a pinoy tindera's two-cents

posted on 31-1-2005 at 11:58 PM at the pinoy forum

a pinay tindera's 2-cents

on paints.....
maganda rin yung me magandang paint business diyo sa atin.. if my understanding is correct, u were interested in putting up a business here in p.i. and is considering a paints-related one here? we renovated our unit a couple of years ago and we had a difficult time looking for the exact color i wanted and the exact texture.. ace lang ang merong hi-tech na mixing technology available to customers, i think.. i dunno it seemed that way for me at that time.. kasi it was a hassle to go to automotive paint stores to have the house paint mixed.. i mean pagod na ko magpili ng mga other materials and checking on the progress of the work being done at our place, only to see that the color of the walls was not the right kind of beige that i wanted.. anyway....

on gasul business...
maganda ito.. kasi almost everybody here in the philippines uses gas for cooking since super expensive na ang electricity.. and everyday kelangan na kelangan to parati ng lahat.. u don't even have to have an expensive address for storing your tanks.. u just need to let your market know that you are able to deliver on time, everytime they need ur services. i inquired recently --since we'll be adding gas too to our small store and minimum order is just 10 tanks which costs around php400 each and ur mark up would 35-50php per tank.. in our neighborhood, vertical kasi ang set-up and walang ganitong service inside ng community... kelangan sa labas pa order, so eto dinecide namin idagdag.. gas.. and also mineral water.... sa store namin initially 150th and stocks na binili plus around 300th for the rights lang dun sa store, plus ayos ayos ng konti.. nung nagoperate na.. dagdag ng stocks which the neighbors were asking for... ice-cream, frozen/processed meat, etc. etc.

on internet cafes......
this is a good business too.. depending sa location na gusto mo.. in our case, malapit kami sa university ksi, and again, walang ganito sa neighborhood namin (can't figure out why)--- well merong isa pero x computers lang meron sha... so again dagdag kami ng internet cafe near our store... mga 10 initially siguro ilalagay namin... so kasama na rin don yung mga iba pang services na kelangan ng students.. small muna... then pag nag move yung business, saka dagdagan..hanggang mga 20pcs.. dito for us initially mga less than 500th siguro ang mailalabas..

on education sumptin sumptins ....
you could set up a school of some kind na patok na patok dito sa atin ngayon.. like caregiver school, medical transcriptionist school, esl schools, etc. and daming options.. example ako, since my course in college is BSE major in english and art education, me and my cousin who used to work in the british council set up our own language school.. again, since nasa university area ako, daming clients din na koreans, japanese, etc na di na ma-accomodate ng university.. dito hindi naman kalakihan ang capital.... kelangan lang magaling mga teachers and marketing staff mo..

there are a lot of businesses dito sa pinas that u can invest on, but i think u should invest in something that you are really interested with..or at least in something that you think you might want to learn about... .. and investing is not enough ha, you should be able to monitor your business from where you are, kasi i've seen a lot of people investing long distance and hindi nama-manage ng pinagbilinan ang business.. so sayang din lang.. that's why in our case, kami mismo nagmamanage ng mga maliliit na businesses namin.. kasi kahit maliit lang.. shempre pinaghirapan din natin kahit paano ang pinang-kapital natin.. sayang naman kung mwawala lang dahil sa mismanagement.. if this would be the case, it's better na wag na lang simulan, ibangko na lang ang pera divahh?... anyway, i'm ranting again.. heheheh i hope i was able to help kahit konti... goodluck!

For Riz..

A piece made for Ronell's 5-year old niece, Riz [Our Lady of Sorrows, Brooklyn, NY ]

Why The Our Lady of Sorrows School is Special To Me

Being with my classmates and friends is fun,
I enjoy stories, snacks and playing under the sun.

But everyday that I'm in school,
I'm always learning things, which I think is cool.

I learn about words, numbers, and reasons,
Including manners and christian values for all seasons.

My teachers are all helpful and nice,
Teaching me about God and Jesus Christ.

Here, I'm happy and content as a kid can be,
And this is why the Our Lady of Sorrows School is special to me...

on eric...

based at home, i have been working for a nice las vegas personal injury lawyer for quite sometime now. i am happy not only with my boss, but also with the work i do for him. he always takes time out to explain new projects patiently, bears with my thousand and one health issues, gives me space to do the job i need to do, lets me do my job my way, interested in what i think, and really listens to what i have to say... by philippine standards, the pay is okay too... :)

also, i love working for him because i get to exercise my brains a little, work even if i'm sick (don't get me wrong. he doesn't require me to work.. i just love working, ok?), take care of my son, attend to my hubby's quirks, check on our humble store, watch tv, write what's on my mind and what my friend anna and i need to write about, fiddle with the ever-reliable laptop and nurture my agoraphobia-- all within the comforts of home.

