Holy Week was a relatively quiet affair for me and the family. We spent what is probably the longest vacation spell this year at Laguna with my folks, and visiting Tito Andrie and Tita Bebs. The life of the vacation were, of course, the kids -- Ikai and Issa -- who were showered with much attention by the elder ones while Elvie and I managed to rejuvenate (aka sleep and sleep and sleep).
Ikai though espied a spare tire out in the backyard and asked it be made into a swing. Into action went her Lolo Andrei who in a span of several hours came up with a swing for the little lady (he didn't use the tire, instead crafting a seat from spare wood lying around back). We did have a contribution to the project -- riding out in search of an open hardware on a Maundy Thursday. Good thing we found one along the national hi-way in Biñan and managed to purchase the required nylon rope and nails.
I bought dozens of CD/DVD movies and TV series but didn't get a chance to watch them. Instead, I was glued to reading The Mark, the ninth book in the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins as well as playing The Sims 2: Castaway on the console.
People would've also noticed that I wasn't online much. Except for checking emails, checking if my sisters were online on Skype, and occassionally playing on FB, I pretty much stayed away from the computer for the Holy Week break preferring to do other stuff like reading, playing the PSP, or just chilling with the family. I didn't even get to play the guitar the entire four-day break and it was just there at the corner.
I also slept quite well (I always do for some reason, probably because it's home -- the home I grew up in) and woke up fairly early (in the 6 - 7 am range) but too late for an early morning walkathon (sun rises early in Laguna, by 7am it can already be scorching hot outside).
Wish there could be more weekends like these that don't require one taking vacation leaves from the office. And oh, it was an early Sunday for us as Elvie, Issa, and I left Laguna early to catch the Easter Sunday worship at Cosmopolitan Church.
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Little Ikai is having an extended vacation at Laguna and will be staying with her grandparents well into next week. Mainly because we enrolled her in summer swimming lessons and secondly because my sister, Wheng, will be arriving later this week for a quick 10-day medical leave and has requested that her niece be with her at Laguna for the duration of her stay.
Ikai is having her swimming lessons in a nearby private pool resort and today is her second day of lessons. According to her trainor, Ikai is still fearful of the water but hopefully with still 10 sessions to go (each session is a generous four-hours long), I'm sure she'll be swimming in no time. I'll probably be up next :)
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The annual Philippine Speculative Fiction Anthology 6, edited by Nikki Alfar and Kate Osias, will be launched next month, specifically on May 28 at Fully Booked Bonifacio Highstreet in GBC. I don't know if I'll be there as I might either be north or south of the metro by then but this time around, 22 stories have made the cut:
1. Alternative Histories by Ian Rosales Casocot
2. Strange Adventures in Procreation by Andrew Drilon
3. Lament of the Counselor by Jay Anyong
4. The Grim Malkin by Vincent Michael Simbulan
5. A Smell of Mothballs by Mailin Paterno
6. Ashland by Elyss G. Punsalan
7. Carpaccio (or, Repentance as a Meat Recipe) by Arlynn Despi
8. Eternal Winter by Maria Pia Vibar Benosa
9. From the Book of Names My Mother Did Not Give Me by Christine V. Lao
10. Hollowbody by Crystal Koo
11. Offerings to Aman Sinaya by Andrei Tupaz
12. On Wooden Wings by Paolo Chikiamco
13. Prisoner 2501 by Philip Corpuz
14. Resurrection by Victor Ocampo
15. Simon's Replica by Dean Alfar
16. Break in at Batay Street by Francis Gabriel Concepcion
17. The Big Man by Asterio Gutierrez
18. The Bookshelves of Mrs. Go by Charles Tan
19. The Impossible and the R.S.C. Gregorio del Pilar by Alex Osias
20. The Kiddie Pool by Kenneth Yu
21. The Storyteller's Curse by Eliza Victoria
22. Villainoguing by Joseph Montecillo
2. Strange Adventures in Procreation by Andrew Drilon
3. Lament of the Counselor by Jay Anyong
4. The Grim Malkin by Vincent Michael Simbulan
5. A Smell of Mothballs by Mailin Paterno
6. Ashland by Elyss G. Punsalan
7. Carpaccio (or, Repentance as a Meat Recipe) by Arlynn Despi
8. Eternal Winter by Maria Pia Vibar Benosa
9. From the Book of Names My Mother Did Not Give Me by Christine V. Lao
10. Hollowbody by Crystal Koo
11. Offerings to Aman Sinaya by Andrei Tupaz
12. On Wooden Wings by Paolo Chikiamco
13. Prisoner 2501 by Philip Corpuz
14. Resurrection by Victor Ocampo
15. Simon's Replica by Dean Alfar
16. Break in at Batay Street by Francis Gabriel Concepcion
17. The Big Man by Asterio Gutierrez
18. The Bookshelves of Mrs. Go by Charles Tan
19. The Impossible and the R.S.C. Gregorio del Pilar by Alex Osias
20. The Kiddie Pool by Kenneth Yu
21. The Storyteller's Curse by Eliza Victoria
22. Villainoguing by Joseph Montecillo
If you've got nothing to do on that Saturday afternoon, drop by the UView Theater of Fully Booked on Bonifacio Highstreet GBC and get to meet the authors, the publishers, and other fans. Get your hands on a copy of the book and get the stories' authors to authenticate your volume. Hopefully, I can be there as well :)
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The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, published by Kenneth Yu, has gone online at www.philippinegenrestories.com.
The ezine (which is still a work-in-progress according to Mr. Yu in his editorial) will be featuring a new story each week and will host a set of rotating sub-editors (Mr. Yu remains EIC, I believe, but needs some help because of his many other undertakings). For the launch, PGS Online features the story What You See by Ian Rosales Casocot. If I understand it correctly, each month will feature up to four stories by different authors launched weekly. The fourth story will actually be a story by the sub-editor. For April, aside from Mr. Rosales, we'll also be treated to stories from Marianne Villanueva and Erin Chupeco, as well as a story from the month's sub-ed, Charles Tan.
While PGS will be leaving the printed realm altogether, copies of the PGS Special Crime Issue are still very much available at several outlets. Hardcore printed readers can find copies of the latest printed issue at Comic Quest Megamall and Comic Quest SM North.
The PGS Crime Issue and earlier issues are also available for order online at www.avalon.ph.
