All I Want For Christmas.

Forget Montblancs, they're useless for heavy-duty writing. Yes, I snicker everytime I see the lower management clients with their Montblancs in leather pen cases bring them out at meetings.

The ones I want are from the Shanghai Hero Pen Company.






The Wing Sung ones are cool, too.




Seeing as how my running-away-from home-and-hiding-out-in-Hongkong/Bangkok/Singapore-for-Christmas money has gone to pay the teachers in the school, I'll just have to look in 168 and Recto to see if they have 'em.

Or I could just get another red Waterman from National Bookstore, but that's less fun. Too bad they don't carry Lamy or Pelikan anymore. Bah.

I am thankful for blog contests that remind me I have a lot to be thankful for, among others.

Yeah, I'm doing this for the planner.

Jasper, my favorite notebook supplier, asked why I didn't join the Moleskine giveaway bloghopping thingies when we last met. I don't really have a good enough reason not to-- "I don't get around to it" doesn't quite cut it-- though I have tons. One of them is that his prices are reasonable enough anyway, I can afford to buy them, they make samkaynda sosyal presents for friends and clients. (Nah, I just like buying notebooks. That's why I have 56 million of them. Don't ask.)

And I still have that ONE LARGE PLAIN MOLESKINE FROM 2006 THAT JUST WON'T DIE.

A planner, of course, is different. One, I like them, I just don't like buying them. (And I'm not too big on Starbucks coffee.) Two, a planner lets you, well, plan. Which I'm lousy at, that's why I have logical, systematic partners, also known as handlers. Who refuse to allow me within ten meters of any bookstore or art supplies store, which is another reason to be grateful for online shopping. (Not that I'm going to be buying a Moleskine planner, no. )

Aside from family and friends, I know I have a lot to be thankful about. Everyone does.
It's funny, though. Most of the things I'm grateful for this year weren't planned, they just happened. The funny thing is, most of them were things I've always said I wanted, then forgot about. Life is good. Really. Let me count the ways.

1. Family. I'm always thankful for them, but this year, I have a new nephew. He's in San Francisco. It would be nice to see him and his older brother soon. We'll see. The way things are going now, I probably will.

2. Friends. The old ones are always cool, the ones that fell away are slowly coming back, and the new ones are amazing. Yeah, you know who you are.

3. I'm working at the bestest agency in the world. Mine. (Well, ours.) The only two people in the world I can imagine being partners with resigned almost the same time as I did. Chubs resigned the month before I did, and Sam, the month after. And it's doing well. We have paying clients. (Although we'd probably be making a heckuva whole lot more if we worked more than eight hours a week. But it's okay.)

Our clients are cool, too. We didn't kill ourselves trying to run after them, or crankily working unreasonable hours to accede to their unreasonable demands. They showed up, and they're cool. I could never imagine saying this about clients before, but yeah, we love our clients.

And one more thing, I've learned to like pizza again. Pizza's good--especially when it's stopped being overtime food.

4. Like I said, there are many things I said I wanted: to own an agency, write stories, write a book, write a film and more. Done. Again, not planned. It just happened. Amazing, it's just like having a magic lamp, except the lamp is from Ikea, not Arabia.

5. I can draw, paint, write, make notebooks, clean my room and play with my dog and cat now, and go to places I keep saying I want to go, like the ukay line along Aurora, and to Kidapawan, North Cotabato and Davao just for the heck of it. And I have. It's more than just time, it's opportunity. Most of it's by chance, but there you go.

6. Then there's Applecare. Yeah, my logic board crashed and I really couldn't afford to buy a new one if there wasn't one. And I got the Applecare on sale.

7. I know there's a whole world to be thankful for, purple flowers, fluffy dogs, alien cats, funny mean writers on writers_guild who think I'm brilliant and more. But I'll stop now. Seven has always been my lucky number, after all.

Davao

Never drink Coke within 4 hours after eating fresh, ripe durian, because you will still be burping durian burps the day after.

And keep wet wipes handy, though being in close proximity to a shower is better.

Kabacan

There's a sign that says "This way to Aringay."

