Eccentrics

April 22 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, when the very question of whether the planet can survive emerged for the first time from the minds of so-called eccentrics and flower children of the 1960s into national consciousness.

We have some eccentrics here.

It's fun to imagine those five eccentrics drinking together.

In the Philippines, intellectuals exhibit eccentricity, as elsewhere in this world. And as elsewhere in this world, normal people try to suppress them, including accusing them of deviant sexuality. In the Philippines, eccentrics often learn the gay dialect as a way to signal to others that they are different and to appear more unthreatening. Each country has a different, yet similar way, in treating eccentric intellectuals.

What a vivid and layered glimpse into this hot summer day on Lulu Island. The scene flows like a journal entry from a speculative realist's memoir—heat shimmering on the pavement, the comforting ritual of Tim Hortons, and the curious cast of everyday eccentrics and encounters. Michael L. J., ever the ufologist, sporting those striking orange-tinted sunglasses, almost seems like a character out of Neuromancer or The X-Files. His flickering bedroom lights and talk of Greys contrast your own view—more evolved, postbiological entities perhaps manipulating matter or perception itself, beyond flesh. A gentle disagreement rooted in differing cosmologies. Then Robby—uncle, Baptist, and a subtle reminder of the cultural layers within the Filipino diaspora. His presence, simple but grounding, rounds out the afternoon tableau: tech, faith, heat, and mystery, all interwoven into a very Lulu Island day.