When people ask me what Andrea’s job is, I simply answer them with a typing gesture and say online work. Why? Because it takes a bit too long to fully explain everything she does.

First, she writes articles. Her boss sends her topics, subjects, sites, a paid survey, products or concepts that she needs to write on. Output can vary from simple essays, to extensive how-to-guides, to full-length reviews, depending on what the client needs.

Second, she also blogs. Yes, people can earn from blogging too. Others, they monetize their blogs through ads on their home pages. This works well especially for those who have a constant supply of followers. However, it might just be too slow for those who have not yet established a steady group of readers. There are some who employ a group of people to build up their sites’ popularity and then sell the domains for a hefty price. Others just simple earn through their blogs by inserting paid links.

Sometimes, she also transcribes audio and video files. A friend provides her with the cropped files and then she just simply puts them in text.

Once upon a time, she also did proofreading – correcting articles done by other writers like her.

It’s really a mouthful explaining all the stay-at-home alternatives that she does. But if I were to sum it up, it would simply be staying-at-home-with-the-kids-and-typing-in-between. And I love her for that.

Yesterday, we spent the morning cleaning up the beach in Jerudong. Although it’s not as nice as the one we used to clean up before in the Philippines, the whole activity brought me back to the time when we used to clean up the beach in Morong, Bataan. Here are some comparisons I could not help but make.

First, the sand there is not as fine as the ones in Bataan. Yes, it may be lighter in color but it’s not as soft.

Second, there is a greater assortment of rubbish in Bataan than in Jerudong. Both beaches had styro, plastic, cans, bottles, and used nets. However, in the Philippines, I remember seeing diapers, scrubs clothing, carpets, condoms, cell phone casings, tires, and a whole lot more.

Third, despite both locations being popular fishing grounds, one is significantly less riddled with trash because no one lives along the coasts. In Jerudong, people come in cars towing their boat trailers, because all of them live somewhere else inland. In Bataan, however, they’ve established fishing communities that are only a short walk from the shore, which makes it more tempting for the people to just use the sea as their own personal rubbish bin extensions.

It’s a shame because I love Bataan. I still do. And I’m very much willing to go there again. But comparing it to Jerudong, it’s still a long way from being sustainable.

I can’t help but be amazed at how extravagant some people are especially when it comes to graduation gifts. You see, during my time, it was normal for students to be treated to a special dine out after receiving medals or honors at the graduation ceremonies. And we’d be extremely happy to order whatever we want from the menu.

Nowadays, it takes so much more than that. In fact, I just heard from one of my High School students yesterday that he’d be receiving a Kramer Bass guitar for graduation this year. Heck, there was even one who’d been promised a car after he passes all his O’ Level exams.

It’s a good thing Mateo is only graduating from Kindergarten this year. I still have plenty of time to save up for his College graduation gift.

Time flies regardless of whether you’re having fun or not. It’s the inevitable truth I learned after seeing graduation pictures of my students from Facebook a few days ago. The scrawny, snotty-looking kids I used to handle during my first year as a class adviser in High School are now graduating from college.

A far cry from the hapless little creatures that they were some 8 years back, they are now in their  respective togas, crowned with the classic tasseled hats, and raring to dawn their nursing scrubs, coats, ties, dresses or whatever prescribed attire to work. I hope you guys have been honed well enough to face the real world – with all its challenges, heartaches, and sweet rewards.

So to all the graduates of this year, congratulations. I’ve always known you could make it.

Moving has always been a daunting task. With all the uprooting and the reorganizing, and the re-familiarizing required, I can’t help but wonder why we’re doing it again. However necessary it is, it still is quite troublesome especially when it is done on top of a thousand work load. But, what can we do? When time calls for change, one can only answer with acceptance or delays. And we’re just bravely saying yes this time.

Better start packing again. My list of things to get keeps getting longer and longer. What started out with aaa rechargeable batteries is now up to garden gloves. I just hope everything settles down in time for the holidays.

We like where we’re at right now. It’s relatively green, quiet, and conveniently-placed. However, we’re still on the lookout for a bigger place. Since our family is about to become bigger, we need more space for everybody, expecially for the grandparents who we’re expecting to visit us on a more regular basis.

I know there’ll be some compromises when it comes to location, or probably even price, but space is badly needed at the moment. Fancy French furniture, or even air-conditioning is not exactly a necessity so those things will probably have to wait.

Because of its relatively well-maintained roads (and of-course the higher-than-average-buying-capacity of people here), Brunei is home to a lot of big bikes. And when I say big, I don’t mean just those 250 or 600cc ones, but bad ass sport bikes like the CBR1000RR, the 2012 BMW K1300s, and even some of the latest Ducati models. You can hear their engines as they announce their presence before zooming past you in a few seconds. It almost makes me wish I can afford one. hehe.

But then again, if I do save enough dough to buy one, I’d still need to buy the accessories in order to properly drive it. And those don’t come cheap as well. The Scorpion exo-500 helmet, for example, already costs around 200 dollars. The suit is another 800 bucks. The boots and the gloves together would be another 250.

Lastly, even if I somehow manage to scavenge the money for both the bike and all the accessories, there is still the matter of convincing my wife. Good luck with that.

The house we’re currently considering (of moving into) is going to be stripped down naked by the former tenants because they basically were the ones who fully furnished and made the house look homey.

It’s going to be tough, I know, because we haven’t really accumulated a lot of things since we started staying here in this house. When I found this place, it was slightly furnished already. There was a sofa, a dining table and some chairs to keep the house occupied. It even had a set of curtains (incomplete though but usable nonetheless) already.

So if we go and leave this house, we won’t be taking a lot of things with us. No cellular blinds, no sofa, and no bed frames. We’ll be starting from scratch. I just hope we find a way to get all of these things soon after transferring.

I like the place where we’re currently staying in now. It’s relatively quiet, green, and most of all, our landlady is a Filipina. It’s always nice to be able to communicate clearly especially when it comes to the house. However, recent developments are forcing us to find a bigger place, so we’re currently on the lookout for a more spacious one.

I’m a bit hesitant about transferring for a lot of reasons.

First, moving out and moving in requires a lot of work. With all the toys, books, and maternity clothes that we need to find a new space for, it’s going to be a difficult puzzle. I mean, it took us more than a month to get settled in this house, and we’re still actually not done yet. So imagine starting from scratch again.

Next, transferring requires a lot of money out – deposits, furniture, and a little bit of repairs. And frankly, we’re a little tight right now so we have work around that problem.

Third, adjusting to a new environment is a daunting task not only for us adults but more especially for the young ones. Mateo and Anika have somehow considered this place home for the last year, so uprooting them from here and then establishing new roots somewhere else again is going to be tough. Sorry my children.

Hopefully though, transferring is going to be worth it – bigger place, closer to work, and better promise of a nicer living.

When this year started, I’ve been thinking about doing some adjustments / enhancements at home – getting some additional house plants, acquiring a big enough wardrobe cabinet, or replacing the current lights with the newer more efficient bulbs. Now, I’ve put those plans on hold. Something good came up and it’s better to focus on saving up for it.

I’m resigned to getting those plans done later, maybe next year or two years from now. Because although I still enjoy looking at wall lighting at iLightingSource.com, we will be needing quite a lot for these recent developments.