personal – Page 20 – Eliza Victoria

weekend in bullet points

My father’s birthday was on Wednesday, the 14th, and apparently he had this big party, involving lechon and two boxes of red wine and a huge-ass cake. Yep, right in the midst of a blackout after the storm. Pity the guy who reportedly brought an electric guitar for entertainment. Oh, well. You live, you learn.
I was supposed to be with friends for dinner on Friday, but I’d like to see my family, so I went home to Bulacan instead with cake. I ate my father’s leftover cake and leftover lechon for dinner. Chika with the sister and the mother, then Will and Grace and this new show called Pretty Little Liars, because I want to shut down my brain and look at pretty things.
On Saturday I ate leftover pancit palabok for breakfast and went to our store. My father arrived late on Friday after his lawyer friend threw him a party. I want to be friends with his friend. Anyway, my father and I went to visit my paternal grandmother, who no longer remembers people. Met up with relatives who were there, who all said the same thing: Bakit ang taba mo na?
Ewan ko! Kebs! Masaya ako! :-p
My aunt has this wittol African parrot, a wittol baby that can fit in my hand, eee so cute. (Forgot to take a picture.)
That same aunt said, May hubog ka naman e, kahit bumigat ka. Voluptuous, orayt, I’ll take et.
Off to QC later that day to meet up with Jake. Happy ninth monthsary, dear! He spent most of the day programming Math equations while I screamed at the TV, urging the Maroons to stop fucking up the game. (They eventually lost to Adamson. Did you see that? They tied with AdU after the 3rd quarter and then – argh. Hope! It is an awful thing.)
We ordered pizza and buffalo wings for dinner. The pizza joint (which I shall not name) had a policy where if they delivered the order late (i.e. beyond 45 minutes), you’ll get everything for free.
They were late! And we didn’t even lay out the obstacle course! I literally jumped up and down because I thought the rider would put up a fight. But we got the dinner for free! Hooray! And on our monthsary to boot! Tipid!

This has never happened to me before, so I was ecstatic. Look how happy Jaykie was:

Tardiness has never tasted this good.

So yes, that’s a party-sized pizza, 12 pieces of wings, and Coke. The pizza people provided four cups, as though to say, “Certainly this order was meant for four people”. I was ashamed. Not. ;)

We stayed in bed eating pizza and wings while watching Modern Family. The leftovers (There were leftovers!) we saved for breakfast. The life.

I am lucky to have the nicest parents.
Love is a good thing.

I’m hearing news that Meralco has so far energized more than 90 percent of the Metro, but as of last night the stat was as low as 20 percent and Makati looked like the site of apocalypse. Cables hanging dangerously low, dark streets, dead traffic lights, candles sitting on windowsills. Our condo building has a generator, but at 9 p.m. last night our unit’s still gloomy and humid. Apparently the utility men couldn’t connect the unit to the generator. What infuriated me was that there was a goddamn party near the pool area. With ear-blasting music. And huge speakers. I should have pushed the lot of them into the pool so we could use the leftover power to heat our water.

Anyway. I was thankful to Jake and his family for inviting me to stay over. They were at the Marriott while waiting for power to come back to their home. There were only two beds in the room, so Jake pushed two sofas together. Initially he wanted to sleep there, or sleep on the floor, but I fit on the sofas anyway. Nice and cozy. Had a good night’s sleep. :) I texted my mother, and she said we have electricity back home, so I’m traveling to Bulacan with two short story collections (borrowed from Andrea) that I’m planning to finish over the weekend.

* * *

I just received the good news that my poem, “Variations on the Expulsion from Eden”, will appear in the August issue of elimae. A year ago elimae published “Storytellers“. Click the link to read, and watch this space. ;)

dental adventures, plus basyang

Why can’t loose teeth be this cute? Source.

Here’s how you can get a dentist to talk: allow her to stick her fingers into someone else’s mouth. While running rubber-covered fingers over your teeth, searching for cavities and plaque, she’ll ask about your job, where you live, what you write about or what books you read, and actually expect you to answer.

