new reading material

my magazines and chick-lits have taken a rest, at least for this past week. my brain was still in overdrive as usual, but i've been having a new train of thought. for the past couple of days i have been busy reading this book. something that i should have read years ago. although if i did get to read it earlier, it probably wouldn't make much sense and it wouldn't have made an impact. i've been reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. 

it is a very famous book and it was worth reading because i learned a lot. (yep, i have been taking notes while reading. parang college lang haha.)

there are sooo many ideas in the book that i'd like to share. parang makaka-ilang blog ako para masulat lahat. so here's the compact version instead:

- scenario: corporation announces downsizing. employees get laid-off. price of stock usually goes up. employees lose, owner and investors win.

- "I can't afford it" = mental laziness. say "How can I afford it?" instead.

- what's important is to be able to correctly identify an asset vs a liability. (apparently, my pad is a liability. a necessity, but still not an asset.)

- why middle class people struggle: income goes up, expenses go up. assets do not increase, liabilities increase.

- why the rich get richer: use income to build assets, assets get more income. expenses are low, liabilities are low.

- your business revolves around your asset column, not your income column.

- rich people buy luxuries last. poor and middle class people tend to buy luxuries first. (guilty!) use your assets to buy luxuries. most people buy luxuries on credit, which is easier short-term but harder long-term.

- "work your way up the corporate ladder" --> "why not own the ladder?"

- 4 areas of expertise needed: accounting, investing, understanding markets, the law. for most people, the only skill they know is to work hard.

- this line, i like: "life is much like going to the gym. the most painful part is deciding to go. once you get past that, it's easy."

- "giving money is the secret to most great wealthy families."

- what i know: makes me money. 

- what i don't know: loses me money. 

- arrogant people: what i don't know is not important. some people use arrogance to hide ignorance. not good.

- how come mcdonald's makes more money than most people who cook better hamburgers? because most talented people "focus on building better hamburgers and know little about business systems".

- ask questions instead of argue. open your mind to new ideas.

- savings are supposed to be used to create money, not pay for bills. (sort of guilty, again.)

- every month, allocate money to you asset column before paying for your expenses.

aaaaaaahhh! so much more to learn! reading Mr. Kiyosaki's book makes investing look easy. but i'm pretty sure implementing these ideas and actually making money isn't a piece of cake. i am taking little steps though. for someone who's not much of a risk-taker, it's a start.

crossroad

was there a time wherein you questioned what you're doing with your life? why you chose the path that you're taking? i know i have. a million times.

a lot of people say that their passion - whether it's performing, painting, photography, writing, whatever - will just be a hobby. they can't make it into a career. mainly because it's not practical, and let's admit that most of us need financial stability and security.

i recently read a blog about pursuing one's passion and here's what i learned.

first, you have to dig deeper. you should identify the "essence" of your passion. for example, you have a passion of singing. why do you love singing? is it because you want to entertain people? you like to express your creativity? you want to inspire others? 

once you've identified this "essence" (oh yeah, it doesn't have to be just one), think about your preferred form of expression. writing? music? fashion?  cooking? then based on the list, you can think of all the possible "careers" - teacher, stylist, journalist, director, sales person, etc. pick something on your list that you are most passionate about, and then formulate a plan to make it happen. yep, easier said than done, i know. it's a long process, but it may be doable.

i did step 1, and reflected on what i'm passionate about. here's what i got:

- i like brainstorming and creative thinking.

- i want to be able to oversee a process/operation. parang coordinate, collaborate and make it work.

- women empowerment (i think that's pretty obvious with my other posts haha!)

- i want to learn/experience new things. 

- this is may sound nerdy, but i like to be able to interpret data (ok, that's 100% nerdy. darn.) for example, given this whole bunch of info, what does it mean? how can it help you? (hello data-mining haha!)

i actually identified my preferred forms/means already, but i shall keep that to myself :P hmmm... where to go? what's next? more self-searching to do!

thank you!

i'm not a professional blogger. although to be one would be awesome :) i just write when i feel like it. i don't have a "specialty" topic and i seldom write deep-shit blogs (mostly because things like those are too personal for me to post publicly hihi)

so i would like to thank those who read this humble blog of mine. i'm suprised at my blog's stats for the past few days. international ba ito? hahah :)

ok, so 50+ readers a day is nothing compared to the thousands of readers that other bloggers have. but hey, it doesn't take much to make this Little Lady happy :D

apparently, not a lot of people want to grow up. haha!

thank you!

who's this?

who is this sports-fan looking guy?

marilyn manson? really?! hahaha astig pala pag wala syang heavy goth make-up e :D

who needs to grow up?

