birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and other useless stories

i am officially 23 years old. and for some reason, if i relate this number to what i "feel" i am now, i think this number is a little high. i feel like being 23 means that you've already done certain things in your life or at the very least, have begun doing something really worthwhile and which will eventually have a great impact on your future. this is all, of course, career-related. hay. i think i spent TOO much time in college. if my college life had been normal, (i.e. not too much extra-curriculars and graduating on time), i would have already been working for three years at this point in time! i've only clocked in 6 months. although it is unquantifiable right now, i've always wondered about the opportunity cost of me deciding to focus on other things non-academic during college.

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i totally forgot to post about this blog's second anniversary! wow, bilis ah. the first post in this blog was last march 17, 2004 (you can check the archives section). and ever since then, i've been updating this blog regularly, or at least once a month. it feels weird that i've actually kept a sort-of diary of my life for this long.

i just finished scanning all my previous posts since post #1 and here are some observations:

1.) this blog is totally about me. what i did, what i do, what i plan to do, what i feel, what i did during the weekend, etc.
2.) i blog about useless things.
3.) since post #1, i've changed mindsets along the way.
4.) except for some posts, this blog is completely non-intellectual.
5.) since this blog is about me, you can get a lot of information about who i am just by reading it. in fact, reading some of the posts again made me remember some things about myself. haha!
6.) the things i write down or type here are exactly how i would say it in my head.
7.) sometimes, i feel that i'm too honest.

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two people whom i've known for a long time now are getting married soon to their respective partners. and both of them are just within two years from my age now. wow. and these people really want to get married. not the type na yung tipong na-buntis yung babae or something like that (not that there's anything wrong with that). it simply feels weird. the prospect of marriage has not even stepped foot on my front lawn yet to knock on my door and here are two people, who are practically just as old as i am, raring to enter a new life.

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to continue with my habit of writing about useless things...

1.) one thing i really, really like about my job now is the fact that i am able to read. from books to magazines to newspapers. i think i've read more books from cover to cover in the past six months than during my entire college life! (no wonder na delay ako!).

2.) people may not know this, but even though i wasn't an excellent economics student, i am very, very interested in anything related to international economics. and one thing i don't like right now about the topic is how these developed countries like france and the US are getting so maarte about globalization. these countries used to be at the forefront of making other countries "open up" and yet when these countries face and feel competition from "lesser" countries like china, and india, they all suddently threaten to raise taxes on goods and make attempts to block chinese or indian companies from buying european or US companies. kakainis! spoiled-hypocritical-feeling-superior-society-brats.

3.) one thing i've been doing since my first paycheck that i really like doing is recording all my expenses. i've been using my (little) knowledge of accounting and finance and have been recording every single thing i've spent my own money on making a sort-of income statement. i have categories such as transportation, food and drinks, health and fitness, grooming and retail, entertainment/leisure/r&r, and other categories. and when i say record all things i spend on, i mean, ALL. i record the amount i spend on trike fares, bus fares, and even the money give at church or to street people. i keep all the receipts and for those that don't give out receipts, i record the amounts on my cellphone. thus, i believe my records are pretty accurate. i've been doing this for months now and it's really great to track down on what you've been spending on and to determine areas where you can lessen spending and maximize your own savings rate.