A FEW RANDOM MUSINGS
With me still being down with the flu, I decided to mark today's Slinging Ink entry with a few random musings of my own. With the great possibility of being unable to write something coherent due to a medicine that encourages your eyes to feel heavier than Roseanne Barr, here's hoping this actually comes out with a semblance of logic and wit.

THE POLITICAL CIRCUS
I've actually avoided as much as possible blogging anything about this pathetic display of "pagalingan mambola ng masa" (except perhaps for that pay coupon I got a hold of to share which the Makati rally used to gain more numbers) simply because I hoped if I ignored it as much as many others did, it would just go away. And by ignoring it, I meant not talking about it further online. I've been keeping up with the news reports, listening to the reports of growing rallies, of smarter Makati-based workers who simply ignored the "well paid" rallyists when their work hours ended, the noticeably well-orchestrated snow-balling attempt of getting PGMA caught in a rut, and the just as well-launched counterassault of PGMA's camp with the Super Electro-Magnetic Ramos! And so on and so forth (the rest kinda were less exciting than those moments).

And so far, nope, I have not seen anything new.
Nor do I see anyone who would be better to replace PGMA. Or who would actually "raise us up" from the crisis we are in.

So for me, let's just return to the more comfortable status quo and wake up to the fact that most likely there are many wealthier people out there who just got even wealthier with the peso=dollar exchange rate plummeting that well.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE INDIE COMICS PRESENCE
Having never earned a single peso from making my comics, be it online or via contributions with others, I personally feel I remain among the Independent crowd of creators compared to other comic-creators I know. But strangely, I have those weird "showbiz" moments when I actually bump into people who turn out to be familiar with my stuff (Diliman or Bangugnot or in a few rare occasions Isaw, Atbp, Love & Heartbreak, and Wan) and greet me as if they finally got to meet someone they have long hoped to meet. Its frightening, I tell you. Frightening in a good way. The kind of way you get scared good by a horror film and find yourself wanting to get spooked again the next time you see it.

So lately, I find myself thinking: Am I really going to just be in the Independent portion of local comics? Do I ever plan to branch out? To (gulp) actually invest?

The problem with me and the concept of making money out of my comics is threefold:
1) I could never place a price on my works. Even way back, when I used to do these really cool black art pieces on newspaper pages, I would give away my works to those whom I felt would appreciate have something by me. My art was either something shared, or something showed to others. The idea of selling it is still a difficult prospect to face (hence any sold indie stuff were always financially managed by someone else).

2) I don't really think I'm at a point I am confident enough to claim my works have reach a level of being a priced commodity. My work tends to still have that raw-around-the-edges feel of an independent creation (read: non-professional) unlike stuff by Carlo Vergara, Dean Alfar,Gerry Alanguilan, Jonas Diego, Elbert Or, Arnold Arre or even he-who-must-never-be-spoken-of-since-his-partner-supposedly-hates-my-ass-and-reads-my-blog.

3) No one has really approached me with the intention of investing.

So I guess I'm just going to keep at it. Just going to keep working on making my indie stuff. On sharing it free online. And on being content that there are people out there who actually DO like the stuff I come up with and share.

WHILE CHATTING WITH SUNDIAL GIRL
Just remembered a blast from the past I MUST share with you all. To my friend... uh.. who will remain nameless lest she slap me again for revealing this, know you have made more people smile today than you realise.

Sundial Girl and I were talking about the way some people talk and how humorous they can get. I provided the usual Lasallian "Dude Pare" syndrome while she offered the "Like...like..." sydrome many girls from private shools tend to get.

Then I remembered this. The girl was a friend of mine back when I was studying at DLSU Taft. She was from DLSU-College of Saint Benilde. And I quote:

"Haaaaay naku, kasi naman you see, you know about that... ano... kasi wait, am thinking ha. I forgot eh."

To which I promptly replied to with:

"Wow. You're actually thinking."

She slapped me of course. Painfully. But damn, that was a slap well worth it. I should have blogged that sooner. Thank you Sundial Girl for reminding me of that moment in my past.



Nikki Alfar
Tobie Abad
Gabby Lee
Andre Mischa Cleofe
Cathy delos Santos