Happiness is a Luxury

Working in a third world country (with lots of political issues) one cannot deny the fact that you are compensated less compared to people with the same work who are currently in other countries. Sad to say but definitely true graphic artists here earn less and the labor costs here are lesser. It's also hard to find work and when you finally land on a job there is no guarantee that you will be well compensated or you will have the best benefits. Then there's SSS, Phil health, Pag-ibig Fund, Tax and what not stuff that is important but takes time and effort to fix. I am a newbie when it comes to this stuff and I don't know where to start when it comes to these things.

Young and carefree as I may be but my Father always hounds me to check up on these stuff since I will benefit from these. I can't live under my parent's roof all the time.

My work doesn't involve hard core labor or I am exposed to dangerous materials. My work usually involves staring at the monitor all day and trying to formulate ideas and ways to entertain since I have no tasks as of the moment.

But I must be aware of Accident Compensation and not take it for granted. For me my most important part of my body is my right hand when it comes to my work. What if something bad happens to it (God forbid) then definitely I must change careers!

On must be not be naive and look up what your rights when it comes to Accident Compensation.

Apparently there is another new rule in the office there will be no skype, yahoo messenger or any other forms of chatting (bawal na sharing of thoughts and ideas...bad for the company...BAD).


So now one must be creative in order to communicate with fellow officemates.

there are a couple of ideas...

A. magsun cellular na lang lahat ng tao (but then again cell phone could be prohibited next time)
B. old school style gumamit ng dalawang lata at isang string (Hello? ok ba connection ko)
C. we could pass around notes (but Ma'am L might catch us then Ka ubo gyud ta!)
D. we could shout at the top of our lungs like taga bukid peeps (BAI TANAWA NI TAMA NA BA NI???)
E. we could also go to one place to another (children no roaming around)
F. we still have the net...gawin forum na lang ang multiply!

The Holy Week is around the corner. Everyone is planning their vacations then are some who sees the Holy week as a time for contemplating. For the Holy week means bumming around the house and tagging along with my parents religious activities. My friends are already busy planning what to do and where to go while on the other hand if you ask me where I'll be. I will just shrug and say "I'll be probably be staying at home and wishing I was somewhere else".

It's very enticing to go along with those nice summer trips on the beach but somehow my religious upbringing still echoes guilt feelings that I should be praying than playing under the sun!

While I am pondering my predicament I found that there are people who shop during Black Friday. They are shopping for Christmas! I found it kinda ironic. I mean Black Friday and Christmas? What seems unlikely shopping during Black Friday can save you money. I know thinking for Christmas might sound to early for you but money savers thinks this as a good opportunity.

With current technological wonders one doesn't need to be physically at a store to shop. You could just sit at home armed with your paypal or your credit card you will just sit in front of the computer and shop your hearts out. There are online shops who focuses on Christmas online shopping like cyber monday.

Maybe I will try this Black Friday shopping at least that makes my bumming at house somewhat useful.

I am not really a beatle's fan but somehow this movie gave new life to the beatle's song. I love how the movie is presented, a kaleidescope of art, music and story.

I can’t live without working on my art. My art comes in many forms but it can get very messy

at times. I try my best to find a space in the house but my Mom always scolds me for the

mess I leave behind.

We own a vacant lot a few blocks away from the house. As of the moment no one is using that.

I would definitely love to use that space. Then I stumbled into a site showcasing Concrete Garages. I could definitely envision having one

in the vacant lot. The construction is easy and the design is simple but very workable. I

could definitely work with a garage like that.

I could already imagine what stuff I could hoard there. Like all my painting stuff and now I

could do my experimental art without making my mother worry about the mess. The good thing

is the garage looks very secure I would not be scared to leave stuff behind. My mother would

definitely be happy since it would mean lesser things in the house. I could place all my art

materials, my magazines, my books, my trash and other stuff the I keep lying around. You

never know these day even your work area some suspicious people would be interested.

It would be definitely be nice to have my own studio…sigh.

I know I cannot be classified as a working class yuppie. I’m more of still-staying-at-your-parents type. I am enjoying the perks of being a bum (free food, lodging, internet, cable etc.) but have a day job. It’s not that I do not want to be independent, I did once lived in Manila on my own but I am enjoying my laid back life and not worrying about bills.

