Big F-ing Oil Spill in Guimaras

Earlier this month (August 11) there was a huge oil spill in Guimaras which is south of Luzon. I guess it is incorrect to state was as the tanker is still at the bottom of the ocean and is leaking oil as we speak. Randomly, while there appears to be local government response, the oil company (Petron) is denying any liability for the spill and is offering a half-assed response.

As luck would have it, this island is a marine reserve as well as an up and coming tourist destination so this has desimated them. http://www.projectsunrise.org/ is the local government link. Sucks ass.

Cross Stitching

I have taken up cross stitching. The randomness of this new hobby is I do not even really like the way a finished cross stitch design looks.

Sunny Days

After seemingly endless rain, we had sunny weather yesterday! Because of the heat from direct sun, one will often see more umbrellas on a sunny day than a rainy one. Even though the temperature goes up, the sun is a welcome change.

Today I have my tagalog lesson and then tonight we go to a party for the 20th anniversary of a friends company. It should be an awesome day.

On a side note: my brother-in-law has taken to trying to feed me frog soup every night. What is that about? I do not do frogs. This is why everybody here likes my mom better than me...she will eat anything and what's more, she actually enjoys whatever it is. Ribbit.

PLDT Stinks

I have taken to calling PLDT every day to try and obtain DSL service.

Everything here is just too S L O W

Still no DSL at home. The issues never fucking end. First they stated the lines inside the house did not work. We replaced them all. Now the phone line from the street to the house needs to be repaired. Not our problem, right? The phone company would fix? Nope. PLDT (the carrier) should fix it but the chances of that happening in the next couple of weeks or months is not great. I am stuck with PLDT because we are in such a ghetto area of Manila, most companies will not put their services here. Apparently either the physical cable gets stolen or too many people hook up to everything illegally. This is why we have cable television that has 10-15 channels and 12-14 of them are so blurry it is impossible to watch. Randomly the psycho religious channel always comes in good. I started to inquire about satellite but I have been warned against it because people will just climb onto my roof and steal the dish.

I have days where I just get tired of it. I am sick of local websites that never work (from government to private companies). I am sick of having milk that tastes like powder. I am sick of the mosquitoes biting my feet. I am sick of waiting for our house to be built. I am sick of waiting for fucking EVERYTHING.

To boot, I am actually sick right now which probably is why I am in such a shitty mood.

Raining Bullets

So last night at about midnight, my nephew was getting ready for bed when a bullet came through his ceiling and almost hit him.

Luckily it missed.

Weird thing is he is on the third floor and in the tallest house on the block.

How to get a drivers license in the Philippines

Here are the steps required to get a drivers license in the PI:

1. Drive to LTO and skip the line to meet with the local chief
2. Complete paperwork
3. Go across street and receive tiny plastic bottle
4. Go into restroom
5. Roll pants up to avoid two inches of standing water on floor
6. Try to pee in tiny bottle
7. Wash pee off hands from misfire
8. Cry about lack of toilet paper in bathrooms in the Philippines
9. Dig around in purse for tiny piece of toilet paper with blotted lipstick on it.
10. Wipe
11. Hand bottle over and receive paper stating no drugs in system
12. Go find Ado who tells you she did not have to use bathroom so she got a fake receipt.
13. Get eyes checked. Receive receipt.
14. Go back to LTO...Chief has stepped out so we have to sit with masses of people.
15. Sit next to Ado on bench while she sleeps.
16. Get kicked out of LTO by security guard.
17. Determine was kicked out due to flip-flops and some lady who was wearing them and denied entrance made a stink and got us all kicked out.
18. Stand outside and give lady dirty look.
19. Hear name called and go inside wearing Ado's shoes (two sizes too small for me).
20. Go across street and steal Kuya's shoes (two sizes too big for me). Give him my slippers to wear.
21. Sit in LTO and talk to a couple from San Jose. Exchange local numbers for sightseeing advice.
22. Chief comes back, pushes us to front of line and we receive our licenses.