oops.. almost forgot

dis en dat

pondering
Ever since good friend Ella did multiply selling, I've thought about doing the same. I wanna sell PHR books. But then I thought I might be encroaching on my publisher's territory. They have their own site as you know and well they may be thinking of putting up their own online store there. I dunno, I guess. And so I put the plan on hold. But then, I dropped by their message board one time and saw how readers from outside Manila have been complaining about not getting their pocketbook fix on time. It made me think about doing the multiply thing again…

Incidentally, I ordered this from Ella's site. Cute no?
They're summer bangles btw, in case your wondering



I also got this (for free! Thanks again Ella!) from there. I love it much.




more TV talk and one movie
- I'm not exactly a fan of AI but I do watch it from time to time. This season, I'm rooting for Ramiele (spell?) simply because she's Pinay. Siyempre proud to Filipino. Anyhoo, last night I saw the final twelve perform and I can't help but think that she's like Jasmine Trias. There's no variety in her music. And I agree with the judges, it was a pretty boring performance. I won't be surprised if she gets booted off the show. Edit to add: I like her better than Jasmine though because she was quick to claim that she's Pinay. Unlike J who was all Hawa-i from the get go.

- I'm still pissed at Sky. No BTV means no PBL. And that sucks, big time! I'm aching to see how the Tigers are doing pa naman. ARrrgh!

- One film I can't wait to watch is Pixar's Wall-E.


'nuff said


on a serious note
I recently learned that fellow writer Hannah's mom passed on.
And more recently, former officemate Ba-Joy's dad too.
I know how tough it is to lose a parent.
My condolences to the both of you.

fortune flowr

Sabi nila, ang fortune plant daw, kapag namulaklak ay suwerte.
Namulaklak ang fortune plant namin!



Tamang-tama--bagong taon, bagong suwerte.

Pero kanino ba mapupunta ang suwerte?
Sa nagpatanim, sa nagtanim, o sa may-ari ng lupang kinatatamnan?

ho-ho-ho

tweak day

How d'ya like the new look? I've been meaning to change the layout for my site for months now but kept side-stepping on the project since it's not really a priority. So what changed? Last week, I finally submitted the sixth installment for my latest series. Six is my halfway marker since I comitted to writing 12 all in all. Long story short, you could say this layout change is my way to treat myself for the feat.

Hah! Who am i kidding?

It's the same old story. I'm stumped again. So what else is new? I'm trying not dwell on that aspect much as I write this post since I feel all I do here is complain about my writer's block. But I guess it has to be said. You see, I've been working on the seventh story for three days now and I can't seem to get past chapter one. My body is more than willing but my brain doesn't want to cooperate. And so, to appease my hankering fingers, I gave it something mindless to do. After uploading the remaining pics I have stored in my drive--I'm talking about asstd 500+ pics here including my collection of cover ideas --I then began working on the gfx for this site and my multiply site as well. Personally I like my layout there better primarily because it's not too pa-tweetums. I had to go with pink here because I used the typewriter pic above as anchor.

Sidenote: Notice the bar thingy to the right? It doesn't go with the pink and green color scheme because I didn't bother with the html/css codes anymore. I just changed the gfx. Like I said, mindless. Working on the codes calls for some flexing of my cerebral muscle and I can't have that.

Sidenote again: If my HS English teacher Mrs. Pereyra could read this she'd probably have a fit... talk about a run-on sentence! And talk about flight of ideas!! I swear, I really do have the attention span of a six year old. I guess that's why I find it soooo difficult to focus.

So where were we? Heck, even I don't know anymore! LoL There you have it, that's my brand of "lost in thought" for you! Har-har-har.

Hey, I wanna give you a patikim of my new series in case you're interested. It's called "Dream Team" and the commonality is, all my heroes are basketball players. I'll up the unedited teasers in a bit or tommorow maybe.

sardonic

i was out with bubba earlier doing our nightly stroll when i chanced upon this sign



my initial reaction when i read it was amusement and then it hit me
PAGTULUNGAN BUGBUGIN BAGO PAKULONG
wtf(?!)
how sad
it is sad, don't you agree?

nothingness

I keep meaning to write a post here for days now but try as I might, I just couldn't. So I'll just post this quote I picked up. It's from Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's Practical Magic.

"Do you ever put your arms out and just spin and spin and spin? Well that's what love is like. Everything inside of you tells you to stop before you fall, but you just keep on going."

`Love it.

the eyes deceive

i'd like to believe that i'm a visual person. but for some reason, i have a difficult time telling faces apart. case in point, the three hotties below. i cant figure out which is which at a glance. i've to put the images side by side before i can put a name to the face.



go ahead and give it a shot. which is channing tatum, which is kuno becker and which is wentworth miller?

zzz ramble zzz

I'm so sleepy I can't think straight anymore. I know I shouldnt quit just yet, after all it's only barely past midnight and I'm used to staying up until the wee hours. But again, I'm soooo sleepy it takes humungous humongous tremendous effort just to keep my eyes open.

