Dear God,

Please don't let this be the worst December in Jovan-history. Please? I really tried to be a good girl this year.

:-(

I want to kick myself in the head.

A lump in the head is so much better than a lot of things I can think of right now.

Sux.

Join The Elias Dakila Story Writing Contest

CANVAS, in partnership with Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang I.n.K.) is pleased to launch the Elias Dakila Competition for Children's Storywriting on Environment and Culture.

In 1953, French author Jean Giono was commissioned to write a short story about his most unforgettable character. What resulted was the classic eco-fable The Man Who Planted Trees, which told of the inspiring story of a man who through sheer persistence and diligence, brings hope to a once desolate and devastated province.

That story later moved CANVAS to publish the story of Elias & His Trees, a Filipinized adaptation of Giono's inspiring tale, and now, to work with Ilustrador ng Kabataan (INK) in launching the Elias Dakila Competition for Children's Storywriting on Environment and Culture.

This year, the contest seeks to inspire writers to come up with original short stories for children (ages 6-8) that celebrate the environment and/or Philippine culture, and which are suitable as big, read-aloud books ideal for sharing or reading to groups of children.

The winner will receive a P25,000 cash prize. Deadline for entries is 5pm, Manila time, January 31, 2006.

For more details, and to download the rules, please visit
http://www.canvas.ph/upcoming_events.htm.

Thank you and kindly pass this announcement to people you think might be interested.

Best regards,
-- CANVAS & Ang I.N.K.

*****

Wow, Ilustrador ng Kabataan won at the Philippine Web Awards 2005. Yay! Congratulations to my beloved org and to Lance, our webmaster. (n_n)

Happiness on a page.

WOOT! :-D

(Thank you, Nickee!!! Aylabyu!)

I can't wait to finish my tons of work so I can start reading this already.

Too many thoughts running in different directions right now. I'll save that for another entry, perhaps tomorrow, when I've slept better.

F Sharp.

Listen to Forgetting Luna's track F Sharp here. Leave a review, too, if you like. (n_n)

Of all the things to forget--

-- I actually forgot that I didn't sleep at all yesterday. Seriously.

I stayed up all Tuesday night on the puter, and did not notice that the sun was already up. I went offline to make a fast food delivery phone call, then resumed with whatever I was doing on the puter.

Because I was having a hard time focusing on work and other stuff, I took a break, with the intention of sleeping. But I ended up watching Before Sunset instead.

I only remembered last night, when my nephew pointed out to me that I've been up the whole time. What the-- (o_O)?

I must have forgotten because I wasn't sleepy at the time. And when I went to bed, I wasn't sleepy at all.

My insomnia spells are getting weirder every time. :-P

Gusto mo bang sumali sa Ang I.n.K.?

If you're interested to join Ang I.n.K. (Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, that is), follow this link.

Good luck! (n_n)

*****

I'm useless today, being under the weather and all. And because I can't cook, I'm also currently dependent on fast food delivery. My life sux.

I just watched Before Sunset for the first time (I've had the DVD for the longest time, but I never got around to seeing it until now, so sue me), and it's sad sad sad. Beautiful and sad.

*sniff*

(Dang, I should've watched a comedy instead.)

Cheap thrill.

LOOKEE! I made it to the high scores! Hah!

Stacking ubercute pigs is so fun! Pachelbel's Canon plays in the background, too! Hehe...

I am getting the hang of using just one hand for the keyboard and mouse. That's what I get for being in a rut with bad wrists. :-P

*****

(And as if bad wrists weren't enough, I'm now down with a bad cold and "Inay, huwag mo akong iiwan!!!" cough. Bleah.)

Aw fuck.

Today I spent one and a half hours lining up at the bank. Sux.

And what sux more is that on the way home I had to pass by the drugstore to get my left wrist some elastic bandage (I have two or three, but as with things that I need, I can't find them). The pain on left wrist has become unbearable. And my right wrist is starting to act up na rin. :-(

Paano ko kaya matatapos ang 16 pages na illustrations with this thing???

GAAAH.

Rush.

*whew*

I just finished compiling Mango JAM issue 6, and I am exhausted. Pooped. :-P

I still have stuff to finish before the month ends, I hope I will be able to deliver. <:-/

*****

I'm newly enrolled at Hogwarts (shame shame hehe), and I've recently been sorted into Slytherin. Yeah. \m/o My backpack fits perfectly with my House. Heh heh.

(Dang I want robes...)

*****

Every time I finish a project my brain goes into automatic shut down. The computer shall follow suit in a bit.

