Day: March 13, 2011

book swap night, and other random happy things

The Book Depository site says my three books have all been dispatched. If all goes well, they should arrive within the week!

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Speaking of books, book swap with the girls (now also with Almi) at Starbucks 6750 Saturday night.

(Thanks to Andrea for the additional photos.)

Bought a cake and drink for poor Jaykie, who was sweet enough to drive me through hellish EDSA traffic.

Was it simply because it was a Saturday? It was awful! We left QC at around 6 and arrived at my place at 9 pm. We wanted to eat dinner in the Glorietta area, but the drive made us so hungry that we just decided to stop at the nearby KFC.

(I’ll tell you a secret: I had rice. I know! But I was so hungry!)

What went down:

  • I got these books, while I lent Atwood’s The Robber Bride, French’s The Likeness, Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts, and Carljoe’s The Kobayashi Maru of Love. (Andrea’s copy of Jonathan Carroll’s Glass Soup not in picture.)

  • Fruit Ninja! Angry Birds! Nail polish!

  • That very intelligent game where somebody asks a question, gives a page number and line number, and you have to find the answer in the book you’re holding.
  • Example: “Who is your ideal partner? See Page __, line ___.” Me (checks book): “‘woman, right?'” (This actually happened.)

  • I think the people around us were looking at us funny. But this is a book club! I swear!
  • It’s not really a book club.
  • A little girl named Kylie wandered into our corner. Cute kid, probably powered by espresso. I think she liked Jaykie. Big bear! :D

  • The girl sat on Almi’s lap first, so I guess that means she’ll have a baby soon? Hihi.

  • The little girl’s companion (father? uncle? brother) introduced himself and said he does tarot readings in Robinson’s (Galleria I guess?). He also gave us his number.

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The Mothership gave us this commemorative watch (made by Swatch). The company workshop that preceded it wasn’t so bad either.

So shiny! I love it.

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Badminton Friday. On Saturday, I did four rounds around the oval, so that’s at least 8 kilometers. I took an Alaxan after! Ha! I should get used to the pain.

poetry sales

  • Stone Telling will be reprinting my poem “Sodom Gomorrah” in their much-awaited Whimsy issue. My thanks to editor Rose Lemberg. The piece originally appeared in (the now sadly defunct)Writers’ Bloc (Rutgers).
  • Basement Stories will be reprinting my poem “Dreams After the Storm” in their upcoming fourth issue. My thanks to editor James Dent. I sent them an edited version of the piece that appeared in Rocket Kapre’s Ruin and Resolve anthology, which was published to help the victims of Ondoy and Pepeng.

Sooo I’ll just be here waiting for the contracts and editing notes. Will link to the pieces once they’re live on the respective sites.

:)

on japan

What happened in Japan was the worst disaster I have ever seen and heard in my life. An earthquake followed by aftershocks with magnitudes comparable to major earthquakes (a magnitude 6 earthquake marked as an “aftershock” – can you imagine?), a tsunami that swept through the Pacific and reached the coast of California, a possible nuclear meltdown in one of its power plants, and fatalities possibly in the thousands.

The earthquake was so strong that it moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet and shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches.

I can still remember how terrified I was when I realized that wishing the tsunami away wouldn’t do any good because it was already on its way, it was only a matter of time. At least 20 countries were warned and monitored the wave as it approached, like victims bracing for impact.

Thankfully it didn’t do damage in the Philippines.

Thankfully it didn’t happen in the Philippines, or we wouldn’t have survived it. We are so ill-equipped, so ill-prepared, and so stubborn.(Remember the concerns raised after the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004? When Ondoy came years later we still didn’t have enough rubber boats to rescue stranded citizens. Jesus Christ.)

Thankfully we didn’t revive the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant. One earthquake, and we’d surely be covered not only with rubble but also with radioactive fallout.

I’ve always been against nuclear energy -just so many risks, and where will we stash the waste? – but I didn’t wish to be validated in this way.

Nature operates on the principles of balance and cycle and order – it does not operate on morality. It doesn’t happen to you because you’re evil, it does not not happen to you because you’re good. That’s why to die or suffer from nature’s effects is so painful, because you are not taken into consideration, because you cannot blame anyone, because you cannot ask for mercy.

But I do so fervently hope nature would spare us and allow people to rebuild in peace.