Crap. Something happened and deleted what I just wrote.

Anyway, I was writing about pet peeves. One being people who use search engines to look for "free *insert book name*" and land on my blog. Buy the book. Give the author and the publisher credit. I would probably understand if the book is either 1) out of print (as is the case with some of H.P. Lovecraft), b) extremely expensive (especially those that only come in hardcovers), or c) hard to find. But that's not the case. I see mainstream fiction being searched. I mean these are books I can buy at National Bookstore, and since we're talking about Philippine bookstores, that's not saying much.

Pet peeve number two is Philippine conventions. Most of them are titled "First *insert convention name here*". Why the obsession with first? Some even twiddle with their name just so that it can be considered as first. Maybe it's Filipino mentality. We always want to be the best, and if that's not possible, the first. Or maybe it's because the organizers are mostly run by men and males have a tendency to obsess about being first (Honey, do you mean to say you've done it with someone else? Was he better? Why didn't you save yourself for me? I wanted to be the one.)?

I also wrote this awhile ago and didn't mention it earlier because I was lazy but here it is. Kevin J. Anderson (Dune prequels) is writing the novelization for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

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Wanted: artist who is willing to draw my short-panel comic scripts.

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Is it me for does Garrick have a fetish for animals? Maybe that's why he doesn't go out with women... he prefers bestiality. =P

In other news, I don't delete my emails anymore by pressing "delete". You see the damn Netscape has a bug that my computer resets when I press that button while checking email.

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Cramming my feature story for tomorrow's class is quite exhausting, as usual. After several back-and-forth calls with Elbert, I finally managed to fill the 4-page requirement.

As for the day's events, it seems that a lot of people are conscious about Valentines. People were either pro-Valentines (wearing red), anti-Valentines (wearing black), and others ignoring it on purpose and wearing white for their anti-war sentiments. My crush was wearing red with black stripes...

Dentist appointment was quick and easy but when I got to school, pressure was immediately upon me as I found out there's an "accounting" problem with the org (when I say the org, I refer to Comicol). And people do greet me a Happy Valentines Day (usually after I give them chocolates) and I merely reply with "there's nothing happy about [my] Valentines Day".

Speaking about chocolates, the pack I bought the other day was finished before my first class even began. Had to walk all the way to the supermarket to purchase a new pack for my classmates in Phil. Lit. (a lot of whom were absent) and for my Philo class.

On the better side of things, CCHQ's new stock has arrived. Tin/MM, Cafe Oji #19 is already there and it's the last issue. Saiyuki fans rejoice for Gaiden #1 is already out, priced at P750. Bart told me Ring manga was there but didn't see it on shelf when I was there in the morning.

For the past two years, my crush has been declining me giving her chocolate on Valentines Day. Technically, I'd kill the person who says "the third time's the charm" so I had a backup plan today. Well, she did accept my chocolate without me resorting to the backup plan, which makes me wonder... do I have a chance with her or is it because she treats me as "just a friend"? Not that I'm not content with either place but I want to know where I stand, whether I should still strive for the dream or move on. (How many guys do you know would court the same girl for three years despite ignoring you completely for six months, getting mad at you, etc.?)

Thursday, Feb. 6:

Me: Pustahan tayo magiging sina DG and Oli. (I bet that DG and Oli will become a couple.)

Elbert: Ayaw kong makibagay diyan. (I don't want to get involved.)

Today:

DG: Charles!

Me: Bakit? (Why?)

DG: Kami na ni Oli. (Me and Oli are now a couple.)

Me: Kailan pa? (Since when?)

DG: Nung Tuesday. (Last Tuesday.)

Me: Sabi sa inyo eh. (Told you so.)

Lastly, if there's anything I like more than loaning SF&F books to people, it's loaning them to pretty girls. =P Got to talk with Tracy, as well as with Liana who envies my bookshelf. ^^

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Last night's entry which I didn't get to post...

Just finished watching the Saint Seiya [pirated] DVD Antonio bought for me a couple of months ago. It's the second season (gosh, the first season was 70+ episdoes long) and badly subtitled (although it has Malay and English plus the automatic Chinese subtitles). Of course when I mean bad subtitling, wrong grammer is just the start of it. I mean the main protagonist has been called three names already: Pegasus (the correct one), Unicorn, and Sagitarrius. That's not even counting his "real" name, Seiya, which is subtitled according to the Chinese pronounciation. Then there are rare times when there are no subtitles at all. Times like these, I'm glad I know how to read some Chinese as well as English and Japanese.

Anyway, Saint Seiya's a classic. This late 80s series pioneered the bishonen-group archetype with its cast of handsome young men fighting other gorgeous looking villains. Shurato and Ronin Warriors copied this theme and Saint Seiya's creator would also later make B'T X. Upon reflection, some shouji titles like Saiyuki probably got affected by Saint Seiya as well. And watching it again after some seven years, it's only now I noticed that Saint Seiya follows the "miko" or priestess theme with several "seishi" or guardians protecting her.

