a click of the mouse our bills are checked and paid online. We've been doing this for several years.

Until now.

We've been trying for three weeks to pay a bill online. Each time the Bank of America online payment system is temporarily unavailable. Because the system has been unavailable for such an extended period of time our bill is now past due.

(An aside: In the internet/digital age, can three weeks (and counting) still be considered temporary? Just a thought...)

Calling Bank of America to make a payment by phone is now necessary.

Bank of America charges $15 to make a payment by phone. $15!!(Now that's an appropriate slogan, don't you think?)

And for us that call is an international call as well. Fortunately they don't charge each time you call, because it took us three tries to make the payment, being cut off during the call twice; once because we had run out of load on our phone and once due to being disconnected while the call was transferred. We've still been unable to be transferred to a representative of their website for assistance.

We've also been unable to have answered for us if we will be charged a late fee due to the bank's system being temporarily unavailable or not. Like insurance companies, they are usually not responsible for anything they do wrong or any of their systems not working, it is the customer who is responsible for not doing the job of someone at the bank or insurance company to see that things were done properly. This is, quite naturally, called service or customer service.

I would call it self-service, except that was what we were trying to do in the first place by simply paying our bill online (and on time, might I add!).

Clearly Bank of America has laid off everyone who kept the online payment system running. Three weeks is an awfully long time for a company of that size (well, the size they were a year ago, anyway) to be down.

At $15 per phone payment, all those former online bill payers are shoveling a lot of extra cash into Bank of America.

I have an idea for anyone with a Bank of America credit card: Cut it up, pay off the balance, and let them lose out altogether. They won't get the percentage of the sale when you make a purchase, they won't earn any interest on your balance, and they won't get you for $15 when you make a payment!

And should they ever call you, be sure you're temporarily unavailable.

Quickie?

2009-03-08T11:09:00.003+08:00

Quickie?

Mr. Quickie, that is?

Sounds like the name a woman gives her husband, or a prostitute gives her regular client, if he's prone to premature ejaculation or just lasts a few minutes!

This Mr. Quickie is a business here in the Philippines!

No, not a male prostitution service either. Although I sense a great ad gimmick: Mr. Quickie: For the Woman on the Go! Women could stop in and just a few minutes later it'd all be over and they could be on their way back to the office or home to the husband who can't even measure up to the guy at Mr. Quickie. Oh, so sad.

Anyway, Mr. Quickie is actually not as exciting as the name could imply. Or perhaps it is more so, depending on your fetish.

Mr. Quickie is a shoe repair service.
So for all those people who crave shoes (And what stereotypical Imelda Marcos wanna-be doesn't?) Mr. Quickie could be very exciting. They'll restore those favorite shoes worn down from too much wear.

I'll still be cringing at the name of the place, though!

A Visitor

2009-03-04T20:50:00.007+08:00

In mid-February Edson and I had a visitor from the US come to stay with us. His name is Flat Stanley, and he is a friend of Maggie, my dear, long-time friend Moira's daughter. He stayed with us so Maggie and her class could learn about places and people in other parts of the world. So, while Maggie, her class, and parents were freezing in the southwestern Ohio winter, Flat Stanley was enjoying the onset of summer in the Philippines!

Flat Stanley got to spend one weekend with us as we traveled from Manila
to Subic. Edson gave a lecture at a meeting of architects. Stanley didn't
know what an architect was until Edson told him they are the people
who design the buildings in which we live and work. Here's Edson with Stanley at the conference.
I took Stanley to the pool area of the hotel where the conference was being held. It was really hot and sunny!
Then we introduced Stanley to some more architects, Geronimo and Godesil. In this
picture Geronimo was giving Stanley a goodbye kiss.
After the meeting was over we drove back to Manila. It took several
hours, which was a good thing, as the scenery was so beautiful.

When we saw all these shoes we knew Stanley had to have a picture here! Can you
find him in the picture? So Imeldific!
When we arrived back in Manila, we introduced Stanley to Bryant, the fitness instructor at the Columns. Like all Filipinos, he was very friendly to Stanley. He taught Stanley how to do some exercises. Here he is spotting Stanley.As my friend Moira noted when she saw this picture, we sent him to you as Flat Stanley. You are making him Buff Stanley.

Flat or buff, we hope he was able to do well for Maggie!

Filenglish

2009-02-26T23:48:00.003+08:00

Recently read abominations of the English language:

Good morning! Rice and shine!

I went out to the beach old natural (au naturel)

Happy Nice Day! (Have a nice day!)

a. Where are you from?
b. I'm from the US.
a. Oh, so you're not here in the Philippines.
Um, you said from!

Here, it is pretty much "pick any preposition, nobody cares".

And to think at one time I taught English as a Second Language classes! The urge to correct is sometimes overwhelming!

Simple, Shrewd, or Just Confused?

2009-02-17T21:08:00.006+08:00

I hear it and read it all the time:

I am a simple person. (OK, but cant you say anything else about yourself?)

I'd like a simple photo shoot. (I don't know what that means, and when I ask, the clarification is usually something like a regular shoot or a normal shoot. I'm still lost. I offer clients 3 different photo packages. Each has a name, and simple isn't one of them.)

I am simple person. Yet I believe I am fairly simple one way or another, said someone calling themselves abu online. (How eloquent.)

A few weeks ago, Fr. Jerry Orbos wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

As a young priest in La Paz, Abra, I remember telling an old man that I just came from Vigan for the launching of the Ilocano Bible. He thought for a while, then said: “Oh, it’s nice that God can finally understand and speak Ilocano!” That incident made me realize the importance of making God’s message simple and clear, especially for the simple people.

What's with all the simpleness?

The Ilocano who thought it was about time God could speak his language was not so simple as the priest may have thought.

Consider: Who brought God as Christians interpret such a concept to the Philippines?

Spaniards.

What language did they speak?

Spanish (and guns and other assorted weaponry).

So what language did God speak?

Latin (and the guns of the Spanish soldiers standing beside the Catholic missionaries).

Eventually, God learned English through the colonization of the Philippines by the US and Vatican II.

The Ilocano probably knew God was at least trilingual. The Ilocano also had a shrewd sense of humor.

The priest?

None. It could be said he is the simple one here, or is it his mission to pray/prey on those he perceives to be simpletons?

In reality, there really isn't much about Filipinos that is simple at all.

Even if one were to claim their simplicity is inherit in a sheltered, conservative societal way; that logic only compounds the complexities of the Filipinos.

Decades and centuries of Catholic sheltering, conservative thought, and provincial isolation runs up against the 21st century and results in some of the most complicated individuals I've ever met. People who are trying to deal with this simple upbringing as they try to live a life in reality. It's a messy affair for many. If psychiatrists could be afforded here, there would be tens of thousands of job positions available, practices to start, and counseling clinics to offer services; and that's just in metro Manila. With a population closing in on one hundred million, we're talking about a lot of people in need of help.

One online community I consulted in the US before coming here had tens of thousands of members from the Philippines. You could do searches based on gender and sexual orientation. I noticed something unusual as I searched different combinations: there are more bisexual than gay people in the Philippines! The Philippines is the only country on earth with such a statistic.

Once I arrived and found out what was going on, I began to realize it is just a lie. Well, not a lie, really. Just a delusion. There's no way seven of ten non-straight people are bisexual. They might have to buy sex, but that's another problem all together.

Society over the years has so thoroughly confused people here that men with boyfriends still really think they are straight (totally delusional!) or bisexual, even though they have lived in such relationships and never had any attraction to women or tried relationships or intimacies with women. It so confuses Filipinos, some endlessly ask what the meaning of bisexual is, because they see sites online which always involve men and women who like both sexes, which goes against the meaning here.

Why don't they just google it to find the real meaning?

That would be too simple.

Jay & Nic go to Immigration

2009-02-13T21:14:00.004+08:00

You regular readers know that if Immigration appears in the title of my blog entry, an adventure lies ahead. Well, this one is no different!

