The lost man

Everyday I travel to school by car. I leave the house between 6:50 and 7 am. It usually took between 10 to 15 minutes to get to campus – depending on traffic conditions. I’ve been sleeping through my morning car rides the last few months, but whenever I’m awake enough, I always look out the window, observing the hustle-bustle, commotion and chaos of the morning rush hour.

Every few months – sometimes weeks – I see a man just walking aimlessly. I’m not talking about any man walking around aimlessly, it’s the same man. The last time I saw him was around August of last year (I think). He has an unkempt beard, he carries a light backpack that looks as though there’s hardly anything in it. Every time I see him from my car window, he’s always wearing the same thing: a blue shirt and pants. And I usually see him at around the same area, on the route going to school. But one time I saw him walking outside of the mall, which was odd.

At first I thought seeing this man from my car window every now and again was funny, but as time passed my insides churned every time I saw him. He always had that same expression of being lost on his face, as if all he could do was just walk with his backpack, and occasionally smoke (yeah, I saw him smoking one time. I caught this tiny detail during a traffic jam, caused by the rainy season last year). Whenever he walked, he would always be looking down, but then he’d look up, side-to-side for a few moments while still walking, and then go back to looking down on the ground again (this I observed during a traffic jam, caused by someone who decided to park their car in the middle of the road). It’s almost scary, how I remember his face, and how every time I look out into the window of my car, I don’t seem to notice anyone else – people who walked to the local school everyday, commuters who waited for the bus there everyday – but I always seem to spot him out of the crowd. Perhaps he’s meant to be a sign, a recurring image, or a warning of some sort.

Lately, I haven’t seen this homeless man. Maybe it’s because I’ve been sleeping on my way to school every morning.

2008

The new year has arrived. The time to reflect on the previous year has passed, and the time to look to the future has arrived. I don’t like making “resolutions” for the new year. Whenever I try to make resolutions, I always seem to forget them.

A lot of things will be happening this year – for me anyway. I have two more batteries of exams to endure, finishing up my remaining university applications (and awaiting subsequent acceptances and rejections), the culmination of my high school swimming career (three years on the team – just because I’m talking about it here it doesn’t mean I’m the best haha) and of course, graduation.

It might just be me, but sometimes people get too carried away with looking to the future and forgetting about the present.

New year’s wasn’t too bad. I went to a family friend’s house for dinner, then took my dad to the airport. He went to Davao and he’ll be there till Friday to meet up with his side of the family.