The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 11 years to get that many views.
One of the hardest part of living abroad is the fact that special days will never be like in the Philippines especially Christmas. Filipinos are known to have the longest Christmas celebration in the world and we have the merriest. That’s something that I am missing. The carolers even as early as the month of September can become annoying at times but they are exactly what I missed much.
This is my third year of celebrating Christmas away from home and still I am far from getting used to it. I guess I will never be and as much as I want to go home for Christmas, I just can’t so like in the past, Christmas eve and Christmas day is just an ordinary day for me. My first Christmas here was the worst. I spent it all alone in my apartment listening to Christmas songs which really didn’t help at all. Instead, the songs even made me lonelier thinking of home and how the celebration went on. A hundred baht of calling card is not really enough and I wished there was reloadable card available by then so I could extend the conversation with my family for even just a little while more.
This is my third Christmas far from my family and I’m still feeling the sadness just as when I celebrated it here for the first time.
Christmas will never be the same if without the parties. And what are parties if not with the good food and the good wine? These two spell it – party time!. But Maybe not, because when you are far-away from home, no matter how abundant the food and the wine are, the feeling of homesickness will still exist. Christmas will never be the same without our family beside us, I should say. But then again, our lives here must go on and so as much as possible our little Filipino community here in Thailand sees to it that we gather together and have a little Christmas party time.
The date will be next week and although we hire caterers for our food, for sure there will be many of us who will bring genuine Filipino foods for that event. With the food present, of course, we will make sure to prepare good wine as well. A friend of mine mentioned that he will bring a bottle of Gewurztraminer Wine. What is Gewurztraminer Wine? He wouldn’t tell me so I guess I would have to wait for that very day to come so I’ll have a taste of that very mysterious sounding wine. I just can’t wait for it to come.
I’m trying to focus myself on saving this time. It is something that I haven’t done all through these years of working. My money just come and go and I just realize that it’s ridiculous that until now I don’t see something authentic as an investment. Yes, money comes and then goes to drain just like water in the sink. I have read in an article sometime in the past that one of the secrets to getting rich is to save then invest. By saving it means to delay some of your immediate impulses and divert them into something that won’t cause you to spend. It means choosing to buy something with a lesser price that will give you the same satisfaction as with that something with a higher price. The reason I was not convinced to apply for a credit card is because I don’t want to give in to my impulse buying attitude, instead I have a Visa prepaid debit card so I can still keep track and take control of my expenses. You see, with credit card, you can even spend your credit limit in just one day but with this prepaid debit card, you have to make sure that you will only spend the amount that you have so saving is really possible.
My stomach is growing bigger and bigger again and I hate it. It is really frustrating to look at the mirror and there you see yourself getting the shape you used to have. I know it’s my fault because lately I did nothing but sit in the couch, watch movies and eat and eat and eat. My first year here in Thailand was a success because not only did I get a very nice working environment, I also shed off much of my belly because I had so much time to do exercise routines. Now, I have to go back to zero again. Maybe, I’ll start with my afternoon jogging then few minutes in the gym to get me back on track or maybe I’ll do it at home guided with the on-line exercise tutorials.
While browsing the web yesterday, I came across with this Tapout XT site that offers Fitness Workout Program. I just hope that once I’ll start with the routine, I’ll be able to pull it through until such time that I’ll see results. As for now, I just have to make sure that I’ll be able to stick to my diet plans that is eat much during breakfast, eat less at lunch time and eat the least at dinner time.
Our second term for this school year here in Thailand will kick-off on Monday and I’m not really sure what I feel about it. For the past two weeks that I have confined myself at home due to severe cough and colds, I was overwhelmed with so much boredom that I wanted to drag the time so I can go back to school right away. Sure I had plans to go on a short holiday somewhere out of town but because of the illness that I caught I was forced to stay at home otherwise I’ll be nursing myself in the middle of my trip and that’s just not what I planned to do. So for a couple of weeks, I resorted to liquids as a major part of my diet plans. I made it sure to drink plenty of water, Vitamin C rich juices and high protein drinks to help me get rid of that very disturbing cough and colds. Somehow, I feel a lot better now and my body system is much ready to work already. The thing is, are my heart and mind ready to face the challenges of the new school term? Not quite but then again I have to push myself because the day is inevitably coming.
There are always two sides of a coin. Despite the many benefits of driving your own car, I learned though not from my own experience but from the experiences of my friends who have cars that there are also several downsides of having one. First in line would be the high-end maintenance of a car. The owner must prepare a great deal of amount for its regular car shop check-up. The worst thing that could happen is when the car meets an accident. You could imagine the damage both on the car and the owner’s pocket. Not unless, the car is being insured in an insurance company which may help carry the financial burden. But the thing is, some owners may choose not to avail this car insurance thing because they haven’t found a company or car insurance online that is affordable and may give the same benefit that other company offer. Then, fuel these days have dramatically increased its price so that the owners have to be ready for it. But of course, I’m not closing my doors about having one. It’s just that as of this moment, I feel that I am not yet ready for the big financial responsibility that goes along with the car luxury.
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