Category: writing

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!”

philippines free press literary awards 2011

The Winners and Finalists of the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards:

FICTION: (Judges are Charlson Ong, Celeste Flores-Coscolluela, Exie Abola)

1. Erscheinung – Michelangelo Samson (3rd Place)

2. Panopticon of El Hogar – Russel Stanley Geronimo

3. After The Body Displaces Water – Daryll Jane Delgado

4. When You See A Dog – Jenette Vizcocho (2nd Place)

5. Recuerdos de Patay – Caroline Hau (1st Place)

6. Sweet – Marguerite de Leon

7. Spawn – Popi Laudico

8. Desert Winds – Jean Gerald Anuddin

9. Numb – Jenette Vizcocho

10. A Study of Insects –  Irene Carolina Sarmiento

11. Works Cited – U. Eliserio

12. Fade to Red – Twink Macaraig

POETRY: (Judges are Noelle Leslie de la Cruz, Marne Kilates, Gemino Abad)

1. Variations on the Expulsion from Eden – Eliza Victoria

2. The Painted Prince – Frank Penones Jr.

3. Duwende – Myrna Peña-Reyes

4. Love is How We Come Undone -Amado Bajarias

5. How to Kill a Whale Shark – Timi Siytangco (2nd Place)

6. Warrior’s Wife (After Li Po) – Ino Habana

7. Weight Without Gravity – Andrea Teran (3rd Place)

8. The Widow, Upon Learning That Her Old Lover Had Returned to the Island of San Antonio – Merlie Alunan

9. Zeno’s Paradox – Luisa A. Igloria (1st Place)

10. Weight of the World – Michellan Sarile-Alagao

Congrats to the winners!

This year’s event was held at the Club Cafe of the Makati Sports Club.

Getting ready. Our unit looks so neat in this picture. Notice the necklace. I ditched it minutes later and put on my glasses haha. Fashown.
Swankeh hehe.

On that table (partly seen in the picture) sits National Artist F. Sionil Jose. I was too shy to take a picture of him.

With Noelle, one of the Poetry judges
With Free Press Literary Editor Joel M. Toledo
Hi, Jaykie!
Red wine! But I fell more in love with the white wine they served, because it was sweet. Yes, I'm one of those who like sweet wines. I'm an abomination.

While drinking wine and having a dinner of meat-and-asparagus rolls, lumpia, kani sandwich, penne pasta, and sweet fruit tarts (my approximation of the dishes served that night), I was able to talk to Noelle, Joel, Khavn (so sorry I didn’t recognize you at once eek I’m still embarrassed), Michelangelo Samson (congrats on the win!), Andrea Teran (congrats!) and Jenette Vizcocho. (She asked me what my category was before the announcement, and when I said Poetry, she said, “Ayos, friends tayo.” HAHA!) Tin’s cousin, Gian Lao, approached me and said lovely things about my poetry. “This is about meeting THE Eliza Victoria.” That’s too much! But thank you!

We were also able to share a table with Twink Macaraig and her husband.

With fellow Free Press nominee and journalist, Twink Macaraig

And now for the nominated poem:

Continue reading philippines free press literary awards 2011

updatery

  • I’ve set up an appointment for a passport application later this month. FINALLY!
  • I still don’t understand why, everytime I come to the dentist for oral prophylaxis, I leave with at least two permanent fillings and no money.
  • Received an email bearing beautiful, earth-shattering news that, if things go as planned, guarantees a crazy, exciting, crazyexciting 2012 for me. Squee! I’ll leave things cryptic and wait for things to become official.
  • I just realized that Twink Macaraig is nominated in the Fiction category of the FP Awards. Pupunta kaya siya sa Tuesday? Kate demands that I take a picture with her haha!
  • I want to buy me one of these:

Just prepaid, though. Hm.

Or the MyFi, since I have a wi-fi ready phone and I’m planning to buy a Galaxy Tab (in the far future) anyway. Hm. Thoughts? MyFi is, of course, more expensive than the simple dongle.

Or: why can’t I just have free wi-fi from a generous neighbor.

  • A move…that I’ll just tell you in August. ;) Good luck to meeeee.
Hello, morning.

Happy we were finally able to go home to Bulacan, despite the near knee-high flood submerging the subdivision. Happy, too, that Jaykie agreed to stay till Monday morning, and he was able to finally meet my sister and my lola. They were showing Pak Pak Dr. Kwak on the bus, and I laughed at times, to my utter horror. We arrived late Saturday and had my mother’s (famous!) caldereta, Reese’s ice cream, leftover sansrival cake, yema, and possible diabetes. My father insisted that Jaykie drink; isang shot lang daw, pero maya-maya ubos na ang laman ng bote. Also learned that he was going to have an air-con installed in the master bedroom, but every time he sets an appointment for the workers to come in, a storm enters Philippine territory. All of my siblings enjoyed Jaykie’s iPad, lured by Fruit Ninja. Discovered this new TV game show via my sister: R U Kidding Me? where host Vic Sotto (si Vic na naman, sinundan kami galing sa bus!) on Saturday night mistakenly said, “Magbabalik ang Who Wants To Be – ” Then we all got freaked out by this segment on Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho about people who eat raw meat. Kare-kare for lunch the next day, then spaghetti, then fish for dinner, then these banana cookies made by the creators of Boy Bawang (they’re yummy), then more sansrival, and the entire second season of Justified. On our way back to QC they were showing You To Me Are Everything on the bus, but I think I fell asleep.

