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So happy, kailangan talaga glitter text LOL

I was having a hard time with Jake because I think I need to unravel some scenes in order for me to get the two of them to the scene where I wanted them when Edith Joaquin told me over YM to check out the Bookware Forum where one of our readers, Neish, has posted reviews of MSV books and she wrote reviews for my Ibarra Legacy series as well as my other novel Inosenteng Puso.

I think the scariest part of being a writer is actually having what you’ve written published and released for people to read, enjoy, love or hate. I know all my stories will not be good, and people will love them or hate them, and either way, they will be more than happy to tell me. Siyempre, sana people will love them. However beautiful or horrible a story is, its author wrote it from the heart. So when you hear people tell them they like your work… nakakataba talaga ng puso.

Thank You, Neish! You made my day

* Quote from Mother Teresa.

• 11:54 pm: For some reason, I can’t pull Twitter up…
• 12:30 am: Jacob finally hit the 10K word mark! *happy dancing*
• 12:32 am: I think I’m going to take a break. Sakit ng wrists ko eh.
• 12:48 am: Wondering when my next movie date with Kat will be. Psst, Kat. Saturday?
• 01:08 am: I want anything from Gabby’s Bistro
• 01:10 am: Still can’t Tweet.
• 01:31 am: Oh. Wow. I’m…sleepy! Hooyah! I’m taking advantage. I WILL SLEEP! Jacob is at 10725 words today. Not bad. Looks like I can finish this week! Good morning, world!
• 01:40 am: Oh. Hey. I can Tweet now. Boo.

I write better if I’m awake from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. It’s when the best of my writing comes out. But it’s such a hassle to be awake at that time, and be asleep the rest of the day because… well, let’s face it, it’s because I’m awake at the wrong side of the darn day.

Last week, I had a meeting with my bossing, Carla Giopaolo (Happy Birthday, Carla!) so I was awake for twenty-seven hours Tuesday/Wednesday last week. I had another meeting scheduled for Thursday this week, so I worked on moving my sleep schedule back to the night. What I did was just mess up my sleep schedule so bad that I’m usually awake for twenty-four, twenty-five hours before I could snatch three or four hours of sleep.

And it all caught up with me Friday morning when the backs of my eyeballs started to throb at 3 a.m. By 6 a.m., the throbbing became lightning bolts and I had to sleep. So I missed my Friday meeting because by 9 a.m., half my face was numb and the only thing that could make me feel better was systematically hitting my skull. Not even the Pacman’s Alaxan FR was any help. Haist.

It only felt marginally better when I woke up Friday night and took catnaps until around 8 a.m. So I was awake again from 8 a.m., watched Jurrasic Park and Madagascar 2 on HBO, then caught A Dangerous Life on Studio 23, before I started feeling drowsy again. So I slept at 3 p.m., and woke up at 10 *palm head*

So maybe it’s not really insomnia since I DO sleep… just on the wrong side of the day. Sleeping pill, do I need you?

“Naging isang bangungot ang bakasyong inaasahan ni Denise sa Cebu nang muntik na siyang mapagsamantalahan. Hindi nagtagumpay ang lalaki sa binabalak nito, nang piliin niyang tumalon na lang sa dagat.She was saved from drowning by Greg, a recluse who lived on an island.

Isang misteryo sa kanya ang guwapong lalaki. Hindi niya maintindihan kung bakit ganoon na lang kung ipagtabuyan siya nito. She later learned that it had something to do with his hatred for women.

Masidhi ang atraksiyon niya rito kaya isinumpa niyang gagawin ang lahat upang matuto itong magmahal muli. Kahit pa ibig sabihin niyon ay ipagtabuyan siya nito nang paulit-ulit…”

I am such a proud mama! Or, ate… My bunso’s first book, Denise’s Destiny (walang aagaw dahil akin na akin ang kwentong ito) has been released! When I found out that her ms has been accepted, parang ms ko yung na-approve! LOL

Congratulations, Rhiana Dizon! I’m soooooo so so proud of you. Kita mo na! I hope ngayon naniniwala ka na sa’kin na kaya mo! I’m looking forward to having a copy of this. Compli with autograph ha! Here’s to a successful writing career!

