Boring Days

This 4 day holiday is getting ridiculously boring. Even my kids are getting cooked up in our house. Normally, I do not have any thing against holidays, because it gives me time for more R and R. But holiday means no work, and no work, means no pay for a freelance programmer like me. :-(

Do you guys know that the Philippines has the most nos. of holidays in the world?

Anyhow, I would probably take my kids today to the mall or something. I also finished a few pages of Kalayaan 3 on this holiday. I also finished the cover for issue 4 and 5. But I guess, I will not be posting any of them yet, to avoid spoiling the series. Even though I have been very busy, I still say that it is getting boring for me. I guess, I just need a day out with my kids on the mall. :-)

An eye opener

A client of mine, forwarded this email to me. I thought it will be more beneficial if I would post it here. I want you guys to think about this really hard.

THE BASICS OF CASH FLOW

There are those who e-mailed me asking about the basics of cash flow. I'm really sorry that I assumed everybody already understands it. Anyway, by demand ... here it goes...

The basic is. What pattern do you see if you will get a P100.00 bill and monitor where and how it is transferred from 1 possessor to the other? How does it flow? The pattern for a typical Pinoy is.

You earn from your work, you spend it on food, gadgets, clothing and other basic needs. Before you reach the next payday, paubos na yung pera mo. But that's ok payday is just a few days ahead and it doesn't matter if I run out of money, I am expecting money again any time soon.

This cycle goes on and on and you make some sidelines or create other ways to earn but it seems that money was never enough. (I am tempted to explain further pero usapan... basics lang).

So you can't leave the job that you have because a week without work would affect the cash flow you have to support your family and needs. As much as you wanted to accept another job, the gap would make you pay less for a couple of days, which makes you a slave to your boss.

At least, you have a job to support your needs.

So to illustrate...Cash is flowing inside your pocket.

Years have gone by doing your monotonous routine.

Question... what if you get fired? Or you were forced to retire because there are new and younger people ready to take your place. What would you do?

As an OFW, Makati Executive, Top Salesman, Engineer, Attorney, Teacher, etc... What if it all ends? The sweet cash that enters your pocket every 15 ^th and 30^th suddenly comes to a halt.

There are two things you can buy with your money... An asset and a liability. To describe each... An asset brings money inside your pocket; a liability takes money out of your pocket. Another way to see, it is that an asset if you buy one, will bring the money you spent for it back to you 2 or 3 folds. A liability, when you buy it will not give your money back at all.

Sa ilocano... idjay ti kwa... djak maawatan... (joke lang po, seryoso na kayo eh...)
Sa madaling salita... kapag asset, maibabalik ang pera , pag liability, goodbye sa pera...

Ang problema kay JUAN DE LA CRUZ, habang may trabaho ipon ng ipon at bili ng bili ng liability!

I have seen OFWs get back to the country with gold chains at kung pwede lang limang shades ang isuot ng sabay-sabay gagawin nya eh... dvd, component, jackets, clothes, inuman, pulutan, party, pabango... hindi na makalakad sa dami ng bitbit...

At s'yempre mga empleyado natin dito sa bansa na lingo-lingo bago cell phone at mags ng kotse.. hindi na nga magkasya ang damit sa aparador, tapos pag umaga sasabihin.... wala na akong maisuot.

Guys, esep-esep... what you bought... will it bring money back to you? I know what you have in mind... you have to enjoy what you worked hard for. That's right, but think of something that will last... think of your future.

I have seen the worst of people who were abogado de kampanilya, executive secretaries of top rank business men, people who worked for big companies, earned a fortune and got a big retirement pay by the millions... Now.... Wala na.

Why? Because of their cash flow... went in... went out.

I need not to mention basketball players, actors, singers, etc... Check what is their career path... next after acting, singing and playing... POLITICS. Kasi, 'yung million na kinita nila, puro liability ang binili.

Going back... all the liability they bought, ibinenta ng mura! I'm wearing a gold chain now, which I got from a seaman... he bought it for P35,000 and sold it for 8,000 to me. Hindi po asset ang alahas! Bakit? Totoo na tumataas ang value n'ya pero kapag gutom ka na, kahit palugi ibebenta mo! (wala bang aaray?) Cell phones... dvd players etc. pati bahay at kotse... that's the cash flow of most OFWs...

