gloomy

gloomy
Originally uploaded by gezelle

this is exactly how im feeling right now... ironic because its friday. people should be happy on a friday.

For Sale: 2008 Starbucks Planner

To those of you who never got the chance to complete your promo cards but still dream of having your own 2008 Starbucks Planner or give it away as gift to loved ones, here's an offer hopefully is hard for you to resist (just like a serving of your favorite coffee or any Starbucks beverage)! I am selling a brand new 2008 Starbucks Planner for a very low price of Php800! This item is also being sold at P1100 to P1500 in sulit.com.ph and on eBay. No kidding.

Meet-up Place: Makati, Boni, Guadalupe, Taguig Area. Cash payment to be accepted upon delivery.

Please reply to this post or email me at gfyrivera@yahoo.com if interested.

If you have friends who might also be interested, kindly forward this post to them. Thanks and God bless!

the one where i become the scriptwriter of my life

because i want to be reminded of the life that i want in order to stay committed and inspired and not easily discouraged when problems come my way, i have finally decided to follow what many success authors and financial mentors have advised us to do -- write down our dreams. the writing part was easy. it's the figuring out what you want that's harder. since the beginning of the year, i have prayed and asked God to reveal His dreams for me. i have hesitated and doubted and questioned my own dreams, wondering if they were truly coming from the heart and God-inspired or simply influenced by what i know others expect or want from me.

here's what i came up with... a few have been added or subtracted as i write them down but for the most part, they still reflect what i truly want for my life.

1. i want to be beautiful and to be gracious.
2. i want to love and obey God more and i want to serve Him through church ministries.
3. i want to become a faithful giver and a humble servant.
4. i want to teach more and to share more.
5. i want a career and not just a job.
6. i want a happy and healthy family.
7. i want to study in school again.
8. i want to have loving and meaningful friendships.
9. i want to live long enough and spend Christmases with my grandchildren.
10. i want my own internet cafe and study center near my alma mater.
11. i want a recreational center that students or churches can go to for their retreats or summer camps.
12. i want a house by the beach.
13. i want a hotel/resort by the beach.
14. i want a vacation farm or an estate in Tagaytay.
15. i want a 2-BR condo in makati. somewhere near a starbucks coffee shop.
16. i want real estate properties to rent or sell.
17. i want an orchard. i want to hang swings by the orchard.
18. i want a house with a porch and wooden floors.
19. i want a music room in the house. and i want to learn to play the guitar and master at least three songs in my lifetime!
20. i want a library and a collection of my favorite movies and books.
21. i want a basement where i can create art and a rooftop where i can go star-gazing.
22. i want a family coaster and i want to take my family and friends on trips with it.
23. i want to be a really good photographer. i want people to be inspired with my photos and look forward to seeing more. i want to earn money from being a photographer.
24. i want to go traveling around europe with my best friend during summer and visit venice, rome, paris and prague.
25. i want to go on photography tours around the country and around asia and visit tibet, china and cambodia. i also want to go to egypt and jerusalem.
26. i want a husband whom i can look up to and grow old happily with, and read books to me by the beach or before going to bed.
27. i want a beautiful sunset wedding.
28. i want to go on photo and hiking trips with my son and my husband.
29. i want a daughter and i want to buy pink dresses and white shoes for her.
30. i want a beautiful portrait of myself and my family.
31. i want a sailboat and i want to learn how to sail.
32. i want a car and an SUV and i want to learn how to drive.
33. i want to spend wedding anniversarries on the sailboat.
34. i want a female, brown dog whom i can go sailing with.
35. i want to die peacefully. i want songs of praises and worship to be sang at my wake and funeral.
36. i want a gallery of photos during my wake rather than a casket with a dead body. i want to be cremated and i want some of my ashes to be thrown at sea and some to be used as fertilizer for the orchard.
37. i want a prosperous and blessed life and a life of favor from God.

water drop

water drop
Originally uploaded by gezelle

here's something i shot last night at my father's bathroom. i had to fire flash in order to freeze the motion and to highlight the ripples. read the full story from my photoblog.

let me know what you think!

this is how we party

hip hop
Originally uploaded by gezelle

here's a favorite from my christmas party set and would like to share to everyone. these are accenture employees who participated in a hip-hop dance course offered by the company for free. i enrolled in a dance course myself but unfortunately, was either too busy or too lazy to attend :p

some people really look good when they dance. some are shy but some look so free. for more photos, click on this photo and view my Flickr set.

by the way, you can also send my photos as e-cards by clicking here. hope you find one you think is worth sending over to your friends or loved ones.

lastly, i would like to announce the creation of my photoblog, "pinay and photoholic" -- this site will be obviously dedicated to photography and should already contain photos from my Flickr album and that of my brother's as well. really can't decide yet what title to give this new blog. my friend suggested, "photoccucinta" and i actually think that's cute, haha!

promises worth keeping

this was shared to me by a friend from college who became a wife, a mother and a widower before she would reach age 25. she encourages me by her life, her friendship and her many inspirational emails such as this one :) these are promises worth keeping not just this new year but in each year and each day that we are, and each day that we have.

