Quillan Camper Posted January 28, 2010 (edited) I'm also a 63 year old British male, long retired and currently living in Baguio City, Philippines. Since arriving here some three months ago, I have been noticing how things I have always taken for granted now seem very, very odd. It strikes me there can be nothing more strange than that which has hitherto seemed perfectly ordinary. Â I am writing this to introduce myself to a group of strangers I shall never meet; I am using a laptop computer connected to broadband internet; outside of my condo, just across Kisad Road, is the Athletic Bowl where a drum and xylophone band of school kids are making a fearful racket, twirling flags and batons, practicing for the Panagbenga (Flower) Festival next week. Â And I am talking about an "I" who is doing this and thinking that. Which am the oddest thing of all; "I" think. Â Cordialement ! Edited January 30, 2010 by Quillan Camper Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
doc benway Posted January 28, 2010 Welcome brother! Beware of the balut No need to be nervous in this group. We're just a bunch of pansies... Enjoy yourself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voidisyinyang Posted January 28, 2010 Quillan -- thanks for checking in. Sounds like an awesome scene. I'm in chilly Minnesota -- about 30 degrees below freezing today. haha. Â I'm also a 63 year old British male, long retired and currently living in Baguio City, Philippines. Since arriving here some three months ago, I have been noticing how things I have always taken for granted now seem very, very odd. It strikes me there can be nothing more strange than that which has hitherto seemed perfectly ordinary. Â I am writing this to introduce myself to a group of strangers I shall never meet; I am using a laptop computer connected to broadband internet; outside of my condo, just across Kisad Road, is the Athletic Bowl where a drum and xylophone band of school kids are making a fearful racket, twirling flags and batons, practicing for the Panagbenga (Flower) Festival next week. Â And I am talking about an "I" who is doing this and thinking that. Which am the oddest thing of all; I think. Â Cordialement ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aria Posted January 28, 2010 Hello, only be fear the trumpet players cause they reside in their own world. Actually I like that. I play the flute. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apech Posted January 28, 2010 Hi and welcome! Â Sounds interesting where you are - tell us more. Â A. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marblehead Posted January 28, 2010 Hi Quillan, Â Welcome! Â May you enjoy your time here. Â My compliments to you for retiring to some place nice ans warm. Â Peace & Love! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rain Posted January 28, 2010 finally a fully grown mature male who is childlike  thank you!  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quillan Camper Posted January 29, 2010 Welcome brother! Beware of the balut No need to be nervous in this group. We're just a bunch of pansies... Enjoy yourself. Â I'm immediately impressed. How do you know about balut? Yes. I am very wary of this atrocious delicacy and have yet to try it. Where chocolate-coated locusts, carrot-sized maggots and orange-coloured chicks on spits are concerned, I exercise a native reticence. I was born in Shanghai but raised in Surbiton, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England. That's about as "native" as I can manage. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quillan Camper Posted January 29, 2010 finally a fully grown mature male who is childlike  thank you!    I do feel like a child again, thrashing around in this welter of electronic options, trying to reply to people kind enough to respond. I want to be good. I'm jumping up and down trying to be unobtrusive. How does one get to be a competent member of the company in which I find myself. What buttons does one click? It's vexingly perplexing. All part of the story though, I suppose. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tao99 Posted January 29, 2010 (edited) My lovely, friendly ex ... Â Wow you don't hear that much around here. Welcome! Edited January 30, 2010 by Tao99 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aria Posted January 30, 2010 Yes, I met one singer when I was in choir and we were performing with an orchestra and he was a prima donna and it intimidated all us youngins and no one could say anything to him. Me and my sister were able to at least say he sang very well. lol Going from a calm collected clarinet player to brooding over guitar. wow. lol. I love guitar and hope to finally pick one up one day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Quillan Camper Posted January 30, 2010 Wow you don't hear that much around here. Welcome! Thanks for your welcome. I'm very lucky to have had a warm, caring, semi-detached marriage until, on a whim, my wife decided to cut me free. It was a plot twist I'd not anticipated but then one's life should always hold surprises - wouldn't be much of a story otherwise. I was born in Shanghai but at the communist takeover of the mainland my British Dad decided to return to his roots, to the United Kingdom. He also determined I should become "more English than the English". So, of course, since I was to go native, I had to go the whole hog and marry a native woman. Eventually, I found one whose grandfather was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University; she also shared a room at boarding school with the best friend of the late Princess Diana. So, definitely and definitively, a native English woman. I don't do anything by halves, me - LOL! I don't do anything, in actual fact. I'm a character in a story. There is only the story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites