There’s a spring in cleaning

Netnet Camomot

SOME phases in the uptown village survived through a blackout last Friday. It was an inconvenience easily forgotten by a visit to the nearby uptown mall where a long-weekend sale had begun.

How long? Extended up to today, which is a holiday—May 1, Labor Day, when laborers are supposed to have a holiday? But the holiday can wait I guess. A sale perks up cash flows, a positive cash flow perks up funds, funds perk up the staff’s salaries, so, yes, it’s all good.

A blackout does not exactly require nerves of steel to help its survivor to, uh, survive. But it does require upper-arm muscles made of steel to blend the protein shake breakfast sans blender. If you see the house help getting sexier arms, it’s a sign that Cepalco is scheduling more blackouts than the usual.

Good thing Friday morning was cooler. Cooler than most summer mornings, that is. And whenever birds are chirping, you recall chilly January mornings and that’s enough to inspire your fats to keep cool.

Excess weight keeps the body hot in a bad way. Yes, there is a good way—the hotness that can result to gymnastic positions meant for your eyes only. Wink, wink. But the bad way paired with fats can limit your body’s gymnastic capabilities, and your only choice is to accept reality, resolve to do something about it, and move forward. Oink, oink.

I was almost there in this weight-loss journey. Lost more than 20 pounds, was on the way to losing 20 more. But there was the knee injury and the arthroscopy six months later, which required a two-month post-op hibernation. Yup, stayed in my room for two months, except when I had to visit my doctor for monthly checkups. And there I was, caught in a Catch-22: I had to lose weight for the knee but needed real food for the knee’s fast healing.

My appetite could go berserk when I’m given a go signal for real food. Gained back all the weight I lost plus probably more, and last night, as I squeezed my voluptuous—haha!—body into a long gown, I was reminded of my journey again.

Now that most work deadlines have been met, I’m looking forward to the day I can read books, and finally start the spring cleaning that has been postponed for far too long already. Spring cleaning in all areas.

There’s Marie Kondo’s book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing,” to refresh my minute brain, and to guide on the things to keep, and to be given or thrown away.

This will be followed by cleaning out the room’s fridge which, for now, is used as storage for perfumes, colognes, lotions. It has no more food after the chocolates had gone seeking the comforts of my tummy.

I already began the spring cleaning last week, by the way, when I had to seek divine intervention to find this most important thing. No, it wasn’t my most favorite Planters peanuts but equally as important. Finally found it after searching in the wrong place for almost the whole morning! Eureka! Proving that divine intervention does help if you have the patience to wait for everything to work out in the end.

Unlike smoking which one may stop cold turkey, spring cleaning is taken one drawer, one closet, one cabinet, one day at a time. But opening even one drawer can already overwhelm you. Too much stuff in there. Whew. You have to be as cold as a, well, cold turkey to detach from material things that are unnecessarily occupying precious space.

Kondo’s tip is to touch each item and see if it makes you happy. If it doesn’t, out it goes. I don’t even have to touch each of the things in this room. By merely looking at them, I already know the items that make me happy: books, magazines, the black and blue clothes… No, not black and blue as in battered. Simply plain black or blue in color. But it’s possible for a book or a magazine to not make me happy anymore, so, touch I must.

It’s during blackouts that you may truly appreciate what matters most to you. With no internet and no TV, what’s the next thing you wanna do? So, should we thank Cepalco for helping us discover new hobbies?

But reading a book during the most humid of summers requires an air conditioner. You can’t focus on a book if sweat is creeping down your spine—you’ll be busy fanning yourself and all that heat can give you headaches.

If you read only when there’s a blackout, though, you may not be able to finish all the books that are hibernating on the shelves in your room. Which can be good news—that means there are fewer blackouts this summer. Yay! But then, you’re reading less. Oh, well.