rgion

Run

Midnight

Last night we talked about death. He showed me a photo of his grandmother lying on her bed.

“She even got up to eat when I arrived”. His grandmother had been bedridden since the accident and on some days did not eat at all.

He was her favorite grandson and he cried to see her back with bedsores.

“It was as if she just waited to see me” because she died the night he took the boat back to Cebu.

There are many nights when do not talk at all, weeks at a time even. There are nights when we exchange one word greetings as he walks out of his room across mine. Then there are nights when everything has crashed down and we are blanketed with heartache or failure or death.

And on our little couch for four, me or me and my three roomies, we would sit in silence and let the darkness bathe us. We’d watch all the scenes of our young lives, listen to all the conversations we could remember, all the bitter pills and silent nights.

Sometimes, you get what you need

from the sketchpad

Sea

ChessBoxing!

In 1992 Enki Bilal invented ChessBoxing – he wrote about it in his graphic novel: Froid Équateur. Nine years later people were having the very first chessboxing world championship. Now, there is a world boxing chess organisation, their motto is “Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board”. This month a 19 year old math student became the undisputed world champion by beating a 37 year old ex UN peacekeeper.

Painting Birds

I’ve been painting a bunch of birds lately  – we’ve been asked to provide illustrations for a Nature Park in Cebu. The Kingfisher is now my second most favorite bird – my most favorite is the Chicken.