Last night, I went to my grandmother’s wake. We were all taken by surprise because she wasn’t sick. Not sick sick like with cancer or anything serious like that, but she was complaining of a cough and that the weather wasn’t agreeing with her. She also couldn’t sleep for the past few days and asked my tita (her daughter), who is a doctor, for sleeping pills. They were supposed to take her to the hospital for a check-up on the 21st. They took her to Medical City. She got checked up. She slept at the hospital and never woke up again.

The one thing I remember about my grandmother, who was a lawyer, is that Imelda Marcos once accusingly pointed smudged fingers at her and said, “she dirtied my fingers”. My grandma was the one who took the former First Lady’s fingerprints when she was arrested in the mid-1990’s. It was something that kind of intimidated me from her because she was a lawyer and although she barely reached five feet in height, to me, she was larger than life. You should meet my grandfather who used to be a justice at the Sandiganbayan. I was scared of him!

I sat at one of the pews last night and looked at my titas. And I realized, I had their face, their hair and their eyes. My brother and I look alike but he got his face from my dad who got his face from my paternal grandfather’s side of the family. I got mine from my grandmother… face, hair, eyes… and ailments. Most of them (including some of the kids) have big and, very myopic, eyes. My mom also said I got my brain from them, which is a good thing because they’re all smart (HA!).

In a few years, I’m going to look like one (or most) of them. I already do. And when I grow old, I’m sure I’m going to look exactly like my grandmother. I just hope, that when I grow old, I’m going to look half as beautiful as my grandmothers.

Rest in peace, Lola.

Her novel, To Love Again, is 1st runner up at PHR’s Novel of the Year for 2009!

Angel Bautista (PHR)/Carla Giopaolo (MSV) has become my favorite Tagalog romance writer since I first read Missy’s story. Inalok ako ni Apple, our beloved EA, ng books na pwede ko iuwi ang I saw a copy of  Nagkamali Ba ang Puso?, at hindi ko na pinakawalan. After that, naging fan na niya ako.

Favorite na favorite ko si Judith McNaught. Siya ang writer na nagtransition sa’kin from Sweet Dreams to romance novels, at pareho sila ng talent ni Angel. Hindi ako nagsasawa sa mga novels nila pareho kahit pa ilang beses ko basahin, at kahit ilang beses ko basahin, talagang sasakit at sasakit ang solar plexus ko sa mga parteng masakit sa dibdib ng mga characters. Ang galing niyang mag-develop ng characters at ang galing niyang mag-develop ng plot. At hindi halatang workaholic siyang hanggang leeg ang nakabinbin na trabaho kapag nagpasa siya ng nobela ha! Parang yung nobela lang niya ang tinatrabaho niya!

Hindi ako makapamili ng favorite kong Angel Bautista/Carla Giopaolo book dahil mahal ko silang lahat. Pero special ang To Love Again sa’kin kasi tinulungan ako ng librong ito na mag-iba ang tingin ko sa kapulisan. I swear takot ako sa pulis. Bago ko nabasa ang librong ito, never pa ako tumingin ng diretso sa mukha ng pulis. At kapag may nasasalubong akong isa sa kanila, mabilis ako maglakad palampas, palayo o patawid basta hindi ako lumapit sa kanila. Hindi ko alam pero may “pulis-phobia” ako.

Then, I met Patrick and Jay (ang aking si JC). After ng librong ito naging life’s greatest dream ko na ang makakita ng gwapong pulis kung kaya’t natutuwa na ako sa tuwing dadaan ako sa HQ ng pulis sa Pasig, at kapag may naka-unipormeng pulis akong nakikita, tinitignan ko na sila at ngumingiti na ako imbes na magmukha akong may bagong inisnatch na alahas sa Quiapo dahil sa bilis kong lumayo sa kanila. Hindi na ako takot sa kanila ngayon so dapat magpasalamat kay Angel Bautista ang buong PNP *ahehe*

Ang gusto ko lang naman sabihin ay congratulations, Angel! Here’s to more novels from you Salamat sa pag-she-share ng talents sa’ming mga fans mo. I’m sooooo proud of you.

