Category Archives: Life Stories

iPhone: Guilty Pleasure

September 22 12:29 am ,
Man and the Machine

Man and the Machine: To Have Come So Far

I will confess to one guilty pleasure.

But first, the background.

I have been using a Treo 650 cellphone for as long as I can remember – okay, I used it for 4 long years.  Our story started when I saw it in the hands of my brother and fell in love with it.  I just knew we would click.  So I begged him for it (I am shameless, sometimes).  One year after, he gave it to me for free (I have very generous brothers – maybe that’s why they have credit card debts?).

We shared a blissful 4 years.

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On Showing Up and Not Letting Life Pass You By

September 13 1:36 am ,

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

Under the Gaze of the Burning Sun

I did not want to go to the gym today, or to the seminar, or market a product, or visit someone in that faraway place.  I just did not want to.  It seemed to be much too much.

There was light rain.  My bed had spanking new, clean, crisp white sheets.   I was in the middle, curled up, roused by the idea of just staying there, and not moving.  In my mind, it had the makings of a perfect day.

It was a Monday.

A doubt clouded my brow, I know that lethargy will come, and that if I do not get off that bed, I would miss seeing the day reflected in the eyes of the people who I would meet, new friends and old friends, miss what they have to say, miss what I would have learned from what they had to say, miss an idea or doing a good deed, putting in an investment, a day laid in waste when I could have flexed that muscle and got a few calories off, miss writing about what I have learned and expanding a thought that would form words that would form ideas that would form a story that I could live in – again – for a moment.

I rouse myself, get out of bed and go out.  Out. The idea of missing life terrifies me.

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Posted in: Life Stories, Wealth Attraction , Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Do Not Grow Old

September 7 7:51 pm ,
The Unmasking of the Future

The Unmasking of the Future

The twilight of the years – everyone is heading there. Thanks to medicine, people now have a lifespan of 80 years. Whether that is good news or not, the fact remains – we have to prepare for a long life. But how grand or how miserable your exit will be is up to you.

Yes, in fact, the world is graying. The United Nations projected that by the year 2050, the population of 60 plus would have doubled and that this would place enormous social and financial strain on private pension and government social security systems.

In third world countries, the strain is not only on the economy but also on family relationships.

If you are old and feel the weight of your years, you know what I mean.

If are taking care of an old relative, or have, you know of what I speak of.

I have, too.  If only for a moment.

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Posted in: Financial Planning, Life Stories , Tagged: , , ,

Do You Like To Gamble?

September 4 12:19 pm ,
Cockfighting: Some People's Drug of Choice

Cockfighting: Some People's Drug of Choice

Gambling is a topic I would not touch with a ten-foot pole, for very personal reasons.

But after yesterday, I thought I had to.

I was just with a female friend, enjoying spending time with her, when she nonchalantly mentioned that she was still at it – that she spends many a night in a gambling joint. She knows her savings is dwindling because of it, her family life is affected, that she has to get out before all is lost. She does not, and will not. My brow is furrowed and my worry is palpable but she remained unfazed.

I know this. I have seen this.

Gambling, for the past century, have metamorphosed and have taken several different forms, each effective and successfully luring man from himself. For one, owners of gambling joints have become more sophisticated and daring. Despite strict regulations, gambling dens have managed to populate and edge itself into the fringes of society without anyone realizing it is there. Boxed in 80 x 50 rented offices, black hallways with semi-private booths, they are there tucked in your friendly neighborhood. No screaming neon lights here.  Only a constant stream of people, alternately covering their faces and skittish with excitement and guilt, betray their presence.

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The Zahir, Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women and the Acomodador

September 2 2:01 pm ,

 

The Sky Is The Limit

The Sky Is The Limit

Today I am reading Paulo Coelho’s the Zahir.  He talked about the acomodador.  It could not have come to me at a better time.

I just learned that I did not get into Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Women.  I really wanted to be a part of it, part of a milestone, of women who can, with this training, “spur more jobs and income, for their businesses, their communities and, ultimately, for their countries.”

I prepared my application, lovingly, apprehensively, wondering what to put on it, wondering how to impress the judges.  I dressed carefully on interview day, sharing carefree banter (and my brochures and calling cards) with the other applicants – some out of Payatas who had a cooperative; a social worker who is building a call center from the ground up, cutting up her prices so she can compete with India; a businesswoman who flew all the way from her province, who protested at the class schedule because it will take her away one full week every month from her business (and how will the business survive without her?); and one who sold her soaps to the group and shared to me that she first went to Manila to find the mother who left her, and she did find her and came face to face with her, but she did not want her, not then and not now.  Women in business with their own stories, all strong, some struggling, all deserving.  Out of 97 shortlisted applicants, only 24 were able to get in and I was not one of them.

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Posted in: Life Stories, Wealth Attraction , Tagged: , , , , , ,

Accounting, Math and Newscasting

August 18 1:34 am ,
The Universe Says Yes

The Universe Says Yes

I used to love numbers and would spend countless hours doing my trigonometry exercises.  I could not explain it except that I (probably) had the genetic predisposition for it – dad was an accountant.  I could have been one too, but for some twist of fate, it was my younger brother who became an accountant (okay, okay, he’s also pretty good in Math) because I wanted with all my heart to become a newscaster, and shunned what I now call my lost inner talent.

In one desperate (yes) moment to get into a tax law firm, I told my interviewer that my dad was an accountant and my brother was an accountant. Silence. Without batting an eyelash, he told me, “Maybe I should hire them”.  He’s got a point.

Imagine my surprise when they hired me.

Imagine my surprise (!) when Robert Kiyosaki mentioned in Rich Dad, Poor Dad that if he were to do everything all over again, he would be an accountant.  And that this is the course he would recommend to kindergarten students.

The destiny that I denied.

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