I just realized, that I may actually have to learn html coding if my computer at home doesn't get fixed soon. Eeek! The horror! Right now, I'd just like to know how the heck I can make the left gray column a bit wider, and move up the text in it. Why is it all down there??
Hmmm, maybe I should just get back to work. Hehe...
This basic template will have to do for now, until someone (ahem!) finally fixes my computer and loads photoshop and dreamweaver. I kinda like the look though. Nice and simple.
Arrrgh, I can't do much with this dang page from here. So if you came back against your better judgement allow me to set your sights on this beautiful thing.
Lots of nice things are goin on and have happened, but I just feel like the look of this page is so hideous that it's not even worth reading. At least not until my home computer gets fixed and I can get on Dreamweaver to fix this crap up.
Thanks for visiting though. You are much too kind.
I may get my comp. fixed tonite, so hopefully, I'll have some decent things to say tomorrow:)
Talk about the longest days...time seems to slow down here in Texas, even in a supposed "cosmopolitan" city like Dallas. Why do I keep thinking every city is like NYC or even Manila, where getting around is just a matter of hopping on a bus, skipping down to the subway, or hailing a cab. We had to actually call for a yellow taxi cab tonight. Dinner was nice. Have you been to the Grape restaurant in the Greenville area of Dallas? Yummy.
I don't know why I'm up so late, when I'm perfectly aware I have to be out the door by 7:30am.
Thanks for blogging P & M! See you guys soon...*wink wink*
Fridays are funny. Sometimes they are the best day of the week, because they bring the weekend to us. And sometimes they are the longest day. Someone from my past called me at work today, it's funny how people sort of lose touch and find each other again just going about their everyday lives. I never know if I could just never see someone ever again, because it seems as if in the greater order of the universe, you are bound to bump into that person again. I guess that is why it always helps to be diplomatic with everyone!
I'd say "good" lucky, Erna. It's Prachee, another one of Erna's guest bloggers. I am quite the character. Recently, I went on a blind date and I have a couple of pointers for those of you who are planning to go on one in the near future. (Please don't consider me an expert on blind dates, I have only gone on a couple of....dozen. Just kidding!)
1) Never wear red toe nail polish (Apparently it gives the wrong signal) This applies to men and women.
2) Do not go out with someone who has the same last name as you (Even if it means that you'd get to keep your maiden name as your married name) This applies to women only.
3) Only order tea if you go to Starbucks. This applies to everyone who know of a Starbucks within a one-mile radius of where you live or work.
My fellow singles, keep these three vows and all your blind dates will be successful!
I like to keep things short and sweet (because I am both)
Till tomorrow:\\ptth
Hello! This is Margie. For a few days, I will subbing in for Erna.
Oh, the horror!! Whatever will we do? *Sigh*
Actually, I'm a virgin blogger. Yes, my very first time, and so far, it's not half bad.
Really thought it was a complicated thing to do. So, thanks Erna, for opening up the world to me :)
Pretty nervous today...have lots of prepping to do. I start my new job on Monday. You know the feeling...those pre-event jitters that are half nervousness and half excitement. Corny as it sounds, I feel like I'm opening to a brand new chapter in my life. They've all said that 2000 would be the yr. of new beginnings.
For all you expert bloggers, and since Erna left no instructions, how do I add line spaces? This post looks like one big blob...hehehe.
Frantic, frantic is the feeling I'm feeling now. Only 3 hours left to get everything I need done. I'm going away, you see. Grace has disappeared, so I'm going to Texas to search for her.
If you are lucky (I did not specify good or bad, mind you) you will have the honor of a guest blog from my friend, Prachee. She's quite a character.
Though I'm still feeling the energy of last night's performance, I'm too lazy to write up a recap. Let me allow Eileen Tabios, co-editor of Babaylan and hostess of the SRO event give you a taste of the celebration:
Dear Friends,
The East Coast book launching of BABAYLAN was a joy to share with the
supportive and enthusiastic, as well as standing room crowd. Thank you all
for coming--some highlights:
- hearing Kinaray-a spoken out loud (the first time I've personally heard this
language) through the poetry of Mila Geremia-Lachica;
- the devious (and post-modern) take on "Tsismis" by Erna Hernandez, joined by
the stellar actress (background with PETA, among others) Bing Magtoto;
-
looking at Gina Apostol in her retro-ish mini-dress and black boots as she
read a chapter from her novel BIBLIOLEPSY;
- hearing shy Jade Viray Afable (citizen of both Madrid and NY) read one poem,
then silently slip out of the room in an early departure (Nick--it's as if she didn't really exist);
- seeing Corinne Leilani Domingo after two years (?) and fondly recalling her as a young poet submitting to The APA Journal (she's still young but now has emerged as a leading literary light, complete with a Van Lier Literary Award);
- meeting Leslie Ann Hobayan who introduced her poems by wondering whether the
Babaylan reading or her upcoming wedding this Saturday is more nerve-wracking
(congratulations Leslie)...and, of course, Leslie read LOVE poems;
- seeing Cristina Martinez-Juan six months pregnant as she shared her
poems...pregnant with her second child!.