Everyone is tight with budget and I am this freeloading person at my parents. Then I read that Parents are cutting expenditure on their children that lead me to thinking will that also apply to me? Last Monday when I was expecting to be handed my weekly allowance I got nothing. I did not complain because in the first place I should be the one handing money and not the other way around. So freeloading daughter like me definitely feel the cutback. The article talks about children below 18 and how parents this year will spend less on their children. In my household there are no children below 18 and parents are already retired. Technically I am the only person who is employed and still unflinchingly accept a weekly allowance. Maybe my parents has changed their minds and cut off my allowance all together?

This definitely makes me think that I should find a better job or find ways to earn more. I am definitely not proud to be a very DEPENDENT daughter. I must rethink my expenses and focus on the necessities. I can live without the vanities life can offer. I should definitely start saving...and maybe later start thinking of Secured Loan.

There is a new dress code at my office.

To start with, everyone is urged to observe our guidelines in wearing our uniform:

1. Management Staff

1. Ladies – Blazer on top of blouse, no denims.
2. Gentlemen – Long sleeves with tie and slacks, closed shoes

2. Team Leads – Upper Uniform and Slacks

3. Developers, Designers, Virtual Assistants, and the like – Upper Uniform and maong.

In all cases, wearing of IDs is part of the uniform.

Considering that our uniform (collared shirt) is not yet available, those under categories 2 and 3 are required to wear at least collared shirt or blouse for female and NOT T-shirt.

Fridays will be considered as wash day. However, wearing of T-shirt is still prohibited.

I am not really a fan of having a dress code I must still follow the rules so Monday came. Lately I have been wearing mostly slippers since I'm too lazy to wear shoes because one must wear socks and socks tends to be hot. I still wore slippers but I brought a pair of comfy sneaks. There I was surfing mindlessly when Ma'am L came me way and said "Lis don't wear rubber shoes tomorrow."

I was definitely appalled since I know there are no mention of no wearing of rubber shoes in the memo and most of the guys are wearing rubber shoes. If its really prohibited I would not mind wearing closed shoes but she is like discriminating me because I am a girl.

I could not help myself to ask the HR, Sir Shane.

[4:45:25 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: sir pwde magask ng isang question?
[4:45:33 PM] shane_hubport says: yo
[4:45:43 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: sir bawal rubber shoes?
[4:46:06 PM] shane_hubport says: hahahaha.
[4:46:17 PM] shane_hubport says: actually, last week
[4:46:54 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: ok lang naman sa akin na bawal pero dapat lahat pati ang mga lalake bawal din magrubber shoes
[4:47:05 PM] shane_hubport says: i emailed your supervisors on some rules to follow with the uniform
[4:47:34 PM] shane_hubport says: but not on the rubber shoes muna. so you may still wear it.. pasagdi na si madam. nanibago lang sa amin
[4:47:36 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: i received and read your emaill
[4:48:03 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: tapos wala man dun bawal rubber shoes
[4:48:38 PM] shane_hubport says: basta sa developers regardless of the sex. shirt and denim. rubber shoes is okay as long as it is not dirty
[4:49:07 PM] shane_hubport says: morag wa sya ka read sa ako email. no preference as to shoes for developers
[4:49:48 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: kanina kasi nadaan niya ako tapos special mention na wag daw ako rubber shoes bukas
[4:51:32 PM] shane_hubport says: if ever she will ask you later, tell her that hr said its okay for now kasi wala pa uniform. once kasi may uniform na like our shirts for hubport even kung naka maong ka dapat clean ang shoes. yun lang man regardless of rubber or not.
[4:51:52 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: ah ok. :)
[4:51:57 PM] shane_hubport says: so bukas mag paa ka lang :D
[4:52:05 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: ngee
[4:54:00 PM] shane_hubport says: kasi if i will require na hindi so that would be true to all. alam ko not all may loafers or top siders or flat shoes. pag flats una ugma.
[4:54:12 PM] shane_hubport says: then pakita mo talaga sa kanya. hahahaha
[4:54:28 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: magboots man ako bukas
[4:54:41 PM] shane_hubport says: ahhh okay kau!!! bantay ka ha
[4:54:45 PM] shane_hubport says: kadtong cowboy nimo
[4:54:57 PM] shane_hubport says: the one you wore before sa agdao
[4:55:34 PM] Melissa Arbotante says: :D

I did not wear boots but I wore loafers to work today. I saw ma'am L and you know what she said to me! "Lis its ok to wear rubber shoes...."

