Summer Survival Guide

For every student, summer is the period of undisturbed daily 8-hour-plus hibernation, non-stop movie-going, shopping, "airsoft-ing", siesta time, all in all summarized as (drum roll)... FREEDOM.

Yep... Freedom. Freedom, for the members of the lucky sperm club, is nonstop partying and other hooplah.

However, for others, like me, Freedom at its simplest, does equate to fun, but not entirely. I just got my two-month allowance yesterday and I was astounded that it was quite huge. But just this morning, I realized that I need to go to Zamboanga for my Brazilian Jiu-jitsu 3rd dan promotion, I need to buy a book on electronics, I need to get a new set of violin strings and I need to pay for my Judo cross-training fee (luckily in CDO). What's left for me is a mere one half of the original amount and I'm going to use that to fund all the stuff that I'll do for two months. Tsk.

For everyone else who has the same financial restriction but wants to have fun and make the most out of the two months of freedom.

Now I made a top 10 list of tips anyone can use to stretch the 2-month allowance over its duration.

10. Instead of watching a movie at a bona fide cinema, invite friends over to your casa (house) to watch a movie marathon. Private, fun and inexpensive (you'll also save yourself and your friends from the hassle of buying overpriced movie snacks, the sight of two elderlies doing PDA, the stench of the other person's foot leaning on or near your chair and the ever so crappy trailers and the duration of rewinding the movie reel).

9. When you plan to do daily Mall-hopping, Bring a bottle of H2O. I mean it. Mall restos rarely serve mineral water and you end up drinking tap water which is, risky. It also saves you from buying overpriced stuff. When a sapi.an (rich) asks you why you didnt buy soda/cola, simply say, "I'm Diabetic" or even "I'm Straight-edged" (People who don't do drugs and live a healthy lifestyle).

8. Never buy from your nearest sari-sari store (except for life-death situations and cp loading purposes). Buy your snacks with your family right at the Grocers. It saves you from spending your dinero (money) and if you pay for the stuff you buy, you'll always be assured that "this is the cheapest possible retail purchase".

7. Don't give money to charity. I may sound foolish here but it's true. You can give prayers, clothing, and human fertilizers to charity. You know why? the money you're giving is still the money you're going to earn and you're going to need in the future. In fact, the beggars you see in the streets are furthermore encouraged to beg and not work to eat. If you really feel good, give money to poor pipz who work instead (e.g. cigarette/bubblegum vendors, shoe-shine pipz etc.). Why? simple: they help themselves and they don't beg. Besides, why give your hard-earned or hard-asked money to beggars? That's crap.

6. Play to your skill. For seasoned gamers (gamers who feel confident that they win more than they lose) play at token arcades. For practicing gamers, play at per-hour rental console stations. I don't need to explain the rationale behind that.

5. Watch last full shows. This one is an Urawaza (life-hack). Most cinemas don't have guards during their last full show. So if you got one-half of a ticket, you can use it to watch a free last full show (if you exit the second to the last movie with one-half of the ticket). So that's basically like watching two movies in one.

4. Ever need tutoring? There are a ton of videos on the net that teaches you just about everything. I mean, I learned beatboxing on the internet and I'm the most frequent person to beatbox in school. Point is, the internet is the next best teacher (in terms of cost and effectivity) to experience. Sorry Ambulant (door-to-door) Tutors.

3. Be true to yourself. Know just how much your money you have and don't splurge (that's the number two reason why I don't frequently hang-out with girls). Because their basic nature is "Palibre" and it really shrinks my allowance. However, if you had found someone you like, single her out and splurge all you want. Anyway, she's exclusive (that's for the guys only though). For girls, don't stop the "palibre" nature. It's natural and it does no harm.

2. Do something free but worthwhile. On my peniless days, I usually just get my Violin and play some tunes, learn new beatbox routines, put up the crazy stuff on youtube, answer comments, watch tv or practice my crappy penmanship.

1. The best tip is, account. Always count the money lost and money received per week. Always try to reduce them. But don't risk fun and your health because of it.


Those were tips. You may or may not follow them but then again, if you're a member of the lucky sperm club, never mind this blog.