Boredom and its many names

Boredom is such an overused word. People often claim to be bored but in reality, don't really know the real meaning of the word. Some people say that when they have nothing good to do they are bored – this is not boredom, this is not boredom, this is a loss of preoccupation. Others would say that when they are doing something but do not like what they do, they are bored – again, this is not boredom, this is pre-occupational insatiability. Still others, when others are doing something and they cannot join in despite their desire to join, would say that they are bored – this is disappointment and frustration. So, what exactly is boredom if it is none of the above?

Boredom is very simple actually; it is when we have let go of all our predispositions, expectations, and limitations, and yet, couldn't find something, no matter how we try, that would at least put some activity or excitement into the time we are spending at a certain place. In other words, even when we have allowed ourselves to just be carried by the flow and yet no exciting thing happens, the resulting anxiety is boredom. Now, to more classic examples…

I am currently in a City (I wouldn't mention the name) that is the pothole of boredom. Yesterday, I walked around the place and noticed weird peculiarities about the place. The people seemed so detached, none of them seemed to care whether anything mattered to them or not. I arrived in the city on a Saturday and was hoping to find a decent gimmick place in the evening. All I ever got my hands on was a lukewarm cup of watery espresso in this place that had the same people coming and going from nine in the evening to twelve midnight (I mean literally coming and going – they would leave the place and in a matter of fifteen to twenty minutes they would be back, indicating only one thing – that there was no other better place to go but there). Before this happened, I went out to get some dinner. Food-wise, I am not really a fancy eater; all I want is something decent and palatable. While looking for the dinner place I had in mind, we noticed that the restos (if you could actually even call them that) were closing down already – at 8:00 in the evening! I was dumbstruck because at least in my city which cannot even par with the land area of the city I am in no, bars and restaurants only begin to close at 1 AM! So, that's that; we went to the place I mentioned a while ago and decided to have coffee instead. It turns out the coffee was way beyond our expectations. We passed all these off and decided to give the place a chance. When we returned to the place where we were billeted we found out that there was only one movie channel on their sets – HBO! Goodness gracious!

Anyway, the visit to this city has not really ended yet because I am going to be here until the sixth of May. Currently, I am at a café writing this column and at the same time parking my nick name on MIRC – as expected – nobody looks quite promising on any of the channels I opened; and so goes the anatomy of boredom.

Many of us experience boredom in so many ways. We often mistake it for being tired or being exhausted but in fact it is a known truth that both our bodies and minds cannot get tired or exhausted at different times; sometimes, one has to go first, but most often than not, they always go hand in hand. It is when our minds bag down first that we experience true boredom – this is so, because our body has not yet been satisfied with what it could do in a certain place at a certain time, but since the mind can no longer conceive anything for the body, affected by certain factors like environment, total chaos, and the gravity of the inactivity of a place or time, after a grueling many hours of being overly creative just to find something to do, we raise our elbows, take the Ninoy Aquino pose, then we slump our backs, and finally say, “Oh, God, I am so bored.” Get it? Get it.

Boredom has many names, many call it “nababagot”, “naiinip”, “katalaka”, and “katalak-an” but see, it is only one thing really – it's the hair on your head dripping too much natural oil after getting an inevitable sun bath from walking all over some inhospitable ghost town, looking for a place to chill or people to meet and finally ending up in the sewers of essential sleep. Talk about the most effective tranquilizer.

Be rational; be insane…every once in a while…Oh God! I'm Booooooooooored! TTFN!

Hello to Mary Anne and Anne, Welcome to the IR Barkada! Hello to my dearest readers, Mr. Bobot, Chan, Vic, Vincent, and Rex, Alex, Arvin, Corz, Jim, Kiara, Malikh, Audrae, Franz, Hendrick, Janice, Jay, Jim, Jonathan, Mark, Marz, Mel, Pres, Nhonoy, Niel, Piper, Rheavil, Joey, Alma, Rodolfo, Ecker, Ryan. Hello also to a new addition to our RI Barkada, Roni, thanks for the great comments, to Miss Dieter of Lapaz, to Ian of Bacolod but who is in Iloilo right now, to Narle, Sunny and to Anuj of CMC, I love you all! Byers! Salamat gid sa mga walang-hintong text and reactions nyo! Catch Rational Insanity in TNT's online edition, check us out at www.thenewstoday.info, text me at (0920) 9254269, or email me at prague@eudoramail.com .