Beside the Creek

My neighbor alex is celebrating her 8th year in one place, and as I told her, this has made me nostalgic.

I spent close to a decade in the same company. About a humble half of which was spent doubting whether I was in the right place. It was not so much that I did not like what I was doing because I did. I really did. I think it was more of me not seeing my place in the organization. I always felt that I was just there - that I was a conduit to getting results achieved. Parang medium ng mga lost souls, sasaniban to get a message across, tapos iiwanan ng lupaypay pag natapos na ang seance.

Anyway, I think the reason why I stayed on was because of the friendships I developed through the years. Parang pill box ang 10 years ko doon - may separators to indicate a time line.

The best group of friends I had was Ronald and the Lab Girls. Sila yung unang set of friends ko who made sense to me and who I really could share good laughs with. Up until now, sila pa rin ang pinaka pinaka na-enjoy ko kasama.

I also developed good friendships with the HR people. There were perks with being chummy with the HR - you get inside scoops and stories. The downside lang is, you never can really tell anybody about the secrets.. and well, secrets are just much juicier if you share them di ba?

Then during the later years, I had the chance to get to know the new generation of employees. They were a few years younger and well, I was a bitch by then already so I probably wouldn't have won miss congeniality. But they were quite a brave bunch - they let me join a few lunch outs and who knows, they may have gottten disappointed that I wasn't much of the bitch that I seemed to be.

So when friends started moving on and going away, I started to lose the joy of being where I was. And then things happened, decisions were made, promises were blurred and it just all together stopped being a happy place for me.

And here I am now. Looking back to where I was 3 years ago, not with the same heavy heart I used to have, but with a mix of gladness for people who have found their own real joy there and sadness for those who are just trapped with nowhere to go.

Horton is a Who - by Dr. Sus

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Horton is neither me nor you... but will most likely remind you and me of somebody we know, have known, and will know. While Horton is portrayed as a simple girl, I am sure a part of her exists in most of us - me included. We all are sometimes consumed by our own conviction of how good we are that we forget that life is a convoluted collaboration of the strengths and weakness of each of us.

We appear strong when others are weak, and we appear weak when others are strong.

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Horton works for a cookie shop - she doesn't quite get it why it's called a cookie shop when they sell more cakes than cookies. Every morning when she gets in, she wonders about this. You see, Horton enjoys baffling herself about simple things. I think part of it is because really, her mind can only figure out so much.

One damp Susday, Horton gets an email. MasterChef upstairs is asking her to write down all she knows about the cookie shop and what she has learned for the past many years that she has been working for the cookie shop.

Horton jumps up with joy. Finally, she thinks MasterChef will make her the cookie shop head.

Well, actually, Horton is absolutely convinced she is about to make it as the cookie shop head.

"Finally" Horton thinks to herself "I will be Cookie Shop Big Master."

Horton has conveniently forgotten the time she bagged peanut brownies instead of the giant cookies for Mrs. Wilmster and Mrs. Wilmster had to be taken to the hospital for allergies. Horton also did not remember when she spilled fresh milk on the floor which caused little old Mister Yokel to slip and sport leg braces for months. Nor did Horton thought about mixing old cookie batches with new ones causing a wave of customer returns.

No, Horton does not think of these things. She believes in her heart that all these dark clouds - as she prefers to refer to them - happened because her stars where not aligned right on those days.

"Sometimes stars do that" she tells herself "they get jumpy and forget to follow their path and dark clouds happen."

Horton will never, ever accept that Mrs. Wilmster, Mr. Yokel and the customer return line happened because she was just not paying attention to what she was doing. No, it was not her fault. It was the stars.

So when MasterChef wanted her list, she walked around the cookie shop the whole day feeling like the big boss. She ordered people around. She refused to pack cookies, serve customers and much more, bus the tables.

If she is going to be The Big Boss, she has to start acting like one.

And act like one she did. She passed blame, found excuses, wasted time sitting around and basically did nothing to help in running the cookie shop.

"Horton The BIG BOSS has arrived." she hummed silently to herself.

She really was loving every minute of it.

Horton found new skills she did not know she had.

She can pass on work to others and get credit for them.

She can turn a blind eye to dirty floor and tables and wait until somebody else picked up the mop and rag to clean up.

She can point a finger to someone else whenever an unhappy customer comes up to complain.

She can chit chat with the customers without really convincing the customers to buy the new cookie treats to increase the cookie shop sales.

And Horton truly believed in her heart that she had what it takes to run the Cookie Shop...