for the writers out there

Picked this up from Bibliophile Stalker and I'm re-posting this brief but relevant insight from writer Jay Lake on how to find time to write ...

[process] Finding time to write

Yesterday I posted on being Jay Lake [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. In comments, the question of time and productivity came up. I’m notorious for being a fast writer, though I’ve been slowing down a lot, but I also put a lot of time into my writing, fast or not.

The most important thing I ever did was quit watching television. Back in 1994, I turned the set off. I haven’t had a cable bill in 15 years, don’t own an antenna. I do watch a couple of DVDs per month, but that’s about it. Because television used to eat my life. I’ve never missed it, not really. Only ever caught two shows on DVD since then, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica, both when I was recovering from surgery last year.

If you watch television an hour a day, and don’t have time to write, then turn off the tv. Almost anyone can write 500 words in an hour. That’s 182,500 words a year — two short novels or a hell of a lot of short stories.

Likewise gaming. I never did play console games much, and shut off my last computer game in 2001 when my writing career started gaining traction. Haven’t missed it, either.

If writing is important enough to you, you will find the time. And I would always rather be actively writing that passively consuming packaged entertainment.

How much tv do you watch a week? How many hours do you game? How many hours do you write? You know my answers.

As usual, your mileage may vary.

- original post over at www.jlake.com

All I can say is ... ouch :P

wednesday warbles: rocket kapre, new books in the pile, carlo caparas, philippine spec-fic antho

Noynoy just announced his intent to run for president a few hours ago. At least now we have an option and we won't have to settle for the "lesser evil", so to speak.

* * * *

Erstwhile courtroom hero, Paolo Chikiamco, has given up his suits and barong to don a new custome to become a superhero for the cause of Philippine speculative fiction by launching his new digital imprint Rocket Kapre. Aside from the ultra-cool name, Rocket Kapre intends to bring Filipino speculative fiction to the entire world via its website -- rocketkapre.com -- and books as well through Eight Ray Sun Publishing.

Pretty soon, Filipino spec-fic writers will be able to submit stories and books for possible publication (via traditional means and through ebooks and ezines). For now, RK has several articles up including an interview with spec-fic writer Kate Aton-Osias.

* * * *

Three more books have been added to the erstwhile collection stacked in one corner of the bedroom (along with assorted oddities like old HDDs, documents, DVDs, game CDs, school supplies and make-up kits) and once again reminded me that a bookshelf is needed (anyone care to donate an old one?). On the other hand, two boxes under the staircase are quietly being turned into burrows by the bubwits. I dread the idea of what is happening to the books and magazines (including my precious old issues of Dragon magazine) stored in those two boxes.

After receiving a hardbound copy of Watchmen from my boss and colleagues from the old company, three more books have been added to book pile (and I wasn't even actively looking for new books) including:

• Martial Law Babies - the graphic novel by Arnold Arre


• Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology - edited by Nick Gevers and features steam-driven stories by Stephen Baxter, Jeff VanderMeer, Paul Di Filippo, Michael Moorcock and others


• A Time for Dragons - Filipino spec-fic anthology edited by Vin Simbulan and features draconian-laden stories by Dean and Nikki Alfar, Paolo Chikiamco, Oscar Alvarez, Dominique Cimafranca, Angelo Lacuesta and others

I'm in talks with my sister, Wheng, who is in Dubai so that she can buy books for me not readily available here in the P.I. I'm sending her a list real soon and that means I will have to temporarily stop purchasing books by non-Filipino authors until the balikbayan box gets sent.

* * * *

Watched The Correspondents last night (the first time in so many months) and Adrian Ayalin tackled the mess that is the National Artist Award and the whole dagdag-bawas that has happened whereby our beloved GMA dropped one of the four nominees submitted by the CCP and NCCA and added her own four.

Of the four new nominations by GMA herself, the inclusion of three have raised more than the eyebrows of several sectors including National Artists themselves. But I won't be discussing the issue here as it has been discussed, printed and broadcast by many organizations, media outlets, and individuals.

The point is, even the National Artist Award is being used by GMA to express her political gratitude to those who have supported her. National Artists and relevant sectors have protested the apparent demeaning of this prestigious honor.

However, if you've watched Correspondents last night, you would ask yourself -- what the hell is Carlo J. Caparas talking about?

Is he on drugs or something? His remarks and reactions to the entire debacle are off-key and off-topic? And despite his apparent ignorance or stupidity of the issue on hand, mayabang pa siya.

And I'm not even about to talk about why he wears shades all the time. Kirat ba siya?

He even claimed that even before his work in comics and film, he has been an illustrator. Isn't that baloney? I've seen the so-called "illustrations" he has done in other shows where he was featured including Jessica Soho's and even I can draw better than him.

And there's also the issue of him being hailed as the Komiks King -- his own colleagues from the Philippine comics industry believe that honor should be bestowed on more note-worthy and praise-worthy stalwarts of Philippine komiks, not to one who caused the industry to further wallow in depths of obscurity and irrelevance.

If you want to find out why CJC is not qualified for the National Artist Award, head on over to Gerry Alanguilan's blog where he has extensively, clearly and validly argued and proven that CJC is no Alagad ng Sining.

