As Stiff Twin Compasses are Two

So this week, it’s official.

I got an offer last week. To be honest, I was quite surprised it even came. I mean, I’ve never sent out any feelers, and the decision to short list me was just based on one article I contributed and a couple of texts containing the details of the presscon. And all of that was more than a year ago. Not that I’m not grateful. It’s quite a deal, in fact.

So in the coming weeks I’ll file in all that’s due and complete any requirements to make my egress as hassle-free as possible. Oh, and I'll try to borrow something for the last time. I always had a soft spot for the XC90. Sounds just right that I start and end with it.

As for the new place, it’s nothing like the Manila Chronicle or Times offices I remember my Dad taking me to. It’s cramped and dimly lit, mock-ups line the halls, and the walls are neatly lined with Macs of all shapes and sizes. I mean, it’s so clean, so coldly efficient.

It’s been fun doing what I love doing, but I guess it’s foolish to presume I could live off it forever. A lot of older acquaintances I look up to say it’s better that I started off with something I liked doing. That way, when I finally get down to business I’d have no regrets. I always knew that day would come but I didn’t think it’d be this soon. I just hope they’re right.

It’s a strange mix of feelings really. On one hand, I really don’t want to leave, but on the other, I know that I’m only hesitant because I’d miss the cars — which isn’t quite a valid reason for staying. It’s the change really; PC’s to Macs, monthly deadlines to daily, just the news to anything and everything that relates to lifestyle. That’s a mindfuck if I ever saw one.

And finally, there’s a little bit of serendipity lighting the way. The office I’m moving to is right at Tatang’s street in Makati. Mika says all the good vibes are coming my way. I replied with, “Someone up there really loves me.” Talk about signs. This one’s pretty literal. Funny how despite all my protests when I was younger, I end up just like my Dad, and his Dad, and his Dad. Well, not exactly, but you get the picture. Something about it just feels like coming home.

And to those I leave behind, I leave my thanks and offer a promise.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning | John Donne

As virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
The breath goes now, and some say, No:

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,
Men reckon what it did, and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

But we, by a love so much refined That
ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to airy thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the center sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam,
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle just,
And makes me end where I begun.

Contrast: A Lesson in Itself

It's been a while. We can forego the heavy machining for today and just munch on some light h'ourderves for thought. Damn, I'm so witty (sarcasm).

My mom had always been opposed to my sister choosing to start work early. She argued that once you started working, you wouldn’t want to go back to school anymore. True enough, she hadn’t felt the impulse to return. I, too, am finding it the same way. My dad has been constantly pestering me to go back to school, pursue a post graduate degree, reminding me of the many opportunities out there. Not to be a snot, but I don’t intend to work off my tuition wiping the Croc Hunter’s poop, nor taking up a language to study in a country our forefathers have tried so hard to fight off. It’s not so much a fear of learning. In contrast, the working environment teaches so much, and on subjects you could never possibly sign up for, except perhaps that odd Grief Management class offered by Ateneo.

Three years on the job and I think I’ve learned quite a lot. It’s a kind of classroom that teaches through practical examples, the lessons you derive only after several activities. No textbooks on it, by the way. In truth, it can all be summed up in one simple word, a word my best bud is rather fond of — contrast.

I ought to have listened to the Sphinx (Mystery Men the movie) and taken his advice more seriously, rather than tongue in cheek.

Anyway, here’s a short list.

If a Mom and Pop diner wants to make it big, it can’t be run by Mom and Pop. It’s got to be liberal, methodical and accepting of change, like McDonald’s.

You’ll always have contempt for someone who has something you don’t have. If you want it, you’ll have to risk losing it.

Class doesn’t come with acquiring riches, it’s not even about acquiring at all. It’s all about what you hold back. A classy man doesn’t have to tell you he’s classy.

Pointing fingers does nothing but hamper productivity and breed bad blood. If it’s your fault, own up to it and learn from it. If it’s someone else’s, let them own up to it and help them get better.

Sometimes the people you hate the most remind you of the ones closest to you.

Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. 1. People don’t care that you’re pissed, and 2. It doesn’t improve anything. Get over it, for fuck’s sake.

Everyone is plagued by grammatical errors. It all comes out at one point or another.

And a couple of things from a self-help book people told me won’t teach me anything:

It’s not enough to be yourself. You have to be your best self. And that’s a tall order if you haven’t found your best self yet.

Since there’s no gene for coolness or confidence, then being uncool and confident are just bad habits which can be changed with enough guidance.

Alcohol doesn’t change behavior, it just reveals the repressed subconscious, i.e. it’s all you!

The great thing about the heart is that is has no master, despite what reason may think.

Victory belongs to the person with the strongest reality and the most decisive actions.

And last…

It’s not lying. It’s flirting.