The World of Second Chances

Yes To Frugality!

January 11, 2013

Career, Finance & Product

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to practice frugality for 2013. Well, I’ve always been frugal when it comes to myself but the moment my family and friends come into the picture, I turn into the opposite. Mr. Fitz Villafuerte, Mr. Jaime Colayco and Mr. Eduardo Roberto Jr. have a common denominator aside from being good in financial matters. They all claim to practice FRUGALITY.

I agree with Mr. Fitz that there’s only a thin line between being cheap and being frugal but my rule of thumb is, if I don’t hurt anyone by my spending or saving habit, then I’m just being frugal. Being cheap to me is like shortchanging other people and I can’t afford to do that to others. (Remember the golden rule? Do not do to others what you don’t like others do unto you.)

For 2013, I’d like to put my finances in its proper places. These are the things that I’ll avoid doing. Who knows, it may apply to you, too.

1. Delay gratification- I would be very happy if my daughter brings home a certificate for her quarterly recognition but I will hold myself from rewarding her expensive items. I would be very happy if my toddler can recite the alphabet but that doesn’t mean that we’ll have a trip to the mall to scout for a toy. My youngest child, a baby, needs to complete his vaccination and splurging on some non-essentials might hurt the family budget. A less expensive reward will do this time. A facial and spa treat for my teenager will do while a less expensive toy for the toddler will surely make him happy just the same. But hey, the husband needs some re-orientation, too! This would mean scheduled travels if he wants to visit his relatives at the South.

2. Assess debtors- Who wouldn’t want to help someone in need? But as the saying goes, a person is only good when borrowing money but fails to remember his creditor when he’s due to return the money. I have bad debts. Those money could have been used to pay my utilities. I have a soft heart for debtors because I know how is it to have no money but it breaks my heart to see some of them flaunting their latest gadget instead of paying me!I will only lend to trustworthy people.

3. Packed Lunch- Packed lunch used to be “baduy” for me but when I started bringin my own lunch (1 viand, no rice) since last Monday, I’m surprised at the savings! We always have excess food at the house everyday and instead of throwing it away, I save it for my packed lunch the next day. Adobo, pork chop, fried chicken, barbecue and even pinaksiw na isda taste better when kept longer in the fridge. For more frugal practice, I am using recycled plastic bag with Zipper
Gunless Society

January 7, 2013

Life & Love

The clamor for a gunless society was hyped up after the death of Stephanie Nicole Ella, the 7-year old stray bullet victim from Caloocan City. Surely, we don’t want another Stephanie Ella for 2014 but will a gunless society solve the problem?

First and foremost, the problem is we have unrecorded or unlicensed firearms or the so called loose firearms. It is no guarantee that licensed gun owners won’t do a similar act of indiscriminate firing like their unlicensed counterpart but the risk is greater for the unlicensed gun owners to do a crime simply because authorities would find it harder to track them. We have laws and penalties about illegal possession of firearms but it’s hard to know if a household possesses illegal firearms unless the authorities search for it.

The gunless society program won’t have a hard time tracking down licensed gun owners to confiscate their guns but what about the unlicensed gun owners? How can we be assured that everybody is playing fair in this game? Unlicensed gun owners are composed of maybe your next-door neighbour who wants to keep a gun in his house for security reasons, leftist and/or terrorist groups, robbers, hold-uppers, snatchers etc. What a great challenge to track down these people and tell them to surrender their weapons!

Do I want a gunless society? Absolutely! But I can only support the system if the main players will play it fair. Go after the owners of the loose firearms first before taking the next step of totally banning the use of gun in this country.
A Breathe of Fresh Air

January 2, 2013

Life & Love

Scene 1:

Adi (my 3-year old boy) saw our neighbours carrying a live pig (lilitsunin).

Adi: Wow! A pig!

Me: Yes, it’s a pig. Get inside. Sleep ka na.

I see to it that Adi gets his afternoon nap. He asked for his padede and lied down on the sofa. We were watching TV when an image of a lechong-baboy was flashed.

