DECEMBER NEWSLETTER. ANOTHER NEW YEAR

“So, this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year older, a new one begun.” You will probably recognize those lines from the perennially popular Christmas song written by John Lennon. So, how’s your year been? What have you done that was good action, good behavior, or not done that perhaps you should have or regret doing? Has 2024 been good to you, and you to it?

The year has been relatively good here for the Philippine people. The annual typhoons and cyclones wreaked havoc but not as violently as usual. In typical Philippine tradition, the resilient people in the barangays gathered and rebuilt for each other. The political situation was calm until recently when a high-level politician theoretically launched a threat against the president. You will note I’m not referencing any names. The brief comment I’ve made is the furthest I’m allowed before being criticized as an interfering foreigner with no right to comment on any political situation here. And I agree with that view. I, like other foreigners, am simply a guest of the Philippine people. No national day of mourning will be declared if any of us suddenly leave.

This year has not been good for me. It’s been horrid on many levels. I had a significant amount of money stolen by a formerly trusted friend. He’s also a foreigner. I’ve lost what I’d believed was a deep friendship with him and significant money. I held this man in my arms while he cried in my arms as he told me about the unfaithfulness of his wife and other painful matters. I’m unable to understand how he allowed himself to misbehave as he did. He must be really messed up. I feel sorry for him. A loving relationship of many years with my special Pinay ended. I had been certain it would end only with my death. Fortunately, or unfortunately, instead the relationship itself had a premature death. Blinded by love, I had ignored reality. Again, a statement from John Lennon, “There are none so blind as those who do not see.” On a positive note, I now have a lovely home. My physical health remains excellent. I need medications for nothing. For that, I’ve deeply grateful.

When did you arrive here with the intention of retiring? How’s the experience been for you? Are the expectations you had when arriving been partially or mostly fulfilled? Or have you been disappointed and considering returning to your country? At VERITAS, we notice few foreigners who come to live here and become expats ever leave. Those who do usually have family issues such as an ill parent needing daily attention. Many of these good people return after fulfilling their obligations.

Yes there’s the inevitable blabbering from some expats who gather in bars daily to complain, bitch, and groan about the many obstacles they are forced to endure because of living here. I’d suggest one could tape the conversation then observe little change to the daily content.

These few expats have low self-esteem, have always been unhappy. Nothing will fulfil them. They thrive on the dark energy they spew at each other daily. Their one success in life has been achieving misery while polluting their environment with shade of anger. Clearly these sad people are to be avoided at all costs. Fortunately, almost all other expats here are good people. Did you make any specific plans for the upcoming year? I used to make a plan to do something special every year. It always served as a stimulant to make an exciting experience happen. Before coming to the Philippines to live, in 2016 I set my goal on climbing Mount Shasta in northern California. I spent five months preparing for that adventure. I’d jog up trails carrying 60 lbs. weight on my back. Its just as well I did because the climb was demanding.

In 2017, I left America to live in the Philippines. In 2018 I working my way across the Atlantic on a one-hundred-year-old sailing vessel. That forty-six-day voyage fulfilled a life-long dream for me. We sailed from the Canary Islands south to the Cape Verde islands on the north west coast of Africa. After taking on supplies, we sailed across the Atlantic to the east coast of Brazil, then south to Montevideo in Uruguay.

I can’t explain the reasoning behind the following activity. The morning after my arrival into Montevideo, after taking my first steps on land for forty-seven days, I found myself heading to the port. There I purchased a round- trip ticket on a giant hovercraft to take me over the river Plate to Buenos Airer, then return to Montevideo.

I felt giddy heading towards the city center of Buenos Aires. I found a writer’s café that looked out on the square. Unlike most imaginings, it was precisely as I’d thought it would be. A feeling of transcendence moved within me as I slowly sipped my cappuccino. Everything in the room and plaza became smaller until everything was one. One hour after entering Argentina, I left and returned to Monte Video. What was my many year need to do what I did remains a mystery. I’ll never know. And that doesn’t matter.

In 2019 I decided to finally become an author. I’d been working on a manuscript for six years so the timing was appropriate. My book was commercially and critically successful. I subsequently published another book in n 2019 and finally, in 2022, one about life for expats living in the Philippines. Neither of these sold well while one was approved critically.

In 2020 I planned to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. I probably narrowly missed having an angry bull gore my delicate Irish arse. But the corona pandemic arrived here in late January 2020. That put the running with the bulls experience on hold. It still is.

In October 2024, I finally created, with the significant help of several others, a YouTube channel in the Philippines for expats and foreigners considering coming to live here. It’s called Veritas Philippine Solutions. The response has been very encouraging. Please view, then hopefully have reason to subscribe.

What will I do in 2025 that’s special? After completing extensive research, I’m very close to taking up parasailing. In Zambogita there’s a n apparently good school where I can learn.

But how about you? What, if any, special plans do you have for 2025? How many of us will still be alive this time next year. Clearly none of us know the answer to the unknown. Does it make any sense for you or me to plan special activity. I can only speak for myself. I need to plan. I need a sense of purpose. Apart from the parasailing, I’m soon to make a decision about my business interests. The outcome of that decision will be significant for me but understandably of no interest to you. Let’s see what happens.

Meanwhile, I sincerely wish each of you as peaceful a 2025 as is destined for you, for us. Hopefully, I’ll be writing to you here in December 2025, and you will be reading. But, if not, thanks for the opportunity to chat with you and for taking your time to listen here on the VERITAS CONSULTING GROUP website and for four years before then on the Dumaguete Metro Post website and newspaper.

Until next year.