I got a new pair of shoes for my dear hubby.  Would you like to ask for the brand?  Well it’s not Dockers, Hush Puppies, or even Clarke’s.  It is Almas, never heard?  Well, it says it’s made of genuine leather quality though I doubt it, hehehehe.  However, it’s so affordable, simply because it’s mass manufactured in China.  I can buy every month, & it won’t hurt my pocket, oops, maybe every other month.  Anyway, we’ll see how long will it last.  The bottom line is, he still has a new pair of shoes to replace his smiling old pair.   The thing is, I’d like to see his reaction upon seeing it on Thursday when he comes home.  Good Luck to me.

Most of the time, I keep on dreaming.  Dreaming that I would end up all my debts so soon, that I would go back with hubby in my native land, so we can be all togeter with my 2 kids.  How i wish, it would happen fast. 

Most of the time, I keep on procrastinating.  Though I know its not good, sometimes I end up doing it.  How I wish it would only be once in a lifetime.

Most of the time, I play, in my FB games.  I don’t know how to control it, however, I’m now trying to quit with some of the games.

However, most of the time, I laugh.  I laugh & smile with all of my shortcomings.  And this, I intend to keep, to have most moments of my life, spent with laughter.  anyway, life is too short, so kalewali (never mind) all your problems.  As my husband always says, do not problem the problem, let the problem, problem itself.

 

Yes, it has been for sometime that I stopped blogging.  Am I just burnt out, bored not motivated, so complacent with everything?  However,  I have just awaken and come back to my senses!  No time to waste, life is too short, so I’ve decided to go back with my blogs.

This is the beauty of the world of blogging.  You can stop, pause, relax, chill without no one who wil reprimand or forced you to write.  It’s just your heart and mind who will guide, inspire, enlighten and be willing to share again your every thoughts. 

Hope, I can have this energy again, tomorrow, next week, or even next month.  We’ll see then, Aja!

 

 

This was the story I’ve heard from Fr. Arlo of St. Anthony of Padua.  This story is just a repost.   Forgive me guys, if this doesn’t sound so financial. But I think, this story about Jerry can somehow give a new perspective on how we look at things. Whether, you’re in a big trouble due to debts, stocks are high or low, you have unpaid mortgage or credit cards, business about to be bankrupt, recession and others, still, you or we have two choices, like Jerry. Let me share with you “Jerry’s Story“.

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”
He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “the first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live. “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Jerry continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a deadman’. I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked. Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead’.” Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.

I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything. You now have two choices:
1. Move on and forget this, or… 2. Forward this to the people you care about.
Hope you will choose #2.

Today, Marks the Hijri New Year here in UAE, but since it falls on Friday, weekender here, it’s not a non-working holiday, nevertheless people still commemorates its significance. Here’s what i’ve learned about it.  The Islamic New Year is a cultural event which Muslims observe on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. Many Muslims use the day to remember the significance of this month, and the Hijra, or migration, Islamic prophet Muhammad made it to the city now known as Medina. Recently, in many areas of Muslim population, people have begun exchanging cards and gifts on this day, though this is not commonly done. For Shia Muslims, Muharram is the month grief and sorrow because they mourn the death of Imam Hussain and his companions on the day of Ashura. Ras as-Sana  is the Islamic celebration of the new Hijri year. The term is similarly used in the Arabic language to mark the start of the new Gregorian year. The word literally means “Head of the year,” and is cognate to the Hebrew term Rosh Hashanah. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Muharram migrates throughout the seasons.

Thanks Wiki for the info, now I know!

Oh how I miss the Misa De Gallo, or Simbang Gabi in the Phiippines! I can even smell the special violet puto in Panggulayan, Pinamalayan especially made by Lola Karya.

Misa de Gallo is the Spanish phrase for Midnight mass, more literally translated as “Rooster’s Mass”. It is said that the “Rooster’s Mass” owes its name to the idea that a rooster would have been among the first to witness the birth of Jesus, and thus be the one to announce it. In most Spanish speaking countries, Misa de gallo entails a typical midnight mass, starting at around 12:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve. The custom in the Philippines is that it is a novena of dawn Masses, usually beginning at around 3:00-4:30 a.m., and running from December 16 up to December 24. This practise started during the Spanish colonial period when priests held early dawn masses for the farmers who wanted to attend Christmas mass but could not leave their fields. These masses were held before daybreak, hence the Filipino term “Simbang Gabi” (Midnight Mass). Even today, Filipinos wake up very early in the morning to attend the Misa de Gallo as an expression of devotion to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary. A commonly-held belief is that if an individual completes the nine consecutive days of the Simbang Gabi, the act would merit a wish made by the devotee being granted. One of the customs related to the Philippine Misa de Gallo is the selling of traditional Philippine food, such as puto bumbong (a purple colored rice pastry, seasoned with grated–coconut and brown sugar), tsokolate (a hot cocoa drink), bibingka (flour and egg cakes cooked on top and under), and salabat, or ginger tea, which are sold by vendors outside churches to the faithful. Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misa_del_Gallo”

