I PROCRASTINATE a lot.
From my social media posts, it would look like I do a lot of things.
Maybe I do.
I mean, I read a lot these days.
When I said I would read at least one book a month, I’m already on my 8th book for the year, and it’s just mid-March.
***
I’m doing a very long Great Wall Physical Challenge.
It’s 2,183 miles, or 3,513 kms.
The distance from Iloilo to Manila is only 655.6 kms.
So that means something like going back and forth Iloilo and Manila on foot and maybe on bike five times!
Well, I’m physical that way.
***
As you read this, I would have already finished three challenges since February 1: Marathon to Athens, Giza Pyramids, Mt. Everest.
I could have opted just a portion of the Great Wall, but why not do the full drama?
I like my virtual challenges because they push me to move everyday.
The Great Wall makes me do the elliptical, my bike, and other stuff like swimming and Zumba in addition to plain walking and running.
***
Writing-wise, I’m very faithful with my column schedule and has now even dared myself to do Human Interest Stories for Page 1.
See FRONTPAGE in the Saturday-Sunday issues.
I’ve done several starts for my stories in Hiligaynon.
I mean, I can say that I do not feel pressured to win this year’s Palanca for short story, but that’s only half the truth.
Part of me wants to push myself to win back-to-back.
It’s a long shot, but I always give long shots a shot.
***
Also, I wanted to challenge myself into more erotic poems.
I’ve started a collection last year.
I think I’ve written at least 60 poems about the boys and men of my European tour.
Last month, I started erotic poems in Hiligaynon.
Now, I’m not so sure if I want a collection of 100 of these poems.
***
Kabugaw ako/ Karusa sang imo mga kuko/ Ang akon panit, ang akon lawas/ Ang akon likud, pak-ita, paniti/ Pugaa ako nga daw suha/ Supsupa, usanga tubtub magtulo/ Ang akon duga.
***
I even wrote a poem about a place, a restaurant by the farm.
I haven’t been back there in a while, but they supposedly printed the poem and hanged it somewhere, especially last Valentine season.
It was originally written in Hiligaynon, but an English translation exists.
***
MEET ME AT THE EDGE
Meet me at the Edge
That bistro in Lacturan
Where food meets the view—
Like pizza and the sky,
Samgyupsal and the stars;
*
Where coffee is made
Just the way you like it,
And drinks are as bottomless
As you want them.
*
Listen to the breeze on rice stalks
And in the dancing coconut fronds,
Listen to them notes
Of piped in instrumental jazz.
*
Meet me at the Edge
For burgers and drinks,
For buffalo wings and seafood delights;
Meet me where Taste meets Comfort
And the farm air is fresh and soothing.
*
Meet me at the Edge without delay
And then, we will kiss;
And then, and then…
*
And then, there’s me plying between my three houses: our ancestral home, my apartelle, my treehouse.
I occasionally visit my two other smaller properties just contemplating what can be done there.
People pressure me to make sure they generate some income for me in one way or another.
I hear them, but they are not me.
They do not have my kind of problems.
*
Yesterday, I spent the whole day in a food park writing advance columns because I know I’ll be gallivanting in Islas de Gigantes and Sicogon.
I write this in a coffee shop.
And two college boys, jocks, came in.
Time to stop writing, time to start flirting.
That’s that!/PN
