sem break log: day 8

there's just something about business and politics that makes it seem so distant to me. case in point: today, around noontime, lunch at the celebrity place gazebo, celebrating the birthday of one of my uncles, the husband of my ninang. me and my dad were ushered to the table of the celebrant, who was with another friend. introductions were made, and just as soon as we'd sat down and set our plates on the table, then did the politico-economic discussion begin.

just as my stomach was slowly filling up with lechon, lumpia, and the random viands they had prepared, i was also being peppered with meaningless acronyms and baseless jargon, at least to my ears. my tito's friend, apparently another economics buff, made out corporate names and business positions like nobody's business, as my dad just sat there, picking crab with his fingers, nodding in understanding, or satisfaction, or both. i just sat there, eyes darting from one speaker to the other, swallowing all they spewed out without really digesting anything they said. goldilocks and red ribbon, jollibee and magnolia, nearly every prominent brand name received a tongue lashing from them, or at least a guest mention. dirty bookkeeping, ipo's, family-run businesses, corporate privatization, calling to mind a few of the terms they used. times came when one would give a line, half chuckling, then the other would burst in hearty laughter, while the slightest intention of the joke escaped me. looking at them, it was as if they had been friends for the longest time, or at least business acquaintances from far back, not the random relation found in that very party.

by the time they delved into politics, i had my nose buried deeply in the book i had brought. but still, my ears pricked up at the mere mentionings of 'gma' and 'bayani fernando' and 'spare parts' and 'binaril sa paa' and whatever topic their conversation had drifted to. half the time i couldn't help grinning, and these times i had to push my face even deeper into the pages, in fear of being thought of as mocking or insane.

but still, it was a smile. a smile, in amusement, as i watched these two grown men babble on like gossiping teenagers, albeit over more mature topics. i could just imagine myself in a couple of years, enthusiastically discussing patient histories or hospital management or health legislations, all as if talking about the weather. at one point in the afternoon, my dad was asking what the function of the pancreas was. it took quite some self-restraint not to just butt in and scream "for secretion of digestive enzymes and hormones", specially when someone mentioned it was for filtration.

am i glad that i chose such a clean profession, saving lives.