The question is ... "WHAT IF THE INCOME STOPS?"

Sa Pinoy, ganito: anak... mag-aral kang maigi, at pag tanda namin... ikaw na bahala sa amin ha.... Hindi po ba maling-mali...

You have to establish something today that will take care of your future.

Teka, teka... eh ano ang dapat gawin para hindi mangyari yan?

You must create a source of income that will continually make money flow inside your pocket. Start a business! While you are working as an executive or an OFW, or a professional... START A BUSINESS and MASTER that business till you get out of that company. Para kapag tumigil ang income mo sa kanila... may susuporta pa din sa iyo hanggang pag-tanda mo!

Now don't tell me to invest my money on pensions and plans... NO WAY! Narinig n'yo na siguro yung .... Naku ayaw ko na magbanggit.... 'yung mga nagbayad at hindi nakapag-claim... sila pa ang dinimanda at nag-piyansa!!! HUWAG MO I-ASA ANG PAGTANDA MO SA IBA! GUMAWA KA NG SARILI MONG BALON NG PERA! KAHIT MALIIT PA 'YAN, SARILI MO AT HINDI KA AASA SA IBANG TAO...

Imagine yourself when you reach an older age... (aruy ko,,, baka yung iba sa inyo about that age... tabi tabi po...Ako po sa mga nagtatanong... I'm 37 years old. Naabutan ko pa si Michael Jackson at hinele po ako ng nanay ko sa mga kanta ng hagibis...). You have money that the company gave you as your retirement pay... what will you do?

You can consume the money till your old... eh kung hindi umabot? Masamang damo ka pala... at hindi ka kaagad kinuha ni Lord. Eh pang age 65 lang yung naipon mo na budget.

Or maybe, you can start a business and use the money for capital... Kapatid... 9 out of 10 businesses, FAILED... yung isang magsa-succeed, gagayahin pa ng kapitbahay mo instead na mag-franchise sa 'yo... think! At age 50, you are struggling trying to make a business work! What if it fails?!

Eh ano nga ba ang sagot?

The answer is, stop buying liabilities and instead buy assets now. I don't care if it is a banana-Q store, balot, ice candy or a sari-sari store, etc... start now! Because, your experience here will teach you what to do in the future. It's so hard to struggle in business when you are 60 yrs old.

You have to create a source of income separated from the source of income from your work. That when the time comes that you have to stop working, you will have your own source of money! Create assets, start a business that will be there to support you and your family. I AM NOT TELLING YOU TO QUIT YOUR JOB! I'm telling you to start a business while you're working and stop spending your money on liabilities and start putting them on assets!

Ang pera kapag pinambili mo ng LIABILITY... hindi na babalik... ang ASSET... BABALIK.

Teka... masama ba bumili ng mga magagandang gamit? Hindi! Siguraduhin mo lang na ang pambili mo nun ay galing sa asset mo. The business has to be prioritized! Mawalan ka man ng trabaho, may negosyo kang palalaguin.

If before, nabubuhay ka naman ng iisa sapatos mo, huwag mo baguhin 'yun... dati, nagdyi-jeep ka lang... 'wag ka na munang mag-FX...

Create assets and lessen liabilities. Invest and learn now... mag-negosyo!

Eh anong negosyo? Any, as long as you think it is work and doable! I am still looking for partners for my HOME MASSAGE SERVICE! SPA MAGIC! And my business CAR MAGIC is still franchising... (joke lang ... baka sabihin nyo nag pro-promote lang ako eh...But I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT ALL MY BUSINESSES ARE ORIGINAL AND ALL ARE GRAND ASSETS!

I started all my businesses with a very small capital. If I used that money to buy a gadget, new shoes or any liability... baka wala lahat ng negosyo ko at wala na akong makain ngayon.

Again, I hope that this BASIC CASH FLOW article helps.... I wish all of us become financially free!

