Money

Do you ever feel that you want to have more of that?  Really, is money the root of all evil?

Let say you are walking in a mall, just walking, having a good exercise with a wonderful view of different array of shops which displays different enticing merchandises, you can't help but want what you see.  And then the sudden urge just comes out, you take your wallet, count the pieces of bill that you have, only to find out that that something you just met that day will not be yours to keep. 

You went home, tired from walking, disappointed for lack of thereof, emotionally depressed.  You might be saying, it shouldn't be the money's fault, you shouldn't be talking your walk in the mall if you got no money, right?? No!!  While walking is a common exercises that relaxing your muscles which were constantly stagnant throughout the 8-hour time you had from Monday to Friday, I do believe that you have all the democracy of choosing where to walk, and the money shouldn't do anything about it.  Be it in a park, a beach, or even a mall.  Say, it was raining but you want to have your walk but doesn't want to be drenched in the rain, walking in the mall is a very good option.

Hep hep, hold it.. I'm getting far away from my original topic.  I say money, if you have tons of it, will not be your evil but your ally.  Well, as to why?  Here's just some of those things that money can do to you: it can feed you, it can give all you want, it can make you happy, and forget that your problems are there waiting for you.

I know I know, too much money is dangerous.  Wanting money which is not in the palm of your hand is MORE dangerous.  But I believe that with the right treatment, with a good EQ and a patient self (read:moderation), too much (too few) cannot be harmful IMO.  The thing is, the difference between having few money and having too much money is just the lack of convenience of the former.  In the end, you still have one common denominator, that is you have MONEY.

A lot of people complain that they often don't feel money at the palm of their hands.  They get too frustrated having few bills in their pocket.  But then again, have they thought of the way they use money? 

I believe that money is to be used, but it shouldn't be abused.  Abusing it will be like taking drugs.  All we need is a little patience, and the evil in money wouldn't come out. 

The Value of Money

One thing that will change you when you get out of your own country is how you look at the value of money.  Blame it on the currency, exchange rates, our poor economy, etc.., the way you appreciate the price of certain goods may never be the same again.  There can be a positive and a negative downside about such new outlook to spending.

As I have been living far away for almost 3 years already, I come to forget the value of my own country's money when I came home.  During the early days of my stay in this country, I was converting back the prices from yen to peso, to gauge if the item is worth buying for.  However, now, I see myself now doing the other way around.  Funny really, and rather dangerous.

When spending, values don't count anymore, rather numbers.  I spend a 1000 pesos bill just like how I spend a 1000 yen bill.  I even feel contentment paying for everything since I see that I take home more from a 1000 pesos bill than a 1000 yen bill.  A 1000 pesos bill can feed at least 4 people, while the 1000 yen bill can only feed a single you, talk about value..right??

As I indulge my peso, spending each bills, I felt lesser sense of regret, unlike 3 years ago when I left the country.  On the brighter side, my attachment to money (well, to pesos in that matter) gave in for my selfless spending for others whom I used to not treat because of my stinginess.  LOL.  Now I don't actually think that that has gone away.  My stinginess may just probably been converted also to another currency :P

Plugging

For those of you who don't know, I actually got tons (well, they can be counted by the finger) of blogs up here in cyberspace. So, as a friendly plea, please do find time to read them haha...

my food blog Taking pictures of food is my ever hobby even before, so I decided to create a blog out of it (sayang naman kasi hehehe..)

Blog on Politics and anywhere in between. I have been interested in these so-called international issues, which made me think of taking a masters in IR in the near future *cross fingers*

Movies and Drama reviews as an avid movie and drama fan (mostly from Asia), I created this blog so to keep record of those must-watch movies/dramas around.

So there it is, please do read them, as much as you read this one LOL

Don't be in a hurry

There was one time that the Shinkansen I rode going to Tokyo made a long stop somewhere Shin-Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture.  Hungry as I was, I got off of the Shinkasen and ran toward the bento shop (which is just along the platform).  There, I was welcomed by this very friendly and kind store lady. 

As I was afraid to be left behind by the shinkansen (since all of my stuff is inside plus it will take at least an hour to hop on another shinkansen train), I was so in a hurry in choosing my bento (lunch box) that I almost tripped.  When I was getting my change from the store lady, she hold my hand with both of her hands and sweetly told me.. "don't hurry up because there is still time".  There was actually still 5 minutes left before the train departed.

It made me realize that life is not about hurrying things.  We must take our time and use it wisely.  You might be hurrying for something when it is still there waiting for you.  Remember, life is not a race.  It is about living every minute of it to its fullest. 

The Strong and the Weak

Oftentimes in groups of friends, there would always be the dominant and the recessive groups, the loud and the quiet, the strong and the weak.  Power thirst is inevitable in human beings but the degree of wanting "it" is not so equal among people.  Basically power is what gives us protection, but others want more of it than we do.  We want to be greater than others.  We want to be always on top.  We push people down in order to go up.

Consider victories in wars, Olympic games, and other competitive events.  Some countries would do more than other countries just to win a medal.  Some would even resolve to cheating, just to achieve victory.  Power is addictive, as well as dangerous.  Although it gives the feeling of satisfaction, the process of achieving it is sometimes evil.

