books and games

For someone who is supposed to be working on a handful of stories (gah, the deadlines draw ever closer), I've been remiss, instead spending time reading and figuring out the intricacies and secrets of Final Fantasy V.

New to my bookshelf are a pair of books by Filipino authors:

The Umbrella Country by Bino Realuyo (such a nice guy, as my email exchange with him attests) - direct from the Netherlands, thanks to Rochita.

Night Mares by Leoncio P. Deriada - direct from Dumaguete, thanks to Ian.

I'm also moving through the strange cities of Leviathan, edited by Forest Aguirre.

But what's really eating up my time is Nikki's Christmas gift, a lovely matte black Gameboy Advance that swallowed me whole and spat me out in the worlds of Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Final Fantasy V and Pokemon Chaos Black.

I remember the last time I had a Gameboy. Nikki and I got each other a Gameboy Color to lessen the tedium of the longhaul flights to the US and back. Even with those we were competitive, connecting each machine to the other via wires - nowadays, it's wireless, of course.

Lost, lost, but loving every moment (and feeling very guilty).