* * * *

Barely a month to go before the October 15 deadline for submissions to the next installment of the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology to be edited by Nikki Alfar and Vin Simbulan and I am still at a crossroad -- a three-pronged crossroad actually -- on what story to submit.

I've got three stories in mind to work on, all in various stages of development, and I'm still self-debating which one to work on and eventually submit.

Last night, I took a look at my fiction-writing folder and saw that I have about a dozen stories in there with just one story completed (though yet to be re-edited). The rest, including the three stories being considered for submission next month, are still works-in-progress :) Lots of writing lay ahead.

the weeks in bullet points

If the past few weeks can be bullet pointed, they would appear as follows:

• turned 33 last February 24 and for a change of things, my wife decided that we would celebrate it with a small feast :)

• my birthday came and went and gone without moi not feeling any older nor wiser at that. In fact, aside from the small feast, nothing earth-shattering happened and I didn't feel any different.

• finished driving lessons yesterday and "passed". Now just need to wait until after March 20 to get a license.

• what would've been a week-long birthday vacation (in context of using vacation credits that would've otherwise been forfeited) turned out to be one busy week -- what with my father getting hospitalized, driving lessons, and a continuous effort to find time for enough rest and sleep.

• been facebooking a lot, have been online for most of the weekdays but I am visibly absent on weekends as those days are reserved as much as possible for "family time".

• this week, my hopefully-will-earn gaming blog gets reactivated and I am now back to fully writing news stories related to the "adult" gaming scene; hence the lack of time to update this blog.

• more books secured and filling up nooks and crannies in the little apartment -- shelf space is badly needed. A trip to Paco or Puregold needs to be scheduled so that I can finally say "Mission Complete".

• among the latest books (which came with my sister's balikbayan pasalubongs over the weekend) was a hardbound copy of "The Children of Turin" which I blogged about last year. I finally have it along with an illustrated/picture-filled Guide to LOTR battles, peoples, armor and stuff.

• not much headway (in fact, none at all) in terms of spec-fic writing projects as I am instead turning attention to income-generating writing. Yes, that's how badly I need the moolah.

• missed the E-heads Final Set concert after a little fiasco with the free tickets my cousin earned but I would've not enjoyed it anyway I think. That's because we only got the bronze tickets and based on a friend's pictures taken from the "gold" ticket area, being in the bronze area would've been similar to watching ants parade along (or similar to the P500 Mariah Carey tickets whereby Mariah Carey was a mere match-head in size from our are in the Fort). I used to watch the E-heads up close (Club Dredd days and during concerts in Peyups) so to watch them from an acre away would not have elicited the same experience. I'm now waiting for the DVD of the final concert to be available. For the meantime, MP3s of the concert sourced online courtesy of blogger Azrael Coladilla who got up close and personal with the E-heads in their Final Set concert.

• while visiting Glorietta last Saturday evening, Elvie and I catched a few minutes of watching the performance of a rock band whose presence electrified the crowd. And for the life of me, I didn't know the foreign band nor any of their songs but the rather youthful crowd. And then it hit me that I was growing old. Geesh, I had no idea who this rock band was and I had to go around the Glorietta Activity Center just to see the tarp banner that proudly displayed the band's name -- Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

• sleep has been disturbed since summer officially came late last month (during my birthday week at that). I wake up several times during the night just to adjust positions or wipe a moistened body part. And equally disturbed as well in her sleep is little Ikai who also wakes up several times during the entire night every time she feels the sweltering heat. That was the reason for the Glorietta trip last weekend -- a canvass of possible alternatives for cooling the room :)

• acquiring a new skill is always a welcome thing for me. There are some skills that I wouldn't mind not learning but there are essential skills like knowing how to drive that you only learn to appreciate and actually see the relevance once you start learning. Thus, the five days (2 hours per session) driving lessons were very enriching and I am now a proud to say driving is part of my skill sets. Now, swimming is next on the list :P

• if all goes well, a big change will be happening to me on a professional note ... keep your fingers crossed!

• during one of those early wee mornings when I finally admitted I could sleep no more, I instead plugged in the laptop and watched me a new series -- Chuck! Still too early to say whether the entire series is going to be put on my fave list but so far, the episodes I've watched have been entertaining and not a few times did it make me smile with its humor. Hoping to find time to get to watch more of this TV series.

tuesday tattles: welcome, nasty fall, avast! shiver me timbers!

welcome to tuesday tattles
I just realized that I have not yet christened a name for this blog's Tuesday collection of whatsoevers.

There is the Monday Mumblings, the Wednesday Warbles, the Thursday Tidbits, the Friday Frolics, the Saturday Shindigs and the Sunday Whatchamacalits (need to rename this last one) but no such title for Tuesday.

This is not to say that I do not blog on a Tuesday but in this blog's three years of existence, it never fell on a Tuesday for me to write "collectively".

Hence, I christen Tuesdays as Tuesday Tattles. Online Merriam-Webster defines tattle as idle talk, or chatter, or gossip.

Now, that is a good name :)

bucked!
Just five more coffee orders and I will have earned my first ever Starbucks Coffee 2009 Planner.

