On a diet of books

i come from a family of readers - the side -  of my father AND my mother

when i was in grade school, i had my close male cousin borrow books from the San Beda Grade School Library.   he would borrow the Hardy Boys for me. i would borrow Dana Girls, and Nancy Drew, among others 

but i was reading about Greek and Roman mythos at the same time.  i would sit by the dining table, reading.  we ate at the table in the kitchen so the dining room table was available for me. I can still name all the gods and goddesses - and their relative powers.

the legends of Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, and the like were very familiar to me.  i was grade what .... 3 or 4 maybe?

Lola Petra, my grandma, was a tad frustrated with me - no matter how near she was, i couldnt hear her when i was reading.  yes, i was that engrossed.  i love reading.  bookworm is an apt name for me.

in high school at PSHS-Diliman, i can remember reading Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Sherlock Holmes er Arthur Conan Doyle, and less i lie, i read all the romance books i could find.  Mills  & Boon was popular at the time. still is. 

Then my fantasy and sci-fi reading.  I read Asimov, Star Trek, Philip Dick, Ray Bradbury - who recently passed away and since i had very good lit teachers at Sayans - Agnes Vea and Helen Ladera immediately comes to mind i also read stuff like Anton Chekov,  Fyodor Dostoevsky, Voltaire, Socrates, Plato, St. Augustine, Shakespeare - his poetry and plays. And less you think Filipino was neglected - Ms Alfonso took care of that.  I happen to like Florante at Laura and i can still recite a few stanzas - the more relevant ones... for example:  Pag-ibig anaki's aking nakilala

and well, Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.  Although i read the Tagalog version, it really didnt register.  i had to read the English version to get the best appreciation.  So i did.  All exams were in Pilipino, but that was alright - the mind could handle the translation.

College reading was very different.  I was at scholar at the UP-Diliman, but i loved to read. I read everything i could lay my hands on - and i remember most is Marsh McLuhan's the medium is the message.  I had a good Enlish 4 teacher - i remember her face vividly, but i have to check my classcards (yes, i still have them) for her name

Rudyard Kipling - and my favorite - to this day - remains Rikki-tikki-tavi.

then i would read ... and recite poetry Shakespeare, Byron, Christopher Marlowe, 

Elizabeth Barrett-Browning - my favorite remains - How Do I love thee?

The years in between - my reading has not changed. I read almost anything, i think. and enjoy them. i love to read more than i love to watch. so maybe that is part of the reason i have read - and reread so many books. I love Tolkien. I love mysteries. I love sci-fi. i even read recipe books.

these days i read Neil Gaiman - the Sandman is a favorite but my favorite story remains an illustrated story about a black cat and the title is The Price. I do have his entire Sandman collection, and a few others. i think his illustrated books are lovely.

Graphic novels can be fun reading . I do have a lot of John Constantine - the blonde scruffy English bloke, not Keanu Reeves - though i like the actor. John Constantine novels are dark and hellish and scary. I am a member of a wonderful forum, but not really now. No longer active because circumstances drove me out. It was simpler to leave although i miss the guys and ladies there, except for one. She can have them all i suppose, like the ring.

i also read a lot of romance stuff. i rather like regency romance.  makes me wonder how they managed all the shenanigans in the various eras.  Well, women do love to read that stuff and besides, they make for excellent bedtime reading - nothing to think about.

But i love to read Calvin and Hobbes. I got the complete collection about 2 years ago and I have been reading them. One of my best birthday presents to myself. I read a few pages everyday. There are 3 volumes but i am still on the first volume.

Sigh.

Remembering Antonio R-Infante

ARI, that was his initials.
One saw it in all top level communications at Anscor Insurance Brokers, Inc.  (AIB).
i was a management trainee and he was the President of the Company.

He was tall, past 6 feet.  Spanish. Very autocratic. Very wise. 
But was a warm and lovely person though i did not know that in the beginning.


One of his passions was Cardinal Ceramics, the marketing firm of the Tala Foundation.

At the time when there were no small computers, i was given a small computer with a printer to make a small claybody analysis application system.  What, you would ask is a claybody analysis system?  Well, clay has different properties that make it suitable for different kinds of ceramics, and the application gave him details about the different clays to make a good combination.

i loved doing that little system.  And i think he loved to use it too.
he said that it made deciding which clay to use easier.
for a man whose time was as valuable as it was.....
those were pretty words for me.

i remember he danced with me once - for the giddy girl that i was then, it was the highlight of the evening
AIB had a party and the date of the party fell on my birthday and so he did - a brief waltz!
Tony Reyes-Cuerva did the boogie with me. 

i also remember playing GHOST around the dinner table at his home.
The word was CRAZI...... and the next person seemed to have no choice but to be GHOST, but he saved the day and said there was a word CRAZING .

i still have that mug that defines CRAZING to me.

his death is recorded in October 1996
i did not get to read his obituary on time to make it to the wake

But he will always be part of my memories


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The officemates that I do remember:
John McLaughlin, Tony Reyes-Cuerva - the senior management guys
and the 2 secretaries of Tony R-Infante.  I remember their faces very well
Malu Gaite-Faber, Luz L. Lorenzo, Bibit Berena-Stein
Mark Cordero, Tess - there were 2 of them  ....
Pete Mendoza-the "fire" guy,  Tony-the marine guy, George Francisco-the casualty guy, Ed Atayde...,Arlene -she handled Bonds , Rico Nicasio - he was a nephew of Tony R-Infante
the IT people, Bert (+), Queenie, Alex Eufemio, Alex, ......
Sigismundo - Sig (+), Brenda (Head of Accounting, Juliet, Carmen, Cynthia - she was the secretary of Tony R-Cuerva