I am Dreaming of a Business

Since I was in high school, I have been exposed to businesses--even if its just a small one, its still a business.  I have helped my Auntie's in their homebased sari-sari store business when I was in high school.  This is actually one reason why I was not able to spend much time with friends in school after class but in return it exposed me to become more responsible at home and to myself.

Now that I have my own family, I also dreamed of having my own business.  I dream of being able to stay at home and earn money to help my husband.  This way I can also supervise my little boy when he goes to school and that should be in a few years from now since he is already two years old.

House cleaning and doing the laundry are the best things I can do.  I do not know how to cook, so having a small restaurant is off my list.  Considering laundry, it would lead me to putting up a laundry shop. But laundry shop nowadays are like mushrooms so it will be a tight competition I would think.  House cleaning is a bit strange and I wonder how I can turn it into a business.  My husband is an engineer and I wonder if he can help me with my idea.  The will be no problem with tools such as vacuums, abrasives, mops, etc, it will be easy to shop for the items. But if I cannot think of any way to market the service to people I might end up with the laundry shop.

I now feel I am really frustrated to think of a business to put up and time is running out.  Hope I can talk this out with Rey and we can come up with a better idea.

Savings or Expensenses

Who does not dream of a car?  I would lie if I would say I didn't.  Having a car is actually on my list of things to have since I can't remember well.  All I can remember is I wanted to follow the path of one of my Uncle who had his house and lot and vehicle before he got married. 

And if you will realize, having a car means you are exposed to more expenses.  Believe it or not, its the truth!  Back then, all I can think of the reason why I want a vehicle is to avoid commuting everyday.  I thought I can save this way.

What I did not know and realize early on are the following:

• that you need to pay for a car wash
• that I need to pay toll
• that there is this so called car insurance  and its renewed annually
• that there are things need to be settled with LTO
• that i need to pay  PARKING FEE
• it will not run if you will not buy fuel

Here are the things you might want more if you have a car:

• replace the mags
• install a curt trailer hitch
• change your head light to a better one
• car accessories
• customize the car

The first part are expenses inevitable while the second part are things you can opt out if the concern is budget.  Bottomline is, HAVING A CAR DOES NOT FOLLOW SAVINGS, it will actually expose you to more expenses.  Believe you me!!!

The Addicted Gab

I wonder why kids are so good in techy stuff and gadgets and games, I can't do anything but to envy.

 You can guess who's playing the tablet just by looking at the hands right?  I can tell you, Gab knows how to find Angry Birds and turn it on. 

Now look at what he is doing on the laptop.  He is so into his game and laughing like he will never laugh again.

Almost everyday, when Rey comes home from work, Gab will inspect his bag to find the PSP or the tablet.  If he can't find it their, he will drag the medical step stool in front of the drawers and check it all one by one, just to find what he is looking for and be able to play his games.

There was one night when I woke up at 3am and caught him playing the tablet while we're asleep.  I did not think that he will find the tablet under my pillow and wake up just to play with it.  Good thing, he was just starting to play and I did have a hard time convincing him to go back to sleep.

Sales had been my calling but NOT

Do you think I am now rich had I've been doing sales job?  Ever since I ended school and starts to work, sales job had been hunting me. My work with Wendy's before as a marketing officer is close with what a sales person does.  I have also worked for Straighway Pennswell (i am not sure if the company still exist) as a sales person for chemicals.  Experiencing sales in a call center is not new to me, I've work for DODO, it is phone company in Australia and you can just imagine how it is selling services over the phone. Just recently, I have been hooked with Nu Skin which offers best health and skin product from the USA. 

Not only that, I sell everything in my office.  I have a sort-of-convenience store in my office.  I bring any kind of food I can offer to my colleagues in exchange of a small amout with interest.  Lucky for me  because our management is happy with it also, as long as I do not compromise my job and my colleagues job of course.  I have offered Avon products,  Natasha, Sophie,  Sundance, Goldilocks and Max's goodies.  Name it.  Cigarettes,  I have it available in the office as well. 

