One of the disadvantages of being a bum is that everyone knows I’m not busy and can do chores, errands, and favors for them. It’s nearly impossible to say no, unless I have other plans for the day.

But ah, the joy of making other plans for the day! There is at least one perk to being a bum, particularly that my time is my own and I don’t have to clock in anywhere. Like today: I hung around my favorite coffee place, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, slowly sipped my hot cafe vanilla, and watched harried people outside the glass windows scurrying to and from work. Or like last Friday, when I begged my mom to take me with her early in the morning and drop me off at Greenhills Shopping Center so I could snag some bargains before the crushing crowd got too thick.

There are endless possibilities of what I can do with my time, limited only by my lack of a self-earned income (*cough* allowance *cough*). To beat the summer heat, I can go kick back at a pool or kick my heels up at a mall. I can scour used-book stores for classics that are out-of-print in the Philippines, like my latest acquisition The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope. Or I could sit around on my bum all day (like a bum, get it?) and surf blogs or search the Internet for information on hobbies and current events, accomplishing the dual goals of wasting time and improving my mind. (Okay, so I’m being tongue-in-cheek about the last option because it’s actually what I do most of the time.)

Wow, I’m bored. I think I’ll go sunbathe in the back yard and read a thick book.