i was expecting him earlier, but maybe his flight was delayed or something.... or maybe, like me, he's harboring an invasive enemy--the flu... arghh.. i hope he's ok.. hmmm.. maybe i better call him up..

on chance or choice..

when i was younger, i thought that love was forever..that you will only have one true love for one lifetime... now, i'm not so sure about that..

somebody told me then that when you find the one that's 'made' for you..when you know deep inside you that he or she is your soul mate--- your other half----, don't let go because you might never find him or her again..

i believed that, but i also know that when you truly love a person, you have to let go and die a little to let the other person live. never mind if she or he is your soul mate..nevermind if you love each other..there are other things and feelings more important than love..

i told my very good friend, a catholic priest then in the university, that though loving oneself can be extremely tricky, you can always teach your heart to love other people...you can choose who to love, and who to be happy with. love is not just giddy, happy feeling.. in fact, love is not a feeling at all...love is a decision.. a decision to bring on to yourself a thousand and one responsibilities, hardships, pain, sleepless nights, crosses to bear, and other masochistic feasts...

i don't know if love requires too much, or it is just because i require too much of it.. i cannot love again without respect...without loyalty(now loyalty and faithfulness are two different things in my book-- though i'm faithful, i don't really care much about faithfulness to me nowadays--i prefer loyalty..i think i'm too old for myths.) without trust..without commitment..without freedom..without friendship..and without loving myself, first...

love in the rose-tinted glasses can be so demanding that it will eat up all my energy, my time, my mind and my soul...it is so complicated that my 1+1s don't add up right. i don't want the read-my-heart-and-my-soul type of love anymore. i now prefer the what you see is what you get kind. i mean, i eat mental complications for breakfast, but emotional complications are horror stories for me.. i lost myself in that kind of love before, but am relieved to understand that i have found myself in another kind of love--- not a perfect one-- not a fairytale.. but hey, love is love.. everything is relative..

having said all these, i just want to share what my mom has told me once too many times.... we always have a choice in everything...always....and having a choice in everything will always give us something to lean on..a strength that seems not to be there but which will get you through the rocky, landslide-typhoon-ridden-tsunami-meninggococcemia infested moment of your life.. you will less likely be a victim of life's sometimes not so happy jokes, when you always have a choice.. if you think you are desperate, you still have a choice--to feel desperate and be desperate, or to acknowledge that you are not on top of the world at the moment, but know that you have been blessed in actually more ways than you care to notice--AND DECIDE turn your life around.. if you are irritated or angry at the person in front of you, you can choose to be angry and let loose your anger and damn the torpedoes... or you can choose to stay calm, and express your anger more creatively [i still pick on my stealth missiles button once in a while when i'm not painting them heheheh] :)

bottom line is.. there is no perfect love, no perfect person, no perfect way of doing any thing... in fact, no perfect anything.. i think..what is there, always, is a choice. you always have a choice, and it's yours to make.. and it's yours to live or die with..

this hoolabaloolahh of mine was triggered by the following piece sent by a former classmate through a bulletin board... hello arminda.. hehehhe

Chance or Choice

When we meet the right person to love, when we're at the right place at the right time, that's chance.

When you meet someone you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's chance.

Being caught up in a moment (and there are a lot of couples who get together because of this) is not a choice. That's also a chance.

The difference is what happens afterwards. When will you take that infatuation, that crush, that mind-blowing attraction to the next level?That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down and contemplate whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling.

If you decide to love a person, even with his faults, that's not a chance. That's choice.

When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's choice.

Even if you know there are many people out there who are moreattractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's choice.

Infatuation, crushes, and attraction come to us by chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice. A choice that we make.

Regarding soulmates, there's a beautiful movie quote that I believe is so true about this: "Fate brings you together, but it's still up to you to make it happen."

I believe that soulmates do exist, that there is truly someone made for you. But it's still up to you to make the choice if you're going to do something about it or not.

We may meet our soulmates by chance, but loving and staying withour soul mate is still a choice we have to make.

We came to the world not by finding someone perfect to love, BUT to learn how to love an imperfect person perfectly.

~Author Unknown~

busier than a bee...

so, i haven't posted anything for days... not that anyone would notice hehehe i'm not chona.. i'm not 'that' talented.. mejo lang..

anyways, i was busy with work.. i was busy with play... i was busy with visitors in the house... i was busy with our store... i was busy reading.. i was busy watching tv with my son.. i was busy talking to my friends.. i was busy thinking of what i want to buy next... i was busy trying to learn more things to do on the computer.. i was busy helping friends put up their own webspace.. i was busy shopping.. i was busy scanning old pictures of my family, my son and my very significant other.. i was busy being happy, and happy being busy..

i have to get working on a special project now... will slip in again later to unload some over-flowing toxic grey matter..

reiner and marisol- fellow writers, teachers and most importantly..friends..