However, level of competition is rather relative.  You may feel weak in some circle of friends but there are also times when you feel you are among the top.  A simple analogy would be the job that you have.  If you have a group of friends who  mostly hold managerial positions when you yourself only hold a rank-and-file one, you may consider yourself as one of the under ones.  However, if you have a group of friends who hold the same rank-and-file position as yours, you feel the sense of belongingness plus a possibility to achieve power in the group (if for instance, you earn more money than them).

Having said all of that, I only have one point in this blog.  And that is: all of us are equal and would be under the weak ones depending on who you compare yourself to.  It's not nice to bully someone just because you feel stronger than that person.  It's not nice to impose power at someone when they are very vulnerable to being bullied at.  Remember, you are not perfect yourself and it isn't right to criticize a person just because he/she is so easy to criticize at. 

If all of us would all be humble, patient, or have a sense of self-control, there would be peace among us.  However, people are not all the same, just like IQs and EQs are not the same among people.  That is why in this unequal world, there would always be someone who has to carry more of that inequality to make things balanced in this world.

Why Rules Are Hated

A few weeks back, I had a Japanese class where we talked about rules. One of my classmate from Hungary tells about his dislike with rules. He said rules are created sometimes without any reason. And that made me think about it and it does make sense.

When I was in Manila, there were a lot of rules created for no logical reason what-so-ever. Take for instance (this is an account from a friend), someone requested for a document from a government office. Since this will take some time, the requester was asked to go back in another time to pick-up the file. He paid for the document. Come release time, that man went back to the office to get is papers. Knowing how unorganized and how manual government system works, his requested document couldn't be found (probably lost, or just forgotten to eternity) and asked if he could get another copy (without any additional fee) since it wasn't his fault that the document wasn't released. However, due to certain "rules", he has to pay again for that (with or without document received) because that is how the system works.

If you ask me, this is a big BS.

In the first place, rules are created to make order to a system. If the system is chaotic because of the rule, shouldn't it adjust to what is standard/norm? Shouldn't rules work for the people not the other way around?

I don't want to start about rules and Philippine politics because I know this entry will become endless. But generally speaking, rules should not put burden to people. It should guide them, and again, put order to the system which people themselves aren't capable of working for themselves, sometimes. It should act as your intangible leader working in the background.

But then again, think about it. What makes that "hate" come out because of these rules? It is because it controls us. We all have our own desires. It is a human instinct of each of us to dislike to be controlled. When you walk a path, and ask to follow a straight line because that is the rule of walking, would you be happy with it?

Unfortunately, rules and organization co-exist in society, and society cannot exist without organization. With no rules, there will be chaos, thus no peace and unity.

So no matter how hard you detest rules, no matter how hard you question it, if you think about things deeply, there is actually no way out of it. Rules will exist..unless you started rallying in front of any office to protest about it but then again, would things be solved by that?

As we say in Japanese, 仕方がありません or there is no other way but to accept it. If you want to be part of the society, learn to live by rules.. unless, you want to live in your own island. hahaha..

It Ain't Going Anywhere Anymore

This afternoon, I got this shocking article about relief goods being sent through DSWD. I won't repost it here anymore, so you guys can just check it out here

I don't usually jump into conclusion about issues. I would rather "study" first the issue, check the "conditions" and then I'll conclude something, usually with 2-3 possibilities, some of them bad, some of them good. However, for this case, I can't find any good excuse for this because there are no logical explanation available, except corruption. Let me list down points:
Fact 1: Why did they say there were no volunteers? It was clearly stated in the blog entry that there are willing volunteers but unreasonably shoo-ed away by DSWD saying they already have many volunteers. If their problem is disorganization of the repacking, they could have contacted schools or other NGOs who have tons of volunteers but have no more donations to pack, then things would have been a breeze for everyone.
Fact 2: Why exclude the "imported" items for repacking? I would understand if they are doing that for "consumables" since it might be possible that there are contamination but how about the "non-consumables" items such as the Coleman tent MadeintheUSA
Fact 3: Why put tariff on relief goods!? They aren't profitable items.. oh wait, let me correct myself on that one.. this might actually be profitable items. I forgot I am talking about the Philippines.

I wouldn't blame other countries once they see their beloved relief goods being halted like this.
I wouldn't be surprised if one day, nobody would help the Philippines during disasters anymore.
I wouldn't even wonder anymore, why we are still like this, unchanging and continuously going down under.

It's so sad to see these kinds of very obvious corruption, especially this time it involves something unselfishly given by other countries. It would very much be a shame, our dear beloved Philippines would now be a laughingstock of the entire world. Imagine GMA's pleading to the entire world to give their alms to the Philippines weeks ago? Who would wonder that things are turning out like this!? Well, the Filipinos expected it in a way.. but what about those people who are not from the Philippines.

This is really sad. I just hope in the next coming election, people will have more brains. I wish all Filipinos would use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites so that they can be informed and blocked from being brainwashed. If that is not possible, I wish there will be a propaganda to reach them out.

If things continue like this for long, it ain't going anywhere anymore. Hanggang dito na lang tayo.