Just got back from afterdinner conversation with the guys at Chili's. Dynatica's comic book project with Jason, Nikki and Armand is truly greenlighted - the horrible part is I volunteered to translate the thing into the vernacular. We'll see just which of my various stands on translation I'll take (which reminds me of a point Jason brought up when Nick Joaquin won a National Book Award for translating old Spanish newspaper columns - do the judges read the original? How do they gauge the faithfulness of the translation to the original text?).

Another secret project is underway, involving high school girls (not what you think). More when it comes to fruition.

Because I wanted to write a children's story set in the provinces, I asked the guys what sort of indigenous toys children played with. I was deluged with responses, some hilarious, some heartfelt and dug deep from memory, some illustrated (damn these artists). So I learned about the stringed shells of Cebu, the flappy wheeled Baguio oil can, woven balls and a whole lot of funky things. Lots of material. ;)