300 Seconds

That's 5 minutes. Too short for when you intend to eat a quick brunch. Too long for when you wait in line for a train ticket. In our company, when you go a whole month with perfect attendance, you get an incentive. I believe there are a handful of people struggling to get that amount every friggin' month. Some even go the full slate for a year with a bigger take home prize. I, in all honesty, do not care. I prefer the feeling of liberation brought about by not minding whether I'll be late for work, while the bus is breezing its way through hell that is EDSA. I know it's unbecoming of a proper lady like me, I know that. (choschoschos SLASH THAT) But that was then. I had been the punctual employee since summer started. I know most of the credit goes to the clearer, school bus-free roads. I arrive at the office 30 minutes, sometimes an hour, early every working day. Coming from the perpetual latecomer, that's a feat, and is, surprisingly, a good feeling. Waking up everyday, whispering I can't be late to myself has become a habit. Whodathunk? And I know in my heart that a month from now, when the new school year starts, I would still be holding on to that mantra, maybe waking up way earlier just to be in time for work. It's been that fulfilling thus far. The other day, I didn't wake up to my alarm. I got to work 5 minutes late. 5. Minutes. I was infuriated. Had I skipped applying moisturizer on my face and patting concealer around my panda eyes, I might have made it on time. Had I walked faster or chose the first bus going to Ayala, I could have logged in at 7am, stat. I was irked, not because I won't get the monthly incentive, but because I failed myself. 5 minutes was nothing compared to the last time I was late, which was close to an hour, but every second felt like an eternity until I reached my workstation. My brain was filled with bees-a-buzzing for an hour, feeling despair and heartbreak. Weird that I even felt that. Funny, too. I never considered being late a capital offense until that day. It didn't put me down, though. Yesterday, I was yet again an early bird, and I swear not to falter in the coming days, weeks, months. Oh, what a milestone. *evil dracula laughter* *I'd like to give props to my happy pills: Moniegold, and the only tune that emblazoned my ear the entire week, Payphone (damn you, Adam Levine).