STPWW
Did you know that it was Support The Penniless Writer Weekend? I didn’t, until I felt a breeze go through my wallet and the ATM laughed at me. So I declared it STPWW. Every time friends asked me to join them, I explained that I was broke and that they would have to buy me brunch, lunch, coffee, or dinner. (I could’ve hung out at my sister’s, but since family members are legally compelled to look after you, it wouldn’t have been the same. Your friends have to feed you of their own free will.) Fortunately lots of friends dragged me out on Saturday and Sunday, and I had an excellent time living off them. Thank you Carlo, Ricky, Juan, Bob, and Mike. Not only was my weekend a blast, but I also got a column out of it.
Note: Do not declare Support The Penniless Writer (or Artist, Physicist, Meteorologist, etc) Weekend more than once every other month, or your friends will notice that you’re a freeloader.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 3rd, 2007 at 00:26
This might seem quite off-topic (and it actually is although I’d try to integrate it to my comment), but I would like to ask if my group and I could interview you for requirement for our Comm 3 class in UP Manila. I’ve been an avid fan of your work for quite some time now, and it would be such a great honor to talk to you about movies, literature, travel and life in general. I’d really appreciate it if you’d grant us mortal, starving students the pleasure of physically marvelling the nigh-omnipotent dominatrix of the known and as of yet unknown universe(s).
I don’t know if I could pull off a STPWW like you brilliantly didas it certainly takes a lot of chutzpah. All that I could do as of the moment is to convince people to spend money with me even though they really don’t want to (“You’re full? Then think of the ice cream as the proper end to your meal-dessert! Besides, with the work to do this day/week/month we certainly deserve a little pampering…”).
P.S. I can’t wait for the follow-up of “500 People You Meet in Hell.” Hope it’ll come before Christmas so I can give it to people with the pages highlighted to point out who they tend to become. Haha! :-D
Thanks for perusing thru this.
October 3rd, 2007 at 01:04
you? penniless?
if you call yourself penniless, then i’m a hobo ;)
October 3rd, 2007 at 03:10
I seriously love this idea! Now to kind some unsuspecting friends to subject to this spending holiday, haha
October 3rd, 2007 at 04:10
hmmm… not a bad idea… maybe i’ll convert it to support the penniless me weekdays… i just hope my friends aren’t penniless too… tsk tsk…
October 3rd, 2007 at 07:44
i’ve always wondered how you got by on “freelance” work, “freelance” being synonymous to slave wages. i mean, you’re livin’ large! magkano na lang ang cat food??
October 3rd, 2007 at 08:33
Jessica, penniless?! I’m having second thoughts on embarking a career in writing online. I thought Jessica is getting rich thru Google adsense.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:06
I know this is off-topic, and I’m sorry. But I just have to tell you about this racial slur committed by the writers of Desperate Housewives against the Philippines:
http://boregasmic.com/2007/10/02/desperate-housewives-slur-vs-the-philippines/
October 3rd, 2007 at 13:35
Why haven’t I thought of that? But then again, who would ever believe that there is such a thing as The Penniless Lawyer Weekend? It’s unthinkable!
October 8th, 2007 at 21:10
Depends on your own definition of being penniless. I got a friend who panicks so badly if her wallets has only just one thousand left in it… I always tell her “You don’t pay bills. So, don’t act like you’re a single mom of 5 kids!”