City Mouse

Posted by admin | Filed under Trash

Writing on a laptop at a coffeeshop in Serendra. Humid day at the fort. For those confused, I’m in Manila. The capital of the Philippines. I live in Cebu, widely considered to be the Pinoy counterpart of Chicago… if this place was New York. And no, the American capital is not Washington. Pop.

Cousins and in-laws are either getting started on holiday shopping or talking about how shitty school or work was. I have a pile of trade paperbacks stacked up under an overpriced cappuccino. I honestly can’t decide whether I love this city, despise this city, or both. I’m a country mouse, and a homebody to boot. Jurassic 5 is the soundtrack for the early evening. Rap.

The comic shops are things of beauty though. Back home I normally get my monthlies from a friend Viking Alex and I call Creepy Comics Guy, but I’m here… so it’s literally like being let loose in a hen house. Screw the fox, I feel like a wolf. Cut to two days ago, EJ and I stalked between the shelves at FullyBooked and ranted about which runs were great or sucked shit. A few of the store’s regulars stared at us like we actually knew what we were talking about. Rock.

I shouldn’t stay long though. Too easy to get spoiled here. Too easy to get drunk. Too easy to hide. Too easy to get lost. So here I’ll mangle Luhrmann’s song and say Come to the big city but leave before it makes you soft. Jazz.

My coffee’s getting cold. The gang’s getting ready to move now.

And these comics won’t read themselves.

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Permalink | November 25th, 2008

6 Responses to “City Mouse”

  1. Alex Says:
    November 26th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    Yeah, Manila’s a cool place, though I would prefer living here in Cebu. I remember spending 3 hours at Fullybooked just deciding what books I would get. If only we had more comic book shops here…

  2. chummy Says:
    November 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am

    true, manila has all the cool bookshops but ive heard we will have a fullybooked branch here in ayala soon, when i was der attending a seminar for 3 days all i got was a damn headache from the seminar and the traffic and soot in my nose. lotsa people and places, made me miss good ol’cebu.

  3. John Amor Says:
    November 26th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Hardly hitting the pages here. Didn’t anticipate the whole “being out of my comfort zone” thing. Ready to come back to the studio, but most important meeting comes tomorrow yet.

  4. jayjaylumagbas Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 1:34 am

    fully booked is open over here! terraces. nice place, split levels. i counted 4 shelves of comics and graphic novels

  5. John Amor Says:
    November 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    I’m so fucking there. As soon as I’m not here.

  6. Carlo Montoya Says:
    November 30th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    Manila is where I want to be when looking for action figures and books but the truth is some of my stuff were ordered online anyway so Manila’s just another place to shop when I’m there. Just like you, I certainly wouldn’t want to live or work there.

    Glad you’re back and I heard that I may be buying(?) toys that a man I know of would be designing soon. :)

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