Universe make way!

Paolo Coelho, in his book. "The Alchemist" once said, "when you want to achieve something, the whole universe conspires for you to achieve it."

I say, THE WHOLE UNIVERSE CONSPIRES....

against you,
against all the things you want to do.

It plots hurdles so that you'll have the difficulty of going through
And ditches, so that you'll fall and get stuck in the ground.

You get tired and disheartened
Until you feel weak and decide not to push through the race and say, "I quit. It's over"

THE WHOLE UNIVERSE REQUIRES YOU

to grab your whole strength, your whole efforts, (even if that means fighting fatigue)
before it gives you the sweet apple of success.

As Joey will describe it, the thing that you want is laid in front of you. You marvel at it, excited at the thought of having it, almost within reach of having it, until the Universe grabs it far from you and tells you ops, patikim lang iyan. Uh-uh, not that easy!!!! I'll make it hard for you.


***

"I told you so, tried and tested ko na ito, pag may gusto akong gawin, ang dami-daming balakid before mo makuha iyo!" Joey ranted one afternoon as we were finishing our own cups of Mcflurry, (wading off frustration)after tiringly trudging the street of F. Ortigas Jr. Road, and heading over McDo to submit our fully-accomplished Mad Dash application, another local version of Amazing Race, wherein you have to find the 24 McDo branches in Metro Manila, and in there, meet the tasks you need to win the game.( anyway, needto elaborate more on that some other time)

Anyway, back to my story, we were about to submit the application until...


McDo Manager: Sir, maam, along with the app. form po, you have to submit also a 3R (full-body) photo, proof of identification, particularly a birth cert., and a med cert. to state that you're physically fit for the game....

Me and Joey (with an impending gray cloud, and rant over our own heads): WHAAAAAAAATTT!!!!

Our worlds, once again, crashing down into us.

***

Even before that happen, I have already sensed impending obstacles. As I've said, things aren't all that easy to achieve. We can't get away just like that, na kailangan mo ipasa yung isang bagay, tapos, ok na, kasali ka na. No, no, no, no.

1. "Joey, kailangan ng 1 x 1 picture para ipasa ito. Ako meron na, siguro naman meron ka diyan naitatago sa wallet mo" I told him. Joey fished down over his wallet, "A, meron yata, wait lang." After some moments of waiting for him to find a picture, he said, "ay wala pala."


2. The next day, Joey was able to bring his picture. And so, we happily filled-up the application forms. I told him, "sige, ako na magp-pass niyan tomorrow morning."

As we are on an 8pm-4am shift, I decided to sleep first at the office's sleeping quarters before going to McDo to submit the application, as they still open at 6am.

I was at Mcdo already and ready to hand in the form, until I noticed that we haven't signed at the waiver at the back of it. "Shit, wala pang pirma si Joey" I told myself.

I was on vacation leave the next day, but that means I have to go to office again to meet Joey just to ask him to sign the waiver. Para lang doon, pupunta ako sa office...para sa pirma lang...grrr! The next day's going to be another tiring day of commuting, facing the traffic and all that heat, para lang maipasa ang application.

Grabe, pahirap. Just for that.

3. And on the third day, that mighty demand for those three requirements were asked from us!

Grabe na ito ha! If by tomorrow, and they still ask something from us, like "we need your birth cert. copy", ...I don't have that copy, and it takes a week before it get's processed....and by that time, tapos na ang application...

Or if, (knock on wood that it won't happen) something happens with the application form, like it get's eaten by the dog, or get's lost or something...I'm sorry, but that's the ultimate, ewan ko na lang, grabe na ang pahirap ng universe!

***

"No, Ganito naman talaga parati. Ibig sabihin makukuha tayo. Makakasali tayo sa MAd dash. Lagi tong nangyayari sa akin. Pinahihirapan talaga ako, tapos in the end, makukiuha ko siya." Joey reassured himself, uplifting his spirits, and mine as well.

And thus, the start of our again-never ending conversation on failrues, frustrations and hurdles on the things we wanted to achieve.

***

Joey describes himself as a frustrated artist. He dreams of one day creating a comic book, get it published and amass money (as fruit of obtaining readers that will gorge over his comic book). But, still now, at age 25, he is still not able to do that.

Me, a frustrated writer. Struggling to create better compositions, attempting to string together ideas that will someday be readable, with the description of each words, each action, un-confusing. Still, at age 21, after four years of majoring in Journalism, I'm still at a loss for grouping ideas properly, and creating sound compositions, one that is hindi kalat-kalat ang ideas, at hindi alam kung ano ang unang sasabihin.

***

Joey says, "Life is so unfair! Yung ibang tao, ang dali-dali lang para sa kanila para makuha yung gusto nila, kahit kaunti lang ang effort. Kaunting drawing lang, kaunting talent, ayun, may comic book na! Samantalang yung iba, (katulad ko), ang dami0dami pang kailangan gawin!

I provide him with a statement. "It's because they have the resources, wala silang ibang kailangan pagkaabalahan kundi mag focus dun sa gusto nilang gawin."

But I can't help but to think as well, that for me, there are a lot of distractions. There are a lot of things that I want to achieve, that i don't know what to do first.

I have a cluttered mind, I have cluttered ideas, that I can't seem to organize.

To start my journey to achieve my dreams, I told myself, basta, tuloy-tuloy lang. Try to set a goal everyday, eventhough it's just a menial task, just so I won't feel frustrated or unaccomplished at the end of the day.

One step at a time. WHen you achieve things one at a time, you'll be surprise to find out that you're already at the top.

Patience, my dear, I tell myself.

***

Joey and I started our walk back to our office building, to ask if we can readily obtain a medical certficate, and to have our ID photocopied.

"Basta, ha tomorrow, kailangan natin ng full body picture...basta yun na lang, tapos submit na. !"

It was a tiring day.

I don't know where we are heading at, if we're gonna get picked for the game or not, at the very least, we took every step to join the game.

Yes, we are getting past the fnck!ug#@ hurdles presented to us. It's our challenge against the Universe.