Archive for category Personal

It's an uphill climb for me right now. But I gotta keep going.

RECENTLY, MY boss frequently mentions crisis-management.  Now I can foresee a lot of belt tightening this year. It’s about time to do some strategic planning.

The Crisis

We know that times are rough. I’m sort of a breadwinner now. In addition to that, I am also enrolled in a graduate school program, which of course, requires me to spend a few more bucks on transportation and food allowance while in school. So, after the payday, only a very small portion of my salary is left for myself.  I don’t even have anything left to save.

We were informed of a 10 percent increase on our salary in July. However, we know that it  is still part of the promised 20 percent increase last year. The Php 6,000–that will be given on a staggered basis within four years–will probably not begin this year as the Department of Budget and Management has already publicized a projected budget deficit.

The Solution

Cut off on unecessary expenses. I admit, I’m spending too much on cellphone load. I got to I also spend a lot on pigging out. Lol. Enough with giving myself a treat. You see, I’m getting fatter each day. No more weekly Ted’s Old Timer Lapaz Batchoy. Good bye to five-meals-a-day.

Save. I should always set aside a little amount for emergency purposes. When my sister was hospitalized April, I had to borrow money from colleagues. I even had to borrow from a lending company. I also did the same when my big bro was about to take his board exam. I realized it wouldn’t be as  difficult as it had been if I have emergency funds ready.

Investing on some lucrative business would be next.

Like many of us, I want to give my family a comfortable life. I know it wouldn’t be easy but I believe that it is possible.

God bless me.

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MOST PEOPLE I know think that I am living a monastic life. They would tell me that I’ll get old too soon, thinking that my life revolves around work and home only. Some even think I’m a nerd. But they are wrong.

Even when I was a high school student, I would always visit my classmate, Honey. We would sit by her wide window and talk about the future, and sometimes, just about anything. I also had a sort of a gang back in high school and we’ll turn the classroom into a music hall.

In college, I’ve been in the company of all sorts of friends. My classmates are studious and we’ll do our problems sets and other requirements together. I also had a set of friends with whom I’d go out until the wee hours in the morning. Sometimes, I’d just go back to my boarding house to change clothes and attend my classes. I’ve also been addicted to computer games, blogging, binge drinking, and other things I can’t mention here (*winks).

When I accepted an office job at NDMU, I didn’t bring home any task. Every night was a socialization night. I gained more acquaintances and a few more inches to waistline.

When I started to work as a teacher, my lifestyle had to change. But I still spent time to meet other people. I attended blogger meetups and plurk fiestas.

That's us, boytoy, coffee, TheNorthFace, KatHaligi, Rockstar, and G-man at Taaz Bar.

Moreso when I started using Uzzap recently. I met another group of people of varied interested. They are very far from the kind of people I used to mingle with. They are not intellectuals nor socialites like many of the bloggers I know. They are very ordinary. Very real. Being with them allows me to be me. With my night outs with them, I feel normal. Lol.

Bottomline, even if I focused much of my attention on my studies and my career, I managed to live a normal life. I didn’t have to restrain myself. I didn’t have to deprive myself of the simple joys of life. I have no regrets, no hang-ups.

The secret: a good balance between freedom and responsibility.

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IF THE average life expectancy for a Filipino is 66.35 years, then I have lived about one third of my lifetime. And if my life has three phase, being 22 means, I have gone past the honing phase and am now entering the working phase, in which I will be working most of the time in preparation for the last phase, the overseeing phase.

Being in the borderline between two phases, I am confronted with various issues. The most prompting of which is the question of my readiness. Well, I have started in the second phase already, but the period of adjustment proved to be occuring in the bumpy part of the road. You know, working doesn’t end with accomplishing your deliverables. The clientele’s satisfaction and your reputation are two major prerequisites.

Despite these challenges I am tackling, I am positive that I’ll come out victorious.

As I cross the border, I’d like to thank God for the many things He has blessed me with. Here are 22 of them (in random order):

1. Good looks (er, I mean, Optimism)
2. Education
3. A stable job
4. A loving family
5. Caring friends
6. Lotie
7. SoCCSKSarGen Bloggers and Plurkers
8. A roster of blogs and accounts on several social websites
9. Involvement in community projects
10. Helpful co-teachers
11. A peaceful neighborhood
12. A soft bed
13. A roof over my head
14. A large pillow to hug at night
15. Electric fan to keep my cool at night and to shoo away bloodsuckers
16. A tube of Clearasil
17. Love for music
18. Inclination to art
19. Love of learning
20. Shelves of books (most of them unread)
21. Positive attitudes
22. Passion for initiating actions

As I turn 22 on March 22, my objectives would revolve around these two major goals:

Make a difference for my students. I want to leave good memories to my students. I don’t want them to remember me as an incompetent teacher who just looks at teaching as a mere source of income. As a worker, Idon’t want to be mediocre. In two years’ time, I would have earned a master’s degree in Physics. I would have completed the online learning resource center I am putting up right now.

Make a difference for my family. There are plenty of things that I want to give my mother. She had been living a life of hardships. I want to give her a comfortable life. I want to do that before I settle down. So, I have to live by this mantra: family first before myself. That means I have to set aside my caprices. To earn enough for my family also means entering into a business venture. My brother-in-law is going to help me with this.

There goes my lousy birthday post.

P.S. My philosophy about life still has not changed: I still believe that this world is a lonely one. No matter what we do here, whatever we have achieved, there is no real happiness down here. We are not here to experience happiness. We’ll only experience such once we die.

Happy birthday to me!

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I HAD a very heavy heart when I arrived home yesterday. I couldn’t think of anything to ease my tension. Comfort food hadn’t been much of a help.

I was lying on my bed, ready to sleep through it all, when I thought of creating another vector art. Here it is:

The result, I woke up early and was not late for school. I also feel better today than I did yesterday. Read about how I created this vector art on Digital Detours.

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