Inevitable Siestas

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Although the humble archipelago I live in and have finally come to accept as my semi-permanent home, was a former colony of the Castillans who had come to follow Fernando de Magallañes in 1521, our country's metropolitan district -- the National Capital Region -- has more or less embraced the workaholic mindset toward a progressive economy, albeit miserably flailing in tangible results since the ebb of the People Power Revolution of 1984 and WAY BEFORE THAT, which does not give sufficient margin for the lackadaisical public that wish to enjoy a less stressful standard of living devoid of break neck responsibilities and mind-numbing overtime pay-exempt work hours and slow vertical mobility.

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What am I trying to point out?

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For the past 2 weeks that I've started working, I've fallen asleep numerous times, especially after lunch, an unintentional attempt on my part to commemorate something that dates back to the 300+ years of my non-Hispanic ancestral heritage. Inevitable siestas.

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Right after a satisfactory meal in the cafeteria and a burning stick to calm my nervous energy, I find myself in a losing battle to stay awake during the quiet little intervals of waiting between prank calls from the West coast and leaving voice mail messages for those in the East Coast. This while reading through Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, the novel being a sordid attempt at making a hollywood movie out of a pseudo-intellectual suspense adventure story. Despite the lack of clear character differentiation and grossly exagerrated build up of the defunct Illuminati brotherhood, I find this undeserving novel would do me more good keeping awake, than say, Beowolf, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam or the translated copy of the Bhagavad-Gita. Not to say that I find the literary classics boring, I just fear I might end up in corporate comatose much sooner trying to analyze the quatrains, rhythmic verses, and historical symbology when reading such.

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My strategy hasn't been effective so far because in spite of the fact that I had already read through the second brutal murder of a kidnapped cardinal from the Il Conclave, the election for a new pope (which I find creepy considering the fact that I read in the papers this morning about Karol Wojtila's declining health and the talks of a favored successor to include in the ranks of the il preferiti), I still found myself nodding off the minutes till the beeping intro of a new phone call. Sadly, I couldn't help saying yes to a nice quiet nap after a nice quiet meal.

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While I haven't a replacement strategy at hand, I'm simply hoping not to get caught ... at all ... for the entire year.

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