Writer's block...

Ugh... Grr... *sigh* *whine* Plums deify. Trojans pester. Get that, Murphy! I can still write a sentence! Will you just quit it and give me back my creative juices?! Deadline's a week away and I have yet to decide whether to keep my current draft and continue it or write another one, which won't come out! Well, it does, but without dialogue and scenery and prompters, just in idea spurts, like farts. Insubstantial and foul.

Ugh, even my analogy's off, isn't it? At least, I'm not whining now, hehehe. (Mood swings are part of this, oh yeah). Oh gods. Grr. *sigh* *whine*

If teens are from Neptune...

...parents are from Saturn.


Gosh, it seems the moment we teeter on adulthood, we lost touch and sync with each others transmissions.


Analogies become 'pilosopo-ing', concerns become 'meddling' and 'choking'.


I had a sweet YM chat earlier with my Dad regarding my vampire hours. Sparks flew as our antennas sent disagreeing radio waves.


"Di lang talaga ako makatulog sa gabi, dad. Nun umaandar utak ko e. Si Jouie diba, di iniyo naman pinipilit kumain gulay?"


"Wag ka nga mangturo. Iakw kinakausap ko e. At ikaw ba kumakain ka gulay nung kaedad mo si Jouie?"


"Di ko kayo sinusuway ni momi. Ganun lang talaga body clock ko now, dad. Parang watchdogs. Sanay sila na active sa gabi."


"Wag mo ko pinipilosopo."



"Analogy tawag dun, dad, please."


"Bahala ka. Wala ka na kasi kailangan sakin e."


"HA?! Depende pa rin ako sayo dad ah."

And then, I don't know how, I was swallowing tears and snot because Dad was saying he circulated my First Prize-winning essay and all my articles at the office email.


The sizzle passed. Next moment, he was telling me I have a new cell phone. Nokia 6300. "Tanungin mo si Onchie magkano to jan."


Whew! Sometimes I can just shake my head and smile; sometimes I want to pull all my hair out because of guilt at things I blurt during crossfires.

In Flipped, Bryce Loski says, 'just dive for calmer water'. I wonder why I never remembered that advice when I need it. I hope I don't spend the rest of my life with 'sisi sa huli'. I'll bite my tongue from now on (or clamp my fingers beneath my rump in case of YM chats).

I'm blessed to have wonderful parents.

However barmy they seem and sound and act, they've always followed their heart's impulse.

Just as Saturn is surrounded by beautiful rings, so are parents engulfed to near choking with love and care for us.

What do they say? That you need to become a parent before you can understand them fully.

But right now, I'm still Neptonian. Sorry to Dad and Mum and God up there for my insolence.

And ya know, Saturnians also forget their Neptonian days...

Hence, the war. :)

SHOUTOUT! Thanks to Thomas (zenigata) for alerting me about the Philippine Genre Stories' call for their Christmas issue! I've submitted, Tom. A story about a girl and her strange encounter during Misa de Gallo. God bless us!

Lamaze breathing... hee hee woo! hee hee woo!

LOL! That's funny. I wonder if I'll ever experiece that? I'll crack over laughing...

Anyway, I'm not about to write about pregnancy or being preggers (God forfend!) I'm just really behind on my beta-reading (the British's term for 'editing', and theyr'e snobbishly Brit at Mugglenet Fanfiction, believe me), I have seven in my IN Folder, phew! And then tomorrow night, there will be no early morning vampiric editing and net-surfing for me. I'll be sleeping over at my Tita Lot's because she's taking me early on Wednesday morning to Fr. Suarez at Megamall.

Fr. Suarez, the healing priest. I wonder if by Wednesday night, I'll be breathing Lamaze style again here, squeeing that I can hear again?

Seven years now of deafness.

And then this. Who knows, right?

And I'm real behind on my beta-reading, the submission of applications for moderators at MNFF closes today, I have a deadline of October 31st for Neil Gaiman's surreal fic contest, I have had another wonderful lunch and merienda with my MaCofWiz friends at my house and I have yet to post the pics and vids and there's this book to be launched in December with my name and story inside.

Breathe with me, baby. Hee hee woo! hee hee WOO!

I'm unworthy...

...of the gifts this day brought.

Greetings from friends and relatives, warm wishes, hugs, kisses, and then the shocker! I'll be anthologized in the 3rd volume of The Philippine Speculative Fiction! Wooh! Breathe, woman, breathe.

Thank you so much, O Most Holy Trinity! And you, Mama Mary! You've been so kind and generous!

"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever!"

"With all my heart, I will praise you, Lord,

with all that I am I will praise

Your Holy Name,

I will never forget how kind you are!"

Since September 15, I've been waiting for the results of the submissions. And now, just in time for my birthday, I get an email from Mr Dean Francis Alfar!

"Dear Joanna,

We are happy to accept "Hamog" for publication in Philippine Speculative Fiction vol.3. Your story was a delight from start to finish..."

My godric! If I'm the fainting kind of girl, I would have fainted. Instead, I squealed! Weeee! ^_^

Launch date is scheduled on December 8th at Fully Booked. Order directly from Kestrel (Kestrel IMC, the publisher) and mention my name for a 20% discount. Woot!

