I will pass

Netnet Camomot

OH, what a wonderful morning. The sun is shining, no clouds in sight, and our high school class’ chat group is filled with inputs on food assignments for the Christmas party. Yum!

It’s the season to eat, parties are being planned, and families are deciding on where to celebrate Christmas and the New Year—at home, in a hotel, or another place to be closer with the son who can’t be home for the holidays?

But the question hovering above Coldplay fans is this: Will there be tickets left once they’re available for public consumption?

The first batch of tickets went to Globe subscribers—we tried but the only reply we received was this: “Sorry, but Globe’s ticket reservation for Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams Tour is now closed…”

The next batch went to Citi credit card holders—we are not.

This is beginning to look a lot like… it’s worse than the mad scramble for Madonna’s concert tickets.

There’s nothing like a live concert. Especially if you like the artist onstage. Only the one with loads of extra cash will watch the concert of an artist he doesn’t like out of curiosity I guess, or for the chance to post a photo on Facebook. But for us ordinary mortals, concert tickets mean saving cash also for plane fare and hotel accommodations in Manila.

Meanwhile, the music you hear in malls, stores, and restos are not Coldplay songs but Christmas carols. It’s beginning to look a lot like… we’re about to spend money on gifts, food, and clothes for the parties. I’m not a fan of the season—I consider the fanfare as nothing but a business owner’s ploy to encourage us to spend more. Gotta buy gifts for everyone. Gotta bring food and drinks to the party. Gotta wear new clothes to the party. That kind of ploy.

I don’t have a Christmas list yet. Must be the result of necessary changes in that list which I gotta feeling is much shorter now.

I used to be the kind that would bring pasalubong or give gifts for friends. Chicharon from Carcar, Cebu. Mangos. Key holders, pins, and magnets from travels. Birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, whatever gifts. I would write these kilometric notes on greeting cards. I was, hmmm, thoughtful.

I guess I’m still thoughtful. Yup, should not be affected by changes in the Christmas list. For I’m still basically me.

2016 has woken me up to the reality that bites. The Realization 101 began on Dec. 17, 2016, that’s why I now consider 17 as my important number. Will 2017 be one more year of realizations? That’s the question.

A friend reminded me about the “walang forever” in anything. It’s also in memes that are posted on Facebook: to savor the good parts because they don’t last, and to look at the bad parts as temporary since they also don’t last. Three words: It will pass.

The scent of grass—green grass, not the grass that makes you high—pervades the air as grass cutters invade the village. One purpose of the constant cutting must be to drive away the snakes. Nope, not snakes pretending to be people, but real snakes, the kind that crawls and glides.

Retirement is also in the air. How nice if all we’ll do the whole day is to read, eat, sleep, and to repeat the whole routine again the next day. One and a half cabinets filled with unread books are waiting, that’s what I see daily the moment I wake up. I’ve stopped buying books because there’s no more extra space here for storage.

I’m staring at the trees again. I’m facing a lot of green from this room with a view. Green trees, green grass. The best view for a retiree. So calming and soothing.

Meanwhile, there’s work to do for the nonetiree who would rather read about showbiz for now. And the latest in that department is BB Gandanghari saying goodbye to Rustom Padilla. No, they’re not ex-lovers. Rustom morphed to BB and the latter’s gender is now female per a decree she obtained from the Superior Court of Orange County. With US President-Elect Donald Trump’s conservative views, will gender-change petitions be denied in the future? Hmmm.

A Trump presidency is expected to be unfriendly to LGBTQs and immigrants. Thus, if you’re given a six-month stay upon entry, be sure to have the necessary documents if you want to extend your stay. The US has been strict with undocumented aliens since 9/11. But the Democrats are lax when it comes to those who have not committed crimes in the US. Now that the Republicans are back at the White House with Trump, the rules may change—there’s a possibility for an illegal immigrant to be deported despite the absence of a crime in his record.

Pinoys will always be second-class citizens in the US. But the lure of milk and honey in the land of milk and honey is too tempting to ignore. The US is a First World country. It has New York, the Grand Canyon, and Brad Pitt. Of course you won’t bump into Brad the moment you visit Hollywood. But New York and the Grand Canyon are always a must in your US vacay itinerary.

Trump may not have the looks and demeanor of a presidentiable, and he may have to bear the comparisons between him and incumbent US President Barack Obama, but Trump won, anyway, thanks to the Electoral College. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, leads in the popular vote by 1.7 million which continues to increase daily. Hillary’s thought bubble must be churning with, If only. If only the US prefers the popular vote. But it doesn’t. So, she lost. But the sun will continue to shine, with or without her as president. And whatever she’s going through right now can also rely on these three words: It will pass.