Yes, I have caught the fever and have been happily plunking down hundreds of pesos for branded coffee and a minute sticker ... almost on a daily basis. I have already spent PHP 1,240 on all those Christmas drinks requirement ... imagine that.

At least now, I will just need to order Caffe Mochas which are way, way a bit cheaper than the PHP 155 Grandes I've ordered daily going back eight straight.

christmas tunes
Thanks to good friend and colleague, Jacqui, I now personally enjoy a good selection of old holiday hits (or at least rendered old-style) whether at the office at home.

While I do enjoy the disco medley of Christmas songs that seems to be the staple everywhere, I personally prefer hearing the likes of Dean Martin, ol Blue Eyes, Nat King Cole, and the like hitting the holiday notes. You can also add in Harry Connick Jr., The Ray Conniff Singers, and Brian Setzer to the mix. But no Michael Boltons, please.

What I do miss right now are those stop-motion animation series Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman which were TV staples when I was still a kid. The last time I saw them was in high school on RPN 9. Since then, I have not seen them on the tube.

nasty fall
Met a bit of an accident last Sunday.

I was backriding on a trike on the way home from Shopwise, hand a clutching a bag of groceries and the other hanging on for dear life on the rear of the trike (the trike had no roof hence, no overhead hand-hold) when on a sharp (and rather fast) turn, I slipped from the backseat and fell hard on my butt.

I actually felt the accident coming and actually tried to gain foot balance as I fell but the momentum was such that I eventually fell on my right side. Just had enough thought to protect my back and head from a nasty bump and managed to jerk my arm to prevent a possible fracture and just managed to scratch and bruise it.

After landing on my butt, my back followed and a split-second later, after realizing I did not sustain life-threatening injuries, I laid my head on the concrete to reassess things.

Of course, that was how Elvie saw me -- spread eagle on the street with my head on the concrete and my hand still clutching the shopping bag -- which freaked her out thinking I had hit my head hard on the cement. Thank goodness I was wearing jeans, otherwise, I would've scrapped my legs as well or worse. Still it was a nasty fall and resulted in a pain in my right butt (most likely bruised on the inside). Stiller, I am thankful that the bruised butt and scratched elbow were all I sustained as injuries.

The last time I met an accident like this was when I was still in elementary when during a sidecar accident, I got dragged and scrapped my right shoulder and hand.

on hiatus
I am on a two-day vacation leave right now.

Absolutely no real reason for the VL but just to use up my leaves of which I still have a handful. So, that makes it a four-day hiatus.

Despite the four-day stretch, it has been a busy weekend. Saturday was spent with my mother-in-law and we shopped some items for her and other relatives. Sunday, after mass, we met up with balikbayan Jean, Elvie's best friend and one of Ikai's ninangs. From Taft, we proceeded to Market Market for some mallrat action.

On the first day of my official VL, I ran an errand for my father in Ortigas in the morning -- get the videoke system fixed for use in the holidays. In the afternoon, Elvie, Ikai and I toured Jean around the new areas of Greenbelt (GB5 included which I only saw yesterday as well).

Today (it's already 1:30am as I write this), no definite plans yet except to check on office emails and if I am up to it (butt willing), go malling (with really no intent to buy anything). But with the promised Fully Booked in GB5 not yet open, my enthusiasm to explore the new areas more thoroughly has been dampened a bit.

old friend
While malling with my family and Jean last Sunday at Market Market, I happened to bump to an old friend, Ina.

It was good to see her again since it has been really years since I last saw her. Recently married (as relayed by friends), it has always been a fond hi and hello moment for both of us since aside from sharing a brief interlude in high school, Ina and I shared the same name (somewhat because her full name's Ramina and mine is Ramelito), we also share the same birthday, February 24.

Yes, quite a coincidence and you can imagine my surprise when I first learned about it during the first day of class when I was but an HS freshman and she a fresh transferee to CSA Binan.

After the briefest of hellos, she proceeds to tell me that so and so has just returned (I assume a classmate of ours who has been abroad) and has asked if I heard about it. I had no idea what she was talking about and I guess she realized that from that perplexed expression she got from me. So, she dropped the topic and just waved goodbye.

tubed
With the promise of an extended vacation this holiday season, it may well be time to finally sit down (or lie down) for some serious tube action.

I've posted here on several occasions that I've still got discs after discs of TV shows and series to watch. This upcoming free days may just be the perfect opportunity to finally do so and get them over and done with.

And there are several new interesting shows that I may adding to my collection soon. Recent interests include Pushing Daisies (although already a cancelled series in the US), Criminal Minds, Dresden Files, and the intriguing Life. I have yet to understand what's the gist of Fringe but from the episode I saw last night on the CS Origin channel, it looks interesting.

avast, shiver me timbers!
Played pirate recently at the annual company Christmas Party.

The theme for this year's party was the Red Carpet Premier -- so that meant movies. Our group was lotteried to dress up and present a skit on the theme fantasy.

For our group's presentation, we did a shortened version (under 7 minutes) of children's fantasy play, Peter Pan. James, who was rather insightful, predicted that everyone else expected us to do Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Carribean. So, to surprise them, we chose to work on a classical children's fantasy. And despite the rather lack of practice, we still managed to earn the judges' nod good enough for third place! I think the synchro swimming recreation did the trick!