PS I’ve sold a science fiction story called “The Mechanic” to Kaleidotrope. Hooray! Details to follow.

poetry nomination

My poem, “Variations on the Expulsion from Eden”, is a finalist in this year’s Free Press Awards. The Awards covers poetry and fiction that have appeared in the pages of the magazine from January to December 2010.

Here’s the list and announcement, posted by Lit Ed Joel Toledo:

FICTION:

1. Erscheinung – Michelangelo Samson

2. Panopticon of El Hogar – Russel Stanley Geronimo

3. After The Body Displaces Water – Daryll Jane Delgado

4. When You See A Dog – Jenette Vizcocho

5. Recuerdos de Patay – Caroline Hau

6. Sweet – Marguerite de Leon

7. Spawn – Popi Laudico

8. Desert Winds – Jean Gerald Anuddin

9. Numb – Jenette Vizcocho

10. A Study of Insects –  Irene Carolina Sarmiento

11. Works Cited – U. Eliserio

12. Fade to Red – Twink Macaraig

POETRY:

1. Variations on the Expulsion from Eden – Eliza Victoria

2. The Painted Prince – Frank Penones Jr.

3. Duwende – Myrna Peña-Reyes

4. Love is How We Come Undone -Amado Bajarias

5. How to Kill a Whale Shark – Timi Siytangco

6. Warrior’s Wife (After Li Po) – Ino Habana

7. Weight Without Gravity – Andrea Teran

8. The Widow, Upon Learning That Her Old Lover Had Returned to the Island of San Antonio – Merlie Alunan

9. Zeno’s Paradox – Luisa A. Igloria

10. Weight of the World – Michellan Sarile-Alagao

The 2011 Philippines Free Press Literary Awards covers Fiction and Poetry that have appeared in the pages of the magazine from January to December 2010. 

The Awards Night will be on July 12, 2011 (Tuesday)

6-10 p.m. 

Venue: Club Cafe, Makati Sports Club

formal invitations and detailed poster to follow

IMPORTANT NOTES:

*Finalists are advised to notify me if there are any mistakes in the typing of your names, especially in regard to the possible prize money if you do win and the respective bank account conflict. Anyone who has contacts with some of the finalists that are not on facebook can email me via ramblingsoul@yahoo.com so I can notify them as well.

In any case, all finalists will receive their respective  invitations. This FB post is just to fast-track the info dissemination.

*Finalists are advised to visit the magazine’s website, http://www.freepress.com.ph and read the guidelines, policies, and notes for the annual Literary Awards posted there carefully.

*Congratulations to all the finalists and winners who will only be notified that they’ve won and be informed of their respective six judges (three per category) during the Awards Night.

*Winners must be physically present during the awards night (all the finalists will be formally invited) to claim their prize money and their respective trophies, lest the monetary prize be forfeited (winners can claim the trophy anytime they want to at the Philippines Free Press office). This is as per the magazine’s policy.

diaspora ad astra toc and cover

Guess what: Estranghero Press is set to launch its science fiction e-anthology this month to complete its free fiction trifecta.

Diaspora Ad Astra is edited by Joseph Nacino and UP’s Prof. Emil Flores. Visit this link for more details.

And here’s the TOC. :)

  1. War Zone Angel, Professor Emil Flores
  2. The Day the Sexbomb Dancers Invaded Our Brains, Carljoe Javier
  3. The Malaya, Dean Francis Alfar
  4. The Cost of Living, Vince Torres
  5. Ina Dolor’s Last Stand, Raymond P. Reyes
  6. Oplan Sanction, Alex Osias
  7. The Keeper, Audrey Villacorta
  8. Ashes Ember, Dannah Ruth S. Ballesteros
  9. Rizal, Eliza Victoria
  10. Gene Rx, Katya Oliva-Llego
  11. Robots and a Slice of Pizza, Raydon Reyes
  12. Lucky, Raven Guerrero
  13. A List of Things We Know, Isabel Yap
  14. Taking Gaia, Celestine Trinidad
  15. Space Enough and Time, Anne Lagamayo

Not a spoiler: My story does not feature Jose Rizal, the hero. It’s a place. And I can’t wait for you to read it.