That old familiar tingle...

Okay, loyal fans:

A few stories for the price of one:

First, as we know, I've been seeing (casually) this cute but useless young guy.

I didn't really break it off after Manila but I cooled it WAY down, basically to "super casual" level. The guy's nice, but he's like a jellyfish floating through life, clueless.

As an example, I specifically told him (one of many times) that if he needs help getting around somewhere he needs to ask ANOTHER FILIPINO since they'll be able to help him better, faster, and in his own language. Needless to say he never took this advice, blowing past security guards and bossy Lolas to ask me for help getting a jeepney or finding a toka-toka guy ( a candy and cigarettes guy) or whatever EVERY TIME.

When we went to Manila we took seperate transportation and I told him to take a cab from the bus station to the hotel. I even warned him "If the cab driver doesn't know the place, get out of the cab and get another one. I don't know the place or how to get there. I WON'T BE ABLE TO HELP YOU."

Sure enough, I get a text from him "can you text me the address of the hotel because the driver doesn't know the place."

AUGH!! I tore him up and down when I finally ran into him. "You're a local. You were stationed in Quezon City [in Manila!]. You speak the language. How on EARTH did you get bamboozled into accepting "yes sir!" as the answer? when it was clearly "No sir!", etc. etc."
Anyway, when I met this Nobel Science Prize Winner, he was on a short term job. The job ended before they gave him his last paycheck. Now, even in the US, if this happens, you can show up and make a stink, but you really don't have many options- if the company doesn't want to pay you, they ain't gonna. You can sue them, but it's going to cost you more than the outstanding paycheck, probably, and as someone who took my evil landlord to small claims court and WON and is STILL waiting for the money, I can say it's pretty much an "empty" victory. Court is going to make a crooked boss/ landlord/ former soulmate straighten out.

So, you can probably guess where this is going. He asked me "do you know the owner of MinuteMen"? [guard agency] *side note, the guard agencies here are named AWESOMELY. Among the coolest: "Dexterous"; "Archangels"; "Mustangs"; "Jett".

Uh, no? Why on earth would I? This is where the country- wide- lack of what I would think of as Western logical thinking comes into play. Because I'm white? Because I'm "rich" (entry level peanuts goes a long way over here)? Because I'm educated? I'm not sure what he was thinking. I've only been here 11 months. I know quite a few people, but not the OWNER of Minute men!

I tried to explain this and he dropped it. Then the other day I got a text from him begging me to call this guy (with a number included) saying he still hasn't gotten his pay, would I please help him, etc.

I texted back saying that I didn't speak Tagalog, I don't know labor law, I didn't even know where to start helping him, etc.

So he kept on sending me rebuttals "he speak English, please, honey" etc. So I brought in the big guns in the form of "AM-Boy"/ JPMC-- you alls remember him, right? Well, he's on my account now, his old account closed, and we're still friends) who I asked to help me translate. "Find out what on earth he's thinking!" I begged JPMC. ("Am-boy")

And, gentle reader, do you know what he was thinking? "He'll be scared of you because you're a foreigner. He'll listen to you because you're white." Heh.

I mean, what businessman worth his salt cares what a lowly language trainer for a BPO thinks or wants? I have no power, influence, or sway over this guy, and I don't have anything I can even threaten him with. Why on earth would he do ANYTHING for me? It wouldn't even be in person, so we're not even thinking the "flirt your way out of jail" thing!

Suffice to say that was the death blow to the relationship, which really wasn't meant to be anyways, but I think I learned my lesson. Innocent lovely nice people are sometimes a tad lacking in "street smarts".

So, on another note, I met someone new, in the wake of two "exits" (Davie got abruptly transferred to Cam Sur- SOB! and Anne's leaving for China). I have noticed a tendency in myself to be "friended" before I'm fully aware of what's going on and to find myself "friends" with very odd, needy, and bizarre characters (Steve Mills shout out!) and unable to figure out the sudden drama level in my life and how it relates to my new bestie. So I'll be taking this new friendship slow. However, I'm also very attracted to oddballs, misfits, hoods, weirdos, freakazoids, and other fringe elements, and they are magnetically drawn to me, perhaps sensing that I won't judge them or ask them to follow social mores of any kind.

So this "girlie man" a male who dresses and lives as a woman, who's our newest Team member (not on the account, but on the Coms staff) is an expat who lived in Canda until college. Thin as a whippet, about 5'5", with strong features that look a LOT like Ashlee Simpson, we'll call "her" Nia.

She was wearing black leggings, combination boot sandals, and a long loose tunic in Buffalo Plaid that looked like Diesel or Von Dutch. She was made up within an inch of her life, and had that slightly eerie plastic glow that comes after people who wear tons of makeup get after a long night.

Wild energy radiates off her- a combination of need and nerve, someone who's very self centered yet entertaining. Many men living "alternative" lifestyles radiate this persona- a nervy, controlled free fall of self destructive glamour.

We had a pizza dinner where we met this new girl, and then we broke up to meet up later for Anne's farewell dinner (which stretched into 7 am and was super fun, more about that later), and Nikki noted "That new person seems really attracted to you."

As usual I was oblivious (my siblings do a KILLER impersonation of people "dancing up on me" at the club while I remain blissfully unaware) so I was like "why would that very stylish, very self aware person latch on to me of all people?" I have a casual arty, off beat style, but I'm not very label concious, to say the least (taxidermied fox head stoles are something I consider the *height* of chic, as one example).

However, when we were seated side by side later at the "drinking" portion of the goodbye dinner, I noticed that Nia was wearing Gucci Guilty fragrance (I often succesfully identify the fragrence people are wearing, which is less of a feat than it seems, since most desinger fragrences are "made" with a very particular type in mind and I can almost always match the "J'adore" with it's wearer. And I have a big sniffer, the better to smell you with!) and she told me, in her husky ciggie voice "Oh, you're right, and I love you!"

Thus was born yet another glamourous friendship. It's always a little weird to me when someone who like name dropping (and she does!) and needs to be the center of attention (swingng her hair Axl Rose style at the table *more than once*) latches on to me as the ne plus ultra of friends, but eh, beggars can't be choosers.