Efren "Bata" Reyes is 64, the Pinoy billiard wizard. In billiards, you win some, you lose some. I am 79. Ah, the opposite is true with Frank A Hilario, thank God! In bookmaking, you are always the winner. (Image of Bata from ABS-CBN.com[1]; image of "Billiards For Books" from United Way of Union County[2].) Bookmaking is work – but if you love what you're doing, it's not work: it's play!
Does Bata love what he is doing? Yes. He is doing it for his country. But in the SEA Games he lost to Vietnam’s Dinh Nai Ngo Friday at the Manila Hotel, and CJ Marquez of CNN Philippines says Bata is retiring. A terrible loss, 100-14[3].
The difference between Bata playing billiards and Frank making books is that age has caught up with him. He will not be playing anymore. He will be just coaching.
So far, thank God, at 79, age has proven to be a blessing to me. I am better and faster now at desktop publishing (technical term for bookmaking) than when I was 69 (2009), or 59 (1999), or 49 (1989), when I began my digital life as a writer, editor and bookmaker. Science. I have produced many digital copies of books before they went to press – about 20 books since 22 years ago, lately some ebooks, including for the new PH Agriculture under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. That's highly unusual because I'm self-taught when it comes to using the computer.
If you look at the 3rd image above again, it is saying you can play billiards and win books for Union Country children in the US. Bata has been playing billiards for ages but I do not think he is doing it for charity.
I am not bookmaking for charity either. But I am writing this comparison because I saw the ages, both past retirement – and Bata's passion for billiards probably matches mine with bookmaking. Small world.
On one hand, Bata is doing billiards for love of country, for the honor that his victories bring these islands in the Pacific. In the same token, I do my bookmaking for love of country, but more so for the knowledge that the books I work on bring to the people in this archipelago. I mean the readers.
In pocket billiards, if you are the first player, there is the excitement of pocketing all the balls one by one and you have a "Love Set" – the other player has a zero score. Game Over. I've felt that joy many times too!
But there is no greater joy to me now than placing a photograph right in a sea of text by simply dragging the image with the mouse via the cursor onscreen – you feel like Moses dividing the Red Sea when dragging the image across the page left or right. That is power! And it is in your hands.
The Digital Age has multiplied the power of the communicator a great many times!@517
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