Hello all,

I've put this blog together for a couple of reasons. They are as follows.

First, I wanted people to have a place where they can go and not be judged...except by me...and usually harshly.

Secondly, I heard that carbon dioxide was ruining the blogosphere and I wanted to do my part to freshen it up.

Where I am:

...So right now I'm in Makati, which is a section of Manila, The Philippines...which is in a part of the world that you are not.

I'm staying and working here through the middle of March and so far having as good a time as you can working 12-16 hours a day mostly overnight.

One thing you might not know is that the insects here are enormous...here's a picture of one attacking a building.

Manila is a very developed place, it seems to be made up of enormous shopping malls connected to one another by even larger shopping malls, all of them full. Almost all of the people here work in some form of service or hospitality industry... so as near as I can tell, this means that at any given moment, one half of the people are working in the mall while the other half shop there...twice a day a bell rings and they switch places.

Some things about the locals:

People here speak a mixture of English and Tagalog in a rapid fire way that makes you feel like you are in the middle of an auction. Here's a clip from a game show that seems to be on most of the time...or maybe it's several game shows that are exactly alike shown back to back...hard to tell. The goal here appears to be to pick the right sphere and win a prepaid phone card...which causes folks to go apeshit.

Just about everyone I've met here is extremely polite and virtually everyone you see on the street greets you and rushes around to help you to the point of making a fuss. In fact, coming here from a western culture is probably very like what people must have experienced in the British colonial era. You ask for something...sugar for your coffee, some extra ice, an omelet made out of Faberge' eggs...anything...and they run off after it at a dead sprint....if you tip them anything at all they name a child after you...there seems to be a person at work who's whole job is to make sure I have a full plate of cookies at all times...it's not at all compatible with the white, American guilt impulse...but it will be an adjustment coming back to the callous and impersonal U.S.

Things to come:

In upcoming posts I plan to talk about what it's like to commute, shop, play eat & drink here...but here's a couple pictures to wet your appetite....later. Brian