I've never been into the whole Wordless Wednesday scene -- maybe since I usually do have something to say on Wednesdays. But today I found this image on a site called Lady Mac's Musings and for once, no words are required. But, then again, its a Sunday and I'm probably just too lazy to talk about anything. And so, here it is. . .my day, if I were to draw a picture of it:

Goodness, how could I have missed this? Me-an's image tag of me is absolute perfection. A harlequin mask with a stylized butterfly design on one side of its face. No explanation or interpreter needed! That's TWO windows to my soul, as seen by a true friend who's known the best (and worst) of me all these years. Just had to post it here for my own viewing pleasure.

Peachy very kindly answered my last tag and I owe it to her to do the same...two weeks too late! Ah, but better late than never. I agree that this tag is notches above the usual. For one, it made me think a bit, and work a bit. And although these images fail to paint a full and accurate portrait of these individuals, they do provide a tiny window into what makes them special and unique.

So here goes:

1. Choose a search engine.
2. Pick 5 random blogfriends.
3. Think of a word or phrase that describes each friend.
4. Do an image search of that word or phrase.
5. Pick an image to represent your friend - share it.

PEACHY

RONY
ME-AN

JOHANN

ELI

Twice tagged by Rony and Chari.

Name ten of life's simple pleasures that you like most, then pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.

In no particular order:

1. Seeing yellow smileys beside certain people’s names on my YM messenger list.

2. Gliding effortlessly over that once impossible barrier of a bridge between my chest and head tones (after years learning how to master it!).

3. Hearing Rein’s recorded voice alerting me of a new text message.

4. Reading that message which says, "On my way home, hon."

5. Rummaging through tons of books at a booksale and finding a 40-peso copy of Woody Allen’s hilarious “Side Effects”.

6. Psalm 23.

7. Being knee-deep in beloved old photos, letters and scripts.

8. Waking up at 7:30am to a day with no deadlines!

9. Doodling.

10. A good hair day.

Peachy, Me-an, Joel (yes, I know you hate tags...hehe), Issa, Johann, Oliver, Mayen, Topper, Hogi, Leah. Go for it!

The Da Vinci Code copyright infringement case is old news, but its controversial legal proceedings did force the author to reveal his writing secrets--and that is what is of interest to me, in light of his fascinating (if labyrinthian) writing style.

And here let me share part of an article I read recently on the famous Mr. Brown's pulp fiction formula for cracking his own writing code:

"Brown has done a lot of thinking about what makes a successful Dan Brown thriller. He has found that it requires a few essential elements: some kind of shadowy force, like a secret society or government agency; a "big idea" that contains a moral "grey area"; and a treasure. The treasures in Brown's four novels have been a meteorite, anti-matter, a gold ring, and the Holy Grail. The shadowy forces have included the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei, and the National Security Agency. The big idea, if I'm reading him correctly, goes something like this: Is the Vatican good … or is it evil? Is the National Security Agency for us … or is it against us? When all of Brown's elements come together, doled out over cliffhanging chapters, with characters that exist to "move the plot along," it is like mixing the ingredients to make a cake. For example, Deception Point, Brown's third novel, is "a thriller about a meteorite discovered in the Arctic—a discovery that turns out to have profound political ramifications for an impending presidential election."

"Another author might have sneered when asked to lay bare his methodology. Brown, on the other hand, appears eager to reveal every one of the secrets of the pulp novelist: "All my novels are set in 24 hours"; "All of my novels use the concept of a simple hero pulled out of his familiar world"; "I intend to make Robert Langdon my primary character for years to come." My favorite secret is Brown's notion of the "thriller as academic lecture." The trick is to make your characters experts—in Brown's world, they are symbologists, cryptographers, and so forth. Then you pair them with an expert of a different discipline, making it convenient for the experts to essay to one another at some length, in the process spilling all the research you have done for your novel. (The Da Vinci Code contains dozens of loosely connected academic lectures.)

