birthday boys

The gang held a very very very extended party for Vin and Carl, who celebrated their birthdays jointly. The afternoon and evening was spent at Linden Suites (where Vin booked a huge suite) watching DVDs (Fawlty Towers, for example), eating a lot of food (and I mean a lot - lechon manok, seafood noodles, crispy pata, steamed oysters, brazo de mercedes, and a ton of good things to drink and munch on), playing games (Cranium, of course, and Apples to Apples, plus a variety of games for the Gamecube), and endless conversation about life, writing and whatnot.

In what has become a kind of tradition for our group, we just rent a room, bring stuff to eat and play, and spend the night doing all sorts of things.

Marco "Madman" Dimaano, Ralph "The Boy" Tan, Jason "Boy Dynatica" Banico, Camille "I luv Denny's" Portugal, Dino "Devilspawn" Yu, Noel "Flim" Lim, Nikki "What a Gal" Alfar and myself were among the early arrivals, dazzled by the variety of entertainment options (including the pool, gym and sauna). Of course, we were all delighted by the appearance of one of favorite couples Arnold "Cyn's" Arre and Cynthia "Arn's" Bauzon. At last, we were complete and were able to play a round of Cranium. Highlights included Arn's hilarious portrayals of Woody Allen and Bogart, Cyn's inspired clay T-Rex (she molded the letter "T" - what a sneak), and the Alfars and Jason being stumped by the definition of the word "immanent" (embarrasingly, we confused it with the shades of meaning of "imminent").

The best part was simply being together as a large group again, and being able to talk briefly about the creative things we're coming up with. Everyone has committed to four-pagers for Ab Ovo #2, which should be a beaut.

So thanks and happy birthday to Vin and Carl!


smart little girl

Bear in mind that Sage is only 11 months old, okay?

Today, she carefully pulled the huge diaper pack from the table, knowing it was quite heavy. She then carried it to Nikki who just smiled and put the diaper pack on the floor. Sage then picked it up again and handed it to her mother with some urgency.

This time, Nikki accepted it and checked the diaper Sage was wearing. She was wet.

And knew she had to be changed!

What a clever child.


hinirang: the roleplaying game

Nikki and I had a great meeting with Alex and Jay (and Jacob), the guys who are going to bravely create an RPG with Hinirang as a setting.

They came prepared with a discussion outline, and I was happy to oblige with various details about almost everything. What I like about them is their respect for the setting and the stories we tell. I could see that the genesis of something exciting was right before my eyes.

I start posting details of how the game develops, but for now, we all have an idea of how massive the project is going to be.

I, for one, cannot wait to playtest it. I'm thinking of a loooong campaign that involves one of the lost Tres Hermanas, the manculam Ai'ai'sin and a group of explorers who stumble into the complex machinations of the Circulo Ultima.