On Saturday, we attended the launch of Fast Food Fiction Delivery at Powerbooks Greenbelt, organized by Anvil. We got there right on time and was happy to see a huge crowd. We’re used to twiddling our thumbs while waiting for seats to fill up during book launches, so it was a nice surprise. (But then, as editor Noelle pointed out, there were 68 authors in the anthology.)
Fast Food Fiction Delivery is a collection of short short stories (around 500 words). The launch featured readings, cold cuts, cheese, wine (see how I went straight to food). It was great to meet up and chat with writers and friends. Thanks to all who dropped by, and thanks to Noelle and Mookie for including my story.
My story in the book is called “Stories from the City”. Consider picking up the collection if you’re looking for quick reads.
The Cabinet’s newest issue is out, and my poem is here. Feel free to share the link.
The Cabinet is an independent multimedia arts collective
established in Los Baños, Laguna, 2011, to foster emergent
and liminal forms of storytelling, and produce and distribute
works that cater to this principle.
We were headed to Tagaytay. The morning was uneventful: we met up on time, didn’t encounter heavy traffic, stopped at Paseo (which I didn’t know had a gazillion store outlets!) for Kanin Club, had coffee, went back on the road.
Then we used Waze.
Then we got lost.
To be fair, it wasn’t Waze’s fault. I think the Internet connection got cut just when we were about to take a critical right turn. Our 30-minute trip ballooned to nearly two hours trying to look for the hotel.
So our plan to nap, take a shower, and spend time fixing our hair got squished into fifteen precious minutes. But we still found time to strike a pose.
heh
We had reservations (it’s funny when you take into consideration that word’s other meaning) at Le Jardin Rosella. It was a beautiful place, but the staff seemed…clueless. Like they weren’t expecting us. So we got dressed in the building’s downstairs washroom while waiting for housekeeping to bring our keys. While waiting for anyone, really. Anyone?
Anywho, we had to dump our stuff in the rooms and run because the church was an hour away.
But our timing was impeccable. We got to the church seconds — seconds! — before our friend and colleague walked down the aisle. We cheered for the bride, nearly including ourselves in the SDE video (which would have been a production disaster, or a viral video in the making), hardly believing our luck. What are the odds.
It was a beautiful ceremony. The priests knew the couple so their homilies and messages to the newlyweds were personal and heartfelt.
The group photos were from Maida (who organized this trip, sponsored by Waze). (I’m kidding.)
The bride letting her hair down.
Now, back to the hotel. We got back at midnight and there were no extra beds (even though we paid for extra beds) and no running water. We had to hunt down people to get these necessities, and when we finally got water running, there was no hot water. Remember that we were in Tagaytay. In January. At midnight. Hashtag pulmonya.
The next day, we were told, after we waited for more than an hour, that they could only serve four meals. I don’t know how they came up with this number. There were nine of us, and we were all paid. The OIC, Lala, gave excuses (they were busy with an event, maraming absent, papunta palang po ako ng office) instead of apologizing. Only one staff member, Roland (or Ronald, I forget) understood customer service and went out of his way to serve us coffee.
So thumbs-down for Le Jardin Rosella and their incompetent OIC, Lala. Don’t stay with them, or at least think twice. I think you’re better off staying somewhere else.
But two thumbs-up for your lovely wedding, AJ and Vanna! The very best of luck to your life together. :)
And sige thumbs-up na rin sa hardin ng Le Jardin. Idinaan na lang namin sa photo-op ang galit. Haha!
Hi all! How’s your 2015 so far? I’ll have to start with a teeny tiny bad news. Bad news for me personally, but good for devout Catholics in the country: the Pope will be arriving in Manila later today, but due to his arrival and activities here, several roads will be closed. Including our road. Yep. Due to this, I will be missing out on BLTX6 (January 17-18) at Uno Morato in QC. Click here for event details. Do check it out if you are in the area.
The books that will go on sale include Chasing Tales from MoarBooks, which contains a story of mine called “Fairy Tales”, appearing in print for the first time; and the Cabinet’s Revival Issue, which contains a new poem of mine that has not appeared anywhere else, offline or online.
Update: The Revival Issue’s launch has been moved to Jan. 24, 5:30 PM, Uno Morato.
But before January ends, I will be at the launch of Fast Food Fiction Delivery, a flash fiction anthology edited by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta and Noelle Q. de Jesus. See you on January 31, 3 PM at Powerbooks Greenbelt!
“Morning (‘She waved but the child’)”
“Morning (‘She folds the sheets’)”
“Note to – (‘The terrifying thing about this is’)”
“Note to – (‘You will reach across the distance’)”
“Certainty” Kritika Kultura, August 31, 2014. http://kritikakultura.ateneo.net/…/literary-sect…/five-poems
“Deliver Us.” Philippine Speculative Fiction 9, October 9, 2014.