Storywise, Saint Seiya is a variant of mythology. The first season had the heroes battling the Zodiac and following the Greek mythology theme. The one I watched is the second season and has them fighting the Asgardian pantheon with villains like Fenrir and Seigfreid. And of course, the opposing side has their own priestess which used to be good but got possessed by the neibulung (which probably influenced Tolkien as well in his creation of The One Ring). I'm impressed with Alan Moore's mishmash of European literature in his comic League of Extraordinary Gentlement (especially with heroes like The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde, and Captain Nemo to name a few). Saint Seiya is probably comparable to that, although you must undestand Saint Seiya is full of testosterone guys duking it out in uh, well, I can't say Dragonball Z fashion since Saint Seiya predates that series.

Back to my "life", CCHQ will hopefully be restocking tomorrow on their Japanese as well as English titles. Guess I'll be broke again. Too bad the people who owe me money can't pay me until the end of the month.

Second, shipped my first package today. Honestly, I don't know how to ship a package, much less a letter. Had Khristine help me. Bought one of those bubble-bags from National Bookstore and sent it to the courier at the 2nd floor of FBR. Unfortunately, I had signed the Fed Ex forms when I realized I was sending the package via Fed Ex (which costs P1400+, twice the price of what I'm actually shipping). Had to cancel it and the lady got annoyed to say the least. She didn't scold me but there's this look on her face. *sigh*

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Time and again, people disappoint me. The saying "beware those bearing gifts" (Trojan War) is applicable to me. I was asking Elbert if he could ask Arnold to sign for me my copy of After Eden since I had class. Carlos volunteers to have Arnold sign it. Foolishly, I agreed. Of course in actuality, that's just an excuse for Carlos to have Arnold sign my copy of After Eden with his (Carlos) name since he left his at home. >.<

Yes, Carlos did buy me a new copy of After Eden for Arnold to sign. He even made a doodle on my poster. =P

Oh, did I mention I met Arnold Arre? ^^

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Came home really really late and brother was using the phone. Here's yesterday's entry:

Despite the fact that I was just in one place today (manning the Comicol booth), I found out how restless I can become staying put. I guess it's an improvement over Monday's activities which involves going back and forth between Ateneo and CCHQ since I had people to meet.

And while there were a lot of pretty girls borrowing comics at the booth, I'm shy, so I didn't introduce myself. Besides, it's my philosophy that if I was meant to know someone, I'll meet that person in the future.

The Theo report today was the worst. Aside from the fact that it dragged on for about an hour (when the allowed maximum was thirty minutes), their handouts were three pages long even when the teacher was asking for only one page. And it was back to back. The Powerpoint was also horrible since the text at the lower portion couldn't be seen since the background was dark blue on black font. Speakers were obviously reading their report (although to their credit, they weren't looking at the screen). And while it was comprehensive, they were just dictating it to us, making us lose interest.

I planned to watch Hero once I got out of school at 4:30 but I ended up arriving at G4 at 6:00 pm because of the wet weather and heavy traffic. Unfortunately, Hero was showing at 6 pm and I wanted to start it from the beginning so I opted for the 8:15 show. That meant getting home late. Of course getting home late was a blessing in disguise since Athene sent me a text message and said she got Arislan #8 for me and I could meet her today.

I was tempted to take a taxi to meet Athene once the movie was finished but thankfully, I decided to commute. When I got to the station, found out the MRT was still open and while I didn't take the last shuttle heading North, it was probably the second to the last. There was even a guy who leaped at the MRT when the doors were closing and the people opposite of me remarked that they never saw someone do something like that except on TV.

Walking to Seattle's Best, saw Aaron and girlfriend (forgot her name, as usual) outside Megamall. They were surprised that I was there up late, and that I'm walking home.

Speaking of walking home, it's not what it used to be. Had to avoid several pitholes since some construction was going on. When it's evening, that's not exactly the best circumstance since you might accidentally fall. At least now I know my leg has recovered even though the wound is still there and hasn't fully healed yet.

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In SF&F news, well, there are good ones and bad ones, depending on how you see it.

Feast of Crows has been indefinitely delayed. Then again, I'd rather wait for a good story to come out than a rushed but disappointing novel. Then again, the prologue will be coming out in a few weeks in Dragon #305 entitled "Arms of the Kraken".

Terry Brook's short story for Legends 2 is done. It's entitled "Indomitable" and features characters from Wishsong of Shannara. Unfortunately, it'll be next year before it's published.

Sci-Fi Channel's "Children of Dune" will be airing on March 16.

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Krip: When you're as old as me, being a writer has its perks. Like I went to Singapore a few days ago for free. I even got a new camera for it. And not to brag but I sold two of my new books that I brought with me.

Class: *applauds*

Krip: I brought three books. Just kidding. Brought 40 copies of each and I only gave away around five. But then again, P110 is cheap to Singaporean currency so...

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Why it'll be "hectic" on Friday:

1) It's the weekend.

2) There's no color coding.

3) It's Valentines Day.

4) It's pay day.

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