Category: personal

twenty months

It’s fun to count the months. Just four more and it’s the second anniversary. :)

It began to rain, so instead of going out, we just had Amici (gelato cakes!!!) delivered for dinner. We watched some episodes of Top Chef Canada while eating.

prosciutto e funghi (pizza), cannelloni agli spinaci (pasta)
spumoni surprise, mango sans rival

Jaykie had class on Saturday, so he went to UP, and I went to Trinoma to shop for gifts for my parents (my mother’s birthday is on the 25th, my father’s in July). This despite the fact that I woke up suddenly at 5 am, broke out in sweats, and felt as though I were falling. Vertigo once more, with feelings. I popped a Serc (24 mg.) and hoped this would pass soon and not come back to bother me again.

I wanted to buy a bag for myself, but couldn’t find anything that I liked, so I ended up buying costume jewelry.

TV necklace, pink rose ring, black rose ring

I know I have way too many rings, but I’m on the lookout for more plastic rings. And that TV necklace was just cute. (I’m wearing it today at work, and I broke one of the antennas. :( But it’s still cute. I’ll just cover the broken antenna nub with my hair.)

We had late lunch at Mango Tree Bistro. It’s our second time at this Thai restaurant. We love their food.

Photo source.
Thai iced tea

We had honey-glazed pork ribs, rice with vegetables, and of course –

pad thai goong!
Photo source.

Just writing about it is making me crave for it. So delicious.

We got home before the rain fell. And how it fell. I was amazed it didn’t flood the streets. Early dinner was a tuna sandwich. Jaykie made the tuna spread (mayo + celery + apples = delicious). Later, when we got hungry again, I poured us some cereal and cold milk.

We finished Damages Season 2 and watched Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, a TV movie that is basically an extended episode of Burn Notice with Sam Axe and a pinch of Michael Westen. It’s hilarious.

Jaykie’s little walk-in closet’s roof was leaking, so we left a plastic bucket there overnight. Look how much water we got.

"What are you doing?" "Taking a picture." "Why?" "I'll blog about it." "But they'll find out I have a leaky roof!" Haha.

This morning we woke up and Jaykie said he wished he could just stay under the sheets and read. I’d love that too, but alas, work.

* * *

Happy Father’s Day to my Tatay! :D I’m coming home next week with the gifts. I hope it doesn’t rain.

A couple of quick plugs:

– My poem, “Sadness: A Catalogue“, is now live on the Philippines Free Press website. Comments are welcome, and feel free to share the link.

– April Yap’s book, Stressed in the City, can now be downloaded for free! Visit her. Thanks to Luis K. for sharing it on Twitter.

I have also just found out that I am in the initial shortlist (50 poets, 50 poems) for inclusion in Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary Philippine Poetry.

We’ve received over 290 submissions for the anthology. Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has submitted. We are choosing 113 poems from 113 of the poets who’ve submitted. This is in commemoration of our 113 years of Independence, of being Filipinos, of being Filipino writers.

4th .MOV International Film, Music, & Literature Festival

September 1 to 3, 2011

www.facebook.com/movfest

www.movfest.org

I recognize most of the names in the shortlist. Most of them are writers I admire. :)

*

Had my second shot today. Isa na lang!

I can haz cute pink bandage!

weekend update

I love this weekend. Busy and fun and eventful and full of food.

Thursday night/Friday. Watched the latest episode of Game of Thrones and became very worried the series (if you haven’t read the book, do not highlight – spoiler!)would end up not killing Ned until Season 2 (if at all) just because he’s Sean fucking Bean. It is starting to look that way and – Bleh. I hope I am wrong.

Jaykie made a glass of iced milk with honey. Yum! Here’s the recipe from the Game of Thrones-inspired The Inn at the Crossroads.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons honey, more to taste
  • pinch of saffron and/or cinnamon (optional)

Pour milk into a saucepan and warm on low heat.  Do not scald the milk!  When steam begins to rise from the surface of the milk, add the honey to the pot and stir until combined.  Place sweetened milk in fridge to cool off.

In a glass, place either cubes or small chunks of ice (crushed ice will dissolve too quickly).  Pour the sweetened milk over the ice, sprinkle with spices, and serve.