And some acceptances that will see the light of day next year.
Our Day 3 in Batanes was on a Saturday. The weekend! (When we arrived on Thursday I thought it was already Saturday; I got disoriented when I saw schoolchildren on the street.)
This was a continuation of our Batan tour. Look at this view.
Dumayo pa ng Batanes para mag-taho!
This is a boat shelter port. It’s gorgeous.
This is the view near the Church of Mahatao.
The Spanish influence is clear here.
Beauty everywhere you turn. It’s amazing.
Looks like New Zealand, no?
For once, I was able to take a picture of the food! We had white snapper, lapu-lapu, sweet camote, chicken, vegetables.
White Beach.
We saw some men with their catch of the day.
I bought some cookies at the Honesty Coffee Shop. This is a store owned by two schoolteachers. No one mans the store. The goods on sale have prices, and you can just leave your payment in a tin after writing down your purchases in a logbook.
This used to be a military base that they’re turning into a museum.
Just enjoying the view.
Dinner set-up.
Some shells I picked up at White Beach. Before dinner we dropped by a souvenir store, and I bought bukayo and garlic chips to add to the cookie pasalubong stash from the Honesty Coffee Shop.
Heading home now. Our flight the next day, Sunday, left at 8AM. (Let’s give credit where credit is due: PAL’s flights on this trip left on time. I was pleased. And surprised.)
Basco’s airport looks like a house. It’s tiny and cute.
Ba-bye Batanes. Stay pretty.
wheee
Thank you once again to Travel Factor for the hassle-free trip. If you’re interested in signing up for a group tour, you can check out their website. (Just a quick note to say this is not a sponsored post.) Their Batanes trip is around 10k per person, with the following inclusions:
INCLUSIONS
• 3 Nights accommodation (group sharing)
• Airport Transfers in Batanes
• Batan – Sabtang – Batan Faluwa Transfers
• Tours all around Batan Island (Chartered Jeepney)
• Tours all around Sabtang Island (Chartered Jeepney)
• Full board meals
• Travel Insurance
• Travel Factor ID and Lanyard
• PHOTOHOLIC Batanes Tshirt
Batanes is a group of ten islands, three of which are inhabited: Batan, Sabtang, and Itbayat. Do you know that there’s a plane that travels from Batan to Itbayat? The flight will take all of twelve minutes. Or else you can travel by boat over and through gigantic waves.
No plane travels from Batan to Sabtang, so we had to do the latter.
We arrived bright and early at the Port of Ivana to catch a faluwa ride. A faluwa is an outrigger-free Ivatan boat that can seat more than 70 people. And motorbikes. The faluwa is designed to just go with the flow, so to speak. It can travel over waves taller than itself, and is perfect for violent seas. So, you know, be like the faluwa.
I unfortunately do not have a photo of it, but here’s one from Choose Philippines to give you an idea:
wheeee
We didn’t fill up the faluwa to the rafters (some people mention feeling seasick in a jampacked faluwa) so the ride to Sabtang wasn’t that bad. But the waves were pretty strong. The ocean looked like wrinkled fabric.
Our first stop. Look at the grass.
You can see the direction of the wind based on these trees.
Nakabuang Beach. Here we are in front of the famous arc. Thank you to Aica for the photo!
We stopped to register at the Tourism office and try their local tea (the sign says “tea” but they call it coffee, so I’m not sure) called tubho. Tubho is made from a fern.
Batanes streets give you sudden, bright accents of color that I love.
Hello!
Obviously a tourist-y stop. Heh.
We also went to see the stone houses in Chavayan village.
Ate Remy said most Ivatans resort to hollow blocks now, because they’re easier to carry. To paraphrase what she told us, it’s easy to find rocks, it’s hard to find labor.
Like I said, bright accents. Pink curtain, pink door.
The lone police officer for the barangay. Mabuhay ka, kuya.
Here’s a church with a cogon roof.
Great view out of the jeepney.
San Vicente Ferrer Church.
The 10 Commandments, in Ivatan.
Ivatan reminds me of my mother’s own language (my mother’s from Cagayan Valley), Ibanag.
Small schools for a small population.
We headed right back to Basco after lunch. On the way back, the waves were bigger and harsher. One of the men seated at the back suddenly stood up and knocked on the roof to signal to the driver. I thought it was an emergency and oh good I will die here of thirst, surrounded by water. Turned out one of the men caught a deep-sea fish called dorado. The fish was a gorgeous golden color. I don’t have a photo, but here’s one from Reggie Matteo.
Free time! Some members of the group went biking; I re-read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and went to sleep.
Eliza Victoria 