This morning, while my sister was about to drop me off at the shuttle station just because she doesn’t want to endure the unforgiving Metropolitan traffic in my office area, my mother called her.
“You left your phone and book in mom’s room.” She said to me monotonously.
“WHAT THE ****!” with a matching slap at my forehead. Nevertheless, as if like a total retard, I still fumbled the insides of my bag just in case my mother was having a hallucination. I sensed the look my sister gave me, the look of total confusion as I searched. She didn’t see the point of me searching. Who would if someone just confirmed that I left it?
“We’re already here. Don’t make me drive back home.” She added.
UGH. Now that was a start that I felt handicapped. I don’t really care about the phone. I can bear not having my globe phone with me. I still have my Sun Phone anyways. And even so I’m not expecting any important calls or text within the day. Messages would just have to wait. But what pisses me off is that I was planning to have a couple of good reading breaks today as I’m already at the juicy parts of Alice Sebold’s Lovely Bones. Damn it. Now I’m forced to observe people. My self-imposed and system generated mini-breaks will not be as fun anymore,shattering my momentum.
I guess most of my close friends and family know that I get extremely irritated if I forget either my book hair tie or watch. For tie and watches, I just feel icky throughout the day. But if I forgot my book, I feel icky and unshielded. It's a "piece of mind thing." Whether or not I'm going to read it while mobile, I really don't care, I just need to have it with me.
Books have always been my “saviors.” For a person like me who isn’t exactly comfortable, perky and graceful in public; books have always rescued me from countless horrible situations:
1. WAITING
I find myself recently hitching rides with my sister, boyfriend or sometimes (rarely) my dad. I bring a car whenever I can or must, but I can be SO lazy that hitching a ride with someone or commuting seem to be more convenient alternatives for me. Thinking about bringing a car, means I have to think of parking, gas and essentially getting the car back in one piece. Since I don’t want to stress myself out, I usually find myself the passenger.
I am very democratic though. Since I’m the one hitching a ride, I would sometimes be the one adjusting to their schedules, actually it should be always. Now, if there’s a time agreed upon, I accept it and just adjust accordingly. But it never does trickle down to the exact agreement. Something will always come up. If they say that they’ll pick me up at 9:30, it’s not always going to be 9:30. I would have to consider them going to the car park, driving and occasionally moving in slow paces that 9:30 most often extends to 10:30. Or in some worse cases with my dad, he always likes to be so productive enough to accomplish all possible errands before deciding to pick me up. In some cases, he even forgets to pick me up. IN the case of commuting, I can read the book while falling in line or sometimes read the book while traveling especially while stuck in heavy traffic.
Also, waiting in interviews, appointments and some events will force me to mingle or just drown in my horrid pool of boredom most especially if I don’t want to think anymore. Voluntary suffering is avoided when one has a good book.
Naturally, observing people and being catatonic would be easy for me. But there are times that I need to entertain myself by not involving “myself”. I need something else TO DO besides getting my mind wired to unproductive thinking. I’m lucky if I find myself with a laptop, but since my laptop’s been newly categorized as the new ‘desktop’ I rarely bring it with me. Often than not, I only have my book as my savior.
Reading books, whether at the middle or at the start, passes the time smoothly. It's portable and books don’t need batteries and complicated handling. You can stop and resume instantly and it refocuses ones thoughts in a creative and productive way. Instead of feeling immensely tired randomly observing and nursing ideas when you don’t want to, books create an avenue to relax and just focus on something else, something with a direction at least.
When intended activities are resumed, I’m not as cranky compared to the times that I have waited without a book with a matching headache to boot. I wouldn’t normally require apologies and I would just feel that time simply slipped away. Filling the time for me is very essential especially if limited interests and resources are my main concerns. There should always be random, productive options than observing people and drowning in thoughts. Books are always good alternatives.
2. PEOPLE
I cannot count the times that I’ve been shielded from people whom I’m not comfortable interacting with. There are just some people that tick me off and I know that I won’t be able to relax and reciprocate comfortably in any given agenda. What I do is, I get a book, read and people would get the message. Some even go as far as asking me what I’m reading. I answer as curtly and courteously as I can, but I would always hope that they’d get the signal. It’s a perfect excuse to gently say: “I’m not in the mood to talk. It’s not really about you (sometimes). I’m just currently enjoying my book.”
