When Not Having Money can be Good for You

Life is a never-ending rat-race and yes, “money does make the world go round”.

If you have bills to pay and dreams you want to fulfill for yourself, your family… your kid/s, then you know exactly what I mean.

While we all strive not to be enslaved by money, but to make money our slaves, believe it or not, not having money can be good for you. I am living it, so I know and I have proven this statement to be true.

I used to have money at my disposal… emphasis on the phrase “used to have”… past tense. But back then I did not give it much of a thought… or appreciation. Whatever money I spent I know I will earn again come next payday… whether I work hard at it or not.

I bought and paid for what I wanted with nary a doubt or tinge of indecision. It was my money after all… I earned the right to spend it… or did I?

Would you believe I never “enjoyed” having money as much as I do now? I have never given any purchase longer than an hour’s worth of indecision… until now.

Not having as much money as I used to have made me really enjoy and look forward to having money every time. And, why not? The money I get every now and then is the product of my blood, sweat and tears… almost literally actually.

Those of you who have opted to forego having anything that even remotely resembles an 8-5 am/pm job “just” to be a fulltime house-“MAID” (I’m using the term with much admiration for the wives who single-handedly run their households), you know what I mean.

It really is no joke to be a fulltime mom… especially when you do not have help whether paid for or voluntarily given (ehem… husbands I hope you get the message)… but to still scramble to work immediately after your kid has gone to bed (be it at an early 9pm or a late 11pm) only to go on working until the early morning so you could earn a little extra to help out with the expenses and the occassional "shopping spree"… man, work-at-home moms really deserve a tight hug, a beautiful bouquet and a huge plaque of appreciation (ehem ulit husbands)!

These days I make sure I get the full value of every peso I spend, and why shouldn't I? I worked so damn hard to string words together into a paragraph and weave those paragraphs into a pay-worthy article.

And, because I work soooo hard to earn whatever amount I could, I find it easier now to resist going to the mall just to tempt myself into buying what I really don’t need. Retail therapy used to be my addiction, but nowadays I find crying or pouring your heart out in a blog or forum to be be more effective and less costly, too.

Indeed, I have come to realize that not having money can be good for me. No, this is not a suicide-averting mechanism nor am I sweet-lemon-ing. Perhaps, you can call it an “awakening”.

I think I have somewhat adapted to my new lifestyle because earning even just half of what I used to earn entails a lot of long hours… a full week even... spending it should take that long as well or a lot longer. That's the irony of money, it is so hard to earn yet so easy to spend wastefully.

Although, I am still very much a work in progress, I have to admit.

Just last Sunday I bought a table runner and a box of wine glasses (4 pieces per box)… for P89.00 and P129.95, respectively. What do I need them for? Wala lang… I just want to have a nice table runner to be readily available when I need it (should I buy on the day that I need it? I think not!), and the wine glasses are for when my husband and I decide to open the wine bottles given to him (again, should I buy wine glasses on the day that we want to have wine? It’s called foresight, people!).

Oh, was I tickled pink with my purchases! Part of the reason is I know I got nice items without having to spend much. That P218.95 was enough to give me the feeling that I can still buy what I want despite not having a regular income.

It seems not having money is like dieting, the key is to not feel deprived because you’ll surely go crazy and do something drastic.

Dieters and reforming spendthrifts, show of hands please…

Starstruck with Robin at Behrouz Timog

Boy, what a day to be sans any hint of makeup and looking every inch like a "labandera" (laundrywoman)! Darn it!



Heck, if I knew I would be bumping into Robin Padilla at Behrouz... yes, THE Robin Padilla... I would have spent at least a full hour making myself more presentable. Not that I was entertaining any thoughts that he would hit on me or something (yeah, I wish!), but at least I would not look like a "maid" or a "labandera" (complete with unruly hair that was hastily clamped at the back of my head) in our picture!

Oh well, I was not expecting to see anyone starstruck-worthy last night. It was just a late night run for something to eat before we picked up our son at lola's... I didn't even have my camera with me, so pardon the picture quality. I had to make do with the two cellphones we had handy, and my Samsung Corby (I just found out) does not even have a zoom feature (or should I read the manual again?)

Just the same, my husband and I were all smiles... I guess he was as starstruck as I was. Believe me he does not smile as much in most of his pictures, and most of the time he would not even look straight at the camera. I, on the other hand, don't even like getting my picture taken unless I had time to primp myself (which is not often given I have a 2-year old to take care of first. Besides, most of the time I was the photographer, so I almost always do not appear in the picture).

It's just that it was Robin himself who approached us... yes, he is that nice!!! He was sitting with a group at a corner a few tables in front of us and when he caught me staring at him, he immediately waved and smiled at me. I found it so endearing for him to have done so and though it might sound OA... but I felt like melting. I was so starstruck I even forgot how hungry I was. Hahaha!

He caught me trying to snap a picture and he still posed...


Also, I think he noticed I was trying my darndest best to get a picture of him with just a cellphone. I was already being prodded by my husband and Behrouz, the owner himself, to approach Robin to get a better picture but I decided not to... nahiya pa daw ako. Hehe... So when he was about to leave, he approached us.


