Can I Get A Whiff Of That?

So there’s this really weird smell in the office. Apparently, I’m the only one who notices it, for reasons unbeknownst to me. Like my dad, my sense of smell is uncanny.  I am so olfactorily inclined I can even catch a whiff of what you’re going to eat for dinner. Tomorrow.

Unintentional digression aside, the malodorous stench reeks of bleachy bleach and soapy soap. COMBINED. It smells too clean to the point of smelling dirty. Do you get what I mean? Of course you don’t, because you, dear workmates, merely pretend to not notice the rancid cleanliness that haunts my inquisitive nares. How do I know of such things? Because I am a presumptuous and prissy bastard, dammit. Justin, you are such an ass.

I’m starting to believe that it’s purely psychosomatic. It lingers in the air when I think about it, and vanishes when my mind meanders to more trivial pursuits. Or should I place the blame on the electrical wires that are in close proximity to my workspace? What’s the connection, you might ask? I have no idea. It started off as a really cool hypothesis in my head though, but then the moment had passed. I have prematurely disembarked the Thought Train yet again.

I can assure you that I will not rest until I find the confounded source of my olfactory agitation! Curse you, villainous scum!

Sponges And Ropes

Where does learning end and living begin? I mean, not living in the literal sense but living a life armed with all the knowledge needed to subsist without relying on our imperative curiosity? I think it’s seemingly impossible to separate the two, like twins sharing the same liver…or something. You get the point.

Sponges, that’s what we all are. It is practically in our DNA to be perpetually inquisitive and ponder the why’s and how’s of this transience we fondly call reality. Denying this fact is contemptuous, because whether we like it or not we absorb everything around us actively or passively.

I don’t quite comprehend why some people use that old cliche, “Ignorance Is Bliss“, as an excuse for their negligence. I mean seriously, would you rather resign yourself to a life full of what-ifs and shoulda-woulda-couldas than to brave the unknown, untapped, and unlearned recesses of the human mind? So what if you stumble and fall along the way. The importance lies in learning why you stumbled in the first place and ensuring that it won’t happen again. Life is all about trial-and-error. If we err, we do it again ’til we get it right. Rinse and repeat.

I guess all this ranting about ignorance and negligence stems from my antagonism towards answering, “I don’t know,” when people ask me something that I know nothing about. I want to be armed with knowledge. I don’t want to seem ignorant and aloof to matters that are pertinent to society’s well-being.

But wait, a sponge just sits around all day, right? Mindlessly waiting for some random liquid for it to absorb? Sounds like a lazy bum to me. But of course, there are things that can be only inculcated through instruction and example. Like pilates work. We shouldn’t feel the least bit belittled when someone (with more experience and authority) teaches us how to do something a better way/the right way.

It’s like throwing a broken shard of glass out into the ocean. The sea ameliorates the jagged edges so that when it reaches the shore, the edges are smooth to the touch. Constant criticism is needed to perfect and hone one’s craft.

So in conclusion, learning is an immemorial process. We are as useless as a hammer to a fisherman if we don’t constantly immerse ourselves in the sea of knowledge.

Vocationally Challenged No More

The realm of the mundane…an all too familiar locality in which I resided in a few years back. It was plain and stagnant, like a pool of rainwater in a deserted cemetery. From mainstream music to the unending and formulaic idealism of conformity, I was stuck in a rut along with the majority of society.

The most perplexing and dumbfounding life decision I made, that seated me upon the throne of conformity, was to take up Nursing. (Ironically, it wasn’t a decision I made per se. More of an enforced and mandatory pill they had to shove down my throat.) My aunt, a registered nurse in the US, had the best of intentions as she influenced my parents into realizing that Nursing is the way to go. I was outraged. I wanted to take up Journalism, AB English, or Mass Communications but unfortunately, free will and personal choice were not in my aunt’s vocabulary.

Fast forward to March 2007. I have graduated from the course, donning a mask with an infallible smile pretending to be proud and ecstatic of my ”achievement”. Yet concealed beneath was an underlying hatred for that which I have accomplished out of sheer obligation.

The following day, I released myself from the binds which have held me for so long. “I have no plans on becoming a nurse.”, I timidly mentioned to my parents over lunch. I swear, those few seconds of silence felt like forever. It was painful for my parents to hear, but they had to hear me out. My bottled-up emotions were finally emancipated by the truth. Thankfully, my parents were very understanding and comforted me when I needed it the most. The key point in letting them see my point of view? Self-Actualization. This was a necessary step, a shovel to help dig myself out of the oppressive pile of conformity I was buried under.

A few months later, I sent my resume to various publications regardless of their ads that specifically mentioned their qualifications of ”seasoned writers” and “graduates of Journalism or related courses”. But before that, I am obligated to mention that I’m not an entirely hopeless case in the world of creative writing. I contributed to our college’s official publication and even wrote the script for one of the annual and highlighted nursing events. But still, the chances of me getting hired over a journalism grad for a writing position were very unlikely, realistically speaking.

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.

Fast forward to October 15, 2007, my first day on the job as as an ESL Test Developer, a writing position. I am blogging about my life like it’s nobody’s business…realizing that in few hours my co-workers will scrutinize this tiny anecdote, this sliver of my personal life that I have unabashedly exposed for the world to see. This has become my informal introduction to you, dear workmates.

I guess this should have been the appropriate introduction:

“Hi, I’m Justin. Pleased to make your acquaintance (insert your name here). I’m looking forward to working with you.”

And on that note, I digress. I have another blog to make. *winks*