Life in Zambo

Well, okay, so I never had a list of what I wanted to do for the past years. This is going to be the first time I'll be putting goals down. Maybe before the year ends, I'll even have a bucket list of long term goals. I never made a list, because I always thought that plans always don't push through. But not anymore. I haven't thought like that for a more than a year now and now, I like planning years to come. Now before I start writing down my plans for 2014, here are some stuff that happened in 2013. I backpacked through five countries in 16 days. I backpacked with some friends and the boyfriend locally. I opened a new bank account. I got my stock portfolio. I started blogging again. I started an emergency fund and travel fund. Lost 10 kilos.

Paydays usually fall on the 15th and the 30th. When I still worked at my first call center, and if the 15th fell on a Saturday, we'd get our pay on the 14th. The funny thing was, it's still the 13th and people are already itching to withdraw from ATMs. We'd call the last few days towards the payday " tingbits ". That's short for tingbitay, an expression Cebuanos use that means "running low on cash". My salary used to be between P10,000 - P15,000 at the time. Since I was a fresh graduate, the frugal living that I led and taught my younger siblings were carried over by habit and I managed to live somehow without asking for allowance from my parents. Then I met Lifestyle. I met Starbucks, Bo's Coffee, met with McDonald's and Jollibee as much as I can, and even forgot that I used to see Carinderia to shell out just P20 during midday. Regretfully, whenever it was payday, I always found a way to spend it and just lived from paycheck to pay...

Originally, I started writing this to be posted as a Facebook status message, but then it got a little too long, so I decided to make a blog post out of it. Let's do a little math. Say for example, we have a call center agent whose salary is P20,000 in a month. Her mandatory SSS contribution is set to P1,560 per month since her salary bracket is above P15,000 (this is set to be increased come January 2014, by the way) . She also has HDMF, PhilHealth and 12% salary taxes to pay. If, for example, she gets off 20,000 clean in a month, that's 12% Tax: Goes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is used to pay ordinary Government employees (their wages aren't much, mind you, I would know) , the Police, the Military, the Congress, the Senate, the President, etc. There's also the Pork Barrel, the DAP, etc. 20,000 x 0.12 = P2,400 Social Security System: P1,560 PhilHealth: For a salary base of 20,000, expect a P500 deduction from your payroll monthly(http:/...

No amount of hair moisturizer, whether oils or creams, and even hair masks can save the dryness of the tips of my hair. Well, that was to be expected, given the number of times I've dyed my hair and the way I avoided trims. I've recently just had my hair rebonded(?). And this is how my hair looked before. Note: Don't be fooled by the Instagram filter. LOL And this is how it looked after.

I've read somewhere that pet photography isn't something that you can take lightly. It's like trying to take pictures of babies. You can't tell them to sit still and smile, nor tell them to do something crazy and then attempt to capture that moment. I have two Labrador Retrievers, but I think somewhere along the line, probably one of their grandparents wasn't all Labrador. I mean, how can a Labrador Retriever have long hair? Just look at him.

Late July or August, I was working on the computer as usual and went to bed at around 11PM. My working environment at the time was that I used the edge of my bed as a chair, so I didn't have a back rest and I used an old computer table, which wasn't level with my elbow (it was a little high). I would sometimes sit on my legs just to get myself to move around. Then one day, I woke up with a sharp pang on a spot a little above where my heart's supposed to be right through my back. It was so sharp that I shot up breathless, grabbing on to whatever I could grab on to. It was a familiar pain. Last time I had it was when I was still in college. I was graduating and I pushed myself so hard then that I'd only sleep one or two hours a night. I got the rest of my sleep in class. With the type of environment that I set myself up with, I always ended up with a sore tailbone, and a sore neck. It was often so uncomfortable that getting up became so tasking and that all I wanted t...

It has definitely been a number of days since I last watched the news. I just find the news to be engrossing that I haven't been as productive as I wanted to be. Actually, if I had a TV in my room I've probably still be watching the news while working. Mar Roxas, well-known as Mr. Palengke back when he was still running for office in the Senate, supposedly declared that the war is over, based on the barrage of status messages on my Facebook News Feed. A lot of people are not convinced. Some commented that they heard gunfire and explosions still, while others who probably are far away from the the affected areas are rejoicing because of the good news. While I am among those who are in the unaffected areas, the gunfire and explosions that have been waking me the past few days seem to be absent today. I'm not going to say that it's now safe to go out and be merry, but rather I would advise those who would need to be outside for work and provisions to be as vigilant as ...

