Prudence and Madness

Starbucks Coffee Shop always felt like home to me. Even more homey than my own house. And it’s a nice cool-down, chill-out place after a 2-hour workout treadmill, elliptical and weights. So, here I am typing away on my poor man’s laptop (read: PDA with a mini-keyboard), a tall cup of English Breakfast tea beside it and an ambiance conducive for creative ideas. Starbucks never failed to give me inspiration.

My love affair with coffee and tea started when I was still in college, when my high school barkada and I would have coffee night outs every Saturday night (sometimes, even Sunday nights or whenever we feel a bit more coffeeholic). We used to frequent Starbucks Petron North Balagtas and it was where we would gather in little tables put together and talk about everyday events or philosophical ideas or just reminisce on our high school days. This was a pleasant release from stress we got from our universities. I remember that just being there felt like a convention of freethinkers. It was as if it was our calling to just gather there and decide the fate of the whole world. Oh well, maye it’s just my delusions of grandeur speaking there. Haha.

And this went on, even after they graduated from their universities and I, the perpetual student, continued on to medical school. A change of venue had to be done though, because of the rising toll fees inevitably brought on by the rejuvenation of the bleak North Luzon Expressway. So, we had to settle for Petron North Marilao Starbucks, if we wanted to save our hard-earned cash for better deals (Their hard-earned cash, I should say. Or their credit limits. I was still my parents’ parasite, then). But the gathering of minds were still there. It was a Roman forum of sorts, where I, the student, listened fervently to my teachers telling me tales of the corporate world (or corporate hell, they said). Here I heard stories of everyday battle with MRT/LRT, stupid/bitchy/ slacker officemates, monstrous bosses. Here I caught a glimpse of their emotions when they got their first ever salary and what did they spend it on. Here I learned that the corporate world can readily get your interests piqued but it can easily get you bored. That it can eat you whole and leave you wondering, retrogradely amnesic, and mentally retarded enough not to be able to decide on what to do for the next 10 years of your precious life. Some of my friends, at the young age of 23 or 24, even felt that there was nothing more to be done, that they have reached the peak of their careers and there’s nowhere to go but down. And it was frightening to be finally caught in that stage, they said, when the grips of stagnation start to be strongly felt. I, during that time, was only worried about studying for our small-group discussions, passing the long exams, getting out of the crazy consultant’s way and saving up enough of my weekly allowance so I could buy a new pocketbook or have enough money for a once-in-a-blue-moon gimmick. Tall cups of hot coffee or tea or frappuccinos during those Saturday nights seem to drive out these worries and problems of ours, at least, temporarily. And it was already Heaven.

When I finished medical school and internship year, I still sought the comforts of Starbucks. After my board review classes, I would go to Starbucks 6750 or Starbucks EDSA Shangri-La to do my self-review, unbothered that I’m spending P200+ on coffee (Besides, I don’t worry about maxing out my monetary resources when it comes to spending over a loved one. Hehe). The brief moment of peace and warmth was worth it.

Now, when we were starting to notice unacceptable increase in body weights and bulges that were never there before, my highschool barkada decided to turn the coffee Saturday nights into badminton Saturday nights. It was the only available time from our busy schedules. We still do visit our favorite Starbucks place, every now and then. And whenever we are there, memories of our previous gatherings would fill us and we would be at peace once more, at least for a while…a brief moment of wonderful separation from the clutches of corporate slavery and dissatisfying medical practice. There, we are just a bunch of good souls, revelling at how our life choices molded us. And, I, would be in reverie at how a sweet, warm coffee or cool frappuccino could make this bland existence so much more bearable.

I wonder what the mermaid put in the coffee…