This continues the correspondence between Shirley A. and me that began when she e-mailed me on October 26, 2013 about reading my book English Plain and Simple: No-Nonsense Ways to Learn Today’s Global Language.
December 20, 2013
Dear Shirley,
Thanks for the pass-on! I have passed it on in turn by posting it in Jose Carillo’s English Forum,
“Just a little bit of history about ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.” Merry Christmas!
Sincerely yours,
Joe Carillo
P.S. Did you finally get your copy of
Give Your English the Winning Edge?
December 20, 2013
Yes, Joe, I immediately emailed you the story of how I finally got the book. I am afraid you are too busy that’s why you have not heard from me after that. I didn’t want to intrude on your time. But later, I will dig it up from my files and email it to you again. That was the time you said you were busy with a personal project so you must have missed my emails. I also visit your sites and read from it as much as I can. My daughter’s Nook has arrived and I am reading a lot of classics too, bringing me back to the days of my childhood when I read and barely understood such stories as Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and my favorite, [Fyodor Dostoyevski’s] Crime and Punishment.
That is so nice of you to always think of sharing useful articles with your readers and friends. I hope you and your family have a restful, peaceful and happy holidays.
I will email you again later. I plan to clean my tiny apartment today. Nice to hear from you again.
Shirley
December 21, 2013
Dear Shirley,
I couldn’t find that e-mail of yours where you say you related that you finally got hold of a copy of
Give Your English the Winning Edge; what I have is the one letting me know that you were informed by National Book Store that a copy was available in one its branches. Perhaps a glitch in my Yahoo! mailbox at the time made that later e-mail vanish before I could read it. So yes, please dig it up and send me a copy. I’d also love to know what you think of what you’ve read so far in that book.
I’m done with that personal project that had kept me so preoccupied for over six weeks. I’m now enjoying a few weeks’ respite, but I expect to resume work on the next phase of the project sometime this coming February. In the meantime I’m making up for lost time with my wife and children, with whom I expect to enjoy the Christmas holidays with no long interruptions. By December 29, though, I have to go to Legaspi City to be the
ninong of a nephew who’s getting married the following day; my eldest son, who will be the best man, is joining me. Right after the wedding ceremonies, though, we have to travel back to Manila night of the 30th to make it for New Year’s Eve with my wife and other son. This is how the activity horizon looks for me for the next two weeks of so.
I trust that you are enjoying the Christmas holidays!
Sincerely yours,
Joe Carillo
December 21, 2013
Dear Joe,
Below is the email I sent to you:
“Ms. Angie of NBS Greenbelt One branch asked me to wait awhile when they didn’t deliver the book from the Taft Avenue branch because she said she had searched high and low for a better copy—nakaka-intimidate daw ang earnestness ko so she thought I deserved a better copy than the slightly damaged one that she first offered. I wonder if companies or organizations such as NBS notice their jewels of employees such as Ms. Angie—I am afraid I didn’t get her last name. She even managed to sell me four small books of Ernie Zarate, which are also fun to read. I bought dozens of these books last year as Christmas gifts for some people whom I thought needed to improve on their English usage but I neglected to set aside any copies for myself.”
So far, I am enjoying reading your Winning Edge and thankful because I feel I am getting the nearest equivalent to a college education. But from high school I remember the phrase: “The more you know, the more you know that you don’t know” or words to that effect, and that is exactly what I feel now as I am getting all overwhelmed by the many kinds of sentences I need to pay attention to. Still, learning or studying something is still the best form of entertainment for me, and thank the Lord for masters such as yourself and the knowledge you share; certainly, I appreciate all the work you had put into these books.
I am glad you will be able to share that Christmas article with your readers. I never knew that, although it is my favorite Christmas song, because who is singing or dancing or milking is a bit confusing and hardly anyone I know can sing it well—in the correct order, that is. I have my doubts about that story but it really doesn’t matter.
Your holiday schedule seems so hectic so I hope you can still enjoy New Year’s Eve with your family and not drop from exhaustion. Better take it easy and don’t eat any of those foods that a surgeon friend of mine calls “Hindi ka tatanda kind of food.” There is a place called Kuya’s at Bayani Road at the Fort in Taguig—a friend of mine sings there—and they have this super-delicious chicharon that my doctor friend will order and pass around, saying “Eat this, hindi ka tatanda!” I think that’s funny.
Well, Joe, I always talk (write) too much. They say it’s a thing with people who live alone. Not so because I’ve always been like this.
Have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Sincerely,
Shirley
