Tag Archives: condominiums

The Road to Diamond, Day 74: Options Arise

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 11,2025, Manila- Someone with experience in condominiums looked at the sheet which outlines amortization and pointed out everything that one gets when purchasing a condo. He then offered an alternative, the details of which must remain private, for now. Suffice it to say, the option would be completely above board, fair and would meet my relatively simple needs. It also met with my loved one’s approval. (She was less than thrilled with the condo idea. To be clear, the living arrangement on which I am working now is for me alone. My friend has her own place and any change in our status would be after I get established.)

It is said that any problem that arises contains the seeds of its resolution. The above is a case in point. It is my nature to consult experts, when confronted with something that leaves me like a deer in the headlights. When I’ve followed that practice, novel situations have turned out well. The few times I’ve tried to muddle through on my own have been disastrous. My gut always knows the difference.

I have also learned to practice consultation in relationships-be they platonic friendships or more intimate. Penny taught me that skill. Most of my relationships since have gone well. The few that imploded went south either because I was delusional or the other person had a hidden agenda-or two. K is the real deal, so our consultation is spot on, each and every day. Consultation always generates options, as well.

Some will be disappointed in the choices I make, but in case of the business matters, they will have factored in the possibility of getting ‘No’ for an answer. In the case of the people who want me to take on one task or another, I will work with them to make sure someone else of capacity is able to take on the duties. No one of us is irreplaceable.

Stay tuned. Dull moments are rare, this year.

The Road to Diamond, Day 73: A Pause for Reality

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

February 10, 2025, Manila- I went shopping, this afternoon. Looking for a way to settle here, in an intelligent, practical manner has run into the realities of urban finance. I will discuss this further with K, and at least I have a safe, secure Home Base waiting, if the whole plan here turns out to be an impractical mess. I have a duty, to my departed parents, to my little and extended families, and to my beloved, to never again be a burden on anyone. So, with no money having exchanged hands, I am glad that my expedition this afternoon and evening has given me insights.

Long story short-while monthly rent here is fairly cheap, housing entrepreneurs favour “rent to own” systems, which include a doable down payment, followed, however, by a monthly payment that exceeds the average American pensioner’s total monthly income-at least in Metro Manila. No thank you, unless I win the lottery stateside, and even then, it’s the principle of the matter.

I am not shamefaced, to tell you, my readers, this, only a day after being so sure of my Plan 1. I did say, yesterday, that events on the ground this year could change on a dime. Things will likely proceed organically, in quite rapid succession, between now and next Tuesday, as well as for the rest of this year. K and I will continue to have honest, heartfelt conversations, about a number of things-and life will go on nicely. Stay tuned.

The Road to Diamond, Day 72: Realizations

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

February 9, 2025, Manila- A kindly woman said something that has occurred to me several times, but has slipped to the background of my thinking, with regard to my friendship with a special soul here. It is service together and enjoyment of just being together that matters most, in any relationship. The whole romance and courtship element that is so important, to so many, even among us seniors is actually of lesser importance to K and I. The longing to be together, to do things together, is very strong-as strong as it was with Penny. It does not, however, come with strictures and caveats, per se-other than a sense that I get from K, that I actually commit to being here for more than a few weeks..

Tomorrow, I will go with a mutual friend to look at a place where I might rent a condominium at a monthly rate, looking to live in this area for a year or so. If the place seems reasonable, then all the systematic changes that I would need to make in my life would be effected from the time I return to the United States, in the middle of next week (2/19) to the end of April. It will perhaps discomfit some in Home Base I, and elsewhere, but I haven’t felt this strongly about anyone, nor felt such reciprocal energy coming from the person, since 2011.

Unless things go drastically south in the next ten days, I know that this is the course I want to pursue. It’ll mean working with the Red Cross to train a team of Disaster Response volunteers for northwest Arizona, during March. It will mean putting some household items up for sale and giving much of the rest away, in early April and taking the rest to a storage unit. I would bring only two or three bags of items with me. It will mean a schedule of 9-10 months here and 2-3 months’ travel in the United States or other parts of the world.

It will also mean being readily adaptable, in this age when affairs large and small can turn on a moment’s notice.