ON Wednesday morning, I was playing Wordle while on my way to the gym when I began to notice its letters were unusually clear. Which is impossible if I’m wearing specs that are meant for seeing things far, far away.
Since this was a loading-galore day, it took me a while to realize that I left my specs in my bedroom. Whew. Senior moment pa more.
I was going to watch “Mufasa: The Lion King” later that day, so, imagine watching that with my, hmmm, 20/100 vision. I had no choice but to go back home to get the specs. Good thing I was still at Masterson Avenue, the main road in uptown Cagayan de Oro, when the Realization 101 happened. And there was no traffic. Otherwise, I would have been more late than I already was for the Zumba class.
It was a day of more senior moments. I forgot to Google if “Mufasa” has a post-credit scene and Googling that using a snail-paced mobile data speed while inside the cinema was like lining up at the supermarket’s cashier on Christmas Eve. So, I sat there until all the end credits had rolled. Only to find out there’s no post-credit scene. Darn. Waited for nothing. What a waste of time. And this was not the day that I could sit back and relax. Still had a long todo list to accomplish.
By the way, two Lions Clubs hosted two block screenings of “Mufasa” on that day, and since it was my super loading galore day, it took me a while to see the connection: the Lions hosting block screenings of a movie about lions.
I could say a movie is nice if it keeps me awake, and “Mufasa” was able to do that, although not 100 percent. Perhaps because the 1994 movie is still the best for me. Lions bursting into song was something magical then. And those songs have become classics: “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Circle of Life,” “Hakuna Matata,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.”
Thirty years later, the songs are not as nice, except for “Tell Me It’s You”: “Ever since you appeared/I’ve been running from something deep inside/And it’s worse than I feared/‘Cause I look in your eyes and I can’t hide/I push you away.”
Hmmm. Here’s something the Cagayanon can’t push away: the chaotic Christmas traffic. The best thing to do now is to stay home. Or wherever you are, stay there. The uptowner should stay uptown. The downtowner should stay downtown.
Going from uptown to downtown or vice versa is worth it only if it’s for work or to attend a face-to-face meeting for a P100-trillion deal. It has to be that essential. The pandemic lockdowns already taught us about essentials and non-essentials, that lesson should stay with us forevermore.
Christmas shopping in the downtown area is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and there’s a long and winding line in that haystack. The uptowner is better off going to the downtown mall in the morning when it opens, and leaving before 3 pm if he wants a stress-free Christmas. Or better yet, go shopping at the uptown mall.
