IN RECENT times, I haven't heard the words "baduy and old fashioned." I recall the days when city life was more of modernity and branding than anything else and people then would consider you "barriotic" which is short of saying you are from the province when you do not conform to the trends and styles of the season.
I've sported my usual crew cut when my college classmates back in the late 70s had long hairs and I preferred straight cut pants and the steel toed military shoes while many were in bell bottoms and clogs or elevator shoes. At least, I have earned a distinction of being a "Baguio Boy" by my college school mates in Manila who did not have the guts to tell me straight that I am from the mountains.
As the world adapts to new innovations from marketing strategies, electronic payment, non-fossil fueled cars to broad-band communication systems, many still treasure old norms, values and methods as important and compelling just like the act of "suob" or salt-water steam inhalation when faced with the dreaded Covid-19.
Recently, I was asked what I've done during my 14-day isolation when I tested positive with the coronavirus and I simply said that I restricted myself from meeting other people, had vitamins daily, ate normal meals and took early morning sunbath until the heat warms up my whole body.
I missed the days of my youth when I spent long days at our farm with only a kerosene lamp as our light source at night and the rooster's morning crow serves as our alarm clock. For months now, I've been boiling smashed and minced ginger as our alternative for tea with my wife and whenever I feel the craving for a broth from an old recipe, I cook Tinola as chicken soup is also considered as the Jewish Penicillin.
Before, I used to climb high heels and buildings just to take footage of landmarks or places but now, I can just locate a leveled launching pad for my drone and set my flying camera using my smartphone as its viewfinder and control center.
Gone are my days of bare-bones video editing using magnetic tapes and celluloid films and I can now produce a cinema quality movie with just my smartphone that records and edits audio-visual materials.
If I were to go back to teaching mass communication subjects for college students, I needed to overhaul and update my instructional modules as the course known as MassComm may no longer be a thing that would imply expertise in print, radio and television or social media since almost everyone is hooked with these digital platforms especially with Facebook.
So what more is new? Well, at 59, I am now learning from my seven-year-old grandson Akiboy who was given his own iPad when he was three. Aki has learned the different characteristics and names of dinosaurs and is now able to navigate a virtual world with Minecrafts and Roblox and often interact with online friends. I had fascinations with 3-D imaging and attempted to learn computer programs such as Maya and 3D Studio Max but I eventually settled with my conservative background of using clays, wires, plasters, epoxy and even cement in my exhibit items that one can view at my media newseum.
As many millennials shift to digital platforms in creating project prototypes and presentation materials, I remain traditional in my own ways and I also look forward to creating a hobbit house or a cave house as among my retirement projects once I retire from government service not too long from now. It is good that I can now weld pieces of metal with a light inverter welding machine that I can even hang like a lady's bag and easy to maneuver around my working area. With today's e-commerce and online purchase, I can now order hard-to-find items like the foam spray in a can that comes with a spray gun and mortar spray which is a smaller device for spraying cement like what road workers use in their shotcrete projects.