Category: family

the birthday weekend, in bullets

  • J bought me Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars on Oct. 29 and I finished reading it two days later. Do I even have to mention that this is an absolute page-turner? What a fantastic volume of stories. Full Dark is peopled with characters caught in tragic circumstances (rape and assault, a terminal illness, murder) that stretch them to their limits. Their tragedies lead to the discovery of the Other Self – either the darker self that leads to more ruination, or the stronger self that helps them survive. I think King is strongest when writing the short novel. With full novels he tends to meander; with short stories he tends to resort to cheap B-movie horror tricks. Take any King novel or short story collection and you’ll know which parts/stories you can remove without feeling shortchanged. I can’t remove any of the stories from Full Dark. Not one of them.
  • I went with J’s family to Holy Cross. Weather was nice and we had a lovely walk.
  • Horror movie marathon with J’s sisters and brother-in-law. Here’s our feast: chicken wings with blue cheese dip, bread and cheese, various sausages, apple cheesecake, coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting.
  • Pumpkin mousse tart! Made by J’s sister, V. I could eat this every day.
  • Watched Dawn of the Dead, Trick r Treat, The Crazies, and Kababalaghan aka The Return of Magandang Gabi Bayan and Nostalgia. (My childhood!)
  • Went home to Bulacan! Caldereta, kare-kare, menudo, adobo, yema, pastillas, Oreo cheesecake (from my sister and her boyfriend), leche flan. My father and J finished a bottle of Johnny Walker (Black) at 2 in the afternoon (J was coerced). J ended up napping most of the time. He said he liked the wind there.
  • We watched Rec 2, which we hated with a passion.
  • All too soon we had to leave. We stopped by SM North Edsa and tried two restaurants. One is Hapadog, the Japanese hotdog place. We were amused by their Japanese soda, which you had to open by pressing down on the bottle opening to push down the marble holding the soda back why does it have to be this complicated, Japan?
  • They have good food! I had Californippon, california maki in hotdog form, hehe.
  • Jaykie had Hapadog.
  • Lychee iced tea, so good.
  • Then we went to Gong Cha, where I was unknowingly rechristened.
  • After the weekend, got my copies of Metro Serye! Thanks Mookie!

what happened on sunday

  • Received a text message from my parents saying that they’re okay, and that the flood water’s starting to recede. Tried calling them but failed to reach them. I think they turned off their phones on Saturday to save power (and probably turned them off again?) since they still don’t have electricity. At least I got word from them after more than 24 hours. Thanks to everyone who expressed their concern and offered their prayers and good thoughts. :)
  • Met up with two of my siblings (my brother was in UPLB) and my cousin and J. Lunch at Friday’s in Trinoma, coffee at Seattle’s Best. We also saw The Change-Up.

  • Body switch comedy, like a mini-Here Comes The Bride. (Bongga sa comparison!) Toilet humor galore and formulaic but enjoyable enough for a lazy Sunday.
  • Still a bit blue but life goes on. It’s Monday now.

6 Luzon dams release water, worsen floods

Calumpit floods worst in 40 years

Floods swamp Bulacan as dams release water

I called my mother yesterday and she said the Hagonoy town market (including our store, and most of our goods for sale) is now underwater. Water inside the house now reaches her neck, and the water outside can completely submerge a person. My parents and my lola still have food and drinking water, but there’s still no electricity and running water’s scarce. They can’t leave the house. Prayers, please. :(

post-pedring, etc

Really bad storm yesterday. J and I were in his parked car around lunch and we felt the car rock as the wind slammed against us. Didn’t go to work, couldn’t. (Office work was suspended anyway, but I heard some office mates had continued with their shoots like a bunch of crazy people.) No electricity. Cell phone dying by midday. Back in Bulacan, my parents had to deal with the chest-high flood outside the house and the waist-high water inside and the fact that our refrigerator was submerged. I could replace the refrigerator, but I heard the frustration and the exhaustion made my father cry and that really broke my heart. So fuck you, Pedring. Fuck you very much.

*

But today’s another day. (My parents said pretty much the same thing.) So yes – I have a poem in the fifth volume of Stone Telling called “Prayer“. Read and share, if you are so inclined. Lots of fantastic authors here.

