For the past two months I’ve been involved in a job hunt. Yes, I am finally quitting the world of freelance and seeking a 9-to-5. There are several reasons for this decision.

1. I need a health plan and retirement benefits. I have finally realized I’m going to grow older whether I like it or not. I can’t teach group exercise forever.
2. I need an income that grows. Yes I potentially make a lot of money as a freelance writer and instructor, but that’s not on a monthly basis. With a regular job, I get a guaranteed salary AND yearly increase and bonuses. Freelance rates remain flat year-in, year-out.
3. I need solid financials. As a co-signatory of a property my parents are buying for our family, I also have to apply for the bank loan that will finance its purchase. it just looks better to be employed. (Also, being self-employed is a hassle due to the amount of paperwork to fill out!)
4. I need to be productive. A large chunk of my day is spent checking Facebook and surfing the Internet for lack of anything else to do between classes. What a waste of brain cells!

My job hunt is about to come to an end, hopefully. And as I embark on a new phase of my life, I know I have logical reasons for this course of action. 🙂

Albert Einstein says it’s insanity to do the same thing repeatedly and expect different results. I’ve been doing a certain thing going on 5 years, and nothing has changed. I feel like I’ve wasted my youth, effort, and money on what has no future in store for me. It’s just like a bad relationship: I’ve got to get out.

Don’t get me wrong. There are so many things that I love about it — the friends I’ve made, experiences I’ve shared, skills I’ve learned. But I’ve always prided myself on knowing when to leave. Whether or not I actually do it depends on how stubborn I am, or how hopeless I feel.

Right now I feel pretty hopeless, and I just know there’s so much more for me than being mired here.

We all have a tendency to put people on a pedestal — usually people we admire from a distance. And we’ve all been star-struck when we finally meet them in the flesh. Then When we get to know them better, we take them off the pedestal.

Especially when we meet celebrities (of any kind), we tend to think of them as being better than ordinary people somehow; there’s a certain charisma that attaches itself to anyone who’s in the public eye. When you stick around them long enough and get to know them, the glow fades and you realize they’re just people too (albeit a little more attractive than the average Juan).

Before I started writing professionally (June 2009), I had all the time and energy to write for my own enjoyment and for the few readers and commenters that happened across my blog. It was when I was at my most florid and creative; what one of my friends termed my “Blue Period” when I’d write about… I dunno, stuff. Anything and everything.

I didn’t know that you could actually exhaust that well of creativity, but it was a lesson I learned the hard way the past year-and-a-half. I would live an experience or situation and think, “Wow, that’s something I could blog about!” But when I sat down at my laptop, since I was tired from researching and writing articles for work, all I wanted to do was amuse myself on Facebook posting witty comments on people’s walls, statuses, and photos.

Facebook has also become a way of sharing experiences. Upload an album, caption the photos (optional), and everyone sees what you did. No need to compose paragraphs describing the beauty of a place or the excitement you felt; “a picture is worth a thousand words”. And Twitter? My observations of people’s behavior, even if I just passed them on the street, that goes in there instead of in a bblog post about how funny people can be when they think no one’s looking.

But maybe I could just dig my well a little deeper. There’s a lot more to be said, after all the articles have been written…

Wow, looking at the date of my last post, it’s been a while since I posted in this blog. Ever since I started KikayRunner.com, my personal blogging has taken a hit. You might have noticed I’ve blogged mostly about events lately; that’s because I’ve felt obligated to write posts about those events in return for the food and the (quite honestly) interesting experiences. And I have a feeling this year Kikay Runner is going to be a major part of my life, so I’ve got to define what In My Pocket should be. Is it a fashion blog? Lifestyle? Events?

This blog started as a personal journal, and at its core, it still is and should be. Where else am I going to write about how emo I was over the Christmas holidays because I was the only single person left in my family, or gush about some fantastic insight that’s come to mind? I still need a space on the web where I can write my heart out without caring about the niche or hobby the blog is supposed to be for. (And since nobody reads this blog now because I stopped updating it, all my posts are as good as private! Hahaha)

To start the new year right, I’ve moved this blog from its Blogspot subdomain to its own subdomain on NoelleDeGuzman.net. Since this website is my personal profile and portfolio, it’s only fitting that my personal journal share the same space. Now that I’ve broken this blog free of its definition as a lifestyle and events blog, I might have more stuff to write about. Stuff that my heart and soul have been scattering all over cyberspace through Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook. Stuff that maybe I’m the only one who will care about. But if you’re interested in little mundane things like that, you’re welcome to read along. Ü

Dear Ayala Property Management Corporation,

I am a regular patron of Bonifacio High Street, one of your properties within Bonifacio Global City. Aside from its accessibility and availability as a training ground for runners, I also just love spending time shopping at its establishments and enjoying its park-like atmosphere.

When you raised parking fees last June from P25 for 3 hours and P5 for succeeding hours to the current rate of P30 for 3 hours, P10 succeeding, I continued to patronize the open parking area despite no improvements made to the parking facilities. (In fact, you decreased the total number of paved parking slots and charged the same increased rate for the unpaved parking areas around BHS.)

However, recent events have given me cause to write this open letter, because I have been overcharged for parking not once, but twice already. Tonight, as I exited the elevated parking area behind R.O.X., the cashier charged me 50 pesos for 5 hours of parking. I do not normally distrust cashiers, but after I paid and left, I checked my parking stub and realized I had only been parked for 4 hours.

my parking stub

I had entered the parking area at 1744 hours (5:44pm), and exited at 2135 hours (9:35pm). At 6:44, that was one hour of parking. At 7:44, two hours. 8:44, three hours. I had exited before 9:44, but that fraction of an hour counts as one hour. That’s a grand total of FOUR hours. Why did the cashier charge me for FIVE hours?

Your cashier does not know how to count. I should have argued with her, since this is not the first time one of your cashiers has assessed me an extra hour of parking.

The first time this happened (some time in July), I was on my toes and feeling combative, so I argued with that cashier and paid the proper amount. Tonight, however, I was off-guard. When I realized the mistake, I wanted to go back to the cashier and ask for my 10 pesos back.

Instead I chose to sit down and write this open letter because I am sure other people have fallen for the same thing. I believe it’s my civic duty to expose this practice and make people aware that they may be getting overcharged and scammed at your parking facility.

There is one reason this problem occurs time and again. Manual, non-computerized ticketing and charging.

1. Upon entry, the parking cashier handwrites the plate number and time of entry on a ticket stub, which has been manually stamped with the date.
2. Upon exit, the cashier writes the time of exit on the stub, mentally counts the number of hours the car has been parked, and requests an amount for payment.
3. Upon payment, the cashier tears off half the parking stub and gives it back to the car driver. There is no written record on the parking stub of the amount that was charged.

One would think that with the parking fee increase, Ayala Property Management Corp. could afford to use a computerized ticketing system. If not, you could at least educate and/or screen the people you hire to be your cashiers to make sure they know how to compute parking correctly.

There are two implications should you allow this practice of overcharging to continue.

1. If you are not aware that the cashiers are doing this, and you argue that the cashiers pocket the extra hour’s worth of parking charge, know that your company’s name is on the line. People will still think that you are complicit.
2. If you are aware of this practice, you will most certainly be pocketing the extra money. That makes your company’s parking practices dishonest, and that is unacceptable.

I think your company can afford to use a register that prints receipts recording the amount being charged, at the very least. I hold Ayala commercial areas in high regard and know you will do the right thing, which is to put into place safeguards against overcharging. We are willing to pay, but let it be the correct amount.

Sincerely,
Noelle De Guzman