tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57072832024-03-07T17:05:57.577+08:00irreverence and irrelevance from a smart, sexy, Filipina writer, grammarian, trivia buff, comic book creator, compulsive reader, gamer, wife, and momNikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comBlogger368125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1158299597226913972006-09-15T13:43:00.000+08:002006-09-15T13:55:57.296+08:00

bibliobibuli: "There are those who become drunk on books, as on wine or similar intoxicants."--from Jeffrey Kacirk's Forgotten EnglishBy the way, for the kind people who've expressed interest in my play, you can find it and the really much better stuff that won the Palancas here, thanks to the redoubtable Ian.Thanks to Banzai Cat and all the other terrific folk who congratulated me on the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1157000082014764742006-08-31T12:34:00.000+08:002006-08-31T12:54:42.026+08:00

August has been an extremely lucky month for me. I'm getting my second Palanca tomorrow night (Yippee!); have received confirmation that seven of my stories and one comics script have been accepted for publication in various, um, publications; am going off today to see if the publication I was in last year (Dean's Philippine Spec Fic vol. 1) will win a National Book Award (We're hoping for the

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1156308242002476202006-08-23T12:32:00.000+08:002006-08-23T12:44:02.016+08:00

Received a stunning 36 incidences of spam today, all on the same topic.Listen, spammers, there is nothing wrong with my erection, okay? Geez.Speaking of Dr. Seuss (if you didn't get the title reference, you are clearly the victim of a deprived childhood), I splurged and got Sage the hardbound Seuss collection over at Fully Booked. It may seem pricey at around P1,700, but considering that your

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1156224305446997012006-08-22T13:03:00.000+08:002006-08-22T13:30:29.300+08:00

Okay, one of the reasons I haven't been posting is that I'm no longer pleased with the look of the blog--it was designed to accommodate a side blog, but now it looks like the folks at sideblog.com have shut down, so now there's no point in the three-column layout, which irritates me, but I don't have enough time for a proper redesign. Urgh.On a happier note, my short story, Heritage, has been

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1154657684262300382006-08-04T10:14:00.000+08:002006-08-04T10:16:24.686+08:00

Yes, I know it's been a long while.I'll be back eventually; but for now, Sage, at least, is blogging again.Check out her latest entry here.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1149565238888655772006-06-06T11:19:00.000+08:002006-06-06T17:15:48.250+08:00

Last night, my husband and I were watching House, the medical drama that focuses on the brilliant but infuriating, eponymously named Dr. House. The featured illness for the episode was Multiple Sclerosis, which you may or may not know is a progressive disease that attacks the nervous system, compromising mental and physical ability, sometimes to the point where the patient cannot speak, walk, or

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1149048060935304452006-05-31T11:58:00.000+08:002006-05-31T12:03:07.510+08:00

adapted from the Visayan folktaleThe king of all the animals was very tired one evening and wanted to rest. But he could not sleep because he kept hearing the high-pitched, croaking laughter of his frog guards outside his chamber. Enraged, he summoned his guards and ordered them put to death in front of him.“But sire,” protested the frogs, “it was only because we saw the snail crawling by,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1145599496758316682006-04-21T14:02:00.000+08:002006-04-21T14:04:56.766+08:00

Because people keep asking me about it, I’ve decided to put up a sort of online crash course on copywriting. This will be a series, published weekly or, you know, whenever I happen to feel like it.So just what is copywriting?You probably know the textbook definition, but I’ll paraphrase it anyway: copywriting is the development of text and concept for the purpose of advertising, marketing, and/or

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1145337214058361472006-04-18T13:06:00.000+08:002006-04-18T13:13:34.073+08:00

Whoopee! Vin has selected my submission as the opening story for his dragon anthology; I'm just tickled persimmon (which, you know, is kind of like "pink", but more intense). Here's the first few hundred words of the story.AFTER LIVING A year and a day atop the Glass Mountain, Mariska determined that the time had come to return to the village she had left behind, and even to the people who had

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1145268430348850252006-04-17T17:53:00.000+08:002006-04-17T18:07:10.753+08:00

I've changed my email address because I'm sick of the spam: no, my love life does not need a boost; no, I am not interested in low cost, high quality stock; no, I am not drowning under the weight of my mortgage (and even if I were, your mixed metaphor would ensure that I do not turn to you, you illiterate spammer, you); and no, my penis does not require enhancement.Anyway, if you happen to have

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1143616216673152402006-03-29T15:07:00.000+08:002006-03-29T15:10:16.676+08:00

I’ve been blog-silent for over a month. So look, in order to prevent this sort of thing from recurring, here’s what I need you to say to me next December, when clients start offering me their annual reports and sundry projects for the first quarter of the coming year. You will know it’s time to speak up when you see visions of peso signs dancing over my head, in lieu of the seasonal sugar

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1143615919151631582006-03-29T14:55:00.000+08:002006-03-29T15:05:19.166+08:00

Sage turned four and I turned thirty-three. My birthday has mysteriously been going on for over a month now, with Husband showering me with a plethora of presents that culminated in an iPod with video last week. Isn’t he just the bestest? Among other things, he also gave me a new worktable and a hardcover edition of Matt Wagner’s Mage: the Hero Defined.Which is why I’m treating myself to a

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1139123361513113932006-02-05T14:26:00.000+08:002006-02-05T15:10:14.683+08:00

