You know

Netnet Camomot

SOMETIMES you have to choose your poison––beer or diet soda, cigarette or chips. Alcohol destroys the liver, cigarette the lungs. So, go for diet soda and chips.

There are days when all you wanna do is drink and smoke. And let the hangover take care of itself. Since you still think of health risks, you pretend to smoke by using, what, a toothpick, grasped between index and middle fingers, with the thumb flicking one end to get rid of the pretend ash. Wawa naman.

But won’t it be nice to get drunk like as if you didn’t have an alcoholic brother who died of cirrhosis, and to smoke like as if your dad didn’t die of COPD.

COPD? I don’t even have to google the meaning: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

But there are days when you need to forget. So, you drink, smoke, get high with, hmmm, illegal substances. Marijuana is not yet legal in Pinas, so… As for substances more lethal than that, oops, don’t.

Me? I now read, for survival. For now, it’s David Nicholls’ “One Day.” I think I saw the movie but I’m not sure since I forget movie titles.

For the past several years up to last week, I thought I didn’t have time to read anymore. But I have to find the time. So, read.

Writing, another source of survival, is always there, too, waiting. Like reading, writing is also selfish. You do both alone, preferably with no people knocking on your door, no texts, no calls, no househelp asking if you’ll have dinner here or dinner out. If someone interrupts you while writing, it’s World War III. What the…?! Can’t you see I’m…?! Like as if Shakespeare. Heh heh. But did Shakespeare even have that preference for peace and quiet? Hmmm. To each his own, eh?

There are relationships that may inspire the love of your life to say, I need space. With writing, that needed space could last till the piece is emailed to the editor. An hour. A few hours. One whole morning till a little after 12 noon.

With Christmas now invading our days again, the more difficult it will be to find the peace and quiet needed to gain back our sanity. I want the season to be over already. It’s too commercialized although I’m sure the malls’ sales staff will again say it’s not as bibo as last year. Last year would always be more bibo, as the year before that was more bibo than last year, and so on and so forth.

I’ve not been fond of Christmas nor of my own birthday party in the last, hmmm, 30 years? O my gas. Haha!

It’s not about the age. I guess I’m the shy type who prefers to stay home and read, and looks at a party as this long table with people seated around it and eating and making chika till dawn. More than that crowd, I’d be stressed––I’d feel obliged to entertain them.

The last time I had a big birthday party was in 2009 and it wasn’t for me but for dad, so he won’t miss some people too much. And I needed to forget, too, at least in that one night. After that, it has been back to long-table dinners.

That’s the reason why I can never be a politician, like as if there are politicians who are inviting me to join their political colors. Haha. A politician has to be a friend to all, he can’t be sad or depressed, he has to be happy and accommodating all the time especially during the campaign season which can put more pressure on the Christmas season. If Christmas means giving for the non-politician, how much more for the politician whose job description includes giving.

As to how politicians end up rich despite the giving, that’s the question that most Pinoys know how to answer. Yup, they know. Kung si Manny Pacquiao pa, You know.

So, how many Cagayan de Oro politicians have filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) in order to serve with all their heart and soul? Uh, they have to be careful with the way they define service. There’s this story about the pig and the chicken and their relation to ham and eggs: the pig is committed while the chicken is merely involved.

The yellow party mayor and some of his ka-berks opted to file their COCs in the simplest way possible. Oh, what a difference three years can make. But that was simply the appetizer for the main course and yellow fanfare that will happen today. Yehey!

If only the loudest cheers during the COC filing can ensure victory at the polls, then, sure na. But if those cheers were “paid,” how sure is the sure na? Tsk tsk. Pag-sure oi.

Now, I can almost see a friend’s comment on the recent political updates in CDO. She will probably say, Go na lang nang go. And here’s the pambansang kamao again: You know.

Politics is always about at least two choices for “here, there and everywhere.” Which reminds me. A high school classmate was asking who sang that song. And I replied, Google first. As in i-Google pa gyud. Dios ko day. My brain, where are you na, my beloved brain? Help!