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I just finished reading Jim Rogers' book Adventure Capitalist, in which the legendary investor describes his three-year road trip in 116 countries at the turn of the millennium. The book gave me insights on changes happening in the world and, more importantly, on how a flesh-and-blood capitalist's mind works. There were times when I was shocked by Rogers' sweeping generalizations (he advocates conditional debt write-offs and thinks the IMF and the World Bank should be abolished, but not the WTO), but kept on reading, remembering that this was the man who years ago accurately predicted- and is profiting from- the current rise in oil and food prices.

Last year, Rogers moved to Singapore from New York and was quoted as saying, "If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia."

With opportunities sprouting in our enterprising region, it's auspicious that Singapore-based writer Jean Paul "Jippy" dela Rosa chose Big Dipper to print his first book, 33, a collection of essays on sex in the city of the Merlion. Together with Hong Kong-based A.M. Azada's A Roomful of Waiting, 33 represents our company's efforts to reach out to a wider Asian market.

In his book, Jippy turns the image of Singapore as an "all work- no play" city-state on its head. Jippy, a well-groomed professional (his day job is interior design), also breaks the still ubiquitous Filipino stereotype of the gay man as a flaming faggot who pays for sex- as depicted, for example, in Brillante Mendoza's Cannes 2008 entry "Serbis."

Moreover, the book breaks new ground in cultural studies by exploring a gay man's ambiguous, yet requited relationships with straight men from different countries. This excerpt from the first chapter "My Russian Boy" is typical:

So there we were, drinking, and then I gave him some house clothes that he could get comfortable in while we watched some late-night TV show. And boy was I shocked when he just stripped in front of me! I have to be totally in check most of the time during those moments. Good thing I never lost my sanity! And everything was very normal.

Yeah, as the night clock ticked its way into the wee hours of the next day, we were just there, he seated on my antique Chinese daybed and I cuddled with my head on his lap, watching some show (which I couldn't remember anymore, as I was enjoying that moment!). As my body settled down, slowly things around me became clearer.

Here I was so close to a straight guy that I really like, but that was it.

The stories were published with the consent of the author's present and past partners. Congratulations Jippy for coming out in such a classy, courageous way!

To order copies of 33, call iiiDEAS shop at +632-8173424 or send a message to popoii43@hotmail.com.

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"(F)ashion must have a cultural meaning and should define one's identity." -Barge Ramos

It was the closest thing to sex I could experience in SoHo: a sex shop. Ate P. and I were curating the different toys for sale when I got a call from C.: she was coming from her book club, could we meet outside the theater, instead of her place?

For the movie premiere, C. and I had agreed to dress like the characters: I decided to wear jeans, a gingham shirt, and a regimental tie, urban wear for the tropics. Ate P. left the shop to check if her husband had already arrived in the restaurant, leaving me to look for a hidden door in the basement mentioned in my guidebook.

"OK, L b waiting in Big Chill UES," I texted back, while trying on a Jay Kos blazer that seemed to have been left behind. I then made a brief escape through the hole (I would return the blazer later that night).

When I was in UPIS, first grade, I had wanted to be an actor- I joined different school plays through the years, finding that I understood reality better by playing roles. It was the same that night: making believe allowed me to have a better understanding of C.'s relationships with her admirers. She's a princess, I thought. If they could see that, they wouldn't be so intimidated.

If I made the evening perfect for the princess, its magic would envelop her ever after.

We enjoyed the movie and, afterwards, as we walked to a bar to drink cosmos and toast women's empowerment, C. asked about the flowers inside the footlong hotdog bag- a deconstructed bouquet- I had given her.

"Did you notice the Eiffel Tower bag of Carrie in the movie?" I asked. "She has the Eiffel Tower and you have..."

C.'s face lit up. We had become part of the film- or did the film become part of us? Either way, she was ready to face her Mr. Big.

(I looked at my watch- I was ready to take off the warm blazer.)

no neckties

Ah! It's almost the end of summer: time to find a private island, replenish my creative juices, and write.

This is the picture I first used for my profile in Friendster when I joined it in 2003. Many people have asked me where it was taken. Boracay? Palawan?

No. This was way up north, in Pagudpud, which I heard about from Charlon, a role model in sales. What struck me about him was his ability to strike a conversation with anyone in the beach in Mindoro. It seems that our culture has made virtues out of modesty and self-deprecation: so Charlon, who overflowed with positive words and confidence, was like a fresh sea breeze. From him I learned that selling is not about insincerity, which is easily detected, selling is a transference of feeling.

"You don't have to spend a lot of money to see beauty," he said, "just go to Pagudpud."

It wasn't just sales talk.

When I finally saw the color of the waters of Pagudpud- a shade of aqua I couldn't believe existed and that my camera wasn't quite able to capture- I had to agree. Wow.


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Thanks to Sitti for "Para sa Akin."

etiquette

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. -1 Peter 2:9 (King James Bible)

I experienced a Don Quixote moment when I met Laurent Frideres, the prince of Luxembourg.

Luxembourg is the only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy in the world, which means that in the eyes of most people Laurent cannot really be a prince in rank nor power, but his lush Oxbridge accent with its perfectly enunciated vowels and clipped consonants, his reserve, and even just the rakish way he stands while taking a picture make him so.

I thought of Laurent while researching on protocol for the recent visit of the King of Swaziland and his 13th wife to the Philippines. Here's one question: when a Filipino citizen (say, Sarah Gonzales in Caregiver) meets royal personages, is it correct to give physical obeisance to them by bowing or curtsying?

No, it is not. Under the laws of our land, sovereignty resides in us as a people. Bending the knee is the traditional gesture of an inferior to a superior: hence, we may kneel before God or whatever we worship. The curtsy is a form of the gesture of adoring a sovereign; other kingdoms have their subjects touch their foreheads to the ground or kiss the ground as royalty passes. As a democracy, we follow the lead of the historian Callisthenes and his fellow Greeks, who rejected Alexander the Great's proposal that his subjects prostrate themselves before him. Historically, this matter was settled twice: in 1521, by Lapu-Lapu during the battle of Mactan and again, in 1896, by revolutionaries who fought to free our land from subjugation to the Spanish crown.

What then is the proper way for Filipinos to treat royalty? We do so with the dignity and respect we naturally show to heads of state and other foreign officials, that is, by shaking their hand.

For a simple refresher on world etiquette, read Social Skills: A Modern Guide to Global Living by John Robert Powers Manila (Php 450).