My Learning Experiences

In the first two weeks of my student life in TUP I really wanted to quit. I wanted to back out when they gave us the syllabus, grabe nalula ako sa dami ng topics. Then all my subjects have reporting activity & topics were all assigned (grabe, may stage fright pa rin ako, although I've finished 2 reportings already). Plus assignments, research activities & thesis we're distributed to us.

Would you believe we needed to research 41 cases and all of it were already decided by the Supreme court, (wala naman akong balak maging abogado,eh huhuh). So far I have read 5 cases, the least were 5 pages & the most were 38 pages. We will be reporting some of the cases & 3 cases were assigned to me, sadly I have picked the landmark cases so I really need a lot of time reading to understand it better. Aside from those loaded activities I mention, our professor clearly emphasize to us that we need mastery of the field that we are going to teach in the future and since I'm an architectural technology graduate I need to be fully equipped with the knowledge & experiences from that field but sadly I already left that field 22 years ago, pano ko siya ituturo iba na ang field ko ngayon, :(.....

But as much as I wanted to quit, part of me was saying don't give up yet, there's so much more to learn. So what if I fail....so what if I have a lesser salary.....so what if I have a stage fright, I got nothing to lose but I will definitely gain a lot of knowledge from those experiences. Would you believe who gave me that insights & advise----my suking tricycle driver.
"Eh ano, kung bumagsak ka."
"Eh ano, kung may nerbiyos ka."
"Kung matuto ka naman, di ba."
"Kahit maliit ang sahod, may trabaho ka."
"Wala ng mawawala sa yo, kasi nakapagtrabaho ka na at may trabaho ka pa rin."
"Napatapos mo nang mag-aral ang mga kapatid mo."
"So ngayon, sarili mo naman ang isipin mo, grab mo yang opportunity na mag-aral."
"At higit sa lahat i-enjoy mo lang yang experiences mo ngayon."
Nasabi ko tuloy sa sarili ko--- "Oo nga naman, ENJOY lang."

Another piece of advise were given to me by my classmate who is already a teacher (she's not an educ graduate) but needed this course & licensure as a requirement in the school where she was teaching. She told me,....."Calm down Ms. Grace, don't worry. Just cross the bridge when you get there, concentrate ka muna sa subjects natin ngayon." 
"Napakabilis ng panahon ngayon, for all we know nalampasan na natin lahat nyan after a year. How will you know If you can make it or not kung ngayon pa lang susuko ka na?". Those were the reasons why I continued, o diba naka-one month na ko.

Ang nega ko no?......, good thing I have a lot of angel advisers around me. You will notice that in most of blogs, my pessimists attitude is shown and I am really thankful that I have a blog where I can release everything that's been circulating in head, parang praning lang no?

But kidding aside, another interesting subject I have in my course is the "CHILD & ADOLESCENCE" it's a psychology subject where we it focuses more on the human development of a child from birth to adulthood. There were times that I almost cried as our professor imparts all her experiences in the field of Psychology and I was like, ......."ah kaya pala ako naging ganun, kasi ganun ang nangyari sa akin nung bata ako". It was really an eye-opener to me because all the questions I had in my head were answered and when I asked our professor, "If there were problems in childhood how can it be cured?" she answered ....."just let it out & let it go". "If you saw someone crying, let her cry. If somebody confides a problem, let her talk. You just need some form of release for you to feel good because no matter how you contain it, it will come out though not exactly in words but the anger will come out in our actions as well." Now I know that this blog activity is really helping me overcome my fears & myself too. A lot of self discoveries were made also as we tackle different theories and I'll try to impart it here in my blog when I have time.


Just sharing again my experiences!
Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Till then......

Hapit Mode Again & my Back to School Journey

I know that my salary will be stashed into half because of the limited time that I am now rendering in my work. Last Monday I received a salary of P 3,893.61, its bigger than I expected because my salary only ranges from 6k to 7k with overtime (every 15th & 30th salary) & I have a cash advance of 1k & penalty (charge) of 300 pesos. It's a good thing that I have set my expectations @ a lower level rather than be frustrated if my salary doesn't meet my expectations.

PNB visa card dues     =   P 1,987.31
FAMI equity fund        =  P 1,000.00
Monday transpo allow =      P 55.00 (kinapos na ng allowance)
School supplies            =  P     95.25
----------------------------------------------------
Total expenses             =  P 3,137.56

Net = P 3,893.61 (salary) - P 3,137.56 (expenses & investment) = P 756.05
School supplies I bought last Monday
Again I was left with this huge amount of (P 756.05) for my daily allowance but it was higher than my previous salary, bongga pa rin di ba :) Kidding aside, even if I have that salary range today I find it very challenging & fulfilling as I go to the process of adjusting to my financial needs.

