"You can help by just shutting up."
That was the first time that I got offended by my date, ever. The worse part was that we were at my place that time and I was playing the gracious host.
Anyway friends, before you go ballistics and torch the guy, let me assure you that were it not for the situation where he is in right now, kicking him out would have been the first thing that I would have done. Fortunately for him, I am a very patient person and my understanding was honed by the years of managing different types of people from work.
Also, he already apologized for his outburst. Hehehe!!!
Anyway, I met this guy, let's call him Controlling Villain (CV), his words not mine, through networking (my ex is a friend of his back in college), last July 2, Friday.
He caught my interest because he seemed like the witty type. I'm the person who would rather call than send text messages because I'm a very lazy person when it comes to texting but we were able to carry on a conversation for 6 straight hours through SMS.
So when he asked if I'd like to meet up with him, I was more than willing to.
My first impression when I saw CV was that he is cute and his face is flawless (albeit the fact that it was sooo white... lol).
- Date # 1: We went to UP Diliman and ate dinner at Sefali (in Kruz na Ligas). It was there that CV told me the story of how he got into a fraternity (scary!! nyay). It was also there that I told him about my ex, which coincidentally, was CV's friend. We then went to Diliman campus just to continue getting to know each other. But since there was a curfew we decided to talk someplace else. We ended up going to my place and spending the entire weekend together. Over thatentire weekend...
- We met with a real estate agent for a condo (I was looking for a place to buy)
- We met up with CV's bestfriend at their house.
- We became members of ROTARACT.
- Date #2: A week later, I fetched CV from his MA class at UP-D, July 10, Saturday. We then went on to see the second half of UP vs. LaSalle basketball game at the opening ceremonies of the 73rd UAAP Season. We met some of his friends at Burgoo and afterwards proceeded to Starbucks.
- He invited me to come and watch their company's booth in the first ever ice cream and chocolate show. Let us thank CV for the goodies that he gave me. Me, my tita and cousin Panget gorged ourselves with cakes, muffins and some type of chocolate pudding.
- Date # 3: Last Saturday was our Date #3. I fetched him again at UP-D and we ate out at a Singaporean restaurant in Cubao. We initially separated after the meal because he is very busy with his work stuff so I ended going to my favorite coffee shop in Better Living Subd. CV then called saying that they did not have electricity at home so he spent the night at my place (don't worry kids, nothing sexual happened.) He was up all night working on his computer doing desktop research and creating his presentation.
Date #3 was when CV said those words above. We were having an intellectual orgy regarding overall mindset on life and how it affects someone's motivation.
What brought that on was his constant statements about how everything that's been going on is unfair to him. He feels that he has much to offer and his qualifications are much better than the others in our age group yet he feels like the others are much better off than him.
My thought on the matter was, yes there are people much better off than us, people who has higher salary than us, people that are higher than us in the corporate ladder, or people that are just generally rich all through out their lives... But I also look at those that are of the same age as ours yet have a difficult time earning enough to feed themselves. Those who struggle to make ends meet and live as well as him and me. And how lucky we are that we are enjoying comforts that these others could only dream of.
For every kind of CV's successful/rich person, I have 10 times or even twenty times of those poor fellows that I compare myself to. So if you really think of it, in a pecking order, we are nearly at the top as well. Not really at the pinnacle but nearly on top already.
So he thinks that my comparison with my kind of people renders me incapable of reaching the heights of those that, at our age, are already masters of their fields, earning more than they could ever need. CV is afraid that I may be content with what I have now and that I would not want to work hard to get farther ahead.
What CV does not know is that I come from place with poor origin. The people who surrounded me when I was growing up barely had any grand plans for their future. Not to be so boastful, yet I can say that in our entire batch during high school, I am probably part of a very small percentage that is now on our way to the top.
I work as a supervisor in a large company, with an unlimited career growth opportunity. I was able to purchase my first parcel of land (600 sq. meters) in our province, I have my own car. For me, I am already a success story.
But making more money, or moving up the highest step in the corporate ladder could never be the be-all and end-all of MY story. I will only live my life once and so far I have never regretted that I took some time off from working so hard to enjoy all that life has to offer.
It is human nature to always do better. As you grow older, your circle of friends changes and you also meet people who will be better in life than you. Seeing how they are well to do than you, it gives you drive to also progress.
My standard of success is as high as people who started at the top early on in their life and sooner or later, I will catch up to them. My determination and my wits will get me to that place. And when it happens, success will be sweeter because I literally came from the lowest of the low.
I will get there... I know I will.
And I hope CV, or better known to the world as Victor Cajoles, will be right there beside me when I do!!! Hehehe!!! (I hope I can make you proud of me.)