Sage's fourth birthday is rolling around on February 14th, and we are having the usual party for her on the 18th (because we are not delusional enough to expect people to actually show up on a Tuesday which also happens to be Valentine's day!) That'll be a day before my birthday as well, so it will sort of be a joint celebration. I say "sort of" because, you know, a Disney Princess costume party

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1138856969496978102006-02-02T13:04:00.000+08:002006-02-02T13:09:29.510+08:00

My friend Jaime (I pronounce it "Jamie", but spell it the Irish way) has a blog! He is a publisher, an accomplished writer/artist, a superlative singer, and, to me, the very definition of the word "amiable". Check out his Small Slice of Life.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1138686512736186372006-01-31T13:43:00.000+08:002006-01-31T13:48:32.750+08:00

(part four of a four-part short story)“How long did you think you could conceal her nature beneath a fountain?” the leader asked Madame Astranzia contemptuously, even as he viciously kicked in the door to the Vermilion Room, the lovers’ haven of choice for that evening.The normally-genteel doyenne bristled with outrage as she replied, “You are mistaken, I assure you; and you will regret this

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1138166809583861862006-01-25T12:59:00.000+08:002006-01-25T13:26:49.703+08:00

The wonderful people over at Our Own Voice have decided to publish my short story, Heritage, previously seen in this here blog. Gracious editor Reme just emailed me out of the blue--which is probably the absolute best way I have ever gotten any work of mine published, because I didn't have to write anything new, and I didn't have to go through the anxiety of wondering whether my submission would

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1138076327966453642006-01-24T12:14:00.000+08:002006-01-24T12:21:09.110+08:00

(part three of a four-part short story)“I love you,” Nicolas said to Sorrow, as they lay in the starlit dark of the Ebon Room, the sourceless chirping of crickets becoming audible once more in the aftermath of their first time together. He was fresh from yet another victory at the front then, and nearly swaggering with it before he first caught speechless sight of her in her fountain-pool,

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137995555594662762006-01-23T13:48:00.000+08:002006-01-23T13:53:49.403+08:00

I don't usually do the quiz thing, but I spotted this one over at Alex's, and the result was just too funny for me not to post.Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.comCue earthquake-calamity footage with Twin Peaks soundtrack.

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137655939292009722006-01-19T14:45:00.000+08:002006-01-19T15:36:08.066+08:00

...If you trust in yourself... and believe in your dreams... and follow your star...""Yes?""... you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.--The Wee Free Men, Terry PratchettThis is probably the smartest thing I have ever read in a written work meant for young audiences. Mr. Pratchett is so much "my man Terry" because he's never

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137653043584244472006-01-19T14:35:00.000+08:002006-01-19T15:38:52.966+08:00

Because, among myriad other reasons, Dean has seen fit to order us up a DSL connection that at last saves me from the agony and frustration of dial-up--and saves you, fellow blogger, from my unjust ire when I have spent seventy years patiently waiting for your blog to load only to learn that you have posted nothing new.(Note that I am hardly innocent of this crime myself; but I did say "unjust",

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137480319882883542006-01-17T14:38:00.000+08:002006-01-17T14:45:19.886+08:00

(part two of a four-part short story)Here, atop an irysk-fur rug mottled a pleasing indigo and cream, was strewn a sultan’s ransom of pillows hand-stitched by the otherwise-violent desert tribeswomen of the distant South; each pillow encrusted with semiprecious gems and thread of silver and gold, yet soft to the touch as the skin of the aptly-named courtesan Velvet, who hailed from that region

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137121201500324392006-01-13T10:27:00.000+08:002006-01-14T13:03:55.866+08:00

Yes, I know this is a tad belated. Blame it on the jet lag.1. Lose the seven pounds I gained over the holidays. Stupid American-sized food portions. Now I utterly have to do this or risk no longer being able to slip my calves into my sexy new black boots. Will go back on the diet next week (because the mango cream pie someone gave us prevents my doing it now!); am up to 60 ab crunches a day, and

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1137058394774746582006-01-12T17:31:00.000+08:002006-01-12T17:38:35.963+08:00

Okay, this is for my friend Gigi, who wanted to know if she should know about “anything blog-related beyond posting or simple design”. Now I happen to think everyone should know about keywords, but not many people do. So here we go…Quite simply, the “keywords” meta tag* allows web spiders** to find your site. (If that sentence didn’t seem “simple” to you at all, zip down to the bottom of this

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1136846612764269822006-01-10T06:35:00.000+08:002006-01-10T07:00:09.943+08:00

(part one of a four-part short story)You must understand that all of this occurred some thirteen years ago, when I was young still and the Empire had but newly begun its campaign to rid the realm of the Wildness.We were told—and not without foundation—that the Wild represented a threat to the ongoing unification of the realm, dispersed as they were throughout the lands, yet uncontrolled by any

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5707283.post-1136483891460777152006-01-06T01:16:00.000+08:002006-01-06T12:36:03.826+08:00

...from our two-week sojourn in Florida, visiting my mom, stepdad, brother, and sister-in-law for the holidays. We generally had a hell of a time, though mostly all we did was shop* (which I'm sure my friend Gigi would agree does indeed constitute "a hell of a time"). We did manage to find time to go to a few parties, and visit the nearby (in Florida terms, that is) Alligator Farm. Contrary to

Nikkihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08859864566677329466noreply@blogger.com