.

A couple of years ago, for Philosophy class,
our professor asked us to write - a story, if you will -
about a scenario we imagine ourselves would be in five years from that time.

I wrote that I imagined myself, in five years,
sitting at Starbucks with my Caramel Macchiato and laptop
(and my Gudang babies, of course)
beating the deadline for an article I was writing.

At the time I was seriously considering shifting
from the Electronics and Communications Engineering course I was taking
to either Journalism or English.

I didn't shift courses.
I chose to stay.
That was five years ago.

Right now I am at the Starbucks in People Support, Makati
with my Caffe Americano and laptop
(and my Winston Lights, of course)
cramming for the presentation I have to do tomorrow for our offshore skill transfer.

I just got back in the Philippines yesterday, returning to Japan in a week.
Most of the year I am in Osaka, pretending to be a programmer.
(And getting away with it.
Most of the time, anyway.)

Neil Gaiman, of the Sandman comics fame, got it right -
the more things change, the more they remain the same.

I have no idea where I'll be five years from now
but hopefully one of those days I'll find myself
sitting at Starbucks, somewhere
still finding myself amused at life's weird little symmetries.