I almost forgot, I trained also as sales agent for an alarm system, its way way back I cannot remember the company anymore.   If Family First is familiar to you, I worked for them as well,  I was one of those who used to chase people at the mall and offer scratch tickets for free. I find my sales job really funny before, its only nipple tassels I did not come accross selling.

I know lots of people my age who became rich thru sales job and really respect their courage and perseverance to become successful.    I think that's what I lack, I did not want to push myself to the limit., at least not that much then.  Its different now if you have a family.   Sales is the most frustrating yet satisfying job in all kinds of job.

Though sales job already stopped hunting me, I still want to pursue it as a business.  I do not want to end up as an employee for the rest of my life.  If that is what will make me rich, then I thank Thee.  If not, at least i will manage my own time and be able to set how much I want to earn.

Car Insurance

Its been almost a year since we started paying for Rey's car and we did not realize that its about time we need to renew our car insurance.  We loaned the vehicle back in October and it will be October again by next week.  Time flies unnoticed. 

I would say we were able to maximize the vehicle much more that we expected.  Rey had been using the car since day 1 going to work.  I have brought it to Bicol twice already.  My grandmother found a real comfort using the vehicle from visiting her doctor to visiting our hometown.  This vehicle had serviced us well more than we were expecting. 

Now is the time of the year we have to think of her and for her well being if I may say.  We will need to renew our car insurance in a weeks time and we want to find the best insurance that will give the vehicle all that is needed to maintain her and the same time it should be light on our pocket. 

I've had experiences with flood and I know how terrible it is.  I wonder if there is any car insurance that can provide automotive lift when needed especially in areas being hit by flood.  This will really be appreciated.  If there is any chance I can get this kind of insurance, I am willing to give up our contract with our current insurance provider. I really hope there is any..............

What School Subject You Like or Hate Best

Highschool life they say is the most memorable part of our school life. Personally, I did not enjoy much my highschool days because I did have so much time spent with my friends after school hours.  I have to rush home and help my uncle and aunt on their convenience store. Even if that is the case, I made sure I study well.  Though my high school years were so precious because its where I met my prince charming.  But that's another side of the story.  I like to enlist today the most liked and hated subject I had in school

What I liked best:
Filipino - I love my teacher who tells us funny story the whole time
Science - love the topic about reverse osmosis
Home Economics - the short I did as my project because my most favorite shorts at home, fits me well.
Practical Arts - i love steno, typing and computer subjects

So-so:
Math - I can put up with high school Math but not college.
English - I do not understand english movies back then.

What I hate the most:
Values Education - one of our teacher lets us write a diary and read it
PE - You will know why if your PE time is before lunch time.

Sharing some Safety Tips: Typhoon Pedring

If having typhoon in the greater Manila area means going home early from work. Not in my case and not in most call center employees.  It may be hard to think about and much harder if you are the one in the situation. Today a strong typhoon is hitting Manila area and to help us employees, my company releases these kind of advise to all employees.

HSSE Advisory: Typhoon Pedring

Dear All,


1. This information has been sourced from the PAGASA Website.”


2. Location of the Storm: 100 KM EAST OF BAGUIO CITY


3. Metro Manila is still under Typhoon Signal No. 2


4. You already know that there are heavy rains, and more rains are expected, so be mindful to be safe. Please make your respective necessary arrangements relevant to such severe weather.


5. “Heavy rains are expected to continue. Thus, travel conditions going to and from the office may be affected. Everyone is encouraged to factor in the weather when planning trips and logistics (e.g. prepare for rain, floods & traffic jams, and bring extra food & clothes).


Again, to reiterate, Storm Signal advisories do not automatically signify the invoking of BCP(business contigency plan) or any changes to the norms of work schedule. Any changes to the norms of work schedule, feel free to take it up with your respective Line Managers.

I guess its worth sharing this one, hope its useful to my readers.

To add more, shuttle services are arranged to pick up and send employees to and from work  when needed.  Since shifts at  work covers the working hours in the UK which is between  3pm to 1am PH time, this is a necessity in times like this.  If by any chance shuttle services are not available, I think my company would still send horses and riders in equestrian apparel to pick up and send employees to and from work.  But of course this is too exagerated, what I am just trying to say is they will try their best to encourage us to go to work becuase the business my go on.  

