Given enough time, what could have sounded really stupid at one time would eventually sound prescient later on.
Back in 1984, when somebody calls you over the telephone, you don’t have to specify that it was through a PLDT landline. That was all we had back then, at least in Metro Manila. Anyway, back then a friend called me up at home and somewhere along the conversation he asked, “Where are you?” “Where am I?” I repeated, “You were the one who called me at home so you should know. Are you drunk or stupid?” To be fair, he was hung over, and he was never exactly the sharpest pencil in the box, so to speak.
Given the same situation today, especially with those new wireless landline telephones, I would not think anything odd whenever someone calls me and asks me where I am.
While I was in the United States, I found it particularly funny that the easiest way to get an American to try any exotic dish would be to tell them that “It tastes just like chicken.” What’s the point in trying something new if it tastes just like chicken? It was not as if chicken was on the endangered or extinct species list and that the only way one could get the taste of chicken was by eating say, snake testicles. But now, with the avian flu going around decimating the chicken population, it might not be too far off in the future when we would only have snake testicles to eat. And as we do so, we reminisce about the taste of chicken.
And speaking of Americans, I have yet to meet an American who as a child, did not try to dig a hole in their backyard in the hopes of coming out in China. You would think that Chinese children would also be digging holes in the ground to get to the United States. If anything, Chinese children would have a more compelling reason to get to the United States than American children do to get to China. Surprisingly, I have yet to meet a Chinese person who dug holes in the ground to get to America as a child. Now that China is the largest toy manufacturer in the world, American children would have a reasonable incentive to go to China—to get their regular lead fix.
As for the title of this entry, I’ve just always wanted to have it as a title and could not wait for the right inspiration.
Back in 1984, when somebody calls you over the telephone, you don’t have to specify that it was through a PLDT landline. That was all we had back then, at least in Metro Manila. Anyway, back then a friend called me up at home and somewhere along the conversation he asked, “Where are you?” “Where am I?” I repeated, “You were the one who called me at home so you should know. Are you drunk or stupid?” To be fair, he was hung over, and he was never exactly the sharpest pencil in the box, so to speak.
Given the same situation today, especially with those new wireless landline telephones, I would not think anything odd whenever someone calls me and asks me where I am.
While I was in the United States, I found it particularly funny that the easiest way to get an American to try any exotic dish would be to tell them that “It tastes just like chicken.” What’s the point in trying something new if it tastes just like chicken? It was not as if chicken was on the endangered or extinct species list and that the only way one could get the taste of chicken was by eating say, snake testicles. But now, with the avian flu going around decimating the chicken population, it might not be too far off in the future when we would only have snake testicles to eat. And as we do so, we reminisce about the taste of chicken.
And speaking of Americans, I have yet to meet an American who as a child, did not try to dig a hole in their backyard in the hopes of coming out in China. You would think that Chinese children would also be digging holes in the ground to get to the United States. If anything, Chinese children would have a more compelling reason to get to the United States than American children do to get to China. Surprisingly, I have yet to meet a Chinese person who dug holes in the ground to get to America as a child. Now that China is the largest toy manufacturer in the world, American children would have a reasonable incentive to go to China—to get their regular lead fix.
As for the title of this entry, I’ve just always wanted to have it as a title and could not wait for the right inspiration.
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