Happy Pill

It feels like I got a new prescription, and it seems to be working really well. For some reason, I've been pretty happy -- more like very happy -- recently, which is quite surprising for me.

I'm the cynical type, and though I consider myself pretty optimistic, I still look at life in a pretty bleak way. Yeah, I know. That sentence alone is a mish mash of contradictions, but well, you get the point.

Lately, I feel like I've been on the happy pill. Yeah sure, things still get me down, but just a small dose of the happy pill is enough to reproduce my happy hormones.

The ironic thing is there's so much more to write about when I'm kinda down and not much to share when things are going great. Well, I'll just keep my happy pills to myself (I'll just let you find yours :P), and hope I don't run out of them soon!

Psycho

I'm quite surprised to find myself watching and reading more news than usual. I don't really read or watch the news because they depress me, but with our office pantry TV eternally tuned in to CNN or BBC, and with my office browser homepage set to MSN, I can't help getting some doses of news -- and not just the entertainment kind. I even find myself more interested in watching the Today Show in the mornings instead of the usual MTV, Myx, or Channel V (LOL).

Political news never interest me, but I've been following the case of Jaycee Dugard and now recently the Annie Le case. I can't help wondering what goes on in the minds of people who commit these crimes. What could motivate them to do such evil things?

I got to read before the blog of George Sodini, the random killer at the fitness center in Pittsburgh, and he didn't seem to be a monster from his blog entries. He was just one very lonely man, and all his reasoning got twisted in the process, leading him to commit the crime -- a dramatic end from his perspective.

I was telling Infinite the other day that I believed all men were naturally good, that we were all born with goodness in our hearts, that it's as we grow that we turn into something else -- when hatred and anger or whatever else replaces the natural goodness. I wonder, is it just a case of something going haywire in the head?

Why are these people so sad and angry that they would take it out on innocent people whom they probably don't even know? Filipinos are a poor people, but I never hear of such heinous random crimes. Despite the difficulties imposed by poverty, I don't think that Filipinos see killing their fellow men as a solution to anything. Is it because of their religious faith?

Many argue the validity of religion, of Christianity in particular, but I think it's one that helps people stay sane. I think it does to the Filipinos at least. There's always that fear in a higher being that sorta serves as a fence between good and evil, and that fear usually keeps one from going over the fence.

When one doesn't believe in anything or doesn't have a strong set of morals, is that a reason why people go amok?

Career Bliss

Okay, so I haven't blogged for some days now. Well, I guess I've suddenly become so busy -- and it's not so much that I don't have the time to blog but that I can no longer think about much to blog about.

An idle mind is a playground for thoughts -- hmm, quite contradictory -- and my un-busy state just kept me thinking of all sorts of things that I'd like to blog about.

This week, though, marks the end of a year of bumming around. I started working on my side projects...and yes, I already got a second project from another client...how fun! So there, my thoughts mostly revolve around work now, aside, of course, from the obvious, and I haven't had much time for musing about things as I usually have.

I think, though, that I'm at a much better place. I actually feel happier and more fulfilled. I even look forward to going home not just for the usual things but also for getting to work on those projects. Wow, I'm actually writing again -- and from scratch! That's another reason for the decline in my blog. My blog used to be my only outlet for writing, but now I can bury myself in hours of writing bliss and don't even mind the late nights and the one or two hours of sleep that I lose. All's good!

I get bored with routine, and having these freelance projects allow me to work on a variety of projects, which definitely make things more interesting. I am also blessed to have a couple of really cool clients who seem easy to work with and who are flexible with arrangements, so hopefully I won't end up being a writing machine the way I did with my last freelance job. I got so burnt out from that, that it kept me away from the freelance scene for three years or so.

Well, all's good in terms of my work now. I actually appreciate my regular job now, as it allows me the flexibility to work on these other things. Plus I now get the fulfillment from a job, which I seemed to have missed for the past year.

Seek and You Shall Find

Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Once again, this Bible verse has proven to be true for me.

As advised by my dad and my friends, I tried looking for side projects recently. This way, I'll have something to do with my free time. I'll no longer get bored, and my brain cells will have some of the exercise that they need. Plus I definitely can use the cash.

It's been a few weeks that I've been looking for projects, with the help of a friend, but nothing seemed to be materializing. However, one day I got this email, inviting me to send a proposal for a project, and we've just closed the deal...yayy!

It's just funny how sometimes you go after something so hard and then God just sends you the one that's meant for you...from seemingly out of nowhere! The project seems to be a good deal, and my client seems to be really nice so all's cool.

So now I'll definitely have less time for Facebook (Thank God!). Not that Facebook is so bad. It's just that I feel I have better things to spend my time on, and I'll at least get to go back to creative writing again and even try my hand at becoming a professional blogger LOL. Gee, I wonder how I'll do with that. Up until now, I've just blogged for myself :P

I've been here before. Had too many jobs on the side that it led to a major burnout. This time, I'll try to maintain the balance I seem to have achieved and hopefully just enjoy everything :)

Reconnecting with Friends

My weekend was spent hanging out with friends. I don't really hang out much nor do I bother to meet new people, so it was really fun and comfortable to be around people with whom I can be myself.


Out With the Girls


Friday night I was out with three of my oldest (Does that go for age, too?:P Peace, girls! =) friends in Metro Manila. We try to meet every month, but for some reason, it's been more like every two months.

Although it didn't feel like two months since we keep in touch online anyway, it was still exciting to see them again. While sharing a huge slab of baby back ribs with them, I realized that some things never change.

• HappySanta still raves non-stop over yummy food (It was delish alright!)
• SexyMomma still entertains us with stories of her current boy toy.
• MissEngineer is still the one tasked to compute how much each of us will pay for the dinner.