We woke up early the next day for Jaykie’s enlistment at UP. I waited with him, reading Zoo City, thinking I’d be able to finish the book before he could pay. But he was done before lunch. Lunch at ROC. I wanted to drop by the UP Press Bookstore at Balay Kalinaw, and found out that it was no longer at Balay Kalinaw. Effort na pumunta sa UP Press so tambay lang nang onti, then off to Makati to try Bonchon.

Bonchon at Ayala Triangle Gardens.

We were there at around 4 p.m. I think? And were already hungry enough to eat rice again haha! (We did a lot of walking.)

I’ve heard/read horror stories about this particular Bonchon branch, but since it was merienda time, there were fewer people, service was fast, and the servers were polite.

chops with rice and iced tea, plus a side of kimchi coleslaw

It was good! Chicken was crispy and spicy-sweet, and the warm meal went very well with the cold kimchi coleslaw.

I treated Jaykie to gelato from Caramia. Try the pistachio.

pistachio and new york cheesecake

We went back home, finished the book, and watched the second season of Damages.

Saturday

We left late afternoon, had dinner, then explored the bookstores for books! I got three.

Elmer (NBS, P250), Ang Mga Kaibigan ni Mama Susan (Bibliarch, P150), Pacific Rims (NBS, P399)

Jaykie got a Steven Erikson book. (Pictured below.)

Photos from Almi and Andrea. Thanks!

bookswap!

Not so much a bookswap as a how’s-Kat-doing-these-days meeting, haha! Which of course led to other quality kwento. First loves, coming out of the closet (not applicable to me, maniwala kayo!), mediums, ghost stories, the afterlife. And oh, books. Of course.

With bookswap newbie, Ice! (Who apparently speed-read a Lionel Shriver book while the girls and I were talking – kaloka!)

Another little girl wanders into the Book Nook ™!

We stayed till 1 a.m. Till next time, girls!

*

I just arranged my books this morning. I have serious book space issues now, it’s not even funny.

If I sell my books, will you buy them?

game of thrones boardgame + jaykie’s party

Jaykie broached the idea of playing the Game of Thrones boardgame with him and the guys one weekend. Jaykie looked at the game rules on Friday and kept laughing, because even the set-up was complicated. I was scared. I didn’t think I’d be able to follow. But yesterday, the guys came after lunch, and Phil and Derps explained the objectives and the basic rules, and I actually was able to play. I learn better while playing than by reading the entire guidebook, it appears.

I got the Lannisters, who start at Lannisport and Stoney Sept. The object of the game is to gain as many territories as possible. You can also make a deal with other players so they won’t take your territories (in this game, the Lannisters agreed to a truce with the Greyjoys), or make a deal and break it later (like what the Lannisters did with the Baratheons after taking Cracklaw Point, sorry Jaykie!) I wasn’t able to expand too much. The Greyjoys (Phil) had all the seas and eventually also got Riverrun and won. I was one city behind!

That was fun, though.

Later that night, pizza, pasta and booze with Jaykie and friends. I turned in earlier than the others because I have work the following day. I woke up to empty pizza boxes, steaming cup noodles, mattresses on the floor, and stories of ghosts. Oh no.

Happy birthday, you.

philippine speculative fiction 6 book launch

Needless to say, happy to be included in the volume again. I attended the book launch at Fully Booked High Street despite another vertigo attack and the sudden rain. It’s just too fun to miss!

Jaykie came with me, and so did Beej (of Nosfecatu fame) and Phil (who also has a story in the volume – congrats!)

my book launch date

Before the PSF launch, Kenneth Yu took the stage to unveil the latest (and sadly, last) print edition of Philippine Genre Stories. It’s the Special Crime Issue, edited by Ichi Batacan. In her message, Batacan thanked the authors for not resorting to the crime cliches: detectives in trench coats, criminals in pinstripe suits.

Thanks Kyu for the copy! (He handed me one, then I lost it in the flurry of signing books and saying hi to friends. Thanks for replacing it, and I’m sorry!) I’ll read this soon.

