Category: friends

happy things

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. :)

rain, obama, victory

It rained on our way to UP on Friday. I was both scared and delighted: scared because it was actually starting to flood; delighted because I’d rather have rain than the scorching summer heat. Before heading to AS to hang out with the HGC boys, we passed by CASAA and had lunch. My meal cost 39 pesos, plus 12 pesos for turon with langka. Then Jaykie took me to “Antasbucks”, this coffee stall inside Antas. (Jaykie wants to call it “Frappe House”. We call dibs on that name.)

Consider:

A frappe named Obama.

What in the world.

So of course Jaykie had to try it. (I ordered Black Forest.)

He said it was okay.

I spent several hours reading a book, perched on a step on the second floor of AS. Oh, my college life. At one point I took off my flip-flops. The floor was really cold, and a breeze was blowing through the corridor. Best thing ever.

I also noticed a poster announcing that DUP will re-stage Floy Quintos’s Shock Value (though this link says it’s a sequel?) and Isang Panaginip na Fili. I enjoyed those plays immensely. Will definitely watch again. (I also made Jaykie promise he’d come with, hehe.)

Then off to Makati to Whistlestop for the Polyhedral finale. Cute restaurant, found it without getting lost.

Food is good (just on the pricey side, but then they serve big dishes) and I dig the decor.

I see a typewriter, a coat/hat rack, and a lamppost in this picture:

Jaykie had to point out the centerpiece to me. Royal Tru-Orange! Clever!

Anyway, Guiz, Erwin, Patrick, and Jaykie are fighting each other for minis. My Girlfriend is a DM‘s Matthew Arcilla DMs.

And Jaykie emerged victorious! (LOL, Matthew I did not see that ending coming.)

* * *

Jaykie taught me a workout routine using weights that I could carry out on my own. He also lent me two two-pound weights. I would have taken the four-pound weights he offered, but I was afraid my bag straps would fail. Anyway, I tried the routine with him, and my abs hurt like hell. I enjoyed it. It was exactly the pain I needed.

polyhedral

On Saturday, Jaykie and I went to My Girlfriend is a DM‘s first-ever gaming event, Polyhedral!

Ahoy, d20 stamps!

The event was held at Ludos Bar and Restaurant in Quezon City. An entrance fee of P250 gives you two consumable drinks, a chance to play, a chance to win in the raffles (given away were dice sets, minis, and a Player’s Handbook) and free dice!

I GOT A D20 OMG. I played the boardgames so I didn’t really roll, but that made me feel lucky, hee. :)

More d20’s! Care of Jme:

Metal diiiice:

Jaykie’s loot:

I took Jaykie’s dice, traded with Phil and Juabe, and now I have a complete set!

Featured at the event are pen and paper role-playing games, and boardgames! I love boardgames!

We played Shadow Hunters while waiting for the organizers to arrive and for the registration to start:

Then registration started and the tables were set up for the games:

Beej ran a D&D Buan campaign. Here players dealt with tikbalang, manananggal, and tiyanak. A fantastic concept.

Shadowrun.

Star Wars

Downstairs, I played Shadows over Camelot:

The beauty of boardgames: you can learn the game, no matter how complicated, as you play. I love et! :D

After the RPG’s and the games folded up, the tables were set for a gladiator-style combat. Players fight to the death!

Jaykie played in the first round:

And won! With Patrick (also from HGC).

Photo-op!

Loving the shirts:

The faces behind My Girlfriend is a DM – Jammi and Matthew:

Can’t wait for the next event. ;)

Read the organizers’ thoughts about Polyhedral here and here.

Some photos are from Jme.

toy day!

Yesterday, Jaykie and I went to the Philippine Toys, Hobbies & Collectibles Convention held at Megamall. It was the 9th Toycon, but it was the first one I ever attended. Entrance was at P100 per. The line snaked around the banisters, and I was already drenched in sweat before we could even step through the entrance.

But I had fun hunting down the accessories I failed to buy at the Komikon, and ogling the toys I’ll never be able to buy. Ha! Here’s myself wearing my new robot necklace. Whee!

Here’s the rest of my haul:

I also bought a DVD compilation of Genshiken. I read the first three volumes of the manga and enjoyed it terribly. I hope the anime version’s just as fun.

While inside the venue, I bumped into EK and saw Pao (read his account of the event here), and walked around a bit with Juabe and Guiz.

After Jaykie and I left the con, we had dessert at Bubble Tea (which seemed to attract a lot of cosplayers, for some reason) and continued our self-imposed celebration of Toy Day by watching Toy Story 3. The line was long and we waited almost half an hour before we could enter the cinema, but oh, it was worth it. (I reviewed the film in a previous post. Just go one blog post back, if you are so inclined.) After dinner, Jaykie and I sat down and played Magic. Yes, you read that right. (But I’m definitely the slowest Magic player, ever. I still don’t have a good grasp of the rules, I have to read every card played carefully, and I suck at Math, so it takes me an eternity to figure out how much life I still have. LOL. We played two rounds and I lost both!)