i signed in last night on a friend's web guestbook.. she and her husband are college friends and i haven't seen them for a long, long time. they are now based in washington.

reiner is a fraternity brother of a very very good friend of mine, and have known him for a decade at least.. heck, there was even a time when we i lived in a flat beside their family house that his mom was renting out. in all those times that i've known the guy, and in everything that he did----writing, singing, messing with his guitar, etc.. (including choosing his wife, hehehehe) he never failed to show the talented artist in him. i have always enjoyed talking to my friend reiner because he likes, have read about, knows, seen most things that i enjoy... there are not to many people that i know who has the same passion with broadway, rock, alternative, classical music, mysteries, books... real books... library science suits him fine i think :) he's a very loyal friend too, and that nowadays is a treasure worth more than all the gold and platinum that you can find.

marisol, a sorority sister of this good friend of mine--and reiner's too of course.. was in the college of home economics then, majoring in child development. it was always nice talking to marisol, comparing notes -- i was then in the college of education majoring in english and art education-- first, about school, about our areas of studies, about friends, then after a while, about life, marriage, budget, rents, life...how difficult it can sometimes be.. how beautiful it can always be..lefe..

anyway, reading her blog gives me the teaching itch :) i haven't taught(professionally) for about two years and she makes me realize how i miss teaching. somehow, writing and teaching and art always seem to be perfect partners...i don't really know what my point really is.. hehehe but i miss these people.. and i miss painting... and i miss teaching.. it's good writing comforts me....

what is yours, is yours.... unless you agree to give it away

i was pissed the other day... my very good friend-- a very good writer-- saw her work passed off as another's in the internet...

i believe in transparency and honesty. i mean if you are working for a company as a writer, i think that you should be credited for your work, unless of course you are paid to ghostwrite for somebody... or you are writing for somebody with the agreement that all that what you have written will be owned by those.. all these should be agreed upon or specified in the job contract... but if not... isn't that copyright infringement or something?

the right to own what is yours...

it's 5:29am here in manila, and i wasn't able to sleep thinking how a person can easily take credit for another's intellect, effort and time? how can anybody stomach taking a pat on the back knowing that the good job done was not his own?? there's got to be a law on that.. there has just got to be one.

even if one is employed to write for a company, what he writes should never be allowed to be passed off as another person's work. probably the worst case scenario would be not to receive any acknowledgement at all for his work-- that the his name would not be written alongside his work, as no other name would be there, as well----though his work is included in a company site, newsletter or what have you's... but never never, never and never should his article appear as written by some other lowlife, credit-grabbing freaks...

and yes, i'm mad, i've lost precious sleep on this. this cannot be tolerated... this simply cannot be tolerated... but we should not get mad, we should ask nicely, then if all else fails, get even.... :)

for anna..

my friend anna is a very very patient lady.. grabe.. and it's so nice that we can always spend time together, if only over the net, to talk about what's bugging us everyday, what things we need to do, what stuff we have to write, what funny and not so funny things we have to put up with, etc. etc.

one day, i just flipped out and decided to include her in my lists of 'things' to do'. and so crazed with that thought, i did a little something which i thought would give her labor of love some sort of recognition.. i collected my dear friend's recent written works and organized them in a blog.. if you have time, please visit her site and see what i'm talking about..

here's a little something i put in for her..

writing gives me pleasure, knowing that i have done something which means something to somebody. it is a fine way of learning too..you end up knowing more about something that you've written than when you first started writing about it. it is also a nice way of releasing pent up emotions, but is also a great way of taking your mind off something which you'd rather not think about for the moment. i love writing so much, that more than just a hobby, it has become a way of life for me.. :)

on brothers and sisters..

sana please remember that though we may say something hurtful to each other sometimes because of sudden bursts of anger or hurt itself, those are just specks in the clouds....we have these arguments because we care enough to be "too concerned" about each other.. sometimes, so much so that the other think it's nakakasakal.. but but but again....bare with my litany please... please.. soon as you calm down.. think of what the other means to say... but also don't think too much.. at least not enough to let pride set in..... always give each other the benefit of the doubt please..please.. please... tell your brother or your sister that you love her.. you love him.. tell him or her that you are sorry.. whether it's your fault or not...hellooo! hindi magkaka-away kung isa lang ang nakikipag-away ano? saying i love you and sorry and thank you for thinking about me aren't too difficult to say... say them..mean them..don't wait too long....i love you's and sorry's wouldn't mean anything anymore... couldn't be heard anymore from the grave..

we cannot tell how much time each of us has in this world... so don't wait..be a brother now.. be a sister now.. because for all the many million reasons that we may have to fight, to argue, to be irritated with each other, to want to strangle each other, to want to kick each other's butt......we only need two to forget all these reasons....first, we are family not only till death do us part but till life after death, and second,we love each other---