The Abbey Road album is flowing from Tadao's earphones while his eyes are shut. The train rattles, back and forth we go, in continuum. As he meditates, or, rather, sleeps in thought, he reflects on his current life. His friends all have steady jobs, getting a position before him. For a year, he's been looking everywhere, applying to dozens and dozens of locations, only to be ignored or declined.

His luck has been so down the drain that he is beginning to feel that his words are cursed, one look at his work experience and his resume goes to shreds. While others get accepted, promoted, and move on up, Tadao slides away in a different corner.

Nobody sends him messages, not even his friends. He's drowning in student loans. His girlfriend is in another country, and isn't as reachable. A coworker he'd worked with suddenly stopped contacting him after Tadao left. He asked for a drink, only to be left out in the dark, a world of crickets. That person vanished somewhere beyond Tadao's reach.

In other words, nothing really made him happy, or motivated.

Everyday he'd come home exhausted and tired, with no incentive and strength to do anything but sleep. Work consisted of banal customer service, receiving criticisms, filing dull paperwork, escorting passengers (why can't they navigate the airport themselves?), answering the same questions on and on. Sooner or later he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. Days were dreadfully long. Passengers were usually cooperative but a pain to deal with nonetheless.

Since childhood, his dream is to become a pilot, but the tasks he deals with now is not even close to helping him achieve such a goal. Granted, it's still within the aviation world, but when it comes to the tasks, they are two different worlds. A glimmer of hope twinkled in when he got to briefly sit at the captain's seat of the 777-300ER, but to get there is not an easy feat. At the time he knew it's going to be a long, exhausting, hellish journey to be able to sit there again, in uniform.

However he couldn't get himself to believe that he hit a dead end. Somewhere, there is a light in the tunnel and he sees a glimpse. In due time, the light is bound to get clearer and brighter. At some point, something great will happen.


He's finally home from work after two hours of commuting. Immediately, he sets his briefcase on the chair, loosens his tie and unbuttons his drenched shirt. In the kitchen he cracks open a beer and collapses on the sofa. He opens the window and it's a muggy, humid evening, birds are chirping. The sun almost sets, darkness slowly ensues. Tadao gets up and changes into shorts and a tee. He flips open his laptop and begins applying to jobs.