" Dreams like that doesn't pay the bills.
The only thing it does is to keep you like this -
away from realities, from knowing what is real . "
- from the movie, " I Can Only Imagine"
Dreams die first ... that's what happen when your focus is in making a living rather than having a life. Working as an engineer in a government corporation did not suit me well for no matter how hard I tried. my heart was simply not in the right place. From a grand dream of providing for the future needs of a growing population of the metropolis, the new administration that replaced the old one decided to scrap everything that the old regime started. It took only four years for the second largest government corporation to go down the drain and then later on privatized, and the firm's direction shifted to making profit rather than public service.
I opted to quit and tried my hands in business. My parents have a nice place near the market so we started rent-free and I dealt with second hand goods - imported over-runs and clothings, and reconditioned electrical appliances, orphaned books, magazine and a garage sale sort of things. I was making good until I discovered that the "relief" clothings came from illegally diverted US donations for flood victims so I stopped after selling our remaining stocks.
The early 1990's saw the metropolis suffering from daily 10-hour brownouts so the "recon" appliances also became obsolete. But the books and magazine prospered especially after the tagalog comics priced itself out of the market. And then came Valentine Romance tagalog novels, and we started renting out pocketbooks. Before our store burned down in 1993 we have over 2,000 members
Second hand books Also came cheap from garage sales we visit on weekends and someone tipped me about a "tiangge market" in Dau, Pampanga where books and magazine were sold at give-away prices. We have quite a big store space and we have to fill the shelves to a bookstore appearance. 9 out of 10 customers go for tagalog pocketbooks but one good thing I noticed about customers patronizing english novels, they prefer buying to renting the books.
Then one day a rather beautiful woman in her 50's entered the store, picked up two books titled "Lolita" by Nobokov and "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, both priced at php 10, and handed me a hundred peso bill. She smiled and told me that she was surprised how cheap the price was and started to share some insights how hard it was to find such rarities. I also read books but mostly western adventures and I hardly have any idea about the so-called classics. What really got my attention was the way she revealed herself and for the first time I found myself listening more, falling in love with a woman's mind who was 20 years my senior.
That day I went back to my Literature books to find more about what we talked about. Then I read my first classic novel - "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and followed it up with "Of Mice and Men" also by Steinbeck. My Reader's Digest Condensed Book days ended for I came to see the missing ingredients in storytelling - the depth of human emotions. The business became a bookstore and the bookstore became a home, and after more than 20 years, the bookstore became me.
"When you stay in a place for too long, it becomes you"
-- Rocky Balboa
I opted to quit and tried my hands in business. My parents have a nice place near the market so we started rent-free and I dealt with second hand goods - imported over-runs and clothings, and reconditioned electrical appliances, orphaned books, magazine and a garage sale sort of things. I was making good until I discovered that the "relief" clothings came from illegally diverted US donations for flood victims so I stopped after selling our remaining stocks.
The early 1990's saw the metropolis suffering from daily 10-hour brownouts so the "recon" appliances also became obsolete. But the books and magazine prospered especially after the tagalog comics priced itself out of the market. And then came Valentine Romance tagalog novels, and we started renting out pocketbooks. Before our store burned down in 1993 we have over 2,000 members
Second hand books Also came cheap from garage sales we visit on weekends and someone tipped me about a "tiangge market" in Dau, Pampanga where books and magazine were sold at give-away prices. We have quite a big store space and we have to fill the shelves to a bookstore appearance. 9 out of 10 customers go for tagalog pocketbooks but one good thing I noticed about customers patronizing english novels, they prefer buying to renting the books.
Then one day a rather beautiful woman in her 50's entered the store, picked up two books titled "Lolita" by Nobokov and "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, both priced at php 10, and handed me a hundred peso bill. She smiled and told me that she was surprised how cheap the price was and started to share some insights how hard it was to find such rarities. I also read books but mostly western adventures and I hardly have any idea about the so-called classics. What really got my attention was the way she revealed herself and for the first time I found myself listening more, falling in love with a woman's mind who was 20 years my senior.
That day I went back to my Literature books to find more about what we talked about. Then I read my first classic novel - "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and followed it up with "Of Mice and Men" also by Steinbeck. My Reader's Digest Condensed Book days ended for I came to see the missing ingredients in storytelling - the depth of human emotions. The business became a bookstore and the bookstore became a home, and after more than 20 years, the bookstore became me.
"When you stay in a place for too long, it becomes you"
-- Rocky Balboa
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ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful read.. I was smiling while reading it for I have been deeply moved and inspired by your story. Not a lot of people have the courage to shift their path for discovering their own personal legend. I wish I could also be courageous on discovering mine.
ReplyDeleteSometime you get to choose your line of work, but in my case I could not make a headway in my profession so I shifted into something that I am comfortable with. My parents were businessmen selling fruits before they migrated and me being the eldest boy assisted them. I am used to selling the retail way, just opted for books. Thank you for patronizing us.
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