I definitely did not look like a pirate from Never Never Land. Especially when I donned my jeans after the performance, I looked more like a hardcore biker -- the dirty type that rides Harleys.

In the photo below, that's me on the leftmost, then Monique dressed as Cruella (from 101 Dalmatians), James in Eragon-inspired attire, Grace as Tiger Lily or Pocahontas (take your pick), and Perds as Captain Jack Sparrow.

wednesday warbles: quiet work week, tagaytay trip, writing deadlines, tv shows

quiet work week
With most of the action at work happening out of the workplace (all of the action is now focused on the poker event in Macau), things are pretty much quiet in the Cube this week.

This does not mean though that no work is being done. It's just that given that there are no rush and urgent stuff, we can work at a leisurely pace and give enough time to work on some back-logs and follow-ups before another hellweek ensues right after the event ends on Sunday.

overheard
Last week while at Mini Stop along Valero near Paseo Center, I overheard the following conversation between the sales lady and the security guard about to go off duty:

Guard: O aalis nako, alis dyan at baka matutok ko sa'yo itong baril ko.
Sales Lady: Oy, wag mo itutok yang baril mo sakin, baka iba ang pumutok.

Kinda makes you think why sexual harassment in the workplace happens in the first place.

tagaytay wetlands
Unfortunately for my family and I (extended to include my parents when I meant family here), the trip to Tagaytay last Sunday to hopefully enjoy a day of recreation and relaxation turned out to be a wet one.

It rained the whole day and there was no let-up, not even once, during the entire four hours or so that we were in Tagaytay. That meant no Picnic Grove, no views of the Taal Lake and Taal Volcano, and no running about the open fields for my daughter on her first trip to Tagaytay.

We arrived at Tagaytay around 10:30am and was planning to go to Church, but the two churches we went to were full -- no parking available -- and since we didn't plan on playing wet chicklets, we just decided to go early to our planned lunch venue -- Dencio's. Yes, I know ... why the heck go to Tagaytay only to dine at Dencio's when one can dine at Dencio's here in the Metro? Unfortunately, Sonya's Garden, Fire Lake Grill and the host of other Tagaytay eateries proved to be beyond the meager budget I had planned. So, Dencio's it was and good thing we went there early and had a leisurely meal. By the time lunch came around, people were already waiting for their turn grab a table.

After Dencio's, we went to Taal Vista Hotel and spent an hour there -- because exceeding would've meant a P200 parking fee instead of P100. So, after attempting another view of Taal Lake from the hotel's view deck, we decided to call it quits and headed to the Mahogany Market for some palengke action.

Photos of the Tagaytay trip I hope to upload soon (soon as I can resize them for Web purposes).

just a thought
I never did do any post or entry about our Baguio trip last January. And I don't think I even posted any pictures.

Anyway, if time and resources permits, I hope to make a return to Baguio before the year ends. Baguio is one of the places I like returning to primarily because it's the one place in the Philippines where I feel utterly and overly comfortable. Weather's cool which is just good for someone like me who tends to sweat like a pig as soon as the sun's rays hit the skyline. And one day, somewhere in the future, I hope to be able to save enough to buy a property there (to match the one in Boracay that I hope to purchase ha ha!) where I can retire.

deadlines creeping up
The deadlines for two stories I've promised myself to write is just around the corner and I've yet to really spend the time finishing the stories. I'm in a jumping-about kinda mood really and instead of wrapping up the supposed submission for Dean Alfar's Spec-Fic Anthology and the one for the Philippine Graphic Fiction, I've been working on a third story which really isn't going anywhere (unless of course, I replace one of the earlier unfinished two stories with it).

Still keep your fingers crossed mateys!

blogging but not on this blog
And lest you think I've not been actively been blogging -- you're dead wrong. I've been blogging almost daily this month (except on weekends and holidays, of course). But not on this blog however but on the blog I'm trying to monetize. I've talked about it before and while a deal with a potential advertiser has not yet materialized, I'm not losing hope.

I'm actually doing a lot of work on the background because where I do my blogging -- wordpress.com -- isn't really meant for monetizing because of a lack of features to allow advertising or adlinks or stuff. With that dilemma, I've decided to look at -- where the hell but Blogger -- and decided it might be more "fruitful" to do my revenue-generation blogging there.

on the tube
Not much TV time these days because of schedules but I do get to catch the Singing Bee frequently as its timeslot falls during dinner time. I'm a big videoke - karaoke - singing fan and my idea of a good time involves singing so the Cesar Montano-hosted singing game show hits the tune with me.

Other than the Singing Bee and the usual dose of news, on my own sparse TV time I usually tune the tube to Discovery and Discovery Travel and Living channels (24 and 26 on Destiny Cable). The shows I like to watch on these channels these days include Anthong Bourdain's No Reservations, Bizarre Foods, Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, How Do They Do That, and what's probably my favorite show currently Deadliest Catch.

I do however get to watch a lot of children's shows in the morning because I expose Ikai to them -- Go Yabba Yabba, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, and what's probably the most delightful to watch Pocoyo.