Despite the end of PGS’s print run, Kyu has moved PGS to an online home. Visit: http://philippinegenrestories.com/ and stand by for more stories.

The PSF launch was hosted by the ever-jubilant Dean Alfar.

As usual, authors, introvert or no, had to stand up and say something. As usual, I tried to appear smart and charming and failed miserably. One of the contributors expressed it best: “Kailangan ba talaga magsalita? Kaya nga ako nagsusulat eh.”

This is Phil.
This is me being giggly and fat.

Meet the editors!

Kate Aton-Osias
Nikki Alfar

Dean also announced that PSF 7 is now accepting submissions. The next volume will be edited by the husband-and-wife tandem Alex and Kate Osias. Stand by for the guidelines, they should be online soon. Click here for the guidelines.

Class picture!

This was followed by a mad scramble for copies (the book sold out fast!) and author signatures.

Happy to see the contributors (some of whom are familiar faces) and to finally meet Honey de Peralta and Elyss Punsalan. Tin Lao introduced me to Dumaguete peeps Alyza and Jordan. It is always lovely to be told that there are indeed people out there who read (and enjoy) my work.

We had to break away from the group for celebratory dinner at Abe + gelato at Gelatissimo + coffee at CBTL. I had two shots of infused cappuccino and I still fell asleep before 3 a.m. (after watching Shaun of the Dead with J). And here I thought I would be up till morning.

At Abe: Bamboo rice + Bicol Express (na walang karne at hindi maanghang pero masarap) + lumpiang ubod (favorite ko to) + green mango with bagoong + pritong baby hito + adobong lamb = ang takaw namin, keri

My loot:

Kelly Link book + The Little Prince Moleskine from the ubiquitous Charles Tan (who gave similar gifts to several writers, kay yaman) - thanks! + a hard copy of the PSF 7 guidelines
PGS Crime + PSF 6

 *

Hey love, public speaking is not my strong suit, so I forgot to say your name in my “speech”. But in my head, in silence, I thank you every day, all the time. I thank you always. Thanks for coming with me to celebrate another publication.

Yiheee. (Panira yung yiheee.)

reviews

Moon


Sam Bell works for Lunar Industries, a company in the business of harvesting helium-3 from the far side of the moon. Sam oversees the company’s automated harvesters and sends back canisters of He-3, which Earth then uses for energy. Sam is the only human being in the facility. Every now and then he receives messages from Earth. The messages (from his wife, Tess, and child, Eve) are not live, because communication problems on the moon have hampered the reception of live feeds. He is accompanied by an AI named GERTY. He has been on the moon for three years. When the film opens, he is nearing the end of his contract.

But there’s a problem: it appears that he is losing his mind. One moment he turns and sees a teenager with dark hair and wearing a yellow jumpsuit in an empty cabin. He longs for his wife. He spends his days distracted. One day, he goes out to drive his rover and crashes into a harvester and loses consciousness.

While watching the film’s first few minutes, I kept asking, Who’d sign up for this? Who’d be so desperate to agree to stay on the moon alone for three whole years? Then I find out.

Moon (written and directed by Duncan Jones, who also directed Source Code) is the kind of film that sucks you in and spawns discussions. The references to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris are apparent. I loved it, and Sam Rockwell is awesome.

Damages


I just finished Season 1. It was brutal and compelling and I just couldn’t peel my eyes off of it. It’s not an episodic show, like Law & Order, and it’s definitely not a comedy, like Boston Legal. There is one big case that the characters try to crack within the 13 episodes. Meanwhile, the body count continues to rise and lawyer Patty Hewes becomes more and more psychopathic. Glenn Close is perfect, but I find myself more drawn to lawyer Ray Fiske (played by Zeljko Ivanek), and the young couple who gets caught in the web.

My sister brought home strawberries and blueberries from Baguio

and they are superb when mixed with milk and cream. Mmm.

Also during this week: Yakimix and Amici with Jaykie’s family, home, lipstick for my mother and sugarfree candy for my father, my mother observing that there’s always murder in my stories (eek!), and that promise that Jaykie and I will eat right, exercise and lose weight – totoo na! :)

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.