Pacific Heights Private Resort - Samal

Last Monday, I told you about our R&R slash supposed team-building with other village officers and youth. Which was promptly ruined when a group of gatecrashers, well, crashed the event. It was a good thing, though, that the resort we went to is a lovely one so our day wasn't completely ruined. (It was also a good thing that they arrived at lunch and we were still able to have fun in the morning.)

Pacific Heights Private Resort

I've actually never heard of this resort before, which is understandable as it is quite new. As the name also implies, it is a village and the resort is supposed to be exclusive for them, However, for some reason, they recently decided to open the beach resort to the public. Yay!

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because, for the first time ever, we went to the beach yaya-less, So I was constantly running after a little 3-year old whom we shall not name, and I was also constantly wet with seawater. But here are some photos that we managed to take:

Click here to read my review of Pacific Heights Private Resort.

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 6): Tagaytay and Aguinaldo Shrine

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

Hi, everyone! We must all be aware of the bad events in Nepal, Baltimore, and about our very own, Mary Jane. The best news of the morning is that Mary Jane's execution has been postponed. Praise God! I believe in the Prince of Peace and the God of Justice, and because the world is an imperfect one, justice may possibly not be served here. But I know that justice reigns in Heaven.

As much as I would like to keep talking about current events, I need to finish some blog posts before I finally take my hiatus this week. So today, I will be sharing with you some photos from the last day of our Ultimate Summer Trip when we went to Tagaytay and Kawit, Cavite.

Tagaytay

Our driver took us to People's Park to view Mt. Taal. We didn't know that it would be very far away from the volcano and we didn't anymore have the time to look for another venue as we needed to be in the airport at 3 pm. While the weather was quite hot during that day, unfortunately, when we got to the viewing area, there were clouds covering Mt. Taal. 

So the only thing I have is this super zoomed in photo:

 Can you see it?

The road of Tagaytay

No, that's not a "kamot-ulo" pose! It was just really really windy! 

Annoying Gatecrashers and Other Stories

Every muscle in my body is aching! It's 6:20 am here, I only have 40 minutes until work starts (my work starts at 7am and ends at 3pm), and I'm still here in bed with Yuri. At least I can still work with me in bed. #perksofaWAHM

The reason why I'm so tired (as well as everybody in the household - actually, almost everybody active in this village) is that we came from the beach yesterday. We had fun, yes, but sadly, because of some reason, our day also quickly turned sour. Let me rant a little and share with you what happened.

Annoying Gatecrashers

The activity at the beach yesterday was planned as an R&R slash team building activity for everyone who worked hard to make last week's fiesta (our village's first fiesta slash foundation day ever). It was planned among the village officers as a treat to themselves and the youth who laboured really hard for days and even went home at dawn just to finish everything that needed to be finished. 

Obviously, the event should be just for the officers and the youth who call themselves "Cecilia Boys." We cooked our own food and paid for our own entrance fees etcetera. The boys used their prize money from the basketball game they played in during the fiesta. And we had fun.

Including this kiddo

Until the gatecrashers came in.

Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 5): Highway Robbery in Vigan

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

Nothing much happened during Day 5. We checked out of our hotel in Vigan early in the morning, at around 4:30 am, and we found ourselves traveling back to Manila.

But here are the more interesting stories of how we got ripped off in Vigan.

VIa entertainment.desktopnexus.com/

Carinderia Scuffle

I believe I already told you about the first time we got ripped off  (yes, there's a second time!) - in less than an hour after arriving in Vigan. Because our rooms in the hotel were still being fixed and we wanted to try "authentic" Ilocano dishes, we decided to give the nearby carinderia a try. The place was really sparse - there were only monobloc chairs and even these were lacking - but I guess the adventuring spirit really kicked up in us because we eagerly took our seats and ordered the Ilocano fare we were hoping for.

Lo and behold, we were given below average-tasting dishes with a few pieces of meat tossed in. When I worked in the office 4 years ago, we sometimes ate from a very little carinderia where the taxi drivers eat, and the food we bought there was delicious. What I mean is that eating in a carinderia doesn't mean eating a poor excuse for a dish. Even their pinakbet has cabbage - who puts cabbage in their pinakbet?

Worse, the servings were very little. And worst? The owner of the carinderia increased the prices of the dishes and drinks every time. For example, when we first asked one of the "servers" the price of family-sized soft drinks, she said P25. Then the owner would insist that it is 35 or 40. Everything kept getting more expensive!

