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Planet Panic: Notes from the Queen of Procrastination is a collection of essays about all the crazy things that author Pam Pastor, who is also Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Super section editor, encountered while growing up and on the job.
It is a humorous look at her adventures and misadventures, with stories about how Batibot’s Pong Pagong ended her shot at stardom; why her grandma burned all her trolls when she was in sixth grade (lola says they are evil!); how she terrorized her brother on Facebook; and how a New York socialite almost kidnapped her.
What was your state of mind when you wrote the book?
It had been four years since the first book, Paper Cuts, came out. So ang tagal na, people read it so fast, and they started asking when the next one is coming out. I was really honestly working on it, but so many other things got in the way, like deadlines. This year I decided to sit down and do it. Anvil has a deadline for submissions. Up to the very last day, I was still writing.
Did you set out to do anything with this new book?
I just want to make people laugh, to entertain them. Wala namang big mission when I was writing the book, but when I hear people say they bring it with them when they commute or that it makes them laugh after a hard day at work, that really make me happy.
You seem so busy! How did you find time to write it?
I write when I am on the road, whether it’s inside a train or on a flight. Things happen that you have to write about it, whether it’s too funny or unbelievable. Feeling ko kailangan ko muna ikwento ito before ko isulat itong article!
It’s called Planet Panic. What should we be panicking about?
Time. There are so many things you wanna do, and that’s not even including the things you have to do. I panic about what I want to do first. There are things in the world you need to panic about — the whole laglag-bala thing is horrible, corruption, and things like that. But I think those are a given. For me, it’s really time. It is moving so fast, and like my lola says, when you are getting older, ang bilis bilis na ng araw. Kaka-Christmas pa lang, Christmas na ulit.
What was the biggest thing you procrastinated on?
My thesis! I did it on one night! My professor had to call me at home to say, ‘tapusin mo na yan!’ I wrote my thesis on Inquirer Libre because I was a small part of the team that started it, which was two years before my thesis. I am a procrastinator, which makes ma a really good crammer.
Where do you get the funny? Ganyan ba kayo sa bahay?
I think it was a coping mechanism for me, growing up. We always had funny stories, but we had teleserye moments too, the ones that are so crazy that my friends would think na imbento lang. Pag may retreat, they would be surprised to find out na hiwalay pala parents ko. My way of coping was making light of things. Pag naubos na yung funny stories ko, baka gumawa naman ako ng teleserye stories next. (laughs)
If the book was to be made into a movie, who would you like to play you?
Parang nakakahiya sa kanila! The people I like watching in movies are Bea Alonzo, Sarah Geronimo and Toni Gonzaga. I know! Kai Cortez — she is hilarious! I like her, she has spunk! I would like her to play me pero mas nakakatawa!
Planet Panic: Notes from the Queen of Procrastination is available for PHP285 in National Book Store
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