I can say I really felt a bit like I was in a movie; specifically one of the Harold & Kumar movies!Don't ask me which one I am in this story. Nic does funny voices better than I do, so I'll let him be Kumar.

Anyway, last week I took my Australian neighbor, Nic, to Immigration for his first time. Immigration is so much better now! The extension office is back in the main Immigration building and it is completely new, with shiny white floors, stone counters, big windows, new comfortable seating, air
conditioning, and girls in uniform to help assist people and keep order. Previously, the office had been located in a space rented in another building a block away while years of neglect (and fire damage) were repaired and rebuilt in the main office.

But just because all those improvements have been made didn't spare us from drama! If it did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I? First, Nic discovered he had mistakenly overstayed his visa by two days - a five-hundred peso fine. Then he realized he'd left his money on a table at home.

We also noticed that the copier that normally sat in the Immigration office, ready to make money copying pages from our passports, had disappeared. Nic would have to go outside to find a copier. Oh well, he needed to go to the bank anyway to withdraw money for his visa fees. Surely we'd find a copier somewhere.

So we went to the building where the office was last located because there's a bank in it, and found a store making copies beside the bank. Three pesos later Nic had his copies.

One four-thousand peso bank withdrawal and he had emptied his account.

So it was back to Immigration to fill out his forms and hope he had enough money to cover his charges.

Thanks to the new office and the uniformed girls handing out numbered tickets, there was no more standing in line and everything went quickly. Yes, Nic quickly found out he didn't have enough money on him.

Edson and I were almost broke as well, but between what Nic had left in the bank and what we had, we scraped together enough to cover his charges. Of course this meant we had to make another trip over to the bank building again so I could take out a couple thousand pesos to cover that plus our expenses in getting home.

Back at Immigration again, Nic deposited his forms and payment and we headed out for lunch.

I should tell you, drama follows Nic everywhere....if it doesn't get there first!

So we went to Robinson's (A department store and mall in nearby Ermita.) to eat and window shop. While eating, a guy passed by and smiled. And then smiled again. And again.

Ah, a money boy!

After we finished eating he followed us for a while, from a great distance.

We lost him and continued walking and browsing. Nic had to use the CR (comfort room, a.k.a. rest room), so I waited outside. As I waited by a railing, I noticed someone winking at me from the floor above.

Another money boy.

I turned back around to see Nic coming from the CR and Nic noticed the money boy winking from behind me. Nic made the mistake of smiling. That was like a magnet for our money boy, and he came up to us moments later, even though we had already walked a good distance away. We ignored him, but he kept walking just a few steps behind us whispering sex...sex...I suck...suck you...sex... until we had had enough and decided to grab a cab back to Immigration. He followed us all the way outside, where another money boy friend of his was waiting.

Immigration is now so efficient Nic's visa was waiting for us when we arrived, and we were 10 minutes early! That is something that would never have happened before!

OK, maybe this wasn't as exciting as a Harold & Kumar movie. But sometimes when Nic and I are here, we feel so many stares from people we have to do a double-check to see we haven't forgotten our pants. Add to those stares the money boys on the prowl, and we began to feel like jungle beasts were all watching, waiting for the predators to pounce.

Call Center Central

2009-02-07T23:43:00.002+08:00

This was Thursday's Shoe, which I receive in My Yahoo! every day:
Cartoons like these send out a pretty negative vibe. I can understand that.

I can also understand that here in the Philippines, call center jobs are some of the most sought-after jobs in the nation.

Call center workers must face the ire of callers from abroad who are already upset over having to wait to talk to a human being, and practically every caller is calling because they have a problem, and calling was the last act of desperation after consulting manuals, brochures, or contracts. Now here, in the wee hours of the morning (Remember: Manila is half a day ahead of America's east coast!) a worker who has been coached in dialect, culture, product or service, and customer service procedures now must deal with an irate caller from Mishawaka, Indiana (without laughing at Mishawaka.)

Calls like these are always unpleasant for the person on either end of the line. Imagine having to spend eight hours a day dealing with them!

You don't want to, do you?

Neither do the call center workers, but they are paid more than college professors here, so they eagerly line up to apply do it.

And believe me when I tell you I've never been more ashamed of my countrymen when I hear some of the stories call center workers relate to me. Dealing with so many of the callers from the US (As well as other countries, but these workers keep the discussions to Americans when speaking with me.) leaves them with the very deep impression we're a land of spoiled, petty, demanding, quick-tempered, cheapskates who spend money on a ton of stuff we don't need and have values reflecting this. Many are regularly reduced to tears due to the treatment they receive on the line.

And somewhere in the minds of these callers is probably some anger that they know they are speaking with someone from halfway around the world who took an American's job.

Of course we all know that's bunk. Corporations did that, not the twenty-something on the other end of the line making four hundred dollars a month.

So when you are on the phone to Mumbai or Manila trying to resolve your cell phone bill, hotel reservation, or computer issue, at least be civil to the person on the other end of the phone. They're either:

a. trying to assist you to the best of their training and abilities,

or

b. trying to keep it together as best they can without wanting to quit right then and there due to their experience with the caller before you.

If you don't like dealing with overseas workers, tell the company that hired them instead. And I don't care how bad the economy gets in the US, it will never be so bad that Americans would take these jobs. Americans aren't desperate enough to take them.

So, as my sister (Hey Shari!) always says: Get Over It!

Good Vibrations

2009-01-26T20:15:00.002+08:00

The past few days have been packed full of new experiences.

Last week I did photos for a trained masseur, Jong. He wanted photos to use to advertise his service. Masseurs, (Masahistas as they are known here.) while in great demand, are typically not looked upon highly in society. Kind of like people who work in food service, retail, or in janitorial services; they all play vital roles in society, but are universally undervalued and looked down upon if they are looked upon at all. Jong is polite, friendly, and his demeanor as relaxing as his well-trained hands.

I've had many massages; ranging from those from a friend studying chiropractic massage in Japan to high-priced professionals in New York City to spas here in the Philippines. Jong's ninety minute massage beat them all, leaving me feeling it's effects for hours afterwards. After that, it is hard not to want to text message everyone I know recommending him, so I messaged a few. Within a few days he reported he was receiving requests for appointments from those I'd contacted, and they were messaging me about how much they loved his service. I hope the photos are helping him out as much!

Friday I met one of our neighbors, Nick, who hails from Australia. He was rather upset about a string of events brought about by some rather over-dramatic, vicious, backstabbing Filipinos. As we were speaking, a friend of mine was texting me asking "what's up?". I texted I was chatting with a neighbor I'd just met and asked if he'd like to meet him as well. The next thing we knew, they had a date for that night.

Today is Monday, and Nick and my friend Erwyn have now seen each other three times; apparently very happy with each other's company.

After a particularly stressful day today, Nick is enjoying a relaxing massage from Jong, who had a second appointment this morning from one of my friends whom I referred last week.

Aren't I the bearer of good karma?

Anniversary

2009-01-25T22:07:00.008+08:00

This January marks the seventh anniversary for Edson and I. Unlike last year, we made no trip out of town. Like last year, I had a cold. Last year I was just overcoming one, this year I was on my first day of one!

Due to Edson's great expense of mailing out job applications to universities in the US, ours was an austere anniversary.

Seems fitting in today's world, huh?

Worldwide economic downturn, companies no longer flying anyone business class if they permit travel at all...so we stayed close to home. Home is a better place to feel sick at anyway.

Just moments ago I did a Google search to find what the traditional seventh anniversary gift is, and two results came up. I'm going with copper, since it seems a lot more likely than the other one I found. I've heard of tin, pearls, paper, ruby, diamond, silver, gold...so copper seemed reasonable. It also ironically is in keeping with our imposed austerity. After all, a penny is (OK, was!) copper, right?!

Anyway, for our anniversary this year, we...what's that? Oh, you wanted to know what the second result was, don't you? Well, I am not even going to mention it here, but if you want to see, click on the image below.It doesn't matter what you search for on the internet, you always end up with something like that!

