Like a coffeeshop 

I HAVE increased my coffee intake in the month leading to the May presidential elections.

It had nothing to do with politics.

I just read a scientific study that said more coffee is healthier (again).

I think I was in Iceland when I saw that, so I started with two cups a day in Reykjavik.

***

I take my coffee in the morning.

It helps me with my bowel elimination, my natural laxative.

But I have not really set my new routine for more coffee.

Some days, I take two cups in one sitting.

At other times, I take one cup in the morning, one cup in the afternoon. 

Post elections, I had to take coffee in the morning so I could keep up with my friends who want to talk about what just happened to the Philippines.

I also had to take coffee in the evening to attend to more friends who cannot get over things more easily.

***

But when it is quiet, and everybody is sleeping, I write a little.

That’s also a good reason to take more coffee.

To keep me alert and awake.

These days, my creative work is slower.

Like my mind cannot soar if I am weighed down by real people needing my help to process things and recent events.

I mean, sure, it may surely be wise to write about recent happenings, but when it is too close, it is just too depressing.

And while it is happening, it is hard to be creative as compared to writing it in hindsight.

***

Still, a writer must write.

So I am glad to report that I wrote several important works for my advocacies.

Important in a literary sense that they are what I consider to be Palanca-worthy.

This year, I still plan to enter the Palanca competition.

By now, the demographics of Palanca winners and participants have drastically changed.

More and more young people are winning the competition.

I guess for one last time, I wanted to see how I fare in competition with younger writers.

***

This is Palanca’s 70th year running.

They went on a hiatus for two years due to the pandemic.

I really want to win one more gold medal so I can retire from the contest with ten golds.

But I’ll settle with just a win, to make a record of 20 career Palanca awards including the Hall of Fame.

I’m a completist that way.

***

I’ve been very good with my intermittent fasting diet.

I still feel that I’m eating a lot, but the fact that I know exactly what I’m eating, I’m good with that.

To keep me with my fast, I often drink coffee during the day.

I am not a water drinker!

I keep my coffee black, but sometimes, I cheat with some creamer.  

***

My food intake is monitored by the app called Ate.

I post it on social media, mostly Instagram (@petersolisnery), but I sometimes post on Facebook my 5-day meals (because five photos make a good post layout).

I like arranging my food for the Ate mealtracker.

Photography is limited as far as lights and production designs are concerned.

Family is often around (I’m still at my aunt’s in New Jersey), and are always waiting for me to finish my ritual before they start eating.

So I can’t really take my time to get my perfect shot.

I mean, sometimes, they want me to get a photo of the whole spread even if I tell them that I should only be photographing what exactly gets into my stomach.

***

When I say that I feel like I’m a coffeeshop, it’s also because I provide good conversation and intellectual stimulation in the breakfast table.

My aunt is a Trumpist Republican, and I am a true-blue Democrat.

But I have to insist about verified facts, reading both sides, learning from a variety of sources.

Both me and my aunt were early Duterte endorsers; I gave up on Duterte after 18 months, she gave up a little later.

I stayed with my aunt in New Jersey after our Iceland trip because she’s a Kakampink. 

So I ran my Pink online campaign from their guest room.

***

Needless to say, for my friends elsewhere in the world, I also make coffee when they chat me up while themselves are having coffee.

My friends are many, and the only group that I really left was the high school batchmates that I tried to gather at the start of the pandemic to check on their well being.

Well, when I learned that some of them were historically absent for the lesson of the EDSA Revolution of 1986, I started to distance myself.

When I tried to show my colors, and they just asked me to “just respect their political choices”, that’s when I totally lost my respect for them as human beings.

I could not honestly live with those people in my life.

***

When I come to think of it, they have never helped me since high school.

They never helped me in high school! —How about we start with that?

They were always so jealous of my intellectual superiority, they said so themselves in one of our reunions after thirty years. 

I was an aberration in high school.

I topped Western Visayas regional language exams in English; and of course we also got the two lowest scores coming from our school.

***

When we had the National College Entrance Examination, I got the score of 99++ percentile. (Yes, that’s two pluses.)

Also, I was the only one who made it to the University of the Philippines.

And, of course, I graduated from UPVisayas as its most outstanding graduate of 1990.

Because these high school batchmates are the people I supposedly know, it’s really hard for me to respect their opinion.

And it stresses me that they want to be friends with me now while holding different (and lower) values and standards.

So, I just stayed away because only birds of the same feather should flock together!/PN