November 4 , 2006 8:01 AM Saturday, Jacksonville, Florida         

Not Much Time to Play!

I am shooting for another career goal: to be a Professional Financial Planner that is. Heck, if I can't make a career out of this then at least I can manage our own financial affair judiciously ;-)

My class this fall had started two weeks ago! From that time on, I have been inundated with loads of homework assignments, case study projects and so I have been hitting the textbooks in Personal Finance and Time Value of Money plus reading different materials to get caught up with the current economic trends and the market place hence my play time would have to take a back seat for now until I defer the next class on December 18.  I detest going to school on the winter time although I already signed up for one week intensive US Taxation course (Monday to Friday; 9AM to 5PM) at FCCJ comes January of next year.   Hopefully, after this crash-course, I would be all ready to take the exam and get certified in this field first. 

Quite frankly, after our second session, I was seriously contemplating to drop this course and just forget about my career goal but my mentor who is an MBA and CFP (Certified Financial Planner) is nice enough to boost my self esteem when I personally told him I feel very overwhelmed with the extent and scope of this course. We are only 13 in the class; 52 years old is the eldest, 29 is the youngest and I am 40 but I feel like the minority aka the “slow learner” among the bunch. I honestly question my intelligence and ability to carry out this goal but I'll try.

Every day except on the weekend, I am waking up at 5:00 AM and by the time I get home from school at night it’s almost 10 PM. Then I have to read/study 2 chapters ahead from our textbooks, do homework assignments, check out the stock market and read some important updates about the economy because first thing we do before the class starts is; turn in the homework assignments; take the quiz for those 2 chapters and then proceeded to a class discussions. On top of that, we still have to work on our own individual project as well as the group projects outside the classroom and do the presentation in the class. I am glad DH is at least helping me with some of my research study.  We’ll see how long would I be able to carry on this undertaking… man, I am telling you, I feel like I am too old and depleted to be living a hectic life again: working full-time and going to school at the same time.  <Sigh>

 

Thoughts For the Day

I would have never thought about this until one of my colleagues had this experience. So if your wallet or worst, your purse was lost or stolen, would you know what to do? Do you memorize its contents or who to call?

• Photocopy and List all the contents (credit cards, debit cards, insurance cards, driver’s license, library cards, and etc. along with card companies’ phone numbers and ID numbers.

• Keep them with your important papers in your file.

 

Weekend Food Trip

DH is giving in to my Pinoy delicacy cravings: charcoal grilled fish with soy sauce; kalamansi and rice of course. Then "kamayan" eating.

"Kamayan" is eating with bare hands and this used to be my ultimate pleasure in dining; a way of living simple life. Well, it's certainly a messy hoot, as even the saucy fish or any type of seafood and rice are tackled with your bare hands but it’s appetizing to say the least. Saaaarap! I don't get to do this more often here in the States because we can't normally buy these fresh whole fish/shrimps with heads in the regular supermarket.   So DH and I drove to Safe Harbor Seafood Market in Mayport  to buy these:

American snapper= $15.91

  Flounder = $6.79

Jumbo Shrimp = $7.80 per pound

We grow this kalamsi plant in a pot in our backyard.

He then prepared them, fired up the charcoal grill and there we were dining out right in our own cozy backyard in one evening.  The old way of life I so missed to do when I got here in the States.  Photos here.