This Week I Wore LIPSTICK!

It is really bad when you see your wife and you have more make up on then she ever wears!

Ever since we have known each other Lady Hiva usually wears Lip Gloss…however, lately she has tried to wear lipstick. I don’t like it. The wax taste when I kiss her is HORRIBLE. I asked her to stop wearing it. Little did I know that several times this week it would be me, not Lady that is wearing the lipstick. And if that was not bad enough, I wore foundation too! (something else my wife does not even do)

LOL! Look how she even put make up on my bald head!!!

Over the course of the last week and a half I have been on TV and Radio several times. It has been a really fun experience. Let me give you some short details before I tell you the stories:

·         8 interviews

·         12 hours of air time

·         5 Networks

·         14 Radio/TV personality Interviewers

·         Wore makeup 5 times

·         2 times asked if I was related to Kerri Bradshaw (Don’t they realize she is JUST a character; the real person’s name is Sarah Jessica Parker)

·         5 times was compared “Oh, Dustin, like Justin Bieber…” (Hmm…how do I answer that?)

·         3 times had the song “Dust in the Wind” quoted

·         1 time had the song “Dust in the Wind” played as we were ending the interview LOL! Which I decided to play along and sing with the track record…(they must think I am a quack sometimes!)

·         Received 25 texts from friends saying they were watching me…

The topics of the interviews ranged from voting, to me learning Tagalog and living here in the Philippines, to visa applications and immigration—they were all done in Tagalog. It was interesting to see the different personalities of the interviewers play out in the interview. Some were fun and hearty…others were more formal. All of them were surprised to hear me speaking Tagalog. According to them it was hard to look at me, a white American male, that speaks their language.

Each interview included callers and texters that wanted to ask questions or say something to me. It was fun to see that they were all supportive and excited that I spoke the language and would answer their questions.

Some highlights of the week include surprising the staff as we walked into the studio when they asked the Public Affairs person with me if it would be alright if they put makeup on my face and I started laughing because I understood. Then I was surprised because it was only then that they told me I would not only be on radio but broadcast on TV. I am glad I happened to wear a suit that day. In the morning as I was dressing I almost just wore a shirt and tie like I usually work in. The only problem is that I wore a white shirt with a light blue tie…then they covered my face in white powder so when I see the photos I look like a GHOST! HAHA

Look at all the WHITENESS!!!

Another time I was explaining that people pay unnecessary fees to visa fixers because they do not know they can just apply on their own and to pay those fees they usually have to borrow money from people. I accidentally said, “Utong” instead of “Utang.” As soon as I said it I started laughing, luckily the two Radio personalities laughed with me…(if you don’t speak Tagalog you can use Google Translate to see what the difference is—my only hint is that one means debt and the other is a part of anatomy) YIKES! Chalk that up as a journal entry story!

I have people sending me emails because they must have Googled my name and found my authors webpage at www.dustinbradshaw.com. I also have received countless texts and people at work from all over the place, including all the drivers, are telling me that they heard me or their family heard me. It is fun to see that they treat me as if I am one of them. I like that feeling.

At the Embassy they all tune in to watch when they know I will be on the TV or Radio. On Friday several of them made Lady Hiva stand in front of the TV for a photo while I was on the news and then all day wherever I went they would jokingly ask for an autograph. HAHA…you KNOW she LOVED that!

One of the feelings that I don’t know I will ever get used to is when we pull up to these places I get out of the car back seat and the Public Affairs assistant gets out of the front then the driver pulls off (Lady Hiva and I don’t have a driver so it already feel like I am being spoiled) then I hand over my stuff to the PA person and we head into the building. All the time  people are staring and a camera is rolling…literally in my face as we walk. What if I need to blow my nose or something?!  

Once in the car I finally have time to think over the interview about all the stupid things I must have said or the things maybe I shouldn’t have said. Sometimes I would ask the P.A. assistant what she thought of it and of course she would say nicely that is was great or something good…even if it was HORRIBLE I don’t think she would say anything. It is over now I guess you just let it roll.

Who knows how many Facebook pages I made it on this week. I would stand there in the hallway for several minutes taking photos with TV and Radio production staffs before I left the building. It is an odd feeling. Don’t they know it is just me?  I would rather be the person sitting and talking like friends than the person they put make up on…

Here is one facebook page from the one of the TV stations:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151134651679620&set=a.255731849619.140957.192436084619&type=1&theater

By the way…as they were putting on the makeup all I could think is “How many other people’s faces this brush had touched” Then when they put on the lipstick (of course it tasted nasty) all I could think was “What if the person before me had a cold sore or something???” Oh well. Life goes on right?!