The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) Letters section had one titled, “Chronic inflammation: cause of more than half of deaths worldwide.” 

At first, I read it as chronic inflation. Then I wondered why a letter about diseases had that title.

It was sent by Leonard Leonidas, M.D., of Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA, and published on Oct. 24, 2024. 

And yes, you read that right: the PDI letter was from its Oct. 24, 2024 issue.

I still buy newspapers to support the media industry which, obviously, I happen to belong to. I browse only the opinion, lifestyle, and comics sections, cutting out pieces I’m curious about to read later. Sometimes that means reading them two years later, as was the case with Leonidas’s letter to the PDI.

Thus, there are brown envelopes filled with newspaper clippings waiting to be read. One can almost hear them begging to be freed already. Haha.

As if those aren’t enough, I’ve been re-reading my old books lately, and one book I’m keeping is Paul Reiser’s “Couplehood” because he’s funny.

I’m currently re-reading Jerry Seinfeld’s “SeinLanguage.” Hmm. He’s not funny.

Reiser and Seinfeld are comedians.

Women usually fall for the funny guy when there’s chemistry that may lead to biology through procreation. But if there’s no chemistry, laughter does not morph into the best medicine. In other words, chemistry is more important than a good sense of humor.

I bought these two books way back in the mid-1990s at the National Book Store (NBS) branch along J.R. Borja Street in Cagayan de Oro, when NBS was still a bookstore instead of a store focusing on school and office supplies. But I guess it’s now returning to books, starting with its Metro Manila branches.

People do still love to read, but they’d rather get their daily fix from another kind of book: Facebook.

I, on the other hand, am now limiting my Facebook usage because it increases my blood pressure. So I post my columns and photos there, check the notifications, and that’s it.

What makes me happy these days is when my mobile says I wasted only 17 minutes on Facebook for a particular day. That’s my former favorite number right there. Yay.

That reminds me of the time Alex Eala made waves as the first-ever Filipina tennis player to reach Top 18 in the Women's Tennis Association list in August 2026. And my wish-ko-lang for her then was to level up to Top 17.

Eala made waves in the fashion world, too, when she appeared at New York Fashion Week in September 2026 and Paris Fashion Week in October 2026.

At the Michael Kors Spring/Summer 2027 show in New York, she was seated right beside Vogue’s Anna Wintour.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock and have no idea who Wintour is, she’s the real-life inspiration behind the Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) character in “The Devil Wears Prada.”

By the way, those are my Halloween costumes this year: my “The Devil Wears Prada” T-shirts. Which are actually my gym shirts.