hello, world
Hello, world.
I have never met a person working in the IT industry who has not encountered this phrase at least once in their lifetime. On the contrary, most people in the industry would laugh fondly upon hearing these words, and would reminisce at the significance these two short, seemingly meaningless words hold for them.
You see, for an IT person, this phrase marks a beginning. You remember the day you typed these two words on your keyboard, compiled, ran... and watched in awe as these words scrolled across the screen. It's almost bewildering, how you made that happen. The cursor blinks expectantly, challenging you to do more.
And so it begins. You are sucked into the whirlwind, seduced by the prospect of how much you can do.
And so this essay begins.
In two days, I will turn 24. The past twenty-three years of my life I have never given much thought to turning a year older. I always thought of birthdays just as any other day in my life; thinking of it as a special day seemed to put too much pressure on people. On me, too. I didn't like how on birthdays, you were expected to be happy, as if all the problems in the world would cease to exist just because you were born on this day.
Yet this past week, I've found myself mulling over my birthday. Not on purpose -- somehow the thought just seemed to creep in during those split-seconds the world would pause to let me breathe. Perhaps it's because I'm halfway around the world right now, away from the comforting familiarity of home. Living here has allowed me to view my life in Manila through a looking glass – it’s funny how that can put things in a completely different perspective. My problems, worries, and anxieties seem to have grown infinitely smaller, and sometimes I wonder whether I really should have spent that much time and effort on them.
I got to thinking of the past twenty-three years, and what I have done with it. It all started out rather ordinarily -- I went to school, got a degree, and got my share of those adolescent moments that we always look back and smile giddily about. Then, real life happened.
It has been a roller-coaster ride ever since. The past three years have been spent with me trying to carve my own niche in the corporate world. I have worked feverishly, but I have also been the slacker. I have been the eagerly helpful employee; I have been the haughty worker at the other end of the line. I have been the over-achiever; I have been the mediocre wage-earner. I have fallen madly in love, and I have fallen out of love with my work.
In a moment of clarity, I realized how much IT has influenced my life.
Some would say that's a bad thing, how I let my career shape who I am. Sometimes, I believe them. Maybe it is true. Maybe I have concentrated too much on my career that I have allowed the other aspects of my life to flatten out. But I think of where I would be today if I had not taken IT -- and I cannot imagine being anywhere else.
In this past year alone, I have experienced so many things I never would have thought I could do in a single year. I have had the chance to travel and fall in love with cities that previously had only existed in my imagination. I have had to make big decisions on which opportunities I would take, and which opportunities I would let pass me by. I have had a chance to live independently in another country, and I have learned so much about myself and what I am capable of doing. I have crossed paths with people from places far and wide, and it has broadened my horizons so vastly that I cannot think of living life any other way.
I guess, somehow, that fate just had a roundabout way of making things happen. I always dreamed of this life, but I never expected I would get it this way -- in a rush, when I least expected it. But it's here. I'm here. And I don't think I would be as wondrous, and as grateful, as I am now if I had not gone through all the past twenty three years of my life in the manner that I did.
So what do I do next? What lies ahead?
I don't know. Like many other twenty-somethings undergoing their quarter-life crisis, I am lost as ever. But, for the first time in my life, that doesn't scare me. It only means that my life isn't over yet. There are more moments to experience, more challenges to tackle, more mountains to conquer. It's okay not to have the answer, because sometimes it's the question that matters.
I don't know where I'm going, but I know I will get there, one day at a time. And each day, I will face life with all the optimism I can muster, and say the words that a computer has taught me.
Hello, world.
I have never met a person working in the IT industry who has not encountered this phrase at least once in their lifetime. On the contrary, most people in the industry would laugh fondly upon hearing these words, and would reminisce at the significance these two short, seemingly meaningless words hold for them.
You see, for an IT person, this phrase marks a beginning. You remember the day you typed these two words on your keyboard, compiled, ran... and watched in awe as these words scrolled across the screen. It's almost bewildering, how you made that happen. The cursor blinks expectantly, challenging you to do more.
And so it begins. You are sucked into the whirlwind, seduced by the prospect of how much you can do.
And so this essay begins.
In two days, I will turn 24. The past twenty-three years of my life I have never given much thought to turning a year older. I always thought of birthdays just as any other day in my life; thinking of it as a special day seemed to put too much pressure on people. On me, too. I didn't like how on birthdays, you were expected to be happy, as if all the problems in the world would cease to exist just because you were born on this day.
Yet this past week, I've found myself mulling over my birthday. Not on purpose -- somehow the thought just seemed to creep in during those split-seconds the world would pause to let me breathe. Perhaps it's because I'm halfway around the world right now, away from the comforting familiarity of home. Living here has allowed me to view my life in Manila through a looking glass – it’s funny how that can put things in a completely different perspective. My problems, worries, and anxieties seem to have grown infinitely smaller, and sometimes I wonder whether I really should have spent that much time and effort on them.
I got to thinking of the past twenty-three years, and what I have done with it. It all started out rather ordinarily -- I went to school, got a degree, and got my share of those adolescent moments that we always look back and smile giddily about. Then, real life happened.
It has been a roller-coaster ride ever since. The past three years have been spent with me trying to carve my own niche in the corporate world. I have worked feverishly, but I have also been the slacker. I have been the eagerly helpful employee; I have been the haughty worker at the other end of the line. I have been the over-achiever; I have been the mediocre wage-earner. I have fallen madly in love, and I have fallen out of love with my work.
In a moment of clarity, I realized how much IT has influenced my life.
Some would say that's a bad thing, how I let my career shape who I am. Sometimes, I believe them. Maybe it is true. Maybe I have concentrated too much on my career that I have allowed the other aspects of my life to flatten out. But I think of where I would be today if I had not taken IT -- and I cannot imagine being anywhere else.
In this past year alone, I have experienced so many things I never would have thought I could do in a single year. I have had the chance to travel and fall in love with cities that previously had only existed in my imagination. I have had to make big decisions on which opportunities I would take, and which opportunities I would let pass me by. I have had a chance to live independently in another country, and I have learned so much about myself and what I am capable of doing. I have crossed paths with people from places far and wide, and it has broadened my horizons so vastly that I cannot think of living life any other way.
I guess, somehow, that fate just had a roundabout way of making things happen. I always dreamed of this life, but I never expected I would get it this way -- in a rush, when I least expected it. But it's here. I'm here. And I don't think I would be as wondrous, and as grateful, as I am now if I had not gone through all the past twenty three years of my life in the manner that I did.
So what do I do next? What lies ahead?
I don't know. Like many other twenty-somethings undergoing their quarter-life crisis, I am lost as ever. But, for the first time in my life, that doesn't scare me. It only means that my life isn't over yet. There are more moments to experience, more challenges to tackle, more mountains to conquer. It's okay not to have the answer, because sometimes it's the question that matters.
I don't know where I'm going, but I know I will get there, one day at a time. And each day, I will face life with all the optimism I can muster, and say the words that a computer has taught me.
Hello, world.
on
4:40 AM
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