I found my dorky self tinkering with MS Excel the other night and was able to come up with a table of distribution for my *future* income (which was set to a minimum as an application of the concept of conservatism ).

I divided my expenses into four major parts. The biggest part goes of course, to my share of household expenses (my dad keeps hinting on it) followed by the amount that I’m going to save then a part that I plan on giving to God and lastly, the one I allot for myself. (I even multiplied each to 12 so I’ll have a rough estimation of my yearly expenses. How dorky!)

I don’t know if it’s too early for me to be doing this, or if I did it the right way, but, I guess with this practice I’ll develop a habit of prioritizing my expenses.

Lately I feel uneasy asking my parents for money. Really. That’s why after I graduate (which is only a few months from now. Eep. :shock and start earning money, I’d try to gradually be independent especially on the financial aspect. Of course, I’d still be living with them during the first few years or so but I’ll try to help with the expenses. It’s like my token of appreciation to my wonderful parents. (cheesy noh? :oops

New Year’s Day

I mentioned of spending the New Year in Baguio. As expected, New Year’s Eve wasn’t celebrated as noisily as in Manila. My family’s not big with firecrackers anyway thus, seeing firework displays through our window, jumping with all our might as the clock struck 12 (as if I’d still grow) , playing monopoly and having dinner together as a family were enough to consider our first new year’s celebration outside our home, an unforgettable experience.

Anyway, here are the photos I took while we’re there. Surprisingly, we didn’t take family pictures. I guess we enjoyed too much our stay that we forgot to take any. My favorite part was my visit to the market. My mom and I haggle our way to the ukay-ukays. I bought nice skirts that I can use for OJT. We also bought binatog from our suki, pasalubongs, fresh strawberries and various jams.

The next day, my family headed to Sta. Maria, Bulacan to celebrate New Year’s Day with my relatives from my mom’s side. As always, there were lots of food, singing and the walang kamatayang BINGO. Sadly, I didn’t win any. (I don’t know but I was never lucky with this type of games haha) But they do have the latest Magic Sing so I’m still happy videoke-ing with my cousins.

candid shot

cousins

See how “tall” I am? That’s why I need to jump during New Year’s Eve. Hehe. ;)

Sideline

There are times when I think that I don’t have any talent. Or if ever I have a “talent” (which constitutes staying online 24/7), they’re quite useless and don’t have much value as compared for example, if I have a talent for playing an instrument or dancing (which I don’t have). But lately, I realize that maybe my talents are worth something. Especially now that there are offers coming in, asking me to edit and layout photos or make websites and—get this—be actually paid for doing so. Now I don’t intend to make a career out of it. But still, I’m very thankful that such opportunities come in.