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Netnet Camomot .

LISTENING to music can calm the nerves. As long as it’s music you like. But music you don’t like can grate on the nerves. Ugh. It even affects the writing. Like as if I need peace and quiet to write this column. Ahem.

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Jose Mari Chan now stars in a McDonald’s commercial, which could be considered as a timely and wise public relations coup, and I gotta feeling his Christmas songs are here to stay forevermore.

Forever 21, however, is learning that a “forever” name doesn’t guarantee a forevermore in the fashion retail business. The hopeless romantic can definitely relate with the blues that a failed relationship can bring once it stops its forevermore trajectory, and if this hopeless romantic happens to be a Forever 21 fan, which way does she go now?

Even the avid fan has noticed that Forever 21’s charm is gone. She enters the store and sees the gloom—it doesn’t spark joy anymore. So, she moves forward to Uniqlo and Zara? Hmmm.

As if that’s not enough, Ariana Grande is suing Forever 21 for at least $10 million for posting photos of her and her lookalike on its social media accounts even if she’s not endorsing its products. Tsk tsk. When it rains, it pours, eh?

Walang forever sa retail business. Walang forever sa relationships. Walang forever sa friendships. One reaches a certain age when he realizes all these can be true.

If you now have a small circle of friends—five people or less—after being hurt by so-called friends in the past, then, you have reached that certain age.

Even Justin Bieber went through tough times and he’s only 25, which a senior-moment mind won’t exactly classify as a certain age. In an Instagram post, Bieber did acknowledge he has “a lot of money, clothes, cars, accolades, achievements, awards,” yet he remained “unfulfilled.”

In that same post, he added, “By 20 I made every bad decision you could have thought of and went from one of the most loved and adored people in the world to the most ridiculed, judged and hated person in the world!”

The price of early stardom. Whew.

Bureau of Corrections Chief Nicanor Faeldon may not be as young and as popular as Bieber but he can probably relate with making “every bad decision you could have thought of” in his interpretation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law, which prompted President Rody Duterte to say, “I am demanding the resignation of Faeldon immediately.” Ouch.

And here’s Faeldon’s reply: “I am a soldier. I do as I am told.” Hmmm. That’s the kind of statement that could revive questions about the controversy that hounded his stint as Bureau of Customs chief, and also inspire more queries on the release of the almost 2,000 heinous crime convicts, thanks—or no thanks—to the GCTA law.

Duterte said he’s planning to offer a P1-million reward to anyone who can capture any of the convicts, dead or alive. Brrrrr. “Nandoon na, nawala pa, kay malas ko naman talaga,” as the song goes. I wonder who the “malas” is in the GCTA misinterpretation pa more.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam must have had her own misinterpretation episode, too, when she announced the withdrawal of the extradition bill, and perhaps expected that would stop the protests. But a CNN report says the protesters now have four other demands: “for leader Carrie Lam to step down, an inquiry into police brutality, for those who have been arrested to be released, and greater democratic freedoms.”

Had Lam withdrawn the bill when the protests began months ago, that would have been enough to appease the protesters. Well, “it’s too late, baby now, it’s too late/ Though we really did try to make it.”

It’s much like our diet. If only we have the discipline to control our food intake, then we won’t gain weight. Instead, we eat like there’s no tomorrow and 45 pounds later, it will be more difficult to lose the excess pounds. Still, that’s not as “too late” as Lam’s belated decision to withdraw the extradition bill.

“Timing is everything,” as the saying goes. And that’s true also for Chan whose Christmas songs continue to attract fans, and for Faeldon who will surely be given another chance to lead a government agency.

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