Yesterday, I went on a run to the Red Zone. I brought along my ID, because just by flashing it, it gets me to places where not a lot can go to. Anyway, there were some documents that I needed at the office, and while it seemed quiet, I just got on the motorcycle and went. Every now and then, I'd still hear gunfire and explosions, but what's scary is that I've gotten so used to it that I don't even feel scared anymore. Everything looked perfectly normal on the way to the City Hall. There were people around, traffic was even bustling. Everything looked normal except when I got to the boundaries set by the military. When I got to the entry point, I showed the soldier on duty my ID, he asked how long I'll be staying at the office, and I tell him that I won't be long. As soon as I got through the road block, it was a whole different world. The usual noisy, busy streets of the pueblo was so quiet, I swear I could even hear the wind. About fifty meters away from the ...

For broadband services, I subscribed to Smart Bro. I actually signed up for the canopy-type, the one that service guys stick to a pole on your roof and try to get good signal. This is how it looks like: If your area has plenty of trees, then you are going to have a hard time. I'm pretty sure you've seen one of these around in your neighborhood. That's what we have on top of our roof right now. So that's my home connection. When I go to work, I always have my pocket modem with me. I had my boyfriend buy me a modem from SM City Cebu, instead of buying the network-locked modem, and put in a Smart Bro sim card. The main reason why I bought an unlocked modem is, so that I can use whatever network sim performs better in whatever area I go to. In Cebu, Globe performs well in Mabolo, and in Zamboanga, Smart performs better. I would still prefer Smart than Globe for broadband services, because when they say unlimited, they really mean it. Unlike Globe, you can't go ...

I recently just found out that green tea bags/leaves can be used as facial scrub. Actually, I was just scrolling on my Twitter feed when bubzbeauty   posted her new video. Since watching that video, I was on a quest for clearer skin through green tea. Our family's most preferred drink next to water is green tea, so after finding out how the tea bags make good exfoliants, I just jumped from thinking that green tea was expensive, to green tea is sooo worth the price! Anyway, here's what you'll need: A used tea bag, still a little warm A teaspoon of honey Some rice flour  Here's the video so you can watch how it's done yourself: Just in case you don't have honey or rice flour, you can use the cleanser that you're comfortable with. I find honey too expensive to be used on my face, so I'd rather not use it. Instead of rice flour, I use baking soda, since baking soda is just like having microdermabrasion done on your face, and it also brig...

In a couple of weeks, my two-year contract with Globe will end. During that time, I will have to make a choice between renewing the contract and get the reward phone for being a loyal customer, or I can lose the number and go back to being a prepaid customer. I tried weighing my options, if I renew the All-consumable plan that I signed up for two years ago, I will most likely get a new phone, keep paying PhP 999 every month, and call and text anybody as long as I don't go beyond the credit limit given to me. Plus, with the plan I got, I get 6 hours worth of free surfing and some free texts to other networks. Now if I go back to prepaid, I will lose my number, lose the 6 hours worth of free surfing, and I won't be able to call or text anybody anytime if I don't get myself prepaid credits. But get this, with Globe's GoSakto promo, basically I can get myself 500 minutes for calling Globe and TM subscribers and 1000 text messages to all networks, and that'll last me...

A minute earlier, we were laughing, now we're crying. Such is the common happening when women are excited when going to the spa and when they are getting treated. A while ago, actually, months ago, a friend and I have been planning on getting a facial to get that beautiful, glowing facial skin. We always ended up getting a rain check, because we were too lazy to get out of our houses on Saturdays. Finally, on a Thursday, yesterday to be precise, we spontaneously decided to just do it. So, right after work, Dindin and I went to Oroderm Facial Spa, Southway branch to be pampered. It took us a while to decide on the type of facial, but we decided on the Acne Facial Spa worth PhP 550. We were talking about random stuff while lying on the tables, and then it began. The first prick was tolerable, the second was okay. Later on, I can hear Dindin sniffling because of the pain. I was tearing up myself. You know the feeling of being black and blue all over and tense at the same tim...