It was also a delight to see Jessica Nepomuceno (one of many other talented
poets not in Babaylan but who could easily help fill up a second volume of
Filipina writing)--I understand she used Babaylan to "teach" her teacher at
Hunter College about the variety of Englishes in the world...
And several men naturally showed up to show their support -- including male
writers Luis Cabalquinto (whose daughter Sofiya is in Babaylan and whom I
thank for bringing me the Philippines' National Book Award trophy;
wow...thanks Manila--that trophy fit in my arms like a baby); Paolo Javier
who brought me into his Tagalog class at NYU earlier in the week to discuss
Asian American and Filipino literature as well as poetry...and I was glad to
see many of his class members return for the reading; Eric Gamalinda who's
about to leave for a 4-month stay in a French colony; Luis Francia who
introduced me (and many Fil-Ams) to the first comprehensive look at Filipino
literature through his groundbreaing anthology Brown River, White Ocean;
wonderful New York-based poet Joseph Legazpi (another poet to watch!); Bino
Realuyo who set up dinner afterwards at Korean restaurant (Bino, I hope that
wasn't one of your normal haunts as our crowd totally flabbergasted the poor
waitress); and more.
I am delighted Babaylan opened the season for AAWW at their new loft
space--thanks Quang, Anantha and Jeannie for a superb job, as always. Be
sure to restock Babaylan in the shelves as -- something I don't mind
repeating here again -- Babaylan should be a favored Holiday present to give
to loved ones this coming Christmas (okay...give it to "enemies" as well to
convert them to Filipina literature).
Livia Tenzer was present to represent our publisher Aunt Lute Books...once
more, thanks to Auntie Lutie for your support.
Each Babaylan event continues to be special and unique...I look forward to
sharing more in the coming months ahead.
Finally saw my "sistah" Miss Farah Montesa after months of being MIA, another Babaylan contributor and budding poet. She just found out about it a few weeks ago. Little did she know that I was bragging about her contribution to our shared adoptive loony family back in Manila. Hehe...
I'll link some of the writers mentioned above later, so you can see the incredible works they have done.
Thanks Lotus Man aka Permalink Sensei. I hope it works now. If I could only start that archives section for past months...well, it will happen one day when my computer is operational again...
I get to sing tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to it. We had a four week "vacation" but I missed being able to play the keys and sing each Sunday.
I have nothing really interesting to say so I think I'll spare you a boring report of today's activities. Other than the fact that we played tennis, sorta, if you count hitting tennis balls against a school wall. I think it's the most athletic I've been all year. I actually sweat. I think I've got a good strong arm. Hitting those tennis balls, helped get all that pent up aggression out. Heheh. Aaack! Boring! I hope I have something better to share tomorrow.
I swear I think there's a secret contest going on here on who can make the most unrealistic demands, everyone needs stuff yesterday...today's "charge" word seems to be, "Oh ERNA!!"
I am a dork. Inspired by Mr. Flower's email a while ago, I attempted to add permalinks to my blog, but I don't think I did it right, but I don't know how to check if its right. Help a dork out, why don't ya?
There is this thing I like to tell people every so often, when the time is appropriate. Have you ever discovered something that's so amazing, so new, righ in your own backyard? It's that feeling of new-ness (word?) something you usually only experience when you visit someplace new, usually somewhere far far away from your backyard. I call it "expansion of universe."
Like when you've lived in your hometown for so long, you think you know everything about it, (everything that counts anyway) and you have this feeling of stagnancy, feeling trapped. Suddenly, like a saving grace, as if someone up there actually heard you but just didn't have the cash to send you plane tickets to Anywhere But Here, you discover something new in what feels like you're own backyard.
Like last week, I met a guy who didn't even know Koreatown in NYC even existed! Or B., who had never seen the pretty houses in the outskirts of Queens (Queens??). I like to say to them, "Your universe has just been expanded." I guess you can call it a personal philosophy of mine, and at times the hope of that happening is my only way of keeping sane. I don't remember where I read about it, or first thought about it, but I like seeing others experience it, I sometimes feel like Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island at that definitive moment of a visitor's stay, "My friend, your universe has just been expanded."
If you asked you asked me where my favorite place to shop was, it wouldn't me the Gap, nor Macy's, nor the local mall. No, my friends, it would be Tutuban, a flea market type place where you could get anything you really wanted or needed for less than you even dreamed of buying it for. I wanted to find a link to give you an idea of what kind of place it was but this was all I could find. For me, shopping (when it comes to clothes at least) is a very calculated hunt. I like to go to a place, with an idea of what I want, get it and get out. I would ideally not like to spend more than 15 min in any store I go into. Now when it comes to bookstores on the otherhand, you can leave me in one in the morning, and I would probably find some way to entertain myself for most of that day. Especially if its a good bookstore like Shakespeare and Co. or St. Marks' bookstore, though I would be quite content at a Barnes and Noble.
