The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

…and for reference:

Christopher Richardson giving his regrettable valedictory in 1987.

It must’ve seemed like a good idea at the time. In 1987, Christopher Richardson was finishing his undergraduate program at the University of King’s College in Halifax. He was his class’ valedictorian, and as such, he was to deliver an address to his class at their graduation ceremony.

“I wanted it to be a decent speech,” says Richardson, “but my memories…but when I think back on that, it didn’t actually go the way I thought it was going to go.” The speech he gave was a tribute to the Animal House side of university life, an ode to drunken revelry, throwing up, and end-of-adolescence hijinks. At one point in the speech, he even pulled out a bottle of beer that he’d hidden in the podium, which he used in a toast. It might’ve worked at the post-convocation party or some other less formal event, but as a valedictory, his classmates said it was an embarrassing mockery of the ceremony.

He calls it “the worst valedictorian speech in the history of the University of King’s College”, and it was at least bad enough that speeches in the years to follow were subject to review by the university.

“I’m embarrassed by it,” he says. “I’m ashamed of it. The only time I felt good about it was five minutes before I was about to give it.”

Christopher Richardson today.

It’s now 2012, and with his upcoming 25-year reunion coming, Richardson had decided to use his feelings about his mistake as the inspiration and fuel for his documentary film, titled Regret. He talks about confronting his own feelings of remorse for the speech he gave, interviews a number of people who like him, have one particular moment or decision in their lives that they deeply regret. He also talks to experts about the psychological and neurological bases of regret and looks at they ways people are taking on their regrets — which includes, as one might expect, the internet.

Regret is a work in progress expected to be completed at the end of this year. There’s a trailer for the film, which I’ve included below:

Manila as seen from the air, as we approached the runway. Cathay Pacific’s in-flight seatback entertainment units have a mode that let you see through a camera mounted on the belly of the plane, not far behind the nose landing gear.

Phase One of my summer vacation, a couple of weeks hanging out with Anitra in Tampa, is done and Phase Two, a couple of weeks in the Philippines, mostly in the city where I was born: Manila, or more accurately, Makati, one of the seventeen cities that make up Metro Manila and the financial and shopping district.

Photo from Wikimedia commons. Click to see it at full size.

While in Manila, I’ll be staying here:

Photo from the Ascott Flickr photoset. Click to see the original.

This is the Makati branch of The Ascott, a chain of serviced apartments for world travellers, executives and their families. I’m here as part of “The Gang of Seven”, which is made up of me, my sister, her husband, their three boys, and Mom. I know that for a lot of you out there, travelling with family is anything but relaxing, but I’ve always enjoyed our family trips when I was younger, and I’m having a great time on this trip as well. It doesn’t hurt that we’ve got one of the three-bedroom units (four if you count an additional small room for a maid, just in case you’re travelling with one), a 2,400 square foot affair with a good-sized living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, four full baths and a half-bathroom. There’s more than enough space for all of us.

For the past couple of days, I’ve started the morning here:

The pool here is twice as long as the ones in which I normally swim. I swim 1000 metres and follow it up at the cafe, which has a breakfast buffet with a little bit of everything: the bread and cereal selection that all hotels have, a great selection of fruit — papayas, mangoes, watermelon, canteloupe, dragon fruit — dim sum stuff like siu mai and har gow, eggs, bacon, sausages and pancakes, butter chicken and biriyani and a congee bar with lots of toppings.

I like this place.

A photo from the in-flight map on my flight’s entertainment system.

Hello from Manila! I was long overdue for a visit, not having been here in a dozen years. I’ll be here for the next couple of weeks, so the “Funemployment” posts will be even more exotic.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!