Aggh, when I returned to dasma from the best vacation I’ve had in ages I found it hard to adjust. It’s so damn boring here… I don’t have a television (But I don’t like watching tv.) the only pastime here is internet surfing and gaming.
Anyway.. today I threw a little “welcome back” party for myself. I invited my friends Nakhai, Emil and Isaac. I threw the party partly because of Nakhai who I thought was getting dangerously thin. I took the easy way out and served litson manok with mang tomas’ spicy sauce (A delicious dish I learned form my friend Joe.)
For a side dish I prepared corn and carrots (prepackaged). I simply sauteed them in butter and served them up.
The corn and carrots were perfect. I didn’t overcook them and they weren’t salty or anything.
Anyway the games that I’m currently into is Lifesigns surgical unit. It’s 100 times better than trauma center in the sense that it is more “true to life” and that you are not diagnosing bizarre diseases such as the GUILT virus found in trauma center.
The first case was acute appendicitis. I found myself gasping at how accurate the signs and symptoms were presented in the patient. You actually perform a physical exam using auscaultation, palpation and visual examination. Oh and the operations are very cool and more fun to do than in trauma center. You are not hurried in this game. Sure there is a time limit, but the game focuses more on steady hands and precise actions rather than the frantic action in trauma center.
Watch the trailer and drool..
Nakupo tataba ka nanaman nyan!
I also bet you played LifeSigns for the Ecchi content :p
P.S. Trauma Center on DS and Wii is much better. Mas maromance lang ang LifeSigns
@Jetlogs
I like the romance… boring kasi trauma center.. And I didn’t learn anything from trauma center the cases are not “realisitc” hahahaa
Hey Lifesigns really does look realistic! Pretty cool! Have you seen the raymans raving rabbids game on ds? Lots of mini games!
@Laura yah, you must get life signs!
Martin, Laura and any others. My name is Jon. My wife, Jasmin, is Filipina and grew up in Dasmarinas. We still have relatives living there. I noticed you said it’s kind of boring in Dasma? We will be visiting the Philippines this May through August. We plan to build some apartments near LaSalle University and maybe an internet cafe/facility downstairs in the apartment. This is my wife’s idea and she believes the apartments/dorms would be a good idea. My question is; do you have any suggestion for a business or provision that would be interesting and entertaining for the students in your area. Is there anything that could help make things ‘not so boring’? My wife and I would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you very much.
@jon Mouser
Jon, dont worry about that. People are desperate for any form of entertainment and will gladly flock to your computer shop.
Dorms are a bit harder to sell but you must have tons of neat features for people to want to live in them. You are in effect competing against the entire villa nicasia (a subdivision full of dorms) Manuellaville and dozens of other places. Yes the dorm market is a bit over saturated.
I know of dorms with no one living in them or if they do, they have only one person!
Um you may want to semi-furnish these rooms with beds airconditioners and refrigerators plus hot/cold water showers. These are features that I think are neat and would appeal to the PARENTS and the students.
But more importantly
Have a nice study area in your dorm. This will really appeal to the students! go all out with this study area since parents will see this and will think your dorm is conducive to studying. Pull out all the stops with this one.
For your computer shop… well there are GAZILLIONS of computershops EVERYWHERE. Like your dorm, you have a tough market to break into.
My suggestion is:
Fast PCs that can run the latest games
Fast internet connection
Promo rates like wizernet’s 8pm to 4am for only 100 pesos. Stuff like that Or lower rates than the rest.
The important thing is to establish a loyal customer base as kids are very clannish and WILL NEVER go to other customers once they make your shop the cool place to be.
WARNING: Dasma is a very dangerous place and a gang is going around breaking into computer shops and stealing all their computers or mugging their salespeople.
Security is a must.
I suggest you take care when walking outside with your wife. I have seen a foreigner get knocked down, tussle with the attackers on a motorcycle and get shot while his filipina wife screamed for help.
Martin – you don’t know how much I appreciate your informative response. One of the things we’ll be doing when we visit family is market research concerning various business ventures – you’ve given me some vital initial information.
Although my wife is from the neighborhood, she’s out of touch with today’s situation there. I was not aware of the danger you’ve portrayed in the area.
Sounds like the apartment or dorm idea may not go over so well. The computer shop with exciting accessories as you mentioned may be the way to go.
We plan to move to the Philippines when our son graduates highschool in 2 years. In the mean time, we’re going to be looking into ideas for businesses. We have a lot of relatives who we can place in positions depending upon what we end up doing, businesswise, that is.
I also appreciate your quick response because I know that many Filipino’s resent Americans or other foreigners. I love and respect the Filipino people. When I married my wife, I married her whole family. I feel that my family is in the Philippines and can’t wait to move there.
As far as business prospects, ofcourse anyone wants to make money, but as long as the business takes care of itself, we can give our relatives fulfilling employment, and provide something for the community – that’s enough.
I will definitely take your advice into serious consideration and pass the information on to my wife. I’m offshore Angola, Africa right now, where I work. I work with many Filipinos and plan to visit a number of them when I’m over there. They are also providing invaluable advice.
If you think of anything else that may be helpful, don’t hesitate to let me know. I put a link in my favorites file to this site.
Again, thanks.
Jon Mouser
naa diri sa DAUIN OR NEG lami kaayo
ang litson manok…
Hey Jon, u guys take care in dasmarinas. I still consider Dasmarinas as my hometown although I am now living in Canada for good. I tell u, things have change there.
That people on motorcycle who terrorize people they are sooo bad. If they like to do something to u, they will. I heard from my sister in law that they snatched the bag of the vice mayor’s wife in broad daylight.
They can do that because they always carry a gun with them. From what I heard from my family, these people are not really from Dasmarinas itslef…they are from a near town area. Once, some men tried to catch them but they fired a gun so they weren’t caught at all. They knew that they will be publicly beaten if they will be caught there (in Dasmarinas).
Don’t carry too much stuff with u, don’t wear jewelry, or expensive stuff with u…don’t even carry ur cellphone in public coz somebody will steal that from u. I say, hide it somewhere.
My husband and I are visiting Dasmarinas as well next year (February) and I’m kind’a worry about it coz he’s caucasian too. I’m not telling him what’s happening in our area coz I don’t want to ruin the trip or holiday. I will definitely be more careful and make sure that I will be with my brother/s if we go out.
We’re also planning to have a business there but knowing that there are so many people who are mugging others business property….sigh. I just told my husband what’s happening there first and then we will decide what to do after.
Hey Martin that lechon looks so yummy with the Mang Tomas sauce…..me drooling here.
take care when you get here. It’s safer now but you never can be too careful.