We paid more than P500 for 5 cups of rice and 4 measly platitos of ulam.

(Actually, the worst thing about that carinderia is how their food sent me to the emergency room! That was one of the few times I thank God Yuri is picky!)

Tricycle Kafuffle

Speaking of the emergency room, before we were actually able to check out, my mom had to take me to the hospital because my stomach pains (and nausea and diarrhea again) came back and were even more terrible than the first time. We asked the front desk for the nearest hospital, and the ladies pointed us to "Lahoz Clinic and Hospital."

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 25, 2015 at 2:16am PDT

Yes, it was very near (just 5 minutes away from Green R). Yes, we immediately discovered that it was also a rundown hospital. The funniest thing about that hospital is that everyone is asleep - even the guard. If I didn't have a bowling ball for a stomach then, I would've laughed loudly. But it's fine; I was given acceptable service. And it was not in the hospital where we got ripped off.

No, it was the tricycle driver who did the honours. When we came out of the hotel, he and his tricycle were just by the front door so naturally, we approached him. We requested to go to Lahoz Hospital. It was already 2am, so we asked him if he could wait so that we wouldn't have any problem going back to the hotel.

When we emerged from the hospital, instead of going back to the hotel, we asked to be taken first to another hospital nearby, which is Metro Vigan Hospital (which is the better hospital) since the medicines we needed to buy were not available in Lahoz. Off we went.

Finally, after buying the medicines, we asked to drop by a 7-11 on the way back to the hotel to buy Gatorade and some food. Then we finally went back to the hotel.

On the way, my mom and I decided to give the driver P200 since they charge P15/person - we had a total of 4 stops (including the hotel) but thought to pay the driver extra for his time. When we handed him the payment, he looked at us incredulously and said, no, he's charging us P330.

P330 for a tricycle ride. In a small town. At 2-3 am when there weren't even any other passengers who could have ridden his tricycle.

I mean, he even knew I was very sick, but he still demanded his fee. We didn't want to start a fight with this potentially dangerous stranger in the middle of a strange town so, while mumbling to ourselves, I handed my precious P300 to him. Huhu.

Then I thought of the tricycle driver who kindly gave me a tour of Vigan museums, did not charge an exorbitant fee, and even volunteered to take our orders for longanisa (which he promptly delivered to our hotel while we were still in the hospital - I hadn't even given him payment yet!). What a difference! I just feel like I need to say this to clarify that I am not generalizing Ilocanos from Vigan.

Please tell me honestly as we are not from Luzon (in Davao City, tricycle fares start from as low as P5 and rude drivers - jeepney, tricycle, taxi - are actually a rarity): did the second tricycle driver charge us fairly?

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (What I Missed from Day 4): Ilocos Norte

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

I know most of you have already read my sob story of coming up with a mysterious stomach flu right in the middle of our summer trip, so I won't burden you anymore with the details. The gist is that following our itinerary, we are supposed to head to Ilocos Norte on the fourth day. But I guess God had another plan for me when I found myself alone in Vigan (here's my post describing my solo museum-hopping trip in Vigan).

They proceeded to Ilocos Norte without me, but at least they brought with them photos. Yes, only photos, no food. The worst thing to bring a girl with stomach flu is probably food anyway!

Of course, since I was not there, I could not describe the photos, but let's look at some of them and let them tell the story that is Ilocos Norte:

(I was told that the camera died shortly after they arrived in Ilocos Norte, which explains why most of the shots are not high-res.)

Paoay Church

Laoag

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse

An Eyebrow Epiphany

Let me talk about "vanity" and physical appearances a bit.

I have always been a low-maintenance kind of girl. I used to go out the house wearing nothing but loose powder on the face and maybe a touch of lip gloss. As in loose powder pa talaga, not even pressed powder. I did not notice anything bad during that time, but recently, just months ago, I realized I needed to "update" my look because I meet new people all the time. After all, first impressions matter!

The very thing that I changed was my eyebrows. I did not get them professionally done, though. My eyebrows are just DIY haha. But yes, I did realize that the face of a person dramatically changes when her brows are well-groomed and well filled-in. Before the realization, I used to look like this:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Oct 6, 2014 at 7:44pm PDT

And this:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Apr 19, 2014 at 7:28pm PDT

Don't ask me what those wriggly bushes are; those are actually my brows. And while I do not think I looked absolutely hideous, I knew they did nothing for my face and they actually look unruly, as if I don't know how to groom them. The first photo above is the last day my brows ever looked like that because on that day, I finally bought my now-favorite beauty tool: Etude House Draw my Brows.

