In A Whirled Of Slings And Arrows...

Dear Friends,
I want to thank all of you who wrote to express your good wishes and happiness concerning my darlin’ Celine’s lack of injuries from the altercation with the 'Jealous Woman' whom I wrote about in the last article, Is She Jealous? I admit, I was surprised to hear from you. It seemed just like good neighbors or friends being concerned about one of their own. So thank you for your gracious, kind words.
When I opened my mail I found a number of email’s from my readers waiting to be read. Some made me smile, others laugh. I called Celine to my little work-space, “Darlin,’ come here a moment.” She did. I said, “Sweetie-pie, you’ve got friends!”
“Huh?”
“You’ve got friends, darlin,’ writing about your fight with that crazy woman. Look at your fan mail.” And I read them to her. She just half-grinned and shook her head; she’s still pretty mystified by the Internet and world-wide connections to other people.
I read one from someone named Mark, I believe, as I got it from his email address, and the email was unsigned. In part it read, “I'm thinking it may be a long while before that lady steps on anyone’s toes again! Sounds like Celine opened a large can of Whoop Ass on her!” The portion, “…can of Whoop Ass,” really made me laugh because it’s so American in its slang and meaning, and I was thinking about how I’d explain that to Celine. Well, Mark, I did my best with, “It means ‘to beat someone vigorously’, or to ‘kick someone’s ass’ (which she understands somewhat), or to have a one-sided fight in which one person does all the beating and the other person does all the suffering.” She only looked at the wall, and I could see by her thousand-yard stare that a “large can of Whoop Ass” made no sense to her at all. It was lost in translation and the humor slipped by while I struggled to give it meaning. It’s all part of the scenery in the loving collision of two cultures.
I should tell you all that Celine saw that woman and her husband at NCCC the other day. Celine told me the woman had a very angry face, and was trying to get over to where Celine was pushing her cart, but the man had a firm grip on her arm and kept jerking her back to him. Celine just ignored her.
You know, I forgot to mention that in one of the previous episodes when that same stupid woman went to Celine and told her to stop flirting with her husband, Celine told her, “I’m not interested in your husband, he’s far too ugly for me to be interested in. And if you don’t want you husband to look at me, you should put a paper bag over his head and lead him around.” Naturally, that only enraged her more. Women can be an unfathomable breed. Filipina’s can be down-right strange sometimes.

I’ve never heard of some of you good folks before, and that also surprised me. It seems my blog has a following I was unaware of. Few people write to me to say they like what I’m writing or my writing style, or what they want me to write about, what they’re interested in, or what information they hope to get out of my blog. You mostly come to my site and then you go again, silently. That’s fine; I’m not here for the praise. But sometimes my impression is that no one is out there in that pixilated ethereal egg-shell where my blog resides. It would be nice if you sometimes left a foot-print that told me, like in an old Tarzan movie, when I kneel over a smelly piece of scat and glean information from the aroma and the warmth, “Hmm, people have passed here recently.” Of course, Jane would only look upon my odious endeavor with open revulsion and then make me wash my hands.

I am grateful, though, for the nice email’s to and for Celine. It was very nice. Thank you.

This morning I went to the hospital to have the stitches removed from my finger. It looks fairly good – at least there’s no infection. Now I only have a piece of gauze tape covering it. It makes it somewhat easier to type without that miniature punching bag that tormented my keyboard. When I asked Dr. Maypa for a clearer understanding of whether a nail would ever grow there again, he back-stepped and said he didn’t know if one would or not. “Come back in two months,” he said, "and I’ll take X-rays to see if there’s still nail growing. If there is, then I’ll have to open the finger (Again!) and cut out the cells that produce the nail. And we’ll see if I need to carve the fingertip to make it slimmer." No more driving into door-jambs for me. Having to see the local saw-bones' just ain't worth it.

Ya’ll come back soon, too, in your quiet way, because I’ll soon have another article posted entitled, “Let’s Get Physical,” which will probe deeper into the cultural differences of strict discipline and obedience, family roles and corporal punishment between East and West. Plus you’ll get a much abbreviated look at my own upbringing (How I developed my less than standard American personality) and, lucky you, a few of my personal opinions. Sticky stuff, that – sharing opinions. Best of all, however, you’ll get some first-hand opinions from Celine and insight into her thoughts on family, a wife's behavior and place, and some women's need for a good beating. I think you may be very surprised at what she has to share.
Could you help but notice the new pictures of Celine, above? Most were taken last week – some in Santa Cruz, Palawan where her family lives. A few were shot at my rental house, and the beach scenes were taken in Makirawa to the north of Puerto Princesa. Also, take a close look at the bamboo house (I’ll show more soon) and notice how it’s built. Like most “houses,” it was built from natural local products taken from the forest and hand built by the owner. If civilization ever falls apart (easy there, George!): while the great majority of Westerner’s in general and American’s in particular will simply sit down and die from lack of handy-craft ability and “good service” from those who now keep them well-fed and groomed, the Pinoy will just go on as usual. Minus the cd’s and television.

I just fired-up my DSL to go to ETP and post this, and my email program spit out six more email’s. This one came from Jim E. Thank’s, Jim, for the nice words. Golly-Gee!

“Rik, you don't have to apologize to us, your readers! It's not as if you exist only to entertain or inform us... Your dedication and your honest character are a value in themselves! But we DO appreciate all the info! Jim E.”

Yer welcome, Jim. And good fortune to all of you.
Rik