This has been divine. Will never forget this day. Thank You so much, Lord. And thanks to you guys, for your confidence in me, support and prayers and congrats. *hugs*

The picture on the right is the 2nd Volume of PSF. Lovely, no? And see notes from the peanut gallery, Mr Alfar's blog, for updates on PSF, his other books and the LitCritters (superb story critiquing group) , of which I'm a member (though lurky and shy), too!

Twenty-first century tuna!

I'm turning twenty-one! Gorram you, Murphy!

I wish, I wish... Well, if you tell a wish, it won't come true...

Basta, right now, I'm excited cos susugod sa bahay mga bruho at bruha. Thank you so much in advance, Lord.

Friends may well be the masterpiece of nature. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

None of my friends are perfect, but that' what makes them even more special. *hugs* Eew, bantot. Joke lang! May tinamaan? Wahaaha!

~News about moi:

>Mugglenet Fan Fiction is looking for new mods. Guess what?

... Well, guess what nga e!

>My story, The Art of Weaselling, won 2nd Place in the Challenge of August. Woot! Yay!

>I'm nominated as Best Beta (thanks to my lovely Indian princess, Pooja!) and my story, To Love Life Again, is also nominated for Best Non-Canon Romance in MNFF's Quicksilver Quills Awards (thanks to my American belle, Fresca!) Sana manalo, kahit runner-up lang. But the competition is tough!

>I've submitted to the Philippine Speculative Fiction Antho. Please, Lord!

>I'm also joining the Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards sponsored again by my idol Neil Gaiman... hay...

>I really loved the Gundam Wing DVD my bro Onchie shared with me. I love it when we have things we both love. Iba pa rin talaga kapatid.

> I have new glasses! See the pic? Taray!

Forgive the braggy tones ha, this is foremost for me naman, this blog, a record of me, myself and I. And I'm thankful for what happinesses I'm blessed with.

Oh and I'll post some lovely stories here from now on. The first one will be on my birthday, Snow, Glass and Apples by mon amour, Neil. ^_^

Mama, Mére, Nanay, Mommy!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. I write this here as a tribute to her. If I die, it's up to you to reveal this blog to her, but cover all references to Regulus Black...... Haha! No references to Regulus Black here!



*hem hem* Anyway, watching my grad video, I realized what a spoiled brat I am. Susme.



I was glaring at my mom and beckoning to her imperiously as if I lived without aid from her at all.



And do you know I spend my days banging away on my laptop if I'm not banging on my phone's keypad? Laundry and ironing are not common things to me. It's my mom who does them, and she takes pride in my lovely hands.



My friends know about my vampire-ness. But this is because my mom allows me to read and write to my heart's content and also lets me sleep to my heart's content afterwards.



Thank you, Mom, for spoiling me. I love you. I don't look like I do, but I really, really, really appreciate all your love's labours. I'll never forget it. When I have kids of my own, I won't let them wash and iron either. Kaya dapat mayaman magiging fiance ko.



Joke lang, Regulus!



Mommy, love you! Happy birthday! I'm so glad I have you! I thank God for you and Dadoink. To you guys who read my blog, text/email/call your Mommy, too!

Milestones...

Under maintenance ang Friendster, so I'll post here muna.
My grad was... memorable. Aren't all graduations?

When Mrs Bartolome went up the stage to call us her babies, I was busy laughing with Paula (my seatmate) coz her certificate belonged to Doming. So the upshot of this was I went up the stage last instead of first, humabol lang me. Ugh! How embarassing. But not really.

And then, you know, all the other times I went to get my modules, and even during grad practice, I was a snob, so I regret how nice and affable my 'classmates' turned out to be. All of us had our tales of woe, so all of us were sympathetic to each other. Sana I could turn back time so that I could ignore my impatience and bad temper with traffic! And then we'd bond. We did bond that graduation day anyway. People are nice. People are nice. That's why I dislike grouchy people. Hehe. (Minsan, I'm grouchy, shh.) I mean, ayoko sa reklamador and pessimistic chuva. Huh.

My medal looked like a coin in the back. Nakaukit ulo ni Sonny Belmonte. Honestly! Yucky! Eheehe!

All in all, thank you, Lord! I'm so happy. Mom was happy kasi.
I believe in angels, something good in everything I see, I believe in angels, when the time is right for meI'll cross the stream,I have a dream...
Oha, ganda no? Buti di tinuloy yung 'If We Hold On Together', heh. Masyado cliche e, diba?

Woot! Thank you to my MaCofWiz lovies for congratulating me. I'm so excited for our planned EB at our house! Nakakatawa lang si Allen e, nang-iimbita ng madami. Ikaw magpakain ha, Lenpot? Haha!

Sana it will be a sunny day dahil balak mag-swimming ni Dave. And syempre, mas maganda if makakapasyal kami sa clubhouse. Para di masyado makapagkalat yung mg brujo at bruja sa bahay.

Graduation and friendships. Milestones of life.

*more pics at Friendster soon*