A birthday greeting has been reduced to posts on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram.
There was a time, eons ago, when I’d write my birthday greeting on a birthday greeting card that was carefully chosen at the bookstore, to fit the personality and even the character of the birthday celebrant. The card would be funny, green, corny, cheesy, and the words I wrote there always came from the bottomless pit of my heart.
Nowadays, I don’t even know how to write birthday greetings anymore. I simply choose a birthday cake from the gif department. KISS—Keep It Simple and Short—has truly become simple and short.
Not wanting to exert much effort, KISS is probably the reason, too, for people to prefer instant coffee, instant noodles, instant oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, instant anything, instant everything.
But KISS has its perks, especially in writing and columnizing.
For example, I used to write really long columns that required a continuation on another page in the print edition. And then came the time when I couldn’t write anymore. I think it was during the pandemic lockdowns. I’m not sure.
To encourage me to write again, the editor-in-chief at that time suggested for me to write at least 500 words, and that would be fine with him. So, that’s what I did. And that’s what I’ve been doing since then. The 500 words are just enough to occupy my space in the print edition’s opinion page. No need to continue on another page.
So, that’s what I aim for now—500 words. Once the column has reached that, I’d email it to the editor-in-chief.
The lesser the number of words, the higher the number of reading between the lines? Hmmm. There’s less lost-in-translation moments, though, when the column follows KISS.
Still, just because the column is 500 words doesn’t mean it’s easier to write it although I’m writing even at the gym now. Or at a resto while having Spanish latte. Oops. Sugar again. Darn.
It doesn’t help that the gym is located at the resto area of the mall. Perhaps it was a conscious effort to put it there, a win-win situation for the gym and restos/cafes. The more we eat, the more we gain weight and will need the gym to lose the excess weight. And we’re so hungry after the Zumba, group workout, and training, the restos and cafes nearby are practically waving the moment we leave the gym.
The restos/cafes’ proximity is always a challenge for the foodie gym member. He will easily gain back the calories lost at the gym if sating his hunger is always his priority. I don’t know if I’m relate na relate with that since I’ve been able to continue my OMAD—one meal a day—if I’m home. It’s when I eat out that the OMAD morphs into TMAD—two meals a day.
Yes, TMAD sounds like tamad. Which is definitely not allowed at the gym or in the low-carb community. Bawal ang tamad mag-exercise; bawal ang tamad mag-low-carb diet. There’s no rule on that actually. It’s more of a personal commitment.
It’s those instant things that are perhaps signs of tamad. Or of lack of time. No time to cook breakfast, so there’s instant oatmeal. No time to brew coffee, so there’s the 3-n-1. No time to cook dinner, there’s instant noodles.
