Viewer Comments/Questions and Answer LIVECAST from 9.27.17

 

Today is Thursday, September 27, 2017, the first day of the rest of our lives…  Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift – that’s why it’s called the present!  Or at least so I am told….

Welcome to the Philippine Dreams bi-monthly subscriber comment and question Livecast, where I regularly attempt to make half-hearted efforts to respond to viewer comments and answer your questions – mostly with made up answers. I will be alternating these types of Livecasts with the more news-centric “This Week in the Philippines” every other week.  So, one week I will be doing a “Viewer Comments and Questions” Livecast and the next I will be doing a ‘newish’ This Week in the Philippines cast.  Now I know that Livecasts are not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, they are a quick and easy way to connect with viewers live during the stream.

The Livestream’s comment section is open.  As always, feel free to ask questions, goof around but just try to keep it respectful and moderately civil.  If you’re gonna troll the LiveChat, you’re most likely going to be banned, which will force you to come back next time with another anonymous troll account. 

This week we’ll be talking Taco Bell, not taking expat vlogger advice, difficulties in finding quality hand lotions, the glorious realities of life in the Third World, and Golden Rich talking about just how boring my videos are.

But first….

This Weeks Corporate Sponsor

This week’s corporate sponsor is Chasing Your Philippine Dream: An Expats Guide to the Philippines.  Covering virtually every possible topic relevant to preparing and surviving long term life as a foreign expat in the Philippines, the book comes with a one hundred percent money back guarantee.  If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, shoot me an email and I will glady (if sadly) refund your money.  God’s honest truth – In all the years that the book has been available, I have only had one request for a refund – and that was because the guy thought it was an actual physical book.  My 450+ e-book is pretty damn good, and for $10.95 it’s an absolute bargain. You can find the link to the book down in the video description box.

Or, you can get it by clicking HERE.

YouTube
Yeah, YouTube hates my Livecasts.  Thus far, I haven’t had one that’s yet passed the demonetization appeal process. So, in short, these shows are a freebie.  Just yet another example of what a selfless and thoroughly altruistic great guy I am!!  (And humble, may I add.)

Patreon:  If you’ve found what I do to be of some value, consider supporting the ongoing efforts on my Patreon site. 

And continued thanks once again to everyone who has supported this site. It is sincerely appreciated!

Open Channel and Website
Philippine Dreams is now an open channel.  If you are a smaller channel and are looking for free promotion, shoot me an email at myphilippinedreams@gmail.com .  This applies to both foreigners living in the Philippines and native Filipinos. If you are a musician, part of a dance crew, possessed of beautifully sublime travel vlogs, knowledgeable on Filipino culture, traditions and mythology, an avid scuba diver or snorkeler – or just about anything and everything to do with the Philippines, this offer is for you.  Same applies to my website:  If you want to guest write an article relating your experiences or expectations of living in the Philippines, just let me know. 

In short, Philippine Dreams is no longer my channel.  It’s our channel.

NOTE: I will have final say on what does and does not get posted.  Gotta try to maintain some semblance of quality…..

TRIVIA QUESTION

Last week’s trivia question:
This former professional wrestler was probably one of the greatest “heel” (bad guy) commentators of all time.  Teamed up with his “face” partner, Gorilla Monsoon, this lifetime entertainer just passed away this week at the age of 72.  The correct answer was of course Bobby “The Brain” Heenan  and Tim W. and Doug the Painting Guy  were both sent a free copy of my ebook, Chasing Your Philippine Dream:  An Expat’s Guide to the Philippines.

This week’s trivia question:

Filipinos – like people of all nations around the world – are at times guilty of some decidedly odd behaviors.    This week’s trivia question is:  What is the first thing a good number of Filipinos do after stepping off of an escalator or an elevator.  There ae actually two possible answers to this question. The first two people to email the name of this odd behavior to myphilippinedreams@gmail.com get a free copy of our book, a $10.95 value at any of your local book retailers.

Note that no one actually answered this one correctly – what I was looking for was something along the lines of “stop.”

 

Now, with that out of the way, let’s get to the questions and comments!  Keep in mind that when they are actual quotes, I have not made any corrections to the text – I am putting them up as they were posted or sent.

Jason Rougeau commenting on Honda Click Update Video
“Sooooo, do chicks in this country prefer young, handsome, attractive men with muscles and a male stripper physique like women in any other country, or do the tend to prefer the older, more “mature” men? Just kidding dude, keep up the nice work!”

ME: The answer to your question is yes and yes.  Thanks, Jason, and I will ceaselessly endeavor to live up to the low expectations that I set for myself.

