Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

Heps! Sorry I can't blog here for the next month. Please visit my personal blog on MySpace at myspace.com/shortfilipino.

For photos on my current trip please visit my Flickr page.

Why? I've finally reached the hitch in my blogging life that i've been dreading.

Filipeanut.com needs some changing in the backend in order for me to successfully blog on this website. Im currently writing this post from my cousin's computer in Bohol and he has no Photoshop. In Manila, I used my laptop to transfer the template. In Bohol, I become lazy. Enough said.

The photos you see above each entry are made with a template I have in Photoshop. I've always asked myself what I would do if I wanted to post something without a photo, well, I found out that i'd end up posting on my personal MySpace blog (as opposed to my Filipeanut myspace that i hardly even bother checking anymore).

Plus, Filipeanut.com is not WC3 compliant. That needs to change, especially when I have plans to blog remotely even more in the future. I need to do the following things:

-Recode my site with total CSS.
-*Maybe* change my backend to Wordpress from Movable Type.
-Buy a QWERTY phone that i can take photos, video, and blog from. (Either Iphone or Blackberry Bold or even Windows Mobile).
-Learn karate

Hope to be back here in a month or two with an all new backend!

Im so damn tired. But happy I spent a whole day with 3 great kids. Lester, 10 years old with a colostomy, Marjun who is 8 with a colostomy, and Gerald with a facial deformity and who tried pizza for the first time today.

After the lengthy but very informational doctor's appointment Tita Len asked me to stay with the kids and their parents while she went out to take care of some final errands for them. She went out to find a place for them to stay for the month while they proceeded with all their pre-surgery examinations.

I discovered that, although strangers to each other at first, they already had formed a brotherly alliance with each other on the boat ride here when I handed Gerald some tokens in the mall's arcade area. "Na hatag pud ka tokens para ni Marjun ug si Lester???" (Did you give tokens to Marjun and Lester too?).

I've been splitting up tokens among children all my life. I am the token token-splitter both in the Philippines and the United States. But his question was definitely a first for me so my eyes welled up. "Go ahead young man," as I cried tears of happiness, "go on and play like you've never played before!" And then he skipped off into the valley of fun and games as I sat down and cried.

That last part was made-up, but Gerald definitely displayed valor and I soon grew even more fond of the little guys and their families.

After some ice cream and checkin' out the ladies at the mall, the boys and I went outside when all of a sudden the ground shook. We looked up and noticed that one of the buildings in the area became disembodied by what it seemed to be a HUGE flying dragon waving a tail with a huge menacing sea urchin at the end!

Ok that last part was also made-up. That's what happens when you hang out with people who still have imagination (people without imagination just got served!)

Anyway, now that phase 1 has turned out better (and waaay faster) than expected, i'll be going to Bohol to visit my mom even sooner. Day 3 is done and 3 kids are about to experience the time of their lives. Off to bed.

I just got back from the pier after getting acquainted with the 2 of the 3 kids who will be receiving surgeries (Gerald was picked-up early by his family in Manila before I could become a bad influence to him). It was great to finally match at least 2 personalities to the faces in photos used for my aunt's website (warning website plug... epps too late).

The photo above is of Lester who needs a closure done on his colostomy. That photograph was taken when he was seen by a doctor last year. The photo on the right is of Lester and I annoying passengers, taken an hour ago on the pier after they arrived.

Tomorrow we'll all meet at the Ospital ng Maynila to meet with Dr. Troncales to start getting things running at the hospital in terms of pre-surgery visits and preparations.

Im finally getting used to the weather again. Earlier today we visited the flea market at the divisoria and had some rambutan. Why does rambutan look so damn freaky? Usually living things with odd protrusions are poisonous and deadly, like lion fish or ugly-ass caterpillars. Whatever.

Damn im sticky. And tired. Ever since we arrived at 3am this morning (September 3rd here in Manila), my aunt and I have been fueled by our adrenaline. At this point I think my aunt's adrenaline has been used up because she just KO'ed, dead asleep on her bed. 12 hours after our arrival we finally settled into our room. It's 3pm now.

My aunt decided last week that we'd be spending our first few days at the Manila Hotel, a very old hotel with huge wood-laden interiors preserved from the Spanish-era. This place reminds of the movie "The Shining" so enough of that.

