Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"EX"pecting expectations

i dragged myself out of the building half awake, as the concoction of sleepiness and stress started to take its toll on my then puffy red eyes. i was once called an "adik" in the province when i went home from baguio. but if my parents saw me that very moment, they would have probably sent me to the nearest rehab center. i never really could tell if i was dreaming or not during that time. i was just so tired and exhausted. so i took a stick out of my cannister and lit it, hoping that it would still lend me another couple of hours more. but i felt that i have already extended myself beyond my limit and at that moment, i was on the verge of colapsing.
the monotony of the people and place outside didn't even catch my consciousness from falling from sleeping. thus, i looked up above the horizon, thinking looking at the struggling daybreak below the still sleeping evening clouds. another day is coming, would do the trick.
but then, i realized what that the day was. i almost forgot that it was something said special.
i immediately took my phone out of my pocket and saw two unread messages. as expected it was A.
although i already have an idea what the message was, i still opened and read it. another brief greeting, almost similar to the message i have received last month. but it was the second message that made my soul finally collapsed.
"kta tau d2 mkati aftr wrk mu. mrt k n pra mblis. il wait 4 u in rcbc plaza."


i immediately requested if it will be possible to spend it at my place instead. since i am still coming from work. while A was still on rest day and i would be a dead meat by the time i go out. but A insisted ranting that it was the least thing i can do as a partner to this occasion. oh yeah, i remember, we spend the same day on my place last month. so it was expected that it was me this time to do the effort. eventually i gave in (place has always been a major consideration with us. since i am living in quezon city. while A is in makati).
i was barely standing on my feet when i went out and literally carried myself to the nearest train station. it was as if majority of my limbs just gave up and retired. then i fell on my knees when i arrived and saw a large crowd climbing the stairs of the station. there was no way that could let me take the train with that huge number of people. probably, this was the launching point on how i developed a phobia in riding the train especially the MRT.
so to save my barely struggling body, i opted in riding an FX going to makati (i forgot the actual destination though i know it is in makati) instead. although unsure, i thought that as long as the route will follow the mrt track then i am safe. i could just drop off in buendia if this would not pass rcbc. then i texted A about it. but the vehicle was already on its way, when i learned that A was already waiting and expecting me in buendia station.
A became furious and texted me that the route will not pass by mrt buendia, rather it would turn right when it reaches guadalupe and so it did. from that point, i was already alarmed when i noticed that not a single street or establishment was familiar. aside from the fact that A kept on nagging me about my mistake instead of giving the directions on how to get to rcbc through that route. to wrapped things up, my cellphone started beeping telling me it was running out of battery until it finally died on me.
from there, i knew i am dead.eventually, i decided to get off the vehicle after realizing we haven't passed a single familiar landmark yet. to cut the long story short, i dropped and walked from kalayaan bel-air to rcbc plaza for almost two hours and also got lost when i made a wrong turn to paseo de roxas.
surprisingly, A was already smiling at me when we finally met. probably A already saw the frustrations on my face when i was walking towards the building. A might have figured that his two hours of waiting was nothing to what happened to me.
i didn't smile back to A when we met. i just continued my walk though i didn't know where to go. A followed and kept on asking me if i was mad. i told A, i am not. I am just tired and just want to celebrate it. A waived a cab and the next thing i knew we were already in A's place. it just took me three hours of sleep to calm me down again.
when the day ended, i excused myself to A since it already getting late and i still have to mee tmy sister for dinner. but A refused. another arguement emerged out of nowhere. A filled the air with the same litany of me not being a good boy friend, insensitive, irresponsible and could not even meet a single expectation.

the last word echoed and lasted in my ears until i atleast called it a night--- expectations.

admit it or not, each of us has our own expectations when it comes to our personal relationships especially if it involves commitments. usually, we set our own "must" to our partners without thinking that our partners also have theirs. s/he must do, think, behave etc. this or atleast just their personal considerations. thus, it gives birth to jealousy, possessiveness, frustrations and eventually break up.

most of the time, love alone is not enough to make the relationship going. both partners also need to meet half way with their expectations and needs, in order for their relationship to survive.
i believe that love is selfless. on the other hand, loving isn't. sometimes, as a partner, we can really be selfish because of the expectations that we put into the relationship and this creates the only poison that could kill the foundations that have been created.
well, i think the story above is not the best example for this topic. but probably be the best for my case. relationships are created and established not only to channel and absorb surplus emotions nor as a form of security when we grow up and not even to supply the production of human offspring for human survival, because just the country's population will be enough to maintain a relatively sustainable number of human species for the next 200 years. i believe that human relationships are formed for mutual growth: personally and socially. not as something, exclusive, that create a faction from the rest of the society. but don't get me wrong. the previous statement doesn't lead to any promotion of multiple relationships.
probably what i only stresses is the importance of personal space and for one to recognize that sometimes this is being trespassed by various selfish factors. most of which are under the facade of what A called as "expectations."

