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BY PETER SOLIS NERY
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Boyfriends and commitment
I THINK I’d like to have a boyfriend, but I also like that I’m not tied to anything. I mean, if it happens, it happens. Look, back in July, I was thinking of converting the basement of my Maryland home into the new master suite so I can both enjoy my house and rent out the whole first and second floors to college boys in my part of town.
Because I was not committed to a relationship, I started construction of a new patio deck in August. Then, I checked and repaired the old rotten parts in the house, and replaced the broken and faulty plumbing. I repainted the whole basement, and bought a very expensive memory foam mattress with adjustable base. I thought, I could be lazy and I want a luxury bed with massager functions in my older years.
It also happened that my carpenter/handy man had an unused private sauna he wanted to sell. At 75 percent discount, I thought it was a steal so I had it installed in my basement. Bearing in mind that I was going solar-powered soon (the solar roof panels have been installed in May), I didn’t even think twice. I like the sauna experience, especially in the winter.
And that’s how I ended up with my biggest purchases in the summer of 2016. The deck was $2,500, discounted from another contractor’s estimate of $5,000; the bed was $2,800, discounted from an original of $6,000; and the sauna was $2,000, discounted from an original of $7,800.
I’m really proud of my basement master suite right now. It’s far from complete but it’s already pretty and serviceable. I can entertain my guests in the deck, and if I like them enough, I can invite them inside for the sauna and the bed. I purposely kept the new master suite devoid of other furniture like chairs so there wouldn’t be too many options. It’s either the sauna (to further test limits of engagement), or the bed (if it gets comfortable).
And then Palanca happened. I won another Palanca first prize gold medal for my one-act play in English, and I thought I ought to come home to the mother country to get the prize. And since I didn’t have a boyfriend, and was not seriously committed to someone in the US, I decided I should stay for Christmas in the Philippines. I mean, a master suite in winter, despite the sauna, can hardly keep me in the American east coast! I like my simbang gabi said in the vernacular.
While arranging for my Philippine trip, I was invited by Panay News to start a new column. I thought of My Life as Art, and I don’t know what came over me, but I committed myself to writing thrice weekly. So you get to read me here on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It’s such a commitment. I think it’s worse than being tied to a boyfriend, but I kinda enjoy writing for a newspaper.
When Panay News’ sister publication, Hublas nga Kamatuoran, turned 13, they invited me to an anniversary dinner, and while they were extolling the virtues of Hublas as the only daily Hiligaynon newspaper in the country, I was rather touched. I mean, here I am, considered as Hiligaynon’s most important and most decorated writer of my generation, and what am I doing if I’m not supporting this Hiligaynon newspaper?
At the dinner, one of the bosses intimated to me that the people behind Hublas were thinking of changing the newspaper’s name to Panay Balita. I really liked the idea that I volunteered to write for it when they finally decide to rename the paper. The dinner was on Friday; they changed Hublas nga Kamatuoran to Panay Balita on Monday, Oct. 3. Guess what, I wrote my first column for them, called Campeon sang Hiligaynon, and came out on the same they the launched the new masthead.
Again, I can’t explain what’s been happening to me, but I committed myself to writing for Panay Balita thrice weekly for a start: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays-Sundays. I mean, I’ll see how things go and take it from there. But right now, I’m on my second week with Panay Balita, and on my sixth week with Panay News. If you read both these publications, I’m virtually your daily bread.
Writing for a newspaper is a discipline. The deadlines give you a different kind of rush. I probably won’t win a Pulitzer for my column writing, but I don’t need another prize. I’m quite happy that while I’m in the country, people come up to me to thank me for what I write in my columns.
And these are the reasons why I write the egocentric way I do in my columns: one, because readers like my stuff; and two, writing daily for deadlines is already a pressure, why bother with possible libel cases?
I still think I like a boyfriend, but now, I’m tied to newspaper writing!/PN
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