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Today, 22 Feb, I went to do a video of one side of Magsaysay Blvd. I only got about 1/8 of the way through and it started to rain too much for me to take a chance with the camera. I was not so concerned about myself, but I have had enough trouble with my camera phones since I’ve been here that I don’t want to create another one. I’ll try again on a brighter day. However on the other side of that, I guess I’m going to have to start using sun block when I go out in the sun, at least on my arms. It looks like I inherited my mother’s tendency to get skin cancer. I keep getting splotches on my arm. They go away, but I noticed one here recently that is worse than normal. Hopefully it will fade also. I have some sun block here that we got from Walgreens in Texas, but we have had that for about 4 years. I just never use sun block or sun tan lotion. I guess I’ll have to learn. The one we have is still creamy, not watery and I do not see an expiration date on it. I’m not even sure they have expiration dates, but it’s all I have for now, so it will have to do.
If you have been reading and read my last post: https://texaninthephilippines.com/2014/02/18/zine-71-new-phone-yelling/ then you know it’s been a few days since I’ve done a post. It’s also been a few days since that first paragraph, so lets see what’s been going on? I have not been back downtown to try to redo the video. That mark on my arm is fading, just slowly. When it is gone, I’ll go redo the video. I figure by the end of the first full week of March it should be gone almost completely if not totally gone. I’ll look around downtown for some sun block, hopefully one that tans also. I need to pay the internet bill soon anyway. Finding tanning lotion here could be difficult because Filipinos have this thing about trying to be whiter. Go figure. I guess that helps prove that people are never satisfied. White people trying to be brown and brown people trying to be white.
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Juvic and Grace. Even when they are out eating they are glued to those cell phones, taking pictures, texting and using the internet
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Today I noticed that we ‘could’ get tickets for a total of a little less than P6200 for 2 people, 1 way to Seoul Korea. Travel dates are within the time we need to exit for our annual trip. It’s easier to get Space A out of Korea than it is Clark, but we decided to not buy the tickets. We plan to try to get out Space A again from Clark anyway. We’ll probably regret not getting the tickets because we won’t be able to get out Space A again and have to do something expensive again like last year. I’m working on it though, I’ll figure out something, somehow, it’s still a few more months until August.
I may never be a Master Chef, but I’m sure getting good at cooking what “I” like to eat. My problem is remembering exactly how I made what I did so I can repeat it. I suppose I could write it down, but I never know beforehand if it’s going to turn out good or taste like crap. Anyway, since I do forget, next time when I try, it comes out a little different and then I learned something else about what ingredients work together.
On 26 Feb we went to Mar’s house for the 27th birthday party of Maryanne. It was mostly the typical Filipino food, but I had fried chicken, rice and cake. The iced tea they had was very good. It was flavored with apples and oranges. I was also forced to drink some Red Horse, but I have since forgiven them. Victor and I shared 2 liters of Red Horse, but I know I got the bigger share. They had small glasses, not like my glass, so it didn’t seem like I was really drinking so much. Victor had to drive home though so he probably took it a little easy.
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Party girl Maryanne with her husband Leevan
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Payday, 28 Feb. Lita and I went downtown to get the money and buy a few things. She made me buy a chair for outside. I didn’t think it was necessary, but it wasn’t a big thing to have an argument about, so I just bought one. I did have to make sure it was plastic (to withstand the rain), had a big seat (to hold my big butt) and had strong enough legs to hold me up for long periods of time. I got the best one I could find with those criteria, but there is not much to choose from around here.
Back at the house she made my favorite chicken treats. That would be hot peppers wrapped with chicken breast meat and then all wrapped in bacon. There is suppose to be cheese in there also, but we didn’t have any cheese. Also it tastes best baked, but since we have no oven, it had to be fried. It’s still good either way.
Juvic has a small blender looking thing and she is getting ready to make mango milk shakes. She couldn’t get it to work. A couple of people looked at it and they couldn’t get it to work either. I took a shot at it and I figured out the problem. I’m only mentioning this because it’s not often that I do find the problem after a couple of others have checked it out already. It was a simple problem. The tube was not ‘locked’ into the base. It was on, but it won’t work unless it is locked in place. I hear the shakes could have used a little more sugar, but I didn’t taste them. They used that sweet condensed milk and I don’t like that stuff.
Okay, enough. Right now I only have enough notes for 1 more post after this, so I hope something interesting happens soon. Nothing bad, just interesting. Thanks for reading.
