THAT THING WE ALL NEED TO DO

i was watching some television yesterday and i chanced upon a cool new TVC. this new ad featured five tips to a better life. i would like to expand on these five tips.

TIP 5. HAVE A FRESH PERSPECTIVE. i'll be leaving in less than a week, and i guess everything else would be fresh when i arrive at the airport there - new people, new country, new customs, new jpb (hopefully). but to be quite honest, i'm starting to have some difficulty creating a fresh perspective about myself and the path that has been chosen for me. it's been what, three months, and i still find it hard to accept that i would never teach anyone in a formal setup ever again; well, at least not in the philippines. finding a fresh perspective is starting to be a source of anxiety. but i'm trying to cope. at least now i know where all the throatiness is coming from: stress.

TIP 4. DEFY GRAVITY. if by gravity you mean the status quo, i believe i have. now the kids from the blue school are texting me ever so often, especially the freshies, saying that things have started to feel very awkward between them and the teachers and bosses who were left behind to do all the work i used to do for them. bragging aside, around five people took over all the tasks that i was relieved of, when they asked me to leave. five people. now that i'm trying to start a new life, i've met another fork in the road: do i perform in mediocrity to avoid the hassle, or do i perform better than what is expected of me and risk getting noticed too much and get into the same trouble all over again?

TIP 3. GRAB EVERY CHANCE TO PLAY. i've never been the sporty type. the only sports activity i know is cycling and wall climbing. for crying out loud, i got hit by a baseball twice, and several times by a volleyball, on the head, in high school. i keep thinking, when i get there, will i have time to rest? probably. if my brother decides to lend me his 450D so i can do a photo walk at least once a week.

TIP 2. HAVE YOUR FILL. with all that is happening in my life, and that of my family's, i constangtly ask myself, will i ever have the opportunity to have my fill? they say you can't have cake and eat it too. but why can't we? too much sugar might cause a rambunctious lad like to go hyperdrive? and then there's the issue of satisfaction. i mean, when do we stop? do we ever? will we ever? should we ever?

TIP 1. HAVE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. the thing is, having as much as you want does have its consequences. believe me, i know. but the truth of the matter is, we never know satisfaction unless we get overdosed. pretty much like appreciating peace, unless we go through war first. i'd like to have as much as i want. problem is, there's really nothing much to go around. now, i'm just another jobless guy with uber supportive in-laws, wife and kid who've found time to actually make me feel i'm worth the risk. frankly, i don't have plans of letting them down.

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as anakin skywalker's mom said in episode 1: the phantom menace, "and now, be brave and don't look back. don't look back."

i believe that after everything that i've been through, there really is no turning back now. not while things are awry back here, no job for me in the philippines at least not in the near future, and there is little worth granted to me by people i used to call peers, there really is no turning back. not even a glance. five days to go and i'm outta here. i'll need all the prayers i can get.

still here. hey.