Peter Vandever notes on the Girls Got Flair Video
“Hi Ned.  Love your work, and I am trying to develop my own video channel, thus far with mixed results.  One thing I can’t stand about the Philippines is the near total lack of Taco Bells.  Well, that and the lack of quality hand cream in the Philippines.  All the stuff they have here has all that whitening stuff in it which makes one palm a lot whiter than the other.  Thanks and keep up the great work!”

ME:  Thanks for that, Peter.  I am not a big fan of Taco Bell, and I wouldn’t consider the epitome of American fast food.  I do know that they do have nice free wi-fi and that you get a good amount of privacy at them since they don’t get many in-resto business.  As for the hand lotion, I really don’t understand why you need it in the Philippines as it is always so dang humid.

Milton Waddams on Giving Money to the Family
“Read hundreds of comments. No wonder in the provinces there are so many work-age people who have no work but are spending money every day – their daughters married foreigners and are sending money home. This screws up the country as a large portion of population just sits around doing nothing. Don’t send money, people need to survive by using their own wit.”

ME:  Oh, here we go again….

Are there some cases in the Philippines where families basically survive (or thrive) from monies sent from OFW family members working overseas or from allowances from sons and daughters married/in a relationship with Filipinos or Filipinas?  Yes, undoubtedly so.  But keep in mind that the majority of Filipinos cannot simply “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and become prosperous.  Unlike most of us in the West, the Philippines is plagued by a variety of ailments that make creating individual wealth difficult for those that don’t have it.  Among those reasons is widespread corruption, lack of employment opportunities, extremely low wages, natural disasters, lack of infrastructure and shortages of quality secondary and tertiary educational institutions.  A lot of times, Westerners simply look at Filipinos (and others in the Third World) and see them as lazy, not appreciating the natural advantage we have of being born into a First World nation.

As for “Survive by their own wit?”  Really? I’d love to see you switch places with one of these Filipinos “sitting around,” actually become him and try to forget a path to material wealth in the Philippines.  

Thomas Quinn On Honda Click Update Video
“Wrong on the panic stop. Up to 75% of a vehicles weight is transferred forward in a panic stop. The front brake is the go to guy and it should be applied as much as possible in an emergency but not so hard as to lock the front wheel. The rear brake provides very little real stopping power.”

ME:  You are correct, Thomas and I have updated that information on the Honda Click Update article on my website.

 

Golden Rich on Honda Click Update Video

“what a boring video”

ME: Thanks, Golden Rich.  And don’t ever change.

 

Jeff Lamb On the Honda Click Update Video

“I am very happy that I did not take Henrys and your advice and buy a scooter. I rented one first and I hated it. Skinny tires, Vey unstable at speeds of 50kph and Plastic, Plastic, Plastic. They are however perfect for a girl that weighs less than 150lbs and just wants to zip around town. But most scooters are a “Girls Bike”.

ME: Henry and I generally don’t give out advice as we are actually experts on anything.  We are just relating our experiences.  Hell, half the time we just have trouble enough staying out of our own way. As for most scooters being “girls bikes,” that is more of people being conditioned to believe that.  Most scooters are actually own and driven by men.  Real men, with beastly scooters decked out with orange safety flags, thumb-driven bells and the occasional set of training wheels.

CrazyEddie on Facebook asks:
“Hey Ned, have you seen that movie yet with the scary clown who is running around scaring people to death?”

ME:  Nope, I don’t watch political documentaries, especially ones on Donald Trump.  I’m sure it’s all just based on Fake News from the Lame Stream Media anyways and just makes him look bad.  😉

8Bit Time Traveler 1 day ago on Filipino Cultural Differences Video

“If my best friend had told me what I saw in the Philippines, I would have taken him for a fat liar so much the mentalities of people who live there are primitive. I didn’t know much about this country. What I saw there was absolutely chaotic. I was scratching my head everywhere my eyes were looking at because I could not understand how things were organized and how people were behaving. For example, every 300/500 meters, there were some few weird looking guys wearing t-shirts on their heads like ninjas who were sit down on a table with big jugs of liquid right on the side of the road. I was wondering what the heck are they doing there and why. I learned that these guys are illegally selling some gas to drivers but they add some water in their gas to increase the quantity and the profit lol. So why the hell are they doing it if it’s illegal and why the cops do nothing about it? And who the hell is buying some has with water in it??? This is something I will never know.”

 

ME:  Welcome to the Philippines, 8Bit!  Half the fun is trying to figure out what is going on!!!  Gas is regularly sold out of big soda or beer bottles out in the province.  I don’t know about them adding water to the gas, but it wouldn’t surprise me. There’s been more than a few times that those roadside ‘ninjas’ have saved my bacon when nearly out of gas, though.

 

Sam Stewart  On Entire Police Force Fired Livecast Video

 “if u believe the police were fired u r part of the problem.”

