Miscellaneous
MANILA, Philippines - The whole point of last week’s column was we don’t know how good we look, how pretty, how beautiful until 25 years later when it is a quarter of a century too late. Isn’t that a pity? Twenty-five years ago someone said, “You look so pretty†and you ignored it. Twenty-five years later you see a photograph of you and that guy and you think — why didn’t I profoundly thank him? He was right. I looked so pretty then.
But that column got a lot of fun comments:
“Your column today is so hilarious. I laughed so loud. You see, am 57 going 58 this December. I could just imagine myself when I turn your age.â€
From someone who’s 66 years old: “I’m not old. I woke up, lifted my arms, moved my knees, turned my neck. Everything made the same noise crrraaaacccckkk! I came to a conclusion. I am not old. I am crispy.â€
“Just read your column. I think it added a foot to the width of my mouth. Laughter brought on by so much amusing truth.â€
“Time zooms. . . suddenly I am old, too. .â€
And from the single man who got it, “Why did I not know it then? When I look at my pictures when I was a teen, I looked like Coco Martin. When I grew older they said I looked like Zaldy Zhornack. But now I’m 62 with a heart ailment, maybe I should just say – we never lose our beauty, we merely move it from our face into our hearts.â€
And what does that heart look like? I don’t know about yours. My heart is like a very tall and wide condominium with lots of rooms for everyone I love.
On this topic of time passing — yes we know we are old and we look it. But do we feel it? When I open my eyes to the light I feel 16. Sweet sixteen and never been . . . no at 16 I was already . . . kissed, just kissed, nothing more than that. It’s the cliché I mean – sweet 16 and never been kissed. Anyway, I feel young when I open my eyes to another day. . . until I try to get up. It’s not so easy being over 60. Finding the slippers. Pulling myself up from bed. Walking slowly at first. Ouch, ouch, ouch, little aches and pains, cracking here and there. Then the truth really hurts.
Back to the column I wrote about teaching writing or consulting. Okay, since I got more than 70 inquiries about my next “Joy of Writing†class, I figured I might as well teach it and respond here because it’s tough to text 70 people. So, here goes. Joy of Writing is more than just an ordinary writing class. It teaches you a method that takes you inside yourself then you write from there. It is a method that you can use for writing, for making speeches, or for planning your wedding or your divorce. It helps you get your mind organized in a disorganized way, the sort of way, I suspect, only I can teach.
It is made up of eight sessions and I charge P8,000 for the entire course, which you pay me upfront. Why? Because I can only accommodate 10 students at a time and I have to be guaranteed that the ones who enroll show up for all the classes or they lose money. Anyway, since there will be more future classes, if you miss one you can make it up in the next class.
I am trying to fill up two classes now. One class begins on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Another class on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. I am looking for 10 students for both. The first class begins on June 1. The second on June 2. These are the weekend classes for people who work. Let me just begin with these classes first. You see I have had a problem setting them up because of construction noise. I just discovered that on Saturdays, there is no construction. So we have the silence we need to teach and learn.
If you want to be considered in one of these two classes, please text me your name and e-mail address. I will respond to you with the details. Also if you have more time, like you can come to a Wednesday class, let me know. I might start a mid-week class. If I do not accept you immediately, let me apologize ahead of time. There will be other writing classes two months down the road.
Okay, now that we are both ready, let’s get going.
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Please text your comments to 0917-8155570.
