Commencement

A friend sent me a text message during the Baccalaureate Mass last Saturday. Aside from a congratulatory message, she also included in the message an insight about graduation day: Graduation is not the end. It is a beginning. That's why it is also called Commencement Excercise. Commencement means start - specifically the start of another journey, which is the journey towards a fulfilled life. That fulfilled life may include reaching the peak of one's chosen career path, a healthy, happy family that will actually last for a lifetime, or whatever one's deepest desires are.

Graduation, for an Atenean in particular, means leaving the nest of the Eagles so he can take flight and soar across the sky, which is what he is meant to do.

Well this Atenean would like to take a break for several months. I mean, even before the Mother Eagle kicked me out of her nest, I have been trained to fly non-stop for several hours for several times. My wings need a break from all the sleepless nights of finishing work for the thesis/research. Heck! I need a break from 16 years of schooling, from kindergarten to college. Two-month vacations between school years were not enough. I deserve to just lay around and savor nothingness for a while before I spread my wings and fly away from the warm nest to the cold and bitter reality out there. There would be hunters trying to shoot us Eagles down. But hey, we're above them. We can drop shit-bombs to distract them.

But for now, I need rest to muster all the energy I need for whatever career path I will choose. Honestly, I'm torn between a career in Software Engineering/Development and in the Call Center. Both are equally interesting for me. The Computer Science Department Head highly discouraged us from taking the Call Center path and encouraged us to pursue a job in a reputable IT company, which is most probably outside Zamboanga City. But the Call Center Outsourcing company called first and scheduled training this week (it just started this morning). Is it a sign that the Call Center is the path for me, or is it just a test of how much is my desire for a job as programmer, which I should ideally choose 'coz I'm a bachelor in Computer Science? Well, after the training, if ever I pass, I would be awarded with a certification proving that I am worthy to be a Call Center agent. I asked during a one-on-one interview with the trainer a while ago if the successful trainees are bound to pursue a career in a call center agency. He said that they are not. But he encouraged them to do so, as a sign of gratitude for the trainer. The training is free and they don't get profit from the trainees, even when they are already working as a call center agent. But they do get added points (figuratively) for their reputation whenever a call center agent trained by their company excels in work. So I am taking this training to prove if I actually have good oral communication skills as what I have included in my resume. Talk about taking advantage of free stuff...

Or, just like what my sister suggested, I can enroll again, in the same university, to undergo Special Program for Nursing... Nah! I hate the weird smell of hospitals and I think I would instinctively throttle disgruntled patients. But if ever I do enroll for SPN, I would choose WMSU over AdZU. I heard that WMSU has more competent Nursing professors and doctors than in my alma mater. Wait... I don't think we even have competent professors and doctors for the Nursing students in Ateneo - just Clinical Instructors. And I also heard that WMSU has a higher passing rate in the Nursing board exams compared to AdZU. And I also heard that there is a culture of cheating among the Nursing students in AdZU and I have heard that some CI's condone it. But those are just what I have heard. Heard! Heard! Heard! I have to enroll for SPN in AdZU to confirm these rumors. But as what I have said: NAH! I'll just give AdZU the benefit of the doubt. I have good friends who also graduated last Saturday with a degree in Nursing from the same university. I don't want to think that they just spent thousands of pesos just for a crappy Nursing education.

Why am I still typing!? I promised myself that I will be lazy as hell after graduation! Blogging requires typing energy let alone thinking energy. I have to stop now.