ME: Yes, I know the 1,200 police officers in Caloocan are actually being suspended, retrained and reassigned.  I noted the ‘firing’ bit as that is what all the media outlets were calling it.  And although it’s not a ‘firing,’ President Duterte has a tendency to reassign naughty police officers to some of the more dangerous areas of Mindanao.  A lot of times, those reassigned officers don’t even show up to their new assignments in dangerous areas.  Maybe they reinvent themselves by dressing up as ninjas and selling watered-down gasoline on the side of the road….

Evil Alo on Honda Click Update Video

“Full face helmet? I am sure it was custom made considering….. naw I won’t go there. Nope now nope.”

ME: Evil Alo must be referring to my full, be-stung lips being hard to fit in a full-face helmet.  He isn’t actually evil enough to be referring to my overly large nose.  Is he??

Aaron Wilson on Skype Messenger notes
“Ned, thanks for the advice on getting my transgender wife to the United States.  We have actually filed the K-1 visa and plan on getting married in my home town of San Francisco.  Hey, do you know if Lazada offers anything other than Durex condoms?  I hate them as they lack sensitivity and are much too big for me – they keep falling off.”

ME:  Congratulations to you and your lovely wife, Aarron.  Glad to have been of help.  As for getting something other than Durex condoms, I can’t really help you there, as I just get mine in the United States. 

ken heinemann go on Entire Police Force Fired Livecast Video
“Love your videos but do change the pics!!”

ME:  Yeah, I’lll get right on that.   😛

 

Clambake ask via YouTube PM asks:
“Can you recommend a good swimming pool in Dumaguete”

ME:  Absolutely.  The Teves Aquacenter in Dumaguete has a beautiful 50 meter pool and only costs ya 40 pesos a day.  It doesn’t get a whole lot of use, so you can usually find a few empty lanes in which to swim your laps.

Kwentong Baliw  on the Dead Dog in the Girls Got Flair Video
“The calming music coupled with the dog corpse puts me in a tranquil place :)”

ME:  I was gonna edit in “Adagio for Strings” but ran out of motivation….

8Bit Time Traveler on Filipino Cultural Differences Video

“My day one in the Philippines: I’m going to a place they call ”A market’. It was the most disgusting place I went in all my life. I don’t know how we can possibly buy some food there. IT WAS STINKING SO BAD!! It was smelling like there were 30 dead bodies putrefying under the sun since a month. There were garbage and filth everywhere. Tons of flies on the meat they were selling. I saw a man who was sleeping on his back on a counter in front of all the costumers and everybody were looking like it’s all normal and they’re all used to it. So I asked to someone why the f%?& is he sleeping there. That’s totally impolite. They simply told me that he’s sleeping cuz he’s tired cuz he woke up early this morning lolllllllllll HE’S SLEEPING ON A COUNTER CUZ HE’S TIRED!!!! That really killed me! I’v encountered a lot of weird and sick situations like this. Everywhere I was going in this country, there were always some people sit down in the middle of nowhere doing nothing but waiting, chilling or watching the cars passing. Where I live, even handicapped, disabled and blind people are working or want too. In the Philippines, all excuses are good to do nothing.”

ME:  Your journey continues, and I can tell you are having a ball.  The stench of pubic markets isn’t from all the meat and produce on display – it’s the miasma of old rotting flesh and veggies sitting under the market itself.  The concrete/tile tabletops are washed down at the end of the market day and it drains through grates to the underneath. Most of it washes away but a notable amount gets stuck under there and gives Philippines markets their remarkably distinctive aroma.

 

Daniel Fuller on Facebook noted on the Aaron Wilson Photograph on my Facebook page:

Daniel: “That’s the guy predicted your rental would leave you. She did.  Sad.  Not this is your butt hurt way of getting even.”

Me:  Hey! I have never insulted your mom for being a rental!

Daniel:  “He’s got more har (sic) and more pussy than you.”

Me:  Actually, he’s got a lot less hair than me. You can see the lack of it in the photo.  And that party in the video he was at was mostly ladyboys, so he is probably getting more ass than me, not more pussy.

Daniel: No response.

You guys gotta realize that Aaron Wilson has been trolling me for the past year and saying some pretty nasty things.  Actually, very nasty things.  This is just me responding to his trolling with a wee little bit of my own.

Now, considering that Aaron Wilson has referred to me as an old, bald guy, I just got a kick out of seeing what he actually looks like.  Aaron, the cryptkeeper hairstyle went out of fashion years ago.  There’s good old Aaron in the bottom right hand corner of the photo:

And here’s a nice side shot of his lovely self:  

If ya can’t beat em – join em!

That’s it.

Take care one and all (even you Aaron), and I’ll see ya next time.