Commercial Break

Spoiled by today’s uninterrupted cable shows, dvds, instant downloads and online streaming—some people get easily impatient about commercial breaks. While I understand how painful it is to watch a 20-minute show for a full hour or how the fingers itch to block those pop-ups and crawling ads on our screens, I often remind myself that whether we like it or not, these commercials are the lifeblood of TV shows. No matter how annoying they may be, we cannot deny that they do make it possible for our favorite shows to come into our realities.

In some occasions, I even find myself looking forward to these breaks -- times when the show is quite uninspiring or too violent and gory that I need a moment to catch my breath; or times when I need to pee or return those missed calls.

Even when it comes to writing, when words are scarce or inspiration is dry, sometimes all it takes is a distraction to get the ball rolling. Sometimes, a simple break could be a springboard to a great lead. Like those trailers in between movies, they sort of warm us up for the main feature.

In this light, before we move on to some serious stuff this weekend, allow me to warm you up for a few minutes with this entry. At the risk of annoying you once more, let me share with you my version of a commercial break:

There were about five press releases and an advertorial waiting for me to write into being. And it was one of those nights when relevant words were out partying by the beach. So, while waiting for them to return home, I searched for the perfect distraction and found it -- yahoo! -- on my sink.

That particular night, I decided to test Ariel’s power. No, not the Little Mermaid Ariel from under the sea… but superpower Ariel the laundry detergent.

When I was in Cagayan de Oro a few years back, one of my and my cousin’s favorite bonding moments was doing laundry together. She was the one who showed me the proper way to wash certain clothes. She was the one who introduced me to the power of Ariel.

As she said, Ariel is made in such a way that you need not hand wash clothes too much or too strongly or too long. All you’ve got to do is soak the clothes in a bucket of water mixed with Ariel powder and just leave it for a few minutes. The powder does some kind of dance -- let’s just call it magic – that removes dirt automatically. If you’re not using a washing machine though, it might pay to do some handwashing after for a bit. But not necessarily too much or too long.

Me, I’ve always hated doing laundry. But I remember at that time being so amazed by the dirt-removing power of Ariel that I voluntarily washed clothes a couple of times more. Frankly, I couldn’t tell the “before and after” difference (they just look clean to me). Nor could I really tell if Ariel compared to other laundry bars actually has its own special magic. But just the thought of those little enzymes attacking invisible dirt and oil and weaving its own special fragrance over the battlefield of whites and coloreds was enough to arouse my imagination into overdrive.

Anyway, that night, I found my thoughts drifting back again and again like the Tide to that particular lesson once upon a time. But this little experiment had nothing to do with clothes though. For I’ve decided to test Ariel’s power instead on the stained takeout styro, which previously contained the Chicken Parmesan from a fastfood joint.

To prevent insects (ants, roaches, and what-have-yous) from claiming my room, I’ve taken to the habit of washing every little food/drink container or trash before I throw them in the garbage can. All right I admit I’m freaky this way, but hello--Roaches? I’ll take my own freakiness over theirs anytime.

Anyway, this particular styro’s tomato sauce stain was hard to remove. And since I have no plans of going outside just to throw it when I have these overwhelming assignments on hand, I needed to do something.

So inspired by Ariel, I set out to do my little experiment.

I. Problem: Is Ariel powerful enough to drive the styro sauce stain into extinction without outside force?

II. Objective: To find out answer of the problem before writing deadline.

III. Hypothesis: Yes, it is!

IV. Materials: Celfone clock, stained styro, a cup of water, 7 pinches of Ariel powder

V. Procedure:

1. Do a preliminary wash of styro, particularly on its problem area, using running water for 10 seconds.
2. Pour a cup of tap water to the styro container.
3. Add 7 pinches of Ariel powder and stir with fingers
4. Check results every 30 minutes thereafter until curiosity is satisfied or boredom settles in

VI. Findings
30 minutes: No visible change
1 hour: stain is lighter
2 hours: stain is even lighter but still visible
3 hours: hey, I’m not that patient! No way am I waiting till the third hour.

VII. Conclusion
1. Let’s just say Ariel has potential.
2. I believe I’ve wasted enough wacky, senseless words to go back to writing serious, boring stuff for a few hours. So I did.

Disclaimer: This is in no way a paid advertisement. Nor did the writer receive little packets of Ariel for writing this piece. The subject is purely a product of circumstance and is used to drive the point that, when we’re stuck, breaks and distractions are sometimes worth their while.

-- SunStar Weekend, October 15, 2011