Being in America is like living a dream!

New Orleans, Louisiana — I have no doubt that Americans go out of their way to have fun and fun for many of them is going to New Orleans because it shares with Las Vegas the enviable title of "Sin City" of America. Going out at night in the French Quarter means seeing things that you don't want your kids to see… scantily clad women beckoning you to enter their nightclub.

For instance there's a place called "Barely Legal Club" by Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine side-by-side with Hard Rock Café. Of course Penthouse magazine is also here with pretty sexy ladies all in a row waiting for customers to have fun with. Mind you, you cannot see this in other places in America except perhaps in Las Vegas.

Then there's something that you can see that is even rarely seen in America…a shop called "Jazz Funeral" which is common in New Orleans where a funeral is an 1800 century horse and carriage complete with a jazz band singing all the way to the cemetery. Yes, you can only see these things in New Orleans. They even have guided tours to the cemetery!

Speaking of funerals, I read the New Orleans newspaper "The Times-Picayune" which had a front-page report entitled "Some Folks dying to make a spectacle." Apparently because people have so much money, when they die, they no longer opt for the usual vigil inside a coffin in the funeral home. Many moneyed people want to be remembered for what they did best. There's a photo of a jazz singer who recently died. At his vigil, he was dressed in a suit, showing off a saxophone, and propped up to make it appear he was playing with a band at that instant.

A rich woman was placed at a garden seated in a chair for the reason that this was what she used to do and that's the vigil that her friends and family would see in the funeral home. Call it morbid, but this is the new craze in the US, which is called a "Non-Traditional Funeral." Now whether the Cosmopolitan Funeral Parlor or St. Peter's would follow suit, we'll never know.

Also in the headlines is the debate on gay marriage, which is now ongoing in the state of Louisiana. How this debate will end will probably depend on the midterm elections for senators and congressmen this November. On one side are the Republicans who are against gay marriage and anti-abortion or divorce, while the Democrats are pro-gay marriage and everything that goes with it. Here in Louisiana, they are more conservative. But then we'll find out how this debate would end after the November elections.

If there is anything that women love in America… it is shopping! Yes, when we were in New York, we went to Woodbury Commons Outlets, where prices for shoes and clothes were outrageously low. Shoes that they sell in Cebu for P4,000 to P5,000 is only worth P2,000 here. Yes their prices are outrageous in Outlet stores. When we went to Orlando, we also shopped at their Outlet stores and their prices were all 50% off!

It just makes you wonder how Americans can sell those products for such low prices… and most Americans can afford to buy those products. Call it unfair that we who live in third world countries have to buy those same products at double the price. It's just so unfair. If money is no problem, your biggest problem is packing all your items in your bag, which airlines have already limited. So if you get another bag, be prepared to pay an extra $75 in the airline counter.

For those who love the outdoors, they also have a huge retail store that is fully stocked for all outdoor sports or activities. Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Store is one example where one can buy fishing boats, recreational vehicles, and guns -- from air guns for children to big guns for adults. They even have a separate area just for archery, where you can purchase target butts, target paper all the way to the new compound bows all in rows.

There's clothing for every sport and if hunting is your thing, you can even buy a new style camouflage that looks like you are wearing leaves. You can even purchase shooting platforms that you can set up on the side of a tree all in this one store! Of course the only problem is, even if you have the money, you just can't buy guns and bring these with you to the Philippines. It's just not fair! This is why if Filipinos were given the opportunity, they would get a green card and live in America.

For me, being in the US is like living a dream. But I know too well that this dream will end soon and we will be back home and wake up to this nightmare called the Philippines! Yes, until and unless we rid ourselves of the curse of Pres. Manuel L. Quezon who declared "I would rather see our country run like hell by Filipinos rather than run like heaven by Americans."

It's been 68 years now since the Americans gave us our Independence on July 4, 1946. We've gone from second to Japan to the bottom of the list. Today our economy is doing better, but this economic growth is benefiting only a few of the rich Filipinos.

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