Adi: Look, Mama! It’s the pig!

Me: How did you know it’s the pig?

Adi: Patay na. (It’s dead)

I have no idea how my three-year old boy got the idea that the pig that my neighbours brought home would be slaughtered and roasted into a tasty lechon just like what was flashed on TV (Mila’s Lechon).

Scene 2:

I was busy doing the laundry when Adi interrupted me.

Adi: Bye, Mama. Go to school. (while carrying a red sling bag)

Me: There’s no school today.

Adi: Bye Mama, go to work.

Scene 3:

Orange is to orange as apple is to red. My toddler seems to be confused with the color orange and the fruit orange.

Me: What color is this? (points to orange)

Adi: Orange.

Me: What about this? (points to red)

Adi: Apple!
Find The Culprit

January 2, 2013

Life & Love

Stephanie Ella’s condition is still critical as of this writing. Stephanie is the seven-year old stray bullet victim from Malaria, Caloocan City. The young girl was just standing outside of their house, watching fireworks when she was hit by a stray bullet. Again, she is only seven years old. The person who fired his/her gun to greet 2013 maybe 27, 37, 47, 57, 67 and so on. My point is, that stray bullet harmed an innocent young girl who is not even half of the culprit’s age.

Why do some people have to fire guns to welcome the New Year, anyway? Yabang na lang ba? I am talking of 20 stray bullet incidents here. Twenty! Some of the victims were luckily hit on not so delicate areas but what about the three year old boy from Baliuag and Stephanie Ella from Caloocan? The 3-year old survived the incident and is now declared out of danger. Stephanie is still in comatose, fighting for her life.

One PNP official said that finding the trajectory of the bullet is difficult but possible. Stephanie and the rest of the stray bullet victims may not be important people in our society but they deserve justice just the same. Let’s give it a try to find out who did it. There’s a way to compute for the trajectory of the bullet; leave it to our Math and Physics experts to do that. Science may solve this crime but first hand witnesses can solve it faster. For sure, the family, relatives and friends of those who fired their guns will think twice or even thrice to question if the culprit is the one who celebrated with them. In the case of Stephanie, somebody from Caloocan, Quezon City and Bulacan area must be the culprit.
KFC Commercial

December 21, 2012

Wedding & Family Life

I can’t help but shed a tear every time I watch Sid Lucero’s KFC commercial about siblings who can’t get along with each other. Sid’s role is that of the eldest child who’s probably the family’s breadwinner or maybe the one in-charge of the household in the absence of their father who’s not seen on the commercial. The second child, perhaps a college girl, asks for her kuya’s permission if she could use his car. The kuya (Sid) reacts negatively and even scolds their youngest sibling about forgetting to power off his computer. The siblings are busy reacting to each other’s concerns; unaware of their mother’s walking out of their house. When the siblings realize that they might have offended their mother with their bickering, they look out for her. While inside Sid’s car, they pass along familiar places with childhood and teenage memories. There were happy memories and sad memories but nevertheless, they stuck together as a family. Perhaps, as years went by, they got too busy with their personal lives so they failed to remember the good times they had with each other. Perhaps, as they grew older, their personal problems became complicated; maybe more bills to pay, relationship problems, career problems.

My siblings and I don’t have that kind of petty quarrels anymore but I can relate with the commercial in some ways. Like, every time I get the chance to visit my hometown, Balanga City, there’s always that nostalgic moment. The big difference with the commercial, of course, is that, my mother will no longer be around at the end of the story to provide a happy ending. Not that my life now without my mother is empty and unhappy but losing my mother brought a permanent scar in my heart.

Unlike the other KFC commercial about a mother feeling insecure (?) about her two teenage son’s coming of age and bringing home their girlfriends for a getting-to-know-you dinner, Sid’s commercial is more touching because it hits the nostalgic spot of a typical sibling or child. And what is more touching for a mother than to see your children in unity. Ten, twenty years from now, my children will have their own lives. It is every parent’s dream to have loving and caring children; one who looks out for each other. That’s the message of the KFC commercial and I love it!
In The Eyes of the Frenemy

November 17, 2012

Life & Love

Note: Know your frenemy. Stay away from your frenemy. Do not trust your frenemy.