Anyway, we began our anniversary day with me driving up the value of Kimberly-Clark (they make Kleenex tissue) and a few drug companies, then we were off to Glorietta and our favorite Japanese restaurant, JiPan.

I had my usual weekend treat, Omelette Rice, or as the Japanese say: Om Rice.
Edson had Ebi Ten Don.

It was delicious, despite my only being able to enjoy it half as much as I usually would due to my cold.

Afterwards we went to Greenbelt Mallwhere Edson checked out an exhibit at the Ayala Museum he had been wanting to see while I enjoyed some sun for a while. That always makes me feel better when I have a cold.

We bought tickets to see Benjamin Button, unprepared for it being eight and a half hours long. That's stretching it by about five hours, but it feels like eight when you try to pull yourself out of a theatre seat after a long movie without an intermission. When movie studios put out films that are over two hours long, they really ought to put an intermission in there so moviegoers don't miss important parts of the film while they are making urgent trips to the restroom. It could also give the theatres more concession stand income, or just give people a chance to stand and stretch. Let's face it: when Benjamin Button goes to DVD, almost everyone who plays it will pause it at one point to run to the refrigerator, answer the phone or door, or go to the bathroom! Incorporating the intermission into the film only makes sense.

Anyway, as I said, we were unprepared; which means we hadn't brought any Excedrin (For those in the Philippines, that's headache medicine that actually works. Nothing I've bought here does anything at all, so friends make sure to bring some with them for us when they return from their travels in the US.) with us. So we both left the theatre with awful headaches.

With a headache on top of my cold, I was not feeling so good. We were also both hungry again, so we took dinner (and some aspirin, hoping the combination of food and it would kill the headaches) at Aveneto, an Italian restaurant and headed home, where Kimberly-Clark's stock value continued to rise.

The Power of a Blog

2009-01-15T15:58:00.003+08:00

The power of blogs and bloggers is something we are accustomed to reading and hearing nowadays, but it never really struck me that my little blog with less than ten thousand hits would ever be one of those that had any power.

But it did!

A magazine was going to do a story on The Stock Market restaurant, but someone at the magazine read my blog on it and they sent Edson and I word they had canceled the story due to our horrific experience there!

Yes, the internet and DSL connections do seem to have sped up the rate at which karma comes around. The Stock Market got what it deserved.

As Bugs Bunny says: Ain't I a stinker? Heeheeheehee....

What We Need is Change

2009-01-15T15:18:00.002+08:00

Change.

Change seems like such an obvious thing, doesn't it? Everything is always in a state of change. Traffic lights change (eventually). Seasons change. Many people are afraid of change. You can't stop change. Even when we try to stop it, we're actually changing something in the process. Changing change.

Barack Obama campaigned with a message of change - The Change We Need. Boy, has he got his hands full of change to do!

But I'm not here to talk about the change Barack Obama will bring, though his is a lot more substantial than my change, and will affect millions, if not billions, of people.

I'm talking about change that really only affects me - maybe a few others - I don't care. I care about my change.

And it is my change that the eight-person staff at Earle's Deli couldn't give me the other day at two-o'clock in the afternoon when I stopped in to pick up some roast beef.

The roast beef was P144 (about $3US). I handed the cashier a P500 bill.

Do you have anything smaller, sir?, she asked.

No, I replied.

Oh, smaller, sir.

That's all I have.

Can you get smaller, sir?

No. Why don't you go next door to the bank and get change? (There is a Bank of the Philippine Islands branch located right next to Earle's in the Columns.) Do I look like a bank? Why would she expect a customer to be the one to go out in search of change when she has a cash register full of money and plenty of people on staff who can do it?

Blank stare.

I looked into her cash drawer and saw multiple layers of 1000 and 500 peso bills, all yearning to be broken for change.

Blank stare.

There's only one other customer here now. Why don't one of you go get change?, I suggested.

Blank stare.

The cashier then solicited donations from a couple other workers so she could cobble together enough coins to give me my change.

This isn't the first time they've been without change in the middle of the afternoon at Earle's. I find it strange.

The lunch rush is over. There's an excess of workers. Not a lot to do. The coins and small bill supply is running low or is drained. The bank is on the other side of the wall, just seconds away door-to-door, but no one ever gets any change.

Maybe they're afraid of change.

All I wanted was a simple P356 worth of change. Not too much. About $7US.

The US economy needs over $700 billion worth of change we're told.

Good thing Obama's in charge of it, and not the staff of Earle's Deli.

I got my P356 worth of change - Change I Can Believe In.

Weird Ads

2009-01-07T21:45:00.008+08:00

Ever come across an ad that just didn't seem quite right?

How about one that had an embarrassing mis-spelling?

Or one that was downright weird?

We get ours regularly now through Street Talk, "Chic Makati Living (Trusted Service Since 2002!) Where All Your Living Choices Are Made Easy!"

That's what it says. And I suppose it's true, if all your choices in life revolve around dieting, whitening your skin, massages, parties, real estate, massages, tutors, getting fast cash, and (did I mention?) massages! Of its twelve pages, five feature nothing more than massage services. All my living choices, huh? I like a massage as much as anybody, but I had no idea the citizens of Makati spent that much time getting them and quite frankly, I feel left out!

I could try this place......but they don't seem too confident in their service. It's just "OK".

Not great. Just OK.

Not exceptional. Not fabulous. Not soothing. Just OK.

If I want an OK massage I'll have a cat do it. You know, how they do right before they walk around in a circle when they get ready to lay down.

This place doesn't seem quite right:I've heard of spas that use chocolate baths and all sorts of other things they say are good for your skin, but cheese?!

Oh, wait. No. Maybe they don't use cheese. Maybe they mean their massages aren't even OK, like the OK Massage & Spa. They're even worse. You know...a really cheesy massage?

Ewwwww.

Moving on...and while the thought of food is still at hand...check out this place:Is this where Willy Wonka sold all those edible dishes? (Don't know what I'm talking about? Go watch the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder, then come back to this post.) I think I'd rather not find out. The owners should get a new name for their restaurant.

Incomplete sentence:Get Rid?

Manuel! Leinor! C'mon! That's not a sentence! Sesame Street's Big Bird may not know that abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz isn't a word, but at least he speaks in complete sentences!

The Stock Market

2009-01-05T15:55:00.008+08:00

The Stock Market is perhaps one of the worst experiences of my life.

It is terrible.

A complete waste of money.

Terrible service (if that's what they want to call it.)

You're getting confused, aren't you?

I'm speaking of a restaurant Edson and I ate at with some friends Saturday night.

The performance of this restaurant pretty much coincides with the performance of the world's stock markets in 2008. So, if they are looking to replicate the collapse of the world markets in a dining experience, they've succeeded.

Now, The Stock Market is a restaurant in Ft. Bonifacio High Street that opened back in mid-October. It is owned by Del Monte and operated by a restaurant group that operates three other chains.

If you thought running three other chains meant they knew anything about running a fourth restaurant you'd be mistaken.

When we arrived there, shortly before seven, only four other tables had any diners. Most of the empty tables were reserved for large groups yet to arrive. This is a restaurant divided up into basically fourteen table groupings capable of accommodating four to eight persons in each, for a total of probably one hundred diners at a time.

We were seated by what the hostess referred to as the "bar". I guess it is a bar, just not one you can "belly up to". Really, it is just where they prepare all their beverages.

Our order was taken promptly enough, but that is when our experience began to go downhill...fast.

Ten minutes passed and one person at the table, Paul, had received his drink. Another ten minutes passed and Boris received his entrée. Mine and Edson's followed moments later. Paul's order arrived within a few minutes. Caridad, the only other to order, insisted we begin without her even though hers hadn't arrived.

Within ten minutes, Edson's water glass was empty and our iced teas we ordered thirty minutes before still had yet to materialize. However, Paul had been served a second glass of whatever it was he ordered without having ordered a second glass of it.