Good times! I’ll most probably go to the Toycon again next year.

And now, pictures! I love these little hats.

I pose with the ladies:

Tons of old Coca-Cola merch:

Wigs and more toys:

Avatar merch:

Jaykie: “Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!”

Bats. He is not pleased.

Cosplayers:

Spot the Stormtroopers:

I love Toy Day! (I don’t know if there is such a thing, but let’s call it that.)

held at Megamall.

scenes from last night’s book swap

Read about our first book swap here!

Book swap last night at Starbucks 6750 with m’lovelies Andrea, Kate, and Kat. I invited Jaykie (so he could finally meet Andrea and Kat) and he was nice enough to drive Kate and I from the office. (LOL proper name overload sorry.) We stayed till midnight for some late-night coffee, cake, Pinoy Henyo (yes) and quality tsismisan.

I lent Kat Joshua Ferris’s excellent Then We Came to the End and Atwood’s The Blind Assassin. Andrea ended up taking Revolutionary Road and Big If. I got er so many books I forgot to take note of them all haha. Will sort through them next week. Oh, God have mercy on my TBR pile now quickly turning into a mountain.

I loved the girls’ accessories last night. Pictures!

weekend zombie

After I got off from work on Thursday (and what a crazy week, jumpstarted by the national elections whew), I just decided to stay in one place and fry my brain with Lost (first season), Mad Men (first season), and some Family Guy and The Simpsons. By “stay in one place” I meant “eat my meals in bed”. It was too hot outside, I was too lazy to write, I was too lazy, period.

Jaykie and I did go out on Friday night to have dinner with my high school friends. Topic? Politics, politics, politics (which to me sounds like work, work, work, but it can’t be helped, what with the current political climate), and Ghia’s stay in Quezon province, where the mall closes at 8:30 p.m. (in Palawan, according to Kuya Wendell, the mall closes at 7:30 p.m. – SURPRISE!) and where you’ll have to suffer a one-hour ride to buy halu-halo.

Some (supposedly candid) pictures. We’re already in Trinoma Conti’s here, after feeding at Pizza Hut:

(Conti’s turtle pie is my favorite.)

* * *

This weekend: Bohol. I’m so looking forward to two quiet days at the beach (no stress, pleaaaaaaaase).

hello psf, we meet again

I was there last year.

A lot has happened since then. Quite frankly, when I attended the book launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction’s fourth volume, my first publication in the anthology, I was more apprehensive than excited because I didn’t know anyone. I’ve never met the Alfars in person, and it was obvious a bunch of the writers there already knew each other, making fun of each other as they gave their speeches, and calling each other by their first names and what the hell am I doing here. Thank God Eula came with me, so I at least had someone to talk to during the event.

Compare this scene with the PSFV launch yesterday (April 24), where Kate [Aton-Osias] told Jake that she’d seen pictures of him and our dates (all hail Facebook, sorry Jake for your girlfriend’s online exhibitionism heh) and Dean Alfar gave a heartwarming speech in addition to my introduction, calling me a “hot writer”, i.e.”She’s been published practically everywhere.” (Can also be i.e. “She looks hot.”) (I’m kidding Nikki.) The book launch felt like home, so when I gave my speech I was at least coherent. I mean, I gave a public speech and actually made sense! What an accomplishment.

Also, I discovered something while I was walking around the U-View Theater shopping for autographs: PEOPLE READ MY STUFF. This is a revelation! When I post plugs for my new fiction/poetry I usually don’t get responses, but at the launch co-contributors Isa Yap and Tin Lao actually approached me and said they’ve read my poetry online and loved it. Tin even said she’s a big fan, and that she was glad to finally meet me. Me! And I’m not even wearing my fuck-me shoes! How surreal. That made me feel warm all over. :D

Thank you to Jme, Beej, Phil, Juabe and of course Jake for coming with me to the event and for not insisting on the original plan of lifting your shirts to bare your torsos painted with the letters E-L-I-Z-A.

Thanks to the other authors for signing my copy!

Much love to Nikki, Vin, and Dean for the successful event. I am in awe of all your efforts to promote the spec fic field, I really am. (I just can’t articulate that in front of a large crowd, that requires more charm and more brain cells.) And look, you got two fourteen-year-olds this year. Amazing! Can’t wait to read the book.

(Semi) group pic! Sorry for my sucky phone cam resolution. Let’s see if I can get the names correctly. Seated: Tin, Kenneth Yu, Dean Alfar, Andrew Drilon. Front row: Isa, Nikki Alfar, me!, Kate, Charles, TJ Dimacali (na boyfriend ni Ders! UJP-UP peeps? Remember Ders? Maganda hair niya. LOL.), Mia Tijam. Back row: Ejay, Alex Osias, Joseph, and Vin.

Outside the gates after the event:

After that we headed out for dinner and then had dessert at Xocolat.

“Well I didn’t know the churros would arrive on a hell plate,” Jaykie said when this appeared on the table. I said it’s not a pentagram, but a Star of David. Jewish churros!

LOL. Good times. :)