FROM UNKNOWN AUTHOR

Tagged by Reno

I was recently tagged by Reno. So I have to show my desktop screen.

I mostly use 3 computers. One, at home as my desktop computer. The second is my laptop and the 3rd is our company server at ortigas. I am at home right now, so I cannot show the screen shot of our server. And besides, the wallpaper of our server is pretty lame. It is because I do not want to catch any attention, since I share the room with my two bosses. And many people are going in and out of the room, so I want to keep a low profile. This is my desktop at home. The operating system of my desktop is newly installed Windows XP. It is only about one month old, since it crashed on me a while ago. There are only a handful of Icon games that are installed for my kids here. A year ago(when we do not have any DSL connection yet), there were countless kids games that were installed here. Now, most of the time, my kids are playing online games.

My laptop desktop screen is a little more geeky, as you can see the borg cube as my wallpaper.

---------
These are the rules, as Reno had stated in his blog.

Rules:

1.Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.

2.Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of Icons, things like that.

3.Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.

Since I do not have much friend that has a blog. I now tag "YOU" that has a blog. Who ever you are that had a chance to view this blog of mine that has not been tagged yet. And upon doing this, please kindly post a message here, so I could see you blog and your desktop screen. Thank You.

Ironman

I have recently watched trailer of the new Ironman movie starring Robert Downey Jr. from Paramount Pictures. The flight sequence was the best that I have seen. It can be compared with the flight sequence of Superman Returns. I just can't wait for May 2,2008. I hope that someday, Marvel would have the initiative to make one humangus movie event that will star most (if not all) of Marvel super heroes that they have already created a movie, like X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Hulk, Spiderman, The Punisher and Ironman.

For more information you can go to their official site here.

T-Shirt

I just recently licensed "The T-Shirt Project" company to print my character Kalayaan on their shirts. "The T-Shirt Project" is well known for their SPOOF T-Shirt. But the shirt that they are going to make for my character will be included in their Branded section. I have just e-mailed them 2 designs image that I created and this will still be subjected for approval by both parties (me and them). I still do not have the exact date when the T-Shirt will hit their stores. But I hope that any one who would read this blog would buy one. Thanks in advance.

Kapitan Kidlat

I have been exchanging emails with Bobby Abutin. He is the son of the late Atty. Leonardo P. Abutin, creator of Kapitan Kidlat. That was the reason I was inspired to draw this Kalayaan and Kapitan Kidlat tandem.

Kapitan Kidlat (Captain Lightning) was one of my favorite childhood super hero. I can still remember my father taking me to a movie house in novaliches to watch the Kapitan Kidlat movie. That was way back in the 80's. But before that, I did not know that a previous movie and radio program was done in the early 50's.

For more information regarding Kapitan Kidlat. Just click here.

Kalayaan 3 cover

It has been quite a while since I sat down and draw this past few weeks. This is due to my programming job. Even that is the case. My mind never forgot about comics and making them. It is now truly part of my life.

Here is the cover of Kalayaan 3. I have commissioned someone to color it, coz I am such an idiot when it comes to coloring. Issue nos 1 and 2 is still available at the following stores.

1.) Comic Odyssey - Robinsons Galleria
2.) Comic Odyssey - Robinsons Manila
3.) Sky Bucks - SM Fairview
4.) Druids Keep - Magallanes

Peso V.S. Dollar

I just recently check todays currency and I was pretty shock.

It's P44.01=$1.

A year ago or so, it reached as high as P56=$1.

For us here in the Philippines, it is a bit of a good thing, but some of the people I know that has a relative working abroad start noticing that they are getting fewer peso. For those of you there in the U.S. it is not such a good thing, coz the value of the dollar seams to be having a nose dive all of a sudden this past few months. A friend of mine who now lives in the state of Texas said that people there are not very much alarmed with this because the government controls media there. He pointed out that ...
"The reason that Americans are ignorant of the current dollar and economic crisis is that the US controlled media has not reported on it. The US media is controlled by five or six major corporations; Disney owns ABC, CBS is owned by Viacom, GE owns NBC. In short, the truth is suppressed and kept from the American masses. This is the chief cause of the mind control of 99.0% of Americans"

I remembered just before the asian crisis hits in june of 1997, the value of dollar v.s. peso was P40 and suddenly went P45. And that was 10 years ago. Meaning to say 10 years ago from today, the value of Dollar is now somehow the same.

