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Netnet Camomot

WAKING up early for travel is not exactly my cup of tea. Nor is it my cup of coffee, cup of hot choco, or even my cup of lukewarm water. But the senior-moment age has changed my sleeping hours—I’m usually sleepy by 9 pm or even earlier, and awake at dawn, thus, early-morning travel is no big deal anymore. This was unthinkable way back when. When I was still, uh, young.

But other habits refuse to quit, such as playing Candy Crush Soda Saga. Too busy to play anything, I had to bid it adieu in 2015, but now that I’m no longer a volunteer, I’m back to crushing candies and sodas again. Another game that the non-volunteer has time for is Homescapes, which crushes cups, teapots, buttons, etc. in order to accomplish a task or to add one more furniture and fixture for a mansion that’s under renovation.

Austin, the son/butler in Homescapes, talks to you. Or to himself: “I think I’ll sweep.” He’s always restless, can’t simply sit and relax—he writes while seated on a rocking chair. His parents want to sell the mansion but he tries renovating it so he can convince them it’s worth keeping. And he’s the lone member of your cheering squad as you fail to complete a level for far too many times.

These games are a waste of time—better read a book or resume the spring cleaning. But they’re a welcome respite after being deprived for so long.

Crush and mansion, however, are words that a Marawi displaced resident may not want to hear now that houses and buildings in the main battle area are almost reduced to rubble. Some do wonder how the Marawians will feel once they see the rubble. Well, there will be a lot of pain. Pain that runs deep in the veins, never to be forgotten, so that the lesson learned is always remembered and used as a guide for major choices in the days, months, and years of post-siege rebuilding, reconstruction, and rehabilitation. Do those three Rs mean one and the same thing?

Authorities have been warning the madlang pehpohl that the extremists may retaliate now that their leaders are dead. It’s such a negative postscript to what was initially regarded as a success in their fight against the Maute group. Pinoys I guess are naturally pessimistic, always looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence, never realizing that the grass on their side is brown because they’ve been stepping on it for too long. And that’s exactly why extremists can easily lure others to join their team when they’re able to convince potential recruits of a better life once they’ve conquered the world. Or a city.

But still, better warned and alert than complacent.

The rest of Mindanao has managed to keep moving forward despite martial law. And Marawi has no choice but to move forward after the siege, although, some of its displaced residents may experience the five stages of grief once they see the devastation. But it’s possible they’ve already been going through denial, anger, bargaining, and depression upon realizing the siege would not end in a week or two. Acceptance may happen when the siege is finally over.

Some of the military personnel assigned to Marawi are already leaving the city, which must be a hint that the siege will end soon. Armed Forces Chief Eduardo Ano, however, said last Monday that “Our timeline is to finish all the Maute, ASG and BIFF until the end of 2017. So this will continue. There will be no let up. It’s about time to end these terrorists here in Mindanao.”

ASG is the Abu Sayyaf Group, and Biff is the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana revealed they can also now go back to fighting the New People’s Army: “We will just increase our intensity in running after them because Marawi will be over and we can again bring back some of the units that we got from the areas that have NPA.”

Gosh. There is no end to the Pinoy-versus-Pinoy war. It’s about time we reserve our energies for non-Pinoy enemies such as, hmmm, aliens from outer space?

But an alien attack happens only in the movies. And in video games.

Space Invaders, an arcade video game in the ’80s, was our antidote to boredom while waiting for our pizza order at Shakey’s Espana in Manila. Pac-Man was also around then. That was the Jurassic age of video games.

Nowadays, video games are in our phones—no need to go to Shakey’s to crush sodas, candies, and teapots. Wait, we do go to Shakey’s to drink sodas, if only the senior-moment afflictions would allow that much sugar.

Meanwhile, the senior continues to wake up early and realizes only the early bird gets the worm.