And I’ve been reading a lot of comics lately! I’ve finished two memoirs. In Pyongyang, Guy Delisle talks about his stay in the North Korean capital with equal snark and sadness. For such a dark topic, Delisle actually manages to keep the tone light till the last page. There is a degree of outrage, but it is dampened with humor. I guess it’s a defense mechanism – if he allowed himself  to be affected by the apparent brainwashing and injustice going on around him, he’d go insane. (Hell, I would.) Or end up dead. (He did bring a copy of Orwell’s 1984 to his hotel, and even had the audacity to lend it to his North Korean guide. Ha!)

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is a brave introspection of her relationship with her father, his life and his death, and how his secrets had affected her family. And oh, what beautiful, vivid language to go with the art!


Some (ongoing) series that I would recommend:

Chew – Set in a post-bird flu world, where chicken and other bird meat are declared illegal,  and the Food and Drug Administration is kick-ass and the Department of Agriculture has sexy covert operatives. (I know, right?!) Tony Chu, a police officer, gets hired by the FDA after a chicken buy-bust operation. He is a cibopath, a person who gets information about the origins and circumstances of everything he eats. (Except beets. He gets nothing from beets.) He uses this ability to solve crimes, so yeah, sometimes he has to eat a severed limb. Or worse.

The Unwritten – A story about stories! That is all I’m going to say! Very engrossing.

Runaways – Set in a world where superheroes and villains are a regular occurrence. (Especially  New York.) A group of teenagers discover that their parents are members of a crime ring called The Pride. I think the quality is inconsistent – the series kept changing writers and illustrators – but I guess I’ll keep reading. I’ve heard this series is on hiatus.

Bone – Premium kids’ literature right here. Funny and exciting and I can’t wait to read the entire series.

*

How much does a good refrigerator go for these days?

the 61st palanca awards night

In 2009, I didn’t even think of having my hair did or applying make-up because hair and make-up takes two hours at least and I was feeling lazy. In any event (graduation, awards nights, book launches, work days), all I use are: eyelash curlers, pressed powder, blush-on, lipgloss and lipstick, a comb. I don’t know how to apply eye make-up, and even if I did, I don’t know how to make it last. I have this habit of touching my eyelids and turning smokey eye make-up into a pair of smokey smudges.

This year, I asked J if he could ask his sisters to do my make-up for me. I really just wanted to make my eyes pop out. For the pictures! (Whatever else!)

V and V were kind enough to agree. (V & V already sounds like a salon. They should put up one! Where they can also sell pastry!)

The makeover worked so well that my father gave a start when I reached our table the night of the event, hehe.

Blast from the past!

My parents:

My date! Howee.

Natasha Gamalinda and Rosmon Tuazon (who won 2nd Prize for Tula) were sitting at our table, but I didn’t recognize them! I thought Facebook would be able to help me in moments like this. Thank you Natasha for introducing yourself, and hope I’ll get the chance to see you guys again. (Oh my god I hope the two of you didn’t see me eating like a pig haha.) Congrats to your future hubby, Natasha! :)

Got a picture with the Alfars while waiting for the event to start. Congrats to Nikki for bagging the first prize for Short Story for Children, and Dean for sitting as chairman of the board of  judges for the Short Story category!

Always lovely to see the Spec Fic crowd. :)

With Aste, Grand Prize winner for the Short Story category. (And my boss! Ha!)

Food, then the usual staging of one of the winning dulang isang yugto.

This is Remi Karen Velasco’s “Ondoy: Buhay sa Bubong”. Hilarious!

Fooling around while waiting for the awarding to start.

Guest of honor is F. Sionil Jose.

Here’s the complete list of judges and winners. Congrats to everyone!

And of course, after the event, photo-op sa stage! Parang graduation lang!

I have a couple photos with my father’s mouth open, because he kept talking while the pictures were being taken. Worried na baka hindi raw masama yung Palanca logo sa likod. Haha!

With Ricky Davao, chairman of the board of judges for Dulang Pampelikula. Mr. Davao asked me, “Bakit hindi mo i-try mag-screenplay?” Well! Challenge –

no, not accepted. It’s too hard. /whine

Anyway this picture made my father really, really happy.

