ON A FRIDAY morning, I rushed to Roxas City to get a photo for a story I was writing.
I called it the “money shot” because it is the kind of photo that people would pay money for.
I say “the kind of photo people would pay for”, even if I didn’t, and don’t, get paid for such shots.
Suffice it to say, that in an ideal world where justice rules, it would have been a real money shot.
***
I like the idea that I can make things happen.
So what if I had to spend my own money to make things happen the way I want them?
I mean, for what is my money after all?
***
The photo occasion allowed me to witness the first day of Kaadlawan, the celebration of Roxas City’s 72nd birthday.
There was a street dance parade in the morning.
Some 47 barangays danced to TikTok music and choreography.
***
After dusk was a performance showcase in video, music, and dance.
It was capped by a spectacular fireworks display.
Some 15 or 17 minutes of it.
I was thinking, Roxas City had money to burn.
***
I’m not easily impressed by fireworks displays.
I lived in Macau for some years, and I always enjoyed the Macao International Fireworks Display Contest.
But Roxas City’s grandiose pyrotechnics awakened the child in me.
Gave me that elusive sense of awe and wonder.
***
In the aftermath of the fireworks was a program of DJs.
While it was going on, I was invited to dinner.
I was asked for my opinion of the cultural show and fireworks.
I gave a favorable rating because I cannot lie.
They said, I was coaxing poetic when I said that the fireworks was “like the creation of the universe.”
Well, how else can you explain the explosion of colors and its lingering patterns like the expansion of a nebula?
***
I’m still a little Covid scared so I didn’t join the crowds at the city plaza, or whatever you call that colorful strip flooded by people having fun.
Instead, I enjoyed the good air conditioning at Residencia de Capiz where I was billeted.
The Residencia is a cozy little place.
The staff was amazing and kind.
I do not know why I’m using “kind” to describe service people who are supposed to be hospitable and amiable.
But I like to keep the word ‘kind’.
Because that’s what they were to me.
***
At RDC, I let the concierge influence my breakfast choices.
My stay came with complimentary breakfast.
I was torn between longganisa and bangus in the silog combo.
If I was trying to be difficult, I would have ordered them both.
Instead, I tried to be easy, and ordered bangus.
The woman staff said they marinate the bangus themselves.
In the morning, it was clearly a winner.
***
I get it that people can be a little scared of me.
I write honest reviews.
I have a newspaper column.
My life is an open book, like art. My Life As Art. Haha.
Of course, I can write about what went wrong with everything.
But in my heart of hearts, I’m not that kind of person.
Generally, I like celebrating the good, small things.
Maybe that’s why I always write about my life. Haha.
***
In the morning of the second day of Roxas City’s Kaadlawan celebrations, we went to Ang Panublion Museum (Cheryl Anne del Rosario, Director) to launch Bryan Mari Argos’s young adult novella “Ang Hangaway kag ang Higante”.
But before the book launch, Bryan lined up a series of talks to whet the appetite of students, teachers, and literary enthusiasts in the audience.
***
I delivered a talk on adaptation.
It was called “Local Lore in Contemporary Literature”.
I like that my talk was well received.
It’s a common sense talk that I didn’t write down, but simply delivered extemporaneously.
The night before, I knew that what I wanted to say was simple: that updating our local lores can be fodder for new literatures for 2020s.
But my biggest point was to show that “lore” is rooted in instruction.
Thus, literature to educate, to teach the new generation morals and helpful attitudes.
***
I’m a simple person.
When I see people nod their head in agreement to what I’m saying, I am most happy.
It’s like hitting a jackpot.
I can live with that for days. Haha./PN