I've only changed colors but have been loyal to that eyebrow pencil ever since. I really love how my eyebrows are done in 2 minutes tops. I've been wearing it every single day including short trips to the playground. I feel naked without it!

Of course, my eyebrows "grew" with me. First, I only plucked/shaved the "excess" hairs, then I gradually learned how to trim then, then I learned how to shape them so that they frame my face nicely. I'm still learning; I'm open to advice guys hihi.

And last Sunday, my epiphany happened. Yuri and I were in Etude House to buy another eyebrow pencil when the two ladies in front of us in the line were looking at my eyebrows. One of them is just beginning her "eyebrow journey" and the other lady actually pointed at me to show her my eyebrows. What. I was so embarrassed because I didn't even take time filling my brows that day (I was still tired from the village fiesta the previous day). They asked me what I do with it and what product I use.

Wala lang, I just realized that people do really look at eyebrows, whether consciously or unconsciously. I realized how truly important they are (am I sounding like a shallow, vain girl right now?), and how a single change in grooming or fixing them dramatically alters the entire face. I mean, I read about that all the time, but it was only last Sunday when it happened to me in real life.

What about you? What do you do with your brows?

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 4): Vigan Museums

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

During our fourth day of vacation, I was left in Vigan while all of the others (including Yuri) traveled upward to Ilocos Norte. At first, I moped around in the room because I was still in pain. Because I was not familiar with the place at all, I decided to just stay in and do some self-treatment inside of go to a hospital. (It's difficult to go to the emergency room alone in my experience.)

I think I slept until 10am, and I felt my stomach getting a little better. When I felt good enough to walk around, I went out of the hotel and bought food AKA energy drink and a bunch of bananas. This was my lunch (or brunch actually) for that day:

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 23, 2015 at 9:34pm PDT

It was really fortunate that our hotel was located just in front of a grocery. It's not your usual city grocery, but it's good. There was actually a Puregold supermarket across, too, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to buy just one drink there. There were also several 7-11s, but I think they don't have bananas.

After eating my food, I just lounged around some more and watched Shake, Rattle, and Roll on TV (the one with the Ondoy feature). At 3pm, I decided to not waste my day in Vigan. Since we were not able to visit museums before - they close early - I decided to go museum-hopping. After all, I'm in one of the most historical places in the world!

So I took a bath, changed my clothes, went out of the hotel, and asked the first tricycle driver I saw to take me on a tour. That's the thing with Vigan: everyone can be a tour guide at the drop of a hat. I was blessed that I found a kind driver who took me to places safely and didn't ask for an exorbitant fee (I have a story about being charged exorbitantly in Vigan - I will tell you about it next time). He even took me to a place that makes fresh longanisa everyday, and the driver himself dropped off our orders of longanisa at our hotel later at 4 am. How kind!

Anyway, these are the places that I saw. Forgive me for the low-resolution photos; my camera was in Ilocos Norte. And keep in mind that I was still recovering from a sickness haha #excuses

Crisologo Museum

Floro S. Crisologo was the patriarch of the clan and a congressman known for being responsible for landmark legislations that not only benefited his constituents but the whole country as well. He authored the laws behind the creation of the North’s first state university, the University of Northern Philippines, and the establishment of the Social Security System, which serves the whole working populace to this day.

On a Sunday in October 1970, while he was inside the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Congressman Crisologo was shot in the head by a still unidentified gunman.

The mansion of the Crisologos is open for public viewing throughout the week. Visitors may find it in Vigan’s Liberation Boulevard. One may enter for free the museum and view the antiques, memorabilia and other prized possessions of the Crisologos steeped with history. (Vigan.ph)

Finance Friday: 7 Ideal Summer Businesses You Can Start Today

At long last, summer break is here! It’s indeed great to finally be able to relax and get a break from school. However, there’s that minor fact that you won’t be receiving any allowance from your parents for the time being. Don’t despair though, because there are plenty of ways to make some money at minimum or no capital at all! It’s not even about finding opportunities anymore. You can actually make your own opportunities to earn money. Here are some ways how:

1. Cellphone Loading

This is probably one of the cheapest and easiest to manage business ideas for the summer. If your summer plans so far consist of staying home, go to the nearest loading center instead. Avail of a cellphone loading kit and you’re ready to start earning. Who knows, your cute next-door neighbor might come knocking one day to buy prepaid credits.