It’s also not an activity that’s usually shared. Books have a 1:1 ratio. It puts one in an invisible bubble of enjoyment. I wouldn’t have to explain why I’m alone and isolated in one corner. I wouldn’t have to explain why I’m eating alone and pleasantly reading. I read and I’m entertained. I don’t know about some people who just don’t get the picture. It’s okay to ask me once, but if my eyes go back to the material right after the brief interaction, it should be a polite and truthful signal to stop yapping at me. If you have watched Twilight, there was a scene there where Bella’s HS friends were calling her and she was preoccupied with something else? She points out a book that she was reading, or pretending to read, and no explanations were required. Books are subtle escapes that society holds acceptable.
If the person just doesn’t get it and still ends up pestering you even more, proceed to my reason #5.
3. ESCAPE
Books are ready escapes. It prolongs comfort than watching a 2 hour movie. It even provides a better alternative than soap operas if you’re very particular with how you’d play the scenes in your head. It heightens the imagination and widens the vocabulary. It is also very accessible and an affordable way to entertain. It slashes liabilities, unless the book only exists in one copy. It is also a perfect escape from phone calls, from stress and from your life.
4. WARDS OFF HUNGER
If you’re waiting for your ride and you don’t have any more money to buy some food, reading a good book eliminates pain and the awareness of hunger. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it always works for me. When at the end of the day I have no more money and I find myself starving, I read a good book and I get whisked away to la-la land. Hunger, which feeds crankiness, is toned down. The most distinct memory I could remember was when I was in grade school. At that time I was still taking the bus, but in this one particular afternoon the bus left me because I was too busy reading in the library. Since both my parents were working and our driver was assigned to my mother, I had to wait for them to pick me up, but traffic in the South Super Highway was horrible, still is. Since my stomach was used to taking Pancit Canton and Juice for merienda while watching Mr. Belvedere and Small Wonder, I would feel the pangs of hunger. Since my allowance was wiped out, I wouldn't be able to buy anything. As dramatic as it may sound, I felt I was going to die. But I had my Archie comics with me and I would begin to read particular chapters of Jughead eating Pop Tate’s sumptuous burgers. Somehow time slipped away and my hunger was slightly appeased.
5. DEFENSE
Books are good defense… in a way. It’s an object that you could throw or whack someone with. No matter how small the book is, thrown at sharp angles especially if the target is hit by the end binders, would really hurt. I’ve tried it once and literally threw my BOBSON twins pocketbook at a classmate and the edge of the binder hurt my classmate’s eye. I think we were instant enemies, but the good thing was he never bothered me again.
Aside from the obvious defense that one could get from a book, I find it as a defense against pickpockets, although this is a much specialized and personal case.
You see, I carry big bags, as in big, boxed shaped bags. I’m a tote lady and I don’t have any kili-kili bags or small bags where it could only snugly fit a wallet and a cellular phone. I’m not famous at keeping wallets actually. I only have a coin purse with me where I pretty much keep all my crumpled bills and even my credit cards. I also have my aging camera and two big phones. That’s really not the worst part why books come in handy. In shameful truth, I have a habit of keeping my bags perpetually open. I don’t close my bags because I find constantly zipping and opening my bag are just hassle. I like bags that just require you to dump stuff and reach for stuff without going through the hassle of zipping it open. Even if some bags require that first stage of security, I just leave it open. My mom could scold me in public places for keeping my bag open and she would just love to have someone pick pocket me just to drive home the point. But she knew that my bag is such a jungle and an obstacle of books the pickpockets would eventually give up. Most of the times I carry a big book that covers almost everything that’s inside, or I carry two books that fumbling for my stuff requires more effort. I don’t find it a hassle though, which is weird. I find opening bags more strenuous than fumbling for things endlessly just because books in bags prove to be a good obstacle course.
Aside from the pleasure books bring, listed above are the few reasons why I must carry them with me all the time. I haven’t even included the “IF I FIND MYSELF STUCK IN THE ISLAND EDITION.” That would be a long post.
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