A couple of days ago, I posted about getting addicted to calendar-making . Addicted, because I started making calendars even with pocket-sized notebooks. I love notebooks, pens and lots and lots of paper. I love them so much, that I have way too many at home and I still have yet to use them. Their purchase dates go as far back as 2007 even. This is the current pocket notebook that I've been bringing along. It cost me only P40. We don't have any bookstores worth mentioning around here anymore. Even Golden Bell, which was like the ultimate school, home and office supply store that I practically lived in, has been closed for a while now. I bought it at Zamboanga Unisales Incorporated, which sells stuff at really cheap prices, but of course, don't expect them to last long. It's kinda like buying stuff at CD-R King, if you know what I mean. It's teeny-tiny, as you can tell from looking at the pen next to it. Since I didn't have a 2013 planner, and I don...

Since the Election ban, I admit, I haven't been very productive at work. So I found myself a hobby to keep my mind busy and also to sharpen some really rusty Photoshop skills. It turns out that managing my finances meant I have to pay bills on time, and that dates are important. It definitely meant that I need to get myself an organizer. Sure I have a digital organizer app installed in my phone, but it's always nice to actually have something to write on. I basically use my phone as an alarm clock and for reminders, as far as using it as an organizer is concerned. Since I can't find a decent calendar or organizer around here, and I really don't want to spend hours on the Internet looking for the right one and then buying it for like a thousand pesos. Even the Starbucks planner doesn't entice me. I love Starbucks, but not the fact that I have to spend almost P 3,000 just for a really thick book, which I am sure I won't get to fully use. What do I do? I make...

I've always wanted to do some investing. I've been trying to save up, but the thing is, I've always known that just saving is not going to make my money make more money for me. It's just going to stay there, waiting to be spent. I planned on saving enough money so I can get myself an apartment complex and just wait for the green stuff to come rolling in. Unfortunately, with what I'm making right now, things aren't looking too bright. So, what to do… Oh, what to do… Make whatever you're making grow. Putting your money in the bank which gives you an annual interest of 0.25% may be the easiest way that Filipinos know, but if you've got a goal, 0.25% is just too small and it will take a really long time before I get my target amount. What's worse is, prices go up, so your target of let's say, P10M, is probably worth P20M by the time you got the P10M. So I'm trying to do some investing now. The best part of it is that you just need P5,000 to...

About two weeks ago, an office colleague of mine told me that she was buying a weighing scale for quite a deal. Being on the path of losing weight myself, I still haven't gotten myself an accurate scale. I got myself one a few months ago, but my brother and I found out that every time someone gets on it, it either adds a few kilos to the actual weight, or to make you like it even more, it actually makes you weigh a few kilos less. When I clicked that button to purchase the scale, I kinda had a tiny bit of guilt coursing through me, because I knew that I just did exactly the opposite of what I promised myself. Which was to be prudent with my expenses. But I'm glad that I at least got to spend on something that's related to my quest of losing weight. I really should put some numbers and logs on this blog so I can see if it's actually working for me or not. I need to start tracking to know what's working or not. My mailing address is always at the office, becau...

If you can remember my last post about Fitness Apps , you'd know that I have been running. It's been three weeks since I last posted about anything, so I figured I'd post something about my latest run. I started running regularly back in November 2012. Like most people who wanted to be fit, I would plan to go running, exercise, and eat less, but in the end, I'd just let my lazy self get what she wanted: stay on the couch, pass on the exercising, and just eat and eat and eat. Let me show you a few charts from Zombies 5k. It's from when I started running up till my last run.

As a public engineer, you can't really make the kind of money that will get you a nice house, a nice car and even some vacation time. It's all about public service. Once you enter public service, forget luxuries. You can't afford it unless you're paid what only about 10% of government officials are paid. My salary bracket is the lowest among government employees and that's not even PhP 10,000. *Sigh* So what can I do in this situation? Let's see. I'm a public engineer paid with minimum wage, living with the parents and that means I don't have to pay for food at home. I can contribute, but I don't have to. I don't have to pay rent, I don't have utility bills, except for my cellphone bill, which I will be downgrading as soon as the contract's about to renew. What have I been doing with my salary?

