Locale

Hey guys, since I haven't been in any of your surroundings (save for Tan) I was wondering if I can get a sense of it.

I'd share mine, unfortunately I am still saving up for a camera and the lens on my cameraphone is so dusty that it is like looking at a seedy stillshot from a surveillance camera that is blurry.

I walk to school so basically here is an account of a usual walk to and from:

Going to school.

• Wake up. The bed is fairly big but it hurts my back so I usually sleep on this fold-and-go makeshift couch/bed thing. Right now it's dirty and I think it gave me an eye infection so I sleep on the bed. I live in Jay's grandpa's guest house (3rd and 4th floors). When I walk down to the first floor there are portraits from Bob's Portraits (Jay's dad) and I walk through an open garage. There is a guard named Jerms and a dog named Boy. Initially Boy would bark at me because I was a stranger and when he got accustomed to me he was a lot nicer. Then one day I was walking and talking at the same time and accidentally kicked him in the ribs. He is a combination angry/scared of me at the moment and I'd hate to say it but it kind of kills me.
• I go out of the house. It's a street that is usually cracking with nightlife in the evenings. There is a comedy bar (read: transvestites making fun of the audience and singing) across the street from me, which usually is littered with beer bottles. The name of the Street is Jorge Bocobo.
• Walking down the street, to my right is an off-track betting parlor. that is still usually littered with people from the night before. If I am lucky there is a Korean couple ready to hook up walking past me and in love.
• There is this comedy bar for gay males called "Supermen". I would walk by that place during the height of Soulja Boy and would have "Crank Dat Soulja" in my head as I walked by it every...freaking... day.
• Usually it smells like vomit and shit (the street does) in the morning and I have to manuever my way through said projectiles.
• I take a right on Pedro Gil, which is usually filled with people on their way to work and school and towards the end of the street are little vendors selling slippers, fried peanuts and the like. There are at least 3 taho vendors. One of them tried to sell me taho the first time I went there and since then we give each other a salute as a greeting. There is also this guy with crutches who lays in the middle of the sidewalk inthe most awkward position imaginable. He has a paper cup next to him and has long stringy hair. The funny thing is I've seen him on his work break and he's standing upright leaning on the crutches. I've seen him work other streets and it's funny because I imagine he has his own schedule for begging.
  
• I take a left on Taft, which is a main Manila road. Its road is also a route for the transit system over here so it's packed. Traffic is unbearable and exhaust fumes are everywhere. There used to be this one guy who had no legs, a guitar and an amp. It was actually one of the most beautiful things ever. I give him change. There is this weird conflict in that I would like to stay and watch but I have school to take care of. Plus the atmosphere is usually not conducive to loitering when everyone is trying to get from point A to point B. The irony is that the pedestrians here are too slow for my tastes. Sometimes I feel like one of those guys in the fast lane of a highway and am just biding my time to overtake the slow ass people in the lane, but the other lanes are going at the same pace. Large groups especially are quite the challenge. When you are also a pedestrian and it rains, there is this weird synergy about where everyone has their umbrellas but have to maintain a level of their umbrella so it doesn't clash with others. You see people concede to those oblivious of the unspoken protocol and it's just this subtle little thing that I can appreciate. I am guilty of being both the compromiser and the guy who doesn't pay attention (usually when I am running late or just stuck in the doldrums).
• I pass by at least three 7-11s and two mini-stops on the way to school.
• I go through a hotel entrance and bam I'm at school.

Going home

• A little alteration to the route as now the mall is open wherein I can shortcut that motherfucker. The mall is also not as steamy/rainy/whatever shitty weather Manila has at the moment and also has air conditioning. Malls are like Starbucks over here, there's one every corner. The allure is indoor convenience I think more than actual shopping it seems like. The negative is usually I am walking by a Wendy's and go "OH BAKED POTATO" which adds up in my wallet.
• So instead of taking Taft to Pedro Gil to Bocobo. It's taft to Padre Faura to the mall to Bocobo.
• In the evening and afternoon, Bocobo is much more populated and lively. There is this basketball hoop located there and kids play inbetween cars passing by without fail.
• I think I'm running out of steam here in describing. Maybe later. I will try to take pictures.