How I Keep our Photos

Did you know what that steel drum is?  Its not exactly a steel drum but just an ordinary tin can with funny painting on it. That is how I keep print out of our photos nowadays. I used to have nice photo albums but when Gab started to love flipping pages of anything like books, notebooks and magazines, including our photo albums, he can't help but tear apart the pages of the photo albums.  It seemed like months when our photo albums looked terrible until I came up with this idea of keeping the photos in a tin can.  It looks nice for  me, Gab still look at the photos but this time he cannot tear up the cans.  He can scatter photos all over the living room if he feels like it but he is very careful not to tear or fold any of it.

Happy to Work

Remember how I was venting out regarding the request I got from one of our partners in UK over three weeks ago, here.  Well, I am happy now because I have gotten over it. I just pray that soon this partner of ours will have paperless office software to use so they will not send us another request like that eventually. I know it is not impossible in digital age.  

Things are really fast changing I would say.  Last night, I was doing my part time job at home and I was using our old desktop.  I was wondering why the photos from my mobile phone cannot be uploaded on the desktop when I have tried all the USB ports all over the CPU and nothing works. Not that I noticed at once is the pop up message that says the USB port of the desktop is not compatible to my phone.  I never knew something like that is possible, then I realized how old my desktop was.  We bought it on the first year of my marriage.  I clearly remember, this is very the first thing/gadget Rey and I bought as a married couple.  So if can still remember how long I have been married,here, then you will realize how obsolete our desktop is.

I am inspired to work because there are a lots of thing we want to buy or we need to pay for.   List of our wants is no shorter than the list of our needs.  I guess thats how humans are, the challenge is how to get the things you need and want in a fair game.  That's what inspires me to work.  I hope all of us gets an inspiration in what ever we do. Its one way we can be happy no matter what hardship we have to go through.

Thanks God for Another Healthy Year

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  I've heard of this saying since time immemorial but I do not really know any scientific explanation for this.  Well,  I don't really care about its scientific explanation because I do not contest that. 

I am happy that I have already finished my annual physical exam with Maxicare and I have a fair result so to speak. My cholesterol is lower compared to what I had last year.  Urinalysis, fecalysis, blood chemistry, ecg, pap smear etc have good results according to our company doctor.  Luckily, I get so save few hundreds for not having medicines for high cholesterol.  The only note the doctor pointed out is I am a little overweight.  My body mass index does not compliment my built. 

Being positive in mind, I am thinking of strategies on how I can improve my weight.  Hope I can get a really good diet plan and that is what I am determined to do.

Thank You, Pizza Hut, Robinson's Imus

 The Sunday Gab and Rey is waiting for happens today.  The slot machines at Tom's World of Fun are happy to see them holding their tokens and peso coins.  Of course the franchise owner is much more happier when kids are happy to go back to them regularly.

And while they are playing I went to the supermarket for a quick grab of what we are missing in the kitchen.  Then I waited for them at Pizza Hut.  The generous crew, whom I failed to note the name allowed me to sit on a table near an electric plug so I can plug my laptop when it runs out of battery.  I patiently waited for the student in nursing uniforms to vacate the table for me.

When Gab and Rey arrived, they attacked the pizza I have on the table and Gab played some computer games.

Again, another weekend enjoyed by the whole family together.

A More Safe and Newly Improved Vehicle

The recent trip to Bicol we had about three weeks ago gave us a chance to discover a lot of things we need to improve on our car. Even on the very first trip to Bicol we had early this year, my Uncle already noticed that we don't have enough light when driving along provincial road because we are only using 55W bulb installed on the car's headlight.  I guess we had had enough difficulty three weeks ago when we were caught on heavy rains along the roads of  Atimonan, Quezon.  We ran at 10kph while we were totally blinded by the heavy rain fall.  Finally, Rey gave in to change bulb to a higher wattage and what's more important is we are using the yellow lamp/light.  This type has the capacity to penetrate lights even on heavy rains.  Having full tinted windshield affects visibility too, from the inside of the vehicle, but  Rey stressed he does not want any changes on the tint and I can put up with that.  I feel safer now knowing we have a nice bulb that will not allow us to have a betterview along the road.  We certainly don't want any accident to happen.