-----------------------------------------------------------

On other matters I realized that it's kinda distracting to have your beau around the workplace. There is a saying by Sir Doodz "Pangit ang Office romance makadaot sa negosyo". Me and my beau have been placed in different work shifts because of that.

But still there is still time when we are both in the office. There is no problem with him. When he is at work he is super serious at his task. If I have my task my mind wouldn't wander off...unfortunately I have no big tasks lately. tsk tsk tsk

I usually have dinner with him and spend time talking with him at mts...ok I know I'm playing hookey at work. I am not proud. (kaya nga pasaway at the work place ang title).

It's so unfair because I am the one who gets in trouble! Sigh....

Anyways one must learn from mistakes and we the weekend to spend time. For the time being...all I could do is take a deep breath.

I had no task so I asked my fellow officemate if I could help them with their task. I was assigned to research for a very cool web site design for a band. I went to check out bestwebgallery and other sites that I love. Then I went to my favorite weblog web designer wall. I found about the Eight Annual Weblog Award. I have not really check all the nominated weblog I had just checked the fashion blogs and I am stuck. I can't checking it out. I really love go fug Yourself and Jezebel. Unfortunately I have not started on my web design..but I said to myself I got blog about this! hehehe

Start: Feb 23, '08 4:00p
End: Feb 24, '08 4:00p
Location: Mary Rose Carnival,
Matina, Davao City
Have you heard about the Mary Rose
carnival in Matina, sa kanto Ma-a?

Tara kita kits ta usab. Sa mga wala naka
sabay during lomolove, tara lomoshoot ta
didto sa Mary Rose. Tentative date is on
Feb 23 & 24. And let's plan a
lomoactivity/exhibit this coming Araw ng
Davao. joiners we are joiners you can
join too!

text text lng:
bugsy: 0922 996 0002, 09203160995
or me: 09163809240
Back

My boyfriend is new when it comes to relationships. Fortunately I am his first girl friend. He is not your hopeless romantic types. He is your typical no none sense kind of guy. So flowers, chocolates and sweet nothings doesn't really embedded in his system. Ever since we are together he has not really given me something. Lelit another officemate has continually reminded him to be more thoughtful. Even though he has not given me anything he has ways that make up for it (I'm not really into material stuff).

These past days I am very touched by his sweet efforts for me. Ma'am Rachel was selling chocolates in the office. Ma'am Lourdes was official salesperson. Ma'am L kept hounding everyone to buy well especially when it comes to Uly. I don't really know if it's Ma'am L's sales talk or Frances pakonsensya but Uly did bought me three big bars of chocolate. I know I can't really count that since there were outside interference. Chocolates aside, Uly did actually burned me a DVD with lots of new movies in it. I thought he would forget about my request but the following day he did burn me a copy. But what really touched me. He promised he will make me a blog!

What more could a girl want. I don't a ready made blog like this. A blog made from scratch. I will do the template design but he will do the coding! Yehey! I was REALLY happy about this because finally I could start working on my Art Blog project.

That definitely beats a dozen roses any day!

I saw this magazine months ago at wildbunch's multiply account. I'm really into fashion photography and so I really want to purchase this magazine. I did saw this magazine at a National bookstore but at that time I had no money so I just said to myself that when I have some spare cash I will definitely buy a copy.

I'm really a magazine addict and for months I have not bought any magazine...I haven't been myself lately.

I am not really a hard core fashionista but I do love to dress up and if given a chance it's my dream to do fashion photography. I used to buy lots of shoes. I don't know what happened but I just realized that I have not bought a pair in months.

But I cannot live this way.

So I bought the Imagine magazine I have been eying for months now. I will definitely buy a new pair of shoes. I will make an effort in replenishing my clothes cabinet. I have been borrowing my sister's clothes and I really need to buy my own clothes.

My current fashion state is like crap and definitely the fashion would throw me to jail. I definitely need to MAKE OVER myself.

These days the weather's been very cloudy. I couldn't take lomo pictures but all I could think of doing is flopping down a nice warm bed, read a book or listen to music. That made me think of the perfect bed! There are lots of kinds of bed. Like sleigh bed, Queen Bed,King Bed,canopy beds and what not.

