IT PAYS

WHILE WAITING for the things that needs to be waited upon (green card, irish visa, agent feedback) i wrote a shitload of radio ads and saw a shitload of films. the radio ads were just that, radio ads. but the films were another thing entirely.

 

I SCOURED the web for titles that made it into the festival circuit (berlin, cannes, fright fest, fantasia, sundance, etc) and saw quirky norwegian, mind-boggling french, gory korean, girtty brazillian, and out of the many titles, the spanish “mientras duermes” (marketed in the english speaking world as “sleep tight”) grabbed me like mother. it is up there with “the perfect host” that the missus and i saw last year via cable on demand.

 

OVER BREAKFAST, i wondered why both films seemed perfect to me and the answer came not soon after. and it is because it conforms with my own aesthetic. i won’t explain so as not to spoil the films, but if you have the time and the torrent, please do watch both.

 

 

 

PERMANENT RESIDENT

AND SO the green card arrives and truth be told, things don’t feel any different. although the word “permanent” connotes some sense of just exactly that, permanence, and still i feel ambivalent about the whole thing. at least travel won’t be as hectic as it used to be, visa-wise.

A BIG thanks but no thanks to one corrupt cardiologist devoid of any bedside manner whatsoever at makati med who, because he sent me to a battery of very expensive yet very inconclusive tests, we missed the canada deadline. imagine if this motherfucker, doctor gary something, is an upright fellow and did what he has to do and just sent me on the merry way to toronto with just a note of my heart condition. we would have been fucked big time today. imagine having the same citizenship as justin beiber. so things all work out in the end. it should be noted that this doctor gary something (forgot the surname no matter how i tried) is the family doctor of the arroyos and look at the state of health of these corrupt couple. i shudder at the thought thinking of all the tests that i have undergone, all for naught. and every time i leave his antediluvian office, there is always another person sent by the canadian embassy who is languishing by the waiting area instead of being approved, being told to undergo more tests so can get his commission from the labs. this despite the well documented fact that people undergoing quadruple bipass surgery are being flown by plane every single time. so thanks but no thanks.

NOW ALL we need are the passports from the irish embassy and this year will start to really rock. oh, there’s the responses from the agents too that i still have to suffer through but it’s okay. as the old ones say, it is getting your first rejection that you become a writer. although i am hoping for an acceptance, this early in the game.

A RADIO ad revision beckons. i have to earn some moolah for drinking money once i go back to manila, hopefully this december after europa.

HELLO FROM

a newly repaired macbook.

 

JUST GOT the macbook from the doctors at the apple fifth avenue store where the lcd was replaced. and with it, the case and the keyboard where also replaced free of charge. now it feels like a brand new macbook with how clear the brand new lcd looks and how smudge-free the keyboard is. the repair took two days despite the five days they have told me. so huzzah.

 

AT THE apple store, joy wanted to buy me an iPad but i was able to resist at the last second. maybe by the the time we buy our tickets to europe. she also wanted me to have a new macbook pro when the lcd conked out but i just see no point in getting a new one when this works. and now that this black macbook is getting phased out, all the more reason i want to keep this. maybe two more written novels on this laptop before i get a new one.

 

WITHIN THE week, we are set to receive the european visa as well as the gr33nc4rd, so that’s double the good news. the only thing that could top this is getting a positive letter from my prospective agent. that would really rule.

QUERY SUBMITTED

SENT TWO mails to the literary agents today with the first chapter of the book. it should reach their destinations by wednesday next week and i hope to receive a response by two more weeks. i am praying that it be a request for the rest of the chapters, that would really rule.

 

IN THE meantime, i reread the entire thing again and then try to help with the packing.

JACK AND JITTERY

TIRED FROM both the packing and the editing and yet i can’t sleep. i have never been this nervous before. tomorrow, i will buy a lot of envelopes and stamps and print the first chapter of novel number two codenamed “a ransom for many” and then ready two copies for agent submission this saturday. thank god that the post office is open on saturdays.

 

I HAVE never done this thing before and i am really scared as to what will happen after the first chapter goes out of my hands. but as they say, no broken eggs means no omelette. i could only wish writing is not this lonely a process. all i have for company in this agitating times is glass of jack, neat. at this point all i can do is hope that an agent notices what i have written and request for the full manuscript, preferably before we leave for europe.

 

ALL MY books are packed with some of our winter gear. tomorrow, we buy more boxes and vacuum bags from home depot. this will be one of the weekends that we will lose. so far, i am giving up the tribeca film festival party, an avengers screening, and a mets game.  but i am not complaining. getting to europe for free is absolutely worth it. i just wish we have more time.

 

A THING to note. the building has now installed a new washing and drying machines that texts you when your laundry is done. how cool is that?

TWO MORE

scenes before i finish the proofreading and then proceed to the cutting. editing twenty thousand words out of the manuscript is a bit scary but if that is what it would take, i am willing to do it. hopefully, i can start the trimming of the fats this weekend so i could at least make it to my self-imposed submission deadline.

 

THERE IS an arthouse cinema in dublin where there is a bar at the lobby and you can bring your beer to your seat. what is not to love?

 

OPENED MY facebook account so i can message a friend in amsterdam and the same bullshit is on. there is just no redemption for the site.

 

WE HAVE around two weeks to pack out shit up before we fly to europa. huzzah!

