November agonies

It's just four days left until the end of November and I'm just so stoked. I just want to get over this month after making my fingers go all numb from all that typing for NaNoWriMo. I'm still at 47k-ish and I can already see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, there's still some editing to do because I'm betting my entire bookshelf that I wrote crap for the most part that I've rushed to meet the daily quota. I've been thinking about the loopholes in the plot as well, but thank God for my uncanny ability to shut my inner editor into silence. I'm so sure that I'll be wading through the muck that I've written this December. Hopefully I'll be able to write "The End" to this year's story and I'm crossing all my fingers and toes for that. 

I'm just so not in my element writing this novel in another country. I would have been able to enjoy being here a lot better if not for the daily writing that I have to put up with. Ugh. I just want to get my life back.

Interrupting this long silence...

My Facebook badge of courage. Courtesy of the OLL.

...to say that it's less than 4 hours left 'til the epic madness that is NaNoWriMo! I may have been MIA from the blogosphere, but I'm still around. It's just that I've been so lazy writing anything for the blog lately, and irony of ironies, I'm joining NaNo. Crazy, crazy.

I've got a lot of things going this November, some are not-so-good career-wise, but I'm keeping myself open to possibilities. Taking on this yearly writing challenge is a way for me to zap myself out of my lazy stupor and get creative. Also this year, I've challenged myself not only to reach 50k but to also write the ending to the story I'm working on. Actually, 50k words is not my target, but a definitive "The End" to the story.

To top it all off, I'm gonna be writing my novel in Singapore where I will also challenge my fate and luck in opportunities. Yay!

Big words. Hope I can make the cut. See you at the end of November (or in the next few days as I would probably rant and whine in utter madness this month)!

Alunsina's Terrene Journal

Terrene Journal, photo from Alunsina's FB page

Next to books, I have a love affair with journals/notebooks. I love filling up the pages with my thoughts, doodles and plot ideas, and the prospect of finding a nifty volume of blank pages to write on is something that I really look forward to do. 

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon Alunsina Handbound Books, an indie crafts business of Nadja Castillo and Enan Juniosa. The couple specialize in handmade coptic-bound journals, which are to die for. I gifted my two writer friends with these journals on their wedding day and I'm pretty much sure they loved it as much as I did. :)

And right now, I'm currently salivating over their Terrene Journal. I love the nice decoupage Old World map design, the embellishments, and of course, the paper used. I can really vouch for the quality of Alunsina's handbound creations, if you're a stickler for details and craftsmanship. I'm thinking of getting one, and so should you! :)

Filipino Friday: Introductions

As with every start of a weekly meme, we need to know a bit about you! Talk about your top 3-5 (or more!) favorite books of all time, the genres you read and would never read, the books that surprised you this year. You can also talk about how you became a reader and why you love it so much! And finally, if you were in the ReaderCon last year, talk about your experience too! If you weren't there, but you?re planning to go this year, then what do you expect for the upcoming ReaderCon?

Friday meme from Filipino ReaderCon

The 2nd Filipino Reader Con

There are far too many weaboo conventions out there, and it's about time us bookworms have something to look forward to. I got this tip from Kat about The 2nd Filipino Reader Con, and I'm so stoked to attend! 

And while we're at it, let's nominate some great Philippine-published titles for The Filipino Reader's Choice Awards! Here are some of my nominees:

Alternative Alamat - Short Story Anthology

Trese - Comics / Graphic Novel

Naermyth - Novel in English

Tragic Theater - Novel in English

I still have yet to think who to nominate for the Chick Lit category.

I really do believe Filipinos should patronize local books and authors because there's such a wealth of awesome stories that no one else could tell except a fellow Pinoy. Local myths, for one, have been a recurring theme for some recent novels/comics/anthologies that deserve to be read and shared to the world. And while owning a digital e-book reader has its perks, I still make sure to buy print versions of our local publications to support our publishers and authors. You should, too!

Books, books, books

I'm just gonna say this plain and simple:

So I'm learning Korean

From Wikipedia

Yes, and what a jolly good headache I signed myself up for. Haha!

