Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow 101 Financial Management Workshop

One of the topics that interest me is personal finance and I consider Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad to be a book that's great both for shifting your paradigm regarding money as well as for keeping you motivated as you strive for financial freedom. I had heard about the Cashflow 101 board game but I did not really pay much attention because the board game was very expensive (Kiyosaki is selling Cashflow 101 for $195). There was a local group that regularly met to play the game but even that was expensive (more than P1000 per game). So when Metrodeal featured Cashflow, I quickly bought two vouchers.

picture from Metrodeal

We met with the other folks at Spicy Fingers in Greenbelt 2. In our table, there were 2 facilitators and 5 of us newbie players. The game's mechanics was explained and we were each given two sheets of paper -- Income Statement/Balance Sheet and Small Deals Buying Sheet. Financial independence is about getting out of the rat race so each player was represented by a tiny plastic rat.

Ambeth Ocampo's "Doble Kara: Rizal in Art and Monuments" Lecture at the Ayala Museum

Dr. Ambeth Ocampo's "Doble Kara: Rizal in Art and Monuments," lecture last December 3 was the last in his 2011 History Comes Alive! series. David Beckham was in the Philippines, playing with the Azkals, but Ambeth's loyal fans couldn't care less. (FYI: I mean no disrespect. For some reason, I feel more comfortable calling him Ambeth rather than Dr. Ocampo -- well, probably not to his face hehe). Anyway, the lecture was still well-attended and was as lively as the previous ones (see here and here).

Ambeth's slideshow included photos of several Rizal monuments. Before seeing those pictures, I did not know that there were so many Rizal monuments around and that some of them looked a bit goofy.

The history of the Rizal monument in Luneta was also discussed, from the time it was commissioned to the time it was modernized. It was my first time to see that towering steel pylon they erected in the 60s. Good thing they removed it a few years after, since it looked out of place and made the Rizal statue look like a footnote.

Lipo-Sculpt Cavitation at La Estetica (Tomas Morato)

Our first session of lipo-sculpt cavitation was at La Estetica's Pasig branch. Since their Tomas Morato branch was more conveniently located for us, we decided to have the second session there. This time around, we had an easier time booking for a reservation by phone. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late and there were a lot of clients that time so they were not able to accommodate us, but the staff were nice enough to extend our vouchers' deadline. We came back the following week.

The one who attended to us was a male staff, just like in their Ortigas branch. Like in our previous session, the staff was also nice. The procedure was a little different though. There were no belt-like metal plates attached to my abdomen at the start of the session. I asked the staff why and he said that it was because he was using a different machine, and with that machine, the metal plates were not needed. The guy's pressure in rubbing the handpiece was stronger and halfway through the session, it began to be a little uncomfortable near my pelvis area (where there was less fat than in the other areas). After the treatment, though, I did not feel any soreness like I did in the first session.

6' Christmas Tree I Bought from Metrodeal (JT Photoworld)

I wasn't planning on buying a Christmas tree this year. Our family wasn't really into them and I could only remember one Christmas when we had a tree - that one was a real tree that was probably transported all the way from Quezon when I was still a kid.

But when I saw Metrodeal's Christmas tree promo, I got excited and thought that perhaps it was a sign that the adult me should start having a Christmas tree again.

The price was tempting (P999 instead of P3000) and the tree in the picture looked great so the deal was certainly very tempting. However, since Metrodeal and other similar sites had a habit of using stock photos (and the merchants of inflating the original prices), I was a bit worried that I would get one of those cheap, very plastic-looking, sparse trees that were being sold at low-end malls for P700-P1000.

The merchant for the tree was JT Photoworld, a camera shop in Manila. After calling them to set a schedule for pick-up, bf and I headed to their Paco office. It was around closing time when we arrived so we did not get the warmest of welcome, but we got our tree and they helped us tie the box with straw rope upon learning that we would be commuting.

The box was worn and dusty but the tree was in good shape, lush, with a dark green color. Setting it up was a bit tricky though, since the base of the tree's spine didn't fit the hole of the tree stand. Thank goodness bf was around since I didn't have enough strength to fix them. Using pliers, bf loosened up the stand's hole a little and crimped the tree's base to restore its cylindrical shape.

JT Photoworld
1434 Gen Luna St.
corner Apacible St.
Paco, Manila

Cultural Dinner Show at Barbara's Restaurant in Intramuros

We dropped by Barbara's Restaurant for a dinner buffet and their cultural dinner show. It was our first time in Barbara's and to be frank, I was not expecting much, but the night turned out to be a lot of fun! I had been seeing buffet offers left and right and that somehow conditioned me to expect a lot more food in any buffet, so I was a bit disappointed to learn that there were only a few dishes available in Barbara's buffet. The cultural show, however, that one I completely underestimated. I was expecting one or two numbers with the dancers in an elevated and faraway stage. Boy was I wrong! That cultural show was the best part of the evening.

facade

exterior walls of Plaza San Luis

When we arrived, a band was playing. We were ushered to our table and the band continued playing with their stringed instruments as we ate, performing songs such as A Little Night of Music, Let It Be, Yesterday, and Dahil Sa 'Yo.

At around 7:15pm, the musicians were replaced with dancers. Soon, everyone was crowding around the group to get a better view as these dancers swayed to various traditional music. They danced continuously for about an hour, with costume changes in between numbers. Some of the dances they performed: Binasuan, Tinikling, Pandanggo sa Ilaw, La Jota Manileña, and Sayaw sa Bangko. Up until now, I never really got excited with folk dances. As a kid, we had to learn them at school but I never really appreciated them (and I hated Binasuan because the glass on top of my head fell and shattered during freshman high school!) but seeing them being performed by graceful professionals with colorful costumes, impeccable hair, and a perpetual smile made me swell with nationalistic pride.

dancers with their colorful costumes