I have never had worse service than I did when my mother and I went to you today. We had to sit outside because the restaurant was packed. After ten minutes of waiting, I had to go to one of your servers to ask for menus rather than have one of your servers come to offer it to us.

After another fifteen minutes of waiting, I had to go inside again to ask a server if she can take my order. She said yes, then promptly left me behind while she brought this tray of bottled water to God knows where. Good thing that who looked like a store manager called my attention and graciously took my order. I was told that our order will arrive in 15 minutes.

We waited for fifteen minutes, and when the server brought our drinks, that was the only time she noticed that we didn’t have place mats or utensils.

My mom’s creamy seafood pasta arrived at the 17 minute mark, and I told her to eat before it gets cold.

At the thirty minute mark, my chicken cordon bleu have yet to arrive. My mom was half-way through her meal and she was trying to eat slowly because she was waiting for me. Other people’s orders arrived, even those who came after we did, and their food was steaming hot.

Pissed off and hungry, I grabbed our number and stormed to the counter. One of the servers caught up with me and said she had my food. It was thirty-five minutes after I ordered.

I grumbled a thank you, because even when pissed off, I’m polite, and tasted the food. It was stone-freaking-cold, which, my mom said, is probably because it had been sitting on the counter for the last fifteen minutes because other people were served their food first before I did. I’m sure your food tastes good but I was too angry to taste it. I just wanted to finish it, hope I get my money’s worth and get the hell away from you.

I guess, all I want to say, is that if you can’t provide good service to the people sitting at tables outside the actual restaurant, don’t put tables there.

It will be a long time before I visit you again, and I hope you give people better service than you have given me today.

So, I finally gave in and bought a Smart Bro Pre-paid Kit. I’m sitting in bed, testing it and so far, my dial-up is still faster. But it’s not Smart’s fault. I’m actually surprised that I can actually connect while I’m in my room. The modem has a blinking light which, according to the manual, means I’m connected to the EDGE/GPRS network. In fairness, I can actually connect, and I can actually surf.

Before, I use my Globe SIM and my trusty N70 as a modem, and the ever-powerful Globe Telecoms only have minuscule signal in one area of our house so all our cell phones are clustered there. I have to set my office up at that area and even so, signal is touch and go. I bought a Smart SIM some time ago as an emergency number, and though I hardly use it, it has signal 24/7 even in my room at the back of the house. So when it came to the choices of which pre-paid Internet to get, there was no question. I had to go with Smart.

I find it insane that telecommunications companies have service in the farthest reaches of the Philippines, but none of them provides Internet connection (broadband or DSL) in our tiny area right smack in the middle of Pasig and Cainta. I guess that’s the reason. We’re too far from Cainta proper, but we’re NOT in Pasig per se. The thing is, Smart has broadband service up to two streets away from our house. And freakkin’ PLDT keeps asking if we wanted DSL service, to which I answered, I wanted it two years ago when you first offered it to us. Give me an explanation that I will accept as to why, up until now, you’re still asking us if we want service instead of actually giving it to us? So I only have one thing to say to PLDT… God bless you.

And to Globe, although I hated using their service on my phone, I only had to call once and they gave me a rebate for the times when I was able to connect but not browse, so thank you, Globe.

I’ll try to use this Smart thingamajig in areas where signal is better than in my room, but so far, it looks okay. And thank you for the P300 free Internet hours. I hope we have a good relationship, you and I.

P.S. After an hour of use, I guess it just needed to warm up or something because it’s now better than my dial-up. Yay! Okay… so not BETTER better, but still… better.

The very first time I’ve ever been on an airplane was on a 7 a.m. trip from Manila to Dumaguete to visit Edith Joaquin just this year. And since I’m me, and I like to know exactly what I’m getting into before I do something, I had to Google instructions on what to do before a flight. Seriously. So I’m writing this guide for people like me who want step-by-step instructions on what to do on your first flight.

* This is for domestic flights, though I figure it shouldn’t be too different for international flights. I’d have to write about that when I get to travel outside of the Philippines (yay!)

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