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UNDANG and MILENYO

September 30th, 2006 by charlottedianco

I was in elementary when BAGYO UNDANG hit our province. It was one of those terrible times. The typhoon destroyed almost everything around us– trees, roofs, houses, fields- it was a devastating sight. We had no electricity for almost two months. And since our business that time was a sari-sari store with ice and ice candy (we were producing thousands of ice candies everyday)– things were really difficult back then. Or so I thought.

We spent our days studying and reading books while we found ways to spend our dark nights. Without any television nor any form of electronic entertainment, we (my family and I) would spend our nights telling stories, talking to neighbors, playing in the streets and most of the time, watching the stars. Sometimes my brothers would even recycle candles so that we’d have light at night. We learned to live life in the simplest form. Our power supply resumed that year on Christmas eve.

Last Thursday- September 28, 2006, Typhoon Milenyo hit Manila– Signal 3. The rain was like a roaring tiger and the wind was like a whip lash- it was horrible. The whole city was in the dark (for days now). While some people I know were really affected, I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Nevermind that there was no electricity and the landline had no dial tone– I was thinking the whole time– "hey, we survived through Undang, and I was just a child back then- how much more now that I’m an adult!"

And so we went back to the barrio basics. Since there was no electricity, we had to use the old-fashioned Kerosine Lamp ala-Basilio and Crispin era. For cooking, we had to use Kerosine stove (I normally use electric stove). There was no TV, no internet, no DVD. Yes, for two days and two nights, we lived like barrio folks. And it was relaxing actually. I suddenly miss home- especially when I heard children playing patintero outside the apartment and my neighbors talking. It was like being back in the province– back in the post-Undang days (and nights).

When we finally had our electricity back last night, I felt a portion of sadness inside my heart. It was like saying goodbye to some memories. And now that everything is slowly going back to normal, it’s time to move on. 

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Come To Think Of It

September 19th, 2006 by charlottedianco

Last night, I finally met the great Carlo J. Caparas– the novelist-script writer-director-producer who influenced me to write stories (been reading his work since I was a kid). It was an overwhelming experience, especially when he and wife Donna Villa (actress-producer) entertained me like we’ve known each other forever. They welcomed me into their fabulous mansion and shared a lot of wonderful stories. I cannot go into details because I still have to submit my exclusive interview to my editor, hahaha.

Thing is, when I left their home (at 130 in the morning!!!), I was floating. It was like being charged with so many positive energy. My conversation with Direk Carlo strengthened my passion to continue writing and Miss Donna adviced me fight for the things that I really like and to follow my heart no matter what.

So what if I’m not as rich as the Ayalas, the Sys and the Gokongweis. And yes, I live in a small apartment- not in Forbes but in Cubao. I don’t have a fancy car and my DVD (damn!) is broken.

But I do what I love most. I write. I am a creative writer. And a creative writer is like playing God. I create characters and situations. I can be anything. I can go to all the places that I dream of. And I take my readers to a literary journey. I can even kill people without going to jail (I can use my enemy’s names and give them pathetic roles in my stories, hahaha!).

At the end of the day, I realized that success really isn’t about fame and fortune, but about fulfillment. :)

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Looking Back

September 17th, 2006 by charlottedianco

Today is an important day. I will finally meet (and interview) the person- who in a way- inspired and played a vital role in my life and molded my thoughts. 

They say that what we are now is a product of our past and childhood experiences. Yes, this is so true.

I grew up reading. My grandfather- who was then a lawyer/Judge and my grandmother- who was a public school teacher- showered me with books of all sort. My parents- who married young- are into movies and so, before I could even walk and talk, I was already a regular visitor of our local theaters in the province. It was our household helpers and yaya’s who introduced me into the wonderful world of KOMIKS– yes- komiks is the famous form of literary entertainment in the 70’s and 80’s. At a time when kids were not allowed to read komiks (only textbooks and approved reading materials), I spent summer afternoons with all the famous characters in the komiks land. I shared their adventures, sadness and triumphs. In school, I was often caught drawing my favorite characters and creating my own komik scripts with my own illustrations. And since many novels were turned into movies, I became fascinated with films as well. I learned to go to movie houses on my own at the age of 9 (movie houses were two blocks away from home and most of the ‘bantays’ are neighbors who knew me). And at a time when most kids in my class were struggling with tagalog terms (we have our own dialect in the province), I was already using words like salvage, timbog, todas, masaker– terms that I learned from reading komiks. And because of all the fantasy stories that I read from komiks, it made me believe in a lot of things. I learned that there is no such thing as impossible in life.

Today, whenever people would ask why or how I became a writer, I always tell them that I owe it to the people who created the wonderful world of komiks. Not only did it developed my reading skills, it developed my creativity and my faith in myself.

And later, I will be face to face with one of the greatest novelists and ICON of Philippine komiks and legend. I will definitely have our photo taken, hahahaha!

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Bottled Thoughts

September 16th, 2006 by charlottedianco

I’ve been meaning to update my blog site and pour my thoughts– but human that I am, I’ve been having some time management issues lately. And after endless nights of tossing and turning, I realized I need to do some career mapping and prioritize the things that really matter. Unless Hermione would lend me her famous time-turning pendant, then I could do a zillion stuff all at the same time.

I keep thinking– what have I done the past months? Hmmmm…. Aside from the fact that I interviewed a lot of movie stars and met several international hot shots (including The MOFFATS- face to face with WESTLIFE and the whole cast of QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY) , I also visited celebrity homes and several resorts. Oh yeah, I’ve been writing left and right, trying to beat the deadlines of 2 weekly magazines and I already finished 2 stories for 2 digital films. And the great news is– the actor who’s going to play the lead role had already been informed and he’s willing to do it! Oh gosh, this is it.

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