This is also a problem for a Filipino comic book artist. Since some of the great artist that we have here in the Philippines has a job in Marvel or DC that is being paid in dollars. They will significantly notice the impact of this when the dollar goes down more furthur. They will receive less and less peso for the same type of work that they have been doing for the past months/years before.

My version of Wasted

I have been reading WASTED webcomics of Gerry Alanguilan since day one that it was available online. Even though I did not bought the printed copy, I am pretty much familiar with the plot of the story, because of the written reviews and written interview that are posted all over the net. I have been tempted many times to email Gerry regarding it. But I had a second thought that he may say that I am just pulling his leg or something. And I am pretty much sure that Gerry already have received many emails from other people regarding Wasted. I also wanted to protect some people on what I am about to say here. Up to now, I am still having second thoughts.

Reading through the first wasted pages reminded me on how I felt back then. Somehow, as pathetic as it may sound. It has opened the wound that has already been healed.

I wanted to email Gerry, on how I could relate with the things that he has felt at those dark times. Yes, I was also dump by the girl that I once loved. She went to another guy and left me alone. She was my girl friend for two years and suddenly she left me. It was 1995, just a few months before I graduate from college. And it is still a mystery to me on how I could have graduated at that time, because of the psychological problems that I was facing. I could remember my self putting pillows on my mouth as I shout out my anger and pain, alone, locked on my room. I could also remember cutting a wound on my left arm because of the sorrow that I felt. Despite it all, I did not hate her. There were a very thin line separating my mind from insanity back then.

I wish I could write more about it here.... but doing so will not be the best thing for me. I just needed an outlet of the things that is inside my head. Suffice to say, the similarity and timing of the series of unfortunate events that had happened both on our lives are uncanny.

If you have someone that you love. Make sure that you make them feel that you love them, every single day. Cherish every minute and every moment of it. For you will never know the things that are wonderful until that they are gone.

I hate spoilers

The whole Philippines had just watched Pacman beat Barrera yesterday. But 3 hours before the fight ended. I already know who won! Thanks to our neighbor who came to our at our door steps and announced it bluntly to us, they say that they heard it from the radio. And 30 minutes after that, I received a text message from a good friend saying that it will reach the 12 round and Pacquiao wins by a unanimous decision. The cranky guy in me kicks in and I replied “Hayup ka, Spoiler, Grrrrrrrrr.”. After a few minutes, my tiny conscience also kicked in and I send another text message, saying “Joke only, but I hope next time, don’t be a spoiler please.”

These people are close friends of mine. And my neighbor are a very good neighbor. And I just think they were just very exited about the outcome of the fight. But I hope next time, they would also think that by doing this, they are taking away the excitement of the whole experience.

Anyway, regarding on the fight. Even that it was not a knock out, that I was hoping it would be. It was still a victory for all Filipinos. Pacquiao won by unanimous decision. Even though with Barerras dirty punches. Barerra still did not change from their last fight. He was constantly punching him while they are in closed contact with each other. One of the instances was the referee was already in between them. This already had happened during their first fight, and Barrera had a one point deducted by the Referee. And yesterday, he also did the same cheap shot. Pacquiao faced and went in to the ropes as some how his eyes were hurt. Im not really sure if he had a point deduction, but I think Barerra should have gotten a point deduction for it. The referee also went on with a time out for the doctor to check on the damage. But at the end of the fight, Barrera suffer a nasty cut on this right cheek, because of the hard blow of Pacquiao.

Another victory for Manny Pacquiao and for the Filipinos.

Thanks Pacman.

An insult from Teri

My first paying job after college way back in 1995, is a clerk on the x-ray department of Manila Doctors Hospital in UN avenue Manila. Even though I only worked there for a very short period of time (only 4 months). I saw how hard and dedicated Filipino medical practitioners are. They work in a long period of time with different shifts. They spend countless time and money, just to be a Doctor, Nurse, X-Ray Technician,Care giver etc. They invested blood, sweat and tears just to be what they are today. And aside from that, I could attest to you that working on a hospital could be very very emotional and stressful. I guess that is one of the reason I quit there. I just could not handle the too much pressure.

