Too late for a Christmas greeting yet too early to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I’ll take the middle ground and say that I hope you’re all having a grand time. I sure am. Things aren’t hectic as they were last year but, still, I can’t remember a time when I stayed away from my blogs as much as I have during the past few days. We’ve been spending lazy days and nights — playing Monopoly, watching movies, making movies, taking photos, drinking wine…

Ah, yes, I was going to say something about wine. Remember that I had an unpleasant episode with GMA Channel 7? Last night, someone from DHL called up asking for street directions. It was late, past seven in the evening, but the guy said he could drop by at around 9.30 p.m. because it was a special delivery from GMA Channel 7.

I was curious. If they were sending the honorarium that I had already turned down, I was going to send it back. To my surprise, it was a bottle of wine. AND a note of apology from the Executive Producer of Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho for what happened. The devil in me smirked as I thought, “Oh, what business savvy! An apology without an explanation about what really happened. And they send it over the Holidays so that I’d look like a real bitch if I am not gracious about the whole thing.” But the devil got pushed back to some deep, dark recesses of my mind. I really appreciated it — the note more than the gift.

And that’s not even the end of the story.

Late this morning, Speedy opened the gate to another delivery guy. Another package from GMA Channel 7; this time, half a dozen long-stemmed red roses and a teddy bear. AND a card with an apology, again from the show’s Executive Producer. I get the message, guys. And know that I appreciate it. It’s good to put a “face” to an impersonal corporation and to know that you are not made of stone and insensitive to people you deal with in the course of doing your work. It’s good to know that you don’t feel that you’re so big and so important that you can totally ignore people like me. I can only hope that people who don’t have op-ed columns get treated similarly.

Speedy says GMA 7 does not want to burn the bridges. Perhaps. But that’s not exactly a unilateral decision that they can make.

Much as I appreciate the apology, and I am even prepared to say that bear no ill will at this point, I have learned something very important. TV, as we know it, is not for me. It is not a culture I will thrive and feel productive in. That is not to say though that I do not believe in the power and value of the visual medium. I do. And it’s something I will continue to explore in my own way, in my own time and in my own pace. But not in the world of mainstream broadcast media. It is in the alternative media where I thrive and it is where I will stay. I have turned down all “invitations to guest” after the Jessica Soho stint and that’s that. In fact, I turned down five invitations to other shows prior to the Jessica Soho show… I shouldn’t have made an exception.

If that sounds cryptic, I’m talking about video blogging — producing my own segments and imposing my own standards. I’m dead serious about it. If only Speedy would work faster on the editing part so I can post the first episode before New Years’ Eve.