Being more or an illustrator than a writer I tend to struggle with writing a dialogue that comes off more from the character than me. This is a case in point since I don't know anyone who played football (Trevor probably played in school but I never bothered to ask him about it both times when he was here on a visit and in e-mails) nor did I follow the sport closely. Although the internet proved to be a valuable resource in providing the sports terms I still had to struggle with the dialogue coming off realistically (or come of good enough a "poser" to pull this off). That's where you guys come in! So I'm asking a favor from those who play the sport or at least are knowledgeable enough to tell me if I was able to pull this off or not. In other matters, the background was taken in Intramuros, Manila. It's one of the few surviving relics from the 300 years Spanish occupation, one of the best tourist attractions around and a virtual goldmine to photography enthusiants. Kyrelle's t-shirt was inspired by Bok in Barkada Trip.

* This is a bonus strip.

It's true. We Filipinos love to stare a lot. We're not only prone to staring at Americans and Europeans but also at fellow Pinoys who deviate from the norm. It's a constant source of irritation and annoyance that more often than not leads to violent fights. Can any fellow Pinoy out there volunteer a guess why we're prone to doing it? Anyway, a couple of lines in this strip were inspired by one of my top favorite movies of all time. I'm giving a no-prize to the first person who gets it.

* This is a bonus strip.

Ok, I admit it. I did it. I caved in. This was the sequel I was deliberating to do or not some weeks back (my friend, Syeri, already pointed it out the last time but I didn't want to drop any hints about it being the joke and all). In any case, the government already reverted the name back to Sasmuan after decades of embarrassment from the international community. The name originally came from TABNUAN, a centuries-old Pampango word which means "meeting place" which was later changed to Sasmuan due to proliferation of SASA or nipa palms in the area. But when the Americans first came to the country around the turn of the last century they either had some trouble reading the spelling of the name or they were feeling naughty and changed it to "Sexmoan." I also don't much of anything about the municipality except for the fact that they're reknowned for having the best prawn and bangus (milkfish) around. And the sweets. Don't forget the famous Pampanga sweets.

* This is a bonus strip.

No revisions this time. This came out as is last May 24. This is actually one of two ideas about provincial towns and places with funny names but after doing a lot of deliberation I decided to cut the other one. I'm keeping the joke but I don't know if I'll ever draw it. The name of this place, Negros, a province which is divided into East and West (the former being the more popular of the two for its tourist destinations) was taken from one of the more populous ethnic groups in the country or what used to be populous in that region (click this link to know more abut them). Fun place to visit if you're into swimming alongside whale-sharks and dolphins or just plain scuba diving.

* This strip was published May 24, 2006.

The original strip that I submitted to the paper was revised a bit for the simple reason that I wasn't satisfied with the drawing I did. It was done in a hurry and not through the usual process of creating a thumbnail and weighing the dialogue for impact and delivery. But there wasn't simple about the revision. I had to tweak the angles here and there, I positioned and repositioned the characters over again and what I initially thought to be a weak joke turned out to be workable after I gave it a once-over. Here it is and I hope you all like it.

* This strip was published May 17, 2006.