sacha chua

My dad sounded *so* disappointed earlier! He trudged up the stairs and said, "Sacha, I'm so sad..."

I looked up from my computer and asked him what was going on.

The second World PyroOlympics is coming up soon, and he had really wanted to go and shoot it. He was so excited! He had shot it last year (a story in its own right), and he wanted to talk his way into press access for the event. But my dad didn't want just any kind of press access. He wanted to find out if he could get away with, say, representing a horse breeders' magazine... ;) Why? Just for the sheer heck of it!

So he... obtained... a press pass (don't ask how) and was about to hit them up for access when one of the organizers recognized him, shouted his name and called him over. It turned out that the organizers had lost my dad's business card, so they couldn't get in touch with him, but they wanted to invite him to the VIP area for the fireworks festival. With dinner and everything!

He went home with an envelope containing an invitation for "John Chua and Family". Just for showing up. He didn't even need to talk about a fictional horse-breeder magazine. But he was *so* disappointed! Imagine that! Preparing an outrageous setup, getting all excited about seeing just how far he could push the universe, and the universe just handed him the prize on a silver (or at least nice porcelain) plate!

Ay, my dad... You think I'm crazy? ;) You should meet *him!*

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I must be doing something right if my mom's financial advisor is impressed by my planning. ;)

We visited Tina at the bank today. After my mom finished a little business, I took advantage of the free financial advice. I told Tina about the money I'd earmarked for various expenses, the emergency fund I'd set up, and the savings I set aside. She was glad to hear that I'm already thinking about all of these things at 23 years of age.

Tina recommended a split between a diversified balance fund and a high-risk, high-growth equity fund. Asian equities are doing pretty well, although the foreign currency hit and the fees for transferring money probably mean that I should keep Canadian money in Canada for now.

It's good to know that I'm on course, and to get an idea of what's coming up ahead. I'll keep money in a liquid high-interest savings account first because I don't know how much I'll need when I transition into the working world. I will probably want to furnish a place, update my wardrobe, get used to a new lifestyle, etc. I know I'll feel satisfied if I can cover all of my startup costs and restore my emergency fund without taking stuff out of my investment fund.

When the dust settles, I'll look into the investment options. My next milestone would be three to five years out, when I decide whether to stay in Toronto or move on. I like what my mom did with our place on Bautista: rent the house until she decided to buy it. It seems like a good way to get a feel for a place. We'll see. But I should be able to diversify into really-long-term (retirement or 10+ years), medium (3-5 years), and liquid assets.

I pay attention to stuff like this because I would hate to waste these great opportunities through mismanagement. Besides, sorting this out early takes less effort than dealing with the consequences of bad planning. =) And it's fun! I like seeing my books balance. I like knowing that the basics are taken care of and that there's some room to take crazy chances and follow my intuition. I like abundance and growth...

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... and each night is as important as every other night, and each day is as important as every other day.

I'm going to be audacious and ask IBM for what I need to do even better on my thesis. I don't know if it's going to blow up. It's hard to finetune subtle things over e-mail. But whatever happens, I'm better off trying the outrageous than letting things slide. If it turns out to be a mistake - well, I'll learn, and there are other opportunities I can pick up. But I need this, and I deserve to do work I can be proud of!

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0% packet loss to www.pldt.com.ph, 71% packet loss to www.google.com. The international links are still broken. ARGH.

Good thing my dad has stopped jokingly blaming the slow Internet on me... ;)

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I heard from Gabby Dizon that Ateneo de Manila University will use the popular cross-platform roleplaying game Neverwinter Nights to help students learn programming (scripting, in particular).

Awesome.

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