2. Merienda Stand

Sell halo-halo, fish balls, kikiam, and cheese sticks to the kids in your neighborhood. The ingredients are not too expensive and preparation is very straightforward. This is a fun venture to start with friends or family members. Got a blender? Sell fruit shakes in the afternoon. All you need to set up is a table, chair, and a small space! You’d probably need a cooler, too.

3. Garage sale

Rummage around your closet or around the house for stuff that you don’t really use anymore but those other people might be interested in. Collect old clothing, shoes, furniture, books, appliances, and even toys, and hold a garage sale! Schedule your garage sale in advance and put posters all over the neighborhood. Be creative so you get people’s attention. Come opening day, your garage sale will be a hit!

4. Online selling

There are ways for you to earn profit from the time you spend online. You’ll find plenty of people selling everything from clothing and accessories to books and pastries through Facebook! If you don’t have the inclination to hold an actual garage sale, you can definitely try selling goods and services online. If you’re into arts and crafts and would like to sell your creations, try websites like Etsy.com.

5. Car washing

Offering services such as car washing requires only your labor as capital. Offer to wash cars of family members or your neighbors for a cheaper fee compared to car washing centers. Washing cars can actually be a lot of fun. It’s a good excuse to play with water (lots of it!) under the sun—and you get paid in the process. Just make sure to ask the car owners if they’d like their cars washed any special way and adhere to those requests.

6. Tutoring

Do a little good this summer by offering tutorial services to kids. You can advertise online or have family and friends help you tell people they know through word of mouth. Offer tutoring services for Math, English, or Science. Play any musical instrument? Teach others how!

Tutoring usually pays well and you can bill by the hour. The best thing is you only need knowledge, a few reference books, and in some cases, minimal transportation allowance.

If you’re exceptionally good in English, you can try to earn by teaching English online. Websites like RareJob.com connects you with people around the world who want to learn English. All you need is a stable Internet connection. Register with the website and pass screening tests to get started immediately.

7. Sports clinics

Summertime is when a lot of parents look for activities their children might join in. If you’re quite good at any sport, offer to teach or coach young kids (or even adults in your neighborhood) for a small fee. How to get started? Advertise a free session and invite everyone to go! It will help rouse people’s interests and let them get a preview of the sort of things they can learn from you.

Have a productive summer by using your time (this is your most valuable investment) to earn some money! Starting a small business or offering your services gives you invaluable experience. When the time comes that you go looking for a real job or ready to start a serious business, your stint as an online teacher or an online seller will get you farther than you think.

If professional employment is a long way off, at least you can get some extra pocket money to buy that gadget you’ve always wanted or grow your personal savings!

This post is brought to you by:

MoneyMax.ph is the Philippines’ leading financial comparison site where you can save money by comparing financial and car insurance products and services – fast, comprehensive, and free. We aim to give the power of smart purchase decisions back to Filipino consumers by providing everything they need to become financially savvy. Like us on Facebook to get the latest tips on how to save.

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The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 3): Bantay and Vigan

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

Early the following morning, at around 4:30 am, we checked out from the house and started gathering by our van. However, we weren't able to get out because our neighbor's car was blocking the driveway. We were finally able to start traveling to Ilocos at 5 am. We were so excited!

Call me naive, though, but I didn't expect Ilocos to be sooo far. I thought it would be, like, 3 hours away, but 3 hours passed and we were still in La Union! We slowly began removing our jackets and cardigans and realized we were not in Baguio anymore. Haha!

Tirik na ang araw when we finally arrived in Bantay, the town before Vigan. We got off our van for a photo op at Quirino Bridge.

Quirino Bridge

Then we headed to 

St. Augustine Parish

...this grotto of 

Our Lady of Charity

...and 

Bantay Bell Tower

We then proceeded to our hotel in Vigan, which is a budget hotel called Green-R (I'll write a separate post about our accommodations. Because everyone was so tired from the travel, we decided to rest first in our individual rooms but not before eating lunch at a nearby carinderia.

Why did we choose to eat in a carinderia? We wanted to experience genuine Ilocano dishes and foolishly thought we could eat genuine dishes there. But the dishes turned out to be average, and the owner charged us exorbitantly. Imagine, it was a really shabby place that lacked chairs, and for just our table alone, we were charged P500 for 4 viands - and the servings were really small! (Plus I still think I got stomach flu from the food there.) 

So much for that rant. At 3pm, we went out from the comfort of our rooms and toured Vigan.

