so anyway, here goes.

Hey KADY!! :) THis is just to get SOMETHING moving. :) Sucks, I know. FIrst draft and all. Revise natin ha? ;-)

IThe day her parents died was the day Lena stopped singing.

Her voice, her one true beauty, her beloved companion and instrument---gone. Just like her parents.

Oh, she tried to sing. Tried, and failed miserably. The one time she sang at her parent¡¯s funeral, her voice cracked and she turned from the microphone, not even finishing the song.

She sat in her grandmother¡¯s old rocking chair and gazed silently out of the window, listening to the non-stop rain that ran over glass, brick and soil in a monotonous haze that was driving her mad, much like everything else in this country. It never rained like this in the States. Monsoon rain, her Lola called it.

The houses in front of her Lola's home looked like malformed ghosts in the thick gray mist that seemed to envelop the whole damned world, and the unceasing rain just kept pouring and pouring down as it had for days, and Lena thought that she was surely going insane.

If only Papa was with her.

Was it only two months ago that he had sat with her on the porch on a rainy day like this? When he had tucked her comfortably beside him on the porch bench, and raised his voice to drown out the thunder and rain?

There was nothing Lena had loved better than to hear her father sing, and when she sang along with him, it was as if the rest of the world just stopped, and listened.

Her Papa loved singing. And he sang all sorts of songs, songs that everyone would know, and songs that not everyone did. He¡¯d sing Puccini, Verdi, Mozart and anyone who listened to him  would forget that this was classical, or Baroque, or Romantic opera or what not; or even that he sang in German, Italian, or even Filipino. Her papa¡¯s voice transcended all that. Those who would hear him would only hear the vibrant emotions beneath the soaring music and the stylistic techniques, so that when Mrs. Harper, their neighbor from Massachussets, heard Lena¡¯s Papa sing Un Bel Di, she stood in her lawn with her laundry falling from the clotheslines, and she never even noticed¡¦until she felt that the laundry she¡¯d been holding was wet, and she was astonished as anyone to find that they were from her tears.

            It was Papa who taught Lena that no musical instrument could affect human

emotions so intensely in such a brief time than the human voice, and that her voice was not just a tool or an instrument, but a living part of her that she could never separate herself from.

You are your voice, he’d tell her, God gave it to you, and you must take care of it.

Okay here's what I have about the names. I included the meanings because sometimes it matters. Tell me which you like, ok, we'll narrow it down until we get out final two. I'll vote on them by putting stars, five for highest. :-)

The airplane window stayed shut during the several-hours flight. Most of the time, she kept her eyes shut as well, her ears covered with the headphones, deluged with sound so that she needn’t hear anything else, or think of anything but the music.

She knew it was the only way to survive, those first few weeks. Until that flight.

But then they got out of the plane, and people she didn’t know and didn’t see attacked her with words that were worse than knives, hugs that smothered her life away, tears that failed to water her heart. It was frozen, she was frozen, she was nothing and nowhere. And dead.

She was aware of sweat beads that turned into rivers coursing down her temples and back, something that had never happened to her without extreme physical activity before. She was aware of people endlessly fanning themselves. She was aware of the wind, even the gusts of wind that did not help relieve the heat.

But she could not distinguish the time that passed from the moment that she stepped off the plane until the time she sat here, now, in the church pew. She did not know how she had gotten here. She was not conscious of whom she was with, or what they were doing.

But she knew why. As aware as she was of the temperature, she knew why, and she wished she did not.

"It’s over, [name],” someone said insistently. “We have to go. You have to get up.”

She knew the voice. She remembered it, a vague recognition that came from somewhere in her memory. It was a voice that had been heard far too often to be forgotten or disregarded.

“Excuse me, sir, can I please request your assistance? Come on, [name]. Please help me. I can’t carry you.”

She stood, an automatic motion that was purely her body’s reaction to a pull that it lacked the will to fight. The pleading note in the voice touched her in the same far-off consciousness that recognized it, and she tried to look, tried to remember.

And then there was a blurry image surfacing from the depths of her mind, a familiar face she trusted and believed in. “[name2]?”

“Yeah, it’s me. That’s it. Oh sir, I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you very much!”

She heard no reply. But she could almost see now. The details were coming clear. “Yes. It’s you. I remember you.”

“Of course you do. I’m [name2]. I’m your cousin.” This time there was unmistakable pity in that voice, and she felt a sudden rage.

“What are you saying? Why do you sound like that? I will not be pitied! I’m fine, I’m okay! I don’t need you. Go away! Just go!”

