Recharging

Will be away for a few days to take a much needed rest.  Both mind and body need it badly.  The change in scenery will hopefully help.

I’m not sure if I can blog where I’m going.  Not that it makes much difference anyway since activity at this site has gone down tremendously.  I don’t want to say that this site’s dead because the spirit behind it is still willing.  It’s just taking a terribly long time to recharge.  Awful.   Just plain awful.

Will be back….. soon.  I wish you all well.

September Blues

Baker’s Note:  In light of that deadly storm that passed through the Philippines this past weekend, I hope this message finds you and all your loved ones safe and in good health.

This blog ain’t dead.  It just seems like it.

This month has proven to be a very exhausting one for me.  I haven’t been able to find the time and muster the energy to either finish pieces that have been in draft for quite a while or to start writing new ones.  I’ve been doing a lot of writing at work, business writing that is (memos, reports, and appraisals) on a daily basis that by the time I get home in the evenings, I find myself too mentally exhausted to do some blogging.

I have the September blues too in a number of ways.  Summer has ended here.  The nice, warm days are over and the cold weather is starting to settle in.  The trees are starting to shed leaves.  I’ll miss the greenery and the warm, sunny weather around me for the next few months.  The cold makes it much harder to get up in the mornings.  Dressing up becomes a chore because of the number of layers one needs to put on.  I want to spend more time in bed but I can’t for fear of missing my bus if I do so.

My weekends had been busy too since they were spent helping my cousin get settled in his new apartment.  I helped him shop for furniture and other stuff that he needed in his apartment.  It was exhausting to do all that moving of furniture from the car to his fourth floor apartment.  As a result, I have been suffering through some aches and pains throughout my body for weeks now.

September also reminded me of my own mortality.  My blood pressure has been at an elevated level since early last year.  My doctor has so far refused to prescribe any blood pressure medication to bring it down and has only recommended a lifestyle and diet change at this point.  It bothers and depresses me quite a bit because prior to that, my blood pressure had remained at a normal level for quite a long time when compared to a lot of my friends and other people my age.  But I guess that’s part of life.  Somewhere along the way, things happen that remind us that there’s a limit to our stay in this world.

And as September drew to a close, Typhoon Ondoy suddenly came and battered the country with rains and floods not seen for decades.  All the concerns I wrote above are nothing when compared to what a lot of people lost in my home country.  The town where I spent my elementary and high school years was one of the hardest hit.  A lot of childhood friends and their families still live there.  I hope and pray they’re ok.  I’ll find a way via some friends and high school classmates based here and in the Philippines to somehow extend help.

Thanks a lot for all the visits and the comments you have left in spite of my rather long absence from these pages and from your respective blogs.  I will make up for such absence somehow sometime, hopefully soon.  I need to regroup right now given the demands on my time and energies these past several weeks.  But I will surely be back.  Until then, I wish you all well.

Moving East

A couple of weeks ago, a cousin flew in from California to try his luck in finding a job here in the East Coast.  He’s 27 years old and has been looking for a job since he was laid off from his last one last March.  He grew up in the Los Angeles area and prior to losing his job, never contemplated moving to the Big Apple.

But the current recession and financial crisis is a different one.  Several states, California included, have unemployment rates that run in the double digits.  In fact, just last Saturday, the New York Times reported that California’s unemployment rate has shot up to 11.9%.  Given California’s population and the size of its economy, reportedly the 8th largest in the world, this is certainly a huge problem. 

My cousin told me that the job ads page of the Los Angeles Times is practically empty.   In all the months he had spent job searching there, not once had he been called in for an interview.  On the other hand, the few requests for job interviews that he had received had come from companies in New York.  A number of his friends, ones he grew up with in the Los Angeles area, have moved to New York  and into new jobs in the past few years.  My cousin came over here in June for a couple of interviews with a couple of companies and he flew back again a few weeks ago to go on three more job interviews with three other companies.  His second and current trip to New York finally bore fruit because he was able to land a job with a Madison Avenue ad agency.  He got his official job offer this past Saturday and he mailed back his acceptance early this week.

The latest report from the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics supports his experience.  The report said that for the month of July, New York registered an increase in employment of 62,100 jobs compared to California which lost 35,800 jobs.  Among all 50 states, New York registered the largest increase in level of employment while California was the exact opposite by registering the largest decrease in level of employment.

It certainly helps that for all its troubles, New York remains one of the anchors of the US economy.  There is a great diversity of business, industry, and people jammed into all of Manhattan’s 23 square miles of land area.  All American corporations of significance from any industry maintain an office in the island.  The borough of Manhattan is America’s most densely populated and one of its wealthiest.  As America’s business capital, it attracts a huge number of foreign companies to set up either their American headquarters or offices there.  By attracting all that wealth and investment, jobs will surely follow even in the hardest of times.  But aside from being a business center, Manhattan is also a cultural and academic center.  There are a host of theaters, art and historical museums, universities, art galleries, art districts, etc. to cater to everyone’s passions.  A highly developed and efficient mass transit system brings thousands of commuters from neighboring states of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania to Manhattan each day either for work or entertainment.  All these combine to bring and support much needed employment into the city.

But going back to my cousin, I’m certainly very happy for him that he has found a job here.  In fact, the day after he got his job offer, I helped him and his mom do some apartment hunting on my side of the Hudson.  Even during our apartment search, the leasing agents we met with told us that there has been an influx of people from California.  Another sign of the financial crisis is that we didn’t have any trouble finding him a suitable apartment with very good amenities and at the price we wanted.  It’s a buyer’s market right now as far as buying or leasing properties is concerned.  Thus, his mom and I made sure that we got him the most advantageous deal we could get.

He’s a good, smart and frugal kid.  I wish him well in his new job and in his new life here.  Personally, I’m also happy with the fact that I now have another close relative nearby.  I’m rather close to his mother, my aunt who is my father’s youngest sibling.  She’s always been the “cool” aunt in the family.  She’s happy that her little boy has found job but I know that his moving to the East Coast will also sadden her and her husband as well.  Theirs is a tight and loving family.  Although they’ll be losing a son to the East Coast, I know they know that it is a good problem to have right now.

Congratulations!

To borrow a few words from a favorite John Lennon composition, “I read the news today, oh boy.”  I want to take a few moments to congratulate a dear relative for a job very well done.  I wish you all the luck as you set out to make your mark in this world. 

I am certain that your Mom and the rest of your family must be very proud of your accomplishment.  So too are a couple of very dear family members who both must be smiling proudly from the heavens.  You are very lucky, kiddo, for you belong to a home that has long valued and nurtured intelligence, creativity, and free thinking.  Your grandparents certainly deserve a lot of credit for fostering such an environment at home. 

Do very well.  Make a name for yourself and rest assured, you can always count on our family’s support.  Take care.