Bamboo-zle.

There's an annual festival in New Jersey called "Bamboozle," a rain-or-shine, two-day music festival. Every year, new bands compete

 for spots during the two days. The event evolved out of the "Skate and Surf Festival."

The Bamboozle has many different characters within the festival planning. Some of these characters are real people with false identities, who work to plan and operate the festival, while others are completely fictional, and serve as a means to give the public clues as to who may be playing at The Bamboozle.

The definition of bamboozle, as a verb, is: To cause to accept what is false, especially by trickery or misrepresentation: beguile, betray, bluff, cozen, deceive,delude, double-cross, dupe, fool, hoodwink, humbug, mislead, take in, trick. Informal have. Slang four-flush.  Idioms: lead astray, play false, pull the wool over someone's eyes, put something over on, take for a ride. 

How many times have you been taken for a ride in your lifetime?

There are many con artists in the world; they operate nonchalantly.  There are the pros and the neophytes, and then there are those who don't really think that their action is "bamboozle".  In "street romance " parlance, "someone promises you the moon and the stars," and then just disappears like a cat.

BELOW- A Typical Bamboo cottage.

But let me talk about a different kind of bamboo.

It is the type of wood we see in the countryside. There are plenty of it in Cavite and also in our hometown in Nueva Ecija.  

The lowly bamboo used to be a popular construction piece of a house in rural areas. First, it was readily available - people just went to the woods and chopped down the bamboo trees.  Second, it was easy to use - folks just bound them together.  Third, it was aesthetically pleasing, and fourth, it was easy to maintain.  No need to paint, just wipe them wet and let dry.

Nowadays, the bamboo has become expensive.  Trees had been chopped down permanently because houses had been built in vacant wooded areas.  

Now that bamboos are expensive, they've become favorites of interior designers and homeowners. You see them used as room dividers, decor in sala or lanai, as extension fences, in spas, and inboth indoor and outdoor gardens. And beach resorts in Palawan and Bohol feature bamboo cottages and cabanas. 

My present project at home involves putting bamboo as wall finishing in a bathroom. I am not touching the tiles from the floor up to where the shower is, so basically the bamboo won't feel water. 

My initial problem was how to install the bamboo into concrete wall. If I drilled and put on grill or a semi-iron/plastic rod and tied the bamboo to it, the whole contraption of bamboo tied together may collapse en masse later.

So, I glued two pieces of narrow wooden slats, one near the ceiling and the second, mid-way, and glued each piece of bamboo onto it.  So, if a piece collapses, I'd just glue it back.

This project has just begun, and it takes time. I could have asked a pro to do it, but why?  The fee is high and I have enough time in my hands.