The figure of her cousin, wearing an injured and infinitely sorrowful expression, backed away, but did not say anything.

okay, here's the idea I got while watching Gabi's voice performance and its subsequent development.

There's a girl in the present-day world, and she starts having these dreams (or visions, pwede rin). Sometimes in the dreams she sees herself moving about, as an observer, and sometimes she's the one who's moving, as in she's really a character in the dream.

The idea is that this girl is a descendant of twins. One of those twins was killed, and the other went mad from the loss because they were so close. Or something equally tragic. So this descendant has DNA that closely matches that of her ancestors, and she has some psychic ability rin, so that she gets haunted by the twins.

Further idea is that the twins -- both of them -- could be reincarnated in the girl's body or something. That's why when she dreams she thinks she's seeing herself, but she's really seeing one of the twins and inhabiting their consciousness one at a time.

Naturally this happens because of some injustice -- possibly the cause of the tragedy -- that happened to the twins, which can only be solved now. Maybe something that could involve forensics para may sense yung modern age. Although that might be tough dahil we know next to nothing about forensics. Anyway basta ganun, the descendant is supposed to solve the problem and put her ancestors to rest.

Or at least, make them happy. But they're going to stay with her and help her or advise her, like invisible friends, from time to time. Kind of like in Haunted.

Hey Tata! Thanks for this terrific blog. Wait, how do i change the pic on the side? I'm such a dunce at html. Kasi I have a picture of a --not really a faerie-- that I'd like to use... :)

Idea: maybe we can use different colors for posts regarding the writing, and for posts that contain the work...like for instance if I'll post chapter one it could be in pink, while other details like brainstorms could be green and criticisms could be in blue or something like that. whatever color is fine by me. :) ok lang?

Ok. Here's what I have from yesterday. Pick which ideas you like! Grabe, I want to start writing the actual thing na.

On Main Characters:

~Was thinking they could be girls, two girls, hehe. Maybe cousins or something para probable yung country-hopping nila together. Have you decided which pretext (Phil to US or vice versa) would work better? Or maybe u can pick after you've read some of my other ideas. Or yours. :) Kaya lang making them girls might be coming too close to ourselves. Some writers say we should choose the opposite sex. Unfortunately, I know nothing of the opposite sex.

~Story could start with one of the girls losing a parent. The character goes to the Philippines to bury that parent then wants to talk to parent about some unfinished business (fill in idea here?). Wish could be unconscious, but wise old mentor explains that is possible. But no going back after that threshold is crossed. Character agrees. Or wait. If wise mentor is bitter as will be discussed later, maybe character will approach mentor and not other way around?

~Maybe after opening"door" and getting powers, this first character can't handle it and turns to the other for help. But the second girl can't quite understand and so loves her friend/cousin that she also goes to mentor and asks to have power too.

~End-all or great mission could be when first girl finally manages to talk to parents, after several adventures of course. Kaya lang mejo corny yata to. Maybe from the start character gets to talk to parent who sends them on some mission?

~Are we talking about them just being able to see? Or do we give them powers as in powers? If yes, their powers could be from what they love best, kasi that's their strength. I mentioned to u before that we could have one who sings, para pag nawalan siya ng voice wala na rin siyang power & that's the challenge...the other character could paint or draw or write or anything else na mejo opposite dun sa isa.

~I've told u about this one but for the grand closing of this entry, here it is. Wise mentor could be someone who was supposed to die, but made a deal (with the devil? with God? with some other entity?) not to die, it's a grand sacrifice for something else. Like he could choose not to die in order to save someone or fulfill another grand mission. It's a sacrifice kasi he has to go on living indefinitely. He can't die by ordinary means anymore (let's have it that he tries, to fall off a roof or cut himself or something but everything fails). And he was promised after the last time he tried to kill himself that someone will come with the power to end his long life. So he's tired of living, very bitter and all. And ayun nga, at first he doesn't want anything to do with these girls until he sees their native potential and starts hoping against hope that they might be the promised salvation. And they are, they'll have to kill him. Maybe that could be the end of the story; all their adventures could be tests from their mentor to see if they're powerful enough then they can kill him. Maybe he himself is so powerful but just refuses to use it anymore, but that could explain why ordinary ways couldn't kill him.

Okay. That's it so far. What do you think? I know u like the last one... :) But what about the others? And if you've got some germs of thought, or past ideas that you discarded before but remembered now, type mo na rin, they might work. :)

wahahaha! I'm so happy about this.