Along the road, my Uncle were giving me lectures left and right about prioritizing safety along the road.  Finally, when I told Rey about bad our experience during the heavy rain, he gave in to upgrade the bulb of the car.  I got a really nice brand of bulb for the headlight from atv power steering website.  They offer different accesorries for heavy duty vehicles which you can hardly find at supermarkets.  The bulb we need was shipped out in no less than 24 hours. 

Welcome home, Baby.  Promise, I wont hurt you again!!!

The car finally got home today after a nice repair from the auto shop.  Comparing the car from its old photos here, it now looks clean and brand new and beautiful.

Our Symbol

If I am to ask what is the most precious material thing me and Rey have, its not going to be our house nor our car, but the symbol of our union.  Remember my previous post about our wedding ring, here.  I composed it when I was at work during my break.

Today, I got a chance to picture the ring on Rey's hand just before he goes to sleep.  So instead of just showing old photos of our ring during our wedding, or photos of my ring along while I am holding it.  I now have our fingers intertwined with the rings on them.  These, are most precious to us than any diamond engagement rings we've seen.  Memories overflow in these symbol of our love, priceless memories we can never be exchanged for any value at all.

Office Awards

The company I am working for is very generous in giving awards.   My stay in this company for more than 3 years now have shown me how much effort were given to recognize employees best efforts.  Though I am not saying I am in a perfect company, but to balance every aspects, I can confidently say I am not is a so-so company and this company can definitely afford trophies and awards to employees who deserve it.



 Mommy Fe, as we fondly call her, receives her commendation plaque from BV.  These commendation directly comes from customers whom Fe have interacted over the phone and helped them.

 Josie receives her GC incentive being the CSP of the month. That's a lot of cash SM Department store is waiting for from Josie. With Josie is Vic Pascual and Giorgio Del Piano, two of our big big superiors.

 Cassie can't hide how much she loves her trophy. Her being the CSP of the year for 2010 gave way for her being our new team leader after Elara got her promotion.

I can't count anymore from my fingers how much incentives and awards have we got from our company.  Its already ber-month and in less than three months, another CSP will bag the trophy for CSP of the year.  Who will that be? I will surely blog on it again.

Good Old Friends

Being out of school for more than a decade really calls for a reunion.  I am batch '96 from Torres High School and batch 2000 in St. Scholastica's College.  But so far, I have only attended the reunion of my highschool barkada so far.  We actually have a song for ourselves, San na nga ba ang KADA ngayon? 

We already had two reunions since and it happens when one of our friend whos out of the country comes home for a visit. Photo on top was when Lhanie came to visit and this one below was when Teth came home from the US. Though these two does not see each other here in the country, they can see each other in the US anytime they  are both available.

I am looking forward for my college friends to have reunion with. I get some idea with my high school friend's reunion how to set it up and ensure everyone have fun. Its best to hook your friend up when they are all available all at the same place and time.  A day will not be enough to chat with all of them, except that all of have families already so we can't stay over at one place for an overnight.

Savings and Party

Two more days to go and its Sunday again.   I was talking to Rey over the phone earlier and he mentioned that he and Gab will again go to Robinson's mall in Imus.  Remember what I told you previously regarding our Sunday Family Time Together, Rey is head over heels  for Tom's World Arcade.  I surely don't want my son to learn that all the coins and tokens he sees should go to the slot machines at the arcade.  I want to him to learn how to save at an early age.

A smart mom should know how to guide a misguided kid. I chance this opportunity when Gab choose this blue piggy bank over an angry bird toy in Puregold few days ago when we bought his milk.  So now, instead of thinking of dropping his coins to the slot machine, he is now dropping any and all the coins he sees at home into  his piggy bank.  We owe a birthday party for our kid on his third birthday, this is his first actually. I am happy to have  an invitationbox.com party invitations since I find it so cool.  Hope Gab is happy to spend some of his savings for the invites. 