MANILA - The Philippines is watching 3 key areas that may take a hit from the ongoing Dubai debt crisis: volume of remittances, foreign exchange rates, and the cost of foreign borrowings sourced from global bond market.

These 3 indicate the Philippines’ possible areas of vulnerability when a global economic or financial event ensues.

Dubai shocked creditors last Wednesday when it asked for a 6-month delay on billions of dollars of debt issued by the flagship firm Dubai World conglomerate and its property subsidiary Nakheel, builder of luxury homes on 3 man-made, palm tree-shaped islands.

The news has rattled global capital and financial markets. 

Should we be concerned as well?

 

It’s an answered prayer of all the OFWs all over the world! It would really be a big help for all of us, who keeps on sending money to the Philippines and still have to pay a big amount of money for the service charge!

Starting March next year, families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to enjoy savings of anywhere from P50 to P500 every time they receive remittances.

An agreement between the government and Philippine lenders will cut bank to bank fund transfer fees to only P50 per transaction, resulting in total savings of P92 to P922 million, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

“For our overseas workers, this represents additional money that can benefit their families and other beneficiaries,” BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said.

Under the agreement, universal and commercial lenders would use the BSP’s Philippine Payments and Settlements Systems (PhilPaSS) to transfer cash to beneficiaries’ accounts in other banks.

“As a payment system infrastructure, PhilPass primarily settles high value payments from accounts maintained by banks with the BSP, thereby eliminating settlement risks,” the BSP chief explained.

The agreement would also pave the way for PhilPass to become the local clearing facility for remittance settlement, making transactions safer, faster, and more efficient.

Besides eliminating fund transfer delays, the arrangement will also cut incidents of theft and robbery, especially those involving couriers used by banks to deposit remittances to beneficiaries’ accounts.

Of the total 66.04 million fund transfer transactions from 2006 to 2008, an estimated 1.844 million transactions cover “credit to other banks.”

Before the parties forged the agreement, banks imposed a back-end processing fee from P100 to P550 per transaction.

The agreement covers members of the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (Abroi) including Allied Bank, Asia United Bank, Banco de Oro, Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Bank, the Development Bank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., and United Coconut Planters Bank.

Integration of member banks with the BSP’s PhilPass is expected to be implemented within the year, allowing for test runs in January next year.

Remittances are expected to reach $17.1 billion this year, four percent higher than last year’s $16.4 billion.

Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad reached $12.789 billion from January to September this year, 4.2 percent higher than the
$12.273 billion posted during the same period.

Sources of remittances include US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany. - with RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV

I have read this article today, which made me think that Dubai is really not an exception when it comes to debt problems. This article which was written by Barbara Surk, an Associated Press Writer, clearly explained why Dubai somehow is now into its debt crisis.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – For years, Dubai seemed unstoppable, an oasis of excess boasting indoor ski slopes and manmade islands, the world’s tallest tower and dreams that reached even higher.

Now the bills are coming due, and the emirate’s debt problems are tarnishing a place built on borrowed time and money — and threatening to spill into other Gulf Arab nations.

State-owned conglomerate Dubai World’s call for a delay in repaying some of the $60 billion it owes creditors will likely make international investors view even more fiscally conservative countries through a lens of uncertainty, analysts say.

The announcement is “impacting everybody in the region — the good and the bad,” said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Saudi-based Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group.

“Right now we’re still seeing the impact of this, and the impact will be that everybody is being negatively perceived,” Sfakianakis said.

In Dubai and in other Gulf nations, rulers keep tight control over information on their fiscal standing and dealmaking even as they draw in hundreds of billions of investment dollars.

For example, in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, few were aware of the $22 billion debt crunch confronting two of the kingdom’s largest privately held conglomerates earlier this year. The news filtered out as the companies fought each other in court, with one accusing the other of fraud.

While international investors were once willing to gamble on Gulf countries, largely because of their oil wealth, the global financial meltdown made them less willing to take risks. The Dubai crisis will only heighten those concerns, analysts say.

