I hate this economic crunch. All prices are sky-high thanks to inflation. My hundred peso bill seems like the ten pesos of old. It barely even buys you a decent meal at McDonalds any more. A trip to anywhere costs a fortune whether I take public transport or my car. Plainly every move I make costs something, oftentimes financially.

My splurging the past two months came as a shock and I’m back in miser mode.  Every time I look at my budget spreadsheet I force myself to strike out some guilty pleasures (small comforts, actually) just to keep spending down. Even the rising dollar-peso exchange rate fails to come as a comfort.

Then I open my Multiply Inbox and stare at envy at how many of my peers still have the luxury of spending at a whim, partying, traveling, shooting the shit… Blame it on lack of other responsibilities or that the money they earn are theirs alone.

Then I fall into yet another bout of griping. I try to reconcile the fact that I’m smarter and much more skilled than the damn lot of them and how a live my life versus theirs. Success around here isn’t measure by ability or intellect anyway. Just be pretty, know how to “stroke” people, and sooner or later, you’d find yourself up on top. I’m too much of a self-centered bastard to prostitute myself up to anywhere more than I am willing. So here I am doing things the long and hard way with nothing more than steel cojones and a swig of whiskey.

Pride’s a bitch. Here I am, half-a-year away from being a quarter of a century old but yapping like a grumpy old man. Twenty-four is far from old but I have all the reasons to be grumpy.