small wins

for a couple of weeks now, i've been brisk walking. below are my minimums:

- 4 times a week;
- 7 kilometers in 45 minutes per outing;

on top of these, i have eased out from my diet the following: bread, black coffee, juice. as for my war against colas, here's a lowdown: i'm clean since new year!

small wins, yes, but already i feel a bit lighter (water loss? maybe, but i'm getting there.) and my systolic pressure has gone down from 140 to 120.

tago tees for sale

the tees are now available for sale.





buy na!

ingesting poison

willie gave susie a surprise bday party on 28 january at 6:30 pm at the ground floor of goldbar. we connived with willy by buttonholing susie so she would know nothing of the preparation that willie and the goldbar crew did behind her back.

i was filling myself with my favorite poison---crispy lechon skin and sweet chillied crab in thick sauce---when my internist-high-school-batchmate entered and gave me a look that melted away every cholesterol in my heart and uric acid in my joints.

"don't worry; i'm into brisk walking anyway," was all i said.

my curse

i have a confession to make: my greatest curse as a writer is that i can't seem to stop editing my work! just hours after i had submitted the "final" version of my article to Mabuhay yesterday, the print out that i brought home looked like this.



good thing the original deadline's at 3:00 PM today because i still have time to resend it.

done!

i'm happy because i have just emailed the article and the photos to Mabuhay!

ako'y nagsimula

finally today, i have begun brisk walking from tago to crossing victoria and back.

cheers to a healthier and slimmer me! ^_^

Mabuhay update

In my previous post I wrote how difficult it was for me to write about the beauty of Surigao del Sur in just 800 words. I've used a lot of paper and ink for the rewrites before deciding to submit it last Friday, three days ahead of deadline.

I had my reasons: 1) should my article need a rewrite, I still had time to do it before deadline; and 2) I was hoping Mabuhay would like the article, enough to make me expand it.

Then this morning, I got a reply. Here goes:


Hi *insert my name here,*

Thanks for sending them early.

Overall, the article is great; Surigao del Sur is indeed a hidden gem. However, could you kindly make some minor revisions/clarifications to your article? (I realize it's mostly because of the word limit, but you can disregard that for these. ) Here they are:

1. Please rewrite "Three Surigao del Sur's must visit:" into complete introductory sentence/s.
2. What is the "world's smallest bird" mentioned in your article? (I thought it was the Bee Hummingbird, but it seems these are not endemic to the Philippines?)
3. Please include a short closing paragraph to tie everything together.
4. Finally, could you still add a short write-up on Hinatuan's Enchanted River? Jojie has beautiful photos of it, and I thought it would be a pity to leave it out. If so, kindly include the contact person for this as well (if applicable).

Many thanks!


Sincerely,

Manna Marquez
Editorial Coordinator
Mabuhay magazine
Eastgate Publishing Corporation
Tel. +632 633-4004 to 09

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