Netnet Camomot IT’S almost 12 midnight, not 12 noon. I’m hoping to finish this column in 3, 2, 1… But who can write a column in three seconds?
  1. The first two lines above were written one late night last week when I tried to send a column amidst the busyness. I hate saying I’m busy, not because I’m not busy, but because I don’t like using the word “busy” as an excuse not to meet deadlines, not to meet friends, not to meet with family. I’m the type who would answer a phone call while juggling laptops, tablets, and phones, and that’s for an unknown number that doesn’t exist in my phonebook.
That actually happened on Wednesday. At least the number was in my phonebook. But I was checking out emails while blowdrying my hair which at first I was mulling over—to blowdry or not to blowdry—since it was rush hour again in my calendar. I could always open the car’s window and allow the polluted air to dry the hair anyway. When you’re working behind the scenes, you don’t need to look nice and pretty—you only need to be aware of latest updates on the organization you’re kind of working for. Let them shine, with you ensuring the spotlight is aimed at them. Unless the mic is now aimed at you and you have to respond or else. Thus, the need to look nice and pretty to be prepared, like a girl scout, for unexpected occasions where a warm and beautiful smile can’t cover up for the unmade face—the excess eye baggage accumulating fees at the airport, the pale lips, the non-blushing cheeks. Not being in love is no excuse for those cheeks not to blush. And the hair is allowed to misbehave only when you can rattle off “e equals mc squared” a la Albert Einstein. It’s when you’re juggling that you notice it has been a long day. But then, who doesn’t have long days. You wake up at 3 am to prepare for a day that starts at 5 am. There’s this urban legend—hehe—that old people tend to sleep less. No matter what time you slept the night before, it could be 2 am, 5 am, or 10 pm, the old will always wake up early. 3 am, 4 am, 5 am. O my gas. Thus, the advice is… No, not to walk out. Haha! But to sleep at 9 pm with 10 pm as the time for maximum tolerance. A 10 am appointment in Cagayan de Oro years ago would mean the Cagayanon waking up at 9 am and still not be late for an appointment. Nowadays, he has to wake up at 6 am in order to reach his destination before 10 am, no thanks to the traffic. Or it could be me—slowpoke Netnet needing more time to prepare. Still, Cagayanons have been complaining about the traffic which used to have rush hour as its target. But Cagayanons say there’s no particular time now, it seems like each hour is susceptible to horrendous traffic, rain or shine. Living uptown has its perks since traffic jams tend to concentrate downtown. It’s when the uptown resident reaches the neighborhood approaching Pryce Plaza on his way to the office downtown that his eyebrows start to merge as one, with two deep burrows now finding a permanent place inbetween. The first quarter of President Rody Duterte’s administration focused on no drugs which will of course continue throughout his six-year term. Now in the second quarter, the nationwide smoking ban is brewing overhead, with its Executive Order waiting for the president’s precious signature. Once it’s signed, you’ll see smokers outside, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. Here’s unsolicited advice: Be like the third pig—build a house with bricks. Er, be prepared for unmet cigarette cravings if you’re inside a building made of bricks. Er, stop smoking na lang oi. Smoking like a chimney will then be a thing of the past since the smoker will need to climb up that chimney in order to avoid penalties or—gasp!—jail? Wawa naman our smoking friends. But if there’s a will, there’s a way. A cigarette case featuring a photo of a tracheostomy hole in the throat can’t even stop a smoker. Smoke pa more. Smoking and drugs are only two in a long list of addictions that may include food, which is one addiction I can relate with. The wellness coach prepared a new meal plan for me last Sept. 3, I taped it to the post right beside the small fridge in the room, and it has since served as a mere suggestion. I followed it in the first few days, and that was it. Last week, I asked Butch Enerio his weight-loss secret. His reply: No rice. I’ve lost count of the number of times I had tried the noice diet. This time, despite Butch’s reminder, I continued having rice as the main star of almost every meal for a week, until last Wednesday when I finally decided, OK, no rice. Because I’m now missing my medium- and small-sized clothes. Thursday morning, there I was, on top of… Hmmm, what you’re thinking is yummy. But I was on top of the digital weighing scale that tells my weight up to the last decimal point. And I lost a pound! Despite the yummy dinner at the Rotary Club of West CDO meeting the night before. Plus the topic that Archbishop Antonio Ledesma talked about at that meeting—the Coalition for a Drug-Free Society. Listening to the country’s drug problem can be stressful. But he talked about the solution to the drug problem, instead of focusing on the extrajudicial killings and the Senate and Congressional hearings. Still not as relaxing as talking about the weather. Wait, talking about the weather means it’s raining cats and dogs almost daily, complete with a flooded downtown in CDO. Once it rains, better avoid S&R or else you’ll get trapped there and… Hmmm, feast on pizza, fried chicken, calzone… On second thought, yeah, go to S&R when it rains—best place to be trapped in. Make sure you’re not eating carbs, though, or else you’ll need to buy an S&R digital weighing scale to monitor your excess body weight. Well, it’s almost 12 noon. Gotta e-mail this to Editor-in-Chief Herbie Gomez. Now na.