Met with Paul, Maan, Lord, Park, and Jessica in Makati to discuss our writing projects. Joining us via Zoom were Isabelle who is currently in LA, John who is in Copenhagen, and Joan in London. Always fun to meet an eclectic mix of writers, who never fail to shock and entertain. We sometimes get writers’ block, but just yakking the whole afternoon leads to the stories writing themselves. I turned in an unfinished story yesterday and couldn’t figure out how to proceed with it, and Paul suggested an ending based on his personal experiences. The idea of these meetings is to write as much as we can, with regularity, just to come up with something. No editing allowed, until we finish the whole project at the end of the year.

So far I was able to come up with two short stories, both of which are “fictionalized” accounts of some recent events in my life. If I ever hope to publish them, the trick would be to disguise everything sufficiently so as not to get me in trouble. This was the first time I was able to attend a face-to-face writing meeting since the pandemic, so it was extra-fun.

Walked to dinner afterwards, with Lord and Jessica herding us to this new complex of restaurants. It turned out that this complex is Assembly Grounds, which is located in The Rise condominium, where my friend Rex and his partner Miller have been living the past few years. I had dinner with Rex, Miller, and Ruth Marks last November in one of the restaurants there for our early Christmas get together, and Rex gave me a Harley Quinn and Joker action figure set. This time we ate in a restaurant called Yuki, and I ordered a random rice meal with chicken. In the previous meeting, where I was only able to participate via Zoom, Park had brought sake during the meeting. No such alcohol this time, so I ordered whiskey and a matcha parfait along with my chicken meal.

The next meeting will be on the 4th Saturday of April, although that might change depending on the schedule of the upcoming Leni rallies. Park, who is an active organizer on the ground, said we should never miss Makati. Everyone hopes Regine would sing on top of the Manila Peninsula.

On the walk back to the parking lot, I told Paul that I liked the Leni decal on his benz. He removed it and gave it to me. I like how it complements the blueness of the Jazz.

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