According to Jordan Cooper: “If you’re over 65 and can still remember these 12 life events, your mind is in remarkable shape.”
What are these 12 life events? Let us look at #1: YOUR FIRST REAL JOB
“Not the lawn-mowing hustle. The first PAY-STUB job. If you can still name your Boss, the breakroom smell, the color of the timecard, and exactly how that first paycheck felt in your palm, your episodic memory is doing excellemt work. That level of detail means you didn’t just store the fact—you stored the SCENE. Ask yourself: do you remember what you bought with that first check? The more specific you get, the more impressive the circuitry.”
My first real job was at the Soft Drinks Division of San Miguel Corp. as Market Analyst. That was in 1980. My Boss was the enigmatic W.W. We did not have a regular breakroom but a cozy canteen which was always oozing with the aroma of the delicious food being offered for the day by our amiable concessionaire. Our timecard was pale yellow in color. Our paycheck was in brown envelope which included bills and coins.
When I first received my paycheck, I kissed it like it were my baby and tucked it in my heart while time stood still. Then I excitedly approached the dashing Route Salesman whose voice was sexier than Neil Diamond whenever he sang “September Morn”. He was responsible for the area around San Andres Market, famous for its vast selection of local and exotic fruits. I handed him my paycheck and requested him to buy the tastiest DURIAN he could possibly find. He would know because he was a native of Zamboanga. People there are inherently experts in classifying durian. And I wasn’t disappointed. The durians he selected were beyond heavenly that they completely blew my mind away!
For once my father and mother both agreed with me that the durians were indeed to die for.
To be continued . . .
