10th Floor

Today, I was thinking about taking the stairs to the office, which is at the 10th floor. I thought this was a faster way of getting some exercise. These days, I either do not have the time to work out or too lazy to start one. An instant work out would be fantastic!
Before I reached the building, I had to think about this whole business of taking the stairs again. The practical side of me thought it was not something a normal, thinking individual would do. I realized, it was not clear to me what this ordeal is for.
I remember having done this a couple of times, days before my last hike to Mt. Pulag. It was necessary, then. The pay off was more than gratifying when I did not have any problem keeping up with the more seasoned hikers on the way to the peak of Luzon's highest. A hike to Mt. Pulag is not something that can be pulled off by just going around malls as preparation for the arduous trek. You have to be mentally and physically prepared for it.
I am not hiking anywhere soon, so taking ten flights of stairs is something to reckon with. Deeply.
I could be doing this for health reasons. There is, after all, a need to be healthy. This sedentary lifestyle and my apathy towards my diet will soon take their toll on me.
Problem is, I have not really accepted this.
People, the media, and everything else that bombard others with information about this and that are saying so many things about how we should all live our lives. They tell you what to eat and what kinds of exercises you should be doing. They tell you what you should not be wearing anymore and what kind of movies you should be watching. They even tell you that another color is the NEW BLACK. It makes me wonder really if I am the only one who does not seem to have any idea about what to make of my years ahead.
Once, the other day, I heard a conversation about giving service tips and the unwritten rules this practice accordingly has. There is the idea about the percentages, and if you are going back to avail of the same service in the future. In that case, it is a must.
In the pantry, I heard somebody talk about how the Filipinos need a dictator, someone capable of punching an errant sherriff in the nose without care of whether it's televised or not, or of whether the sherriff is, indeed, errant or not.
On the way home, on the jeepney, a woman was telling another how Kate (a colleague of hers) was so annoying that a fan page on facebook was put up to bash her. She thinks that if people do not want to be an object of cyber bullying, they should just be invisible or to be clearer, they should not annoy her. This woman reminds me of  recess in high school, which would always get me hungry. She must be 38, though.
I think the most interesting of all, is how one was supposedly told to keep her mouth shut over management's pulling a fast one on her. They told her to let it go, since really, the appointment paper issued for her promotion is just some piece of document that might as well be used to wipe one's arse with. After all, it is not really a contract, says HR (Don't worry, I also did not get this part). The clincher, she is part of HR.
If logic is something of a habit to you, you would probably think that if HR is able to do this to one of its people, just imagine what they do to other employees? Maybe, nothing.
They will do nothing. They think that it is best to be quiet.
I must really be missing something.

I did not realize that this musing over so many things that people say made me forget I was getting nearer and nearer to the office. I had taken the stairs even before a decision was made on it.
I wanted to go back down only to prove to myself that I was not somebody as gullible as those paying a thousand bucks to run under the heat of the sun.
Then, I noticed the sign on the wall in front of me. It read, "9".
Fuck that! I am not going back nine floors down to prove my independence.
This time, I say, taking the last flight of stairs to the office is the most practical thing to do.
And I do not really care what you think.