{"id":454,"date":"2019-09-26T07:50:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T07:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/?p=454"},"modified":"2022-10-06T01:21:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T01:21:12","slug":"my-life-as-a-comic-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/my-life-as-a-comic-book\/","title":{"rendered":"My Life as a Comic Book, An Autobiography: His life\u2019s journey with Asperger\u2019s Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My Life as a Comic Book <\/strong>by Gabby Atienza<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My life is as complex as anyone\u2019s. in order to keep tabs or focused on the story of my life, I intend to view it as a comic book.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

          I was born in Manila. I\u2019m the 9th<\/sup> member of 11 siblings. At age 3, my memory banks became attuned to the world I live in. I remember my Heavy toy metal truck from TONKA toys. I recall vividly riding it while it rolled down the steep driveway in my old home at Mandaluyong. I remember very well the many hiding places in the garage and the garden when I play TAGUAN with my brothers, sisters, and cousins of my age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I recall the shocking trauma of injury \u2013 one instant when I accidental kicked the bedroom window with my barefoot \u2013 another, when the heavy piano chair fell on my toes \u2013 still another when a big splinter got stuck in my big toe\u2019s nail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I first went to school at Theresiana, the school we now call POVEDA. I was afraid – my mother had to slap me hard to make me leave her car. I was moaning as I watched her car speed away. I instinctively entered the main hallway where the teachers and faculty brought me to my section. I simply embraced my new life there, listening to storybooks, songs, and recitals. I recall the huge waiting chambers, where kids wait to be picked up by their yayas, yaya\u2019s children treasure them well in the absence of their parents. My yaya was Ronnie, she\u2019s carrying my bag to the car that\u2019ll send me home. I saw big yellow buses. I envied the other kids who ride hem. My envy compelled me to ride one at random. I was fascinated by the trip which perhaps the bus\u2019 conductor upset at knowing I was a stowaway. It was my first adventure to unknown territory. This incident convinced my parents that I\u2019m fit to ride the bus so they paid the school to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I\u2019ve been having trouble with my hearing when I was 4 years old. My bad hearing\u2019s hampering my school work. My folks brought me to DR. BAUTISTA at Lourdes hospital \u2013 where I was born \u2013 I was to be operated on my sinuses. Barely do I remember, lying on a cold rolling stretcher, a big green door, and a cold operating table surrounded by masked surgeons. Everything went blank-when I came to, I was back in my hospital bed \u2013 with a Black and White TV before me \u2013 watching very old POPEYE cartoons. I was being fed vegetables, watching the sailor man eat his spinach and gaining super strength. I suddenly found my 1st<\/sup> HERO!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I watched every morning on CHANNEL 7 popeye fighting BLUTO or BRUTUS, I laughed at seeing him punching a real villain, Adolf Hitler, and enjoyed seeing him sink giant battleships with his bare fists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I was five when I first found the\ndesire to draw cartoons. Other cartoons come to my knowledge; BEANY &\nCECIL, Mr. Magoo, Dick Tracy, and many Hanna Barbera Cartoons. My brother\nintroduced to me their collection of Superman Comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Ah, the medium of comics, TV &\nmovie. There was the B&W TV with the wooden paneling and sliding door\ncover. The late great Rizal Theater with curtains that are actually used to\nopen and close a film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I was five when my family moved to a very Magallanes Village. Our street San Carlos \u2013 we were among the earliest occupants of this barangay. Few, however \u2013 lots of open spaces. We can clearly see the railroad of South Superhighway. We get an excited hearing and seeing the long long trains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Moving to that new house actually thrilled me. Our first night there \u2013 I remember one of our yayas \u2013 Claring \u2013 at the new kitchen, by the cooking range. Cooking ranges in that 60s were really huge. In that _____ oven \u2013 a big chicken was spinning in the rotisserie. The stoves are electic powered. Look like big katols \u2013 mosquito coils. The floor was newly paved with the finest linoleum. Our pet poodle Bon-bon would push the door when there\u2019s great food. We had a dining table \u2013 big round wooden, in a big dining room for Sunday dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          In the adjoining sala \u2013 was the heavy\nbrown wooden piano facing our houses\u2019 big wooden front door. Surrounding the\nfront door, 2 sliding glass doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Big house it was bigger than our old one at Mandaluyog. The driveway was even lengthened beyond it \u2013 our garden, where we kids would play ball or parlor games on. There was a makopa tree and guava tree which we had fun climbing. Around the house, al linear garden with hollow block walkways with a little gate leading to our lavandera\u2019s section where two big LPG tanks stand, leading to another small gate which leads to our garage area, where we had more than one car. This big house was my new playground. It had more places to hide and seek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          In our upstairs living room was an\neven bigger wooden TV, a Zenith. On this TV, we eventually watched the APOLLO\nMOON landing in 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I\u2019m in Prep at six\u2026repeating it when I\nflunked it at five years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          My Ateneo grade school days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I fondly remember that every October \u2013 Ateneo has a big fair\u2026 The ferries wheel, the Octopus and the carousel\u2026Each classroom had a party. I would bring to the party a package of BARBECUE, prepared by YAYA Claring and eating shared food with other kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          My gradeschool days. I was 4\u00bd when I\nhad my sinus operation\u2026I still the effects of bad hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I had to undergo therapy every week at\nSAN JUAN under\nthe supervision of MISSUS SILVA the speech therapist. I still remember that in\nher house garden, stood an orange golf flag. I was undergoing therapy for a\ncondition that\u2019s somehow ruining my education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The bigger boys in class would make fun of me, my inadequacies. If I slipped and fell on my knee, they\u2019d laugh at me for my lack of coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I remember still with embarrassment at\nage six\u2026eating champorado at breakfast, then drinking Milo before leaving for\nschool, drinking CHOCOVIM at recess, and Chocolait at lunch\u2026I had a bowel\nattack\u2026the big kids again made me a butt of their jokes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I\u2019d see in the grade school toilets \u2013\nabandoned underwear and be puzzled why they\u2019re there at all\u2026that embarrassing\nmoment still persists in my memory. I was a child so na\u00efve\u2026maybe more na\u00efve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          When I watched Popeye-I wished I had\nhis superpowers and beat up the big kids. I was so distressed at seeing how my\nlittle hands can\u2019t even seem to beat the big kids\u2026I never did eat spinach\u2026But\nwhen I ate snack foods like popcorn \u2013 I pretend that they are spinach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Strangely \u2013 at the time \u2013 I didn\u2019t\nlike bugs bunny\u2026I had two front teeth protruding from my mouth\u2026and the big kids\nagain found another way to make fun of me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Strangely \u2013 only when I got older did\nI really understand BUGS BUNNY. He was a little guy who actually knows how to\noutsmart his enemies. Maybe\u2026maybe if I was already intelligent when I was\nsmall\u2026I could have outsmarted the bullies I encountered\u2026but that is past and I\ncan\u2019t undo that anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I was in grade 2 two times. My grades were falling behind. At ages 7 & 8\u2026I still had the effects of poor hearing\u2026my ears would itch badly\u2026that my Yaya would put eardrops in my itchy ear and cotton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          My buzzing ear is hurting my grades. I\nwould bring home report cards with lots of red marks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I sometimes hated myself for my weaknesses. There was one time \u2013 my school bag was locked in the classroom. My classmate\u2026one Michael Lopez laughed at my predicament and left me by the locked door\u2026I didn\u2019t know who to ask to open the door\u2026finally-then school principal father Malassmer saw my trouble \u2013 and had the door finally opened……….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy the comic book to read the whole autobiography of Gabby Atienza. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Life as a Comic Book by Gabby Atienza My life is as complex as anyone\u2019s. in order to keep tabs or focused on the story of my life, I intend to view it as a comic book.           I was born in Manila. I\u2019m the 9th member of 11 siblings. At age 3, my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-autobiography","tag-asperger"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/my-life-as-a-comic-book-cover-1.jpg?fit=1004%2C1512&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1795,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions\/1795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardphils.com\/auxiliary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}