Monday Mumblings: Rated K on Diabetes, Short Story Writing, VETASSESS

rated k paints a dismal picture of diabetics
In last night's episode of Rated K which I happened to be peripherally viewing (I was playing Sims 2 on my PC which was just right beside the living room TV), one segment featured a diabetic. Of course, that got me interested but I was rather disappointed because that particular segment talked about diabetes as some form of dreaded disease.

It talked about how this TV performer (forgot the name) who used to weigh 280 pounds suddenly shriveled and his body thinned out after being diagnosed with the disease. It was not clear however if this person had Diabetes Type 1 or 2 but it appeared to be hereditary since it was implied that it was possible that he got it because of relatives who also had it.

It was rather saddening to hear diabetes being pictured this way -- like some form of debilitating disease. I know the show meant well but it should've cleared some matters like what caused the body to drop in weight suddenly and it was also not clear what medication and treatment were undertaken by the protagonist of the segment.

The segment also painted a scenario of hopelessness since it seemed as though it tells viewers that when you get the disease it seems like the end of the world. Come on, I've got the D and I'm living my life to the fullest. I'm actually in my best health in years and I love it. Sure there are restrictions and sure there is an ongoing medication but it's not life threatening if you follow medication and ensure you get a good medical regimen.

Korina, I admire you and like what your show on Sundays but please, make sure your researchers get the picture of diabetes right. Yes, diabetes is a chronic disease in that there's no cure for it. But, don't instill fear in diabetics or cause fear in people to dread the disease. Please.

vetassessed is positive
After roughly six weeks after filing, I received word from our immigration consultant that my VETASSESS assessment is positive. Last Saturday, I got a copy of the result and yes, indeed, it says in the form that my nominated occupation of Marketing Specialist is positive -- meaning that my nominated occupation and my submitted documentation to prove that I am such has been approved by the Australian authorities.

This is the first step into our Skilled Independent Regional Visa application, our passport to greener pastures in the land Down Under. Next step would be to pass the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) where I need to score 7 in all components -- reading, writing, listening and speaking.

sims 2 again
I'm playing Sims 2 again and starting to get hooked to it again. I'm still trying to re-figure out again how the gameplay goes but I'm getting there slowly. And since I'm playing the deluxe edition which combines both the original game and the Nightlife expansion, there are some totally new additions to the game which I have yet to really be familiar including the ability to drive your own vehicle, group dates (wherein I sucked in my first attempt), dating (again, which I sucked and only ranked so-so) and bowling which was quite exciting.

With Sims 3 said to launch in 2009, I'm just biding my time and not rushing to buy the rest of the expansion sets for Sims 2. i'm pretty sure that once Sims 3 launches, they'll be selling the Sims 2 expansion sets and item sets in packages (like what they did for Sims 1 when they launched the 9-in-1 package when Sims 2 was released). So, 2009's just around the corner ... just a few more months of wait and the expansions are sure to be packaged in one affordable bundle.

short story's on the way
I'm about half-way with the speculative short story I'm writing hopefully for submission to the Neil Gaiman-sponsored Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards 2009. Two months to go before the deadline but I hope to submit it by month's end.

What's missing however is the short story I intend to submit for consideration in the Philippine Speculative fiction anthology that Dean Alfar's working on (BTW, Dean, congratulations on the new daughter :) ) which has an earlier deadline of mid-September.

Time-willing and with hopefully manageable work I'll be able to submit entries to both. Keep your fingers crossed, folks!

uss enterprise flies anew

The entirety of Trek-dom is buzzing with excitement with the announcement that a new Star Trek movie is just on the horizon -- to be precise, about 11 months away on a Christmas Day. Alas, here in the P.I., I will most probably be shouting my invective P.I.s to the organizers of the Metro Manila Film Fest as the launch date of the 11th Star Trek movie coincides with the MMFF. Similar to the movie launches of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, this meant the new ST movie will be deferred until probably the 3rd week of January (now, that's crap!).

As mentioned, this installment of the Gene Roddenberry franchise is the 11th and rather than move forward into the timeline, the movie simply entitled "Star Trek" (fondly called Star Trek XI by Trekkies) goes back in time to showcase a younger USS Enterprise crew of Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Sulu.

According to websites I've read, the new movie will deal with the earlier adventures of the Star Trek crew captained by James Kirk, back to the Romulan wars which according to the Star Trek timelines where just about the time USS Enterprise was launched.

Expect no William Shatner in here as the young Captain Kirk will be played by Chris Pine (Just My Luck) and the young Spock will be none other than Heroes supervillan Sylar aka Zachary Quinto. On the other hand, LOTR veteran Karl Urban (Eomer) sheds his Rohan armor for a Starfleet issued-uniform as Doc McCoy. While Shatner will not be in the film, the original Spock will be. Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as Spock (the opening voice-over is Nimoy's saying the iconinc "where no man has gone before") in what is presumably a flash-back sort of intro for the film. Other notables in the new film are Eric Bana (lead villain of the film), Winona Ryder, and Ben Cross.

