internet

Friday the 13th

On my way to work, I was in a chirpy mood while recalling some funny and scary stories about Friday the 13th. I’ve always wondered why people think that bizarre things happen during this day. For me, it’s a lucky day.

I arrived in the office 45 minutes early and I quickly run through my to do list for the day. Guess what? It’s indeed my “lucky” day! I can’t connect to the Internet via wireless! Ha!

Since wireless connection is interrelated with most of the things that I do, I was beginning to feel the anxiety attack. Good thing, my colleague, Andreas, helped me find a temporary solution while waiting for our “tech” guys. The funny thing is, the software that I was using decided to join the “fun” and crash! Ha!

I was slightly upset but I don’t want to dwell on it. To keep myself busy and productive, I cleared some of the not so urgent workload that don’t require the the software and the Internet connection.

To cut it short, my (urgent) to do list for the day was completely screwed. On a happy note, I did catch up a little bit after lunch. Thanks to the perogies and cabbage roll lunch that Tiffany ordered. It certainly perked me up! :p

In conclusion, I can say that I still consider Friday the 13th as a lucky day (in the true sense of the word)! The turn of events didn’t dampen my spirit to stay positive!

How’s your Friday the 13th?

Indonesian Immigration

“Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho” was being shown on GMA PinoyTV (a Filipino Television station) while I was busy fiddling my phone. I was barely looking on the screen and half listening when one of their segment caught my attention.

It’s about a Filipina who was suspected as a drug mule and was held by the Indonesian immigration for several hours. That brought back a somewhat similar (but not quite) incident that happened to me when I went to Batam, Indonesia to accompany my brother’s family for a day tour.

The Indonesian immigration official thought that I was using the trip as a form of exit in order to get my passport stamped with another month to stay in Singapore. He led me to an office for an “interrogation” in which I calmly explained that legally, I’m allowed to stay in Singapore for a maximum of one-month after the cancellation of my work pass.

I further mentioned that I’m going back to the Philippines in three weeks time, showed my flight itinerary, and the cancellation of my work pass. Unfortunately, I don’t have the letter that states that I can stay in Singapore for one-month.

As a result, the immigration officer was eyeing me like I’ve done something horrible and I felt like he’s silently telling me that I’m a threat to the national security. Ok, I was paranoid… but that’s how I felt when he was looking at me. The little tigress in me wanted to scratch his face and scamper away. However, my Philippine passport reminded me not to act like a neanderthal… hence, I controlled my boiling temper and met his eyes with a cool and composed aura.

I informed the officer that I need to hustle because my relatives were waiting for me and I don’t want to be the cause of delay of our one-day package tour. To speed up the process, I seek permission to use their internet connection so that I can show the information (found in the Ministry of Manpower website) needed to clear the air. Sadly, the internet connection sucks to the highest level! 😦

The immigration officer can’t seem to stand my incessant query as to why they don’t have internet connection so he referred me to another immigration officer. The second immigration officer led me outside and apologized for the poor “nonexistent” Internet connection. I looked at him with “it’s absolutely bizarre!” plastered on my face.

We went outside to check if the signal is better. Using his blackberry, we were able to find a hotspot but the speed was terribly sloooooow. After half an hour, I was still stuck in the Immigration area and by then, the tour guide appeared. I explained the situation and expressed my exasperation about the Internet connection in that port. The immigration officer seemed to take it as a cue and went to look for a computer with a “stable” connection. After 15 minutes, he led me to a different office and told me to use the laptop that he borrowed.

In less than two minutes, I showed the Ministry of Manpower website and the section which states that I can stay in Singapore for 30-days. The first officer had a serious look on his face while stamping and returning my passport. I was grinning mischievously and triumphantly while I took back my passport. Thank goodness the issue was handled in a mature fashion otherwise I could have been deported if I allowed the barbaric side of me to control the situation. Ha!

james

James is my 6-year old adorable and quickwitted nephew who taught me how to play beyblade, Wii, and Xbox. He also wanted to teach me how to play Bakugan but I kept giving excuses. :p

In any case, below are some of his cute funny moments:

Credit Card
James: Mom, can I borrow your credit card?
Mom: Why James? What do you need it for?
James: I want to buy toys for free.
Mom: What do you mean for free?
James: Because if you use a credit card, you don’t spend money. You just swipe the card! You should use it more often Mom.

