It'll be sporadic in the next two weeks (as if it hasn't been sporadic lately) as I will not have access to a computer at home to do off-hours writing. If something comes up til then, surely it was crafted in between work at the Desk.
And yes, don't send me messages through Facebook. I am not currently lurking there so much. In fact, I haven't been online that much. I do check my Yahoo mail daily (except weekends alas!) so if you need to get in touch with me -- text me or send me an email. Otherwise, expect a very, very late reply to your wall posts, tweets, or FB messages.
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I regularly read Penman, the blog of writer and UP English professor Jose "Butch" Dalisay and yesterday morning, while back-reading a post he made a couple of weeks back on writing autobiographies, I got curious and decided to check Wikipedia to see the list of autobiographies he has written. I did get the info I needed but lo and behold, someone edited the content of the entry and replaced the novel titles "Killing Time in a Warm Place" and "Soledad's Sister" with "Ang Panget Mo" (translates as "You are Ugly") and "Ang Asim ng Kili-Kili Mo" (translates as "Your Armpit Smells Sour").
Now, I understand that the person who did this might be angry with ole Sir Butch, most likely a student with a failing grade in his class, but you've got to respect the man's accomplishments and what he continues to do for Philippine literature. So, I reversed the editing did last August 9 (so recent, so this means the anger is recent as well, had any teacher-student probs lately, Sir Butch?) by the user with IP 110.55.236.217 so that the Wiki page displays the correct info.
I checked and so far, this has been the only page that 110.55.236.217 has defaced, strengthening the idea that this is someone who has a real grudge with Mr. Dalisay.
This incident showcases why people continue to scoff at Wikipedia as a resource. With virtually anyone in the world being able to edit, change, and mangle content, the idea of the "real truth" in Wikipedia's content always arises.
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Has anyone seen a mass market paperback edition yet of Kevin J. Anderson's "Key to Creation", the 3rd and concluding novel in his Terra Incognita series?
That's because I'm itching to find out what'll happen next after the cliffhangers in Map of All Things. And I can't believe that I finished the book quite fast -- less than a week. You could now guess why I haven't been going online so much. Right now, I'd rather allocate what time I have left to reading books and it has been fun.
So, going back to Key to Creation ...
I did a quick check online and it seems that only hardcovers and trade paperbacks are available for this volume. No mass market editions yet. Right now, as bitin as I am, I might still end up buying the trade paperback if it'll be in the Php 600 - Php 700 range. However, I've been to bookstores over the weekend and I also checked at Fully Booked over lunch yesterday but saw no Key to Creation anywhere. Any hints where o where?
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Whereas I've read the two K.J. Anderson novels on Terra Incognita quite cheetah-like, the pace at which I'm going at with Violette Malan's Path of the Sun can be described as turtle-like.
I guess it has to do with the writing style of the author I'm reading. Anderson's prose, much like the prose of the Eddingses (David and Leigh), tend to be easy-reading in that you glide through them. Compare that to Ms. Malan's prose wherein there is a bit more effort to concentrate. The way I'm reading Path of the Sun is akin to when I was reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson, or The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (which I've yet been unable to continue reading) wherein I need to back-track every now and then to make sure I'm getting the story straight.
Whereas the Terra Incognita novels were fast-paced and action-imbued, quite contrarily, the Path of the Sun slows down a bit and I surmise is this is a deliberate attempt to build-up the suspense or the climax. Although this might be a good thing, when you've just finished the Terra Incognita one after the other, the pace at which Path of the Sun progresses will jarr you.
Don't get me wrong, Path of the Sun, promises to be interesting. It's fresh for my taste because instead of wizards, or rogues, or would-be-kings as protagonists, we have here a dynamic duo of mercenaries-for-hire. And while you might think of the usual mold of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, what you have in Malan's novel is a male-female duo with the latter taking on the more starring role.
Hopefully though I get to read this novel quicker somewhat.
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Path of the Sun is one of two books sent to me by my sister, Rochelle. The other book is The Griffin's Flight by K.J. Taylor. Unfortunately, Griffin's Flight is Book 2 of the Fallen Moon series. Before I can even read this new other book, I will first need to find the first book in the series, The Dark Griffin.
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Speaking of missing volumes ...
Remember last time I talked about buying books 3 and 4 of The Dreamers Series by David and Leigh Eddings? Well, I just realized that I had nearly forgotten what the series was all about and in order for me to get to the last two books of the series I have to re-read books 1 and 2.
I scanned my bookshelf last night and saw that it was book 1 (The Elder Gods) of the series that was saved. Now, I need to buy book 2, The Treasured One, because that was the volume that got eaten away by termites at the old book bin in Laguna. Hopefully I can score a copy before the book sale at NBS and Powerbooks ends on the 21st of this month.
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The technical service of Sky Cable is crap.
Early in July (around July 8, if I recall correctly), I called their customer helpline to report a problem with our extension cable line. The main outlet was working fine but the second TV (for which I was paying an additional Php 250 per month on top of the main subscription) located in our bedroom suddenly went offline. Checking the cable's configurations, it could not detect any signal which prompted me to call Sky Cable who, in turn, promised to send someone the following day. The girl who answered my call gave me a reference number.
Then came the next day. And then the day after. And then a third day after my initial call.
I tried calling Sky Cable again but the line was always freakin' busy. I managed to sneak in a call to their customer helpline about a week after my first call and asked for a status. I was already angry but knowing that customer support guys are dead-to-the-stone when it comes to customers resorting to raised voices, I politely threatened termination of the service. The guy on the other end said:
"Tatapatin ko na kayo, sir, (I'll be frank with you, sir). Pagdating po sa technical service at repairs talagang matagal po (When it comes to technical service and repairs, it'll really take you a long time to be serviced)."
How's that for honesty?! I guess the guy was just fed with receiving the same complaint over and over. Or maybe he'll be resigning in a few days time and it didn't matter if he suspended quoting from their spiels and decided to spell the truth to the poor fellow on the other end of the line.
Befuddled, I asked what would happen then? The guy answered that I had no resort but to wait. He added if I wanted to terminate the account, all I had to do was write.
It's been over a month now and the second TV's cable is not yet fixed. I called Sky Cable again last Friday and the girl who answered me quoted from their spiels, promised to prioritize the service request, and asked if there was anything else I needed help with. I said none and just hoped that the repairman would land somewhere near our vicinity soon. I was silently hurling invectives at the imagined target the entire time I was on the phone.
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Crummy weather. Sunshine this morning, then rain this PM.
Happy mid-week, folks! Looking forward to the long weekend at the end of the month.
