For supper I went to La Dolce Vita, an infamous Italian-themed cafe that used to sit opposite Simon II Guesthouse on Street #93 at the Lake. Today it sits on Street #172 and nothing is the same except for the name. I bought a Chorizo Chimichanga and a Bluecheese and Chicken Salad. I always get takeaway.
I became a soldier in 1983 when I was 16. The following year I was in a firefight in Lebanon and an AK round hit cement and shattered. Shards- some microscopic- ripped my jaws and sinuses apart and came close to reaching my brain. Since then my jaws have remained with microscopic fractures with almost all teeth on my right side taken out over time in addition to the 2.5 taken out when I was wounded. My jaws and teeth continue to be sources of major pain, though it ebbs and flows. Today and yesterday- knock on wood- I have been pain free. This situation keeps me from eating out almost always, hence the takeaway.
After putting my food in my room I came outside where I am now, sitting in a wicker chair streetside on Street #172 watching the nightlife. Across the street and a bit to the left sits a homeless middleaged woman with a giant cart upon which she stores her worldy possessions. She somehow got ahold of 3 tiny newborn kittens that she uses to fleece naive Westerners. Holding up an adorable kitten and an empty can of catfood she first tries to sell it for $10.00 US, 2.5 days wages here. Failing that she then raises the empty can and asks for $2.00 to buy the kitten some food. No cats here eat catfood except those of expats.
A couple of days ago I was waiting for a friend and she offered me a stool to sit upon. She then attempted to fleece me in a way that would have probably landed me in prison. She pulled out one counterfeit US bill after another and asked me to change it for her hahaha. I laughed in her face. She then asked if I wanted a girl to fuck. I laughed again and told her to piss off which she didnt understand of course.
A day or two before that I had berated myself for not being charitable with her. I never give to beggars anywhere, well almost never. In the Phillipines, one day I had gone to Butuan to pick up a couple of boxes of morphine. An elderly Badjao Tribesman was selling brooms made from twigs but being so programmed against beggars I spoke to him harshly and walked off but then stopped a few meters away. I walked back and I bought one for four times its price which was fair to begin with, something that normally happens when foreigners buy things in the Philippines.
I had thought that he wasnt a beggar at all as he was selling something. It taught me to consider each person on their merits. Having thought about giving the beggar lady $5 US, 2.5 days wages here, I was peeved to have been targetted by the woman as a mark.
As I sit here writing this some hippy who looks to be my age and who speaks American accented English, cursed the woman out. Apparently he had changed one of her counterfeit bills.
I became a soldier in 1983 when I was 16. The following year I was in a firefight in Lebanon and an AK round hit cement and shattered. Shards- some microscopic- ripped my jaws and sinuses apart and came close to reaching my brain. Since then my jaws have remained with microscopic fractures with almost all teeth on my right side taken out over time in addition to the 2.5 taken out when I was wounded. My jaws and teeth continue to be sources of major pain, though it ebbs and flows. Today and yesterday- knock on wood- I have been pain free. This situation keeps me from eating out almost always, hence the takeaway.
After putting my food in my room I came outside where I am now, sitting in a wicker chair streetside on Street #172 watching the nightlife. Across the street and a bit to the left sits a homeless middleaged woman with a giant cart upon which she stores her worldy possessions. She somehow got ahold of 3 tiny newborn kittens that she uses to fleece naive Westerners. Holding up an adorable kitten and an empty can of catfood she first tries to sell it for $10.00 US, 2.5 days wages here. Failing that she then raises the empty can and asks for $2.00 to buy the kitten some food. No cats here eat catfood except those of expats.
A couple of days ago I was waiting for a friend and she offered me a stool to sit upon. She then attempted to fleece me in a way that would have probably landed me in prison. She pulled out one counterfeit US bill after another and asked me to change it for her hahaha. I laughed in her face. She then asked if I wanted a girl to fuck. I laughed again and told her to piss off which she didnt understand of course.
A day or two before that I had berated myself for not being charitable with her. I never give to beggars anywhere, well almost never. In the Phillipines, one day I had gone to Butuan to pick up a couple of boxes of morphine. An elderly Badjao Tribesman was selling brooms made from twigs but being so programmed against beggars I spoke to him harshly and walked off but then stopped a few meters away. I walked back and I bought one for four times its price which was fair to begin with, something that normally happens when foreigners buy things in the Philippines.
I had thought that he wasnt a beggar at all as he was selling something. It taught me to consider each person on their merits. Having thought about giving the beggar lady $5 US, 2.5 days wages here, I was peeved to have been targetted by the woman as a mark.
As I sit here writing this some hippy who looks to be my age and who speaks American accented English, cursed the woman out. Apparently he had changed one of her counterfeit bills.
