Yep, I’m back in the Seattle area but not for long.
I dunno if I’ve officially mentioned this out loud yet, but I’m planning on moving to the Philippines permanently. I’ll fly back and forth if I am needed physically in America (or anywhere else, for that matter). I figure on buying a house or condo and being there most of the time.
Yep, bizarre how life works. In America, I would never consider buying a house in a subdivision. Cookie-cutter McMansions on postage-stamp sized lots? The homeowners association gets to decide what color my curtains can be? That’s just plain madness. For years I’ve been laughing at people who sign their home-owning freedoms away and pay monthly for the privilege.
But in the Philippines it might make sense. The major issue is a simple matter of security since, at least for the time being, I will be traveling back and forth to the US for business. If I need to be in America for a few months, I don’t want to worry about my house being disassembled piece-by-piece and carried off to be processed into napkin holders or hotdogs or some such.
A problem specific to the Philippines is the videoke phenomenon. Essentially, videoke is the name Filipinos use for karaoke. But they like it really loud. And in general Filipinos can’t quite sing as well as, say, William Hung. Remember him? Videoke bars are commonly just run from within a family’s living room, and whoever can afford to buy a videoke machine can open up a new bar. That person might just be your neighbor, and it might just go on all night, unless you happen to live in a subdivision with a homeowners association that has rules preventing that sort of thing.
Plus I can probably park my car there for a few months and not have to worry about it too much. Subdivisions also seem to have the best chance of high-speed internet too.
So you add it all up and suddenly buying in a subdivision makes sense. Give a guy a wedding and he goes right down the tubes, doesn’t he? 
I found a nice looking used car lot in Manila, but that’s on a different island. The locals tell me that it is possible to get a RORO (”Roll on, Roll off”, or automobile ferry) between Cebu City and Manila, but no one knows where to sign up for it. If it was somewhat easy, I’d buy a new car and drive it back.
I’m heading back to the US in a few days, I’ll post more photos when I get there. Internet access is SO much better in the US than here, and it makes a difference when you are trying to upload pictures. I’ll just need to arrange my life so I don’t need to upload pictures, right?