In another two weeks, I'll be seeing dear old Cebu again. I actually have plenty of appointments to attend, but other than medical or business appointments, I also have plenty of friends to meet, and of course, an anniversary with the boyfriend to celebrate. Although the anniversary is top priority, I also received an invitation from the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. President, for the Social Media Influencers Summit (SMIS) . I am quite excited about the upcoming event. The last time I attended a bloggers' summit was back in November 2011 and it was by far the most successful event that the CBSi has organized through everyone's effort. Bloggers and non-bloggers alike attended the much talked about Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 . This year, the Theme is #TrendingForward As you can see, it's even hash tagged, depicting online presence. So what's the Summit all about? As the name suggests, it's a gathering of social media influencers. If you are on Twitter, F...

I once worked as a call center agent in Cebu City. As such, we were required to provide world-class service to customers all over the world. To keep our jobs, we were required to be kind to customers, to always keep in mind that the customer is always right, no what. When you turn down a customer, make sure that you are doing it for something bigger than a customer. A few weeks after I arrived in Zamboanga, I went grocery shopping. I had a small plastic bag which had one item in it. I could've stuffed it in my pocket, but I didn't, because I didn't want a bulging pocket. So I strolled into the supermarket, when all of a sudden, in the rudest possible way, "Pssst, psst, pssst!!!"

Every early morning, my dad would wake up, pray, and go to the store to buy some pan de sal . He used to do this every day before breakfast all alone. Almost a year ago, when I first came home, he's had companions do this task with him. I call them Choi-Choi and Chai-Chai. It's actually Tisoy and Tisay, since among the litter of nine puppies that April gave birth to, they were the only light-colored ones. At first, my dad was hesitant about letting me keep them, but I wouldn't hear of it. There wasn't anyone I could trust enough to keep my peace of mind intact. There wasn't anyone who was cheesy enough to do what my dogs can do. It's amazing though how my dad managed to train them to run into their, ummm, fenced space when there's bread involved. They become really smart when they see bread. I trained them to sit and wait, but my dad trained them to stay out of the house, and go to their room.

Zamboanga City's close to the sea, so going to the beach can become a daily occurrence. The water's cool and clear, unlike in Cebu, where you still have to travel quite a distance just to find some good spots to enjoy the seawater and at an entrance fee that's worth well, more expensive than Mother Nature intended for us to afford. After the marathon , the group and I headed to the Golf Beach , named as such since it's not just a beach park, but also a golf course. It's been a number of years since I last came here. I have been wanting to go to the beach for a while now, but unfortunately I wasn't ready for this trip, so I didn't take a dip in the water.

It's about time I featured Jardin Maria Clara on here since I've been going to that park a couple of times now. Anyway, in preparation for today's marathon earlier , I ran with some friends who were also fellow participants yesterday. On the last run , there were only three of us, but this time, we were joined by Jayson, who was supposed to come to the last practice run, but instead slept through the morning. Since this session was held on the afternoon, he finally managed to come. This park is famous for the Butterfly Sanctuary and umm, for couples who like to be lovey-dovey even during the day. Can you see the couple in this picture?

This is one of the things that I have been preparing my legs and lungs for for the past few weeks. The PhilHealth National Fun Run. For the moment, I can call myself a recreational runner, but I'm hoping that by the next year, I might actually stand a chance in winning a marathon or getting a good time worthy enough to be recorded. I was up as early as 4AM just so I can get something warm in my stomach. An oatmeal porridge in a cup was the best thing I can have before a run. Apparently, oats slowly release energy so you don't easily run out of gas while running. When I got to the track, I couldn't find the guys I'm supposed to be with. It took about ten minutes of waiting and texting before we managed to find each other. I'd tell the guys I was under the basketball hoop close to the stairs, and they'd say they were at the same place. Turns out, they were at the opposite end of the court.

I've been running at least every other day for the past few weeks, and every day last week, but for this week, the last time I ran was this day . My excuse would have to be because I had to do overtime at work and I didn't want to run when it was too dark outside. Another would have to be because my Mom and Dad went to Manila for about three days to see my brother off. I was the only family member who didn't get to see him off. But I sent him a present with my Dad. I promised him that I'd give him earphones to replace the one that came with his phone for Christmas, but I never got to give the earphones on Christmas. His birthday is on February 19th, so I planned to get him a new pair before then. I already bought myself a pair a week ago, which I've pretty much shown to everyone at the office. I was pretty excited when I got it. It didn't disappoint me. Everything got pretty much blocked out when I had those babies on. It was like, "DO NOT DISTURB...