"I was also curious about how Brown named his protagonists. He has heroes ranging from Vittoria Vetra to Susan Fletcher—names that, in the glorious tradition of pulp writing, are either ostentatiously foreign or ridiculously dull. "I named the protagonist Robert Langdon," Brown writes of his Da Vinci and Angels & Demons hero. "I thought it was a fantastic name. It sounds very 'New England' and I like last names with two syllables …"

"One can't help but feel good about Brown's portrayal here. He is his own most fully formed character—the only one not rushing off to foil some dark international conspiracy or another; the only one who is allowed to emerge in a rush of small details. For instance, we learn that Brown's writing day begins at 4 a.m. He writes seven days a week. He keeps an hourglass on his desk and, on the hour, puts aside his manuscript to perform push-ups, sit-ups, and stretches. He does not like to write in the margins of books, but his wife doesn't feel that way. He is invariably delighted by anagrams. (He was extremely delighted to discover that Heide Lange, his literary agent, had a last name could be rearranged to spell "angel.") For a while, Brown sold books out of the back of his car. Some of his recent vacation destinations have included Tahiti, Rome, and the Mayan pyramids at Chichén Itzá. He is not a pack rat. He has thrown away most of the documents from his younger days, especially from his failed songwriting career, because they were "painful reminders of years spent for naught." He wrote the outline for The Da Vinci Code in a laundry room, himself planted in a lawn chair and his manuscript balanced on an ironing board."

(by Bryan Curtis, Slate Magazine, March 22, 2006)

Ok, imagining this phenomenal bestseller being outlined against the humming of its author's spin cycle takes away from the book's mystique somewhat. I admit, I am a bit disillusioned. It was damn good fiction while it lasted.

Oh happy day! Three special people in my life are celebrating their birthdays today. My big sister Patty, my college bud Annie, and of course, the one and only Sofronia!

My sister looks beautiful in blue here...



One of many happy photos of this bunch. Rony and me together with two of our oft-absent best buddies. Yes, WHERE ARE YOU, LANA???



And I am still rummaging around for a nice pic of Annie.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUYS! LOVE YOU ALL!

My own search engine! Look familiar? Hehe. Picked this site up from a couple of friends' blogs. Don't you just love these sites that are totally designed to do nothing but boost your ego? This page is the first sight I see the moment I turn my browser on. Love it.

Ca-RONY-ah...Ca-RONY-ah...

Dunno why I am humming this jingle from that cheesy old nail polish ad. Maybe because I just spent an evening with jetsetting pal Rony and he's looking more and more polished these days. Hehe, cheap pun. No, am just happy to see him again. I've been angsting about how to spend his birthday dinner with him this year (I've never missed a single one of his birthday dinners since that first year we met -- to Bennigan's and beyond!), and was actually contemplating hopping on the first plane to HK just so I wouldn't break the old tradition! But happily, Rony came home himself for a pre-birthday week vacation, and so I had nothing to worry about. We had a great Chinese dinner at Zong at the Fort.

My dear friend looks fat and happy and content, and I couldn't wish for more for him. Although your real birthday is still on the 13th, let me wish you happy tidings in advance! Barry Manilow rocks!



And yes, Rein and I did have some form of noodles during dinner to symbolically partake in your prosperity. Haha.

Mench and me...(ninang! hehe)

Rony's bevy of beauties...

Have a safe flight home, Rony! Mwa!

Checked out my celfone's photo gallery and realized how a moment, no matter how trivial, can be really quite significant to the one who captured it. I'm ready to delete this batch of pics and free up some precious memory space, but I thought I'd first pay tribute to a few captured moments that are significant to perhaps no one but me...


13-year old Cheska Ortega and I clock in some serious bonding time during rehearsals for the Johnson & Johnson's 50th anniversary event. We play mom and daughter. Believable naman, diba? Haha.




My mom-in-law getting some help blowing her birthday candles from granddaughters JanJan and Jayjay at the Pro-Assist office in Makati.




Love this easygoing shot of hubby Rein at our favorite hangout, Charbroiled Burgers, where we spend most of our lazy-to-cook mealtimes.



My favorite flowerpot, which I water every morning. A gluttonous caterpillar recently took up residence in it and literally ate itself out of house and home.

Unfortunately, I grew fond of this caterpillar and started to look forward to the day he would metamorphose into a fabulous butterfly. But he kept eating and eating -- this is what my beloved plant eventually looked like -- until he got too big and fat to hide under the few, remaining leaves. One morning I woke up to find him gone. I suspect my malevolent Maya bird spied him from afar and decided to have a juicy breakfast. The early bird, you know....sigh. (I actually wept and mourned my loss, and am glad I was able to take a picture of it before it went on to that great food plant in the sky. Here he is, circled in red.)

On to happier things. This is adorable Gabo, my friend Sweet Tiongson's baby boy. The next generation of Trumpets is here.

Good friends and great voices -- with fellow sopraninis Elai and Mitch taking a break from our Sound of Trumpets gospel concert at the Shang.

Applause! Applause! But not for us -- all praise and honor and glory go to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here's to the next Sound of Trumpets concert! I love these guys, I swear!