Batan Visit

Earlier today, I was at Batan to attend a family friend's wedding. It felt unscripted, mainly because no one told anyone what they had to do. So we mostly just winged it. It was fun that way. Even though it was so freaking hot that I felt my kidney getting roasted to a yummy crisp, I had one hell of a good time laughing at myself, my cousins and some other guys for looking so lost in something so familiar. My seatmates reeked of body odor though so it wasn't all pleasant.


After the wedding, we headed for the couples' house to eat. I went home bloated and sleepy. We had to cancel my cousin's plan to visit Latte and drink some more coffee because we all felt too buzzed to even walk around in the dreary Philippine heat.


We left home at around 7 am, arrived at the church at around a quarter to 10, left the church to eat at the reception at around 11 am and then went home a few minutes just after 12. 


It was my first time to go to Batan, especially near the Poblacion which was very crowded and where the road was narrow enough to run over greasemonkeys. The bamboo trees were cool. In some areas of the road, they bridged together over the car making it all shady and cozy. 


I also found some interesting things about the town like for example, it turns out I've got family there in Batan - the Silverio, the Maraingan and the Flogio. My mom used to stay there when she was just a little girl and she even attended grade school in Batan. She had a joyful time reminiscing about her childhood on the way to the church. 


Tomorrow, we plan on returning for the couples' baby's baptismal. The good part is that I won't have to wear a suit for it (I wore a pink one earlier, which was gay but still sexy). After the ceremony, I'll go fishing. 


Yeah. I'm really excited right now I can't even sleep. I am gonna fish me some damn fine carp and eat it too. 


Pepe Out!


† Jofer

Tumbleweeds

One day power outages are both a pain in the ass and a welcomed respite from the usual mechanical days. Because I'm living in an island so close to the equator, it can get really hot out here. Without my electric fans, it does get hot and more than what I'd like. These days, the heat wave is making things so unbearable that my usually short fuse gets even shorter over little things. On the bright side, I do get some time to think quietly in one corner. I also get enough time to read things thoroughly. I feel more, stare at random objects more and have more time and peace to go back to basic writing.

Most of those don't happen though.

By 4:00 pm, I drove to church because I'm a Catholic and it's a Sunday. I also returned that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince VCD I rented from VideoCity but rented the Zodiac movie with Jake Gyllenhaal and Iron Man. It's supposed to be a thriller so I'm expecting to get thrilled out of my seat.

Man, I really need to write something new soon.

Pepe Out!

† Jofer

Progress Okay

I started clearing my desktop yet again. It's not really clearing when you're just rearranging stuff into folders and subfolders but I don't really like deleting my stuff. Maybe when my laptop crashes again and needs reprogramming then maybe that could happen. It's just not me right now. I'm still trying to hold on to most of my literary stuff. Graduating is another level so things will be missed, some forgotten but most cherished.

The clearing virus also spread on deviantART. I just got online again and I cleared several messages and deviation alerts on my inbox. I might submit something new tonight but it all depends if I pass out early.

I'd say today's progress is pretty much decent. I felt lazy and sleepy earlier this afternoon but I had promised to finally buy myself a suit for my graduation so I had to kick myself awake. At first, it was hard since I really wanted to sleep but through positive thinking I made it. Mom, Khalleen and my sister came with me and we had an awesome dinner at Greenwich. Actually, Khalleen's coming over was in no way pre-planned. The house next to theirs got terrorized (don't ask) and she needed to come over for the day since her dad was on a seminar. I was actually out to write this whole day but I couldn't make anything since I had my hands full. Still an awesome day though and I don't regret a thing.

Except maybe my graduation. I have to get a job right after.

Pepe Out!

† Jofer

Things Will Only Get Better

On April this year, an old friend will be meeting up with me and, finally, just me. That means the two of us will spend a day alone. It might not sound newsworthy for anyone else but for me, it's going to be epic!

That goes without saying that this old friend and I have a long history together. I'm not going to elaborate on that so you can keep on guessing on who will it be. She's an amazing writer as well, someone who writes with her heart.

This Friday will be my Finals exam, which means I no longer am bound to my classes further that time. Next month, I'll be graduating. Next year, I'll be employed. You could say, the shift will prove to be exciting for this writer. I'll be extending my stay here in Aklan to fully understand what it means and takes to be a part of this community. It'll be great for my autobiography when I finally publish my bestseller.

With impending changes for the better (hopefully) looming just around the corner, I can't say anything less about it except, "THINGS WILL ONLY GET BETTER". 

† Jofer

Quaint Euphoria

Last night, before I went to bed, I stayed up for a few more hours to finish drafting a poem collection for tomorrow's Valentine event. I asked a few of my writer friends to contribute 1-2 of their best lovey-dovey poems so I can include them in my collection. Of course, credit will always be given.

Earlier today, I ran around town looking for a decent self-publishing deal. I had finished the layout and typed all the poetry up in one okay package so all I needed was to get someone to print them. Luckily, I remembered an older friend who was working at Eagle Publishing. Khalleen and I visited the place and we got our deal. Unfortunately, the output wasn't the same small book (ala ADMU Heights) I had imagined and was instead one of those larger kiddie books in size. It wasn't all bad though as it came out great, albeit not what I expected. At least I now know to draft my stuff on A5 Paper if I plan on publishing them on a small book size.

A few hours from now, Emem Zaldivar will be celebrating her birthday. She's an awesome writer and a greater friend. She was also one of those writer friends who contributed her work to my crappy compilation. She'll be 20 and I intend to be the first to greet her.