We tried several times to finally flag down a server who would pay any attention (You'd think they would; the manager, beverage crew, and full kitchen staff all looked out at us into the rest of the restaurant.) and make an inquiry as to where our drinks and Caridad's meal were hiding. Judging from the looks on the faces of those behind the "bar", all had been ignored or forgotten about. So it wasn't as if they were harvesting fresh tea leaves from the mountains or plucking live chickens for us.

And despite all the pitchers of water passing our table, our water glasses were still empty. They would remain empty the rest of the night.

The manager seemed to be spending all his time putting out fires as one server after another came to him with an issue from their respective tables.

Edson and I both ordered the pulled pork barbecue. What we were served was one of those three things.

It was pork.

It was not pulled. While there was a sauce of some sort over it, it was drizzled on in such a stingy fashion we couldn't discern it as barbecue. Very disappointing.

Our iced teas arrived just a few minutes after the crew wiped the "oh shit" looks off their faces. Caridad's order didn't arrive until after a second inquiry was made into its whereabouts. By the time it did, it had been over an hour since she placed the order and she had lost two dress sizes.

Someone in our group asked if we should get dessert.

We don't have time. Edson needs to be at work Monday morning, I replied.

So it was decided we'd go elsewhere for dessert.

Getting the bill was another ordeal.

That took requesting it twice - and the person in charge of bill preparation was working right behind our table at the "bar"! We waited ten minutes for our change, and finally just gave up, left, and had dessert at Italiani's, where we were greeted warmly, promptly, served quickly and well, and had a thoroughly wonderful time engaging in confectionery decadence and chamomile tea.

So, dear readers, if any of you were thinking of dining at The Stock Market, take my advice and save your money. You'll get better service at McDonald's, KFC, Jollibee, Greenwich Pizza, Wendy's, Burger King, Chow King, Goldilocks, Sbarro, Pancake House, Chili's, Friday's, Italiani's, Earle's Deli, DeliFrance, Yoshinoya, Grub Club, Reye's Barbecue, Piquant, Mexicali, Ji Pan, Aveneto, Pizza Hut, Outback Steakhouse, Pho Hoa, Oody's, Flapjacks, Burgoo, Ten Titas...

Happy New Year (or Let's Hope 2009 Doesn't S@ck Too Badly!)

2009-01-04T11:23:00.009+08:00

Well, 2009 is here.

Our New Years Eve was normally bizarre.

Let me tell you about it:

Edson and I went to meet his family for mass at the Church of the Risen Lord (CRL) on the University of the Philippines Campus.We were shocked to see how uninspired the decorations were this year inside the church.But that was just the beginning...

Service began with a three-man band, two on guitar, the other an electric keyboard. Judging from his expressions and mannerisms, the singer must have thought he was Bono. All the songs they had selected all seemed to have one thing in common: all were very short lyrically, and those scant lyrics were all repeated endlessly.

At the end of each hymn, the director of the services, a long-haired woman, would try to cut in with what she would say next. She seemed to be in the band's way the entire time physically as well. I guess you could say she was that group's version of Yoko Ono to the Beatles.

There's a reason Edson and I are usually late for mass those times we attend: it is the minister.

CRL's minister loves to talk.

And talk.

And talk.

And he loves to use power point presentations from his iBook. He really, really, really loves his iBook and iPhones and other gadgets, especially if preceded by "i". I secretly (Oops! Not much of a secret now!) think he believes Steve Jobs is sent by God, if he isn't God Himself.

Service that evening had his power point presentation flashed up on a screen mounted tastelessly and awkwardly in one corner of the altar. So as the service went on, the power point would change, reading "Call to Worship", "Invocation", "Prayer/Benediction", etc.

Were they doing this for people who had never been to church before? What is the point?

I can understand showing the lyrics to hymns. That is quite nice not having to look down into the hymn book, where you find most parishoners mumbling...er, singing into the pages.

At one point during the service we were all supposed to give God a standing ovation for his great work on 2008.

Does God really care if it is 2008 or not? 2008 is just a concept of time for our benefit. Man made time and calendars. Is God beholden to man's calendar? And while I'm thinking of it, does God care about our standing ovation? Does he care if we sit or stand or lie down? If we can't stand, does he think less of us? What if we can't clap?

I also found having two (yes2!) offertories to be one too many!

If having one offertory wasn't one too many to begin with (I don't think anyone needs their neighbors in the congregation watching to see how much they place in the collection basket...or if they place anything in it at all.), the second offertory necessitated everyone coming up to the altar and placing their offerings in a basket marked with their birth month...for "everyone's birthday".

Bullsh@t!

During the sermon the minister revealed they had doubled their tithes in 2008. I'm not against a church not in debt, but the guy does like to make people feel they are better for having given so much more.

There's no need for two offerings! Just place the collection boxes at the doors of the church and let people donate when they come and go. Collecting money has no place in a worship service. If I want that kind of experience, I can go to the mall and shop, thank you. And it is more than likely I'd leave the mall with more than what this guy gives me during his sermons! (He usually gives me severe hunger pains, since he drones on for so long about how good the Lord is for inventing his cell phone. No, I'm not kidding!)

Anyway, after the services ended we pretty much agreed we weren't likely to go back again until they had a new minister. We got absolutely nothing out of listening to this guy, except for hunger pains and a sore butt from sitting for so long listening to him.

It's the same reason I stopped attending mass years ago. I was amazed that the priests could interpret every passage of scripture as God saying he wants me to give more of my money to the church. If the parish needed more in the collection, why didn't they just say so? If money ceased to exist tomorrow, I don't think God would care or be any worse off for it.

Anyway, after we left we had a great lasagna dinner for Edson's birthdayat his parents home with his whole family and then we came home where we had some friends over for drinks before the Makati New Years fireworks display.It all ended happily and safely in the wee small hours of the morning...and we still had unopened bottles of wine on hand. Add to those the three we were gifted last night, and we're ready for another party.

^_^

Tsuper Launch...(Delayed)

2008-12-28T22:46:00.008+08:00

What's a Tsuper, you ask?

It's a magazine, recently launched. No, the magazine launch wasn't delayed, as the title seems to imply, but that this post is...you know, much like my others. I'm not so much like other bloggers who can't go to bed without having posted something that day.

Anyway, Edson's colleague at Cadiz, Jimmy Caumeron, is the guy behind a new magazine in the Philippines called Tsuper. It's pronounced much like super, but with your tongue closer to your front teeth, so that a faint t sound is heard ushering in the s.

Got it?

Good.

In the Philippines, tsuper means driver, and the magazine is something of a travel magazine as it takes the reader to different places and experiences.

Edson was tapped to write an article for the premiere issue. So, because of that and the fact that he worked in the same office with the executive editor, we were invited to the launch party held at Top Shelf in Fully Booked bookstore, Bonifacio High Street, which we attended before Edson's office Christmas party.

Hopia hors d'ouevres.
Fried shrimps done in common street food fashion.
Sago and gulaman drink. Sweet and delicious.

At First...

2008-12-16T22:36:00.010+08:00

"At first I was afraid
I was pesticide..."

OK, we knew right there that it wasn't Gloria Gaynor singing I Will Survive.

Instead, it was the at times phonetically or lyrically challenged singer of a self-described "expensive" band at our friend Jen's wedding.

I'll pause here while you dear readers try to come to terms with the concept of singing a classic disco song of break-up and empowerment at a wedding reception. I always thought this is the song that should be played at divorce receptions, except that I don't see too many of those. Maybe we should encourage them. With the economy in tatters, this would be a good way to jump start it; especially in California, where the passage of Prop 8 has meant a huge loss of business for the wedding industry. Since half of all marriages end in divorce, this would be a real boon. Just an idea...

Anyway, Edson and I were at the wedding, remember?We were at our table with Val and Marje to our right:And PJ and Rhandy to our left:
And after we all heard the singer mangle the first lines of the song we couldn't listen to it anymore to hear what else she'd mess up in the process. She did emphasize that this was the song of the evening; the one we'd all been waiting for at that.

Oh my.

