I COULD be flying back to Maryland as you read this column.
I mean, I wrote this in advance so I could totally enjoy my Puerto Rico vacation.
I mean, I could have easily just announced that I will be on vacation, and my column will be “temporarily out of service.”
I really hate to say “will be suspended.”
So look, guys, this is commitment!
***
If anything at all, I am a committed person.
As a husband, as a writer, as an advocate, as an artist, I always give my 100%.
I wanna say I give my 200%, but that’s just stupid as far as I am concerned.
How can you give two heads when you only have one?
(Giving heads may not be the best example there, but let that go!)
So, either it’s just a hyperbole, or it’s stupid.
You can explain it your way, but I’m not buying it.
As far as I’m concerned, when you give your all, you give your 100%.
***
Anyway, when you have been writing for the newspapers as long as I have, you can sh*tpost like this.
Because what are we doing really?
What are you reading?
Are you reading for my inspired ideas?
For the pleasure of my colorful language?
To pass your time at the airport, or while waiting for your coffee date at the mall?
For my serious readers and followers, are you just trying to keep abreast with my mental health?
***
I started writing for the newspaper in September 2000.
Well, make that August 2000.
But the inaugural issue of the now-defunct The News Today was released in mid-September 2000.
From being a weekly paper, it became a three-issues a week newspaper.
And that’s how I was trained to write three columns a week.
I went on writing like that for another newspaper until I found home in Panay News in December 2005.
***
Well, there was a time when I became greedy, and wrote everyday.
At one point, I wrote for Panay News on an M-W-F schedule.
And at the same time, I also wrote for its sister publication in Hiligaynon (first as Hublas nga Kamatuoran, and later as Panay Balita) on a T-Th-SS schedule.
Oh, the number of words that I have churned out for those publications!
But I was young then.
And was in my prime!
(And some of you will argue that I’m still not past my prime.)
***
I wouldn’t be the Peter Solis Nery of Ilonggo journalism if I didn’t put in those words, those years.
So yeah, 21 years.
Two decades of dedicated journalism for the Ilonggos.
And for what?
For the chance to sh*tpost like this, of course!
***
No, but seriously.
There was a time when I doubted myself as a journalist.
Because in the op-ed pages where my column is published, I write pretty much about my personal goings-on more than say the political climate of the region.
I write out my experiences and sometimes, I form strong opinions about them.
Sometimes, I don’t opine at all.
I just report, and maybe make my readers think, reflect, or imagine.
***
As it happened, I’m mostly credited by some as the instigator and promoter of the Sexual Revolution in Western Visayas in the 2000s because I wrote sex advice columns, and even started Txt2Txt, some sort of a dating or eyeballing program that published personal ads as occasioned by the birth and boom of the texting technology at the start of the millennium.
***
Long before the strong LGBTQIA+ talks in Western Visayas, and in social media, I was already hinting at pansexuality, gender fluidity, polyamory and all these things Gen Z retards think they discovered for all of us.
The gall of these idiots!
And I say that without hate for Gen Z.
But only for their stupid idea that they invented the world.
That a Gen X-er like me didn’t pave the way for them!
***
And now, more than ever, although I think the great insight and realization came to me around my 10th year as a newspaper writer, I believe that I have done more for the Ilonggo newspapers by just documenting the nuances of my time, and my non-libelous, albeit sexy, realities.
***
Early on in my newspaper career, I realized that I’m not cut for political opinions, and especially not suited to write about politicians and personalities.
I still think they’re the lowest class of people in the Philippines.
Why do you think they just come and go?
Why do you think they buy newspapers when they can?
***
Newspapers, and media in general, can make or break politicians.
I clearly see that.
In this generation, we are even more controlled by (social) media than ever.
And perhaps by sh*tposting like people sh*tpost on social media, I’m just giving nuance to this time, and documenting my current (journalistic) reality.
***
So, you see, there is some design to what I have done in 21 years.
You just didn’t see the big picture as I saw and envisioned it!/PN
