I have been trying to slow things down a bit lately in my travels here. While I did a lot of playing, going to clubs and fancy mountain restaurants and the like, I also have to remember that I have a plan overall. Originally I wrote, "...I could conceivably sustain myself on my internet endeavors and have some real adventure to boot. Since I am doing my work in the wired, it shouldn't matter where in the world I am at any given time, as long as there's access. It would appear as though I can't lose." That only holds true if I actually do something as far as my internet endeavors are concerned.

While most of the time, lately, I am just hanging out with my friend Alona and eating way too much at different places, tonight it's a Friday. I am not in a bar. I am not in a club. I am not at Juliana dancing the night away. I am here in my room sitting at the computer. Sometimes that's okay too, right? Well, it has to be if I want the adventure to continue.



Not to say I have been only doing this. Last week Grace came over with her friend Rose and we went to Sunflower Disco. It was a nice place with a couple of live bands that were pretty good. It was all cover tunes, but even on some old school Earth Wind & Fire they did a great job. The problem was that the place was just too damn expensive. Drinks were double the price of what they might be at The Pump or Juliana, other discos I have enjoyed. Going out like that is a good way to run out of money and end up in the street selling bananas.

So I remembered, as I wrote in my post about comic artist Mars Ravelo, "The guy has a list of published works a mile long. I guess what intrigues me is that he has done what I really want to do. Many of his works have been adapted into TV shows and major motion pictures over the years. He has also written movies himself. Looking at that list makes me realize just how much I really need to devote to my own dream if I really want to be successful at what I do." I have started a new comic, but I haven't worked on it since Monday or Tuesday. It's time to get it finished and ready to hit the Japanese market. The real key is after that. I need to do it again, and again and again.

So while I might miss the bars and discos to some degree. I do need to get something done. After all, this may be the first chance I have ever had to do what I really love doing and actually make enough to not only survive, but live well in a place some see as paradise. What more could one want? I have seen the snowball effect starting in Japan. My works have always gone over well with audience, but more people need to know about them. Naturally, the more I create, the more fans I can build. Each work points more people to the previous works. It rolls like a snowball down a steep hill. I want to keep on rolling.

I wish I had a picture for this one. It's an interesting story, the kind that would probably turn many people off coming to this place. I was coming back from from a short afternoon outing last week and as the taxi turned onto the street of my hotel, I heard a commotion. People were yelling and screaming. Next thing I noticed was people pointing. Running towards the car I was in was a guy, maybe late thirties or early forties. He was running hard and clearly out of breath. He passed the cab as people kept pointing. Following behind him was a motorbike with two people, wearing dark glasses and generally dressed like bad guys, in my opinion. What was most surprising, was the guy on the front pulled out a handgun and began aiming at the running man while yelling something in the local language. I'm not entirely certain if he ever fired. Everything sounded muffled inside the cab. I heard what I thought was shots, but I also thought it should be louder.

What surprised me the most was how distant it all seemed to me. Even though this passed right by my car, I wasn't shocked. The driver wasn't phased either. I think back and wonder why I wasn't scared or didn't duck down at the site of the weapon, but instead kept watching. Naturally I had to know what happened.



I got out of the cab and went into the hotel while people were still crowding around watching. I asked the lady at the front desk and she explained based on what she knew. The guy I saw running, according to her, was a "snatcher". Snatching and running is somewhat common in the city, though not so much in the area where I am staying. What I found more interesting was that she explained that the guys on the motorbike with the gun were cops! I was told it's fairly common for motorcycle cops to ride around in plain clothes. Makes sense, because I almost never see a uniformed cop around here.

The first thing people need to know is that this does not mean this is a dangerous city. Yes, there is poverty which leads to a bit of petty crime, usually pickpockets and snatchers, but Cebu City hardly gains notice when it comes to any real or violent crime. In the list of the top 50 cities for violent crime, New York, L.A., Moscow, Johannesburg, Detroit and like cities are in the top 10. Cebu City isn't on the list at all. So fear not. There is not trouble in paradise. The only thing you need to fear is all the single women who may be after you or, if you're female, after your man.

I met Grace at a mega popular disco called Juliana last Friday night. This disco seems like the place to be Friday and Saturday nights in Cebu CIty. It seems like everyone goes there. I even ran into some of Marifel's friends there that night. There was blasting loud music and much dancing and quite a bit of drinking. The next day, I told Grace what had happened to me the day before.

The day before that, meaning Thursday, I met this Japanese guy named Chiba in my hotel. He's an interior designer brought from Japan to do up some new club in the town center. Apparently he had a friend who went back to Japan the day before, leaving him no one to really talk to since he spoke no English. He told me about what it was like working in an environment where he needs a translator to explain everything to the staff doing the actual work on the club. He also told me that the team was planning a Saturday trip up to a place called Mountain View, which houses some very famous dining spots about an hour out of town. He invited me to join them, which I thought would be very fun.

On Saturday, me and Grace went to Ayala Mall to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which was a lot of fun. When we left the mall, we realized it had rained. That's fairly common in Cebu so I thought nothing of it. Grace wanted to stop off at her place before our plan to meet up with Chiba and go into the mountains. She lived very near the mall and so we decided to walk. Before this, I had always stepped out of the front door of the hotel and into a taxi. This was my first time to really see the place. Just minutes walking from the mall, we entered into the area where Grace lived, and it was something of a shock. I don't have pictures. I wouldn't pull out a cel phone or camera there even if I had one with me.



I had heard many times before about rich and poor living side by side in the Philippines, but now I actually saw it. Run down shacks surrounded by run down vehicles, rust and garbage. The buildings often had no running water, no aircon and no CR. People were just hanging around, playing cards, drinking $1 rum and generally milling about. Now everyone in the area was extremely nice. They were interested in who I was and wanted to talk to me. I met a lot of cool people I would otherwise have never seen, had a couple of shots of dollar rum, and generally had fun. After Grace changed clothes, we went to meet Chiba.

I knocked on Chiba's door and asked him about the trip to the mountains. He said because it had rained, they cancelled the trip deciding to do it another day. I was somewhat disappointed, but Grace asked, "Why not just go anyway?" So we did. We got in a taxi and he agreed to take us up there and even wait for us, for a fee of 700 peso of course. So off we went into the mountain paradise. It was an adventurous winding trip up. EVen saw a motorbike accident. We stopped at a bourgeois restaurant/hotel called Chateau de Busay and there we ate. It was pretty amazing. It was night now and from there you could see the whole city in all its lighted glory. Only a big expensive camera could come close to capturing the beauty of what we saw up there. The place we were in felt like a palace and the view was astonishing.

Going from Ayala to such a poor area and then to this mountain palace type environment made me realize just how different a world I am in. Still, I love it and can't wait to see more. Now, though, after too much sightseeing and partying, I really have to get down to some business. I will be busy writing paid articles and doing freelance graphic gigs this week. Still, I am certain more adventures lie ahead. There's always something new to see!