This always happens when I'm writing. Argh. I've a theory about this. (When did i ever not have a theory?)

Here's my theory in a nutshell (redundant much?) .... When your making up stories you usually imagine it in your head and when you do this you enter a mind state thats not quite alpha but no longer beta either. you're not asleep so youre not dreaming but its as close as it gets to it. If I remember it right, you REM during alpha.

Am i making any sense? I guess im not. My apologies folks. For the third time, I'm so sleep i cant think straight anymore!!

The purpose of this blog post is to rouse me back to wakefulness. the result: its not working... so im gonna wrap my writing up for the night. hala! lagot ako sa bespren turned agent ko. im waaaay behind schedule! chapter three pa rin ako. i've been stuck in this chapter since this morning... i dont know which direction to take kasi. the story can lead to three conflicts and i havent made up mind which to use...waaah!

btw, my heroines a chef...kasalanan 'to ni andre. i don't like repeating myself coz ive already written a hero that's a chef waaaaay back. kaya lang he mentioned something about wanting to be a chef (im nudging him in the opposite direction mind you)... and since i didn't have the luxury of time to dwell on my characters trivialities, i decided to make her a chef na lang even though i'd rather she wasnt.

sigh. i'm gonna end and spare you from my ramble now. im heading for my bed hoping that tomroow turns out to be a more productive day for me. g'nyt :)

so long

kutingski went to "a better place" this afternoon :(
no thanks to my amateur ministrations... all i can say is, i gave it my best shot

apparently it's not over yet

argh! the temperature's back up again. i really thought the weather's gonna be blissfully cool now with the onset of the rainy season. well i guess i thought wrong. the rainy season went kaput on us again. according to BBC weather, today we were at a high of 33C. *wipes sweat*

that's not the worst part. get ready for this, tomorrow's forecast is a stagerring 37C!! that's more than our normal body temperature ladies and gents. so don't be surprised if you feel slightly feverish tomorrow... the temp next summer season would be much, much higher or so experts say. whopee, i can't hardly wait.

speaking of seasons, uaap season will begin again next month. whopee! i cant hardly wait! (note: im not being sarcastic this time) tentative date for the opening is july 7.

i've never really been a fan of basketball before, only just recently. watching college ball has been my guilty pleasure for the most part of the last quarter (in basketball lingo, last kanto) of last year. thus, the reason why the series im working on right now is the way it is.

of course i'll be rooting for my alma mater. who else would i root for? i'm a bit worried though. i hear the archers are hell bent on coming back from their suspension with a vengeance. i saw a rerun of their fil-oil game against mapua yesterday and although im no expert, i think they're really pretty tight. i wonder how duncil, jervy, ababou, taylor, and the rest of the españa boys would match up against maierhoffer, batricevic, ilad, and the rest of the crew from taft

tenterhooks

the reason why i'm blabbing again is because i'm stressing over how the manuscript I submitted last tuesday faired. i'll find out for sure tomorrow *crosses fingers*

disclaimer: i am not a cat person

The reason why I wasn't paying full attention to Sukob (see previous post) is because of this...



I saw him (or her) for the first time the other day while I was out taking B for a walk. It had just rained and he was soaking wet and meowing like crazy by the dumpster. Pathetic little creature. I felt sorry for him but that was as far as it goes.

And then yesterday, I saw him again. This time, I noticed that just a few feet away from him was a dead kitten. They obviously came from the same litter because they were of the same age and their colors were the same. Beside the dead kitty was a sack. I guess you can pretty much imagine what's inside that sack. But yet again, I turned a blind eye and resisted the urge to take him home. Heartless me.

Finally, this morning I saw him once more. No, not by the dumpster 400 meters (give or take) away but just two houses from ours this time. It took a while for my humanity to kick in but bottom line is, it did. And so here I am hand rearing this irritatingly noisy little kitty. My plan is to help him out until he can fend for his own. Give him a fighting chance so to speak.

Truth, his determination to live astounds me. Think about it, a helpless little kitty with eyes not quite open yet; going three days (possibly more) without food or water and being exposed to the elements to boot. Amazing, really.

is it over yet?

The heat is finally easing up. TG! Is it just me or the heat is worse this year compared to last? Either way, it's a moot point since the rainy season's here already. Yipee! I'm crossing my fingers this isn't another false start like the one we had the other week. It rained on my birthday and the day after that and then nothing. In comes the heat again and mind you it came back with a vengeance! Last week was the worst, wasn't it? I'm just so glad we're done with summer... or are we really?

Speaking of birthdays, Marie called the other day to greet my belated happy birthday. We ended up chatting about this and that for about an hour. I learned that they have malunggay over there. I asked her how it's called in English but she forgot. She'll text me, she says but up till now I'm still waiting for her answer. You know how it is when you're trying to recall something and it's at the tip of your tongue but try as you might you cant remember? Well that's how it feels like for me with this malunggay thing.

