If life was perfect we'd never have to grumble or complain. But as far as I am concerned, that would take the meaning out of the joy of all the good experiences of life, that is, they would be greatly diminished.
The problems we face in life are not only meant to test our patience, but also to help us to think critically insofar as how we can overcome them and learn from them.
Rave
This past week has been a series of ups and downs, some humorous, some not so much, but they all taught me things. About a year ago, I bought this pink pig piggy bank (say that 5 times!) from the market for like 50 pesos (a dollar). My fiancee laughed at me for buying it, remarking how utterly ridiculous it looked.
It's been my habit since the purchase of that chubby little piggy bank to toss my coins in it whenever I come home from the market or from shopping somewhere. Yesterday, while bored, I decided to dump the coins out and count them. Much to my surprise there was over 6,000 pesos (about $130) in there!
Somewhat excited, my plans for a Christmas gift for our son came immediately to mind: I would buy him a new bike. And that is precisely what I did yesterday. Here's a picture of it.
The joy on his face warmed my heart. My fiancee and I taught him how to peddle it and now he wants to ride it to the market. HaHa!
Rant
As usual, I was doing some online shopping this past week. I came across an ad on Facebook. It featured 4 Christian t-shirts for 999 pesos (about $19 to $20). I admit that I rarely ever buy anything from a sponsored ad on FB, but I know my man has been looking for some Christian t-shirts, all to no avail.
If you see this ad come across your timeline, DO NOT buy from them. They are scammers and I mean big time scammers who will block you when you complain about their items. If you see the image below, be forewarned and do nor buy. They change the name of their store quite often so remember the images if nothing else.
Well, when I clicked on the ad, Messenger popped up asking for my name address, and blah, blah, blah. Plus, they wanted to know what size I wanted. I told the hardheads 4 times that I wanted size 3X, because my man is a big dude. The person assured me that the #X shirts were US size.
So, 5 days later the items arrived COD and I was so excited that I woke him from his nap to give him the shirts as an early Christmas present. He quickly grabbed one and tried it on. The sadness in his eyes broke my heart. The shirt was more like a large, if that. In fact, the shirts fit me and I only weigh 50 kilos.
Rave
As I mentioned, yesterday we went into the capital of our province about 4 kilometers away. About 1.5 km away is a PNP and military checkpoint because of the (ahem) pandemic.
There wasn't a single official there. This meant traffic wasn't backed up and it was thus smooth sailing all the way into town. Then, we went and bought the above-mentioned bike and about 1,500 pesos worth of other things we wanted or needed.
No lines, no hassles, just a scan of our QR code and we were in. Afterwards, we went two buildings down to the supermarket to buy some food before the Christmas rush.
We were expecting a long line of customers, but the place was almost empty - and on a Saturday at that! We spent 5,500 pesos and went home exhausted from the heat, but we are now prepared for our Christmas meal.
Rant
24 days ago I received a call from a certain woman named Gie who was from Globe Telecom. Presently, we have their fiber line and plan and get 30 mbps download and 24 mbps upload. She was offering us a 50 mbps plan and 35 upload for a couple hundred pesos (about $5 more) for an upgrade. Plus, she promised a free Smart TV device to stream from our TV (which we never turn on anyway), 3 months of Discovery, and 3 months of HBO Go.
Well, the gal would not allow a word in for me to ask questions, so I handed the phone over to my man. He quickly got to the point and got her attention.
"Hey," he began, "pipe down and let me do some talking." I was a little embarrassed but I know as a Texan he doesn't play around. He's kind but firm. She began to gab again and he cut her off again. "Listen, I'm going to tell you one more time and then I am going to hang up. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" He asked her a few questions and passed he phone back to me and said, "Go ahead and do it."
Gie promised we would have our upgrade in a week or less. Sounded okay. So yesterday I had to sit at the Globe office and explain what was going on. Seems Gie had it all wrong! Yes, there was a plan to upgrade like she mentioned, but there was no smart TV device, only 3 months of Amazon Prime and something else I cannot recall as I write.
Then, to top it off, while we were shopping, I received a call from a Globe "technician" who asked me to verify my account. What was odd was that he knew my name! Now I'm no Einstein, but if he knew my name he must have known I'd been a Globe subscriber for years. Anyway, the Globe office assured me I would have the new plan within. a week.
Lesson
Life is going to have its up and downs, and as sure as Jesus lives, these life events are unavoidable. Life is full of surprises and letdowns but somehow, some way, we learn to overcome them and move on, having learned a lesson from them. Until next time, have a blessed Sunday!
Mariel, I can share what we experience. Our Internet subscription has been via cat5 cable for many years. Today, the agent has changed it to optical fiber and has charged the cost of the optical fiber. The connection speed remains the same because finally, the data comes through the cat5 cable from the optical-to-electrical converter unit to the computer devices.