What amazes me now is that I have discovered a lot about myself.
The first two weeks in school, I was really in shock when they gave us all the syllabus, grabe ang daming topics & cases to be reviewed. We we're already assigned with different topics to be reported every week & I was the first to deliver the report yesterday in one of my subject.

As I stand in front of the class, my hands went cold, my mind went in a blank state again & the sad part was......my stomach went wild (grabe nanlalamig ako di ko alam kung tatakbo ako sa cr or dun ako aabutan sa harapan) but I survived that moment & what happens next......hulaan nyo na lang, hahah -----the result was not so good talaga. The last time I reported in front of the class was 22 years ago in our technical english class, the second was yesterday & a lot of next will happen in the next few months. I must conquer my fear & I need to strengthen my internal locus.....FOCUS GRACE FOCUS!!!!

Research, thesis, quizzes,essays, term test, reporting, reporting & reporting, wahhhh......kayanin ko sana! Ika nga ng bunso kong kapatid, ginusto mo yan e, pangatawanan mo.......ang bait ng kapatid ko noh,:)


Just sharing my experience again.
Have a blessed day!
Till next time!

Books I bought @ Booksale

Two weeks ago, we went to Market Market Mall to unwind for a while. My mother is already complaining that she was so tired taking care of baby kenji because she just can't simply resist the charm of her apo @ home. The only way to keep her attention away from my baby nephew & to relax a bit was to go to the mall for our usual window shopping routine. I happen to pass by the booksale store & took a glimpse & luckily I found some interesting book there.
This book costs only P 35.00
Then last Sunday, we went to the Market Market Mall again with my brother, my sister inlaw, baby kenji & with mother to stroll around again & took this chance to go back to Booksale store to look for for some cheap books again & so glad I found these books.
This book costs only P 10.00
Another book for P 10.00
And the last book for P 10.00 again
Total costs of these books P 65.00 only, katuwa di ba?
( I just took off the 10 peso price tag of the last two books baka kasi asarin nila ako sa bahay e, heheh)

Tapping Potential is interesting, malapit ko na siyang matapos :) 



Just sharing again!
Have a blessed weekend!

Tighter Budget this June

I had P 390.00 left in my salary last Sunday plus the P 20.00 & coins in my purse.
But I'm okay with it because I felt I've accomplished much with my salary & income last week.
1) I was able to buy 1 sack of rice - P 1,900.00
2) I was able to pay my BPI-Philam life insurance - P 2,073.80
3) I was able to pay in full in my BPI mastercard - P 2,496.78  
4) I paid my share in meralco bill, water bill, & PLDT bill - P 1,435.00
5) We ran out of LPG gas also - P 600.00
6) I deposited 1k in my FAMI account - P 500.00 (came from my salary)
7) I also spend P 300.00 for our food/transportation to Calamba Laguna.
 (My mother & I attended the funeral of my auntie who passed away last week).
8) My daily allowance last Friday P 150.00 (kinulang kasi ako dahil sa bagong sapatos)
9) Additional Palengke expenses (eggs, fruits, rekados) - P 100.00

10) I bought a new book @ Booksale - P 35.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        Total    ------------------------------        P 9,590.58
The total income & salary I had last week was P 9,994.60 less the total expenses P 9,590.58 equals P 404.02

Though I was left with that small amount from income last Monday I managed to fit into my budget for 4 days by bringing some baon everyday & that's what makes it challenging for me. (Kailangan mamaluktot pag maikli ang kumot). I've filed a cash advance last thursday in our office for my budget since I was left with few coins (1peso coins & 25 cents) in my purse.
Bad budget planning?.....Not really, I actually decided to go to that hapit mode of budgetting again this June though I also gave myself a little bit of splurging last May (new shoes (P250), tablet case (P350), hardware tools (P1,700) & some malling expenses) for I know that in the next coming months my lifestyle will change.
I'm on a transition process this month, I need to get use to a tighter budgeting system so it'll be easier for me to adjust to a half salary income I'll be receiving this June & in the coming months. I also planned to take note of every centavo on my expenses particularly on my transportation expenses (hindi talaga sila nagsusukli ng 50 cents), they always took 8 pesos fare on the passengers unless we give them exact fare, "nakakapagod at nakakahiya ng sumigaw ng sukli araw araw ha". So I requested my officemate to change my 100 pesos to (1peso coins) & 50 pesos to (25 cents) & that's the reason why you see some pack of coins in the photo above. Well, pag nagka-student ID ako I'll be paying them the student fare, hahah.