Baluarte

Emergency Rooms, Preschools, My New Hair Color and Other Stories

Hi guys! It's 3:30 am here and I cannot sleep. It has been an hour since my mother and I came back from the hospital. Yes, I was in the hospital again! I feel exhausted, but I can't fall asleep so I decided to blog. After all, I have so much to tell you as I wasn't able to blog as often as I used to in the past months.

Emergency Rooms

Earlier, at 12 midnight, I woke up to very terrible stomach pains, diarrhea, and nausea. The works. It's also very similar to the symptoms I experienced during our vacation (which I have yet to write about).

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Mar 25, 2015 at 2:16am PDT

"My view earlier at 2 in the morning while lying down on a bed in a run-down hospital in Vigan."

I already learned my lesson (I delayed going to the hospital last time), so this time, after the first "bathroom session," we immediately headed off to the emergency room right away. I was prescribed medicines, but because I was not able to "go" inside the hospital, we decided to go through lab tests tomorrow, err, later today.

A photo posted by Marie Angeli Laxa (@maanlaxa) on Apr 12, 2015 at 11:50am PDT

For someone like me who rarely gets a fever, being in emergency rooms twice within the span of three weeks is an alien feeling. However, I've always had a weak stomach - when I was 10, pabalik-balik kami sa ospital for almost a month because of acute gastroenteritis. LBM is not a stranger to me so I've learned to self-medicate, but for this case tonight and the diarrhea-nausea that happened to me in Vigan three weeks ago, I was in a lot of pain - akin to labor pains actually! - thus the need to go to the emergency room. I'll be having lab tests later, and I hope it's nothing serious!

Preschools

The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 2): Baguio Part 2

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

I promised to write about our actual tour around Baguio City yesterday, but something came up. You know what that is? A freaking cockroach went inside our air conditioner. I noticed a clicking sound when I turned it on, and when I investigated, I saw na the sound came from the cockroach trying to escape from the a/c. Ugh creepy! I already sprayed it with insecticide, but it didn't come out, and our bed is directly beside the air conditioner, so I didn't want us to sleep in the room.

Since we haven't had the time to have our a/c cleaned yet, we've been camping in my parents' bedroom drive yesterday. So I also wasn't able to blog haha.

So much for that segue. Let's now talk about Baguio!

Early next morning, we prepared to be toured around Baguio. Our driver slash tour guide, Mang Leo, said we're heading off to the farthest place first, which was Strawberry Farm in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Strawberry Farm, La Trinidad, Benguet  

Because strawberries cost a lot more if you pick them, (P400/kilo vs. P100/kilo of bought from the vendors), we didn't try it na. We just walked around the farm, took pictures, and bought lots of food from the many stalls.

The Ultimate Summer Trip (Day 1): Baguio Part 1

Read about the entire 6-day trip here.

After more than 2 weeks, I finally found the time to write about our 6-day trip. I kept writing 5 days in some of my old posts, and when I did the math, I realized 6 days pala. Oops!

We temporary said goodbye to Davao on March 21, a Saturday. You must know that I have classes on Saturdays and Sundays, so I was actually absent for two days. I didn't like to be absent from class, but we already had our trip booked last year when we expected real estate brokerage classes to begin in January and be done in February or early March. Long story short, buti nalang a maximum of 2 absences is allowable.

This is Yuri's second flight (first flight was to Cebu when he was just 7 months old), but this was the first time he got his own seat! He didn't stay in it, though.

We arrived in Manila at around 12:45 pm, and we haven't had any lunch yet save for the sandwiches we ate during the flight. However, we headed straight to our waiting driver and rented van to save time. We figured we can just pass by a drive-through and be on our merry way. Because some of us were late (ehem), we weren't able to leave NAIA until 2 pm.

There were 15 of us in our group, by the way, not including the driver. We went on this trip with my aunt, my cousins, my nephew, and some family friends.

But grabe ang traffic sa Manila that we never found the opportunity for a drive-thru. Grabe, I get annoyed here in Davao when I get stuck in traffic for 3 minutes. Dear Manileños, I admire your patience! As for probinsyana me, I'll stay here. Hee hee.

It was fun taking photos of milestones along the way, thanks to a hyper-zoom camera. I think we were more than 40 feet away in a moving vehicle when I took this shot. But I stopped taking photos when hyper-acidity hit me!

