I DIDN’T notice this until I saw it on Friday. The month of May seems to always inspire me to write about the Bohol fiestas.

I started posting my columns on Facebook during the pandemic lockdowns which also affected the frequency of printing this paper. With no printed copy to remind me of my columns, and knowing how forgetful I could be, I decided to post them on FB. Because of that, I can now review the columns I submitted exactly a year ago or two years ago. And there were FB memories reminding me that my column for May 5, 2021, was about the Bohol fiestas. And my column for May 5, 2023, two years later, was again about the Bohol fiestas.

So, this is how this column goes: New Year for January; Valentine’s for February; graduation for March, but that has changed; Easter Sunday for April unless it’s in March; the Bohol fiestas, Mother’s Day, and Flores de Mayo for May; weddings for June; typhoons for July, although that can be any time of the year now, whew; Cagayan de Oro fiesta for August; the start of Pinas’ Christmas season for September; Halloween for October; pre-Christmas preparations for November; and Christmas parties, Kris Kringle, noche buena, and media noche for December.

Instead of “Isang Linggong Pag-ibig,” that’s one year—not a week—of columnizing, repeat all that for next year, and repeat again for the year after that, and so on and so forth.

Since emotional eating is no longer one of my coping mechanisms, writing, reading, and spring cleaning have taken their place.

So, I write daily, the products of which may end up as a column, but most of the time they don’t. I always censor the column until it’s fit for public consumption, meaning rated G, for general patronage. I never censor the daily journal which I tore into pieces and throw away immediately after writing it. That’s not how journals are supposed to be treated, so I could re-read them in the future and say, Aha! That’s what happened on May 10, 2023! But I don’t think I would still like to read my old journals. I prefer re-reading my old columns, to see if I was funny then, or bored.

Like daily writing, reading is daily, too. After I posted on FB all those “May the 4th Be With You” greetings on May 4, I decided to minimize the time I waste on social media. I’d still post my columns, of course, and perhaps continue posting throwback solo photos every Sunday, but to scroll down the News Feed and see what everyone else is doing, gotta refrain from that for a while because I’m tired.

On the morning of May 5, I checked out FB again and my blood pressure shot up! Juice colored. FB is that stressful? And that made me vow: Enough already. I’d rather read books.

As for the books that I decided to keep but with no plans to re-read them, I’m giving them away, otherwise, they’ll only attract dust. So, the spring cleaning continues.

Marie Kondo’s advice is to merely hold the book and ask, “Does this spark joy?” without reading them. If I follow her advice, spring cleaning will take only one day. But I choose to read each book because I don’t have the heart to buy them and not read them.