Filipino DemiGod in the Days of Friendster

There have been so many new social networking sites develop in the last few years that now many people have multiple accounts; I, myself, have one on Facebook and Myspace, although I rarely ever use the latter.

Does anyone remember Friendster? Does Friendster still exist, I don't know. The one thing I remember about Friendster--that's happened to me nowhere else--is that I was befriended by a large number of Filipinos, who I had never met, nor spoken with. I only have two Filipino friends, brothers, and neither of them knew any of the people who had befriended and were following me online. Their belief was that the name "Freeland" must be closely related, and therefore easily mistakable, to one of the demigods within the Filipino pantheon. I couldn't find a better explanation for it then, or since.

This phenomenon only happened on Friendster, failing to happen anywhere else. Maybe it was a system glitch. Maybe the world got too big and the amount of people online and logged in to social networking sites became too massive, too diluted with people. Maybe the world got worse, and demigods don't cut it anymore.

Dog Day Afternoons in Poo Corner

There is pee on the floor.

I'm sitting with three dogs underfoot: two labradoodles, and one blue heeler. There is a brown-spotted dalmatian, Balzac, who is walking around sniffing the floor, most likely waiting for one of the other dogs to crap. So he can eat it.

In the other pen, the Puppy Pen, most of the dogs are laying down for their afternoon nap.

Yes, my latest occupation: Pooper Scooper extraordinaire! I'm sitting for dogs at a daycare and animal school in Warren, Rhode Island. While I'm still aggressively searching for work, this job pays the bills and allows me time to read, write, and continue drinking copious amounts of coffee. I'm learned to almost ignore the smells.