My Back-to-School journey already started last Wednesday & I'm still in a mental shock state today, first day pa lang reporting, research & thesis na agad ang ina-assign, wala man lang warm up sa Social Dimension subject ko, Principles of Teaching -medyo oks lang & my Student Learning Assessment subject I think will be the hardest for now, Child & Adolescent, Code of Ethics & Rizal Subject will start next week.

Guys, I need your help. I still don't know what to research on my thesis but I'm actually planning to research on discipline particularly on financial discipline on the kids & I'll be suggesting it to my research partner. If you can share me some articles, journals, psycholoy topics & sites about financial discipline of kids & about money too.
Thanks in Advance!!!


Till then,.......Have a blessed weekend!!!

On Family's Health Concern

My father had a mild stroke five years ago.
He was confined in a hospital for more than a week ( 3 days in ICU & 5 days in recovery room). We rushed him to the hospital @ 9pm in the evening though it was as early as 5am that my father felt some symptoms but since my father thinks its just a waste of time & he had no money to go to the doctor he ignores it, thinking that the pain & numbness he felt will pass away.
When I arrived that night my mother told me " Anak, kumbinsihin mo na dade mo na magpadala sa hospital, di na nagsasalita puro iling na lang ang sagot nya." He cannot speak already that time, he just nod when I told him, "De, may pera ako dito (kahit wala), pa check-up na tayo." Though I have no money, we rushed him @ San Juan de Dios Hospital with the help of some of our neighbors (binuhat na lang siya, di na kasi makagalaw & buti na lang may nagmagandang loob na may-ari ng sasakyan at naghatid sa hospital). He was admitted immediately because he had a Maxicare card that time. Afterwards my mother was also admitted there that day also because her bp went up @ 180/120. My father's hospital bill went up @ P 55,000.00 after he was released & because of the Maxicare & Philhealth it went down to P 15,000.00.

Now, imagine if that scenario happens again today & I have no money, will my father be admitted immediately at the hospital? They have no healthcards now since my brother got married last year. And that's the reason why I am being paranoid about this matter. I can't find a healthcard, healthcare plans, & even just an emergency card that will accept their age & condition & my budget, too. They are both 67 years & with pre existing illness already.

Last week I saw these MDR forms from Philhealth.
"Wow Ma, may Philhealth na kayo." 
She answered, "Oo libre na sa senior, pakitabi mo na lang yang mga forms."
Thats a big relief to me knowing that they already have a Philhealth, "mawalan man ako ng trabaho kampante ako kahit papaano." .

Two weeks ago, my father told me.
"Nak', naglalakad at dumadaan ako lagi sa healthcenter at nagpapacheck up, magpapa-urinalysis at blood chem ako sunod na linggo." I answered, "Okay yan 'de (short for Dade), maganda yan. Lagi kayo magpa-check up at magpa-bp dyan para kahit papano namo-monitor kayo." My father jogs or  walks around our area everyday & the barangay health center is just a few blocks from us. After a week, he went back & the result of his labtest are all normal (thank God) & the doctor just gave him Vitamin B complex aside from his usual maintenance medicine (clopidogrel, amlodepine & simvastatine).

Now, I am convincing my mother to go to that healthcenter also, atleast she can have a check up for free once in a while & some labtest are cheaper than the private hospitals. I also told here, I set aside P 1,000.00 in my cabinet in case of emergencies (also planned additional 1k for my father).


But still she insists that they must have a proper check up on their specialists.
So I also plan to bring them in San Juan de Dios hospital when I had money so they can have a proper check up atleast once a year in neurologist, nephrologist & cardiologist & to update also their prescriptions. I'll be saving some for it & will also be asking my brothers help for this. My mother's been complaining a lot lately on her back hips ,one of her kidney is getting smaller already (barado daw yung ugat sa left kidney nya & the nephro says it needs 500k for the operation but he doesn't advise it because of my mother's age).My mother also has a systolic hypertension & that's an added factor why her kidneys are weakening. So I keep telling her, always drink a blended carrots & apple fruits daily but she keeps on saying "wala akong time minsan, pagod ako pag-aalaga kay baby kenji :(".

When I think about my family's health concern, I sometimes felt weaker & helpless that I cannot help them financially & allocate more time to take care of them since I'm working daily mostly on overtime schedule . I got a lot of "If only's" in my head today - if only I finished the SSS voluntary contribution of my mother, she would also be receiving her pension today, if only I have gotten a healthplans for them earlier, & if only I have read those financial & inspirational blogs earlier I would have change my mindset & would have saved more in the past but I cannot go back in the past now to revise my life, just need to be prepared now, do what it's needed & just pray to God to take care of my family's health.


Just sharing again!
Have a blessed day everyone!