TRULY A ‘BRAVE NEW WORLD’
Jojie Dingcong talent manager
There’s really no handbook on how to engage in the new normal. But my fave author/futurist Aldous Huxley summed up times like this perfectly: It’s truly “a brave new world.“
The age of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is actually a strange door that we are all half-blindly walking into. No one is ever certain of what’s really in the cards. Finding the cure is our lone ray of hope.
Adapting, I guess, is our best weapon, in all aspects: home life, work life and social life.
I rediscovered home cooking and creating a repertoire of dishes in our kitchen with our cook—ilonggo fare like pancit molo, batchoy, fresh lumpia, kadyos soup, crab cakes, bagoong two ways and a host of other comfort delights. Food is my comfort and joy. I get cuter and much chubbier, lol!
I started doing daily treadmill workouts at home with plenty of loving encouragement from my dearest friends. Three-hour chats have become the norm, sharing stories about cutting our own hair, reading books I bought but never got past the book jacket. Our dinner dates have been replaced with video chats on Whatsapp and Viber.
My business meetings are all conducted via Zoom. My business as an entertainment agent/manager will take some time to fully adjust. We can’t have our actors and performers on screen with face masks and face shields. New protocols are being initiated by the television networks and movie studios. Everything looks hopeful. The advertising world is doing the same. More focus now is given to social media platforms visà-vis traditional media. The entertainment business is adapting and evolving.
My world is now engaged in through my fingertips—over smartphones, ipads and laptops. Technology saves the day. Just imagine if we were still in the age of rotary phones and landlines.
My new normal is still a work in progress, and with hope and prayers, I know we will survive. The irony of it all is that I feel I am somehow more connected now with my family and my friends.
My new normal is more time for myself, much less noise and real, bluer skies. Hope is my armor and my hope lives strong!