I have updated my Publications page as soon as the issue came out, but I must have forgotten to announce it here. Oops.
But Issue 59 of Pedestal Magazine is still up (and will remain live until October), so do visit the site. It includes my poem, “Maps”.
I have read all seven books of the Harry Potter series and makes it a point to watch every film installment (even though they mostly disappoint me). I enjoyed this series, and became a fan with close friends and my sister. (Alas, my brothers can’t be bothered to read anything.) However, when The Tales of Beedle the Bard came out I decided not to join the madness. It’s been years since I last read a Potter story, and I thought this new collection would bore me and would not contain a hint of that magic that attracted me to Hogwarts and all that jazz as a young reader.
But. I was wrong. The stories in this book are in fact well-written and engaging. I recommend it. :)
Also, Ms Rowling, you draw? Good for you.
An office mate has left, and I’m sad because of the impending ADDITIONAL WORK LOAD! Haha! Jk, Cyril.
First, pizza and pasta and Coke. A.K.A. Stuff I shouldn’t be eating.
Then Platinum for videoke. I don’t like videoke. I don’t sing. But I sang in this session anyway (“sang”) kasi last day na naman niya. Chos. :D
Photos from Cyril. Good luck, ate! Kumanta ako ha, umayos ka sa lilipatan mo. :-p
Not really. I’m too angry and sad to even say something coherent. I mourn the lives lost, the relatives left with their pain. If only we can go back to Monday night. The man just wanted his job back – if authorities gave in to his demands, he would have calmed down, he would have realized that he was doing a stupid, pointless thing, and no one would have died.
Ten things the Philippine bus siege police got wrong – BBC
Some cheer to wash away the sadness of the previous post.
I got my new glasses! Ms Sarabia even gave me this cute case for them.
Purple frames!
Lunch date at ROC in UP Diliman.
Starbucks with HGC peeps. (Photos by Jme.)
Watch-a-ton with Jake. :) We saw two episodes of Through the Wormhole (“Is Time Travel Possible?” and “What Happened Before the Big Bang?”, which also questioned the Big Bang), Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant (smart, sensitive, sad), and The Pixar Story. Did you know that in the first draft of Toy Story, Buzz was red and small and Woody was completely obnoxious? Disney almost shut down production LOL.
Bonus: Jaykie’s (pseudo)annoyed face, after I combed his hair flat haha. <3
That’s all for now. :)
MANILA, Philippines – Fire razed the public market in Hagonoy, Bulacan Wednesday night, destroying an estimated P15 million-P20 million worth of property and affecting the livelihoods of 300 market vendors.
Fire officials said the fire started at 7:30 p.m. and quickly razed a large portion of the market. It also destroyed 5 houses near the market.
Fire Superintendent Absalon Sipadan, chief of the Hagonoy fire department, said the fire had reached the second alarm by 8 p.m. after local firemen could not contain the blaze. He said the local fire department has only 2 fire trucks, both of which are already old.
He said fire trucks from neighboring towns arrived to help put out the fire.
Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said the public market has been in place for the past 25 years.
Firefighters have yet to determine what started the fire.
I heard about the tragedy from my mother through text around 11 p.m. that Wednesday night. The text was so matter-of-fact that I thought it was a missent message, or a joke. The entire store and the bodega burned down. That can’t be right.
“Don’t you know?” she said when I called her. I work in a newspaper, so she thinks I know everything that happens. This isn’t always the truth.
So it was true. That store was there even before I was born; I never thought I’d see it destroyed in my lifetime. The family routine revolved around the business: my father would wake up at 4 am every day, around noon someone from the store would drop by the house to pick up their lunch, every Tuesday my mother went on a bus to Divisoria to buy stuff wholesale. I have several shirts with the words ATO & BELEN STORE stamped on a sleeve – we gave it away to customers during Christmas. (We also gave away pails and basins and coin purses – vendor necessities.) When I brought Jake home the stories my father told him was about the store; before we left my father said, “Daan muna kayo ng tindahan ha?” (Drop by the store first, okay?)
My parents had a TV there, and a stove, and a wooden bench made by my grandfather. It was stocked to the brim. Just one night of fire and –
This was the bodega.
The store.
More pictures. These don’t even begin to show the extent of the damage. The fire reached even the wet market near the river, and those stores where I used to buy candy as a child.
We have another bodega near our house, and some items were salvaged from the fire. My parents found a temporary space. It’s way smaller than our store, and we have to pay a monthly rent on top of the electricity bill, but it’s a start.
Thank you to friends who sent words of comfort and offers of help. Send my parents good vibes. :)
Everybody looks and sounds bored but I found every scene pleasantly engaging. The smoke, the colors, the psychedelic pace – works for me. She has haters but I liked Kristen Stewart here. And Dakota Fanning, all grown up and oh lord, of course. “Jail-fucking-bait! Jack-fucking-pot!” Michael Shannon’s performance is a standout.
Eliza Victoria 