It was a night of silliness and gossip! (LOL) -- just catching up on each other's lives and those of our friends or people we know. Till next month!

Something Fun and Technical

The next day I attended GrowingBoy's focused group discussion for his thesis. Wow...it was very reminiscent of last year's STC event and made me daydream for a little while about how nice it would be to hold another STC event where people from our industry can just share stuff with each other -- in the hopes of learning something new or even just alleviating some of the frustrations that come with the job.
I was really happy for GrowingBoy. He was able to round up a good group of people for his FGD - everyone coming from diverse backgrounds. Most were familiar faces, but I at least got to meet 2 cool guys who'll make great additions to my network connections. Our world is small, after all, and it's not unlikely that I'll bump into these guys somewhere some time.
A few of us headed for dinner after the FGD, and it was great to again catch up with my dear friends. Although we often keep in touch online, it seemed there were still a lot of things to talk about. I think I was actually venting more than just updating them on what I've been up to. Really sorry if I rained down on anyone's parade, but I guess my friends have had some slightly wrong notions about me, and I felt that relating things about myself or my present condition helped them understand more why I did the things I did.
They noted that I complained about everything LOL. Thinking back, maybe I did complain a lot, and maybe I really should focus on the good things instead of my frustrations. Nothing and nobody's perfect after all. But no promises that I'd no longer vent on ASOP every now and then. After all, that's what it's for -- somewhere I can express myself.
To my friends, I'm glad to have you guys as my friends, and I hope to see you guys much more! :)

Wealth Management Lessons: Mutual Funds vs. Banks

Our wealth management seminars concluded last week, and did I learn a lot! It was a real wake up call on how we should not take money matters for granted, especially when preparing for the future. I'll try to write some entries regarding my "learnings."

First off, we should define what financial independence is. Financial independence, according to experts, is "the ability to live the lifestyle we deserve without having to work or rely on anyone else" (-- definition given by Philam Life).

So how do we become financially independent? Of course, we should still work as hard as we can now, while we still can, but we should know how to grow our money enough so that money can later work for us and not us forever working for the money. This basically means that we should try to save enough money so that we can live off merely on the interest. And I guess this is how the rich manage to just laze around the beach all day and still be earning. They'll be earning practically even as they sleep! That's because their money never stops generating interest.

And now comes the hard part. How do we earn enough so that the interest it earns sustains our lifestyle? Of course, we have to save, save, save! And probably venture into investments or businesses. But will saving in the bank suffice to make our money grow that much? Well, if the bank offers a 1% interest per year, your money doubles every 72 years (based on the rule of 72)! Err, I don't think so!

Bank or Mutual Funds?

Insurance/Mutual fund companies say that they don't compete with the banks because they serve a different purpose from the banks.

We basically use banks to store our money, particularly our immediate cash needs. We also store our emergency fund in the bank. Experts suggest that we should have an emergency fund amounting to 6-12 months of our monthly pay or monthly expenses. This way, you'll still be assured of sustaining your lifestyle should an emergency occur. For example, should you suddenly lose your job then you can live off on your emergency fund for the next 6-12 months while you look for another job.

After you've grown your money (supposedly by the time you retire), you also store it in the bank so that it can gain interest which you later live off on.

But as you're still growing your money, mutual funds, I think, is something worth looking into. With mutual funds, your money can earn from 6-12% interest or even more. From the sample computation Philam Life gave us, just putting in P1,000.00/month for the next 20+ or 30 (not really sure, sorry!) years will earn you over P3,000,000.00! I think P1000.00/month is doable. If you can put in even more then you'll earn even more!

We should consider the inflation rate when planning for our future. As a sample computation that an agent I met made, if you need P30,000.00/month now to sustain your lifestyle, you'd be needing around P150,000.00/month to sustain the same lifestyle in 30 years (please don't ask for the detailed computation -- that's way beyond my league!). And to earn a monthly interest amounting to P150,000, you should have around P18M in the bank...woah! Of course, those wanting to raise a family also have children's education to consider, and that, too, is subject to inflation. Just an FYI, to earn P18M in 30 years, you must put in around P7000.00/month into your mutual fund account (provided you're investing in equity funds that earn a 12% interest). And oops, of course you should have the discipline not to touch the money until the right time =)

So wisen up on where you put your money while you're still strong and healthy enough to work! You wouldn't want to still be overworking yourself when you're supposedly just enjoying your retirement.

Anniversary!

Today marks my first year at my current job. Although I immensely loved my previous job, I can say I have no regrets about making the move. I guess I'm at the best place I can possibly be right now.

Well, here's a low-down on the past year:

Hits (What I love about my job)

• Superb HR and admin
• Employee concerns are heard and addressed
• Stress free.. for once, I actually have a life outside the workplace!
• Loads of freebies! And food! =)
• Employees are sinfully honest :P Well, most are anyway :p Like you can leave food in the ref for a week and be assured no one will get it.
• Flexible rules

Miss (What I Miss, What Can be Better)

• I can't figure out why I still don't have a new friend among my "new" office mates. In my previous job, I knew almost everyone despite the company's size being five to six times that of the company where I work now.
• I miss teamwork! I especially miss the close bond I had with my former teammates. Only consolation is that I'm still in touch with them, and I know they'll be my friends for life! =)
• I miss challenging tasks...the kind that squeezes the brains out :P
• I miss the adrenaline high I get from completing a ton of tasks!
• I miss the ego-bloating feedback I got from my SMEs LOL (I guess feedback isn't a big thing here :P )
• I miss processes and order!
• I miss attending trainings

Well, I guess no job is perfect and you can never really have everything you want (otherwise, life will be too boring, won't it?:P). I can only be thankful as I begin my second year with this job, and try to bring a more positive attitude into it.