I just received my copy (thanks, K!), and I must say that it looks GORGEOUS!!! Winner!!! Victoria!!!!
Have pasted here the TOC. Editors haven't announced the release yet because they want to launch it properly in real bookstores:
Cozy Reads Publishing is proud to announce that the following stories have been selected for our Heartbreak collection:
Sometimes the Ears Don't Fit - Carljoe Javier Waxing Poetic - Chinggay Labrador Leave-taking - Jonathan Jimena Siason Letters to Joaquin - E.C. De Los Reyes No Girlfriend Since Birth - Sharleen Banzon Highly Confidential: The Electronic Journal of Ana Banana - Sally Magdiwang Adios Con Leche! - I.P. Goze Buried Treasure on Casiana Street - Ana Maria S. Villanueva Resurfacing - Ryan Ben Gabby Taborada In Bits and Pieces - Faye Ilogon
Wednesday lunchtime, Drew and I snuck out the office for an early lunch. I brought him (actually, I asked his petulant driver, Oliver Stalker to drive us there) to this amazing spot where they served great Italian food. It's called Amici di Don Bosco, and it's such an unpretencious place -- it reminded me of my school canteen. But the food... the food! Let me just quote Drew on that after having mouthfuls of Four Seasons pizza, Vongolle pasta, roasted chicken, and vanilla with nuts gelato. He said, "I'm really sorry I have to say this ... the food is so fucking good."
It's the end of a long, tiring day. I think 50% of the time had been spent waiting for the senior managers to come back to their cubicles. There were decisions put on hold that needed to be taken up again. Just this evening, I told the marketing director how the seats on this floor were always empty, as everybody else was in a meeting somewhere in the building.
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I am actually glad my business trip to Thailand is not pushing through this month. Dealing with pseudo-English words is just too much for my little fictive brain.
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Sometimes I want to give up the dream of being the perfect boss. Does the Perfect Boss actually exist? Or do we have to buy a ticket into that alternate reality? My guess is bosses there are perfect and they could bloody well scare HR directors into giving them Xtrails.
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Sometimes I feel like a failure. I get hard on myself (not that *hard on*, you naughty naughty child) for not being able to deliver the things that matter, like promotions. Pay raises. Answers to everything. Quick English wit. Supalpal-proof verbal defence in the face of a dragon we call the Creatives Manager.
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Over lunch, my officemate told me of a woman who committed suicide many years ago from the bank next door. She jumped off the ledge on the 14th floor, and landed on the concrete handrail of the entrance stairwell.
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There's a post-it note on the window in the Creatives room written by the copywriter. It said "Shortcut to Thailand". Morbid, but funny.