Can you believe it? He already had that concept at such a young age. omg!
Note: It was later on explained to him that the credit card is paid through the bank.

Phone
James: Hey Tita, why are you always using your phone?
Tita (TheCuriousMe): Because you’re always using my laptop James. I’m using my phone to surf the internet, chat, browse facebook, listen to music, watch videos, and write articles for my site.
James: Is it a phone laptop?
Me (TheCuriousMe): Yes James.

James stopped talking and was in deep thought for a moment. Then he suddenly grab his Nintendo DS and dash off to the bathroom. Maybe to internalize how “phone laptop” works. I’m sure he will figure it out when he’s few years older.

School
Me: James, will you be in Grade 5 next school year?
James: No, I will be in Grade 2.
(Note: He’s currently in Grade 1.)

Me: How come? Can’t you choose? What if you want to be in Grade 6?
James: That can’t be. I need to pass through grade by grade.
(Note: His expression is really serious and he sounds like we are discussing a very crucial topic)

I just smiled. Another lesson from James eh? To sum it up, we can never climb Mount Everest in just one day. We can never move a mountain with one push. There’s no shortcut. It should be taken one step at a time. Aja!

Moreover, one thing that he can’t live without is Pinky! It’s a pink stuff toy that was bought before he was born. His Mom thought she will give birth to a baby girl but it turned out that it’s a boy! Sans James and Pinky are like twins, simply inseparable!

That’s my nephew, James. Isn’t he adorable?

budget

It was definitely the lowest point in my life when I went to Singapore (see related article o.f.w. journey (part 1 of 2) and o.f.w. journey (part 2 of 2)). During that time, I was under emotional turmoil, physically dead beat, mentally exhausted, spiritually down, and financially unstable.

Prayers helped me a great deal to be optimistic about life even though I was in crisis and in a tight budget. During my first 6-months in Singapore, I painstakingly jot down ALL my daily expenses in order to control my cash flow. I created my own template in Microsoft Excel and categorized each expenses. It helped me monitor my expenses on groceries, transportation, phone bill, rent, internet, cable, electricity, and water.

At that time, I lived in cash and NETS (payment via the ATM card) basis. I’m the kind of person who lives within my means and habitually think twice before buying things. I routinely ponder if it’s a necessity or a luxury. One more thing, I opted not to use my credit card otherwise I will be a dead meat!

I used to buy fish, chicken and vegetables and normally cooked Filipino food like paksiw, sinigang, tinola, adobo, torta, fried fish or chicken, boiled vegetables, etc. I mixed and matched whatever I have in my stocks just to have a variation.

The funny thing was, I customarily count the fish or chicken and divide it by 3 or 5. In that way, I can have fish or chicken for three days or five days. Of course, vegetables will be my dish in between those days. Healthy food is a must because it’s expensive to get sick. I do have noodles and canned goods in my stock but it’s for contingency measure only.

My housemates treated me well and always made it a point to lighten up my mood. Furthermore, they used to invite me to dine out especially during Friday’s and Saturday’s. That’s big savings for me! 😀

When I received my first paycheck, I treated them to a delectable seafood delight at BeiSheng. We had mouth-watering chili crab and other seafood delicacies. It was absolutely delicious! I will never forget the taste. Yum yum!

Ahhh… those were the pathetic days. Nah… Let me correct that, those were the TOUGH days. Now, I learned how to save MORE for the rainy days. Not much but enough to support myself even if I don’t work for a couple of months. Whoa! That reminded me to “refill” my rainy days budget. It’s nearly empty. I don’t want to be a bummer.

Let’s all save for the rainy days! Yipeeey! On second thought, let’s all build a pipeline to achieve financial freedom. Wheeeeeeeeeeeey! Aja!