“Foreign investors will sharply divide the way they recognize investment opportunities in the Gulf based on which countries have oil and which don’t,” said Simon Henderson, a Gulf energy specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, Qatar or even Dubai’s neighboring emirate, Abu Dhabi, Dubai lacks oil wealth. The government-backed entities known as Dubai Inc. tapped credit markets to engineer the city-state’s spectacular growth.

Over the past decade, the tiny emirate, one of seven that make up the United Arab Emirates, transformed itself into a regional financial hub, a magnet for tourists and foreign workers.

It constructed high-rises with stellar Persian Gulf views and an indoor ski slope, and offered a freewheeling lifestyle frowned upon elsewhere in the UAE, as well as the region. A manmade island shaped like a palm frond beckoned. Dubai boldly built the world’s tallest skyscraper, Burj Dubai, set to open in January.

The global credit crisis derailed the dream. Property prices have plunged by 50 percent since last year. Projects were canceled, and expatriate workers left en masse. Today, buildings sit unfinished, apartments unsold or empty.

Dubai World’s announcement that it was seeking at least a six-month delay in paying back its debt sent shock waves around the world Friday. Oil prices dived to near $74 per barrel, and Asian markets tumbled for the second consecutive day. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrials lost more than 150 points.

Dubai’s overall debt load is seen as at least $80 billion, underscoring how grave Dubai World’s announcement was for the emirate’s financial health.

Later comments by one of the emirate’s top financial officials that the call for a delay was a “sensible business decision” and “carefully planned” did little to mitigate the damage.

Henderson said it was “an extraordinarily arrogant decision,” made public on the eve of Thanksgiving in the U.S. and just before a three-day Islamic feast.

“It’s impossible they don’t realize this will be taken as a personal insult by the world’s financial community,” Henderson said, adding that it would not be surprising if creditors were unsympathetic.

Fears about the debt problems were compounded by lack of detail provided by Dubai authorities. The announcement also raised worries that reassurances provided by Dubai over the past few months were just an attempt to hide the magnitude of the problem.

“When people don’t know what the extent of the problem is, their concerns deepen,” said Jane Kinninmont, a London-based specialist on Gulf economies at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Kinninmont said that there is a “real shortage” of economic data to assess the recession’s impact on Dubai.

Two Abu Dhabi majority-owned banks had already bought up $15 billion in Dubai bonds as part of a $20 billion program earlier this year. Analysts are concerned that Abu Dhabi may not back all of Dubai’s assets, and that international lenders will take a second look at investing there and in other Gulf countries with a history of a lack of transparency.

Already, the effects have begun to surface. Standard & Poor’s downgraded its ratings of several Dubai government-related entities, linking its decision to the Dubai World announcement.

“In our view, such a restructuring may be considered a default under our default criteria, and represents the failure of the Dubai government to provide timely financial support to a core government-related entity,” said S&P analysts.

Elsewhere in the region, Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank said it was delaying a sale of $4 billion in five-year bonds that had already garnered 60 orders, pinning its decision on Dubai and the “best interest of investors participating in the deal.”

The latest news is at the very least a wake-up call to investors, analysts say.
“Dubai’s current problems are a long overdue consequence of the bursting of the global property bubble rather than the start of a new financial crisis,” analysts at Capital Economics concluded in a research note Friday.

Analysts said they were troubled by Dubai’s apparent determination to downplay its financial predicament.

Dubai’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, had continually dismissed concerns over the city-state’s liquidity and denied for months that the economic downturn even touched the glitzy city-state. Two months ago, he told Dubai’s critics to “shut up.” - AP

We don’t have work today, time to relax and chill! However, it’s time for my Muslim friends to celebrate their Eid al- Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice!

Eid al-Adha, “Festival of Sacrifice” or “Greater Eid” is a holiday celebrated by Muslims (including the Druze) worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God.

Eid al-Adha is the latter of two Eid festivals celebrated by Muslims, whose basis comes from the Quran. Like Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon.

Eid al-Adha annually falls on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. The festivities last for three days or more depending on the country. Eid al-Adha occurs the day after the pilgrims conducting Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. It happens to be approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.

Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing to perform Eid prayer in a large congregation in an open area or mosque. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice their best domestic animals (usually sheep, but also camels, cows and goats) as a symbol of Ibrahim’s sacrifice. The sacrificed animals, have to meet certain age and quality standards or else the animal is considered an unacceptable sacrifice. Generally, these must be at least a year old.

The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid al-Adha by the concerted effort to see that no impoverished person is left without sacrificial food during these days.

So while having time to relax and enjoy, I greet and respect their Feast! A blessed and peaceful Eid al Adha to all of you!

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