Serendipity
Good Luck, Graduates! (Part 1)
It’s that time of the year again when college students leave the “confines” of university life to venture into the unknown. I’ve decided to share the article I wrote when I was 22 yrs. old (and that was just 3 yrs. ago…in my heart I’m actually just 25) specifically for those graduating this year as well as for those who are still looking for jobs two years after graduating from the best universities in the country. Don’t fret. There’s still hope. As for the graduands, good luck. Hopefully you will not be as successful as I was at bumming.
(The following is one of the articles included in the book, “The Best of Youngblood” published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. and Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1988.)
Confessions of a Successful Bum
(1st of 2 parts)
Nothing can be more depressing than sitting on the couch in front of the television, while waiting for the latest showbiz chika from Tita Cristy. I call this moment “the 30-minute coma” – a condition which allows your brain to go dead, blank, moribund or be completely anaesthetized (no Novocain needed) but only for half an hour. From Monday to Friday, I sit there, in the exact spot where I sat the day before and imitate the dead.
Nothing can be more profound than this, I say. This beats slaving in the office, wearing three-inch heels from eight to five, I say. Watching Rosanna Roces badmouthing Aiko Melendez is definitely more exciting than listening to your boss spewing invectives at you, I say. But when the last of them artistas say their goodbyes, and the credits flash before the screen, I snap back to life. And what a life, it is.
The day I left the province for the City of Man(ila), I promised to myself that I would go back home with success written all over me. Now I am what you might call a successful bum.
My day starts at 11:30, just before “Eat Bulaga” (or “Sang Linggo na po sila” – I change channels from time to time to avoid the network war). After my morning Coke, I read the papers to update myself on the latest travails of Erap and to see if any new bank had been robbed (you never know, the Kuratong Baleleng or what’s left of it might make a comeback). And then lunch, followed by a series of TV shows and soap operas with nothing but the usual stories of girls with pathetic fates, with names like Ana, or Mara, all reminiscent of Flordeluna.
Everyday is just like the day before: sleep, eat, watch TV, with an occasional variation like reading a trashy novel, or making telebabad with fellow bums. But basically, everything’s routine. Everyday and everything amounts to nothingness.
My mother asked me recently what my plans were. I looked at her for a long time and shrugged – a typical bum gesture. Bahala na, ewan, that was my response after four years of college.
How I wish my life stopped in Grade School, when “career” and “goal” were words one encountered only in Spelling Bee contests. I call some friends from High School and either they ask me what I’m doing (meaning where do I work and how much do I earn) or they’re too busy to answer the phone, please call some other time (meaning get on with your life). What keeps me sane is sometimes seeing some college friends in the mall looking just as forlorn and lost as I am. And from the looks on their faces, I know they are as successful as I am at bumming.
(to be continued next Friday)