It's been three days since I last posted. I didn't think that I was so busy that I couldn't even get one post up. Anyway, for Valentine's Day, my friends asked me to cook something up. Thing is, Valentine's Day is like a day before we get paid for work. So needless to say, I'd be out of budget if I tried to use my own money to cook for people other than my boyfriend on Valentine's Day. So they came up with the idea to contribute to the cause. LOL Yesterday, we went grocery shopping and I sternly told them that I will not be shopping for ingredients on  my own since we have a big group of guys, I was sure that they will be eating A LOT, which meant A LOT of ingredients. So I grabbed a couple of guys, one was enough, but he didn't want to be alone with me, with the teasing and all about us going on a date. I was right. The bag was heavy. Although manageable, but D**N was it heavy. Okay, fast forward to earlier today. I woke up 30 minutes earlier ...

I was invited on short notice by one of my co-workers, who also happened to be one of my batch mates in reviewing for the Civil Engineering board examination, to a dinner date with our exam coach and his wife. It has been more than two years since I got my own wings in the Civil Engineering world and I have yet to meet someone who can be a better coach than this person. He has a few branches of his review center scattered in the Philippines and nothing makes me happier than to know that they are doing better in their business at this moment. With all the hard work and faith in God that they have, nobody deserves success better than the Padilla couple. Just in case you're wondering who I'm talking about, it's Engr. Perfecto Padilla . We had dinner at Barcode , a local restaurant decorated with something so easily associated with Zamboanga City , the colorful Vinta .

I was reading another manga yet again and finally decided to turn in for the night when I noticed that it was way beyond my bedtime. Tossing and turning, I finally got annoyed with my restless mind and turned to Facebook. On my News Feed, a picture of an injured dog and its history showed. As an animal lover, of course my heart hurt for the poor thing. Scrolling past the images, my heart started feeling a familiar hurt. It's been almost three months since my April left me. I just thought about how unfair it was that I had to lose what I held onto to keep my sanity intact when I was going through difficult times, that I had to lose my speechless friend, who even without the ability to speak managed to keep my afloat from all the stresses my job, boyfriend and even myself, gave me. It was unfair that irresponsible owners, when their pets no longer serve their wants, leave their pets to die while I, who loved my April, was so desperate to keep her. She never failed to welcome me...

Long before I started running, like most fitness-junkie-wannabes, I have quite a number of applications installed in my phone. But, I never really used them, and they were just there, using up precious space in my phone memory. I even have a few applications that supposed to show me gym exercises, yoga exercise, and so on and so forth. But there is one app that, I am proud to say, actually made me start running. Being into The Walking Dead, my co-workers and I would make fun by saying that if we were trapped in an alternate universe with a reality of a zombie apocalypse, we'd all be fit from running away from the zombies. Check the apps out after the jump.

A few days ago, my co-workers and I made plans to go for an early run. We have a marathon to run this coming Sunday and we weren't planning on getting cramps or getting injured while walking/running when the big day comes. It was kind of going to be a picnic/work out session, because they asked me to bring along croquettes , hence the post about them last night. We decided to jog at the Jardin Maria Clara, where the butterfly sanctuary is found and where there was enough space for joggers to go around and around. It wasn't a sports center where you can see everybody doing various sports, but it sure was closer to home and the terrain is well, not easy.

It's been a while since I posted anything that I actually cooked. If I can just afford to cook all the time, I'd probably be posting everyday. But that's not the case. I'm sort of an anime junkie, and about a few months ago, I got into reading the manga Beelzebub too much and even watched the anime until I got to the latest episode. And one thing that stuck to me was the main character was always eating Croquettes, or Korokke , as the Japanese called it. The first time I made the recipe, people on my Facebook friends list have been asking for a taste, but seeing as I can't afford to feed the lot of them, I thought I'd post how I made it, that way they can always make it on their own. Forgive me for the poor lighting on step 8. The power went out while I was doing it. Recipe after the jump.

When I was a child, I loved to run. I'd race to the nearest store with my little brother whenever our mother would ask us to buy something.In high school, I altogether quit any sport that I almost got into. I almost got into basketball, volleyball, track and field, and even martial arts. Thing is, Daddy wasn't always open with letting girls do sports. So being a good daughter, I never really minded. In college, I suppose I was so busy with school that exercise was never a priority at all. Heck, I'd even forget about eating at the time. So by the time I started working, I was one big lazy office lady.