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We could wipe you out with a hiccup.

More photos of Eyjafjallajokull at the Boston Globe.

Ooh, notebooks! This week two winners will each receive a large Moleskine My Pilipinas notebook. (One with plain pages, one with lined paper, we’ll figure it out later.)

This week’s LitWit Challenge: How to write a thunderbolts and violins scene that is plausible and non-bloodcurdling, that does not make us want to run screaming from the computer to wash our brains out with soap and water.

Your instructions: Write the scene in which you meet the person you fall in love with. It doesn’t have to be literally thunderbolts and violins, but it has to be clear that something significant has taken place. Subtlety would be highly appreciated.

This first meeting could be factual or fictional, we don’t care as long as it’s the best writing you can crank out. At the first sign of schmaltz you’re out, so think it through. Consider Pride and Prejudice, the grandmummy of all matrimony novels. The first meeting did not go well, but you know there’s more.

So you know how you’re doing, we’re turning on the Yucch-meter. This way you can rewrite and repost your entry. While we’re at it, let’s allow readers to comment on each other’s work. Be kind.

1,000 words maximum, deadline on 11.59 pm, Saturday April the 24th.

The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by the lovely people of National Bookstore.

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The Yucch-meter has been activated. See Comments. We regret that we are not available to critique your work after this contest. If you send us your manuscripts they will not be read.

Photo: Ayala Museum lobby

Ayala Museum is inviting all teachers to get into the museum habit. From April 15 to June 15, public and private school teachers, principals, DepEd Supervisors and Superintendents are entitled to free admission to all the galleries of Ayala Museum. No reservations required. If teachers come in groups of ten, they will also receive tokens to remember their visit.

Ayala Museum is open from Tuesdays to Sundays and closed on Mondays. It is located at Makati Avenue corner De la Rosa St. Greenbelt Park, Makati City.

Mat: What the hell is that?

An amazing thing has happened! Anna found a hat that fits my head!

She had to carry a tape measure around to make sure the circumference was at least 24 inches (My head doesn’t need a hat, it needs pants.) Thank you Anna, you are the Shopping Champion.

The color is. . .not me, but I can live with violet-ish. The flower, though, will have to go. By the way, Anna found not one but two hats big enough for the giant head, but the other one is a bright orange and I’m not going near that color this election season.

It’s a good thing no one was leaning over the Elba oven when this happened.

KABLAM! I’m just glad Ige and Kevin didn’t get Elba oven door shrapnel. If Elba is going to sell exploding ovens, they should provide kevlar aprons and helmets.

Elba has refused to accept any responsibility for the exploding door of their product; they claim the explosion was a result of misuse. . .and that the user will have to pay for a replacement door. No apology. Nada.

After many, many calls to the Elba product service center, Kevin himself is in danger of blowing up.

Elba toast.

El Prado Project: Dialogue with the Masters is an exhibition in partnership with the Embassy of Spain in collaboration with Museo Nacional del Prado, Spain with the participation of contemporary Spanish and Filipino artists. Curated by Ken Esguerra, Ayala Museum senior curator, and Cesar Caballero, the exhibition opens to the public on April 23. A number of local contemporary artists were invited to create works that interpret or re-visualize selected masterpieces in the collection of Museo Nacional del Prado.