‘Ayaw kabalaka’

By Netnet Camomot .

CAGAYAN de Oro’s Covid-19 cases have been increasing daily but that has not stopped the Cagayanon from partying and gathering and going out for any non-essential whatever. Talk of moving forward. The Cagayanon is definitely a positive thinker.

Mayor Oscar Moreno used to say, Ayaw kahadlok; kabalaka lang. Now he’s saying, Ayaw kabalaka.

The economy can continue to reopen as long as the city government can continue adding more City Isolation Units, and Temporary Treatment Monitoring Facilities, ventilators, and hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. That could be the reason Moreno is now saying, Ayaw kabalaka.

No economy, no taxes. The Pinoy has to remember that because no economy also means no food on the table.

Well, some people have gained weight despite the pandemic, so I’m guessing there’s always food on their table. But many are now unemployed and their main concern each day is where to get their next meal. Not everyone can easily shift from one career to another, and the hopelessness that this evokes may lead to depression.

Staying home and working from home may also lead to depression if one is used to going out daily. Only a few can withstand staying home forevermore—I’m now thinking I’m in the wrong profession; I should be a monk.

It so happens that my hobbies—writing, reading, playing Oil Painting, collecting piggies—don’t require company, so if a monastery will allow my hard-habits-to-break to flourish within its august halls, then I can be a monk.

I gotta feeling there are people who are afraid of going out but they have to, anyway, for work. On the other hand, there are people who are not afraid at all to go out and they leave their house almost daily even for the most non-essential errand.

Those who have been frequently leaving the safety of their home and have continued attending non-essential activities and gatherings but managed to stay Covid-free despite their carpe-diem YOLO (You Only Live Once) attitude are perhaps convinced that Covid-19 is a joke or that they have anting-anting against Covid-19. Good for them? Hmmm. Ignorance is bliss but cluelessness is dangerous to their health.

The pandemic will not end tomorrow or next week or next month, thus, the need to think of long-term strategies to survive through this. I’ve chosen spring cleaning as my survival tool, getting rid of non-essential items, hoping that once the pandemic is over I will be surrounded only by things that spark joy.

I’m now always conscious of body parts and suspiciously contaminated items. What item has touched what body part. What body part has touched what item. Which would have sounded like R-18 or even X-Rated in B.C. (Before Coronavirus) days but practically a natural reaction to the new normal’s minimum public health standards.

With no appointments to be punctual for and after saying no to Zoom anything, my monk-like existence allows me to sleep the whole day. But I can be wide awake before 6 am, unable to sleep again. I would prefer waking up much later, right before brunch, but the new normal has somehow encouraged me to have a daily pandemic sked. I even look forward to the daily spring cleaning which I used to hate B.C.

I’ve not exactly followed Marie Kondo’s KonMari method. And some items I have to keep don’t necessarily spark joy otherwise this room with a view would be filled with piggies and books.

A columnist a.k.a. wannabe writer tends to collect paper which eventually ends up as clutter. That means anything made of paper—books, magazines, newspaper clippings, comic strips, notebooks, planners, journals, stationery, bond paper, envelopes of all sizes, used envelopes, scratch paper. The phone may have replaced paper as the ever-ready storage of ideas on what to write next, but there’s nothing like pen and paper for writing from the gut.

So majority of my spring cleaning focuses on all kinds of paper. And wearing a face mask is a must for that even if I’m staying home.

The wannabe writer also collects pens and the fact that ink may dry up is the only thing that keeps her from amassing hundreds of ‘em.

Writing, reading, and spring cleaning have helped me stay home but these may not work for everyone else. So what will convince people to stay home? Since the increasing cases are obviously not enough to evoke kahadlok and kabalaka. Tsk tsk.