PROMISE YOURSELF:
To dream more and not to hesitate.
To believe in yourself more.
To appreciate your family and friends for all the wonderful ways they make your life better.
To make each day special.
To become more independent and more willing to change.
To fill your life with special times and never lose sight of your dreams.

And when life seems overwhelming and you can't seem to get everything done... when there isn't enough time to relax and enjoy... when there are little rewards and you wonder if it's all worth it...

Never forget that there are... people who love you and care about you, people who want to help and support you, people who think you're very special and care a lot about you.

Remember HOPE is not closing your eyes to the difficulty, the risk, or the failure.
It is trusting that if you fail, you shall not fail forever.
And if you're hurt, you shall heal.

It is realizing that life is good, love is powerful and the future is full of promise.

Source: http://www.olamadsen.com

first day at sunday school

just a break from all the posts related to money matters and ways to become rich. i would like to share with you a photo taken from the first day i helped around at sunday school. that day, i was assigned to teach basic good manners and right conduct to the kids. there were around 8 kids present that day and their ages would range from 4 to 8, i think.

after a brief prayer lead by the main teacher, it was my turn to teach the kids basic rules within our sunday school such as to be respectful to the teachers, to not shout or run during the class, to not fight with one another, to be helpful to others, to cleanup after eating or after playtime, to raise their hands when they have something to say, to listen when someone else is speaking, to be friendly to their classmates and even friendlier or extra patient to the little ones. through each lesson, i would translate the rules in filipino and ask them to give examples of what they had done in the past to demonstrate good behavior related to what is being discussed.

when i asked them to give examples of how they were helpful in the past, there was this one kid who kept on raising his hand and reciting almost the same thing over and over again, but replacing the name of the person he had helped. first time he recited, he told me that he helped his dad. next time, it was this teacher. and the following one, this other person. haha! it was a little annoying but funny at the same time.

i realized as i was making my powerpoint slide and during the class that many of the basic but most important stuff we would need in adult life were already taught to us early by our kindergarden/prep/sunday school teachers. darn. i should have paid more attention rather than suck my thumbs under the table.

there was even a book about this: all i really needed to know i learned in kindergarden by robert fulghum. i should get a copy of that one of these days. he may have been right after all.

top money mistakes

some five years ago, through the books "rich dad, poor dad" and "simplify and live the good life", i learned the importance of saving for your retirement as early as you can and the difference between an asset and a liability. i also learned that we should pay ourselves first and eliminate bad debts as soon as possible and to invest money instead of just saving it in the bank. despite knowing all of these basic money principles in my younger days, i was still bound to commit the following money mistakes the succeeding years:

1. i had little discipline about money. it was enough for me to know that i was saving up a certain amount each pay day for the rainy days. i did not even know how much or what percent as long as i save up. and i saved up only after i had spent. when i would get bonuses, even those which i did not expect, i would buy first then save up what's left. that's how i was able to buy my relatively expensive digital point-and-shoot camera early 2005 (the cost was a little over $400). my company gave me a "productivity bonus" unexpectedly and without giving much thought, i decided to buy me my shiny new toy. if i had invested that bonus in a mutual fund, i would have earned more or less 10% each year and the amount could have doubled after maybe 7 or 8 years.
2. after some time, upon realizing mistake #1, i became a saver. i did enroll for the savings and loans association in the company which would deduct 20% of my salary automatically each month and place that amount in a savings account shared by all the members of the association. the interest i would get from these savings would be relatively higher than what i could get in the bank. so, i followed the advice and paid myself first. it was 20% of what i was earning. however, after getting salary increases year after year, my contribution remained 20%. whenever i would get an increase, i would upgrade my lifestyle a little bit and keep spending the additional money i had managed to live without previously. this time i saved up first, but i did not have goals to increase my savings every year.
3. i shopped for therapy and i bought things just to replace something i had lost. i would spend on shoes and clothes just because i felt "unpretty" that day. i would spend on food "just to feel happy". when i was in the US last year, i bought many items just because i was feeling a little depress that day. what's even worse about these spendings is that almost half of these purchases were bought in credit and were not within budget. i was spending money and incurring bad debts. i used my homesickness or loneliness as an excuse to spend. i was spending money i did not yet have and banks are charging me for it. totally huge mistake.
4. i did not give back to the Lord faithfully. i have committed to giving back 10% of my earnings to the Lord's ministry but throughout the years, i would always find excuses to give less thinking that God understands. on some occassions, my excuses were valid. but on most, they were not. shame on me for spending what rightfully belongs to God and His church -- the workers, the pastors and their families and those who are in much greater need than me. despite this however, the Lord was merciful and faithful enough to allow me to realize my mistakes and continued to provide for everything me & my family needs and oftentimes, a little more. how loving our God really is!
5. without any solid retirement plan or investments in place, i decided to purchase a condo unit. i have several reasons for getting my own place and living independently but looking back, it would have been wiser if i had invested some of my savings on mutual funds (which would eventually become my retirement fund) rather than spending all of it as downpayment for the house.