Just previous she had tried in vain to get a poor friend of the groom from the Netherlands or Germany to sing part of a Carpenters medley, not counting on him having absolutely no clue as to what the lyrics of Sing were. I guess the Carpenters didn't enjoy the same popularity in Europe as in the U.S., Japan and the Philippines. Just about every CD shop in Japan and the Philippines still has an extensive and ever-growing collection of Carpenters titles, and I think she believed that to be the case worldwide. Of course, since he was white, he's automatically assumed to be American here. The singer wasn't paying much attention to begin with. She couldn't remember the names of the bride and groom when she wished them well, and the groom's surname of Müller apparently wasn't much of a tip off for her either.

Anyway, she had an OK voice, so she doesn't need to have a clue. Though she did look a bit like a black-haired version of Ursula in Disney's the Little Mermaid:We were all convinced that no gay people had a hand in planning and producing this wedding. It's a well-known and time-proven fact that heterosexuals aren't good at these things, and it was proven all the more that evening when the hostess made people get up and play a game.

Yes, a game.

At a wedding reception.

And it involved the participants removing their shoes, holding each others shoes over their heads in response to inane questions posed by the control-freak hostess. In her past, somebody really should have given her some hyperactive children on a sugar high to inflict this torture upon so we wouldn't have had to go through it that evening. The game was so complicated that I believe you could explain the intricacies of baseball in less time than she went over the rules of this game. It felt like you could have played a few innings in less time as well.

Anyway, I should have figured I was going to get something blog-worthy from the day when on our way there we passed by a school building that had a sign painted across it which read: This is a Child-Friendly School.

Um, I hate to break it to them, but shouldn't that be a given?? What do they do in other schools? Do they put the doorknobs up at the top of the door? Locate urinals halfway up the wall? Place kiddie chairs in front of adult-height tables?

If I went to a school like that, I know what I'd be:

Petrified!

Boom Boom Boom

2008-12-15T16:23:00.003+08:00

...And a lot of bass bass bass.

That's what awoke us at six o'clock in the morning the other day.

Music made for a dance club, and played at club volume was being blasted at our condo building...at six in the morning! I got up from the bed, pulled the curtains aside and saw ten big speaker sets in the park across the street from us. A stage was also being set up.

OK, something is going to be happening later in the day, but must they test the speakers at six?

And at full volume?

And now that the music has been going on for a few minutes, isn't that enough proof it is working?

Not EVERYONE gets up at six! (Especially Edson and I.)

Three dance tracks of booming bass notes later and the music was shut off. A full fifteen minutes of BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. BOOM BOOM BOOM. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM....

I noticed some police who had previously been gathered around the fire department had now gathered around the park area. Perhaps they had finally decided to do something other than just stand around doing nothing and had the music shut off.

Either way it was quite some time before I got back to sleep.

But even that was short-lived. I then awoke to a medley of Kenny G and what sounded like Gregorian chant Christmas holiday music. This was coming from within the Columns!

This was being piped in through the speakers in the halls.

After two tracks the music volume was brought down to a more "elevator music" level.

Kenny G as elevator music I can understand; that's what it is. The Gregorian chants suddenly made the Columns into a thirty-storey monastery! I later discovered those were not Gregorian chants but Josh Groban!

Oops!

Let's just say his album is a little on the sedate side. Yeah, as in sedative.

Early that evening I had returned home and was busy editing photos and waiting for Edson to return from work when the event in the park finally began. It was to officially light the park for the holiday season. I heard endless speeches by one person after another (all hosted/emceed poorly) and then...BOOM!Yes, you may have noticed those are fireworks going off just outside our window...just sixty or seventy feet away and at eye-level!

I wasn't expecting that.

Anyway, after catching that I decided to at least get a shot of the park all lit up.
Funny thing is the park wasn't lit at all after they finished the ceremonious lighting event.

They turned all the lights off!

And they weren't on the following day either.

They finally turned them on again two days later.

Education in the News

2008-12-14T20:55:00.003+08:00

This is the front page of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer:On the bottom of the page, eighty-five guys are pictured together with this caption:

PUSH ON UP They would have been a hundred (read: University of the Philippines turned 100) but only 85 showed up for this morning shoot on Saturday wearing their birthday suits, or so it seems. Actually, the all-male alumni, staffers and students from different UP campuses are suited in specially designed trunks with fig leaves. At the UP amphitheater, they pose like the Oblation, the university's signature statue.

Our friend Wally is at the far right of the photo, and he let me in on a secret: he wasn't wearing the specially designed trunks, just the fig leaf. Apparently he's a stickler for authenticity.

Thought you needed to know.

The original statue wore less, but a moral-minded president of the university had the fig leaf added to cover the genitals.

This isn't the only time of year students do something like this at UP. Each year there is the Oblation Run, where many male students wearing nothing but masks run about the university campus, usually to protest something.

I'm guessing it must work (protesting sans clothing, that is), because Filipinos do it elsewhere. Like here:These guys are protesting about education in the Philippines. Just think how good schools could be if people everywhere cared enough about them to march or run around naked to help make them better!

Last Day in Hong Kong

2008-12-11T14:07:00.013+08:00

The story of our third (and final) day in Hong Kong begins here, at the House of Jasmine.Time for our last dim sum before heading home! As you can see, they're preparing for another wedding at this restaurant as well! I look at these pictures and realize someday someone's going to think I went to Hong Kong and did nothing but go to weddings!

Anyway, it is a good thing I had lunch before this blog entry, because even though I'm rather full, this is making me hungry all over again!Barbecued pork puff pastries, steamed sticky rice in lotus leaves, steamed barbecue pork buns......minced pork and vegetable dumpling in clear soup, steamed flour roll with shrimp and egg......steamed flour roll with minced beef and pickled vegetables, abalone on steamed shrimp and pork dumplings......steamed shrimp dumplings...and to end it all......steamed egg yolk custard buns!

This was the BEST dim sum experience I have ever had. We owe it all to Simon's wife Amy, who suggested he take us to the House of Jasmine. None of the three of us had ever been there, but as Simon's wife is a make-up artist, and does make-up for weddings each weekend, she has been there before as part of her work.

Thanks, Amy! I can still taste it now just from looking at the pictures!

After that much food we all needed a good constitutional, as the British would say. That's "walk" in the U.S. So walk we did, just outside where all the ferry boats and cruise ships come in.
One of the famous Star Ferries in Victoria Harbour.
Edson catches me about to get another shot of the Star Ferry:

Back inside it was time for a bit of shopping. Edson needed to check out the selection of books on architecture and pick up some good teas. After a while we decided to stop for a rest. We stopped here.I include this picture because I found it interesting. As you can see on the window, it clearly states there is to be no eating or drinking. The interesting part is this is the window of a restaurant.

Then what do they serve??

Well, as it turns out, delicious, freshly-made noodles!And delicious, fresh-made buns filled with sweet bean paste!So here we are, the look of well-fed people after consuming some of the best food we've had in a long, looonnnng time!

Sadly, we were running out of time, so it was off to the airportand a farewell to Simon.
We arrived back in Manila that night right on time. It was Sunday, and by the time we made it home virtually all restaurants had closed. (One of the disadvantages of living in the CBD.) We had our choice of Yellow Cab Pizza (too heavy, we thought), KFC, McDonald's, Jolliebee, or Tropical Hut (fast food, fast food, fast food, fast food).

After all the good food we'd had in Hong Kong, it seemed nothing could compete (and it couldn't). So we went where we knew we'd at least get good service - McDonald's. We tried not to pay any attention to what we were eating; just so we had enough in our stomachs that night while we slept...and slept...and slept.

Musings About Macau Pt 2

2008-12-11T11:24:00.013+08:00

My apologies for the delay in getting this out. I've been working on a lot of editing of several recent photo shoots and had another **ahem** wonderful trip to Immigration. The trip this time was nothing like before. Quite boring. No story to tell, other than on my way home a kid of about seven or eight years old walked beside the taxi I was riding in, stood on the curb, pulled his pants down, crouched, and proceeded to take a sh@t right there on the sidewalk beside me!