I enlisted to take up basic Korean lessons at UP just because I'm so frustrated about learning Japanese. Way back when, I even hired a Japanese tutor to teach me the ropes, but I gave up when I got to the counting part. I also got intimidated about learning Kanji, so I thought since the Korean alphabet only has one way of writing stuff, I'd be cool, right? Right?

Wrong.

Vocabulary is a bitch, that's why. Unlike Japanese, I hardly watch Korean soaps or listen to Kpop (the ones I like, not the artists who look like carbon copies of each other). Grammar/sentence construction makes me want to flip my desk. Just recently, we started counting big values in Sino-Korean, and I practically balked when we had an exercise on listening. It was so difficult trying to comprehend how Koreans speak like they're eating their words. I'm gonna flunk listening tests for sure.

Learning is difficult in the sense that there's this avalanche of information that you need to memorize. I've stopped memorizing things since I graduated from college. I can keep up with the lessons, but I absorb things a bit slow than the usual. But I have to say that hangeul is really fun to read/write when you know all the characters, although I need to shape up if I want to pass this course.

안녕하세요.  저는안이에요. 반갑습니다!

A trip to the Singapore Philatelic Museum

Being an avid Postcrosser, I'm really into stamps, letter writing and sending mail the old school way. Just recently, I found out Singapore had a museum dedicated to the oldest and the most awesome hobby of philately. That and the fact they had an exhibit on The Adventures of Tintin. 

The Path to Eating Healthy

My mom told me I was the most "masiba" of all her children. Growing up, I was always taunted with many names as I was obviously the heavier sibling among all four of us. I've always wanted to lose weight but found it hard to say no to sweets and other sinful eats that were either oily or carb-ridden.

Wanderlust

I just want to list down the following places in the Philippines where I want to travel/visit:

1. Batanes
2. Los Baños, Laguna
3. Siquijor
4. Dumaguete
5. Sagada (round 2)
6. Palawan (El Nido/Coron/Puerto Princesa...round 2 uli)
7. Bohol
8. Ilocos Norte
9. Albay
10. Camiguin

I realize I haven't traveled around that much in my own country, but hopefully I'd be able to remedy that, if schedule and budget permits. *crossses fingers*

How I spent Single Awareness Day

Photo from Speed Dating

For the first time in all my 30 years of existence, I finally did something different this month. With February being that month for that kind of stuff, I figured, why not do something for myself? I did just that, only that it took me forever to blog about it since I was being my usual lazy self.

All of my plans took place two weekends earlier where, first, I went out on a speed dating event. I know. It was something spontaneous and totally not me...which is exactly the point! I was even hesitating to the event on the day itself, but  I just told my overly-critical brain to shut up. So I went there. By myself.

New Year's at Chinatown

Having resolved to travel more this year, I joined Kat, along with some new-found friends from CouchSurfing Manila, to walk around Binondo, Chinatown last Monday for the Chinese New Year celebration. Binondo holds a special place in my childhood memories. My folks used to have an office at the BPI building where my siblings and I usually go after school. Binondo has changed in many ways, but there were still some areas that reminded me a lot of my childhood.

The year of writing

New Year foodie!

Happy 2012, everyone! It's been a great January so far and I've enjoyed the holidays with the family. I guess it's safe to say that I've put on a few pounds since all we did was just cook and eat. My sister took over the kitchen and she'd been baking all these awesome pastries ever since. I think she also outdid our mom with all the cooking she did.

Wipe Out on Figment.com

This month is already turning out to be promising. A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Figment saying that one of my works for the Daily Themes challenge has been featured on their site and I've been over the moon since then. I haven't been uploading stuff on their site for ages, and my work suddenly gets good reviews! I'm thinking of developing it to a novel, assuming I get over these frequent bouts of procrastination. To those who've read the story and gave their comments, thanks a lot! :) For those who haven't, please take a moment to read it and let me know what you think.

2012 is the year for me to buckle down and get creative. Hope you guys have a productive one, too! :)