Hello, Khokies. How ‘ya doin’ these days? Me? Wasting time. How do we really waste time?
How do I waste my time? With great thanks to poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, let me count the waste, uh, ways.
I waste my time reading through the breathless testimonies, and hype promoted by products that promise a 101 percent cure for every disease in the dictionary.
I waste my time to the degree of my life’s great need now: diversion from inner panic caused by the pandemic. By Sun and LED light, I follow food channels on YouTube. I laugh with Team Canlas TV and BeardMeatsFood.
I waste time freely, as men strive to earn decent bread: Waste it watching Mark Wiens’s epic head tilt, Sonny Side’s irreverent but rib-tickling asides, Vanjo Merano’s clear procedures, Maangchi’s engaging kitchen tips, and Ina Garten’s grace lifting me with useable recipes.
I waste my time freely, as there’s really nothing more to do after running mall errands, watering the plants, watching vlogs, and feeding the cats and dogs. I do strive for right now as in the past, but that’s not wasting time.
I waste my time passionately grieving over my errors. But then I remember this too will pass. And my childlike faith that we all heal in time is restored.
I waste my time losing myself in reverie, or thinking how my saints would handle low income, Covid-19, and the resurgence of the ratings battle between GMA 7 and ABS-CBN/TV5 et al.
I waste my time thinking how I might be a loser after all, after all these years of romancing my Literary Muse. Here in my tiny store am I writing about nothing, aiming at the air, and chasing the wind all of my life.
And if God allows, I’ll still waste my time in this pandemic writing stories with love.