IN case you haven’t noticed, it’s now December. Surely, you’ve already started attending or hosting Christmas parties, buying items for the Kris Kringle and exchange gifts, and mulling over what to bring for the potluck.
If you’re in-charge of the parlor games, please exclude the Trip to Jerusalem which may not be politically correct since the real trip to Jerusalem is not feasible for now. And if you’re asking why, that means you’ve been hiding under a rock since Oct. 7, 2023 when the Israel-Hamas war began.
By the way, Gal Gadot is from Israel. Will she morph into Wonder Woman and help her beloved country? But that may result to intrigues and not inspiration. So, better for her to stay away and film another “Wonder Woman” film instead? Hmmm.
Since I must have slept through all History subjects, including that of the Philippines, I always try to refrain from commenting about wars. The name J. Robert Oppenheimer didn’t even sound familiar to me until the movie “Oppenheimer” was released.
This duhness about history is one reason why I can’t appreciate tourist spots where I do have selfies but only because everyone else is posing for selfies there, too.
My best travel companion could be Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and Filipino historian Ambeth Ocampo who I’m sure will be amused if I ask him why the non-working holiday for Nov. 30, 2023 was moved to Nov. 27. But he won’t be amused once he notices how little I know about any kind of history.
I prefer to move forward. Once I’ve left a job or business, I don’t go back there and make chika with the people I used to work with.
It’s with books that I may not be able to move forward from, though. Re-reading books, re-reading chapters, re-reading sentences that don’t stay in my minute brain. And re-reading is how I decide which books to keep or give since the first time might have convinced me that I wanted to see them on my bookshelves daily, as if they’re piggies.
Since there could be months, years, or even decades in between the first reading and the re-reading, there’s a tendency for personal experiences to lessen the impact of the book. It doesn’t mean the book is not a good read. It simply means it doesn’t resonate with me anymore. Thus, give, and not keep.
A book can be the best gift for a bookworm, but only if he doesn’t have that particular book yet. In other words, you may have to ask him for his wish list.
He will also be happy to receive office supplies like ball pens, and they don’t even have to be the expensive ones. He’s thrilled each time he discovers a cheap ball pen that is pleasant to hold and glides on paper.
The bookworm must be the easiest giftee to please. Or not, since he may look at a book as your judgmental view of him. For example, Jordan B. Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life” may prompt him to wonder why you think he needs those 12 rules.
If there’s a “Twelve Days of Christmas,” there’s a “12 Rules for Life,” which is a good read, by the way.