Some guy at the table behind us was already trying to corner him and was asking if his group could have their picture taken with him but he said, "Sila po muna"... referring to me and my husband. Take note, I did not even have to ask to him to have his picture taken with us... well, maybe my ear-to-ear smile gave me away. But, he really is that nice... so grounded and humble.

Now, I have seen "stars"... Dolphy, Ara Mina, Pia Guanio, Roderick Paulate, Marvin Agustin, Dominic Ochoa, PBA players and imports and many others... but none were as affable and friendly as Robin Padilla.

As a matter of fact Robin was sooo nice that he even crossed the street and went to the establishment across Behrouz to give in to the requests of people eating there who wanted to have their picture taken with him, too.

I think it took him another 30-45 minutes after he stood up to leave Behrouz to actually board his CRV and drive off. He just kept posing for pictures with people who wanted to have their picture taken with him. Sooo bait and down to earth I tell you.

Here are some more pictures I took of him... again pardon the poor quality.



With Behrouz, the owner...




Oh, before I forget here's what we ordered...

Humus...

Kabab...

Beef, Tomato and Onion (or BTO)

and of course, Pita bread...

We also had 2 cans of soda and our bill rang up to P300. Considerably cheap considering a meal at Jollibee or Mcdonald's would have cost us more before we had our fill.

The food took longer to arrive than it usually does, but our server already warned us about it saying beforehand that it might take some time for our food to arrive because Robin's group (he had his posse at the open area occupying five tables, I think) placed a long list of orders. Well, we didn't mind the wait, despite our hunger, because we were preoccupied sight-seeing, so to speak. Hehe...

Behrouz at Timog had considerably "improved" in terms of aesthetics. They used to have just a few plastic chairs and tables that gave diners the "carinderia" feel. They now have an air-conditioned area, an open area on the ground floor with some "kubo" and bamboo chairs and tables and another open area on the second floor but with metal (probably aluminum) chairs and tables this time.

The food is as authentic as Persian food can get... you can probably tell by just looking at the owner. Hahaha.

If you don't find the pictures convincing enough, you might want to head on to Behrouz Metrowalk (in Ortigas), or in Timog and try it for yourself. I think there's another branch in San Juan or Greenhills, but I'm not really sure where.

Anyway, for less than what you will be paying eating at Jollibee, Mcdonald's or Chowking you get to eat a filling Persian meal and probably run into Robin Padilla if you're lucky. That's well worth P300, if you ask me... really a nice man. :-)

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Jay J's -- the Crispy Pata massacre

BEFORE:



AFTER:

If the "after" picture does not say how much we enjoyed Jay J's Crispy Pata then I don't know what will.

Aside from the crispy pata, our barkada package included the following:

Rice and extra Sinigang soup

Pancit Canton

Bonoan Boneless Bangus Sinigang

Kare-kare

Turon

We opted to add P100 to the P1,100 package price so we could get a 1.5 liter bottle of soda.

The Jay J's we went to was in SM Fairview but the barkada package we ordered is also available at all their branches.

While we immensely enjoyed the food, I did not fancy the slow service.

Getting someone to "welcome" us and find a table for us was a disappointment -- nobody paid attention to our group as we entered so I just pointed to the first available table I saw.

Nobody even bothered to hand us the menu -- I got one on our way in.

After we have settled in and finally got somebody to take our order, nobody bothered to set the table up and give us plates and utensils. I had to point this out because the table behind us had plates and utensils even before it was even occupied. And, the people who occupied that table (who came in minutes after us) were served water in glasses as soon as they were seated. So, what gives? Are they getting better service because they were a bigger group and our group only had 3 adults and a 2-year old kid?

For an establishment that does not charge a service fee, you would expect the crew/servers to work doubly hard to get some tips -- and a bigger group does not necessarily mean they would give a bigger tip. I give tips based on the service I get and yes, I did not bother to leave them even a measly 20 bucks. It's just that every server seem to disappear into the kitchen and nobody was around to respond to a customer waving to get somebody's attention except for a server who was either attending to another group or bringing food out of the kitchen.

Fortunately, their food, especially the Crispy Pata, more than made up for their lousy service. I would give their food and the package price 4 stars -- but their service not even a fraction more than 2 stars.

I couldn't say much about the place's cleanliness or ambiance... it was rather dark inside and I was too hungry to nit-pick about anything else than the service, but it was definitely hot in there despite having 2 split-type air-conditioners, if I'm not mistaken.

I was about to ask to be moved to a cooler spot but my husband said the warm temperature might have something to do with keeping the food warm and the soup smoking. Hmmm... made sense and again, I was too hungry to want to move so we stayed put. You can probably tell how hungry we were by how fast the Cristy Pata was devoured... the time on the pictures record a difference of 35 minutes but it was really faster than that -- 15-20 minutes maybe. I just forget to take pictures soon enough so that accounts for the longer time lapse.

Over-all, Jay J's gets 3 stars. I would have given them a higher rating if not for their crummy service.

And, as they say (or did I coin this saying myself?), "Bad service comes in 3s" ... we got another round of bad service at Sakae Sushi -- more on them in my next blog entry.

So should I except one more round of crummy service to break the jinx? I'll find out this weekend.