“I never intend to end your life this way. We were close, we may not be sisters by blood but we were sisters by heart. I introduced you to my glamorous world, my world that was the complete opposite of your world. You wanted to get out of poverty. You wanted to continue schooling. You wanted to taste my glamorous life and I became your mentor to it. You were my protégé. I taught you how to dress yourself fashionably. I even handed down some of my nice clothes to you. You were the sister that I never had.

Our vacations together were full of happy memories. Men couldn’t help but swoon at our beauty. Women hated us for our curvaceous body. People had a hard time on choosing who between us was prettier. I wanted them to say it was me. After all, I was more sophisticated than you. I’ve known the ins and outs of this cruel world more than you do.

You always knew that our profession is judged not just by our beauty but also by our image. You knew about my kids, of course you had to know it. You were my sister by heart. You knew about my kids and how I wanted to keep them out of my professional life. I was once a girlfriend of the month on a popular men’s magazine. I was making good money. I was living a charmed life until you irresponsibly mentioned about my having children out of wedlock. You knew it could affect my image. You knew it could affect my income. You knew it could affect my career. And there was you: young, promising, a ripening beauty right before my eyes.

I wanted to teach you a lesson. A lesson that you would never forget. I hated you so much for ruining my image but I felt compelled to save this little friendship out of our good past. But I couldn’t let this anger inside of me to cool down.

Our popcorn at the cinema was bitter to my taste. Was it my pent up emotions that were affecting my taste buds? Or was it the uneasiness of thinking that an hour from now, you would learn the hardest lesson in your life?

You were a real beauty even in the dark. I couldn’t follow the story of the movie that we were watching. I was too busy thinking about what would happen in the next few minutes. You were sitting beside me, sharing a popcorn with me. We should be rejoicing over our reconciliation, you promised to be more careful about what you tell people about me.

Should I call my lover to tell him to proceed with the plan? Or should I consider this reconciliation to be genuine and forget about what you did? You were my sister by heart. You need to be taught a lesson. You had a promising career while mine was backsliding. How could you do this to me?

The movie was over and I told you that we would be meeting somebody in position. A power that be who could help you become famous. Your little ambition to be famous was the bait that led you to the dungeon. How I managed to think of how to react to your abduction was clever. A motorist saw me and reported me to the authority. That was the best alibi and now I could go home.

I could go home and look forward to another day. My lover’s men will take care of you. My lover knew how to do things fast and efficient. I could look forward to tomorrow and anticipate a call or text from you asking me to go to your place for comfort. You were by sister by heart.

I uploaded our happy photos the moment I learned about your demise. Killing you was not part of the deal, I promise. You were my sister by heart. I went into hiding, confused about the whole thing. I lost a sister and that was sad.

Now, I have to deal with all of this brouhaha alone. The people hate me, my family is ashamed of me. You created this whole mess and I should have given you a hard slap instead of involving my lover.”
Birthday Realizations

October 30, 2012

Life & Love

I celebrated my birthday this month sans the extravagance that people under my zodiac are inclined to. I decided to take the road to frugality some two months ago. Surprisingly, what I thought would be difficult for me to take was easy, a piece of cake! I was able to control my unplanned shopping by delaying the things that I wanted to buy at that moment. I realized that most of the items at our house were bought on impulse.

My friend influenced me to read and learn about investing and passive money-making. The additional year on my age simply aligns with this new endeavour; I’m past the stage of reading every details about my favourite celebrity.

I have learned to forgive and forget. I have learned to give up some dreams, mostly personal ones. I have learned to be more responsible as a person, as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, as a sister and as a friend. I have learned to move on from every mistakes. Those mistakes humbled me and pushed me to be a better me.