Telebanking 101

I have just received my new ( or renewed ) credit card yesterday as the old one is expiring on monthend. A day ago, I was just so engrossed on how I could make a bank transaction by dialling a touchtone phone. Damn! I was able to pay my credit card dues without doing it in an ATM or visiting the nearest crowded and number-crazed bank! And at the moment, this is the greatest discovery for me after the wheel! It just relieves me of having to go through serious hassles of paying my bills or even enquiring about my current balance.

Which made me recall the first time ever I set foot in a bank during my grade school year. I was just about to turn 11 then and my father asked me to run an errand for him ( after he saw me spending my vacation days happily with my friends and kalaro ). He asked me to go to Metrobank and ask the teller to update his passbook. Being an obedient child ( yeah, yeah ), I, of course obliged after being given the instruction which was completely Chinese to me! And what does he expect! At that time, had he asked me to pick up something from the ground using my mouth by bending my body backwards, THAT could have been way, way easier! Or, had there been a touchtone telebanking system...

But then, it's Jurassic age so I left the rock house and my dino-playmates ( definitely against my childish heart's will! ) thinking I could have owned a house ( we call it bahay ) in our game of piko had my father had the heart to let me enjoy the most blissful human development stage called CHILDHOOD.

Anyway, that was a decade and a half ago, and I could only thank my father now for forcing me to realize early on that there is a big, big corporate world out there other than the world of toys and dolls and petty crushes...

I never thought that 5 years later, I would be taking up a degree in Accountancy and finish it after four years in flying colors. And, I have never seriously imagined that after graduation, I would experience a brief stint of a banker's life ( talk about traumatic experience, huh! ).

Yup! I have worked in Landbank of the Philippines in Taft Avenue.

Err...I'm back?

Most of the people who reads my blog should know by now how busy I am doing some other stuff ( like handing over some tasks to my colleagues before I go on vacation ) that I can not even visit my own blog and update it.

Goodness, it's been almost a week now since my last post, so I'm just gonna try to compensate on my "shortcomings".

18 days to go - *the rice fields*

I came from San Jose City ( the Tanduyong ( a variety of onion ) Capital of the Philippines ) in Nueva Ecija ( The Rice Granary of the Philippines ). In short, I came from the bukid area of Luzon. At sa kabukiran, walang kalungkutan ( Silvia Latorre, pasok! )

Sa bukid walang papel...kaya, wala ring monthend reports, walang credit meeting report, walang payment follow up form, walang PM folio, walang credit card batch send report o dispute, walang rebate, walang refund, walang pre-arbitration cases na dapat i-handle, walang aging analysis at kung ano ano pang sandamakmak na accounting reports... susme! Why did I ever come to Dubai?????

19 days to go! - *the mall*

Filipinos would always comment on how difficult life is in the Philippines, mainly complaining about their financial status. Mahal na daw ang mga bilihin ngayon.

But judging from the number of malls sprouting in the Philippines from, like, everywhere, and with every Filipino crowding up each one of them, anyone would think - nasaan ang kahirapan?

My friend Mitz told me that Dubai is arguably the shopping haven to beat. I have contemplated on that for quite some time because I have never really been to some other parts of the world except Philippines, Singapore and Dubai. So, I have looked up for shopping malls in the internet and found out that most of the biggest shopping malls are in Asia and that 4 in the top 10 can be found in the Philippines. Hmmmm, I wonder if that, at all, is relevant to dispute Mitz' contention...

Then, I went on to think further by recalling the times I went shopping in the Philippines and the times I visited the malls in Dubai. And that's when I finally managed my way to a Eureka!

You see, it is not the branded items that departs the Philippine malls from the rest of the world's. On the contrary, I think it is the availability ( or affordability ) of most of the items that endear most Filipinos to frequent shopping malls. It is that feeling of having bought any "something" that would sooner or later remind you of what happened on December 05, 2006 in Glorietta. Which, consequently drives me to my next point.

Most of the times I went out "malling" was with my friends ( or family or special someone ). Call it baduy but there is just so much fun and experience with malling. Siyempre, andun na rin yung pa-cute factor. There are a 1001 ( goodness, even more! ) activities going on in a mall everyday. And some of it would become part of those memories you would really love to recall. ( ok, confirmed, baduy!) Anyway, the point is, it is not just about shopping, it is the experience!

Ah basta! I can not wait to visit at least SM Megamall!

20 days to go! - * the rain*

...rain...
feel it on my fingertips
hear it on my window pane
your love's comin' down like
...rain...
wash away my sorrow
take away my pain
your love's comin' down like
...rain...

(lyrics from the song "Rain" by Madonna )

I guess I would never, ever outgrow my fondness for a rainy day. Being in Dubai for almost 4 years now, I think I have just counted 5 - 7 occasion of rain and I am left convincing myself that it couldn't be that sunny here...(oh well, you can't really have it all, right?)

It's not that I don't like a sunny weather ( although if it goes to extremes like a 50 deg. Cel temperature, I call it quits...), it's just that, there is something about a rainy afternoon that leaves me sooooo damn melancholic...while I'm stucked in my bed listening to Karen Carpenter sing "Yesterday Once More", I look back at my grade school days trying to remember all my classmates' faces, I try to recall the funny and sad memories of my high school years and reminisce the remains of just about anything that defines my yesterday...until I drift asleep...

It is during the rainy season that I enjoy tuyo and Payless (noodles) more. Oh, how I miss the raindrops falling on our rooftop...I miss just chatting ( wantusawang daldalan!!! ) with my family and friends because we got nothing else to do but to stay at home and talk about anything under the sun ( err, under the rain?). Yep! Bonding moments with your loved ones is more intimate during the rainy days...I dunno why but it's true...

Haaaaayyyy, I can't wait to go home and kiss the rain...

Gotta change that calendar ahead...

Yep! I told my friends I'm gonna try to publish at least one post a day...well, I got no post for 4 f**king days!!!!!! I've been seriously busy with training Dorothy so she can handle most of the tasks that I would be handing over to her when I go on vacation...

Speaking of my vacation ( of which I am really, really excited about! ), I got 20 more days before I see the Philippines again!

So, I'm gonna start counting down everyday by posting the reasons on why I would keep coming back to my homeland!

Papaya Soap Syndrome

Recently, lots of people were asking me why I still look fresh even after a hectic day at the office.

Some would have that kind of inquisition as if they are waiting for me to tell them that I have just taken some dose of a miraculous drug and that I'm just waiting for that lucky one to share it with (hoping maybe that it could be him/her). With these kind of people, there would always be a quick moment of silence whenever I reveal that I used nothing more special than a bar of Papaya soap. And that silence seems to me as somewhat a sign of disbelief of whatever secret I have just divulged.

Well, honesty sometimes could bring in a lot of mixed reception. This, perhaps, makes it hard for someone to come out with the truth. So maybe next time when someone asks me why I have such a clear skin - I would tell them (without batting an eyelash) that it's a curse!

Cheers to my first post!

Cheers to my first post!

I'm honestly just wandering through this blog thing 'coz I thought it'd be cool to have one. I just told my friend Dorothy that I'm gonna try and create my own blog ( sweet Lord, I'm 25 and I don't have a blog ). Luckily, we don't get seriously punished for not having one these days...my first post??!!!!