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You know you’re in the Philippines when you wake up to the shrill crows of roosters, the rumble of tricycles passing by, and the sound of someone sweeping with a walis ting-ting.

I’m here at Narita Airport, quickly posting this entry before the fam and I board our connecting flight to Manila. We are embarking on a one month trip to the Philippines. I’ve been away for 22 years. Don’t know what to expect. It’s all about logistics right now. It’ll hit me, I’m sure, like the rush of hot tropical air that would greet me as I finally set foot on Philippine soil.

My good friend Ric e-mailed me last week to let me know that the book that he, his brother Ed, and our other friend Tony were working on for a very long time is finally hitting the press this fall. The book, Positively No Filipinos Allowed, contains original essays that “examine the ways in which the colonial history of the Philippines has shaped Filipino American identity, culture, and community formation.” Its title alludes to an infamous sign that was posted on the front door of a hotel in the Stockton, California area in the 1930s. Stockton is roughly 65 miles away from here.

I was walking back and forth in front of the TV (as it is in between the home office and the kitchen) while my two-year old son was watching Sesame Street, when something on the screen caught my eye. I turned to the TV and lo and behold, I see Elmo, in a full-body shot, riding his tricycle around Sesame Street. With the camera shooting from a high angle, Elmo is shown pedaling - yes, pedaling - while singing a tune. Now, how can this be? Where is the person who’s supposed to be controlling Elmo’s mouth movements?

There’s no way this could’ve been one of those scenes taken initially with a green screen background. I mean, Elmo was weaving in and out of the area between Hooper’s store and the apartment’s front steps, all the while being surrounded by other kids in tricycles. With the camera on a crane moving about and following Elmo around, this would’ve been a difficult scene to put together. This couldn’t have been CG work, either (does PBS have the budget for that?). It would’ve been overkill (unless there’s some sort of charitable CG work that Lucasfilm has meted out to Sesame Street in appreciation for Frank Oz’s contribution to the Star Wars franchise over the years, but I doubt it. Too far-fetched.).

Has Elmo finally gone fully remote-controlled? I can’t say. No matter what muppet wizardry the CPB has come up with, Elmo on wheels has certainly impressed this dad who himself grew up watching the muppets. But back then they were only shown from the waste up.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed,
The wrong side of the room,
The wrong side of the world.
Can’t put my finger on the mood.
It’s not melancholy, anger or the blues.
I love my (wife), my house, my job.
Couldn’t be any better, and really what else is there?
Then I realize I’m forgetting God,
and that’s the root of all my misery.
Lord, first of all, how is it between You and me?

How is it between us? How is it between us?
When did I talk to You last,
and what has happened since?
How is it between us? How is it between us?
When did I talk to You last,
and what has happened?

When I wake up I am on my way,
reinventing the wheel and saving the day.
I have learned this lesson a thousand times:
I am the branch, and You are the vine.
Apart from You we are mice and men,
With our fancy dreams of grandeur and no way to get there.
Oh, I can think about You now and then,
or I can make a mark on eternity.
Lord, first of all, how is it between You and me?

- Sara Groves, How is it Between Us?