This month marks the seventh year of this blog. A tremendous amount has changed in these seven years, and through it all, I’ve kept this old thing running – something I never envisioned in 2002 as a naive, fresh-off-the-plane expat. In many ways I supposed I’ve “grown up” in front of anyone who has followed this blog; writing styles have changed, perspectives altered, and life experiences have dramatically morphed my views of the world. The archives aren’t functioning ideally atRead more
Posts filed in: General
Delivery from Indonesia: A taste of home.
Novita’s wonderful sister, Nana, just arrived at 5:30am this morning from Jakarta. She’ll stay with us for three weeks, relaxing and hopefully exploring more of Manila and the Philippines. We have a vacation coming up for 9 days at the end of October; still undecided where we may go. Not only did she bring Novita a cure for homesickness (herself) – she brought a ton of spices, sambal, and Indonesian food! In fact, she brought so much, she was chargedRead more
Wrong on so many levels…
On the streets of Jakarta, anything is possible.Read more
A year older. A year wiser? One can hope, right?
Here’s to hoping another year on this ball of matter will mean a notch up on the wisdom totem-pole. My birthday will be full of meetings, but hopefully we’ll find some time to unwind. To all of you who’ve posted things to FB, I really appreciate it. Now I’d like to see how many of you’d remember without FB reminders! 😉 Cheers.Read more
Rest in peace, my Grandfather
My nearly 90 year old grandfather passed away last week. My recent move to Manila is clouding the reality of his passing. It doesn’t feel factual, even though it’s now been many days. Rather than sum up his life with a few paragraphs of my own meager thoughts, I’ll simply paste the obituary that was published. He was an amazing man who led an extra-ordinary life full of adventure. He will be dearly missed. “SATCHELL, David Bidwell, age 89, ofRead more
Packing up, books vs Kindle, and the joy of dead trees
The movers are here today, shipping our belongings to Manila. We spent the week packing up and sorting through dusty memories. It’s really hard to narrow your life down to only 12 cubic meters; especially considering I arrived in Indonesia 7 years ago with only two suitcases. What goes? What stays? What gets donated to charity? What gets trashed? I don’t want to become a pack rat – I enjoy simplicity and minimalism to a degree. However, I do haveRead more