In the spirit of blogging--

-- I will post links today.

• The Dilbert Blog. Jump to the Blogging Under the Influence post. It's hilarious.
  
• Raul Midon's tv performance debut. Fingerstyle acoustic guitar and faux trumpet. Aw this dude kicks ass. (Thanks Joon for the link.)
  
• It's a big ad. Career choreography going on here.
  
• Superman Returns teaser trailer (which I haven't seen yet, due to a sucky internet connection)
  

Happy sappy magic plastic super duper bonggang bongga ihaw-ihaw all-time noon time show!

After a stressful working day I left the house for the Itchyworms' album launch at 6Underground.

Ang daming tao! :-) Although Nico and I missed out on all the guest performances, we still had so much fun! They did a really good set (with really good songs to boot). Sumakit panga ko sa katatawa sa Production Number. Panalo talaga! ;-D

*****

I think I've done enough work for the day. For the first time this week, I'm shutting down my puter.

*blip*

*emote*

I've just been to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Cryola!!! I won't post spoilers here, I promise. But I have to say that this was the funniest and yet, darkest of the HP movies. They cut out a lot of subplots, though. I guess the movie was long enough already. At ang dami-dami-daming eye candy. Heh heh.

*****

In the car, a few minutes ago:

me: Nico, can I ask you a question? Well, aside from the one I asked just now.
Nico: Yeah. What?
(pregnant pause)
me: Nico, ano ako sa 'yo?
Nico: You're my baby.
me: 'Yun lang?
Nico: You're my baby. You're my cosmic miracle.
(hug)
me: Tapos na? 'Yun lang sasabihin mo?
Nico (sings): You're my everything...
(laughter and a few moments of reflection)
me: I'm not really your everything, am I?
Nico: Uhm, maybe not everything. But close.

Good enough. (n_n)

Bleah.

NGARAG!!! There's so much to do and so little time. :-Þ My puter has been running continuously for six days straight, and my wrists hurt like hell.

That kind of explains why I haven't been updating this thing for a while. All my posts for the past two weeks have been sitting in draft mode, because I'm too busy to spell check. Heh heh...

*****

Shame shame. I only recently discovered Bettie Serveert with the track Dreamaniacs. Talk about delayed reaction. I like, but I don't know how much yet. Kinda sounds like Garbage (the band, not the refuse), Liz Phair and a little bit of Nina Persson. Heh heh...

*****

I just got back from Purple Haze. Wow. Haze. Heh heh... Labo.

Labo talaga. Hmf. Some people.

Weekend nights.

Jon (FL drummer and Chillitees guitarist) broke his hand on his birthday by hitting a wall repeatedly with his fist. He didn't know it was broken at the Starkiller gig, but he played a good round anyway. A day or two after, he decided to get an x-ray. Now he has to wear that plaster thing for a month, and go through therapy after.

Moral of the story: if you want to break your hand, let someone else do it for you. Heh heh.

*****

So, drummerless, Forgetting Luna played an acoustic set at Mayrics. They did okay. :-) We stayed for Imago's and Sandwich's sets and we didn't regret it. :-)

And it was perfect timing, too. Imago's set was good. I think I appreciate them more live. They played Spoliarium, too, which will be part of an E-heads tribute album. Then Sandwich played a bunch of new songs, never-been-played just-finished stuff, and the old hits as well. Raims even sang Magasin, and Chicosci's Paris. It was a fun, fun set.

The gig finished early-- 12:30 a.m. So we headed on to Big Sky to check out Karen's Club Dredd photo exhibit. (You gotta see those big bad hair days! Back then Hank had nicer hair than most women I know, myself included. Partida na 'yun, di pa uso pa-rebond nun ha! Hehehe...) SVC was there performing, and poking fun at Jon's broken hand. Heh heh...

We didn't stay long, though. Nico had too much beer, and we were both pooped already.

*****

I started Saturday with work, and ended (again) with a gig. I accompanied Nico to their pre-gig rehearsal with Jovi who was subbing for Jon at the Revolver gig.

Ang galing-galing ni Jovi! She learned four songs in less than two hours practice. And she really did well during the gig. FL did a good set, but Pedicab was a tough act to follow.

We didn't stay for Bitter Pill's set because we were all tired and we had to take Jovi home.

*****

Sunday was more work for me. I took a break at 5:30 p.m. when Nico picked me up. We took my mom to her event, then we got lost on our way out of the Calumpang area and ended up in the middle of Marcos Highway traffic (where a taxi fell into the ravine and there were several policemen, cranes and ambulances in the area). Hungry, we finally arrived at Marquinton for dinner (I didn't want to stray too far away from home. Work beckons.)

