Living a frugal life means avoiding any luxuries in life.  One of which is avoid riding a taxi or cab going to work.  This means I will have to leave my house an hour before my shift so that I won’t be late even if I am just 15 minutes away from work.  Why?  Because I will have to wait for a jeepney that will pass by my work place.  Easy?  Of course not!  For aside from dealing with occassional perverts and people who seem to avoid taking a bath and enjoy letting people smell their smelly bodies, I will have to make out the signs for the route of the jeepneys.  And with a 100/125 error in refraction, it is not an easy task.  So I was really excited when Zenni Optical was on Fox news! Imagine a Zenni Optical $8 Rx eyeglasses…  8 freaking dollars will really fit into my budget!   I could probably even afford the incredible stylish new frames from Zenni which you will see on their site because their eyeglasses are so cheap!  So why was I excited, it’s because they now ship eyeglasses from the US however, I will have to be careful if I place an order so that I will get the right pair for myself.

I was supposed to spend some time with some folks from work tonight.  We were supposed to go out and spend time together in a different environment and have fun.  Unfortunately, I fell asleep and woke up at 1AM.  They called me up at 8 PM and I missed it.  Sheesh! this is one of the great opportunities to know them better and yet, I missed it.  Too bad!

October 15 is the birthday of my brother and what a day indeed. We went out to eat lunch at the Manila foodshoppe in Cebu. We had the sweet and sour pork, satimi and shaghai rice. I suggested that we have lunch there instead for a lot of people said that the food is good. However, I was not really happy about their Satimi. The noodles leaves a certain aroma and it was kinda bland. The sweet andsour pork as kinda okay and the shanghai rice was okay too but the used new cooked rice so it was kinda wet. I was impressed by their green mango shake though. It was one of the best I had so far. After eating, my bro and I was about to go home when a shirt on the display window caught out attention. So off we went on our hour shopping spree.

Then later in the afternoon, I went to meet Wena in Ayala for she wanted to meet the tech there for some issues with the OS and she wants it reformatted. Unfortunately, we were not able to see him for we were in a hurry to meet some of our friends from work at Starbucks so that we can go out for dinner. They said Nikko came home from Japan and wants to go out for dinner. I didn’t recognize him at first for he lost a lot of weight. He said that it was because of the extra hours that he put into his job. He said that he is taking the advantage of working there so that he can save money for his future. When everybody arrived we went to The Walk and ate at Joe’s Grill. I ordered the grilled bangus with red egg and I was kinda disappointed with it for the egg was too salty. When it touches your tongue, the salt kinda stings your tongue. I believe the saltiness of that thing if you will take it everyday may destroy your taste bud. Whoah… It seems I have been having some really bad decisions don’t ya think? After dinner, we went back to Starbucks, where we and Weng stayed from 9PM to 2 AM. I had a venti of their green tea frap which so far was the best choice I made today. I got home at around 2:30 AM but didn’t go to sleep yet. I spent an hour hopping around the web and wrote this article.

It’s 4:14 now and since my tasks for the day is done, it is now time for me to get some goodnight sleep. Ta-ta!

(written October 16th 2008)

hmmm… Let’s see…

We’ve just ended the month of September, meaning our stats for September is officially closed. And unfortunately, my team was not able to meet the CSat target for the month. Hay, I guess the blanket and the Stanley Vacuum bottle was the surprise that my stars have in store for me this month . New survey for the month of October came in and it’s a bottom box (what a great way to start the fiscal month). I received my pay but it was a thousand pesos short (which made my financial situation even worse), I don’t know why. I still need to verify it with our HR. I went to see a dentist who asked me to pay him 800 pesos to clean my teeth since it will not be covered by my insurance (like hell it’s not). Had an argument with a peer over an agent (sheesh, as if the tension isn’t enough to strengthen the walls between us). I was not able to do much the past two days in the office (great just great!). And because of my CSat results am getting a new task (like my load isn’t enough yet. Not that am complaining though, I guess it’s time that I do something about it). I did not get any tasks for this week (hay…). And to top it all, I have a huge pimple near my left eye brow. I have never had a pimple as huge as this one and it was really uncomfortable. Imagine, I think I can see it myself even if am not in front of the mirror. And as if that was not bad enough, some of my peers were teasing me about it and I felt like everyone was staring at it while I was talking to them. Sheesh! What a way to start the month and end the first week of October. Good thing I have something to look forward to at the end of the month.