College Reunion



Ms Gale, Dang, Ms Lody, Mai, May, Olive, I so miss all of you......



I miss my college family. The Social Development and Community Organizing course in St. Scho just had their reunion last August. Unfortunately, I was not informed so I will just end up staring at my classmates and teachers photos and see how everyone of them changed or remained. And then I will end up imagining what could have happened had I been there.

Hope there will be another reunion coming soon. And I mean really soon. Anyone ever have an idea what gift for your teacher you can give.  I suddenly miss all the times we spent together in college. We were like one big family. Our professors are more than our professors. They are more like parents to us all.  

A Commoner's List

There are so many things I want that I cannot get and there are things I'd never thought I would have but I have.  Ironic.  But I think this is normal, even a princess can't get all that she wants.

Think of the personal bag that I carry to the office, as a woman, I suppose it is normal to have beauty stuffs in a pouch inside your bag. In my case it is different, the one and only pouch inside my bag does not contain make up and beauty stuff alone.  I think I have stucked anything that I have and I can in that pouch. Pitty for the pouch, she doesn't deserve it.

Here are the funny things inside my bag.

• key
• powder puff
• comb
• cables (phone charger, usb cable, headset)
• A SMALL TOY CAR (you can imagine how it got there, if you have a two year old son who thinks he can check any bags he sees like the mall security guards do)
• a cellphone
• coffee sachet

What I hope to have in my bag are:

• a nice imported perfume
• swiss chocolate bar
• mac make ups
• think dollar bills (wehehe)

Recently, I realized that there are so many kind of clothes that I want but I don't have. I badly needed this because our office require business formal attire not uniforms.

Clothes I have:

• gala
• shorts
• shirts
• jeans
• socks
• medical scrubs
• teakwondo kimono
• swimsuit

Clothes I don't have but I want and need:

• skirt
• wedding gown
• jumpers
• pedals
• sleeveless blouse
• apron

Nonetheless, I am happy and fullfilled. I may not have all the material things I want and need but I have all the things money can't buy. An ideal family, a good husband, lovely son, a nice grandmother, reliable relatives, stable job and a good nanny.  What else should I ask for.

Shoes and Ring

My friend Dei is getting married soon and all of us in her previous office as so excited for their wedding. See her wedding blog  and feel the love and excitement between this lovely couple, here.  I was checking my multiply account earlier and I just only realized now that I have never posted my wedding pictures.  It was only on my drafts waiting to be published.  Yes, I had it published today already. Looking at my wedding ring photos and it suddenly realized, I have been married more than 5 years already.

How time flies. I never felt bored or unhappy at all and maybe that is why 5 years of my marriage life is fast steady.  Here are our wedding pictures, A simple wedding ceremony for an everlasting union of two souls.

This ring have been with me for more than five years now and it never changed on how it looks since then. How to care for your engagement ring is like taking care of a pair of shoe.  Why, an engagement ring can only be an engagement ring if the couple are still together.  For Rey and I, we never had an engagement ring, so our wedding ring is all of the ring that we have if we are to talk about our being boyfriend-girlfriend and husband-wife status. A pair of shoe is no use if you only have the left shoe or the right shoe. Just like in a couples relationship, it always takes two to tango.

Mahal, thank you for your all your love and care and patience all these years. I could never ask for more.  You and Gab are the best thing in my life.

The Greats

Inay was craving for ice cream this morning, so she sent me to the nearest Puregold to buy her some ice cream.   I got her two flavors, fruit salad and cookies and cream.


Believe me, that kid is only two years old .  Two years and going 5 months!



 

I feel so happy seeing my son and grandmother (who raised me up since 4 months old) spending time together.  They are the best buddies. My son is so blessed to meet his great grand mother.  I am happy calling them "The Greats".  Gab is the great grand son and Inay is the great grand mother.

See that blue piggy bank?  Gab choose it over an Angry Bird toy.  I asked him to take only one toy with him at the store.  He was holding an Angry Bird toy and that blue piggy bank made out of plastic. I feel very happy, since he choose a piggy bank instead of a toy that he will just add on his clutter at home. Atleast with this piggy bank, he will learn the value of savings as early as now.