After an absence of two years on both the small and big tubes (the last being Star Trek: Enterprise), Star Trek returns anew and Trekkies all over the world are getting giddy. And what makes this version of the film more anticipated is that it is being produced and directed by J.J. Abrams, the well-known writer, producer, director of such greats as Forever Young, Armageddon, Mission Impossible 3, and most recently, the monster thriller Cloverleaf. On TV, he's the success behind popular series Felicity, Alias and Lost.

Here's the trailer for the latest Star Trek flick:

wednesday warbles: peyups blog, no-boss, movies and tv

My new blog, which I modestly announced last week, has yet to see realization as I am still caught up with work, both official and personal. I have yet to write an introductory piece let alone design a customized header which will yell to anyone fortunate to find that piece of real estate on the web "Blog ito ng Isang Dating Taga-Peyups" (this is a blog by a UP alumnus). Next week, sana.

* * * * * *

My sister leaves on Thursday for another tour of duty at Dubai Duty Free where she has been employed for roughly a couple of years. When she reports for work on the 27th, it'll be the start of her 3rd term. Good luck, Wheng!

* * * * * *

All the big bosses in the office are off for at least a week (a few of them actually will be gone for a longer spell) and for the meantime, some pressure is lifted off us, especially my Department. However, the old dictum "while the cat is away the mouse will play" will not, and I mean, will not apply as there's tons of work to be done with Chinese New Year coming in, and more and more demand for work from our poker colleagues. I let my boys and girls relax a bit yesterday but as the week progresses, I will need to flex my muscles and get the whip cracking har, har har!

* * * * * *

Malaya "Yarie" Cruz will be christened this coming weekend and with the pile of work in the office and at home, I don't know if I can squeeze in some hours to join the merry parents, Dennis and Pilar, in their special occasion. A miracle is what I'll need right now.

* * * * * *

While working on my personal project until a few minutes ago, I was also listening to some MP3s stored on my HDD (which I will eventually have to burn to DVDs to free up space and help my P4 2.4GHz processor speed up things). God, I miss playing the guitar. And yes, I've been harping about it but I haven't, even with the holiday season passing by and having some moolah then to spend, bought a new guitar yet (bought upgrades instead to my PC like the DVD-RW and a couple of DDR memory sticks).

* * * * * *

With some free time at the office yesterday, I turned on my couch potato hat and proceeded to look through movies and TV series of interest, err, to me he he he.

Batman: The Dark Knight looks interesting enough to catch on the big screen this 2008 (with Christian Bale reprising the lead role and Brokeback protagonist Heath Ledger clowning up as a deranged Joker) and so is Iron Man with no less than Robert Downey, Jr. donning the tin can suit.

Cloverleaf, the monster thriller looks an exciting view (taken from a camcorder's POV) but I might just catch it on the DVD player along with National Treasure 2, Sweeney Todd and Dragon War (which I accidentally viewed while shopping at PC Express Pasong Tamo a couple of Saturdays ago).

With 7 leave credits left from last year, I will schedule my leaves and hope to use them to watch movies that have been screen but I haven't watched yet -- Golden Compass, Bee Movie, Beowulf, Hitman, and host of others.

Turning over to TV ... I have yet to score Eureka Season 1 but Season 2 is already available. Also, waiting for me is Prisonbreak Season 2, and Weeds. I'm still on the prowl for Star Trek:Enterprise but a longer break before March may just find me going through my 24, CSI New York and Alias CDs.

Lots of things to watch, so little time to do so.

Thursday Tidbits: Weight, Long Weekend, Guitar, More Redwall Books

weigh in

On my way to the bathroom to answer the call of Mother Nature yesterday, I passed by one of my colleagues who remarked that I was getting slimmer.

Fortunately, his remark is somewhat accurate. I’ve been slimming down for the past 10 months at a rate of 1 pound per month. And this is not because of any special diet or a result of a regular trip to the gym or a really conscious effort to exercise.

From a 220 pound weight at the start of this year, my last weigh in (courtesy of the height/weight/blood pressure/body fat index gadget that can be found inside most Mercury Drugstores that cost P5 per session) last Saturday placed me at 209 pounds and about 15 ounces which is roughly about 10 pounds less than my January weight.

And that weigh-in happened after a two-day food binge at my sis-in-law’s place to celebrate her birthday.

This funny because I’ve at no time over the past months made a conscious effort to really control my diet. But the culprit can be the additional amount of fibre intake I’ve been doing (oats and fibre-enriched pineapple juice) but that’s mainly to tackle my other potential problem of bad cholesterol build-up.

The only conscious effort on my part has been to find the time to walk home from the office. That’s the main exercise that I do and even though we already transferred to a new apartment, whenever I can I still try to walk even if it’s just from RCBC to my old office along Reposo-Kalayaan.

Aside from the conscious effort to “walkxercise”, the reason I’ve lost weight is a combination of the following:

• the unpredictable yet periodic attacks of my insomnia which result in reduced sleep and rest

• no-sleep nights whenever necessary to finish certain projects and assignments

• overtime and overnight work at the office

• several occasion of stomach-related, gastronomic-induced illnesses that required familiarity with the toilet bowl and gallons of rehydration fluids

retiring the guitar

My guitar needs to be retired and soon.

Last weekend, feeling musically-urged, I took out the old guitar which hasn’t seen use in over 3 months, if I recall correctly. I set at once to tuning it and immediately felt pain.

