First of all
Read the bill. Read the whole goddamn thing. Just take a few minutes and sit down and, if you’re a hardcore Catholic, clear your mind of biases and read the words. It’s actually short, and phrased simply, more understandable and less confused than its previous incarnations.
Now, to the bill!
Didn’t go to the gym but cleaned my room side of the room. That’s four big bags of junk. It’s like an episode of Hoarders.
I don’t have enough space, definitely not enough space for shelves, so the books I’ve read? I put them in a large garbage bag and place that on top of the cabinet. I miss my room in Quezon City: it had two closets, shelves, and a dresser, and I rented that room for only 4k. Now I’m in Makati and paying more for a corner of a room. Not even a whole room. A corner. I want my own place, but everything’s more expensive in this darn city. If I move back to QC I’ll shell out more for travel fare. Meh.
Therefore, I want more money. Haha.
Right.
I don’t want to talk too much about this excellent Jonathan Carroll novel because I want you to experience it (if ever you went ahead and read it – you should, you know) the way I experienced it. I didn’t read the blurb, and had no idea what the book was about, so essentially I threw myself into the first chapter empty of expectation. And lo, how I floundered. The novel has the most interesting chapter titles (“Tunica Molesta”, “Knee-Deep in Sunday Suits”) and the first chapter is called, “Simon’s House of Lipstick”. In it, Simon Haden gives a bus tour to a group of odd creatures (including a bag of caramels, who is bored) with a little man named Broximon, wondering how he can pay his bills. I read, interested, but the chapter was getting weirder and I didn’t know what was happening. Then I knew, and oh, what sweet bliss as I understood, and I kept on reading.
More than the characters and the incredible plot, I was amazed by Carroll’s pacing. How he leaves you with questions and gives you the answers, slowly, like a striptease. It made reading the story a wonderful experience. It was as if I were given a slice of the best chocolate cake and given all the time in the world to savor it.
You can read the first chapter here.
The Mighty Reading List!
Feast for Crows
The Kobayashi Maru of Love
Showbiz Lengua
PGS Horror issue
Floating Dragon
El Bimbo Variations
The Tesseract
Faithful Place
Moxyland
Zoo City
The Dispossessed
Our Story Begins
Glass Soup
Here on Earth
The Pull of the Moon
Little Bee
Story Quarterly Issue 44
The Bell Jar
Three shots. Got my first shot today. Second shot after a month, third (booster) after six months. If you have a cervix, ask your healthcare provider about the vaccine. :)
Got these beautiful things from the post office:
This is Story Quarterly’s Issue 44.
One of the copies will go to my parents, the other will be on my TBR list!
To wit:
The Mighty Reading List!
Feast for Crows
The Kobayashi Maru of Love
Showbiz Lengua
PGS Horror issue
Floating Dragon
El Bimbo Variations
The Tesseract
Faithful Place
Moxyland
Zoo City
The Dispossessed
Our Story Begins
reading now: Glass Soup
Here on Earth
The Pull of the Moon
Little Bee
Story Quarterly Issue 44
The Bell Jar
Thank you to the editors.
Founded in 1975, StoryQuarterly has been publishing emerging and established writers for over 30 years. Originally an independent quarterly based in Illinois, its contributors’ work has been selected for inclusion in the annual collections The Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize: The Best of the Small Presses, and The Best American Non-Required Reading. Among the acclaimed writers who have written for the journal are Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Frederick Busch, Joyce Carol Oates, T.C. Boyle and Jhumpa Lahiri.
In the summer of 2008, Rutgers University–Camden acquired Story Quarterly. J.T. Barbarese, associate professor of English who teaches poetry in the newly established MFA Program in creative writing, is the new editor. Rutgers–Camden novelists Lisa Zeidner, professor of English, and Lauren Grodstein, assistant professor of English, will serve as assistant editors. M.M.M. Hayes, who edited Story Quarterly for the past decade, remains with the journal as senior contributing editor.
Through its new affiliation with Rutgers University, Story Quarterly will continue to publish an annual print edition, the first one to appear through Rutgers–Camden in the summer of 2009 and will continue as an online presence that will showcase new work year-round. In addition Story Quarterly will begin to publish creative nonfiction and look to make the interview a staple feature.
You may contact their office for subscription questions, or if you want to get your hands on a copy.
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I had to go to the Makati post office and pay a parcel fee of P40 to get these copies, and I still don’t know why. (Where will the P40 go?) Apparently the package had to go through Customs? (Again, why? My books from The Book Depository reached me just fine.)
We had Thor-day on Thursday. Friday was supposed to be badminton, but Jaykie was feeling sick, so I lifted weights while he rested with his iPad. Saturday was Free Comic Book Day and the first day of the two-day Comic Con, but it was too hot to leave J’s air-conditioned room. It was so hot I had to take at least two showers. Saturday pm it began to rain really hard, complete with thunder and drama. Counterproductive weather. We did nothing but eat and watch shows. White Collar. Sons of Anarchy. Battlestar Galactica (the remake). How I Met Your Mother. Parks & Rec. Big Bang Theory. Community. Modern Family (their Mothers’ Day episode cracked me up – I love Gloria). Plus Inside Job, a documentary that J and I liked a lot.
Around 800 words on a new story. Yaaaay.
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Happy Mothers’ Day, Nanay (who thankfully doesn’t read this blog, haha). :)
If I had known Kenneth Branagh directed this film, I would have expressed interest sooner. (Branagh directed the Sleuth remake, which I loved.) I’ve never read the Thor comic books. I think he’ll bore me the way Wolverine bores me, all anger and muscle and big pronouncements. (No offense to fans.) “How dare you threaten the son of Odin with such a puny weapon!” Thor screams in the film, and promptly gets tasered. Thor is simple (three acts: hubris/fall – realization – victory), maybe even too simple for some, but there are highlights: Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Tom Hiddleston as Loki (very very good), lines like “We have Xena, Jackie Chan, and Robin Hood”, and that (surprisingly) effective exchange between Thor and Loki on Earth. I thought it was a fun ride.
Eliza Victoria 