THE CUTTING

I HAVE rearranged the dining table by making space for me to sit so that i could face the window as i attempt to trim off 20, 000 words over the manuscript and catch grammatical lapses in the process. some say that this is a tedious process but just seeing the heft of the printed words excites me. maybe i am just a youngling in this game but i really love everything in this writing life, even the mechanical ones like editing and submitting.

 

FIRST COFFEE, and then i pick up the red pen and do the cutting. no excuses. kill all your darlings.

 

EUROPA! EUROPA!

AND SO joy’s work permit arrives and all we need to do is to appear at the irish embassy and have our pasaportes stamped so we can fly out of new york for the summer. we’ll be gone for around six months, just in time for me to at least write half a novel, based on the predicate that i at least get agented before we leave. that would really rule. one thing that would also rule is getting that green card so we can hop on and off all over europe. amsterdam (weed!) and prague (books), here we come. tomorrow we devote the entire day to church, laundry and paperwork. i will also collate all NYtimes articles i could find online on top of the lonely planet guide i am buying.

 

THE TRIP will definitely affect the submission timeline giving me no choice but to trim the novel in one week and submit it the following week. at least madam rica and sir JC has now a new york address where i can forward the correspondences. so it’s a bit of mission impossible to submit in two weeks but i really have no choice. the next novel is raring to be written down and i have promised not to do that unless i have sold this one.

 

MOTIVATION IF and when this gets sold: i will buy an iPad, a moscot frame, and a hundred dollar cabernet sauvignon.

 

ONE MORE motivation is that i also promised myself to get a job at uniqlo if this does not get sold and having spent almost two weeks at the festival, i don’t think i can stand for the whole day and do small talk. it’s not the standing but the small talking. the thing is that there is the level of “appropriateness” that must be observed. there are no “oversharing” of information. this means, that the more exciting topics like sex and drugs and rock and roll are prohibited. the work environment of this great nation is as bland as their food. the culprit is of course litigation and it seems that the logical thing to do is to rather be square than be colorful.

 

 

TWO THOUGHTS

JUST WOKE up from my reverse siesta and as i stared at the ceiling, two things occured to me before i got up:

THOUGHT ONE:

we are at the phase in human history where almost everyone is involved in the fleeting. it is the one thing that is being celebrated right now. a lot of time, money, and brain power is being devoted to do something fleeting as if there is a race as to who could produced the fastest-disappearing product ever. while our forebears did their best build something that would last, we are doing the opposite. just take a look at the app store. being a flash in the pan is the goal of all the apps. no one wants to be immortal by their toil anymore.

me, i am doing it old school. i am building something with my own brain and hands and having that fucker preserved for all eternity. it is called writing stories. i’ve said it before and i will say it again. i will never discover the cure for AIDS, be rich enough to have a foundation to my name, or be corrupt enough to be the next leader of a nation. but i can write.

THOUGHT TWO:

since august last year, facebook page views dropped by 54 per cent. yes, 54 percent. other fact worth nothing: 99.95 per cent of facebook ads do not get clicked on (and i’m betting that the negligible clicks come from either the client or the agency, if not, there is always the accidental click that occurs randomly from faulty trackpads and mice). then there is facebook engagement rate of less than .5 of 1 percent.

now, if facebook’s value of a gazillion billion dollars is built on ads, you decide what is the next logical progression, say, a year from now, when it is becomes a public company with real money involved.

SO THE common thing among us volunteers is to ask each other what movies have we seen already from the entire festival menu. and out of the ones that i have talked to, the answer is “replicas”, a canadian film marketed as domestic invasion. luckily i was able to secure two tickets before it went into the rush lines this saturday.

FILMS SEEN

OUT OF the 3 films i plan to see from the tribeca film fest, i was able to see two already. that would be “headshot” from thailand and “jackpot” from norway, both scored during the 9.15  PM rush line, 10 PM screening. “graceland” from USA/philippines i am sure to  miss due to schedule conflicts so i might go to “everyman’s journey” from the philippines and sing with the rest of the pinoys in the audience.

 

WHAT IS worth lining up for is the director Q & A after the screenings where half the films story are brought to life, story-wise and production-wise. the thai director is very funny without any effort. also very polite as thai people are.

one question that stood out is this: are you trying to say something about thai society with this film with its subject matter of corruption, prostitution, buddhism?

answer: if you live in my country, these things, corruption, prostitution, buddhism, they exist side by side. so it’s fun. i’m not trying to say something, i just say it like it is.

 

HIS DISPLAY of humor started with the very quick intro: this is a thai film and so all characters will be speaking in thai. but don’t worry, there are subtitles.

another question: have you found a distributor?

answer: yes i have. but if you are willing to offer a higher price…

 

FOR THE norwegian film, the director brought the lead star with him, a stage actor turned film actor who now does comedy. he kind of stole the show, but the director was cool too. most of the cultural humor was explained about norway and sweden. the script development was also highly discussed with the film being based on a jo nesbo story purposely written for film. the director has to sort of clear the shooting script with the famous writer   and one could only imagine the pressure.

 

ABOUT CREW duty, i have learned that standing from 1.30 to 7.30 PM brings body pain. body pain across all points of articulation and not just on the legs. also rehydration is a must.  but it is fun. doubly fun is being on the walkie-talkie where i can hear what is happening behind the scenes. like who’s the latest celebrity arriving in a few minutes, or why is somebody going ballistics at theater 2. there’s a lot more things but i signed a confidentiality clause.

 

NOW I write my author’s bio for that UP press anthology and then cook pancit for breakfast.