Sometimes they give their opinion about things, like if they think your job is hard, and that is better because then you only have to blink or nod as best as you can, and not actually attempt to form words and gag on your own saliva.

Also? They always find something else wrong with you. You come in complaining about a painful molar and they’ll find four teeth that need to be drilled and filled. Oh, and they’ll have to extract that molar. Sorry.

Like any office employee, I’m covered by an HMO. Unfortunately the HMO-accredited clinic I went to early on Monday (a Monday, take note!) was full to the brim with patients. And? The dentist is sick and is going to take the afternoon off. I was, of course, scheduled after lunch.

No shit.

So I asked Kate about her dentist, and set an afternoon appointment on Tuesday. My molar was hurting too much for me to stop and think about saving money. I will not mention that the dentist is hot, because that detail, no matter how true, has no bearing on this tale.

But yeah, the dentist is hot.

Still: four pastas, a rigid cleaning, and an extraction. Afterwards I took some meds for the pain, lay in bed, and ate butter pecan (the dentist told me to eat a lot of ice cream) while watching Will and Grace like a heartbroken girl.

Jake was also a bit stressed, having just taken his first exam under grad school, so we decided to meet up. Unfortunately Basyang came and blew out Metro Manila like a candle, so our scheduled marathon of Top Chef Masters Season 2 had to wait. And wait. The wind howled like a dying woman and the next morning the MRT was down and EDSA looked like a battlefield.

Oh well. It’s one of those days.

At least now my teeth don’t hurt anymore.

a book review, and then some

In the second installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, King Robert Baratheon is dead, and four kings insist their claim to the Iron throne: the boy Joffrey, Robert’s eldest son but is believed to be the fruit of his mother’s incestual relationship with his uncle Jaime, the Kingslayer; the boy Robb, Ned Stark’s eldest son and self-proclaimed King of the North; and Robert’s brothers, Renly Baratheon, who commands several Houses who have sworn their allegiance; and Stannis Baratheon, Robert’s brother, who has dismissed the old gods for the more powerful (but suspicious) Lord of Light. Meanwhile, Sansa Stark is still held hostage by the Lannisters, Jaime Lannister is held hostage by the Starks, Arya serves at the Lannister-controlled Harrenhal but keeps her identity secret, and Daenerys of House Targaryen tries to find a way to land an army on Westeros and unleash her dragon-children. In the sky, a blood-red comet passes, spelling both doom and victory, depending on who is looking.

With such a complex plot and so many characters, a less skilled writer would have ended up confusing readers, and maybe even confusing himself, but Martin’s storytelling is strong and sure. And such twists! And such suspense! Martin is testament to the fact that you can produce a novel that is fast-paced and action-packed, but still let the language shine through. A really good read.

(The third book is A Storm of Swords and is already waiting for me over at Jaykie’s, but I’ll take a break from Martin for a bit to read The River King by Alice Hoffman, which was lent to me by Kat. :) )

* * *

Speaking of Martin, I’ve been seeing this card deck at Jaykie’s

and I’ve been asking him to teach me how to play for days, so on Friday we finally sat down for a round:

I controlled House Lannister:

I lost! LOL. But I found this card game easier to understand than Magic. The art is awesome.

* * *

Speaking of awesome art, after I came back from the weekend I found this sitting on my bed:

Inside the packet are complimentary copies and a letter from GASFI. Thank you so much! :D

I don’t know if the book has already hit the book stores, but if you ever come across a copy, flip through the pages for a preview and maybe buy one for the kiddies? :) The book is published on glossy paper and the art is lively and bright. I really love Ray Sunga’s artwork here. My first children’s book! *squee*

* * *

And speaking of stories, thanks to Don Jaucian for including “The Just World of Helena Jimenez” in his list of spec fic best-reads in 2009. You may read that story here.

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A lovely sound: Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Halfway through this year and I’m lovin’ it.

Mareklamo nga lang ang ating bise-presidente. Hay, kuya. Ang buong Pilipinas AY HINDI MAKATI.

Nakaka-turn off ka. ‘Yun lang.

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.