The children whom she's been waiting to schedule surgeries for will be arriving tomorrow night. And we are very excited for that.

We spent our first 12 hours here making the usual post-arrival errands like buying sim cards, buying pesos, getting fat, sweating, and meeting our driver Alex.

As my aunt scoped the Malate area for cheaper hotels closer to the hospital, Alex "educated" me on some minor tidbits in the area. He pointed out the D.O.M's with their G.R.O's (Dirty Old Men with their "Guest Relations Officers") as my aunt teased that I should look for a G.R.O myself. No, I don't think so.

It's been a long time since I felt I was doing something novel. Soaking in all the new information, absorbing the new smells, directions, Tagalog words, way of life, sounds, and starting a completely different diet, helped me remember that a human being can actually withstand a tsunami of information to the senses. So this how its like to feel alive. Im also guessing that this was how it was like being born.

Im still debating whether to take an airplane (an hour ride) or a boat (a 24 hour ride) to Bohol for my 2nd and final leg of my trip (the boat ride is much cheaper). If there is anything I learned from my aunt today, a person I barely even know, its that finding out things as you go is way more productive than finding out nothing as you do nothing.

My mom and I used to bring 2 boxes each, weighing 70 lbs, when visiting relatives in the Philippines. On top of that we'd send 4 boxes one month before our departure via sea cargo so that at the time of our arrival, our family would be ripping open 10 boxes full of gifts ranging from yellow cans of Nesquik to tennis rackets.

Today, im by myself and the weight limit is now down to 50 lbs. I wish I could bring back more but unfortunately im still broke. As long as the following life-giving necessities have been purchased for my mom and her immediate family, im in the clear:

1) Sheseido lipstick, color code P23

2) Oil of Olay lotion with SPF 15 for sensitive skin

3) Cavity-inducing Twizzler's and bubble gum.

4) Jack Daniels and Bulleit Whiskey.

5) The books Twilight and Sisterhood of the Graveling Pants or some shit for my nieces.

6) T-shirts, toy guns, and my old sneakers for my nephews.

Ideally, if I was a bit more affluent, I would have brought my cousins the hottest basketball shoes, authentic Gucci bags, and real guns, but that'll have to wait until next year's trip. And since when did Oil of Olay come in sensitive skin AND SPF 15?? That's like having your cake and eating it too!!!!

A few months ago I contemplated my life's purpose. When I finally figured it out, I began to make decisions accordlingly and very quickly. I called my aunt to help sell my house and found a children's clinic from my mom's home province of Bohol to help out. The next phase of my "plan" is to do more freelance work and work on my own, but that part of my plan hasn't occurred yet. Despite that, a few months later the seeds of some of those decisions are coming into fruition. At which point I finally decided to document my quest.

Today my real estate agent and good friend of my aunt had called me to congratulate me on the final recording that took place this afternoon (the house is officially sold). I don't even remember when I called my aunt to sell my house, but I remember hearing from her and Yahoo! that selling a house would be quite difficult. After all, it was a short sell, meaning that I wouldn't even be making money. Despite all that, getting rid of it would give me more time and money to do more important things. Lastly, im going to the Philippines this Monday to help schedule surgeries for 3 children from Bohol. It feels good to finally be of use again. So 2 of the 3 initial plans I made a few months before is pretty much knocked out of the way.

So I feel good, but im still bracing myself for any hitch in the road. The next big step is moving out of my beloved Uncle's house and actually fending for myself and cultivating my freelance career. Now that things are coming into play, i've also decided to document my trek in pursuing my life's purpose and trying to ensure that my plans and goals are met.

I kinda sorta feel like im Froto from The Lord of the Rings. Im pretty short and I only have a few close friends and family who are quite hairy but hilarious. But despite the "adventure" I am about to partake, it is a lonely road. And if all goes according to plan, I might die in a volcano. Which sucks. Yet im reminded of a quote everytime I think of such things... damn I forgot what it was. It was something like, "Life makes you, or you make life." Na that wasn't it. T minus 4 days 'til departure!

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. People really need help but may attack if you help them. Help people anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind. Think big anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

Im going back to the Philippines on Sept 1st to visit my mom and help out my aunt with her nonprofit. Im broke and might lose my job leaving for a month. Am I crazy for doing it anyway? Well i'd be crazy if I didn't! (Partial text above from Kent M. Keith).