Salamat Y’all
In regards to the “wanting to be lighter” observation, it has been explained to me by my wife that it’s a status symbol of sorts… lighter skin means that you haven’t been outside in the fields, etc, so it implies you are a person of means (whether or not that is true is irrelevant, as it is the APPEARANCE of being well off that is important), who doesn’t have to do hard. physical labor.
I’ve never heard that before. I know that when I was young I did lots and lots of outside physical labor. As I got older I learn an inside trade of running computers. Of course that made me lazier and now I’m fatter, so maybe I should have learned to be a carpenter or a mechanic. I think I’ll ask some of these young people why they want to be “lighter”.
I’m not sure how legitimate that explanation is, it’s just the only one I’ve heard regarding the matter. It may just be a matter of “the grass is always greener.”
Sometimes, when I’m feeling playful and someone asks me where I’m from, I tell them in Tagalog that I’m a native from Binan… I just use a lot of whitening soap. Usually gets a chuckle or two.
I have noticed, though, that I rarely have a need to use any sort of screen here. Usually I have to lather it on, but I’ve used it only twice since moving here, and both of those were just because we were at beaches with no shade.
I’d get that splotch on your arm looked at… should just cost a couple hundred pesos, and better safe than sorry…
You know Trick, I don’t normally use the stuff either. I just thought I should to try to avoid more splotches. The ones I have are just about gone. By next week they will be completely gone, but if they come back as heavy as this last one did, I think I will see a doctor about it. As you and Heidi have pointed out, and are correct, better safe than sorry, but I think not for what I have now. If the sun block doesn’t help, then I really should see if there is something I can do besides wearing long sleeves out in this humidity. Most of my shirts have ‘no’ sleeves.
John, you should get that abnormal splotch on your arm checked out by a doctor. Better be safe than sorry.
Well it’s almost gone now Heidi. I get them when I go out in the sun too much and my mom gets them too. She covers up when she goes out now. I still need to learn. It’s one of the reasons why my exercising is not progressing. The other part is because I don’t get off my butt enough to go out.
John how is weight loss program going havnt heard anything on that.Do you know you can buy a little oven looks a lot like the toaster ovens
only bigger we had on in Subic worked great wife baked chicken,cakes and even fish,it cost around 4000 peso.
Weight loss is going as good as it normally does …. not so good.
I have heard of the toaster ovens, but it always seems to be a bad time for us to try to get anything extra. It took a long time just to get our water heater. We will look for one of those toaster ovens when we go to Angeles, but that probably won’t be until May. Not positive we will have the ‘around P4000’ to spare then, but we’ll see. Thanks for the info though Wayne. I’d like to have one of those.
Wayne, now that I reread you comment without the Red Horse in me, I see you said “like” a toaster oven, not “a” toaster oven. Did you buy that in Subic? We would really be interested in one of those. I suppose it’s electric and you just plug it in when you want to use it? Or does it run on the propane? I’ll check at whatever passes for an appliance store here, but we will probably be going to Angeles in a couple of months if they don’t have them here. I’d like to be able to have lasagna again, but most especially my chicken treats taste better baked than fried.
Yes John that has happened to me a few times when i am having to much fun.They didnt have a SM store in Subic back then so we drove to Angeles and bought it there.Yes it is electric
and Resiel said she could bake six chicken legs at one time in it,you could bake a small Lsagna in it.That was about the time i started to stay away from fried foods,it helped me drop a few pounds.We have 30 days till we head your way will be to go somewhere
warm.
Okay good so maybe we will find it in Angeles in May. Only 6 chicken legs? Well I guess we could cook 2 breasts in there then. I don’t need much lasagna anyway.
Cool, see you in about 35-40 days then, probably.
Big Jon. Brother bite the bullet and get the tickets to Korea, I bet in the long run it will be cheaper for ya. Not only is flying space A like betting the rent on rolling a hard 8 (little craps metaphor there). I bet if you break out pencil and paper and assume you’ll wait a day or two for a seat and figure in hotel, meals, meriandas, tricycle fares to and from the base, impulse items, (a beer here and there 😉 ) etc etc and then the mental anguish. But just my opinion and worth the exact amount that you paid for it lololol.
Well it definitely is a thought. We might have come up with another solution, but I’m not exposing that here. You’ll have to read my next post to find out what else we ‘might’ do.