Domesticity Dispatch: Stuck in the Philippines With You

As I'm writing this entry, I'm playing an old INXS tape that I found in my closet. It's playing "Disappear" right now and I can't help but be philosophical while I'm listening to the rest of the tape.

The thing is, I won't be back in Hawaii by the Fourth of July, as anticipated. I can't even begin to explain all the reasons why it's not happening; all I know is that I'm already missing the rest of my summer session and I can't predict when I'll return... if I return. So, yeah, I am sad about it.

But bitter? Well... not really.

I'm not looking at this as a setback, my friends. True, I get a little misty-eyed whenever I watch the travel channel and see live footage of Waikiki. And, yes, it's true about life being so much better here -- no laundry, no TV dinners, no textbooks, just Mom's home cooking and plenty of time to walk the dog and watch telenovelas till the sun goes down. Then again, let's face it -- I haven't had a real vacation for six years now. I haven't seen my friends and family in so long. I'm sure the manicurist who will do my nails this weekend will be shocked at my overgrown cuticles (says the girl who used to get her nails done every week back in high school). And I owe my best friend here a spa day.

(No, seriously. The spas are HUGE here, and girls can't get enough of it. I'm sure that, for the price of a cut and highlights at a top salon in Honolulu, I could get a full-body treatment and get waxed where I need to get waxed. Ahem.)

So what to write about, then, if I'm not in the mood to rant about not leaving the country, and I'm not out on the field checking out schools where I can volunteer in the meantime? More Pinoy-flavored beauty and pop culture snark, of course. There are more shampoos to review, more shops to check out, more artistas (and rock stars, models, newscasters...) to drool over. So what if we don't have a Sephora here? I'm sure Watson's, PCX, Beauty Bar, Marks & Spencer, and Rustan's (not to mention Bench and Robinson's, which are EVERYWHERE) all have a lot of other products that I can test, and possibly laugh at if I'm feeling particularly mean. It's going to be a great adventure, I tell you.

Here are a few topics I'm kicking around so far for future blog entries:

• Filipino guys, of course. It's a topic I used to be hesitant about, seeing as I've dated the worst of the lot (not to mention that more attention is given to our ladies - yeah, I get it, we Pinays are awesome, but let's spread the wealth around) but let's face it - we've got a lot of hotties in this country. Maybe I might even post pictures... Nope. I will DEFINITELY post pictures.
• Bad beauty habits. Already my Mom has brought up the whole "cement face" phenomenon, where dark-skinned local girls would abuse beauty products in the vain attempt to get the desired "rosy white" complexion... only to end up with a gray cast on their face. Which products are sure to give you the Cement Face? I'll talk about those in more detail later.
• Plastic surgery. Those of you reading this from the Philippines (or at least the major Pinoy neighborhoods in the States) will probably tell me to count this as part of the "Bad beauty habits" section. I mean, really: I don't care which celebrities have had lipo and boob jobs, and I can't care less if they want to talk about it so they can flog the services of their surgeon. I just think it's too much of a luxury, that's all.
• Shoes. Because I no longer have to rely on Payless and Ross for that kind of stuff any more.
• And, last but not the least, shopping bargains for clothes. Especially when said clothes are for a certain curvy young Filipina woman who sports a D-cup bra and substantial booty.

More entries to follow later!