Inay loves roses so I plan to buy roses online at ProFlowers for a surprise.  I will have it delivered this weekend, hope Tita Rose and Ashley can come over too. Tito Roger and his family is just by the next subdivision so it wont be a miss for them for sure.  I pray Ate Lea and Kuya Marlon can make it too.   It will be great party.

I WAS THERE

I was there as a Shell Ambassador!!!

Sinner's Food

Dress down today!

I should be happy getting this text message from my supervisor because I get a chance to wear jeans and snickers at work even on a Monday.  Too bad, I left the house before lunch time and I am already here in the office when the message arrive.  It is Monday and that means tons of emails, hundreds of call, numbers of extra assignments coming from everywhere.  I hate myself for feeling so sleepy as early as the 2nd hour of shift. I can't help but peek on the web to find something to wake me up.  The chips, fruits and coffee I had were not successful to perk me up.

Only these can perk me up.  These things I call "sinner's food".  Since christmas time is just around the corner, I think its the best time I study gift basket arrangements so I can send my friends and family basket gifts with these goodies.  I am sure, not only this christmas would this study in this special lesson in will help me.  I am already starting to count occassions whole year round. I will have  New Baby,  Sympathy, Housewarming, Thank You,  Holidays and All Occasions, Congratulations, Valentine's Day, New Year's, Halloween, Graduation, Birthday, Anniversary and Wedding, Mother's Day,  Father's Day,  and much more.  Just by going thru these occassion one by one, my business mind is already perked up and I so excited.  Think I should peek online again to see who offer these kinds of courses.

October is my Month

Not only Rey is going to celebrate his birthday next month, but me also. You won't believe that our age gap is only 17 days.  We were born on the same month and year. So if you want to make a wild guess who is younger than who, please feel free to do so.  You can take these pictures below as a reference, if you really want to make your guess.



This was taken somewhere in Makati.  We had one of college friend reunion.

This was taken in Antipolo Church.



One of our highschool barkada's kid's birthday party.  Taken at Jollibee in Tayuman.



This is somewhere along the way to Batangas. Rey's whole family will go for a one night
escapade in Batangas.  That is Matthew, Ate Nina eldest son.

I still feel young though I am at my early 30's already.  My body also signals me that I am not getting any younger at all.  So best health care is always prepared. Elders would normally say that its gonna make you feel different if you have given birth already. All these signs of aging are showing to me very gradually. Even the things I read online such as Bioidentical Hormone Replacement are things that concerns aging. But even if that is the case, if you have a kid such as this boy, you wil feel young at heart forever.

My Car Wreck

Now I know how it feels when your car gets damaged and its not a good feeling.  Not something that will make someone proud.  But after making myself feel dumb, I made sure I picked up best lesson in driving.
Rey was very supportive, he never said anything to make me feel worse but instead took care of fixing the mess I made.

Its him who secure a schedule from Toyota's local mechanic to have the car fixed.  He even told me that I should continue driving to enhance my driving skill.  This time our car is still in at the auto shop and its going to take a week more before we can get her back. I should have heard of this motorhome repair so we can have the car fixed at home.  Maybe it should take shorter time to fix it. I don't know, I just thought of it, I am sure Rey would insist that we get the approval of the car insurance company before getting something for the car.  I feel sorry for my mess and I hope and promise not to do it again.

Sunday Family Time at Toms World

Coming October will be my husband birthday. October 3 to be exact.  So yesterday, Rey requested that he will collect his birthday gift early from me.  Guess what he asked for? I don't want to blog about that just yet, I want to reserve it for another post.

Just after we got his birthday gift, Rey and Gab headed to Tom's World.  This is where they're newest bonding craze.  Gab loves to play basketball while Rey gets addicted to this machine where you need to insert 1 peso coin to get it to drop more peso coins.  In turn, every 1 peso coin dropped by the machine the player gets two tickets out of it. Its a silly game but it makes him excited to collect tickets which he plans to exchange gifts for Gab.