Eeeeewwwwwww!

If that weren't bad enough, as I was almost home, the taxi crossed some railroad tracks near the train platform where I witnessed yet another kid doing the same thing on the tracks!!

What was it that day that everybody decides to do their number twos in public while in my range of sight?!

Eeeeewwwwwww!

Anyway, back to Macau...where I didn't see anything like that!

The hill climb up to St. Paul's was just the halfway point. We still had the rest of the hill to climb.

Oh joy.

What's up top?

The Mount Fortress. The Portuguese built it in the 17th century and it is now a museum.From it we could look down upon the ruins of St. Paul's.And we had great views that enabled us to see clear to China! That sounds impressive (doesn't it?) until you realize Macau doesn't sit all that far off the coast of mainland China. It isn't really off the coast at all; just kind of across the river...whatever!
Remember the story of The Little Engine That Could?Like the Little Engine That Could, I think this canon (or whoever aimed it) has the right idea!Now if only it could strike far enough! (I think I can-I think I can...) Gosh, that's an ugly building!

Anyway, then we made it down, down, down a very narrow street on this steep hill (one-way traffic only - down!), into a taxi, and off to another side of Macau to see more wonderful historic structures, but a bit less touristy.

And we just kept on going until sundown.

We made it to A-Ma Temple just after it closed, which was OK, because even from outside I could see the wonderful incense burning.

A-Ma Temple has an interesting history, and it shows how the European colonial mindset worked. When the Portuguese settlers arrived in the sixteenth century and asked the name of the place, they were at the temple area and were told "A-Ma Gau", the name of the temple. This was then transcribed by the settlers as "Macau", and they've been calling the territory by the name of the temple ever since! Just like Christopher Columbus didn't set out to find a "New World". He was looking for India. He was just lost; which is why we call native Americans "Indians".

Next was a nice Portuguese dinner at a popular nearby restaurant, complete with Filipino staff who let Edson in on why our reservations had been lost (manager doesn't write them down); speaking in Tagalog so the boss wouldn't know what they were saying!After dinner it was a quick ride back to the port so we could get back to Hong Kong (Remember Hong Kong? This is -supposedly- our trip to Hong Kong.)

This is what you see at the port at night.I know astronauts can see the Great Wall of China from space. They might have to squint a little to make out the lettering on the Sands Casino.

Our last day in Hong Kong is coming up.

Musings About Macau

2008-12-04T17:46:00.019+08:00

I know what you're thinking: What's with the Roman Amphitheatre?

Why a shot from Miami?

And what the heck is that last thing?

And aren't you supposed to be musing about Macau, hmmmm?

All just to show you can go around the world pretty quickly...in Macau.

Our second day of our trip was a day trip to Macau.

All I knew about Macau was that some of my old Hot Wheels cars were made there, back when it was a Portuguese colony, they have casinos, and the remains of St. Paul's church facade is a popular tourist attraction. Aside from that...nothing.

We didn't find any Hot Wheels, but we did find tacky casinos (That's what that last picture was). And it is all part of the Fisherman's Wharf, connected to the Babylon Casino. Getting to the casino, one can walk from Rome, through various locations such as Amsterdam, New Orleans, Miami, an African village, ending at the casino and the Rocks Hotel.No expense has been spared in constructing this mini world. Each building keeps its character on all four sides outside, and the motifs follow through to the interiors. And it is all fake. Even the birds in the birdcage situated in the hotel lobby are fake!
Talk about consistency.

Also tacky is the Sands Casino:
But nothing (and I mean NOTHING!) beats the Grand Lisboa Casino when it comes to being tacky!
Let's face it; how much uglier could it get?

Don't answer that yet. It tops its daytime tackiness with a neon light show at night that makes Las Vegas seem stodgy and reserved by comparison.

Fortunately, there's a lot more to Macau than that! And I'll tell you all about it after we eat:
Brunch was a luscious dim sum. Anyone who knows us knows how much Edson and I love dim sum. And this was good.

Did you hear that?

That was my stomach rumbling just thinking about it!

Anyway, the restaurant was all ready to host a wedding banquet that night, which explains the stage set behind Simon.

Anyway, back to exploring Macau!

Much of the island is a laid-back, walkable, pleasant city which feels much like Amsterdam in a way...a more conservative way...Chinese society isn't as open as Dutch!

Intricate patterns in the sidewalks abound.I found this one amusing:Others may show a church, library, etc.

I'm including this next shot just for my brother-in-law (he's a big Coke sign memorabilia collector):As soon as we saw this, Edson and I thought of you, Jim!

That building sits right beside the Leal Senado building, built in 1784 as Macau's municipal office. Here is Edson admiring the magnificent tile work in the stairs:He then caught this shot from upstairs looking down on Senado Square across the street, which was host to a jazz concert that afternoon.

Street performers play traffic signals, guiding pedestrians across the busy street to the square.The square is a great space which really brings Europe to Asia. It and all the surrounding structures are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so nobody is going to plunk a pre-fab or cinder block eyesore down in it.
Some more scenes as we strolled:

We finally made it to St. Paul's.Oh, and we weren't the only rice/potato couple there that day:

I'd say there was a festival going on that day, as evidenced by this picture, but we all know that anywhere there are large numbers of tourists, every day is a festival!These performers did make it tough to get around to go up to the church ruins, but we did finally manage.

Let me just say that it is a long uphill climb from the flatness where we started at Senado Square, with a lot to see and do along the way.

I'm tired just thinking about it...and typing.

Mostly typing.

Stay tuned for Musings from Macau Part II.

Getting There: Hong Kong Part 2

2008-11-30T17:51:00.012+08:00

Backtracking a bit (as I usually do, I know)...getting to Hong Kong proved to be more a problem than we ever thought when at four o'clock in the morning at the airport Immigration officials notified me I had to have an "exit permit" to leave the country. This was something I was supposed to have made a trip to the office in Intramuros to accomplish.

This was news to Edson and myself. We were under the mistaken assumption that if my visa was about to run out, they were kind of expecting me to be leaving the country anyway.

Oh, and with our plane leaving at 5:30am and the Immigration Office in Intramuros (over an hour away) opening at something like 8am that would mean I would miss our flight out.

Fortunately we were flying out of the new terminal. The new terminal has an immigration office there to handle these things that happen with great frequency. Before it opened in August I would have missed my flight and had to purchase another ticket for another day and likely pay fines for overstaying my visa due to the delay of the next flight.

Don't you love government red tape?

The office at the airport wasn't open yet, but we only had to wait about thirty minutes for it to do so. I paid 700 pesos ($14US) for an ECC fee (Whatever that is. Exit Clearance Certificate perhaps?), 10 pesos ($.20US) for a legal research fee (Tell me where else in the world a legal fee is only 20 cents!!), and 500 pesos ($10US) for an Express Lane Fee (Express Lane? There were only four of us there! And there's only one window...I suppose that is the express window.) That was twelve hundred and ten pesos ($24.20US) for a stamp that took about two minutes; meaning I paid that guy's salary for the next few days.

Another interesting thing to note was that the original immigration officer asked me for all the receipts for all the visa stamps in my passport. I had also assumed that if the stamp was in my passport I wouldn't need to bring along additional accompanying receipts from the immigration office proving I had paid for each of them. Isn't that why the stamps are there in the first place?

Well, we obviously made it on the plane in time and had long forgotten all about the morning in Manila by the time we were on our way to the top of Hong Kong - The Peak.
The Peak is the place to go for the best view of the Hong Kong skyline.Hazy with smog I know. Hong Kongers delight in telling everyone it is the fault of the industry on the mainland ruining the view of the Hong Kong skyline, not to mention its air quality.

Or browse/buy prints of Hong Kong:
Even better to me was a bit later, after a bagful of fresh Famous Amos chocolate chip raisin cookies, was this view from the other side of the hill:
We went back to our hotel, the Stanford, in Kowloon, and rested before dinner.

