Mr. Socks Saves Me

Nine thousand (9,000) Korean won! Convert it to Philippine peso and you get about 340. That is all the money left in my wallet. Will I survive? Yes! But only until today.

Now why did I get in this situation? I went back for vacation in the Philippines and I used up all my money. I also bought a new Canon luxury lens (big thanks to my mom who lent me cash, else I couldn't have afforded it). Then I came back to Korea with money just enough for a week (again, from my mom). It was the 28th of January and I was expecting the salary from my part-time job would come on the 30th. But things didn't go as I expected as my salary was delayed to the 20th of February. I have been working as a part-time programmer at SystemixG and a teaching assistant at GEO while pursuing an MBA degree under scholarship at the Catholic University of Korea. After a week, I had to eat my pride and borrow money from my Filipino friends.

However, that money will run out today.  Today is my last stand! How will I survive then? I thought of loaning money from my friends again but  I feel shy. So I sat for a moment, thinking there might be another way.  Thinking... thinking... thinking... And ting! Yellow bulb lighting! I remembered Mr. Socks! I hurriedly rushed to my boxes, took a few minutes of scavenging and... found him!

Meet Mr. Socks. ^^

He's gotten quite heavy. At the back of my mind I was hoping he's gotten more 500 KRW (about 20 pesos) coins. To find that out, I got a basin and made Mr. Socks vomit. I separated every 500 from the rest (100, 50 and 10) and felt very uplifted every time I get one. The feeling of a kid hunting treasures in a birthday party - the more I find one, the happier I get. Big smile! Guess how much I got?

500 coins separated from the 100s, 50s and 10s

Drum rolls... I retrieved 61 five hundreds totaling to KRW 30,500 or PHP 1,153. I haven't counted the 100s, 50s and 10s yet. Wow! This will save me for my next two to three days. Until then, I would have to think of another way to survive.

Desperate times call for desperate moves. I have never thought that coins would save me from my trouble. My table used to be very messy with coins until Mr. Socks came and started collecting them. It's amazing how little things, when put together, can make such great power.  I can't help but smile big. :)

There's a moral lesson from this funny story. I used to squander money and never thought about the future. I never really budget. This is a waking call for me. I live away from my family now. I could no longer ask money from them at a time like this. I'm on my own and I have to be smarter. I can't be a millionaire today and become a beggar tomorrow. It's all about making the right choices. 

It's interesting that I finally get to make my first blog post. All because of Mr. Socks' heroism. Laughs. Let me end this post with some inspiring lines from Bo Sanchez's weekly soulfood. (Sign Up For Bo’s Soulfood Email here.)

"Remember that you’ll always have more blessings than problems. Problems seem more because you count them, you measure them, and you analyze them everyday. But when you count your blessings, you’ll realize that your blessings will outnumber your problems. Always!"

Let us be grateful even when it's difficult.