August 2026 Debriefing

 August 2026 Debriefing

I think August 2026 will be remembered as the cruelest month in recent memory.

I've been thinking long and hard whether to continue posting on Facebook at this time of our lives.

My thought went like this: Why am I posting despite my workload and despite this month being especially unfortunate to a lot of people? Is it all about, as others probably assume, "impression management"? Am I "curating" my life in nice images to make a good impression? The idea sounds laughable at my age. There's nothing glossy in my life to curate like an Instagrammable museum. Maybe when I was younger and better-looking.

Is it really, in colegiala-speak, to "make yabang"? My life is hardly what you might call enviable. There's nothing to get envious about me. Ask the people around me.

Could it be that I am just being myself, a writer with a natural impulse or instinct to write about things, about anything? Now, this one sounds true for me.

But wait, there's more. Could it be that I just wanted to be right, to win arguments? Maybe, but what for? People are mostly smug and closed-minded, even the smart ones. Nothing I will ever say will change their mind.

Furthermore, since the month was particularly marred by traumatic events here and abroad, is it also likely that I just wanted to debrief myself from all that negativity? (Eureka?)

Or could it be I just want to be thankful for anything to be thankful for, as well? This is also likely, as I don't take things like kindness and little treats and surprises lightly, considering my humble circumstances.

And so, for what it's worth, for whatever reason, I am posting stuff because I need to delete them from my old trusty cell phone to make space for new things.

I hope you are not reacting to this month's photo dump for the wrong reasons.

Of course, each photo comes with a caption, if not full-length, nauseatingly long article--what do you expect? Consider them my own way of saying 'Grateful I survived the so-called Ghost Month.'