Mostly we talked about her upcoming wedding...preparations that is. I told her I already have an idea of what I wanna wear. My only concern is that I've to go braless with this dress. Instead I'll be wearing those gel cup thingies that stick on your boobies. I'm fine with that. What worries me is gravity. My girls cant be called big but they're big enough to droop without adequate support. But the gown's really pretty and it's what I want to wear. Well let's see how it goes.

Still on weddings, I watched Sukob for the first time this afternoon. It wasn't as scary (read: good) as I expected. Maybe it's because I was watching it on the small screen. I don't know. I guess. To give credit, there were a couple scenes here and there that had me closing my eyes or looking away. Also, I've to admit that I wasn't giving the film my full attention.

words like sweltering and steamy come to mind

oh man, it's just barely past six am and the sun's barely up but the heat is already UNBEARABLE! the humidity makes me feel like im in a sauna. i feel like i'm melting. i feel like i wont be able to last the week much more the remaining months of summer if this keeps up!! waaah!! sadly, it will--i mean, keep up. i went to check pagasa's site and their temperature forecast for the week holds steady at 25C to 36C. the relative humidity is at its highest at 90%!! And there's little hope for rain too. Ah rain... i hope it'd rain soon. like really. it's so effing hot!!

in 1's

Two-in-one
Have you seen the new Alpo 2-in-1 TV ad? The one with the overzealous Boston Terrier accidentally spilling water all over his dish? I got intrigued by it and decided to by my Bubba some. I wasn't sure if my Bubba would like it so I set off thinking I'd buy the smallest package I could find. Turns out the smallest available was the one kilo variety. Nevertheless, I decided to take a risk. It's a good thing my Bubba took a liking to it because then I wouldnt know what to do with almost a kilo of kibbles!

Three-in-one
Also, for the coffee lovers out there, check out Nescafe's new offering. Viva Vanilla. The tag-line goes "Viva life, viva coffee! Viva Vanilla...rich creamy vanilla flavored coffee mix.

It's good, trust me. The taste reminds me of this sustagen concoction I used to drink when i was much much younger

pangarap ko

qNitong huli, nakaugalian ko ng magpasa ng mga pictures para magsilbing "inspirasyon" ng mga illustrators ng PHR para sa cover ng mga libro ko. So far, nakaka-tatlo na ako.

One Girl, One Guy, One Night...

Sa Habang Buhay, Ikaw at Ako...


at ang pinakahuling lumabas: Polly, My Love So Sweet

Ang galing nila no? I'm talking about the illustrators here. Parang pagkadali-daling gumuhit base sa larawan. Pero ubod ng hirap pala. Alam ko kasi minsan na akong sumubok na mag-illustrate. Nakakatawa ang kinalabasan ng artwork ko kaya hindi ko na pinursige.

Kitams! Nakakatawa diba? But give me credit for the girl's top. Kahit papaano nakuha ko naman sya..i think..the rest eh kailangan pa ng isa't kalahating kabang bigas.

Truth, gusto ko pa ding sumubok, mag-aral, mag-practice, hanggang sa hindi na kakatwa kundi maituturing na "puwede na" ang aking obra. Pero tsaka na lang, hindi pa ngayon, ayoko muna...

Ang masasabi ko lang sa ilan dyan na kinukutya/pinagtatawanan ang mga TR pocketbook covers ay subukan n'yo kaya...kayo ang gumuhit. It's not as easy as it seems. That's why I admire these artists, they have gifted hands indeed. Simple as it may be, these cover illustrations are a testament to how much talent we Filipinos have. Bow.

ooh eye candy!

I need men! At least pictures of 'em. For a while now I've been scouring the net for pictures of chunky hunky hotties because... well, just because.

I've managed to save a number and I'm now at the stage of selecting who's going to make the cut or not, so to speak. By far, Brazaillian men for me are the best looking lot. I've been crushing on one in particular...

His name is Leandro Okabe--a student/model who's part Brazillian and part Japanese (obviously). Doesn't he look yummy? Too bad, I can't find any picture of him that would fit my theme.

Another thing, I noticed that Bruno seems to be a common name for models in that part of the world. Case in point, there's...

1. Bruno Schuind

2. Bruno Gagliasso

3. Bruno Herkenhoff

4. Bruno Rodrigues

5. Bruno Canaan

wait and see mode

A friend of mine gave me a box of prosperity candles for Christmas.
In toto, the instruction goes:

"At exactly 11:30 PM on December 31, light all the candles. Each candle symbolizes various aspects of life like peace, wealth, health, etc. Put out the candles at 12 midnight. Arrange the candles from smallest to biggest. The candle that melts quickest symbolizes the good fortune that the New Yaer will bring you first, followed by the rest."

I did as told and here's how mine turned out.

1. violet - spiritual growth
2. green - money
3. red - health
4. blue - peace
5. yellow - intelligence
6. pink - love orange - career

blah

it's hard to swim when the tide is going against you.
so true this is.
sigh.