The promise of more frequent updates to this here ole blog is off to a not-so-good-start with this blog post only being the second post for the year when we're already on Day 18 of the New Year.
Anyway, here goes nothing ...
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A quick trip to Fully Booked and National Bookstore at Greenbelt over lunch yesterday has got me itching to buy new books. Of course, we're talking about sci-fi, spec-fic, and fantasy books mainly but I wouldn't discount other fiction genres if something catches my fancy. Like I've had my eye on Dan Book's latest book, The Lost Symbol, for quite some time now but it hasn't quite reached that itchiness level yet where I'll buy the book come hell or high water. It's a different case if I spot it at, say, Books for Less or BookSale. If I find a pre-owned copy of Lost Symbol there I'll definitely be buying it.
I'm more inclined to buy one of the following: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, a steampunk YA dealing with an alternate World War I; or the next installment in James A. Owen's The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series entitled The Search for the Red Dragon. I'm more likely to buy the former than the latter because of the availability at the bookstore. I've been trying to secure a copy of The Search for the Red Dragon but so far have been unsuccessful in getting one as the bookstore branches I go to often don't have a stock of it.
Other than quantity, Westerfeld's YA steampunk series proposes an interesting read, a departure from the usual. I've managed to read a couple of chapters over at PoweBooks and I can say that it got my interest. This was before Christmas and back then only hardcovers were available (for somewhere along P600+) but the quick trip to NBS yielded a softcover version for almost half the price.
Now why didn't I buy the darn book when I had the chance? Beats me.
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Aside from the usual habit of looking for books, I went to the bookstores to search for a non-ruled notebook. Essentially it's a notebook with no lines, more like a sketchpad in a notebook's dimension. I saw one yesterday at SM Department Store's office and school supplies section but with a label such as Daycraft HK (check out the pretty sketch notebooks over at www.daycraft.com.hk and salivate) , no wonder the price was at P500! Now, that's a bit too much for a notebook.
Since yesterday and today, I've been searching for a cheaper alternative but the only lead I got was that the notebook make Scribe supplied NBS once with non-ruled notebooks but that that hasn't been repeated as of yet.
Why would I look for a notebook that's non-ruled, you ask? Well, it's mainly a quirk. And has to do with my tendency to doodle every now and then. Aside from being used as a diary, a recorder, a scribbler of random thoughts, a notebook also is a repository of quick drawings and a non-ruled notebook would just be such a thing that would be a great medium to capture such.
So, if I won't be able to secure a non-ruled one, I'm thinking of making one. How? Buy a good paper stock, better if you can get it not in letter or A4 size but half of that, go to a shop that offers ring binding services and have the blank papers binded real good. Saddle-stitch would be good but I can live with wire-bind or ring-bind. All it would just need would be a sturdy enough cover -- one of those hard-plastic folders would be good enough.
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As I mentioned, the reason for the non-ruled notebook is essentially for my creative writing. I resolve (for the nth) to jumpstart my creative writing this year (albeit, work and time permitting) and for those times when I'm not in front of a CRT screen or LCD, the notebook would be the best way to jot down my thoughts. Like when I was world-building my Y.A. fiction before Christmas, everything was jotted down on a bits and pieces of loose paper along with scribbles, doodles, and drawings related to the project.
The non-ruled notebook would also come handy when it comes to recording my thoughts for my other personal projects like comics and boardgames. These two projects require more scribbling than writing so a non-ruled notebook would be your bestfriend when those a-ha moments suddenly arrive -- like when you're riding the MRT, or, when you're waiting for someone who's 2 hours late for a meeting.
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Speaking of projects ... a lot of my planned projects didn't materialize last year. Several were jumpstarted but the problem was finding the time to sustain them.
My creative writing, which was already down in the dumps in the first place, suffered yet another setback. I did not write any story last year nor did I work on any existing material of mine. A lot of story ideas did come along but several I failed to jot down (because they came during the most inconvenient of times like when you're navigating through a sea of humanity inside a mall, or playing patintero with cars along Ayala-Buenda-South Avenue).
Sketching became limited to scrawls and doodles done on steno pads, scratch papers, and other pieces of paper. I've managed to capture many of those doodles using my phone cam and I hope to upload those on my FB photo album entitled Sketches.
I promised to work on a web comic last year but like many other projects, it got shelved, then re-shelved, then put off. I still don't have a timeline for that and will be in the doldrums for the meantime.
Also in the doldrums would be my boardgame projects. I did come up with another boardgame idea last year but I guess until I really get moving on earlier game concepts and turn them into realities, there's no point in trying to pursue this third idea for the meantime.
As I turn 35 years this year, I feel there's not much time to do the stuff that I want to do for my own personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Yes, I do just work on one day job but I also wear a lot of other hats, many of whom are quite enjoyable -- being a husband and being a father are tops.
All in due time.
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One skill though that has improved last year is my driving skill ... as in driving-a-car skill.
I still have yet to perfect the art of sidestreet parking (I still need at least two cars-width to fit the big red car into a parking space) but I'm getting there.
I've also have had lesser moments of lapses when the engine would stop --- namamatayan -- and I'm getting more and more proficient with inclines. I still don't like hanging suspended at 45 degrees, I still panic a bit, but unlike before when the engines would roar to a stop, now I can manage to squeak out of an inclined situation after a deep breathe. I still don't like it though.
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Already half-way through The Machine Crusade, Book 2 of the Legends of Dune trilogy. Will be bringing out my big copy of Battle of Corrin soon from somewhere in the bookshelf as I'm sure to finish TMC this weekend most likely.