We had a very satisfying meal at Fat Choi (yummy!!!). Then we played a few games at Timezone (Nico just got addicted to the Stacker game) right before watching Flightplan. It was an okay movie.

*****

Did I say 'work beckons'? Yeah. Damn.

I learn new things everyday.

Nico and I, together with a bunch of InKies left the metro early yesterday for Subic. (Nico filed a VL for the trip, the sweetie.)

First stop was Cacho Publishing. Mon from Cacho gave us a very educational tour around the printing press and some insider tips on their current publishing technology.

Then we had lunch at Expresso. We ordered very very yummy shrimp carbonara (highly recommended), and extreme Big Ben pizza. They weren't kidding when they refer to the pizza size as extreme. It was HUGE! (22" in diameter, if I remember correctly.) Seven of us shared the whole thing. Grabe. Sulit. Will probably eat there again when we get the chance to go back to the Freeport.

Next stop was the GuBat Learning Center where Haribon biodiversity experts gave us a tour with interesting (and depressing) facts about our ecosystem.

After the tour we went to view (from afar) the roosting sites of bats. Andami nila. But not as many as before, when I first saw them back in high school (they dwindled to the 5-digit mark, they used to be in the 6-digit population). They were located at a different site then, too.

*****

We left Subic right after the bat sighting. We didn't see any monkeys, much to Jill and Herb's disappointment. We didn't get to go shopping or go-carting either. Oh well.

We got back sometime around 7 p.m. Tita Tess picked us up, and we had dinner at Nico's house. I played Katamari for a bit before Nico took me home.

*****

Moments ago I learned that there's an actual word for fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth: arachibutyrophobia.

*****

I've had a good day, but now I feel like crap. Don't ask me why.

W is for Wednesday.

Yeah that's today. I have a bit more time to relax, but I still have deadlines looming over me. *sigh*

Tuesday was more interesting though.

W is for Woozy.

I was up all Monday night trying to finish my Powerpoint presentation for my watercolor workshop. I wasn't able to get any real sleep 'cause I was too scared to oversleep and miss the Tuesday session (and besides, Thor and Margie will kill me if I do).

I was up by 5 a.m., and out of the house by 6:20. When I got to the Ortigas-Ayala shuttle terminal, the Ayala line was four or five rows thick, and there weren't any vans around. I didn't want my leaving the house early to go to waste, so I left my place in line to search for a cab. As I walked past the terminal I ran into a guy and he asked me if I was going to Makati and if I'd be willing to share a cab with him. I thought, why not? I'm sure these cab drivers are gonna charge us an arm and a leg, and since we were going down at the same stop, I figured that wasn't a bad idea.

So I shared a cab with a stranger.

W is for Waiting

After much waiting and running around we hailed a cab with a slightly disagreeble driver-- well, he was until we told him we'd be paying him P200 for a P140 trip. The guy took the front passenger seat, thankfully, 'cause I don't have to talk to him during the entire trip or look at him when I do. I just want to be left alone to think about my workshop (while secretly wishing that I get there before 8). One more good thing was that the guy was nice enough to make small talk and shut up at the appropriate moments. I had thinking room.

We arrived at Makati at 8:15. Stupid stupid C5 traffic, I swear. The guy was late. I was still in the clear (I texted Margie earlier just to make sure). (There were only 5 workshoppers present out of the 28 total when I arrived.)

Afterthought: It didn't occur to me to ask the stranger's name. I dunno why. (Well, it didn't occur to him either.) But we parted with thank yous and a see you next time. The experience was awkward, but not in a bad way.

W is for Workshop

Workshop went well, I think. Or at least I felt fulfilled. The class left the room happy, and that made me happy.

Kathy was there to assist me, so it wasn't as stressful as I imagined. And the DTI people were forgiving of mistakes and they were fun to teach (although they were awfully quiet during the first hour-- that kind of bothered me heh heh).

I should mention the caterers (The Goblet or something or other) were really really nice to us. Super maasikaso sila. And the omelet was really really yummy. :-)

W is for work.

After the workshop, Kathy and I went to Glorietta. She got herself a pair of what Nico calls jovan-shoes (a.k.a. cute maryjanes hehe) and took off to Timezone while I met up with St. Scho thesis students for some manuscript and work schedule issues. It turned out I'm supposed to do more than twice the number of pages (book illustrations) that I initially agreed to do. Harrgh. Good luck sa akin.