The cast of “Ondoy” with the author herself. :)

Of course we need to have our photos taken with Cai Cortez! “We’re big fans of Septic Tank!” said I, and she replied, “Na-enjoy niyo yun? Kahit wala akong linya?!” Winnur.

A wonderful night.

pictures from home

Saturday to Tuesday in Bulacan. Ah, what bliss. I missed staying home. Stay home and just read a book or watch a movie and wait for my mother to call up the stairs: “What would you like to have for dinner?” I feel like a child again! One who can ask someone else to do her laundry!

For lack of anything better to do (or for being lazy to do anything better):

  • I re-read The Devil Wears Prada, and almost finished re-watching Project Runway Season 5. Omigod, too much fashion, my teeth are hurting.
  • Realized that: Smart Bro prepaid runs fast in Makati but can be infuriating in Bulacan, so I just use my brother’s Globe Tattoo postpaid.
  • I was finally able to watch Rango. I should have seen that film on the big screen! The animation is remarkable. And it’s hilarious, watch it!

  • I finished The Name of the Wind (and started reading The Wise Man’s Fear, the Kingkiller trilogy’s second book). Starts slow but around four chapters in (when the protagonist Kvothe begins talking to the Chronicler about his life and the University) it grips you and never lets go. I love the lore and the world and how magic is presented in scientific terms. It is Harry Potter-ish in the sense that there is a school, there is magic, there is the jerkwad teacher and the archnemesis and the two friends and the orphaned protagonist who is brilliant but helplessly idiotic at times, but unlike Harry, Kvothe is proactive, and unlike the Potter series, Name of the Wind begins with Kvothe a fully grown man. You don’t grow up with him. You sit down for drinks with him and he just tells you his story. (Thanks Jaykie for another brilliant recommendation.)

  • I may have added a page or two to the new story. Siiiiigh. I write so goddamn slow now. In the olden days I used to be able to sit for eight straight hours just writing, typing, typing, typing away like crazy.
  • Bought my father a new phone as his birthday gift. It’s one of the cheaper phones, he has no use for the touchscreen ones.

  • Saw the Nokia X7 and experienced sudden phone lust. I want it. I. Want. It.

  • But it retails at 18K! BUT IT HAS AN 8-MEGAPIXEL CAMERA! BUT I’M POOR!
  • GODDAMN IT!

This is Ming-Ming (Dynasty), the noisiest cat we’ve ever had.

She likes big bellies.

Famous Fathers with Cats, # 1:

We were watching Rango here, and my brother just knew I was taking a picture.

My brother, who has no choice but to be with me till Tuesday, suggested I download an ebook reader into my phone, and added Office Suite. So now I can read books (and write books ha!) on my teeny-tiny phone! I WANT AN X7! SHUT THE HELL UP!

Remember our pet chicken?


It gave us an egg! I almost rolled on the floor laughing at my father because he burst through the front door with it. He was that excited.

And now I’m here with Jaykie as he reviews for That Big Exam tomorrow. Prayers? Good vibes? Hope you are all safe and warm, wherever you are.

  • My mother’s been having health problems. Fatty liver, kidney stones (one with a diameter of one centimeter), and she’s also pre-diabetic. I’m flabbergasted. My mother doesn’t even eat fast food. I said, I eat all sorts of things, and I’m fine. She said, “Bata ka pa.” (You’re still young.) I won’t be, for long. I really need to start eating right. Meanwhile, we can’t bring home any more sweets and salty things. (I brought home ice cream on Friday; my sister brought cake.) I wonder what I can bring home. A salad?
  • I’d appreciate any health-related advice from you guys. :)
  • On a happier note, Jaykie’s family are back from the States! I got tons of pasalubong. Tops, chocolate, a new wallet. Thank you. :)
  • My father found a chicken wandering around on our roof. It laid an egg but it broke. So now we have a pet chicken. Ang rural!
  • Pray for my mother. And for Jaykie, who is set to take an important exam on the 28th.
  • I have yet to see the last Harry Potter movie. My siblings say the epilogue is laughable.
  • I have a story idea. Working on it. Sayeth the Muse, “Write this down, bitch!”