That Thing You Do

I hate being left out of the loop.

My friend Karen and I were talking business the other day when she brought this up. It's something that's true but not immediately obervable in my behavior.

If it's a work situation, I like being in control. In the instances that i've had to work in a group, i've found myself placed in an executive position.

Sure, it doesn't always happen. There are times when other people are more qualified to lead, or you're much better off as a follower.

But I hate being left out.

Which is probably why I like writing, it gives me complete control of an environment, even if it's not real.

I like working in a group for a movie, simply because I can see the results. I know that if I do something this way, I can immediately see something happening that way. It won't take me long to do see it.

I wonder how I would have done with that marshmallow test?

Pinoy kids have the fear of God put into them, so when an adult tells him not to eat something, then he won't eat it. He'll throw a tantrum, he'll cry, he'll do something annoying, but he'll wait until the adult comes back and tells him he can eat it.

It doesn't matter that he'll get two mallows in the end, the only thing running in his mind will be "I eat this right now, and he'll come back and whup me"

Violent, maybe primitive, but it works.

Sure, it skews the result of that mallow test, but what the hey, right? Those who were impatient as a kid are still impatient when they grow up and those patient still wait. The only difference is that Pinoy kids won't eat them because some unknowing adult tells them that a manananaggal (a really fugly version of a vampire) will come eat him.

That's Pinoy Discipline for you.