Here's our 9th floor view:And here's some shots we got of the city while driving about on the way to and from dinner:

And before we made our way back to the hotel to take a well-deserved and much-needed rest, we couldn't resist stopping by Victoria Harbor for the magnificent night view of Hong Kong's skyline:
Once back at the hotel, I think it took all of two or three minutes to fall asleep once we hit the bed!

Stay tuned for our day trip to Macau!

Hello from Hong Kong

2008-11-26T21:03:00.006+08:00

Friday, November 21st. Edson and I landed in Hong Kong.

Within a few hours we were on our way up the mountains of Lantau Island to the Ngong Pin plateau and the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha.

It's a lot of steps up to that big Buddha.
Here I am with my Mr. Right and Mr. Wong, Simon Wong that is. Simon and I have been friends for over sixteen years, though we haven't seen each other for twelve years since he moved back to Hong Kong after college. He toured Edson and I around Hong Kong for our weekend stay there.

Below the Buddha sits the Lo Pin Monastery.

After one more look back at the giant Buddha and the purchase of some Buddha beads for our career and wealth, we were back on the cable car, riding down the mountain.
Note the beads around my wrist.
And you may also notice the bandage on Edson's hand. That is from a mishap on his flight a week earlier from Dubai which left a nasty bruise and a lot of pain. Fortunately for him, he had to wear it just two of our three days in Hong Kong.

More Hong Kong to come...

Crowded Cemetery

2008-11-18T22:12:00.013+08:00

Here's another one of my un-timely posts.

Think back to November 1...

Day after Halloween...piles of candy...bite-size candy bars, hard candies, soft candies, the luscious, highly-prized chocolates...and the consumption of more candy than you've had since, well, last Halloween!

All the world was still on-edge wondering who the next president of the United States would be.

And millions of Filipinos were congregating in cemeteries throughout the archipelago observing All Souls Day. I was there with my camera and I've selected a sampling of the shots to share with you here.

Filipino cemeteries are crowded places, with the graves built one on top of another and extremely little space in between.
After sitting your kid atop the family grave you hand the candles up to him to light. Being an adult gives you the freedom to stay down on the ground so you don't kill yourself trying to climb up or down. And what could be worse than being killed climbing all over the family grave?!I was shooting these pictures while Edson's brother walked with me, to make sure I didn't get lost. It really took both of us to figure out how to navigate our way through the maze of graves. We were at the Catholic Cemetery of Bocaue, and all throughout people were shouting at me to take their pictures. (By the way: in the provincial areas I'm still "Joe" to Filipinos. In Manila nobody calls out to me that way. But in areas like these where foreigners are few and far between the old ways persist...or they all thought I'm Joe the Plumber...but that I doubt. One little boy was truly fascinated by me, so I took his picture and showed it to him...and boy, did that bring a smile to his face! Here he is with his mom:
Everyone who looks at this picture feels it is pretty creepy. Given the freshly cleaned graves all around with families congregating about, I just felt sad that this was the only grave in the entire cemetery left in total neglect. Vandals had even spray-painted on the cross in the wall.
Some more scenes.

This woman was one of many people who were selling snacks and refreshments inside the cemetery, and was nice enough to pose for me.
Another group who shouted at me to take their picture. They couldn't get the girl in front to turn around though.
The beauty of the candles illuminating the markers as the sun began to descend was great!
Edson and his family gathered around the grave of his grandparents, aunt, and great-grandparents.
A few more before the sun set:

A Day In Quiapo

2008-11-12T14:26:00.019+08:00

A few months back I opened my photo reflector to find, after 18 years of use, the gold reflective material was completely worn off. Time to buy a new one, but where? None of the stores around here sell anything but the basic camera equipment. Much like in the states, stores that sell a full line of equipment are few and far between, and usually located in out of the way places. Stands, lights, reflectors, "barn doors", gel filters, backgrounds....all scare off 95% of camera buyers. The perception is because the store sells that stuff, they can't possibly appreciate the needs of a parent who just wants a compact camera to take pictures of their kids, so the salesperson will try to sell them thousands of dollars worth of complicated gizmos instead.

In Manila, this means an excursion to Quiapo.

All the professional photographic supply stores are located within a couple blocks of each other there.

We bought the reflector, upgraded in the 21st century to a four-in-one unit featuring a zip-off layer enabling gold, silver, black, and white sides to use. So much for my old gold and white sides only model (now just white or white!).

Of course, this being my first trip to Quiapo, I took along a camera. Since it isn't the best part of Manila and extraordinarily crowded, I only took the compact. I would have loved to have brought the SLR, but repeated warnings not to do so prevailed, and it remained safe at home.

Our cab let us out across from Quiapo Church, officially known as Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene. The Black Nazarene is a much venerated statue of Jesus Christ inside the church which many people believe has miraculous attributes. Photography isn't allowed inside the church. Of course no one notified me of this until after I had already taken these!

The black speck at the altar in this shot is the aforementioned statue.

After that very brief stop, we were on our way to find the reflector.

We passed many street vendors selling just about everything.

See? I told you it is crowded. The very narrow street doesn't help a whole lot.
We got the reflector and continued to explore.

I know...it's the second shot of produce. It's not that we were hungry, but the food looked so good.

Statue of former Manila mayor, Arsenio Lacson.

Though it looks foreboding, it didn't rain. Note the new lights. This is just one of dozens of frosted chandeliers that are the new lighting that line the MacArthur Bridge across the Pasig River.
Cute trike.
When I see scenes like this (and I see them e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e) I'm reminded of books Edson uses in his study of colonial architecture in the Philippines and the building America did here in the early twentieth century. When the US took over the Philippines from Spain the rivers and canals were found full of garbage. One of the steps taken to rid Manila of disease was cleaning up said garbage.As you can see, it is no longer a priority.

Moving on; here are some nice scenes and detail along Escolta Street:

I had to stop here and snap this picture!As soon as I saw it I was reminded of the time I was in fifth grade and Sr. Marie Stella assigned our class to write a paper on our patron saint. I have a completely pagan name, and in typical eleven-year-old delight believed this got me out of having to write a paper. I was told by Sr. Stella that not only was I going to write a paper, but that my name was James! There are many saints named James. I just picked one out and grumbled about the whole paper-writing ordeal until it was over.

It seems either there has been a St. J added since I was eleven, or someone here is gunning for sainthood, or there's a premature campaign to have me canonized. If Sr. Stella were around to hear me say that, I'm pretty sure I'd be writing about all the other saints named James now!

Then we came upon the gorgeous, art-deco Capitol Theatre!

She has most definitely seen better days, but it appears as if work is going on inside. Let's hope it is to refurbish.

Then we walked towards the China Town:

Talk about wires!
We ended our walk at Binondo Church
where we then caught a taxi for Malate, where Edson and I enjoyed a much-needed spa trip to end the day.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

2008-11-06T21:44:00.008+08:00

It appears I was correct when I mused about Americans laughing at Sarah Palin.

Even the on-air personalities (I can't call them reporters) at Faux News/Fox Noise/Fox News/Whateverthehell are getting a good laugh at this one. Well, aside from Bill O'Reilly, who believes CBS's Katie Couric is an unfair interviewer who asks tough, "gotcha" questions (look who's talking!), like what newspapers and magazines Palin read.

That is a tough question if you don't read any...

...and it seems Palin doesn't.

Fox reported today Palin can't name the countries in North America and she was unaware Africa is a continent, not a country.

Um, Sarah, I'm pretty sure my thirteen year-old niece knows the answers to those two. I would expect someone seeking the vice-presidency to know that...and a great deal more!

And Sarah isn't cute like Kellie Pickler.

Remember Kellie on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
Kellie didn't know Budapest is the capital of Hungary. She'd never heard of either, thinks Europe is a country, and the people there speak French.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong. Kinda. I'll give her points for knowing French is at least among the languages of Europe, anyway.

I know Sarah is eyeing 2012. Perhaps Kellie will be her running mate! Kind of like a Lucille Ball and Gracie Allen ticket!
Although I'm sure we all would have had a lot more fun watching pros like Lucy and Gracie run for office. Heck, they would have been fun in office! And they would have done a better job at representing America than W did.