In computer programming, if I commit a mistake. I just simply debug my program and edit my source code. In drawing, if I commit a mistake. I will just simply get the eraser and erase a few lines. In medicine, if you commit a mistake, people DIES. If the patient luckily did not die. You might get sued, loose your license, loose your job or thrown in jail. These are the daily risk that people who work in a hospital face, day after day.

Some times when I used to watch the TV series E.R. I could remember the times when I still work at Manila Doctors. Most of the stories from E.R. does happens on real life every day. People dies, people shout at each other, people makes mistakes, people went emotional inside a hospital.

These are reasons that I am angry at Teri Hatcher insulting Filipino medical practitioners on the recent episode of their high rating show "Desperate housewives". Desperate housewives is shown all over the world with millions of viewers. Just imagine the devastating effect of that short but powerful scene. It will leave a mark on the mind of a person who ever watched it that medical school from the Philippines could not be trusted.

The network have already written an apology regarding that scene. But many people says that "The damage has already been done." And I agree with them. What would you do if you broke the kitchen sink of your good neighbor? Well, it is not enough to say "Sorry Pedro, it will not happen again". If you are truly sorry for what you have done. You would do something to fix the broken sink. And in this case, they could do a new line of story regarding Doctors or Nurses with Filipino heritage. They could hire Phil-Am actor Lou Diamond Philips to act as a Filipino Doctor. They could make a simple story like.... Teri Hather being hit by a raging truck and Lou would eventually becomes her doctor that would save her life. And of course the story will reveal that Lou is a Filipino(like he is not).

As person who used to work on a hospital, and as a Filipino, and with many friends and relative that is one way or the other connected to medicine. This really angers me. But this kind of thing makes me strive and work harder to prove to the whole world that Filipinos and the Philippines are better than what they think.

Kalayaan 2 Page 4

Kalayaan #2 is now selling at
1.) Comic Odyssey - Robinsons Galleria
2.) Comic Odyssey - Robinsons Manila
3.) Sky Bucks - SM Fairview
Here is a page preview

Superman: Doomsday

Have you already watched the new "Superman: Doomsday" animated movie from DC and Warner Bro.? Well... I have, and what a carnage it was. A total mayhem, and death was all over, including Supermen. Doomsday was one BADDDDDDDD mother f@#%*r. Killing everyone and every thing on its path. All of the fight scenes for the entire movie were superb. Just click the play button on top to see what I mean.

There were only a few things that I think that would make the movie a little better.

First, Superman look like has a scar both on his left and right cheek. I think that the artist thought by putting those lines on Supermans face would make him a little distinguishable from the Superman of the animated series.

Second, I wished that they could some how changed the appearance/looks of the Superman clone, even if it is just at the end of the movie, so that people could differentiate him from the good Superman. In that way the Superman persona would be very much intact in the mind of the viewer. They could have easily done this by making his face or forehead distorted. Since the clone bored a hole in his very own forehead, just to remove the kryptonite self destruct mechanism that Lex Luthor implanted.

Third, there were only Superman, Doomsday and the Clone. No other superhero were on that movie. I wished they could added a few super powered being next time like Captain Marvel or they could added Superboy, or Supergirl (my crush), or Steel. Boy, do I wish my character Kalayaan were there to help Superman as well. That would be the day.

But all in all, this movie still kicks ass. I hope that they could do another one like this. A sequel perhaps, and maybe Captain Marvel could be there.

For more information ... go to their official site at

http://www.warnervideo.com

Spot the impostor

Spot the impostor.
Clue: He is the ugliest. :-)
This only goes to show you how terrible I am using photoshop.

I got this pictures, during the first episode of season 1 which I already went crazy in love from day one that I saw it. I loved it so much I fantasized of being one of the heroes. And now that season 2 has already started airing, the hero in me has just been charged up again.