After declaring that the rainy season has arrived, here we are today in the metro soaking up the sun. About three hours ago, it was threatening to rain. Now, it's threatening to cause everyone outside to get a tan.
Weird weather we're having, folks and they say it's due to climate change. Others, the pessimistic ones, forecast the end of the world coming.
Whatever the case, we will just have to learn to cope and adjust, right?
Welcome to June!
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Though I've been living in Makati for several years now (re-living would be more appropriate as I lived here before, specifically in Bangkal, until the fourth grade), I've never really explored much of Bonifacio Global City. Sure, I've been to Market Market a few times but it's essentially out of the way for me.
So, it was with some delight when I went to Bonifacio Highstreet last Monday morning. Alas, I was there before 6am so naturally, all the stores in the two blocks of Highstreet were still closed. What was I doing there that early? Certainly not to jog but to meet-up with my boss as we were bound for San Juan in Batangas. And since we had to beat the vehicle coding, we decided to meet at BGC as its the nearest to C5 where my boss was coming from.
My curiousity with Highstreet is essentially because of the Fully Booked flagship store located there. Site of many events (most recently the launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction 6 held last Saturday), the edifice is imposing as its several stories promising books and books and even more books. I think an entire day might not be enough to bask in the glint of shiny book covers and smell of pulp and ink that is sure to fill that place, that is, unless the ventilation emits a citrus-like or pine-like scent, of course.
Staring at FB-BGC from the outside, I would've wanted to stay and take the day off and explore the place. One of these days, I'll need to get the drive to finally get out of the Makati-CBD and head off to BGC to this bookplace and fulfill a long-time nagging of the bibliophile in me.
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I had a weird, short dream last night.
I was in a presscon-like environment, seated obviously as one of the panel and beside me was Dean Alfar. Mind you, I've never met Mr. Alfar in person. The same was true in my dream as the scene was somewhere at the end of the presscon (the audience and other panel members were getting up, readying to leave) and I rose and introduced myself to Dean and familiarly patted his shoulder and told him, "When are you going to reprint Philippine Speculative Fiction 6? I didn't get a copy." End of dream.
That was weird.
Serves me right for not attending the launch last Saturday where copies of the books reportedly ran out immediately. Now, the question is how do I get myself a copy? Are the publishers indeed doing a second print run and how would we, the envious ones not in attendance, secure copies for ourselves?
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Speaking of Phil-Spec-Fic 6, the call is out again for submissions for the next installment of the book (its seventh!). This time around, it'll be husband-and-wife team of Alex and Kate Osias who'll be on board as the volume's editors.
Here are the guidelines:
Editors Alex and Kate Osias invite you to submit short fiction for consideration forPhilippine Speculative Fiction volume 7.
Philippine Speculative Fiction is a yearly anthology series, which collects a wide range of stories that define, explore, and sometimes blur the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all things in between. The anthology has been shortlisted for the Manila Critics' Circle National Book Award, and multiple stories from each volume have been cited in roundups of the year's best speculative fiction across the globe.
First-time authors are more than welcome to submit; good stories trump literary credentials any time.
Submissions must be:
1. speculative fiction—i.e., they must contain strong elements or sensibilities of science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, alternate history, folklore, superheroes, and/or related 'nonrealist' genres and subgenres
2. written in English
3. authored by persons of Philippine ethnicity and/or nationality
Submissions are preferred to be:
1. original and unpublished
2. no shorter than 1,000 words and no longer than 7,500
3. written for an adult audience
In all cases, these preferences can be easily overturned by exceptionally well-written pieces. In the case of previously-published work—if accepted, the author will be expected to secure permission to reprint, if necessary, from the original publishing entity, and to provide relevant publication information.
Submission details:
1. No multiple or simultaneous submissions—i.e., submit only one story, and do not submit that story to any other publishing market until you have received a letter of regret from us. We don't mind if you submit to contests.
2. All submissions should be in Rich Text Format (saved under the file extension '.rtf'), and emailed to kate.osias at gmail.com, with the subject line 'PSF7 submission'.
3. The deadline for submissions is midnight, Manila time, September 30, 2011. Letters of acceptance or regret will be sent out no later than one month after the deadline.