W is for Wonderful.

Nico came to pick me up. We went to SaGuijo a bit earlier than usual for lack of anything else to do before the Starkiller gig.

Carpenters Night! I enjoyed Best Before's set and their cover of Yesterday Once More. (I can just skip the other bands 'cause I don't have anything to say about them. Heh heh...) I loved loved loved FL's version of Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft. I wanted to see Mighty perform, but they were performing last + Nico and I were just tired from a very long day, and we had people hitching with us on our way out.

W is for Wasted.

You think? (o_O)

Memory jog.

Yesterday seeped through the first 5 hours of Sunday. I'm tired, and my mind is all fluff right now. :-P

*****

It was a long Saturday. I woke up early despite the lack of sleep from working all night.

It was a special day. I remembered Nico joking about wanting to receive flowers recently, so I decided to buy a bouquet for him before I head over to the InK officers' meeting at Chocolate Kiss.

I've never bought a guy flowers before, and therefore I was clueless as to what Nico would like. (I never asked him what his favorite flower was either.) I stood at the florist's idiotically for a good fifteen minutes, while I struggled with option paralysis.

*****

I was horribly late for the InK officers' meeting. (I didn't think buying flowers would take me that long, and besides, I had lunch at home.) We went over the General meeting's agenda and discussed content of the upcoming I.n.K. book.

I got three new books for free!!! Actually I won them, together with cute glass fridge magnets. Hehe... (InK Comelec gave special prizes to early voters.)

Towards the end of the meeting, InK Comelec announced Ang I.n.K.'s new set of officers for 2006. I got re-elected. I'm still not sure if it's a good thing or not. Heheh...

*****

Nico picked me up at FA right after my meeting.

05 November 2005 Highlight Of The Day: seeing Nico's face as I gave him the arm bouquet of roses and liliums I bought for him in the morning. It's enough to assure me that all 23 months we spent together have been worth it. *melt*

Before heading off to Thor's post-birthday Korean video-fest, we went to Bench Fix Katipunan for Nico's haircut, then picked up Marnie along the way.

*****

Food fest at the party! I think I ate too much I felt sick afterwards. Tsk tsk. Wilmer just decorated his house with an almost all white theme. Ganda! :-) We watched My Brother (I watched 85% of it), then a few episodes of Full House. Oh, I watched my first episode of Pinoy Big Brother. They just kicked out cute boy Sam. I'm pretty sure he can earn more than the million-peso grand prize with his commercial endorsements. Heheh... I'm not sure if I'm going to get into the PBB phase. Besides, watching it will interfere with workhours. Voyeurism anyone? Hehehe... ;-)

*****

In front of my house, still in the car, Nico and I had a very long talk about, uhm, stuff. I'm still not sure if it had a point but I think the universe intended that we stay out late so we can miss out on the bad things that happen elsewhere.

(No, I don't feel like explaining.)

It's Friday I'm in love.

Woke up early yesterday because I tagged along to Nico's band rehearsal again. We picked up their session keyboardist at Galleria, then headed on to Pipeline.

I've observed that Forgetting Luna's studio rehearsals are more fun and less tense than other bands I've seen rehearse before. I don't seem to mind waiting for them to finish their three-hour sessions. I used to sit in during a couple of bands' practice sessions and I thought an hour was an uncomfortable wait (hey, it's not like I hate their music, I actually am a fan). Maybe the FL has more relaxed dynamics among members? I dunno.

*****

We dropped by Glorietta to check out and buy our Harry Potter movie tickets for November 16. WOOHOO! (Thank you, Nico!) I'm so excited (and I just can't hide it hehe)!

On an impulse buying spree I got myself an Emily the Strange pair of dangling black cat earrings and matching charm bracelet. (n_n)

*****

We hung out at Nico's house afterwards to play We <3 Katamari (na na na na na na na...) until it was time for me to go home. Nakaka-adik!

*****

I guess ignoring work for a day was worth it. (Hey, I needed the break!) Now, back to my regularly scheduled programming. :-P

Craving for calamari.

Spent the first two days of November at home, working. *sigh* Such is life.

*****

Nico disappeared from chat early this evening without saying goodbye, so I called him up to ask if he's still at work. He greeted me with a "Hi!" and told me that he'll be picking me up shortly for dinner at The Old Spaghetti House. (He's been telling me about their yummy calamari all week, and finally I get to try them myself!)

Insta-date! Hehe... (n_n)

*****

(Thank you!!! I still owe you a one-hour session at the Garden Spa.)