I'm in Mindanao. They said the whole town was full of Ilocanos, but this is almost surreal.

Cotabato

"OMG, you're in Cotabato?! Are you okay? Are you safe? Is there shooting in the streets? What about the military?"

Right, I'm writing this in a garden, across the mosque where they are celebrating Eid'l Adha. The veiled women are bowed and kneeling peacefully in the sunny courtyard, having spilled over from the back rows, because, I have been told, around here, men have priority seating in front.

It is a cultural thing, I guess, but these are the things that make it hard for other people to believe we're in the same country. Up north, where I come from, women get seats first, the first three cars of the MTR during rush hour are reserved for females. And no, it's not because the women are considered weak, it's because everyone just scared of 'em. Matriarchal society and all, y'know.

:Pretty much quiet all around, though. There was a bit of noise but that turned out to be from the opening of the new McDonald's. They're taking me to a nearby town celebrating its fiesta. During a fiesta, you are required to eat from all the houses that invite you. It's kind of like trick or treating by invitation, except it's dine-in instead of takeout. (Though some will give you takeout as well.)

I think we'll hit about five houses before we burst. We'll see.

I can haz advaizes? Robopandas eatedying my brane. Plz send punctuashen and raiting tipz, plzplzplz fer I needz skilz agen.

Crossed Wires.

Why is it I think in Tagalog when I need to write in English, and think in English when I need to write in Tagalog?

There's a story here somewhere bt I'm afraid it's been done.

My phones won't work. Not even the prepaid ones. I bought cards for those, but they won't load, and the one with the line says it's been redirected, when I just paid my bill last week.

My car has overheated, and is at the shop.

My computer keeps shutting down all by itself every five minutes, making it extremely difficult to get anything done..

There is no money in my ATM, but that's my fault.

Maybe I should just go back and live off the land. Bah.

On the brighter side, America's new President looks exactly the way my grandfather did when he was young. Bahahaha.

Sister: How's your "United States of the Nether Lands" coming along? Almost end of September na.

Me: Dead.

Sister: Why? YOU GOT LAZY AGEEEEEN!

Me: Nope. Main character's a sue. Stu. Sue. Whatever.

Sister: How is it a Sue?

Me: He's an advertising guy who's in hell gypping the actors and the politicians. Sound familiar?

Sister: But he's got no fashion sense whatsoever, wears ill-fitting clothes, has messy hair, is unsociable, has no people skills, is bad tempered and... I see what you mean. Why didn't you just go all the way and make him wear glasses?

Me: He does. Dark glasses. So the fires of hell don't hurt his eyes. Also 'cause I made him crosseyed. And hunchbacked. Does that make him less of a sue?

Sister: No. But you could pass it off as an author insert.

Me: Really? Is that more acceptable?

Sister: No, but it's really creeping me out hearing you say "Sue."

Me: Maybe I'll give him three pesky demons patterned after you, Mom and Jackie. Andun na rin lang tayo.

Sister: Are they vavoom shapely temptresses, kinda like corrupted versions of The Three Fates?

Me: No, the three little pigs.

Sister: Waaaaaaaah! You're meeeeeeeeeeeeeean! I haaaaaate youuuuuuuuu.

Alienkitteh

I have come to the conclusion that Insomnia/Baskittyquiat/MaiT Midnight isn't really a cat. Which is good, because I don't really like cats. For one thing, it looks like it grew twice its size since I found it. Or it could just be my imagination. It's still small, but won't fit in the camera case anymore. And it really, really looks strange. All its legs are different colors, and its face is never the same color from the last time you looked.

My sisters say it's too little to bathe or wipe down, which is why it still looks really scraggly, but here are pictures.

The only reasons I haven't posted pictures earlier are that it won't sit still and keeps walking over the keyboard. It likes walking all over the keyboard. And it talks a lot. Wait, it just killed a bottle of ink. Anyway.

For the time being, we'll just pretend it fooled us into thinking it's a kitty. But only until the ship comes back.

Kitteh can haz laptop?


The banker's lamp as Starbucks umbrella.


Blake the cat doesn't think it's a kitty either.