where the moon shines

At work, it’s crunch time once again. I was hoping for some kind of respite for this period, until things go in the upswing again for the last quarter of the calendar year. But no, there’s just no slacking off, hehe.

I don’t want to say I want to quit again now that the pressure’s mounting. I can’t be like that everytime we hit a bump in the road.

Hay.

But you know what, I bet if it wasn’t soooo effing cold at my station, I’d be better off. Seriously. I’ve developed allergic rhinitis in recent months, and I always have headaches, and I always feel cold. And it doesn’t matter too that I wear a jacket all the time. I try to cover my head from time to time but we can’t really hide under hoods – it’s in violation of the dress code.  It’s really become a daily battle with the cold.

Blame it on the A/C? Whatever gets me through right?

STOP!

It’s all about perspective right?

It isn’t just crunch time – these are exciting times! A race to the goal!

Let’s go for it, team! :p

(Pardon my ramblings, thanks for the visit! )

Sometime last week I came across a site that pays one to write content about a variety of topics. I signed up and tried a job. I felt like it was too much effort for a measly amount. I could easily earn the same amount for just one sponsored blog post – but there I had to write twelve articles. Yet I took another assignment after turning in the first one. Ugh. I almost finished it. I was two articles shy of ten, each article being more than 25o words each. I had learned so much about vacuum cleaners by then. Yet I gave up on it. I let my extended deadline lapse. I shouldn’t have attempted it at all.

I wasted time. I could have done more Good to Great stuff, or I could have actually uploaded recent photos to my Facebook account. I could have blogged. My Adgitize earnings have suffered because I haven’t been earning the 100 points per day by clicking through ads in the network.  Sigh. This new content writing gig? A flop.

When Entrecard announced a few months ago the cashout system that will play bloggers in the system a dollar for every thousand EC credits, I was excited to have all that clicking payoff. I accumulated points, applied for cashout and then proceeded to transfer credits every once in a while. I never got paid though. Now that EC has a new owner, they’ve announced that they have used up all the money in the cashout system and will no longer payout the pending request. Oh, o-kay.

So I find myself with 15k of credits in EC. I guess I’ll just use it to advertise on other EC widgets, or I could donate to someone who’s running a birthday blog contest or something. We’ll see. But the EC Cashout system – a flop.

Hay. Things have been whacked out during my birthday month. I even messed up a bit at work on my birthday week. Imagine that? What perfect timing. I blame it on the eclipse that I didn’t even get to see.

This week, it’s shape up time. And then never look back. Haha.

I’ve been thinking about my finances lately, and pondering why I just never seem to have any real savings. I mean, others who earn less than I do have families and kids to support, household utilities to pay for, house payments, auto insurance payments, health and life insurance premiums, among other day to day expenses. They seem to get by. How? I rant on the boyfriend for not having any savings but really, when I look at my own savings – it’s not as much as what I should have been setting aside. If I wanted to cover up for the absence of a decent savings account, I would point to the fact that I’ve been paying premiums for a life insurance plan (last installment this year), and that I’m paying off the housing loan we took out for the purchase of the San Benissa unit (2 years paid! oh, and would anyone be interested in renting?). But are these really valid excuses?

Hindi naman ako gipit. I have enough, but I’d definitely be comfortable if I had more. Haha.

As a gift to myself, I signed up for a Photo Editing class at JessicaSprague.Com. Check out the class page to understand why I feel excited about this.

I’ve been trying to edit my photos through my Paint Shop Pro X, but it’s mostly a hit-or-miss thing. Through this class, I’m learning how to take my photos from good to great! It also helps me get more acquainted with Adobe Photoshop CS3.

I have so far only finished Lesson 1 where I learned to adjust Exposure, Brightness and Contrast. Here’s a look at one photo’s before and after:



That’s my niece Butchik/Chiki and this was taken on my birthday. I think I definitely brightened up the photo but I may have overdone the saturation – doesn’t her skin look too yellow? It’s a first attempt after all, cut me some slack! Hehe

I  super appreciate that Ruth (my immediate sup) bought another yummy cake for me and my team on Wednesday early morning at work because my fellow TMs already ate the first one she got.  And I was very humbled at the many well wishes I received at work that day.

I also can’t describe how moved I was that Arianne, Y and Mayeen even thought of celebrating my birthday on Y’s bridal shower last Saturday.

But this heart of beads that the kids made for me is by far the best gift I received this year.

A few days before my birthday, Esban (7) and Adam (9) came to tell me that they already have my present. They argued about giving it to me right away, or waiting until the actual day.  On Tuesday morning, they both came up to the house again to say the same thing.  I was sleeping on the couch that afternoon, thanks to the awful awful migraine that lasted for more than 24 hours.  E crept up to my side to kiss me awake, and say: “Birthday mo na bukas!” (Tomorrow’s your birthday!)

So after spending a few hours at work on Wednesday, and then a yummy early lunch with Alfred at Chocolate Kiss – Roces Cafe, E and A welcomed me with the warmest greetings and their masterpiece – my heart of beads. All their names are on the paper: Esban, Adam, Dalnes (13), Shanti (14), Butchik (14), Hannah (9) and AJ (5).   I’m sure this project was the older girls’ idea and they helped the little ones make it. A real team effort

You can tell this really was made for me: the bear in the middle, and the purple leaves all around.

Hay, thanks kids!

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On to a totally unrelated topic…

I’ve decided not to buy the cookie diet I mentioned in a previous post.  I figured I should do some fat burner exercises instead, or do something like the fat burning soup diet I used to follow back in high school. It’s a seven-day diet that’s mainly based on this soup that has a lot of cabbage and other herbs and veggies. It’s a full plan of what to have for meals in a seven-day period. It’s probably a good way to cleanse my system before I go on another regimen. Delaney also sent me some muffin recipes from the 8-Week Cholesterol Cure. (thanks again!), those are sure to help me burn fat!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, if I want long term weight loss, then I have to work for it and not rely solely on diet fads.  I will still probably turn to some diet principles, and maybe still try fat burner pills but they will only be there to support my efforts – not be the only effort. Know what I mean?

Today marks another year in my life.  And I couldn’t help but feel so blessed.

Thank You Lord!

… for the family who continues to love and support me.

… for my man who continues to rock my world in so many different ways. Haha.

… for the friends who are not always visible in my life, but I know are always there.

… for the job and the colleagues who keep on challenging me and sometimes threatens to stretch me to my limits.

… for keeping Zune healthy.

… for my extended family: my nephews and nieces, cousins, and my grandpa who celebrated my birthday with me today.

… for the opportunities to give back.

… for all the gifts You’ve given me this year.

Thank you!

To everyone who wishes me well, thank you.