For those unknowing, my guitar is old. It’s almost twenty years old and has seen too much use. It’s not a signature or even a branded guitar (it’s a Cebu-manufactured guitar) but it has served me faithfully throughout the years churning out songs by the thousands and has been with me through several love songs, rock songs, novelty songs, socio-commentary songs I’ve composed in my younger years.

However, as the years passed, the old guitar has started to show its age. A couple of cracks on the body, a crack that runs the entire neck, are evidences that it’s about time to let it go to guitar heaven. While it is still very much playable, I only play it once in a while because playing it has been a painful experience every time. Because of its age, the fretboard and the strings now are miles apart. The string tension is so high that the strings are too thick to tab. And as you go further down the neck, the more difficult it becomes because the distance between strings and fretboard becomes wider.

Up until now, my points of my finger tips still feel a bit of a stinging because of my 15-minute bout with the old guitar. Before, I could play non-stop for 3-4 hours. Nowadays, I only play for several minutes before I give in to the pain.

It really is now time to retire the ancient thing.

long weekend

Hopefully, the long weekend will be a chance to finally get some rest.

Since the hullabaloo with UK auditors last month and a personal project I’ve been engaged in, I haven’t had much rest. I did get to go on leave a couple of weeks back but that was due to an upset stomach caused by overeating. My blood pressure has been higher than normal out of stress, fatigue and generally, lack of sleep and has gotten my wife concerned.

But before the long weekend can commence, there were several rush tasks done yesterday and for moi, a personal task that involved churning up reports using our freaking proprietary database system – the same one that had me spending several overtime/overnight sessions the past month.

My family and I will be making the trip to my parents at Laguna where we will be staying for the weekend. Among the activities I expect to happen at Laguna will be karaokeing, a lesson on making the native delight called moron (pronounced moo-rohn), DVD movie dates, and a potential trip to one of the malls in the south of Manila: either at SM Southmall, Festival Mall, Alabang Town Center, or SM Sta. Rosa.

However, the stay at Laguna will also mean I have to revert to dial-up connection but that’s just a little downside to a great mini-vacation.

The motto for this Halloween weekend is rest, rest and more rest.

more redwall books

Books for Less once again helped with my book prowl. Late last week, I was reserved a copy of another Brian Jacques novel – Salamandastron.

The new old book will be joining the luggage that I will be hauling for the weekend.

And on my way home last night, I decided to pass by the BookSale shop fronting RCBC. After a few agonizing minutes looking through the unarranged and uncategorized stacks in the shop (why don’t they arrange them by genre like in Books for Less?), I managed to find a hardbound copy of Rakkety Tam, another Jacques book from his Redwall Series!

And speaking of books, I have yet to unpack my books and tuck them in my mini-library (of sorts, which is just a couple of shelves of the TV cabinet which I usurped from decors) since we moved to the new apartment.

I will probably be unpacking my books this coming weekend when we get back from Laguna.

Happy weekend everyone!

Wednesday Warbles: Moving Again and Other Tales

The Big Move
The big move is this coming Saturday.

After a two-month waiting period, the transfer to a new, and hopefully better, apartment is this coming Saturday with a pre-transfer of some smaller items starting this Friday evening.

This week will be a busy one as we are preparing all the household stuff that needs packing like ceramic-ware, silverware, cook-ware and yes, even a majority of the clothes have been stuffed into boxes leaving only the necessities unpacked like those that will get worn to the office this entire week.

But there’s still a lot of packing to do and the rush-rush will most probably hit us this coming Friday and Saturday (until noon). After lunch, my wife and baby along with the yaya and the in-laws will be going on ahead to the new apartment and leave me with the moving crew who will come in later in the early evening.

The only problem I have is the transfer of my cable internet connection which entails a payment of Php 1,500 which I can’t spare right now. I already wrote MyDestiny about this problem and hopefully they can solve this one for me.

The transfer will also mean that we will be switching cable TV service from the current SkyCable one to the Global-Destiny one as it is the best cable TV service we can afford. So, bye-bye Animax and Hero Channels. Bye-bye Lifestyle Channel, NatGeo, AXN and Cinemax. But welcome back Discovery Travel & Living which is one of my favourite cable channels along with Discovery, AXN and CNN. I’m still hoping that Solar Sports and ESPN are indeed available already on Global Destiny as advertised on their website.


Dredd is Back
Hey, hey, hey Club Dredd is back!

Unfortunately, it’s in Eastwood Libis, QC which makes it suspect – sosyal na ang Club Dredd!

According to the PDI website article, it’s now located a floor below Gweilos in Libis and now boasts improved amenities like a working CR, real air-conditioning and adequate parking.

The return of the Dredd will be very much welcomed by old-timers and younger rakistas alike. This is the same Dredd who gave rise to now legendary names such as the Eraserheads, Teeth, Wolfgang, and Parokya ni Edgar as well as to some now almost forgotten ones like the Youth, Yano, Tungaw, and Fatal Posporos (although from the Club Dredd site it was mentioned that Fatal performed last Friday, July 13).

