The Longest Journey

*this is one of a series of essays i wrote while i was in law school.

9am, 9 October 2000 - I stood on the second level of the MRT station near the SM City and watched in horror as traffic towards Quezon Avenue slowly built up until the bottleneck reached the intersection of EDSA, West Ave and North Ave. Minutes later, thousands of people got off from the buses they were riding and made their way towards the MRT station. My MRT station, the one I am supposed to ride in on my way to Makati to handcarry my resume et al. I watched helplessly as the lines on the ticket counter got longer and longer and longer. You might be wondering why I didn't buy my ticket and ride the MRT sooner and instead watched the catastrophe unfold right before my eyes. Well, I was waiting for two people (itago na lang natin sila sa pangalang Jenny at Emily) who promised to join me in my odyssey (i.e. to find a job). The two, unbeknownst to me, had been delayed because the taxi (which they thought would bring them faster to the said MRT station) apparently caught fire and started bellowing smoke.
And that was just the beginning of our day.

By the end of it, we had traversed the entire breadth and length of Salcedo and Legaspi Village in Makati. By foot. We started at the Pacific Star Building at the corner of Makati Avenue and Buendia, and ended up in Perea St. in Legaspi Village. For proper reference to the QC residents, imagine yourself walking from UP (Math Building) to the Rotonda in Quezon Avenue.

We had ridden every conceivable kind of elevator - from the really slow ones which took forever to even open its doors (think UP Law Center elevator) to an elevator so fast I felt my ears would explode (think ear discomfort during take-off and landing on airplanes). There were spacious elevators and cramped ones, well lighted elevators and really dark ones.

We had met every kind of receptionist. The snooty, the welcoming, the one who can't stop talking and one stationed in what should have been the lobby of the office. My bag had never been subjected to such utter humiliation! Imagine being thought of as a carrier of bombs and other weapons of mass destruction by every security guard in the whole Makati area.

I had never walked so far in my life. I felt like I invented the Alay Lakad and the Walkathon. When we handed in the last of our resume, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I saw fireworks in the sky. I heard the soundtrack of the recently concluded Sydney Olympics in my mind pushing me to walk faster, to cover more ground (maybe the Ortigas area). I heard the cheers of the crowd egging me on, I felt goosebumps on my body. Yes! I had done it! I submitted my resume to every imaginable law office in Makati.

It was 3 days before I could walk properly again.