English Dictionary and Other Reference Books.

At home, I always have an English Dictionary and two reference books on hand although the Internet is the powerful tool to check on words, usages, and almost any stuff.

When my brother was just a toddler, we used to read him the Art Linkletter Encyclopedia, a set my father purchased from a friend.  I was engrossed in these books, where I first learned the word Aardvark. 

And I remember checking out my eldest sis' medical books to look for anatomic parts and other interesting medical topics and pictures.  

Sesame Street came on TV when I was much older so I didn't benefit from their learning mode. But right now, my nephews and nieces' children watch kids' learning channels relentlessly.

Bert and Ernie are  interesting Sesame Street characters, so is Count Chocula.  I am dying to find out how Bert became such an interesting persona, and why Count Chocula was counted out even before the first round got started. 

There is a 10 peso movie festival happening at the SM Sucat cinemas.  Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Narnia are two of the films showing.  Which reminds me, I am a great company in movies, a good coffee mate, an easy  walking partner, a willing listener.  I talk, sometimes, too. And a lot more stuff I can do well.  Like cooking.

More references and guides make life easier and the learning and life experiences - much better. 

C'mon. I'm from Canada. Where the Native Indians used smoke signals. 

Tale of Irony.

About six months or so ago, I discovered the pleasure of reading. I was not looking, I just stumbled upon a beautiful book and I started gazing, then seriously taking upon the new found love.

I became a different person. Inside me there became an excited being, ready to read more. I was slow, I was choosy. But I started to dream again - to live once more, as the book(s) became alive in my mind.

But I was scared. Reading was not my passion nor I profess to being highly literate in the ways of writers and lovers of great literature. An ordinary person, I just wanted to enjoy, to discover new words and minds and merge them into my own world. I was not being pretentious, and saying, I am a great reader or lover of literature.

But, I found another happiness, at last. Could it go on? I sure wish it would.

As reading is new in my heart, poetry is something I've always loved.

THE ROAD TO A HEART
by Gener












They say it is laden with ice, your heart
Because it doesn't bleed,
But it pumps wild at prose and lit
Even bloats at the sight of knightly tales
Or future Gods.

How can one reach a bosom tool of life
Encrusted in diamond and gold?
Or weaken the veins that make them bold,
Warmth the red cells and make them drip
Bit by bit,
Until they coalesce into a new fruit of love?

It is paved with glory and aches, the road to a Lady's heart,
The trenches and spikes you've erected
Are high,
The moats and bridges
And guards carefully laid,
While you gaze from your castle's tower
A demeaning smile
In your lips.

Amore. That's Why.

I planned on buying the book Dune by Frank Herbert, but at Cole's it was not available and had to be ordered. So I did the next best thing and borrowed it from the library. It was out of circulation in all Toronto libraries and I finally got a copy yesterday.

So I started reading last night and I'm on the first few pages of it, actually page 11. Not much; yet, I already got introduced to the principal characters, Paul and Jessica.

Love between mother and son already stood out from the few pages I've read; Paul, defending and demanding from the Reverend Mother why she'd been making a serving wench out of her mother, and Jessica, worrying about the "tests" on son Paul.

Love or "amore" in Italian, is a universal emotion and an inescapable fact of life. The cliche, "love makes the world go round," is a law of the universe and existence.

That's why love is the favorite theme and raison d'etre of/for arts, paintings, novels, films, poetry, songs, articles, blogs, gossip, speeches, lectures, research, and millions of businesses (drug companies churning out sex drugs like Viagra, naughty stores and products, dating organizations, singles clubs, etc).

In Dune, it seems that Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach or the chosen one. I sense Jessica's apprehension and excitement at the prospect, yet I could not tell for I am just beginning to explore the novel.

I also sense impending success and happiness for both Paul and Jessica, because although a sci-fi, I feel that "truth," is the quest in Dune and always, truth brings fulfillment and happiness, even if there would be tragedies along the way.

Already, I admire Jessica's resilience and quiet elegance ; she was a pupil of the Reverend Mother and from the looks of it, she was able to withstand the "tests" herself and the rigid training in this Bene Gesserit, a school.

Fear and how to banish it from one's life also was also prominent in the first few pages.

The Kwisatz Haderach, or chosen one, whatever it is, and I will soon find out, must be a saviour.
The Reverend Mother stared at him. "He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one." And then again, "Perhaps you are the Kwisatz Haderach."

The "chosen one" always has a special mission or work and possesses strength of character and resoluteness in getting the work done.

If Paul is the "chosen one," I am sure that he'd do anything to accomplish the goal assigned to him - and I bet you, he has a capacity for great love; without it, the chosen one would give up easily and I don't think this is the case.

Love, that's why.

Reading Novels

I wish I were an avid reader of classic novels. Really, I both admire and marvel at those people who can spend hours reading books.

Let me put it this way, I love to read. But I love to read non-fiction; books, magazines and newspapers. And when I read non-fiction, I prefer mystery novels by Scott Turrow and Tom Clancy.

Lately, I'd been avidly following a blog by a Filipino writer, at http://www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/ and from it, soon discovered the great many novels available out there, which I've missed in my younger days. I must admit that I got embarassed by my lack of literary finesse.

So last week, I took out my old library card and headed to the public library to check out a few books. I started with two Ernest Hemingway novels, "For Whom the Bells Toll and Farewell to Arms." I reserved also the "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D.Salinger.

In North America, especially Canada and the USA, people love to read. This habit of reading is usually taken up at an early age, derived from exposure to books at daycare centres and having been given reading assignments early at the public schools.

Here in Canada, it is so ordinary to see people of all ages reading books while waiting for or inside the bus or train, while having lunch or coffee, and sometimes, even when crossing the street. You also see Canadians and Americans reading their books while getting their tans at the beach or while simply enjoying the sun at the park.

Last Sunday, for instance, when we watched a musical, the person beside me was reading a book before the start of the show and during the intermission. It must have been a very good book.

I have no excuse for not having acquired the reading bug; I grew up in a household where my mother and two aunts and older siblings loved to read. I remember seeing books scattered in our living room, the Perry Mason books of Erle Stanley Gardner and the romance novels of Emily Loring and also the Mills & Boon-types, read by my teenaged sisters. My father, too, loved to read, but like me, he preferred non-fiction.

My early English reading consisted of the daily Philippine broadsheet, The Manila Times, and the weekly magazine, Philippine Graphics. Later on, in high school, I got exposed to both American and English Literature, and then in college, to the Filipino English writings.