5 Things I Like About the Month of April

Top 5 Things I Like About April

05. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

04. The temperature begins to warm up. One, I get to wear open shoes now --- no more socks and no more boots, yeah! Two, I don't have to turn the heater on in apartment anymore -- this means my electricity bill will be cut down by as much as 60%!

03. It's Spring! Flowers will begin to bud, trees turn green again, and it's a lot less gloomy since the sorrounding becomes more alive with colors.

02. The sun begins to set later in the evening (7-7:30). More time for lakwatsa!!!

and the number 1 best thing about April:

01. Filing Tax Returns - For most poeople you'll probably find this at the top of the list of things they hate about April but for me, it's the one I like best. For one thing, this means I get to have some of my money back (refunds, anyone?) and for another, doing my taxes helps me realize my financial activities of the past year.

The task of itemizing my receipts serves as some sort of a financial walk through of the past year and what a wake up call it has been! I can't believe I spent hundreds on dollars on stuff I didn't need and it wouldn't even have mattered if I wasn't forced to itemize receipts from the past year! Light-bulb moment here. What can I do to minimize this kind of expenses again in the next year?

Just like any other habit, becoming more responsible with money is a habit that we can all develop by continually practicing sensible, responsible, and balanced spending. This doesn't mean depriving oneself of the good things life can offer. That's why I call it balanced spending. Allowing oneself to splurge and buy impulsively once in a while within a reasonable limit should keep one from constantly wanting things.

Checking my receipts, I realized at least one upside to my impulse buying. A majority of the stuff I bought impulsively do not necessarily depreciate in value and some actually become even more valuable with time (such as out-of-print, hard-to-find records and books). At the very least I can classify those as assets and if I had a balance sheet of my personal financial standing, they can show up as positive if not appreciating in values. Sad to say, the rest are just that -- unreasonable expenses -- money down the drain. Hopefully there'll be a lot less of those next year.

Relationship Advice

20050315
11:08 PM
I was listening to RX 93.1 over the internet and the top 10 topic of the day was "what relationship advice would you give yourself?" Responses had been a tremendous combination of seriousness, funny, smart, witty, and still some were very profound. I had good laughs, and a lot of "AHA", "oh yeah", "oh sure", and "hmn...yeah!" moments for the entire Rush Hour show with Chix and Del (yeah, I call 'em that coz close kami e! :p). Anyway, remembering the show, I kind of got into thinking about what advice I would probably give myself on the subject relationships and here's what I think I needed to do most:

"Don't just try to survive it. More importantly, live it!"

-----
I wrote this on my (not-so-online) journal last month and I just thought I'd post it here too.

How to ensure your criticism remains constructive...(especially if the person involved is a friend)

Consider Persons A, B, and yourself. Assume that Person A is your friend. You're good friends. And then you find yourself having an issue with Person A. But since you and Person A are such good friends, you, as much as possible, try hard not to be confrontational with Person A, for the sake of the friendship(or at least you convince yourself it's the way to keep/save the friendship).

So you seek out Person B and tell them about your issues with Person A with the hope that they may talk to Person A and get the matter resolved.

The problem with this situation is when Person B is in the position to use what you told them to destroy Person A. Even though your intention was meant to be constructive, the result might potentially be destructive to Person A.

My advice: please do tell Person A directly. If you think you can't, try. If you still think you can't because it's hard to confront your friend, try again. If you think you can't because Person A might not understand or might get deffensive, try anyway. If you think you can't because you KNOW for sure Person A will get defensive, tell Person A anyway.

Personally, I would rather risk losing the friendship than jeopardizing my friend's future and possibly my friend's life by telling about my issues with my friend to other people who might prove potentially dangerous to my friend. Afterall, if the friendship is good and solid, then it will find its way through every obstacle. Sometimes, you might take a while to get there but when you do, it will be worth it.

-----

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love with all my heart;
for it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.