Tomorrow, REPLIKA will hold its Valentines Day Special Exhibit of sorts. That was the event where I was planning to showcase my first successful self-published poetry book. Jr Cheng, Khalleen, Xtian Abigail Seraspi and a few other members were with me earlier to fix the venue and we did good.

This summer, I plan to publish a poetry book before I move on with the next chapter of my life. 

Looks like I've done good for this day.

† Jofer

Nostalgia

While we were discussing random things off the top of our heads, Khalleen absentmindedly told me that it must be pretty difficult to be spontaneously thinking. She was referring to how I tend to always space out with varied thoughts and ideas that a regular Joe wouldn't have. She thought it was cute. I think it's just me being a writer.

Before logging on here, I logged on her account and posted three entries - a villanelle I wrote for levelupgames.ph and two literature articles I had previously posted on my Wordpress Blog. Going through the archives of that old place reminded me of memories that made me smile, mostly. Sure, there were bad reminders of how crappy my writing was (and still is, in finer aspects) and how idiotic I can be when it comes to my opinions but the fact that I had been that immersed in literature and that I had enough time to write such entries made me realize that I missed Wordpress in all its sophisticated glory. Blogger's pretty nice and all, it's easier to say the least, but I haven't really written anything related to a single theme or topic.

So I made a resolution,

a.) I go back to Wordpress and start writing about english literature again; or

b.) I continue here, start writing about horror and macabre literature and see if anything works well before the semester ends.

It didn't take me long to decide on the latter. It's a matter of gaining ground and falling in a pit hole that'll traumatize me enough to leave this place. Nostalgia is fun and all but I still don't have a grave reason to leave this place. I just need to reassert my place and thoughts.

† Jofer

Happy Birthday, Sis!

It's my sister's birthday and she hosted a party earlier, inviting most of our cousins and more of her friends, while mom and the maids did all the work preparing the food and drinks. I did nothing too since I was lazy and had work to do. Yes, that's always my excuse for not cooking, not for myself nor for anyone else.

Person: *arrives late at night because of *real* work or something* Jofer, did you cook dinner?

Me: No. Been working.

I swear, if I wasn't lucky and the whole world decided to destroy take-outs and 24 hour food stations, I'd probably die. I'm an okay cook though. I pretty much know the basics like frying stuff or making soups. Living in an apartment for 2 and a half years made me efficient with household chores. Unfortunately, I have deteriorated into a lazy fat man when I got back home so I'm pretty sure those skills are now back to zero.

Anyway, I've successfully and satisfactorily finished writing the first chapter of my new supernatural fiction tentatively titled, "After Dark Club". I say tentatively because I've decided to finish the whole novel/series before I start printing out facts like the title and whether I should publish it on my deviantART or not. I'm leaning towards calling it, "Hell Butterfly", because it sounds cool and the lead character's pretty effeminate to start with. Also, I murdered the would-have-been protagonist and benched him for a tentative five episodes or so because I felt like if I'd continue with two egos in the driver's seat, it'd waste the third male character I have and his romantic issues with the other human. Two supernaturals duking it out for control of the team should be epic but it's not the type of epicness that I need right now.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a cake with my name on it, waiting for me on the dining table. Till then!

† Jofer

Immortality, Cheap!

Zombie Loan has been doing a good job keeping me interested with its amazing storyline and decent characters. It has been a long time since I have been this hooked on a series. I'm not entirely sure but it probably is more because of the fact that I'm still working on something that has the same story elements as the manga. A group of people go on tackling supernatural issues, meeting protagonists and antagonists that are linked with the phenomenon... That kind of stuff. If only I was that good, I'd probably have something interesting by now.

Speaking of that thing I'm currently working on, I'm still halfway through the first chapter. I've told myself that I should have it done by the end of this day since my sister's birthday will be tomorrow. That means I won't have much time for writing.

Parties are so troublesome. You'd have to put on masks and smile through the damn thing, shaking hands with people you never even think about.

Nevertheless, I've always made time for my sister and whatever crap she's into. Tomorrow won't be any different. I just hope I do fulfill my own ultimatum.

† Jofer

What the Hell?

Seriously. I have no idea what I'm doing here. I have a Wordpress account, full of entries exported from an old Calliope blog mixed in with new entries from the said account, and I don't really think I need a new blog. I don't even know what I'm going to do with this one.

Well, call it a whim because it probably is. I've created this account months, maybe even years, ago but I've never used it, obviously. It was just an insurance policy, just in case my Wordpress blows in my face. That never happened so I've never got around to even fiddling with this account. Unfortunately, things took a right turn.

Aaron quit plurk because of blogger and his activity in Multiply had waned. It seemed like he was going to stay in this area of the interwebs for quite some time. Then, another friend of mine and Aaron's beau, Mica moved out here as well because of the sudden overwhelming drama that had occupied the once palatable world of Multiply. I inexplicably got curious with Blogger and soon enough, I found myself wading in the same pool that I've outgrown years ago.

My first foray into the world of blogging was when I was in first year college, back when I was still trying to be a nurse. An old friend and flame, Maxinne, introduced me to the world of exclusive blogging. By exclusive, I mean the kind of blogging experience that a site devout to only blogging could give. There you go. Four times of writing the word "blogging". Exciting, isn't it?


On personal news, I just got home from registering to vote on the upcoming elections. I might be leaning on Dick Gordon's side but I still have to hear from Noli de Castro. ABS-CBN's First Leadership Forum was televised last night and it was pretty entertaining... up until I fell asleep.


On writing news, I've got nothing. I'm still working on that supernatural thriller series involving a pessimist guy and three undead companions. That should be awesome... if I can start with it.


Well, that's that. See you on the next update. On your toes, munchkins!

† Jofer