I could imagine it....a cloudy day, warm bed with lots of pillows and nice WARM sheets then chill out music fills my room. It would be nice to read a good book but it would definitely be nice to share the ambiance with someone...

You put up a business you have use POS (point of sale software). It's a lot better than the old mechanical cash registers that you had to crank and wind. Well this is only fun if your a seven year old playing mini grocery. But POS these days has already some drawback. You have to buy specific software and hardware to use in your store. If your not a techie person you have to hire IT staff for maintenance, backing up of files and upgrading. Then if you have a chain of stores theres the problem of keeping up with the records of all the stores.

Unlike web based pos that is accessible to any computer that has an internet connection. There would be no more software installations and maintenance. If your a business with a chain of stores tracking down the sales, the stock and the inventory. This would mean that you could offer better customer service since you can access records anywhere you there is an internet. Business owners wouldn't be stuck in the office, they can work elsewhere as long as there is internet access.

Web based POS would one day replace POS so when putting up a business think first what kind of POS you would use.

With a long shopping list at hand I went out of the house early. With my afternoon shift, the only time left for me to do my shopping is in the morning.From one shop to another I traverse the tiled floors of the mall. After buying one must wait in line to pay for my purchase. I was paying for my gift wrapping materials at a bookstore when the cash register hanged. The whole had to be moved and the cashier had to use another cash register. That time I wasn't pissed off at the delay since there wasn't anyone around but if the store was packed that would definitely sucked.

That made me think of how does cash registers work.

Point of sale or point of service (POS or PoS) can mean a retail shop, a checkout counter in a shop, or the location where a transaction occurs. More specifically, the point of sale often refers to the hardware and software used for checkouts -- the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point of sale systems are used in supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, stadiums, and casinos, as well as almost any type of retail establishment.

Ok POS is soo technical when you hear it but for merchants it will definitely ring a bell.

POS was invented it defintely help a lot of bussiness men. Right now what is the latest when it comes to POS? Something that don't hang...

Web based point of sale is now being used by many retailers. When you think about it web based pos would be another step. If you are a small bussiness or a big one you would definitely bennefit from this. All you need is a computer with an internet connection and there you go. It would defintely save time, money and less hassle for the bussiness and also for the consumers.

its not actually hidden but I was glad that I still found my picture in my old school's website.

I received my salary last Tuesday and fortunately it has increases somehow. With a slight increase of my shopping budget thoughts of things buy immediately swirl my head. I said to myself I must first focus on the essentials.

Now I'm assigned in the afternoon shift 2 p.m.-10 p.m. I use to love this shift since I don't have to wake up early in the morning but right now I realized this is definitely a crappy shift. I can't go to malls after work since its already ten pm and stores are already closed. To think I REALLY need to go the mall because I NEED to buy something. Going out during break time doesn't do justice.

I got the whole month with this schedule which sucks! The good thing though is I got better schedule with my pilates. I got the hardcore trainers which I definitely need since I have been gaining pounds lately. I cannot understand why because I have my pilates thrice a week, I have started to eat less compared to the holiday season. My father is suggesting that I take CMD thing...hope it will work.

I have not been blogging lately because of my new shift adjustment. I wake up early I try to blog but my mind is blank. I cannot also blog in the office because I have been working on several flash animations lately. I also learned that I got several tasks from my client which he sent directly to my e-mail instead of using the PMS. Somehow I'm excited to work with building a new web site. Hope my crappy HMTL and CSS knowledge would suffice.

I am happy that I can finally have my paypal verified. I have applied an EON unionbank card. Hopefully this will go well and I will finally get what I earned from blogging. I am also happy that somehow my google page rank is 3/10. It is still crap but its not zero! When I also tried to see what my blog is worth it's not zero unlike the first i tried it. You can see it at the left section of my blog.

I have been so lax lately with everything. I have been preoccupied with a boy. Which is good and bad. . .

My mother is super paranoid with me again since she knows I'm clearly dating again (unlike before when I felt like I had a ghost boyfriend). I have been trying to tone down my hanging out with Uly but...what can you do when your in love! Nyahahahaha.

Anyways this is bad. I have not FINISHED my personal project and I have not worked on my art blog. I have not worked on anything related to art. I also misplaced my super sampler which why I am very upset. I have not developed my Diana pictures. I must really pull myself together. It's already February!

After taking this survey i realized that I definitely need to buy a new pair.