anectotes

[anectotes]

About Time

I’ve read somewhere that humans are peculiar because we are the only species in the animal kingdom that has the concept of time. That dogs, crocodiles, giraffes, and birds wake up in the morning and sleep at night without caring if they are late for meal time or too early for mating season. Other animals take cue from the movement of the stars, or the smell of the air, or the changing weather, to act at the right moment. Humans, however, needed to structure sunrises into days and moments into minutes in order to make sense of the world around them.

And it’s because of this peculiar obsession with time that, unfortunately, humans are the only species fatally aware of their own mortality. I find that notion fascinating, mostly because it’s true: humans are always chasing after something, working quick and hard to achieve that One Great Thing before that Great Big Deadline called death finally knocks on our doors. Animals, on the other hand, are simply concerned about where to get their next meal.

I write this as I turn another year today at my corporate job. It’s been four years since I made the leap, since I went over to the “dark side,” as some of my journo friends would say. I look back and think to myself how the time I spent in corporate is now equal to the time I spent as a journalist–which is not really saying so much, but I still found it a bit remarkable.

You go on in life thinking you’re meant to do this one thing for the rest of your days here on earth yet here you are, about to clock in one day more in your latest career than your previous one.

Somehow I’m thankful that humans invented days, and months, and years, because they make it easy to measure how much a person, a job, or an era has impacted your life. That, for example, the 7 years I’ve come to spend with U is now far longer than the 5 years I’ve spent with L, for the entire time that we’ve known each other. And while I know that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to relationships, I can’t help but look back and see how I’ve transformed personally in the moments I spent in those years, and how much each ‘era’ has contributed to what I am today.

Yesterday I realized it was actually L’s birthday, which I haven’t thought about for years. It’s funny because when you’re with that person, of course a certain date like a birthday or an anniversary are important, never-to-be-missed occasions, but they eventually fade into obscurity and into the nether regions of your brain once you part. There’s no longing for the past when I remembered; I just found it, again, peculiar, how days and dates that were once deemed important could turn into plain, old, ordinary days once more.

How some people who used to mean the world to you could actually turn back into strangers, lost in the sea of people and acquaintances you find difficult to store in your brain.

The brain is a peculiar thing, and humans sure are a peculiar species.

[anectotes]

Cashless

One particularly stressful day at work in our new office, my boss (Nick), another teammate (Charles), and I decided to have dinner at Three Sisters, one of the more famous local haunts in our office neighborhood.

When we arrived at the restaurant, however, we discovered we were so ill-prepared for dining out.

Nick: Ok, wala akong cash ha, kayo muna magbayad. I-PayMaya ko na lang sa inyo.

JM: *checks wallet* Naku, teka wala rin pala akong cash.

Charles: *checks wallet* Ok, I have around P200.

J: I think I have P60 na lang. So that makes P260.

N: Waaaaait. Teka, tanong natin kung pwede ang card. *proceeds to talk to the waiter* Sir, do you accept card?

Waiter: Ay hindi po, ma’am.

N: Whaaaaaat.

C: Wait I think meron pa’kong money dito. Kasya pa, abot pa ‘to ng P400. N: Waaah grabe, ano ba yan.

W: *looks on suspiciously*

J: *laughing hysterically at the three of us right now*

N: Grabe, kuya! ‘Wag mo kaming i-judge. Madami kaming pera, wala lang kaming cash.

Upon second inquiry, it turns out, the restaurant accepts credit cards after all. Dinner saved!

[anectotes]

Feelennial

I have a friend, let's call her Alora, and though she's a decade older than I am, we really click a lot because she has the mind of a 12-year-old. But she has a hard time keeping up with the times (and with the slang), so I always use some on her and she'll always be bewildered. Little did I know that in some instances, she's just pretending to understand what I'm saying because sometimes she doesn't know the meaning of them, like so:

JM: Okay, so I'll see you on Monday! J: Hahaha what time? Alora: Yeeeyyy! 3PM again! J: G! A: Ano ba yang 'G'? J: ‘GAME’ KASE HAHAHA ANO BA KEEP UP AKALA KO BA MILLENNIAL KA =)) A: Dati pa kitang tinatanong, but you didn't answer. Hahahahahahahaha! Shiyeeeet! J: hahahaha talaga baaa LOL J: I am so posting this :))

[anectotes]

Hey, Tumblr!

Guess who’s back? Haha, yep. This may be my first “legit” Tumblr blog, but I’ve been a Tumblr lurker for as long as I can remember. I’ve been using another account for all my reblogs and other shit, but I just thought it’s time to make this new one so I can store all my memories.

Yep, memories. As in those stuff that should be in your brain. However, recently I discovered that I haven’t been able to recall a lot of my memories. It all started when a friend, Pam, asked me via chat if I have an interesting story about a certain bookstore in the Philippines which I recall fondly. And I was completely blank.

I know for a fact that a trip to that bookstore is an expected annual occasion, especially when I was still in great school. I would haul the huge metal basket around the three-storey establishment and just pick out all the stuff that I need, and also all the stuff that I wanted: pencil cases with different compartments, notebooks with cool covers, pens and crayons that number to the hundreds–the whole shebang. And while I clearly recall the scenario, I was dumbfounded to know that I can’t remember any specific moment or story which occurred in that scenario.

And that struck me as bad. Real bad. ‘Cause I’m in the business of storytelling, and what use is the coconut in between my ears if it can’t recall those stories?

So that brings us to this Tumblr blog. Call it ‘outsourcing’ my memories of sorts. I just need a place where I can ‘download’ all of the memories and stories and anecdotes which have made an impact in my life over the years–no matter how big or small. My primary aim is very utilitarian (because I really wanted to just have a space to store all of these memories), but if in the process I get to make you laugh or cry or cringe with my stories, then I take it as the cherry on top of a delightful cake.

So, shall we begin?