IT IS MID-December as I write this.
I have been invited to at least three Christmas parties, mostly to judge their interdivision/interdepartmental competitions.
I’m feeling lazy, and a little bored, so I just said yes.
The world around me is miserable.
I went around the market, and everybody is complaining either of high prices, or how weak the spending power of consumers.
“It is not like Christmas!”
***
I’m writing this quite early; or, at least earlier than scheduled because, well, I don’t want to be bothered around Christmas.
I still don’t have a clear Christmas plan.
I could spend it with my aging mom.
But I can also spend it somewhere with a youngish boyfriend.
Or a very young boyfriend.
***
As a rich middle-aged man, I am entitled to any Christmas present I buy myself this Christmas.
But chances are, I am not buying anything other than more used books.
I’ve given up on new books.
I have so many unread books.
But if I have to give in to my compulsion to buy books, then I should be happy with old books, second hand books, BookSale kinds of books.
At P300 for four books (of my own selection) or P150 for four books (random pack), what’s not to like?
***
It’s been a good many years since I last completed a simbang-gabi novena.
(Full disclosure: this article was written on Dec 15.)
Simbang-gabi starts tomorrow.
Do I really want to go?
I know I’m a completist, so once I start, I know that I’ll see it to the finish, and that can affect travel plans.
What if I decide to go on an island getaway one Friday, and the island doesn’t have a simbang-gabi service?
I don’t want to be bothered by those kinds of stuff.
***
Same reason why I’m writing this piece like ten days ahead of schedule.
Because what if I get invited to go have some unadulterated fun in some island far away?
I don’t want to worry about newspaper deadlines, about wifi connection, about electrical power, about 52 minor other things.
***
It’s December 15, and I’m not feeling the sense of Christmas.
Not the snowy white Christmas of my East Coast.
Not the Filipino Christmas feel of the Philippines.
Sure, there were occasional Christmas music starting September, but it was so meh!
Even the Christmas decors in the malls look so pale.
Or so glitteringly empty.
I mean, I see poor people everywhere.
***
In fact, I noticed the lack of beggars this season.
It looks like they understood that no one will give them anything, not even a P5 coin.
So, why bother begging for alms?
Why humiliate themselves even more?
***
I’ve seen a few groups announcing plans to go Christmas caroling.
But no one has dared.
No one has ever dared! Haha.
My rule: If you don’t go TikTok dancing in the nude in front of me as you sing Christmas carols, you are not getting P500 from me! Haha.
***
So yeah, Christmas 2022.
I think PRIMA City Building will have a Christmas party for its renters and most loyal customers post-December 25.
I’ve promised to contribute five gallons of dirty ice cream.
Will I ever attend it?
I don’t know.
I hope no boyfriend invites me to Bora or Guimaras or Thailand.
I mean, I should at least try to make myself available.
My mom is contributing the lechon.
***
Part of me is praying for a typhoon this Christmas.
I mean, that seems to level the playing field.
I mean, I wish everybody is staying in the stable, sleeping in the manger, on Christmas Day.
I mean, I am born on January 6, traditionally the Feast of the Three Kings.
Well, I am no three kings.
I’m just me—#ThPSN!/PN
