Ending The Search Beginning the Quest

The moment I’ve been waiting for months on end happened yesterday, at 13:15…

“Marquita, its Evan. There’s a big chance that the printing press will deliver the book printed, ready to be dished out, today.”

It was simply exuberating news that made me rush to the nearest phone booth to break the good news to Tutzi…

“Tu, there’s a big possibility that the first boxes with the book will be delivered right at your door step at around 17hrs…”

Until I met Nazju (one of Evan’s employees) with the books at 16:50pm, there was a whole ecosystem of butterflies in my stomach. I was excited, but also very sick with worry. I was afraid of any possible misprints that would make me want to rewind back a few weeks. I was afraid the cover would turn out to be all pixilated and crappy…

Still, what was done was done. I muttered a prayer to God, thanking Him for everything and asked Him to bless our work. In the meantime, I wondered whether the white Fiat Uno right in front of Mireva book shop was Nazju’s car. At the sight of loads and loads of white boxes in the boot of the car, my heart went into tachycardia. Yep! It was definitely Nazju’s car! And the books were in there!

I opened one of the boxes on our way to Tutzi’s house. The result was amazing. Eventually, I got to discover a few booboos here and there. But, the joy of finally seeing the book ready after 18 months of sweat, tears and teeth-clenching effort totally outweighed any possible negative feeling precipitated by inevitable human errors.

But what is this book that I'm talking about?

For those who didn’t read my previous posts…

It was September 2006 when I went to Y4J’s Youth Team weekend in Gozo to plan the work and activities of the year ahead. It was on the 9th of September that Tutzi coined this great idea of dishing out information about Jesus in the form of printed matter whist outreaching in schools. It’s a date I recall well because I remember having to miss my friend Joelle’s graduation party because of this weekend. Anyhow, my mind instantly went on publishing a booklet like the one I was given at the MV Doulos once. And so, Tutzi honoured me with the responsibility of seeing that the project gets done.

Technically, all she wanted was a simple, easy to produce pamphlet. But I’m famous for my gross misunderstandings. So, instead of making a pamphlet, I wrote a book entitled: Ending the Search Beginning the Quest (Mit-Tfittxija għall-Għarfien). I wrote the text in English which we planned to translate into Maltese, in order to make one bilingual publication that could reach a wider readership. And I made all the arrangements with the owners of Mireva bookshop, who were great people to work with from the first till the very last day.

When Tutzi realised this, she was having second thoughts about this big project, whilst remaining flabbergasted at how I managed to blow things out of proportion. But I showed her that I was willing to put my heart and soul into this; that I had people helping me and that God was by my side. On Chris’s wedding (25th November 2006), we discussed all these issues and Tutzi gave me the official go ahead.

From that point on, there was no turning back. Tempting as it was at times to just give up on the whole thing, we just persisted on till we got to a very gratifying end result yesterday.

All glory to God for helping us all complete this book.

And thanks to all those people who helped out in some way or another.

Re: Naxxar Accident

There has been a lot going on recently. Elections alone gave me plenty of opportunities to keep the blog up and running. But, in all honesty, I've been too busy trying to get my first book printed. Now that the politicians got their 1s and 2s, Veritas Printing Press found a much awaited printing slot for my humble work of art (it's still currently a major source of headache but we're approaching the end slowly).

So, I'm not really going to talk about elections. After all, time waits for no one and news is always plentiful. I wish it weren't the case as what made the headlines yesterday was a real tragedy. I'm not going to dissect the incident and give my opinion on the matter. All I know is that innocent people have been negatively affected by this: Two people missing, feared dead; other bystanders injured and three houses reduced to rubble. Families who once had a roof over their head, a place to call home, suddenly lost it all.

To some people, this news happened a lot more closer to home. A friend of mine (an MCAST student, also from Naxxar), happens to know one of the victims of this accident. Mr. Edward Bugeja (602860 M) is an MCAST employee in great need of any helping hand available. A solidarity letter has been sent to me which, I believe, deserves a place in my little slice of Internet. Here's a the letter I got. For all those who can help, I encourage you to really make a difference to this person and his whole family.

Re: Naxxar Accident (Bugeja Family)


Following the violent accident in Naxxar on Wednesday 12th March 2008, MCAST was shocked to learn that one of the families affected by the disaster was that of Family Bugeja. Mr. Edward Bugeja (602860 M), who is an MCAST employee, has, as a result of the accident, lost his house and all the family’s belongings.

Should any one like to make a monitory contribution, please deposit funds at any BOV branch in account number: 40017049454, Bugeja Family (Naxxar Accident Fund).

We are confident that through your generosity and support we will be able to show our solidarity with a colleague at this very difficult moment.

Sincerely,

Stephen Vella
Deputy Director
Institute of Art and Design
Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology

ID: 322667(m)

How Could I Have Forgotten?!

I just realised now that my blog turned one year old on 28th February i.e. 4 days ago. So...

Happy Belated Birthday Oh Bloggie of Mine!!

I must admit...shame on me to have neglected this blog in this way. But, without sounding too presumptuous, I guess it happens when you would have 'bigger fish to fry'. Lately I've been really busy with things. Ten days before the Y4J Lenten sermons, I had to sort out what computer freaks would call "an interrupt". I was working on editing my first booklet Ending the Search Beginning the Quest, which took the best of seven days to do. The producers and I really went out of our way to try get it printed by Wednesday 27th of last month; all so that Y4J would get down to distributing it (for free) at one of their most hallmark activities. We managed to have everything ready on Monday 25th, specifically at 11:40 AM. Thing is, we didn’t manage to get it printed on time, reason being…

No big heads? No big bucks? Then, no big priority!

That is, because of work related to the elections, our work had to be shunned to the side for a while (even though we were promised otherwise). I guess printing presses also have their own bigger catch of fish to fry :( Oh well, a bit more waiting won’t hurt anyone I suppose. Should be ready by approx. 14th March.

In the meantime, here's a little teaser which I'm currently using as a desktop wallpaper. It was designed by Romina Tolu, who deserves a very special thank you for giving her 200% in effort to get things done on time (even if it meant spending less time with her twin sister who came back home from Italy for just two days. In case you're reading this Mina, thanks loads and I'm very, very sorry things turned out the way they did). More on how the book came to be in future posts...