This is the third incarnation of the popular rock joint. It had its birth along Timog Avenue QC (never had the chance to be there) before closing and reopening along EDSA in Cubao (the place is now a firing range/ shooting gallery). It’s latest version, according to owner Patrick Riedenbach, is new and improved as he and the rest of the owners have already learned from lessons brought about by the earlier two Dredds.

The new Club Dredd, aside from the aforementioned amenities, now features a better sound system and food and drinks are to be operated by the Gweilos Group. I expect the Dredd to sport Gweilos prices as well.

But the philosophy of Club Dredd is maintained, meaning that it will still be a haven for rock n’ roll especially for up-and-coming groups. The owners expect to load the club with a mix of old and new talents and will continue to advocate “originals” as opposed to “covers”.

As a once-upon-a-time rocker in college, I did manage to have 15-minutes of fame (so to speak) at the Dredd twice. As vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Hampas Dugo, my band-mates and I shared a couple of nights with the likes of Tungaw, Fatal Posporos, Agnus Dei and then cheeky and musically-challenged Parokya ni Edgar. More than 10 years later, Parokya ni Edgar is now one of the country’s most successful bands, Fatal Posporos are still here then and now, Tungaw is a fond memory, while Agnus Dei and my band are no-heards.


8 Months and Counting
Today, my baby daughter, Ikai, celebrates her 8th month.

She now is able to crawl, dance, sing, giggle, laugh, squeal, tumble, stand up (by hanging onto something or someone), walk (with help, of course), sit, drum the table, drum the wall, shout, grin, close-open her hands, kick, squirm (from someone’s grasp), lunge, do a jump-like motion, say “mama” and “papa”, appreciate TV commercials, grasp objects, turn her stuffed-toy caterpillar into a teether, finish 6 ounces of milk, strike a pa-cute pose with her hand on her cheek, put her foot in her mouth, and lots of other things some of which are quite advanced for someone of her age.

World-Building
Watching a portion of a National Geographic show about planets fuelled an idea for a new fantasy world that I hope to build and develop as preparation for my (hopefully) upcoming venture into fantasy fiction-writing.

Instead of starting on work this morning in the office, I allocated about three quarters of my first office hour to jotting down and sketching the rough ideas that came suddenly as a result of the NatGeo show last night.

Once I get my “world” made up and done, I can begin the writing process which begins with fulfilling the regular formula for epic fantasy as penned by one of my favourite fantasy authors, David Eddings, in his book the Rivan Codex:

• the underlying Theology
• the Quest
• the Magic “Thingamajigger”
• the Hero
• the Resident Wizard
• the Heroine
• the Villain, usually with some diabolical agenda
• the Companions, generally a multi-cultural crew who can protect the hero until he is old enough to do the killing himself
• the Romantic Interests for the Companions wherein both Companions and their Romantic Interests must be well-rounded groups, with individualized personalities and flaws
• the kings, queens, generals, courtiers and such, who make up the governments of the world

Read Wikipedia’s page about Eddings here.

Becoming Lost
In another addictive frenzy attack, my wife and I finished all the remaining episodes of Lost: Season 3 in a marathon 6-hour stretch which began on a Saturday evening at 10pm and ended at 4am the next day.

And as the reviews have touted, the third season picked up in pace and action and more questions as the episodes progressed, ending in an unusual twist of an ending – instead of a flashback, the series ended in a flash-forward!

Yes, more questions arose beginning with “What the @#$% happened?”

Now, we can’t await for the return of Lost for its fourth season.

Last Saturday, I managed to acquire a copy of Lost: Season 3 which finished its run in the U.S. last May, guaranteeing that what I had was a copy with the complete episode (the copy I got actually had two extra features on the DVD).

And once again, my wife and I are starting to get hooked. Last night, we slept past 12am already because we couldn't stop ourselves from watching episode after episode. What was supposed to be just a couple of episodes turned out to be 4 episodes and if it was not for work the following day, we would've done a marathon of what remains of the 24-episode series.

Despite the criticism I've read about the opening episodes of Lost which according to reads lost its sense of adventure and suspense, the first six episodes I've managed to watched wasn't really exciting or action-filled but nevertheless still managed to harken and call to my wife and I to push the play button one more time. If what I've read about is to be believed, from now on, the episodes of this 3rd season will only get better and better.

It's going to be a few nights of Lost dawning upon me but this series, despite the apparent setback in the earlier episodes of the 3rd season, continues to amaze, bewilder, and keep me up late at night.

Along this line, my DVDs of TV series continues to grow and somehow, there are still several series that need watching including Alias (all seasons), 24 (Seasons 1-5), 4400 (1st and 2nd Season), Rome (Season 1), Battlestar Galactica (Seasons 1-2) and CSI New York (Season 1-2).

And the search for more TV series continues. I'm still on the lookout for the following:

• CSI (the original CSI in Las Vegas)
• CSI: Miami
• Prisonbreak (Season 2)
• Heroes (episodes 16 -23 at least)
• Eureka (just managed to catch 1 episode of this but looks ok)
• Sopranos (great reviews so might be worth watching)
• 24 (the latest season)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (4 seasons which I still haven't found yet)

Just shows you how much of a coach potato I am especially if there's a good TV series to watch on the tube.