Editors' notes:
1. Please don't forget to indicate your real name in the submission email! If you want to write under a pseudonym, that's fine, but this can be discussed upon story acceptance. Initially, we just need to know who we're talking to.
2. If you'd like to write a cover letter with your brief bio and publishing history (if applicable), do feel free to introduce yourself—but not your story, please. If it needs to be explained, it's probably not ready to be published.
3. We advise authors to avoid fancy formatting—this will just be a waste of your time and ours, since we will, eventually, standardize fonts and everything else to fit our established house style.
There will be compensation for selected stories, but we've yet to determine exactly what. In previous years, we've provided contributor copies of the book, as well as small royalty shares, but we are considering shifting Philippine Speculative Fiction to digital format, so we may be shifting to outright financial payment as well.
Note the deadline, folks. I'll surely be marking it on my calendars as well, including the virtual ones. I still have some fiction in the baul that have yet to see their conclusions written so I might have a look-see and determine whether something is worth submitting. Or, another idea might come along and I might just go along with it.
Keepin' me fingers crossed.
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At times, it's not so easy being a father.
Especially during those times when its their mother they're calling for and not you.
Elvie is on nightshift this week so that left me to spend the evenings with my daughters. Last Monday was ok, both my daughters slept through the entire evening without incident. It was different though this wee morning when at around 2:30am, I was awakened by Issa crying. I didn't know how long she had been awake but it was her crying that roused me.
I went to her, cuddled her and tried to pacify her. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she mumbled something but the only intelligible word I got was "Mama". She mumbled another string of sounds and again ended it with "Mama" before bawling again. I talked to her, explained that her Mama misses her too but has to work. Issa cried again, somehow understanding that her Mama won't be coming home any minute soon. I turned on the light, turned on the TV and tuned it to Playhouse Disney hoping to pacify her but she didn't want to be pacified (she did complain by bawling when I turned off the light so I turned it back on). I hugged her and tried to rock her to sleep but she cried "No" (yes, she already is able to say a few words) and promptly cried again. She kept on looking at me, in tears, talking and complaining unintelligibly but ending each one with "Mama".
After a few more rounds of this "conversation" between father and daughter, she allowed herself to be laid back on bed and I patted her to sleep. Before she closed her eyes to sleep once more, she said something unintelligble again, softly this time, and was the case, ended it with "Mama".
Ikai slept soundly throughout the entire time.
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Folks, please forgive my ranting last Friday. It was not the best way to end the week, I know, but I just had to release and vent my frustration somewhere.
The situation is still frustrating. And it'll remain so for an indefinite amount of time until a massive change happens to the mindset of people (it would've been easier to subliminally feed them using Mr. Curtain's Whisperer machine from The Mysterious Benedict Society). So rather than dwell on it, I've had my say, vented my frustration, and have had days to simmer down.
I still get annoyed when I recall the frustration (like now, my eyebrows are meeting at center) but I will just have to learn to live with it. As in any Desk, there will always be people who'll be more like impediments that improvements. That's life, that's the reality of work.
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It feels like a Friday even though it's only a Wednesday.
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I'm recording my book purchases this year. Whether a new book or bought at bargain book bins, I'm keeping tab because I want to see how much do I spend on books annually.
Though I don't buy books as much as other bibliophiles (others I know buy several books a week), the number of books that I add to my collection is substantial so that would also mean I'm shelling out some serious moolah.
The aim is not to curb my book-buying habits -- that'll never happen -- but it's merely to answer a curiousity of mine. I want to find out how much I spend on books, compared to say, how much I spend on my collectible car collection, or on video games, or on comics (loose comics as I consider graphic novels as books).
At the end of the year, I'll be doing an accounting and present it to you, guys.
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One of these days, I'll have to write down that Late Review that I have for the reboot of "Star Trek" which starred Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as the new Spock.
Last Monday evening, I watched the film in hopes of getting the ZZZ's earlier but instead of sleeping, I ended up finishing the entire movie. By yesterday, I was still in Trekkie-hang-over mode that I was writing the Late Review inside my head (which explained the sometimes blank expression I had ala-Spock).
