Every time someone asks me "What are you here for?" I have a different answer. Fun. Adventure. To "find myself". For the experience. For the mangos. To escape the heat. Just because I wanted to, and had the money from selling The Beast (the love of my life, my 1968 Ford Galaxie). I have a different answer everyday, and a different answer for every person. It is freedom from reason that brings me to the wonderful places where I meet interesting people. Simply put, my reason for being here is that I don't need a reason, and that reason is good enough for me.

I spent the last weekend in a hammock on the beach. It is a hard life but somebody has to live it. I had a lot of time to read, reflect, pray, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. I ate crab stuffed with coconut, fresh shimp with lime, and an interesting dish made from liver and lung...

Now that I am back in the jungle (aka metro Manila), I can truly appreciate certain things that we take for granted back in the States. Here are some of them...

-Speed limits.
-Maximum Occupancy levels in public transportation. Being a head taller than 99% of the country, I have been in some unwanted awkward situations in super crowded trains. I am reminded of a Chris Tucker line from Rush Hour 2-"Who touched my butt?!....do it again".
-Taxis that don't refuse to drive you. Here in Manila you must ask if the driver will be so kind as to take you where you want to go. If he doesn't want to go that way, he will just look for another customer. I was under the impression that they take you where you want to go. I guess not.
-Bathrooms with toilet paper. Be prepared. Enough said.
-Toilets that flush. No comment.
-Sidewalks. Many areas were designed as if there was no design.
-Actual coffee. No, not instant. I think the UN should have a summit about the international banning of instant coffee.
-Lack mistranslated things/places No, I would not like to eat at Kiss King of Balls, and what is an "emergency door cock" anyway?
-Ps and Fs. Here in the Pilippines, feople mix the Ps and Fs. Yes, I have visited many "non-fropit organizations", and yes they are "berry berry pun". Did I mention I went to a Pish Port?
-City planning.
-Security protocols. I am constantly asking the security guards, "Wow arent you going to take me to dinner or buy me a drink first?" No guns or bombs right there...
-Clean air. Between the pollution and the cigarette smoke I can understand why some people walk around with masks or rags covering their nose and mouth.
-Garbage collection. Trash, especially those stupid plastic bags, has become a terminal disease for the environment (a perfect example is how the rivers have turned black and in some areas have a smell so bad that your nose hairs get singed).

Now, normally I am very understanding when it comes to the different or strange quirks in every culture. But there is one thing that I can't understand, and maybe I never will, and that is the love that Filipinos have for karaoke (and my favorite recipe for a fun night=karaoke+reverb). This weekend I woke up at 4 am to catch the sunrise on the beach from my hammock. I was being lulled to sleep from the lapping of the waves, and woken up from the drunken serenading of a heavily accented tone deaf man's "artistic interpretation" of all the top love songs from the 80s.
Shakespeare once wrote, "If music be the food of love, play on". What many people don't know is that the next sentence is "and if music is the food of love, then karaoke is food poisoning".
Just kidding. Ish. Or as many Pilipinos would say after a sarcastic remark, "Jokes!"