Hay… In the past couple of years I have noticed that I’m always short of cash from August to November. No matter how I try to save up in the earlier months, I always end up short when these months arrive. Huhuhu… I am really worried for I can’t figure out how I can resolve this issue. My pay is already higher than my pay in the previous years but still that did not resolve the problem. I checked on my expenses, and it’s the same. I even stopped riding the taxi to work so that I can save money. I even cut dosn my expenses on food which means I don’t eat out anymore and I avoid going to the supermarket (which is the most difficult thing that I had to do, for that means I can no longer cook what I want) as much as I can. I have a sideline (although it’s not rolling out that much cash yet) to add up to my pay. And still, I am short of cash. Does this mean I’m not managing my cash well? The only reason why I want to earn more it’s for me to have a little financial freedom. You know, have enough money for food, shelter and a little money for a new pair of shoes every now and then and still have money in the bank. $%^%&^&

So why is it that there are some people who still feel left out even if the people around him/her are trying their best to accomodate him/her?  And why is it that some people can never be pleased with the accomplishments that you have?  Is it really because they are hard to please or is it just because they don’t like you succeeding in your field or you going over those who are close to them?  If so why?  Are they mad because of all the people who could have accomplished something it was you who got things done?  But why?  Why would anybody feel that way?  Could it be because they see you as a threat to themselves?  Or could it be that its you who has the problem?  That everything is just in your mind.  If so why?  Why do these things enter your mind?  Is it because of the actions of others that you have observed or may have misunderstood?  Or is it things are starting to get into your mind that you begin to see yourself as a somebody?  And why is it that people has unspoken rules?  Why can’t people put things into black and white so that the people around them will stop guessing on how to act?  And why do we sometimes feel that our proactiveness is thought of as bypassing authority?  Or is just another unspoken rule that we should be aware of?  An unspoken rule on acting on your own free will?  Why do people at times just lose hope when things like these happen?  Why do the feeling of acceptance or belonging mean a lot to people?  Why do we care so much that people will come up say you did well?  Why is it that everytime you feel that other people does not appreciate what you do, you just want to go away from it all? Get away from the people who pretend that they care but don’t.  Why does it hurt so much to see people say that they are happy for you but you can see it in their eyes that they’re not.  Why can’t we be happy for others?  Why can’t we appreciate other people? Why?  Why do we pretend?  Why do we need to pretend?  Why?

One thing that I have learned in life, is to just keep your mouth shut if you don’t want to get into trouble.  Just shut up and cry your heart out when you’re alone.  Keep it all to yourself if you don’t want people to know.  For feelings can dissipate.  You might be mad now but eventually it will all go away.  Unlike conflicts.  Conflicts are harder to deal with.  So just cry your heart out for in the end it’s only your eyes that’s going to be sore and it will eventually heal. So cry.  Just cry.  Everybody cries anyway.  Cry and hope that tomorrow when you wake up things will be better.  The people and the things that you are mad about may still be there but hopefully the feelings will be gone and you will be able to look them in the eyes again as if nothing happened.  Cry! Cry your heart out!  Write your worries in a piece of paper and burn it to ashes so that nobody will know.  So that nobody will tell.  Just cry.  And hope that the tears that you shed will eventually wash everything away…

I really don’t know how parents do it but I can’t seem to win any arguments with my parents.  You know even if I meant well, I seem to end up feeling guilty everytime I had an argument with them, especially my mom.  I am into customer service and I have convinced a lot people in my three years of stay in this industry but not my parents.  Why is that?  Is it because they know me too well?  Is it because they know more than I do? Or is it because of the respect that I have for them that everytime I argue with them I feel guilty about it?  If that is so, then who should we blame for it?  Is it the culture that we have in the Philippines?  Sheesh… I really can’t say but one thing for sure though, I would really want to maintain my relationship with my parents so I am looking for ways to win our arguments.  Or at least find ways to state what’s in my mind and not feel guilty about it.  I really don’t know how to do this.  I wonder if there is any course about the art of winning an argument with your parents.  Because if there is, I might consider to take that up.

Finally! I could lay down and get some sleep!  I worked from 8PM last night til 7AM today.  Went around the city and visited the sites of those who had visited me in the last three days! I have been so tired to go around and visit them.  I hope they will accept my apologizes.  Anyway, after three hours of checking out my message box, visiting and browsing through the sites of my fellow bloggers I am finally done for the day!  I can now go to sleep and worry about my blog tomorrow!  Hay… I never thought browsing can be so draining!  Alright I guess this enough for now! See you around and don’t forget to leave your messages in my message box so that I can get back at you!