Here is a link to the *proper* way to use chopsticks, which I don't use ( Read more... )

Here are some amateur video clips to show some of the local flavor of the Philippines that typically is not shown very well in a travel magazine. I did not create them but they are close enough to being as bad as what I would create that I thought I would share the links ( Read more... )

I want to try and update this more often. Since I am living in this country, I should try and record my thoughts and opinions a little more. Already I have forgotten a lot of my feelings about Japan. Today was another example of frustration. I went to get my old phone blocked by the phone company, because I "lost" it recently in a taxi. Lost ( Read more... )

Grade B-. Because of my past time spent living in Japan I was very interested in watching Lost in Translation. I finally had the chance, and was left feeling lukewarm about the movie. However it was enjoyable on two levels. First, it helped remind me of the energy, irony, contrasts, and people of Japan. I think that the movie was fairly ( Read more... )

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Funny enough, the cultural observation that I found the most interesting recently was not related to Filipinos, but to the Japanese. I was reading an article about the affect on culture in cross-cultural teams on IT projects when I read this, "Japanese are very careful about where they sit, as seats connote rank and power; Americans sit wherever ( Read more... )

I realized recently how far behind I am on my correspondence. I remembered that I still need to call a friend back after our phone conversation was interrupted. That phone conversation was interrupted over 1 year ago!

After waking up this morning I wanted some light in my den/kitchen area, so I hit two lights switches simultaneously. Just as I flipped them, one of the lights in the chandelier exploded with a loud pop. A hundred or so mostly tiny fragments escaped out the top of the glass casing that had been surrounding the now nonexistent bulb. One fragment ( Read more... )

Grade C-. Animation. I decided to review this one because it was so bad. It was brainless and had bad humor, over the top "stunts" (up till the absolute very end), and a flimsy love story. Brad Pitt's voice does not fit a pirate. There is no explanation at all why the goddess is so convinced that Sinbad has a "black" heart. (SPOILER WARNING ( Read more... )

Well I just got back to Cebu a few days ago from my trip to the USA. It was great to get back to the USA for a while. I love looking at America from a "foreigners" eyes. I can marvel at the wide clean roads, the huge stores, the variety of races and foods. I was equally great to see my family again. I only wish I didn't have to suffer from jet ( Read more... )