It’s funny where and how fate and circumstances lead us. One day, I was a happy-go-lucky college student whose only worries are studies and money for gimiks. Another day, I was a newbie kid fresh out of college, whose only concerns are trying to follow orders and working her way through apprenticeship. And yet another day, I was donning uniforms, attending meetings, and other work routines in another office.

And now, I’m a bum, staring at the computer and basically wondering what fate has in store for me.

I want to rant, scream “unfair”, cry foul. I don’t deserve this. All I wanted was experience….but life is teaching me very fast that experience can be a bitter pill to swallow, and that there are things that are beyond my control.

Sometimes I do not know what to believe. At times when I almost convinced myself that I was destined to suffer from my decisions, someone comes along and reminds me that these things happen to people who have something better in store for them. I truly, truly want to believe. But in such instances, I just turn numb. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what would be my next step.

God help me…

LOST

I feel that I have learned another lesson in adulthood 101.

1) First, have good sturdy bag (with zippers!) for work. College bags won’t work for the office.
2) Photocopy all important documents and receipts you have.
3) Presence of mind. ‘Nuff said.

Today, I lost my wallet on my way to work. I just discovered it was gone when I already got to the office. Our accountant was offering change and I wanted to have some of my bills changed, so I dug around in my bag. And…it was gone. *gasp*

For sure I lost it somewhere between Alabang and my office because I remembered getting change from my wallet to pay for my fare. *Sigh* At that moment I hated my tote bag…the very open bag I used in lieu of heavy portfolio bags and small office bags I owned.

Of course I got freaked out – it had my driver’s license in it!:( Along with it’s original receipt (I don’t have any photocopies of it.:() And, I just withdrew some cash that I was planning to deposit in my real account, hehe…unlucky me talaga, since most of the time I don’t feed my wallet.:P I’m only lucky that my license was probably the single most important item there. I don’t have any credit cards, I don’t really keep much cash in my atm account... most of the items there were purely sentimental stuff, like alumni card from high school and my honey’s grad pic.

But the hassle! Shucks, I don’t know if it’s a good thing that I was able to find a scanned copy of my driver’s license….sana may use sya. I don’t know the procedures of filing for another one in case of a lost license.

Anyway, I’m a bit more okay now. It helps talking about it with people. My officemates were just super – I felt better when they tried cheering me up. Also, I could only count my blessings that nothing happened to me…or my cellphone wasn’t snatched…or I could have other important documents in that wallet (hehe, like a future PRC license.) which I could have lost. Next time talaga! – Backups are really important. I would invest in those things from now on.

And tote bags are for beaches only! What was I thinking?!? Ma even reprimanded me for using that bag, and for the first time in recent memory, I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

So yun lang. Gotta go back to work.

P.S. I heard ‘Strangers Again’ by Cinema on the radio just a couple of minutes ago. Super senti! I feel like thirteen all over again, when I first heard that song. Hehe, but that’s for another blog entry….

*Sigh*

This is appropriate, especially for what I'm feeling right now.

The mousetrap
Very worried, the mouse saw that the farmer had bought a mousetrap: he was out to kill him!
He began to warn all the other animals:
“Careful with the mousetrap! Careful with the mousetrap!”
The hen, hearing his shouts, asked him to be quiet:
“My dear mouse, I know that this a problem for you, but it’s not going to have the last effect on me, so stop making such a fuss!”
The mouse went to talk to the pig, which was annoyed because his nap had been interrupted.
“There is a mousetrap in the house!”
“I appreciate your concern and I sympathize with you,” answered the pig. “So rest assured you will be in my prayers tonight, but that’s the most I can do.”
Lonelier than ever, the mouse went to the cow for help.
“My dear mouse, what’s that got to do with me? Have you ever seen a cow killed in a mousetrap?”
Seeing that no-one was offering any solidarity, the mouse returned to the farmer’s house, hid in his hole and spent the whole night wide awake, afraid that some tragedy was about to happen.
During the early hours he heard a noise: the mousetrap had caught something!
The farmer’s wife went downstairs to see if the mouse had been killed. In the dark she did not notice that the trap had only caught the tail of a poisonous snake; when she drew near, she was bitten.
The farmer, hearing his wife screaming, woke up and raced her to the hospital. She was given the proper treatment and then sent home.
But she still had a fever. Knowing that there is no better remedy for the sick than a good broth, the farmer killed the hen.
His wife started to recover. As the couple was much loved in the region, all the neighbors came to visit them. Grateful for such a show of affection, the farmer killed the pig to serve his friends a hearty meal.
His wife finally recovered, but the treatment was very expensive, so the farmer sent the cow to the slaughterhouse and used the money from the meat to pay all the medical bills.
The mouse saw all this and thought to himself:
“I warned them well. Wouldn’t it have been better if the hen, the pig and the cow had understood that one’s problem puts everyone else in danger?”


Copyright @ 2005 by Paulo Coelho.
www.paulocoelho.com.br

"Design, in whatever discipline, reaches excellence when form and function co-exist harmoniously."
--Budji Layug