Alex @ July 12, 2008 | | News | Comments (1)
I hate this economic crunch. All prices are sky-high thanks to inflation. My hundred peso bill seems like the ten pesos of old. It barely even buys you a decent meal at McDonalds any more. A trip to anywhere costs a fortune whether I take public transport or my car. Plainly every move I make costs something, oftentimes financially.
My splurging the past two months came as a shock and I’m back in miser mode. Every time I look at my budget spreadsheet I force myself to strike out some guilty pleasures (small comforts, actually) just to keep spending down. Even the rising dollar-peso exchange rate fails to come as a comfort.
Then I open my Multiply Inbox and stare at envy at how many of my peers still have the luxury of spending at a whim, partying, traveling, shooting the shit… Blame it on lack of other responsibilities or that the money they earn are theirs alone.
Then I fall into yet another bout of griping. I try to reconcile the fact that I’m smarter and much more skilled than the damn lot of them and how a live my life versus theirs. Success around here isn’t measure by ability or intellect anyway. Just be pretty, know how to “stroke” people, and sooner or later, you’d find yourself up on top. I’m too much of a self-centered bastard to prostitute myself up to anywhere more than I am willing. So here I am doing things the long and hard way with nothing more than steel cojones and a swig of whiskey.
Pride’s a bitch. Here I am, half-a-year away from being a quarter of a century old but yapping like a grumpy old man. Twenty-four is far from old but I have all the reasons to be grumpy.
Alex @ July 6, 2008 | | News | Comments (2)
There’s probably not a day that goes by when someone I know complains about having a horrible boss. I mean, lucky is the person who have not had a stupid/power-tripping/arrogant boss. And since most of the people I know are smart people who graduated from UP, there’s that certain I’m-fucking-better-than-you-If-you-hadn’t-only-kissed-top-management’s-ass complex that most of them do tend to exhibit.
I watched Wanted yesterday with the Dearest and I’d have to say that, aside from the many inconsistencies of the film, it was enjoyable. And not just because of the adrenaline rush, or the stunts, or the special effects, or Angelina Jolie’s butt (damn, that woman’s hot). It tells you a lot about how you deal with life. Especially if you’re an desk/keyboard monkey.
Carpe diem as one of the movies’ theme (Angelina’s hotness, also one among the others), was pretty much summarized by the last line - “What have you done lately?” F*cking cliche, ain’t it? While the answer’s pretty obvious (”Wasted two hours of my life ogling Angelina Jolie, you dumb f*ck but it’s all worth it.”), it does, in some way, make you suddenly think of what you’ve been doing lately as a desk monkey. It makes you think of your own boss and those times you wanted to tell him/her to fuck off.
It also raises the question of how does one actually deal with things. Many of the people I know was like Wesley in the first part. They hate the routine yet trudge on daily. They complain in private but they apologize too much in public. Most would rather have a the graceful exit.
“Shit or get off the pot.”
Someway, somehow, I’m hoping that someone I know would do the fuck-off move done in the movie, smack the bitch (or bastard) boss with an ergonomic keyboard to match (since I have yet to know someone who has his/her best fried who’s screwing his/her mate). And if that person happens to have magic millions suddenly appear in his bank account, I’ll ask for balato.
Alex @ July 6, 2008 | | News | Comments (0)
Premium gasoline is at Php 60+ and it’s a killer. Dealing with it does entail a lot of planning and trip management. That’s why I’m splitting my time between being a pedestrian and a motorist.
I only use the car about thrice a week whenever I have to go to UP and other errands located near our home. I spend around Php 120 for gas for day out going to UP and back. Not bad at all, since getting a “special” trike ride costs Php 50 one-way. (And you really have to if you don’t want to get your balls crushed or contract gonorrhea from your fellow passengers given the proximity and the unavoidable skin-to-skin contact.) Add I still have to take two more jeepney rides to get to UP. Bringing the car also gives me all the confidence in the world to lug my laptop and my camera around. I just can’t risk those given that every other pedestrian you encounter along Commonwealth Avenue is a mugger. That’s also just a one-way taxi ride. So Php 120 is worth it.
However, for longer trips (outside a 12 Km radius from our house), public transport has now become an option. Like yesterday, I needed to go to Gateway for me and the Dearest’s bi-monthly day out. While Gateway isn’t really that far, the car could easily consume around Php250 worth of gasoline going to and from the mall. Add the parking fee (which, coincidentally was a flat rate of Php 40 because of the UAAP opening) and that would easily take up nearly Php 300. Commuting would have me take a trike ride (Php 50) and a jeepney ride (Php 15) to get to Araneta Center. No more worries about parking. Two-way, that’s just a relatively cheap Php 130.
Inflation is up by a whopping 11.4% and yet salaries aren’t increasing (In fact, I even forfeited the UP Centennial Bonus because I quit teaching full-time). The times call for smart measures and that definitely included doing the math before stepping out of the house.
Oh boy, you just got to think of how the rest of the population is surviving. Tough.
Alex @ June 24, 2008 | | News | Comments (2)
My old buddy from college were discussing a few things when the subject of getting a teaching license came up. Since these license exams are administered by one single office (the PRC) in the office, I tried getting some more information from their website. But lo and behold what popped up when I tried to visit http://prc.gov.ph?
Tada! Firefox 3 is flagging it as an attack site. Is it just Firefox 3 or this government website is malicious indeed?
Alex @ June 20, 2008 | | News | Comments (2)
A lot of my friends are doing rakets here and there to augment almost barely-scraping-by salaries by consulting for clients abroad. Receiving payments has been one heck of a problem with the lack of a reliable payment service.
Western Union has always been the most reliable but it has proven to be a burden for the ones sending due to the high cost. The next best reliable service as many have attested to is Xoom. Almost the same scheme as Western Union (with added services like home delivery and direct-to-bank deposit) but with cheaper sending costs.
Me and my friends have never encountered any problem with Xoom but recent developments has forced them to take out that merchant payment button service. Meaning the process of having payment sent has become more cumbersome than just a few clicks, replaced by a messy and confusing process that clients loath going through.
There’s PayPal but as for my experience, using PayPal is like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in a six-shooter. You can get away with flawless transactions but you’re always threading that thin line of having their system flag your account for “suspicious activity” and they’ll give you a lot of pain to get your money back . I still haven’t forgotten them for robbing me of my honestly-earned Php 5000 in mixed deductions and fees all because their security and flagging system was too “strict” (flawed in my opinion).
Is there any other way to get money?