so there. my top money mistakes. avoid them as much as you can!

here's the last one i would like to share: i did not write down my Life Dreams when i first read about the importance of doing it. i thought it was not necessary thinking that our dreams will always remain with us forever, just like our own shadows. they will follow us anywhere we go. what a great mistake to have thought this way! because after a year or so, what i thought i wanted to happen in my life started to become blurry even for me. whatever goals or visions or passions i had 5 years ago, started to feel strange and foreign. i lost sight of what i wanted and i lost control of my own life. until recently, i felt like being a supporting actress in my own movie rather than the lead star.

if i think about it, if my dreams were clear to me from the beginning and i am constantly reminded of it, i could have avoided many of my money mistakes above. sayang!

write down your Life Dreams so you will stay focused and committed. ask God to reveal them to you if you have forgotten about them or still unsure. ask God to whisper them to your heart again and write them down as He does. next post, i will share with you my Life (and Death) Dreams.

the true millionaire's prayer

for the next couple of days or weeks, i will write to you about money and share with you a few things i have read from the book, "8 secrets of the truly rich", written by bo sanchez, the best-selling author of "simplify and live the good life" and also publisher of six magazines and founder of several organizations one of which takes care of the abandoned elderly. i am currently in the process of eliminating the financial clutter in my life and hopefully start creating abundance. this year, my goal is to eliminate bad debts and start investing money where it could grow exponentially. i will tell you a story in later posts why these two are almost coming true for me already.

i plan to share financial principles i am learning along the way in the hope that you will also learn a thing or two and maybe consider applying them in your life as well. it would also be better if i can get your thoughts and additional inputs on the subject of money as well.

the reason why im concerning myself a lot about money these days is simply because i have lack of it :) according to bo, money isn't the most important thing in the world, but it affects every important thing in the world. i could not agree with him more.

last year, my lack of money affected almost everything i am concerned about. it affected my family because i am sharing less than i used to, it affected my hobby because i could not buy accessories for my digital camera or join out-of-town photography trips, it affected my ministry and spiritual life because there were times when i would choose to stay home on sundays instead of join the service to avoid spending money on food and transportation. and worse, because i lack enough money, i also had to decrease the percentage of my earnings that i set aside each month to give back to our church and to God's ministry. i also had to stop sending P450 each month to world vision to help a child with his education. this is very heart-breaking for me.

this year, i choose to break free from all this and commit myself to becoming rich.

i have not finished reading the book. i am only on Secret #5, but it has become a blessing and a source of encouragement for me, not only because i am learning a lot about financial management but more so because it creates a balance between creating material wealth and gaining spiritual abundance at the same time. here's a prayer from the book that i would like to share to everyone:

today, i ask You to bless me so that i may become a blessing.

Lord, I commit myself to enrich others.

But because I cannot give what I do not have,

I commit myself to become rich.

I commit myself to serve You and to serve the poor with my wealth.

Today, I open myself to the abundance of Your universe.

Use me as Your channel of love.

Give me the ability to create wealth that will bless the world.

Increase my financial wisdom and expand my territories.

I place my life in Your hands. Amen.

in my succeeding posts, i will tell you what financial mistakes i have committed in the past, and how i plan to correct them by applying the principles in bo's book.

100 Kwentong Peyups

Please forward to any UP alumni who might be interested. Kung totoong manunulat lang ako e malamang nagpadala na rin ako. I'm really looking forward to reading the stories that will be published in the Inquirer. Ayos siguro kung may kakilala akong malathala.

As part of UP's 100th year celebration, we are putting together '100 Kwentong Peyups', a series of columns which will appear in PDI and Philippine Star throughout the year. We invite all past students of any of the University of the Philippines' units to submit their stories. Submissions should:

• Be a maximum of 1,000 words
• Be a personal experience and written in the 1st person
• Emotionally engaging --- funny, sad, scary, etc.
• Make the connection between the story and a life lesson that serves you well today.

If possible, please include an old photo/scanned memento. Please include your name, College or Unit and Course, and year you entered UP as well as your email address. If you remember your Student Number, even better.

Send your submissions to this email address: 100kwentongpeyups@campaignsandgrey.net

You will be notified via email if your story has been selected for publication or for use in other Centennial celebrations. Submissions will be accepted starting January 1, 2008.

one lonely planet

...imagine an abandoned and deserted world...

i wanted a set that would depict a world that has been deserted and abandoned by its people, whether by choice or other reasons. here's the closest picture i can come up with. most photos are black and white, but some have been rendered with colors. my favorite ones would be "guardpost" and "crooked". please click on the above photo to view the gallery.

all photos taken in UP Diliman Campus on the first day of 2008. the reason why i wanted a set like this is so that we can realize how a single person can make a difference in this world. imagine how each of the picture would look like if there was at least one person in it. anyway, im sure you get the idea. let me know what you think of the photos :)

have a happy and blessed new year everyone!