Due to our excite with the games, we lost one of Gab's spill proof drinking bottle that looks like this.  How I wish it gets returned to us but I don't think so. This is the second time we lost a spill proof drinking bottle for Gab. 

May be I should really have name plaques in all of Gab's things everytime we leave home. I feel really disappointed to myself because I don't like losing things, especially one for my kid.

Name plaques I found online are for office set up only.   I should make something complimentary to Gab's things.  I can see myself getting busy on this this coming weeks.

Movie at Work

I am at work today.  Working on Saturdays have been a normal routine for me. Doing overtime at work allows me to finish some backlog and  few minutes surfing the web.  But today is different, Bennie have brought movies at work and right now we are watching Insidious. The management just bought a new dlp projector and we are testing it by watching Insidious.

The movie is supposed to be horror.  But I did not find it that horrifying.  This is more of a family who needs to be together in heart and in mind.  This is  what the caption on the movie says "A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further."

We Miss You Ching Get Well Soon

Mommy Fe and I and the whole cards FO team  miss's Ching.  She had been away for two days now due because she needs to rest and we misses her "kakulitan" in the office.   That's the empty chair of Cheryl, who we fondly call  Ching.  Ching, because her complete name is Cheryl Ching.  One time, she told us that all her siblings are actually being called Ching by their friends.

Did you know that Ching also write blogs. She wrote about funny shirts in one of her blogs.  You can find her blog about "What's your 16:8?" and you find it on this link. 

See this shirt Ching is wearing.   I think this is one of her winnings in one of the blog she is writing. Ching will be back next week, hundreds of  emails on queue is waiting for her.  See you soon Ching, we miss you. 

Pay day please be quick

Today is the 13th of the month and all of us in the office are waiting for the payday to come.  Remember, I once mentioned that we only get our pay once a month, every 15th of each month. 

It took me a while to adjust myself and manage my finances with this pay scheme in the office.  All other works I had in the past pays two times a month but not this company. Our company was able to explain it to us why the do it this way though I was not really interested to remember their explanation. I am already happy getting my pay and having this job.

I was able to get by with this scheme and so are my colleagues.  In trying times, I could cash advance from our local cooperative set up also by the company.   Another favor the company does to us is paying us not later than the 14th of each month.  I have been here for more than three years and there was no instance I remember we got our pay on the actual payday. It is always early and we are all happy with it.   Though its always like this, we can never blame if they decide to pay us on the 15th.  So if our luck continuous until tomorrow, we will get our pay.

Thirty Six Hours

Here we are, back again in Manila.


This recent trip to Bicol was the shortest visit I had in all my visits. We only stayed 36 hours at home. We arrived at 8am on Saturday and left at 5pm on Sunday. We were on the road for 7 hours each way. From Cavite, my Uncle and I picked up my Lola in Tondo, then hit the road going to Bicol.


I missed my hometown, this my best description of simple living. According to my Uncle, we had electricity in our barangay at about 1980 or so. I am lucky because I was born in Manila in 1979 and my Lola brought me to Bicol sometime in 1980, I suppose when electricity is so new in town. Suddenly, I remember the old radio transistor and a small electric fan we have at home. These are the only thing we have at home that uses electricity aside from the 2 electric bulbs we have. Analog TV, Turn Tables and Electric stove may already be common in Manila but not in our place. In fact, I don't remember that we have ever used the electric fan because its not needed. We only had that because its one of the things my Lola got from my mother when I was given to her. So my lola had no choice to take home the fan with me.


Enough of reminiscing, I will show some picture I took when we had a chance to attend the afternoon mass on Saturday in our local chapel.


Enough of reminiscing, I will show some picture I took when we had a chance to attend the afternoon mass on Saturday in our local chapel.

This is the main altar at the chapel. A lot of improvement compare of what we used to have more that 20 years ago.

The old image of San Roque is the same we have years and years ago.

This is the same old image my lola and I used to pray at whenever we pass by the chapel.

This is my Lola, taken after the mass. She was talking other mass attendees who wants to say hello to her and ask blessing of the hand.



I was lucky to take pictures of those who attended the mass also.