Sunday, September 28, 2008

does age really matters?

one of the saddest things that i have heard recently, is from this infomercial of abs-cbn. it was about a video clip of a child saying, "i don't know what my age is." for most of us, we determine our age from the number of birthday celebrations we had, memories of that day that we have spent with our family and friends and basically, if we know how to count. but for those people who lack all of these, i wondered how is it like living clueless with your own age?
knowing our age greatly affects the choices and actions we do in our life. we use it to plot specific action plans and decisions, in order to maximize the time that we have.but some would say that everyone is actually blind when it comes to dealing with their life and that no one trully knows what is at the end of it or if there is actually one. and in these, i could totally relate.
i am already a degree holder and got myself a job. but i am still having the hardest time whenever i am asked what i really want to do with my life, especially whenever we are talking about careers. i have so many things that i want to do and i still keep on looking for another. probably that is why at the end of the day, i end up confused.
yes, i know i need to focus and determine the things that i believe would make me feel fulfilled and successful. but as of the moment, no matter i squeeze and push myself, i am just lost.
but then i realized that for people who doesn't know their age, aside from the thousands of other factors that are not available for them to outwit their challenges, living is more like walking in the middle of a vast desert: no road and no sign. basically, no idea of where they are heading and to worsten things more, these are kids, vulnerable and helpless.
i feel so selfish after watching the informercial. it made me realize how petty these things that i keep on ranting about. when in fact, ishould feel grateful about the things that i have achieved and possesses.i complain about the degree that i took because the world doesn't provide sufficient jobs for it. when in fact there are billions of other people who can't even send themselves to school. i complain about my work that despite it is well compensating, i don't feel fulfilled, without thinking there are an alarming number of people who are unemployed and devastated with poverty.
ofcourse, these lines are not new to us anymore. probably, you have heard these to our parents and friends for the millionth time. but sometimes you just have to see the actual picture or better yet experience it for us to fully understand the meaning of those statements.
now, i am already 23 years old. although i am aware what my age is, i can say that i am like this kid. someone who still doesn't have a clear idea of what lies ahead. but regardless of this fact, the picture of that kid uttering those words, atleast, gave me an idea where to begin. hopefully, by the time i am able to ride with the current tide, i'll make sure that i will definitely go back to these kids and build them a road. so that they'll be able to have a clearer way to take with their lives even if they don't know their age.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

strangers

as the popular clothing line says, a world without strangers. this would probably be one of the most powerful and moving statement any commercial line had come up. it is nice to hear that such fashion statement have transgresses from the typical promotion of low self esteem in the facade of boosting our egos through being "fashion conscious" individuals.
nonetheless, the statement is just a statement. it doesn't provide any concrete means and goals on how to materialize it. we could never know each other by simply wearing the same tee or pants, couldn't we? for all of us have our own and different life stories underneath our clothes (did i sound shakira on that line?).

but is a world without strangers really possible? or is it just another utopia that most of us still dream of?

most of us find and employ ways to widen our circle: to meet acquiantances, friends, potential lovers and even lifetime partners. but if you'll come and think of it, we'll also realize that this is also a mean of reducing strangers around us. and through the break of modernity, the internet have become one of the most popular and effective venue in doing this.

who here have not used the mIRC or messenger once in their life? probably for some they even learned how to chat first before they knew how to use an email or browse a website. internet chat has become one of the most popular activity among internet users. some would even say that it is addictive. porbably because the thing with chatting is that it is able to meet two or more people in one venue wherever they may be, and above all is its characteristic to provide its users the ability to create and personify a different identity, thus, it creates an ideal image of one self, and from this the game makes its either exciting or risky.


source


but in a world full of superficiality, the idea of uncertainty should never be miss out. most especially, in meeting these people we knew and met over cyberspace.
for most of us, our imagination has the tendency to create a virtually-ideal-near-impossible image of one another, depending on how creative you are in drafting your own prince or princess charming. we tend to romanticize things too much. sometimes we even base everything especially the physique of a person through stereotypes: his origin, economic class, school s/he attended, educational attainment, profession and even his alias. but all we have here is just a biased virtual image and not the actual picture of that person. so the end result is frustration and a broken ego to the other person.

probably the point that i am just trying to stress out is that in meeting someone over the internet, never expect that you'll meet someone that looks like jake cuenca or amanda page (i just thought of her, sorry), never anticipate that you'll end up as lovers or in bed, and don't await that you'll always have the same person that you thought about in the other line. everything changes in actual reality, you know.

source

although i am not an expert to such things, for the number of people i have personally met because of the internet is still less than the number of my fingers in my hand (and no, i don't have seven fingers in one hand), for me, the rule of the thumb is expect the worst and be your best. what matters are the things that made the both of you keep the line and not the things that was just revealed by that single moment.

then i just realize that a world without strangers is not just about meeting someone, seeing their physique or smelling their scent. it is actually more of knowing the person, unravelling the story behind their clothes (here comes the malicious part...not!hahaha) and feeling the battle their taking. then from that launching point we will be able to understand that there is indeed no strangers in this world, it is just us who keeps on putting the stigma. it is just us who makes them one.

i believe that the major reason why there is conflict, war and discrimination is because of men's lack of inniative and skill to know the other person. men keeps on living within the shadow of strangers and not what is beyond. thus, we don't and still don't understand.

if we will only take a part of our time to hear and feel their story. then probably we'll know that that person is not really a stranger rather s/he is just like you (or us) being treated as one as well.
and to sum it all, no, i didn't meet anyone or planning to meet someone anytime soon.