so far...

i want to write something but i can't think of anything interesting to write about. feeling ko i want to share something- a thought, an idea, but i can't think what it is. i don't know. i might just be bored right now kaya i'm writing a post even though i don't really have anything important or interesting to share.

i've been thinking lately what have i been doing since i got back here. i mean, aside from going back to work. i'm pretty sure everyone has an idea of how my life at work has been recently. hopefully, everything gets better as weeks go by- or my boss finds somebody new to hassle besides me. anyways, going back to my original thought, what have i been doing here since i got back? in an attempt to make myself believe that i've done a great deal since moving back here, i will try to make a list of it starting with:

1. i've opened a bank account. a first for me. before, when i was still in school, i actually put my "savings" in a piggybank, as in yung coinbank shaped like a pig. i think i did that until i was in college already. i know it's pretty old school but i never really thought of opening a bank which is kind of weird for me since both my parents work at banks. heck, my dad used to manage a bank! ewan ko ba, i just never thought to put my money somewhere else safer.

2. in line with opening an account i've also opened a checking account. para akong gaga when i got my checkbooks in the mail. i wanted to write out checks just for the heck of it. hehehe. hindi ako masyadong excited. i didn't care that i didn't exactly know how to write a check. i just wanted to issue one. days later, when i actually wrote a check for something and mailed it, i totally forgot to sign my signature on it and had to ask the person i sent the check to to forge my signature. i know it's pretty dangerous to ask somebody to forge a check, especially here but i had no choice. the check needed to be cashed in right away. besides i knew naman that it was going to be safe kasi family naman yung nag-forge. but still, i know it was stupid and i promise never to do it again. i know better now.

3. i've managed to land a lead teacher position without doing anything. i know i wasn't suppose to write about my work anymore since lately that's all i've been talking about but i felt i just had to list it as an accomplishment- or a quasi-accomplishment, at that. i have my own room and two assistants to handle and direct as i see fit. sounds very accomplished, right? pero in real life, it's not really the case. i can't really do what i want in my room kasi napaka-pakialamero ng boss ko. my two assistants are pretty much like a pretend staff i have. most of the time i end up doing most of the work since i am the lead teacher. come to think of it, landing a lead teacher position was more of a curse than an accomplishment because i got more work without getting more pay which sucks so bad i can't even begin to tell you how much.

4. i finally got my own cellphone line. can i just say that i was REALLY happy when i was finally able to get a cellphone. i can't really think how people got by without cellphones before kasi it was hard on me not having a phone for the first few weeks after i came back. i always had to borrow somebody else's phone just to make a call. nakakahiya na manghiram after a while. i was so happy when i got my phone even though i had to pay a few hundred bucks to get it. plus, i was glad to finally get a start on building my credit. you see, here, everything is about your credit. if you have good credit, meaning you pay all your bills on time, you're not on debt, etc. etc. you can get loans for everything- a car, a house, a new pc, anything talaga. hopefully, i don't do anything stupid to mess up what little credit i have right now.

5. i got medical insurance. now, this is also really important here kasi OA sa kamahalan magpagamot dito. here, seryoso talaga yung saying na bawal magkasakit. lalo na if you don;t have money and/or insurance. recently ko nga lang nalaman that you got charged for calling and being rescued by 911- at mahal siya. when i first got here, my cough got really bad and i wanted to go to the doctor's but pinilit ko talaga to get better through over-the-counter drugs kasi wala akong pera. now, kahit wala pa din akong pera (a large chunk of my salary goes to paying insurance every month), at least i have insurance na.

6. i pay taxes now. the first year i worked here i didn't really pay taxes because my status here was kind of complicated. but now that i am, i am still surprised at how much the government deducts from my salary for taxes. man, nakaka-frustrate to see all these deductions on my payslip. ang dami eh. tapos at the end of the year, i have to file my taxes and then pay up again. the UP grad in me feels sort of guilty that i'm not paying taxes in my own country (and i never did) but wala naman akong choice eh, i work and live here so i must pay my taxes here.

7. i've reconnected with the friends i gained the last time i was here. the said friends wouldn't include twinks and faye though kasi we've been friends practically forever so i don't really need to reconnect with them. we're just friends, no matter how long we don't see each other and how much we've changed since the last time we were together, we're just friends (i tend to repeat myself sometimes). anyways, i'm just glad that slowly i'm getting to spend some time with my last-year-gained friends. it's kind of hard to really spend time with most of them kasi most of them live far away but there are a few (tynee? mainstay sa bahay? hehehe) who live nearer that i get to see a lot. i feel really blessed that i got to meet people that i understant and kapareho ko ng wavelength. but i still miss my friends sa pinas. kahit anong mangayri i don't think any new people will be able to replace all the friends i've grown up with sa pinas. ika nga ni beyonce, they're irreplaceable.

hmmmm..right now, i can't think of any thing else really significant (for me, at least) that i've done since i got back so i think i'm going to stop writing now.