Sex and the City

Carrie Bradshaw once said that New York women (particularly in Manhattan) are always looking for something.

Looking for an apartment.

Looking for a job.

Looking for a boyfriend.

At the time that I watched it, I couldn't relate. Having a good and fun job and a nice apartment at that time. And not really caring to have a boyfriend. Hihihi.

But now I feel like I am living in Carrie's Manhattan, which for my sake I will call my MANhattan.

I am looking for an apartment.

I am looking for a new job.

And possibly looking for a boy-friend. Or just simply boyfriend. Hihihi.

Oh, Carrie Bradshaw, with your US$400,000 collection of designer shoes, fashionable clothes with large flowers. I never thought I'd be able to relate to what you were saying.

And now that I can, where are you? Your show ended with a bang. Unmindful of the fact that sometime in the future after your show has ended, I can finally relate to your endless prattles and blah-blah on life, relationships and sex in the city.

Unfinished Blogs

Today, I clicked the 'edit posts' tab in this website and noted that I have so many unfinished blogs.

I start an idea, some of which are good, while others are mediocre. But somehow I can't sustain the effort to finish what I started.

It's like Richard Brown in The Hours saying that he is a failure as a writer because he has some good ideas, things that he wants to write, but somehow, it all ends up so much less.

Maybe I'll just follow what Lea Salonga sings about - Finish What You ............

On Buying Clothes

Last Saturday, I went to Makati Cinema Square with a friend to buy some DVDs. When we were there, we went to Plaza Fair's department store to look at clothes and shoes.



When looking at the clothes and shirts, my mind immediately assumes that my size is medium. I have forgotten that about the time the Philippines transitioned to Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) from the old generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), i myself have transitioned from being size medium to size large. Like most Philippine companies finding it difficult to accept that the simple GAAP has now become complicated, I found it hard and still finds it hard to accept that the medium shirt I used to buy are, in most cases, no longer acceptable. Wearing them makes me look like a suman wrapped in coconut leaves and bulging in the wrong places. I stick out from the crowd in the same way that an FS today prepared using the old GAAP will be looked at in a not-so-favorable way.

And for me, wearing large sized shirts has somehow become a standard, not just generally accepted, except in certain cases.

The Man and the Sea

In a village somewhere near the jungle, there lived a group of people who work away from their homes. Some of them work in or near the the sea as fishermen while the others spend practically all of their time in the desert and jungle. At one time during this gathering, the village elders summoned all village people of age to teach them an important lesson that they will have to learn in order to survive life. In this gathering, the village elders taught the people the basic mechanics of and the problems that may be encountered when swimming.

The fishermen nodded in understanding and asked questions on what the elders taught. Some too eagerly. The other half, who spend their days working their whole lives in the desert and the jungle, can barely comprehend what the elders were saying. Some were able to understand the basic mechanics of swimming - that you need to move your arms and legs in order to float and that you need to breath once in while. Others, lacking the experience (some of them haven't even seen what the sea looks like), were at a total loss.

One of the non-fisherman people, Aethel, is planning to move to a different village to become a fisherman and is trying as hard as he could to understand what the hell the village elders were talking about. He is not sure whether his plans will come to fruition but just in case, just in case it comes true, he will need to learn all that he could about swimming. At the start of his working life, he wanted to be a fisherman. But the village elders, in all their knowledge or folly, assigned him the task of planting crops, hunting, gathering and all the other odd work that the elders decide from time to time, including an assignment to build a boat for the fishermen. In short, he became the jack of most trades but the master of nothing.

At the end of the village gathering, the non-fishermen folks went to their homes, shaking their heads in confusion. For most of them, this gathering has just been a waste of time. They learned nothing that they could use in their daily work and home life. It doesn't matter. They will soon forget that this gathering ever happened. The next day, they would resume their work as they have always done for most of their lives.

However, for Aethel, this gathering is a lost opportunity for learning. Try as he could to learn, he has had no experience to fully comprehend and learn the knowledge that the village elders imparted. He went home, sighed, and hoped that when the time comes, he can apply to working in the sea what he learned from his years of working the land.

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Another Saturday morning and I have to attend a training on derivatives and embedded derivatives. Not that I don't know anything about these things, I once worked on an engagement where we supposedly identified embedded derivatives from the client's purchase and other contracts.

But when I got to the training, I could not comprehend what the partner and the manager was saying. Majority of the topics discussed relates to derivatives and embedded derivatives applicable to banks and financial institutions. Sure I was able to learn some of the basic concepts. But, having no experience in banking, I failed to see or appreciate this nor can I see the benefits of these knowledge in my immediate future.

When I entered auditing, I wanted to be assigned to the banking group but I was assigned to the manufacturing, real estate, construction, retailing, and others group. Not that I didn't enjoy working in this industries, but I feel that I just haven't mastered any industry at all.

And now I am planning to work abroard, where most of the jobs available are in the line of banks and financial institutions. Tsk tsk tsk. Poor me. Maybe I'll just learn auditing financial institutions when I get there. After all, I'm a fast learner and fast worker (or so some of my managers believe).

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The training is over. Nothing has changed. Nothing new mastered.

I am sitting here in our office typing this blog.

Looking back on the good times.

Being depressed on the present.

Hoping for the best in the future.

Not so Happy New Year

Another year. Another suitcase in another hall.

Well, not really. It's another year but I'm not yet in another hall (or workplace, that is).

I'm still slaving away here in my old old old work. Doing the same thing. Or supposed to be doing the same things (plus a little bit more) but not finding the drive or willingness to do these same things.

I need to have change in my life. It's time for a cool change. I know that it's time for a cool change.

New year. But nothing much is new with my life.

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Last December 30, our whole family (plus some) went to Manila from our hometown. My brother, father, mother, nephew and I riding in my brother's new car (which, hopefully will become mine when he leaves) and my sister, sister-in-law, two nephews, niece, my sister-in-law's brother and sister, their house helper and my cousin's granddaughter riding in the Fortuner.

The Fortuner (which my sister drove) swerved in the highway twice and hit a roadside metal fence. My sister-in-law was rattled. But no harm done, except for damage on the front (near the bumper) in the passenger seat side and the door to the passenger side was blocked and cannot be opened.

We spent the new year in Luneta (near the grandstand) waiting for the grand fireworks which never came.

I went home after the celebration to my apartment in Makati.

On New Year's Day, I went to Quiapo to buy some DVDs but most of the stores were closed. I did, however, manage to buy some DVD boxes.

I no longer joined my family on their trip to Mall of Asia.

My father and mother went to my apartment after the malling and brought me some not-so-good food from the grille where they ate.

Upon entering the door, my mother said that the Fortuner had an accident again. This time hitting (or being hit) an owner-type jeepney. The damage, they say, is on the front of the driver's side. The Fortuner now has damage and scratches on the left and right front sides.

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I almost didn't go to work since I didn't want to see my managers. I still have a lot of backlogs to do.

Despite all misgivings, I did manage to go to work. And what do you know? They're still on vacation leave.

I managed to get some work done.

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So far that is how my new year goes.

To all those who are having a better start for the year:

Have a happy and prosperous new year!

To people like me whose start of the year could get better:

Let's accept what's happening and hope that the year turns out for the better.