Slip of the Pen

Last Saturday, our Dalmatian pet, nay, family member passed away in his sleep. His life was shortened by a brutal struggle with epilepsy, which continually battered his body and ruined his brain for the better part of his existence.

Named for the famous chess player, Fischer was the pride of our household — he drew stares and ooohs and aaahs just by sitting at the garden. Both children going to the nearby school and adults going home from Mass never ceased to flash a wide smile and point their fingers at Fischer.

Our dog was also very prolific, having sired dozens of half-Dalmatian puppies; I’m not exaggerating when I write that he might’ve produced more than fifty pups. Among Fischer’s children were the four we lost to Parvo two years ago.

The only consolation for our loss is the knowledge that other people might’ve given up on Fischer early on in his life. Take it from me — an epilectic dog the size of a Dalmatian causes havoc in the household, especially if the dog goes ‘insane’ later on.

Now, even with four dogs remaining, I find the empty space on the living room floor, in front of the TV, to be unsettling. Fischer was sleeping there just a few days ago. Before that, way way back when I was in high school, he used to sleep upstairs. Day in and day out, he’d climb atop my bed at 6 A.M. to wake me up for my class. Licking my face and ears and snuggling by my side would do the trick.

Goodbye, old chap. You will be missed.

Fancy title, no? Truth be told, I just had to link up all four books that I’m featuring today. This batch is the first attempt to make sense of this imposing read-to pile, courtesy of a wallet that opens faster than you can say, “Buy!”

Chronicling the World Real

The first addition since the wit-skit-brit triumvirate, this is the most expensive book I’ve ever bought. The book charts the history of maps from the pre-Gutenberg era to the modern age, and charts it well for the reader’s eyes: there are large, full-color maps in almost every page! In short, this is the dream book for cartographer- wannabes, such as myself. Yep, I am one.

Before I started writing, way back in elementary school, my pen was used (alongside crayons and markers) to draw maps of fictional worlds, nations, cities, and heck, even residential subdivisions. (Kind of explains my addiction to SimCity years later). I was so enamored of maps — foreign or local — that I became peerless in geography and history class. While my contemporaries were watching Dragonball Z, I was scrutinizing Genghis Khan’s conquests, the routes of the barbarian invasions of Rome, the extent of Imperial Japan’s WWII gains, and the mad Scramble for Africa.

My early enthusiasm for cartography rubbed off on my grade school classmates; days after I petitioned them to create ‘nations’ to populate our ‘world’, they turned in colored maps that detailed their kingdoms/republics/empires’ boundaries, cities, and landmarks — complete with flags. (For the record, months later we were participating in a ‘World War’. As can be expected, the conflagration culminated in my side’s triumph and ‘annexation’ of the make-believe lands. The makings of megalomania? That is why I titled my Philippine Star essay, Learning Early.)

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