Life Inside The Cheque Book

This evening is a very boring one. And believe me, being a person who's usually doing paperwork, it's not very normal for myself to be "Mr. Accountant". Sounds a bit contradictory, but I like doing work writing words down, writing articles, doing all sorts of English-type work; yet, as a writer myself, I find it difficult to keep a financial balance in track. Confusing, isn't it?

Anyways, I resorted to doing my finances this evening. Believe me, a person like me is obviously bored when he or she is writing down balances in the Transaction Register for this month. But when I read it, it's telling a story.

Having all your eggs in basket is bad. However, having many baskets and few eggs to spread evenly is another story.

Whenever I read:

BALANCE FOWARD - BALANCE
Royal Bank - ACCOUNT BALANCE
HSBC Bank Canada - ACCOUNT BALANCE
President's Choice Financial - ACCOUNT BALANCE
ING Direct - ACCOUNT BALANCE

I start thinking of a conversation I had with my sister Liz back in early 2003. I was opening a second bank account, and she roused the fact that I was doing that for the good because I'm not keeping all my eggs in one basket. However, as you see, when you have way too many baskets and you have only a few eggs to put in each of them, it looks very confusing. Which explains why I keep a Transaction Register in the first place.

Sons: Your no-fee no-hassle borrowing alternative.

When I read:

BORROWING OUT
Mom $400.00 (to be paid back in July 2006)

I am reminded of the usual Chinese financial practice of borrowing out from relatives. I am reminded by stories told by my father that if he got into trouble there's always a net to carry him because his loving relatives would happily lend him money until his financial straits were much better. He never needed this net, but it definitely sounds like a secure situation.

However, when you do have money, and you're not in an unstable financial situation, you are sometimes told to give out money for borrowing. Plus side: You have money carrying dust at the bank, why not use it for the better? Downside: Your mother now sees you as the no-fee alternative to a banking loan. What can I say? I'll gladly lend out money to anyone who needs it or in my mother's case, wants it to buy something big without all the bank paperwork.

In conclusion, as you see, I have learned this lesson: Even in boring, confusing alleys, you'll always see an interesting story in everything.

The Journal of Phillip B. Hong

"Surprise Surprise: The Phil Blog" is the audio version of The Journal of Phillip B. Hong.

If you want to read the blog, click on either of the following links:

Kid Wacky Version: Since 2003. A more childish version. http://xanga.com/urbanreformer

Mature Version: More understandable for the older. http://spaces.msn.com/members/pbhjournal.

Audio versions of the visual blog will be posted here, all spoken by Phil himself.

My Odeo Channel (odeo/c6f30ff7a125928f)

Time and Populism

Just another hot day today. And I had to work. Without A/C. I really detest anything without A/C nowadays.

Temperature... affects... writing...

Today I am writing shorthand. The reason? Well, it's so bloody hot it is grounds for shorthand. I must remind you that it is 33 celsius out where I am. And believe me, if you've read previous entries I made it clear that my preference is in November. Don't start complaining about November, now that July was a scorcher and August will probably be the same.

Adolescent women were everywhere, all in their outer and inner beauty today. It seems that some of them, in their near skimpy clothes are probably actually wearing their near skimpy clothes due to the heaty today, rather than just self-image. I remembered one day it was the most stark winter, and one of my friends was wearing a mini-skirt. At that time, I didn't realise that it was a statement due to image, rather that she didn't catch The Weather Network that day! But you know what? Even if she became an ice cube, her head was probably still into popular image I must say, that seemed extreme to live.

"Look guys! I'm shivering and getting frostbite... but look at my cute new pink miniskirt!"

I remembered that today's fashion statements are different since I was a child. Another time, quite recently, I had seen a closer friend wearing something that looked very pajama-looking. I thought that morning that she didn't have time to change and wanted to make it to class! I later realised that, nope, that's today's casual wear.

What has happened to fashion and populism nowadays? It seemed that today's norm is showing your pierced belly in front of everyone. I honestly think that everything is all different now. And it seems that I haven't changed.

Personally, I'm not the populist type, but given the fact that populism evolves over time, I now feel like I'm living in a nostalgic past. Which refers back to time. I admit, I'm a time conservative. I don't like things I savour to go so quickly. I'm absolutely afraid of aging. But what can I, a typical son of recent immigrants with nothing but humble writing, to do? Rather nothing, because of my finite time as a human. Populism evolves as time goes by. That is a surety. And believe me, the populists of yesterday, wearing pajama-like casual wear and showing their midriffs, will soon see themselves as geezers, nostalgics of time.