All the years of hard work and a lot of activities. I remember when I was in college, I will wake up at 6am to work on my police report news assignment in a reputable news company in Cebu, go to school at 230pm and rush for my part-time job at a gaming cafe at 7pm. I usually go home at 3am or sometimes those medical students who were addicted of playing ragnarok and warcraft will beg me to extend my shift until 4am to 5am so that they can play more and they will either pay my cab's fare, buy me some yummy food in a 24-hour restaurant/coffee shop or sent me home via their own car. I miss those med students, I hope all of them really made it to becoming a doctor.
Over the weekend, I have like an extra "raket" with some of my friends who knew an ad agency that provided a one-day modeling promo job for a certain newly released product. So I became a promo model, production assistant on certain events like mtv gigs and a lot more and I ushered/assisted local and foreign concerts. I made some huge money in all those extra jobs. When you are independent and away from your family's support especially financially, you will do anything that will make you survive one day at a time. Even if you have to sacrifice the sleeping part.
Even with so much activities, I still have to attend a weekend scholar meeting, cook dinner for my boss in my scheduled day and do some filing of legal documents every Sunday. I was able to insert in my schedule, a band meeting and organizing of punk/hardcore gigs, tree planting and feeding program activities. I still have time to hangout with some peer groups over beer or coffee. Do some extra discussion with my radical friends talking about politics (on ousting Erap at that time), societal and environmental causes.
I have so much going on all over me that when I go to a mall or hangout elsewhere, there's always someone who would smile at me, call my name and even ask my number. Then, I will be amused why they knew me at all. I will ask myself, was it in my charismatic organization, the local music scene, the magazine or student body organization at school or other universities or was it an old colleague in elementary or high school, a client in the gaming cafe, my co-intern or staff in the newspaper or advertising company, or just an acquaintance in an event I've worked with. I really had a thing of forgetting people's names, I usually only remember faces. It was crazy, I mean I had my fair share of popularity with all those activities and organizations I am part of. It was actually boosting my confidence. When you're young and having a lot of friends, being popular is such an added bonus to your personality.
Now, that I am in my 30's and looking back a decade ago, I never knew I wanted to slow down my pace in life and not care about people anymore. I think as you become a grown up person, you will stop caring about being popular or gaining validation from other people. Instead, you will be the one to choose who among those people you knew will stay and make it to your coffee or dinner table at the end of the day. You become an intimate person and you kinda learn about the value of having your stand in the principle of privacy. That's the great lesson, I understand now.
Maybe, if Facebook was a thing in the past, I would probably exceeded the number of friend request in my account but I think, it's doesn't matter anymore. What's more vital in life are those people who stick around for the past three decades of my life. Having more friends is one of the greatest joys in one's heart but not having all these people at the lowest part of your life or abandoning you when you badly needed them is the worst part of all.
I say to the young people now, enjoy the hype of making more friends and enjoying each and everyone of them but as you mature you will realize that you don't actually need more, only enough. Only those who never left you at any point in your life. Only those who never forget to greet you on your birthday even without Facebook notifications. Only those who stubbornly stick on your nose even if they knew you don't need them or you are just too stubborn to let them know that you really do. Only those whom you will say, "leave me alone" yet comes back to you holding some bottle of beer, two cups of coffee or a DVD in their hands because they knew that you never really wanted to be alone and you actually needed a company. Stay with those people and you will receive the priceless gift of friendship.
-maricar alquizola
11/26/2015 | MTA ©
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