by: Alejandra Rodriguez

I have done it. I have mastered the art of “Tambay”. Most people would say that this accomplished mastery of doing nothing is really useless. I just shrug these comments off like the fly that perennially floats around my shoulder. I believe that those who look down on the art of Tambay are just envious of those who practice it. Take this case in point. I am naturally bright, I read a lot and I know a lot. But then, I am classified as an underachiever. I aim low despite the fact that I can aim as far as any dean’s lister around. I don’t study, I just loaf around in school and yet I always pass my subjects with average grades to boot. In class, I can stump my professors with questions that make them feel as small as ants. But I’m not that cruel, my power to embarrass Ph. D’s are only used when a fellow classmate is being oppressed or when I get castigated for being eternally late for my classes. Now lets view case no. 2 which may represent the reader of this article or if not, almost everyone you know. Hmmm, lets call him Ed. Ed goes to school diligently, he attends classes on time and he prefers to hang out in the school library. Ed is also a dean’s lister and a class act pro establishment kind of guy. He sits in front of class and he will never question the professor even if the latter tells him that the Pythagorean theorem was named after a god or that Shakespeare actually wrote the Canterbury Tales. Ed represents blatant apathy; I represent the same except that mine is more righteous. I go to the canteen with my friends to hang around discussing the rudiments of Java as a language while Jim goes to the school library to get ready for a Philosophy test that he will surely ace. I make tambay to enjoy life in slow motion, Jim and most of the people in school live on the fast lane that is headed to a place where I already stay: Nowhere.

But then I fear for myself. Sure I can hang with my friends for four hours as we talk about any topic under the sun, but where does all this lead: a less stressful life and a butt that aches from too much sitting around. Maybe the solution lies with a slight change of environment. Maybe we should spend our Tambay time outside the school where we can smoke and play Pusoy Dos. But then again, why move to another Tambayan. Nakakatamad eh. Dito na lang kung saan relax.