while channel surfing the other night, i chanced upon playhouse disney's  animal mechanicals (my cute little nephews love this show) and disney channel's pucca. yes, i watched, and i actually enjoyed watching them :)

and i thought, "how simple life was before." you know, back when we didn't have to worry about work, bills, work, chores, work, weight, work, laundry, work... that sort of stuff. when all you had to do was finish studying right away so you could watch your favorite television shows.

hence, the flashback of my fave shows. i'd love to watch these again! (and not think of grown-up stuff please)

hmmm... lemme see... let's start with my super duper favorites. of course, first and foremost would be mighty morphin power rangers! woohhhh! i super duper love this show! well, basically because Tommy (green/white ranger) was my first ever ever ever crush. i think i was in love with him for most of my elementary years haha! (for those who know me well, you could see that my preference is consistent ever since. haha!) damn, i remember one time, it was the week before my final exam. so i had to study some more even if it was a friday night. meaning (gasp!) i'm going to miss the episode where tommy reveals that he is actually the white ranger! i cried that night. hahahahaha! seriously! (hmm... come to think about it... tommy's the first guy to make me cry. biruin mo yun! epiphany!) now there all sorts of power rangers. power rangers: dino thunder. power rangers: mystic force. power rangers: jungle fury. what the? basta! mighty morphin power rangers is still the best (biased much? haha) ooh, i loved their ninja costume too!

  

second, rurouni kenshin. my love for traditional japanese culture started here. samurais, ninjas, sakura trees, kimonos, honor. all in here. i remember searching for fanfictions of this series. well, aside from all the japanese culture stuff, i think i liked this anime because of kaoru and misao. i know that in the old times, japanese women were "just women". born to find a husband and serve him good tea and give him children (sons, preferably). but these two chicks are so kick-ass! i love them! plus of course, it doesn't hurt that kenshin (especially in battousai mode) and aoshi look great :D 

then there's card captor sakura. this is totally cute! i love sakura and syaoran and all this puppy love going on. and kero is just adorable :) i remember wanting to buy my own deck of sakura cards then. my favorite episode (yes, i still remember it) was when sakura and syaoran were trapped in the elevator. and then magically, the elevator shook and began to disappear. then sakura fell into the dark space (?) and syaoran wasn't able to grab her. and his face looked so lost. and i was like "aww..." hahaha!

and who would forget sailor moon? "parurusahan kita, sa ngalan ng buwan!" i'm not really fond of usagi though. i think her powers are weak (bwahaha!) my favorites are makoto (sailor jupiter) and setsuna (sailor pluto), although the latter appeared only late into the series. and whew! what a long series this is! ilang taon atang pinalabas ito e haha :)

then there's:

ghost fighter/yuyu hakusho - gosh, because of this anime, "spirit world" became so popular. my favorite would definitely be vincent :)

flame of recca - i'd like to have mikagami and kirisawa and recca's powers! all of em! wind, water and 7 fire dragons under my command. bwahaha!

pokemon - i used to memorize a whole lot of pokemons. but i think i actually started analyzing (yep, that's what i do for a living) stuff early on. i mean, at first i had no idea why ekans and arbok were named as such. but then after some thought... it dawned to me. ekans is snake spelled backwards, and arbok is kobra. how brilliant!

cinderella - the series aired by abs-cbn has a slightly different story. in this series, cinderella is already friends with the prince, although she doesn't know that he is actually the prince. prince leonard usually goes to town dressed as a commoner.

she-ra - omg this is so old school! i think this is one of the few american cartoons that i loved.

gundam wing - i think aside from the big-ass, cool robots, i watched this series because of hiro. he has the same detached personality like that of squall leonhart's (who i also uber love, by the way)

shaider - who didn't watch shaider back then? with annie and the shigi shigi thing going on? 

maskman - "kami ang mga bayaning magiting! walang takot! sa bangis ng kalaban di umuurong!" and "michael joe!"

bioman - i usually prefer pink rangers. but for bioman i liked the original yellow one. just because i think women archers are kick-ass.

x-men - i love their opening theme. "tenenenenen-nenen. tenenenenen-nenen. tenenenenen-nenen. tenen!" how come the timeline of the new x-men cartoons seem messed up? why is nightcrawler young?

ok ok. so i think some are looking for dragon ball z. yes i watched it too, pero hindi ko inabangan talaga. but i think trunks and vegeta are cool :) fushigi yuugi? ok lang. but i don't like miaka. love hotohori though, such a martyr :)   the classics princess sarah & cedie? ummm... i just watched it because there's nothing else to watch. pero ok na rin. naruto? hell yeah i love naruto! but that's pretty recent, so not counted :)

wow... that was fun. being a kid again while writing this blog :) what was your favorite kiddie show?