Monday, September 20, 2010

BETTER THAN IT GETS -- SOMETIMES


(Speech delivered at the launching of IN ANOTHER DRESS, the e-book, by Vee Press and Vibal Foundation, at the Manila International Book Fair at SMX Center, Mall of Asia, on September 17. Likewise launched were e-books by Noemi Lardizabal Dado and Lady S.)

I started my blog four years ago and named it Ode to Old – a thinly veiled attempt to put romance and poetry into aging. I thought if I could convince my readers it’s alright to grow old, then perhaps I could feel good about it, too.
I was at the edge of retirement then, anxious over the prospect of living half a life. You know … waking up with no more "gosh-I’m-gonna-be-late" get up and go. Dressing up with no destination. Walking without direction. Taking coffee and lunch breaks – uninterrupted.
I decided to blog, hoping it would engage and absorb me well into antiquity.
I sub-titled my blog “the best is yet to be.” I did it tongue in cheek, wistfully, wishfully, almost with a sense of desperation.
As I blogged on, I was surprised the jitters began to ease.
Blogging gave me a voice to talk to the world. But one has to talk of things the world would care to listen to.
I guess that is how a blogger learns to look at things with a fresh eye, to look for the instructive, the comic, the unusual in the most commonplace experiences. Or else, WHO would read what a blogger writes?
The requisite introspection in blogging put me in touch with inner wisdom that told me if I didn’t worry, I would arrive exactly where I am now and MORE pleasantly.
I vented left-over toxins every now and then. And I wondered if it was true that once you put down your troubles on paper, they stay put there.
Two and half years into retirement, AM I HAVING THE TIME of my life?
Well … even though most of the jitters have fled, there are days in fact that I do magnificently, days I cope miserably, and days I just seem to get by.
Which, come to think of it, is almost the exact same way my younger days, my pre-retirement days, used to zig and zing and zag.
So, then as now, there are days I couldn’t seem to do anything right, and days everything falls into place, and days ….. I just don’t know.
But I DID know, ten months ago, when my blogs were compiled into a thin volume entitled “IN ANOTHER DRESS” then published and launched, I could almost glimpse the “BEST that was yet to be.”
And I DO KNOW THAT TODAY is another day for hoping that indeed age is an opportunity, much like youth, though dressed differently.
Thank you, Vibal Foundation and Vee Press for reincarnating the book in the digital sphere, for making possible this opportune, exciting, high- tech version of IN ANOTHER DRESS, making virtually the whole world its prospective reader.

Photo credits: Noemi Lardizabal Dado, Alina R. Co

13 comments:

pamatayhomesick said...

annamanila, congrats! super mega dooper over, ang In Another Dress!

wish ko na makarating toh , sa ibat ibang bookstores international.

anyways, may ebook din naman, kaya panalong panalo, kahit saang lugar.
pwedeng pwede nang mabasa...:)

cessna said...

Forever59er! I love your new alias!
congrats!

Leah said...

congrats AM! You bring out the best in everyone.

I am so glad I have a copy of your book. i will check out the ebook too.

prabster said...

Here's to wishing that I get to see a copy of your book. :)

Forever59er said...

Ever, thanks. Hope you speak with the tongue of an angel.

Cess, thanks, though I inadvertently used forever59er, which is our high school newsletter site.

Leah, talaga, you will still get the digital version? :) wow naman .. available daw sa amazon kindle shop by next month. (crossing fingers)

Prab, next time I go to ISSI, I will leave a copy with the guard for you. Will email you when the deed is done. - annamanila

Phnoy Tv Pinoy said...

When could they have book fair in cebu?

Toe said...

Wow, congratulations Annamanila! That's a wonderful dream come true! You deserve it.

soloops said...

Hi Miss Anna. Still remember me? I wasn't able to go to your book launch. Is your book (the printed one, I'm old-fashioned you see), available in Vibal? I'll be there tomorrow.

Forever59er said...

TV Pinoy, I am not sure whether the Fair will go to Cebu. Sana nga, ano?

Kim (Soloops)! I will probably be at Vibal too tomorrow for a POC meeting (I know you will attend the wikipinas orientation and contract signing). I will try to look for you. :)
- annamanila

Tess Doce-Halili said...

I've read this just now! Like, like, like...I'm reading your book and being inspired in the process. Keep it up and one day, I want to be like you.

Anonymous said...

Wow all I can say is that you are a great writer! Where can I contact you if I want to hire you?

Anonymous said...

how are you?

Awesome blog, great write up, thank you!

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