Obviously, everyone was getting hungry. We were munching on our snacks, but those are not enough, right? Ang tagal naming nakalabas sa Manila; it took us almost 3 hours yata. (Matagal na ba yun?) We were able to eat lunch only when we stopped over at Bulacan.

Our trip from there to Baguio was still long, obviously, but relatively easy because there were no more traffic jams especially along NLEX. Now, that's the kind of road trip I can tolerate!

It was already dark when we reached La Union and even darker when we entered Kennon Road. I swear, I will never go through that road again. The next time I need to visit Baguio, I will just hop on a plane. Road trips are not for me, so having to endure the winding Kennon Road for what must have been an hour was torture! I had a toddler with me pa, so double the torture. #chicken #carsickproblems

Online Shopping Made Easier with iprice

I have been shopping online since college, and I became almost fully dependent on it when I became a mom in 2012. I mean, who has time to go to the mall with a baby just to buy baby-friendly insect repellent or nature-approved household stuff? I certainly did not.

There was a time in 2013 when I had packages coming every week. I went to malls every week, too, but I did not have to buy there (except when there are sales). Almost everything we needed was taken care of by online shops.

However, despite the convenience of online shopping, I found myself wishing for one thing. You see, it can be frustrating to go from shop to shop to look for a particular thing. There were also times when it is difficult to accurately compare prices between shops. Sometimes, I wished there was a website that took care of this need and listed everything sold in major online shops so that we wouldn't have to waste precious time shop-hopping.

iprice must have heard this wish.

Officially Employed with the Perfect Gigs

I know it has been more than a week since we arrived from our vacay (which I promise to write about this week - promise), but this is my first Monday with my new job after the first weekend that I did not have to go to class. (I just graduated!)

Side note before I begin: I really miss going to class. I enjoyed every second of it, and now, I have my weekends back, but I kinda feel lonesome. Huhu. Not to mention board exams are fast approaching!

Back to the show. Oh yes, I have a new job. It's still homebased, but I'm actually employed now and not just a freelancer. I've been connected to a particular company since 2011 and have worked with them full-time since 2012, but I did not have an "employed" status. Nobody among us did as we were considered service providers.

The circumstance was fine because I controlled my own time and I could work and not work whenever I wanted to (which is, of course, subject to certain conditions). I also did not have to report to a particular employer though we worked with teams. The setup was perfect for a work-at-home mom, and I used to recommend the job to everyone.

I first started to see the downside of the job when I decided to get my own property. Since it was under my name, I needed to produce my own employment certificate. I could not get one from our company because my status was service-provider, not employee. It caused a lot of trouble on our part, but thanks to God, it all turned out well. I was never able to get an employment certificate bt the way.

I still continued to work for the company because, honestly, I loved the job. I like helping students improve their work and the thought that my suggestions and comments might have helped them attain a higher grade.

But early this year, if you remember, I got into a career dilemma as we underwent a lot of changes. Still undergoing changes as a matter of fact. And when I weighed my options, I realized that though I still wanted to improve as a teacher, it ceased to become the practical choice. Instead of earning a particular amount per hour, because of the changes, inevitably, my earnings also decreased; they were slashed into more than half. I knew then that I should start looking for new opportunities.

I started by accepting a part-time writing job for a client who owns the Christian company, Memory Cross. This was truly a blessing for me not only because my client is good (supervises but does not micro-manage, criticizes and praises) but also because my job helps me grow as a Christian. It also pays really well for a job that requires just two (2) articles per week.

Source: benziher.wordpress.com

My setup last month was to work this part-time job, work occasionally for my old job, and write freelance. Suffice to say, it was stressful and, financially, I had to keep borrowing from Job. In other words, the tiring setup was fruitless.

What You Can Sacrifice This Holy Week

Source: oakwoodfwb.com

I belatedly realized that this week pala is Holy Week. I blame that on not being fully employed (until today -  I will share with you the details soon!) and the jetlag from our trip.

Kung makajetlag, akala mo kung saan nanggaling. Luzon lang pala!

Anyway, I've been hearing and reading again promises to give up meat on Holy Friday. If you love eating meat and want to sacrifice something you love in order to deny yourself and focus on Jesus, by all means, go ahead. You have my full support (if it matters).

BUT

But if you're only giving up meat because many other people are doing it, you may be doing it just to fit in. In other words, the sacrifice is not for the Lord but for other people.

Also, if you're not into eating meat in the first place, what's the point of giving it up? And if you're going to replace pork with baked salmon or roast turkey, is it still sacrifice?