Foreign Climes

Johnny Blaze (who sometimes comments here as "existence beacon") currently finds himself in the Philippines, and he's posting about it occasionally on his myspace blog. Despite his stalwart resistance against the standard spellings of modern American English, Johnny's posts are an interesting mix of the light-hearted and the grave. Here's an excerpt:

"May our ventures be not bubbles..."

This is probly the coolest thing I've heard in a while. My uncle Jaunito said this to me as he was praying for me and my upcoming endeavors. In a few hours I will be getting on a flight to Bicol, which is the southeastern area of Luzon. It is here where I will begin my work here photographing and gathering the stories of the victems of Typhoon Durian. Now seeing as how the Philippines is a country with 90% of its population being Catholic, there isn't exactly a shortage of charity work being done.. but there's always someone not being helped. In this case it would be the poorest of the poor of the area: the rural farmers, the mountain people, etc. I like to refer to them as the "indie rockers" of typhoon victems.

Which brings me to why I'm a little concerned about the next couple of weeks: a group of jungle gangsters known as the N.P.A.) You might have seen them on the cover of the most recent issue of Time Magazine. I'm basically gonna be all up in their business for the majority of the time I'm there. Their bread and butter are the poor de la poor. Now I don't really know why these guys would wanna fuck with a harlmess dude like me, but it's a little scarywhen I'm told "To not speak English loudly(so no one knows I'm a foreigner)", to "travel only during daylight" and "do what you need to get done as quick as you can and leave". Hopefully my guide, who I will to refer as "Panther Cobra Cheetah Komodo Dragon Blade"(just in case if the N.P.A. are myspacers), will be able to protect me so I can get back home safely to my lonely squatter life.

Oh, and when I'm not fearing for my life because of communist rebels, I can always have the Mayon Volcano to worry about. It's the most active volcano in the Philippines which scientists are expecting to blow any second. At every stop I'm making, I will be able to see this fucker smoking.

I'm really glad he's over there doing what he's doing, but I worry about him. Stay safe, Mr. Blaze! (And try not to sleep with your cousin, ahem.)