Eddie and Patty

Netnet Camomot .

MOVIES in Pinas’ theaters would now open on Fridays instead of Wednesdays. The Film Development Council of the Philippines released a statement where it said, “There will also be a minimum run of at least seven days for every film booked for the theatrical release, as well as a theater assignment guarantee for the first three days to avoid movies from getting pulled out of cinemas.”

That reminds me of “Rocketman” which disappeared from most of Cagayan de Oro’s cinemas even before the Cagayanon could sing, “I’m not the man they think I am at home / Oh no no no I’m a rocket man.” Only SM CDO Downtown Premier was showing the movie by the time we had the chance to watch it. Was “Quezon’s Game” even shown in CDO’s cinemas?

With Friday as the first day of screening and “a theater assignment guarantee for the first three days,” that means the movie fan is assured of watching his favorite film over the weekend. Yay! Unless he’d rather stay home on weekends to avoid the madding crowd in malls.

A staycation is the cheapest vacation anyone can have as long as he’s staycationing at home and not in a five-star hotel. So, does that make a four-star hotel staycation as the cheaper alternative to malling? Hmmm. To each his own, even for the R&R.

The certified bookworm can also be the certified weekend home staycationer as he reads books, magazines, and newspapers the whole day for his mind-over-matter hibernation, with all these reading materials serving as his reboot before facing a new week on Monday.

There’s this Nescafé question that goes, “Para kanino ka bumabangon?” I’ve realized I now prefer to wake up to anything—or anyone, ahem—that sparks joy for me. Otherwise, I’ll go back to sleep. Thanks, but no thanks.

Sting’s song comes to mind: “If I ever lose my faith in you / There’d be nothing left for me to do.” No matter how many times you declare your faith in someone, your eyes will tell the truth and nothing but the truth, anyway: You have lost faith; The End. Don’t ever make anyone reach that point of no return especially if that did happen to him before with other people. Forcing him to revive that faith in them only evokes memories that only the vomit emoji can express.

Life has a way of leading you to the direction to take, one day at a time. If reading a book is the only thing you can do today, then, that’s it. It’s much like a full tummy—once you’ve had enough, the rest of the food on your plate won’t spark joy anymore.

So, I resumed reading books to find out which among them are the 30 volumes that spark joy per Marie Kondo’s advice on the maximum number of books to keep.

I was the one who chose and bought all these books, each of them sparked joy at the bookstore, and now that I’m reading them, it’s as if I’m there with the characters as their lives unfold. And now I know why Facebook can spark the blues—all those different stories the mind absorbs in one sitting can be harmful to the health, whereas a book has that one story for the reader to focus on till the last page.

I’ve been buying books again, like as if the books gathering dust inside the cabinets in this room with a view need more company. Yeah, what the…? But reading has always been one of my R&R sources, it’s a constant in my staycations, that is, if an on-and-off reading habit is considered as constant.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno may need to be constant, er, consistent, too—that is, in cleaning his city otherwise the skeptical and cynical will win.

Eddie—eh di siya—and Patty—pati sila, whom he refers to as the “collectors” of money from sidewalk vendors, parking fees, etc., will have a hard time surviving amidst the daily cleanup drives.

Aside from Eddie and Patty, Mayor Isko prefers to use many other words which have inspired the “Iskonary.” Well, if immediate past Mayor Erap Estrada had his Eraptions…

Meanwhile, I can’t read books and watch Mayor Isko’s Facebook Live videos at the same time. Oh, well.