Oh!

I almost forgot!

I found it funny the other day when people asked who I thought was going to win: Obama or that lady? They'd completely forgotten McCain was the one running for president! All they could remember was some funny lady was in the race.

Perhaps they were referring to Tina Fey?Confused?

Sarah Palin is. And when she is, she throws tantrums, Fox reports.

There's a lot of Alaskan moose that better watch out. There's an upset, gun-toting governor on the loose!!

Can you say "One term", Sarah?

Ugly

2008-11-05T14:35:00.005+08:00

OK, American readers: You voted, right?

What did you think of the results?

Quite a mandate, electorally speaking, wouldn't you say?

I had a thought as I watched the speeches by both McCain and Obama a few hours ago; and it was not so much about the speeches themselves as the audience. McCain's speech had the kind of tone, substance, and delivery that he should have given to his speeches before the election. It brought out his integrity. The election could have been much closer if he and his campaign team had presented him as such for the past two months. His emotional mention of the passing of Obama's grandmother, just the day before the election, exhibited honest empathy, compassion, and caring for Obama and others who have to deal with such tragedies.

The audience exhibited almost none of the qualities McCain was displaying on stage. At the mention of Obama's name they booed loudly, forcing McCain to gesture them to stop. The look on his face was scolding. It looked as if he would verbally reprimand them. It showed that McCain is not what is wrong with the Republican party, but its members and supporters. They are the high school bullies, the partisan ones, the ones who refuse to see America change to face the challenges of the realities of the new world economically, politically, socially, and environmentally.

Surely Obama crowds booed McCain, you say. If they did, I am unable to find any recorded evidence of it through internet searches. Page after page of search results are all McCain crowds booing and then booing McCain himself when he tells them to be respectful. Republican crowds are like unruly, problem children.

Surely, they received a message tonight. But will they remember it tomorrow? Do they even realize they are so on the wrong side? And no, I'm not talking politics here! I'm talking respect.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

The crowd at Obama's speech in Chicago's Grant Park politely applauded when Obama spoke of McCain.

What's the deal? Well, certainly it is easier not to react inappropriately when your candidate wins, but it goes deeper than that I think. Perhaps it is because of what I said at the beginning. McCain's concession speech tonight had tone, substance, and delivery. Obama has been consistent throughout his campaign in his message, style of delivery, and behavior. His audiences listen, pay attention, and absorb the message. His speeches inspire and his supporters come away with a sense of renewed purpose, of hope, and a desire to make a difference for the good of their home, neighborhood, city, or country. To McCain's supporters, it was all like a high school sporting event. Whooping, hollering, the empty chanting of "U-S-A, U-S-A..." normally heard at Olympic hockey games, and even people shouting that Obama should be killed.

It is the Republican party and its supporters that are truly frightening, ugly people. Their behavior has exhibited the worst of America. In a last-minute act of desperation on the morning of elections in Miami, they had robo calls going out to the Cuban communities saying Fidel Castro had endorsed Obama!

Ugly.

McCain ought to join his friend Joe Lieberman as an Independent, leaving the party of Lincoln (which no longer represents much of what Lincoln upheld).

That would be truly Maverick. It would also crush the party. But maybe that's what is needed to bring it back to some sense of respectability. It would cleanse it of the greed, corruption, lying, hypocrisy, and contempt for the law (US and international) it has come to represent. And maybe (just maybe) they could teach the party members some manners and respect along the way.

I Did. Did You?

2008-11-04T21:57:00.002+08:00

If you're in the US...

...VOTE!

I did...

...and I'm in the Philippines.

You don't have an excuse.

No Warning!

2008-11-04T21:16:00.004+08:00

That's the title I suggested to model/actor Jaws Andrada when he asked what I thought we should call the edited images from a test shoot I did with him the day before Halloween.

Why No Warning, you ask?

Well, Jaws isn't accustomed to working without having a makeup artist, stylist, and other assistants working alongside the photographer. As I said, this was just a test shoot; so none of that was necessary. So there was no concept, no makeup, no stylist, no assistants...just a charged battery and room on the memory card!

What's a test shoot, you're asking?

It's a shoot to see how a model and photographer work together. I needed to do one of Jaws because I had a client ask me to suggest some models to work with on a shoot she is looking to do with me. Jaws and I had communicated about doing a shoot before, but now a simple shoot needed to happen.

No sooner had I completed tweaking the photos, I sent them to Jaws, and he had them up on his Multiply networking site. Another day or two and now the pictures are up on Next Model Men's site. Unlike other sites/blogs that attempt to erase my watermark, I've received complete credit there.

Check them out here and here.

Hot Malling

2008-10-24T17:23:00.007+08:00

Yes....another mall post! It's where our grocery store is (as well as some of our favorite places to eat), and that's why we're there so often.

Anyway, as we were descending the escalator we noticed this larger-than-life Hot Wheels track below!
Actually, there were two of them. The one pictured has tracks set up for kids to play. The other side had a store set up, complete with cases containing the collections of various Hot Wheels afficionados. To assist collectors, the store had a good supply of the current selection of limited-edition and classic re-issue models.

This was like a heaven for someone like me who, as a kid, spent countless hours in make-believe worlds built of Lego brick towns where Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars sped imaginary people about. My brother, sister, and I were all pre-video game, pre-DVD (pre-videotape!), pre-cable television kids. Seventy-five cent die-cast toy cars and a bag of building bricks was all it took to keep us happy. We were not couch potatoes, transfixed by television or video games (which exercise one's hand and eye coordination---right!).

In case you are wondering...yes, I did pick up some of those classic re-issues!

And because I bought them, I also received this:What exactly this does for me or someone's child is going to remain a mystery to me as the details were spelled out on the reverse side in tiny black type over a dark background. Despite my lasik-enhanced eyesight I couldn't read it. But I photographed it here so you could see they had planned for Halloween in that there is room on this form for both the costumer and the marshal. I didn't see anyone dressed as Speed Racer or other race car type, nor Wyatt Earp.

Anyway, I also got my hair cut at the mall. Art, a young barber at Bruno's Barbershop, cut my hair and styled it a bit differently than I'm used to. I liked it, though. Apparently others did too, as almost as soon as I stepped outside the shop into the mall area a young guy crossed my to-be path, looked me in the eye, and said hi.

I continued walking on to meet up with Edson. As I came to a flight of stairs, the guy rushes up from behind and crosses in front of me again, again saying hi.

So I said hi, as it seemed he was going to walk alongside me all the way up the stairs and beyond.

Are you alone?, he asked.

No. I'm with my boyfriend.

Can I have your number?

No. Goodbye.

Ballsy little guy, wasn't he? Still thinks I'm going to give him my number!

When Edson saw me, he liked the hair as well.

So, to Manila guys: if you want people to take notice of you, have Art at Bruno's Barbershop in Glorietta cut your hair. The results are hot!

This is "Malling"?

2008-10-18T11:26:00.004+08:00

I don't know why I haven't posted something like this before.
Seeing a "church" set up in a shopping mall is nothing new here. Indeed, there are those here who are surprised when I say I've never before seen a church set up in a mall like this anywhere in the USA.

Perhaps this would be a way to get shoppers to come to malls in the US. Most US malls seem pretty abandoned compared to those here. It could aid in jump-starting consumer spending in the US (something the whole world is depending on).

Not only would it bring people into malls; it would also force them to compare each other's attire in a proper setting...the church of retail consumption. We all know most people use going to church each Sunday merely to show off to the rest of the congregation. There's probably as much attention paid to comparing dresses, hats, ties, shoes, blouses, accessories, and in some cases I'm sure...undergarments as there is to the preacher (if the preacher is lucky). Why, this way, as soon as services end, the congregation can immediately set out to the various retailers in search of the right clothes to outshine their neighbors the following Sunday!

As the preacher said in closing his sermon: Go thou and do likewise.

Genius, huh?