This trip was a lot of first time experience for me. My first time to ride in an airplane, my first time to set my foot off to Luzon, and my first time to be separated that far from my family. Considering the latter, and the fact that I am going to a known hotspot of military operations (Mindanao has a notion of being dangerous for us living in Luzon), I concealed to my mom where I am actually headed, instead, I told her that I am assigned to go in Bicol  (Just to avoid any unnecessary worries )

(This is my first shots after acquiring my very first DSLR. Comments are well appreciated )

It took us only one and a half hours to arrive in our destination, to the “Sardines Capital of the Philippines”, Dipolog City. Unsurprisingly, the provincial airport is very incomparable to any NAIA airport in Manila with regards to facilities; nevertheless, that was a comfortable arrival. Porters approached us faster than a speeding bullet, insisting to carry our luggage, unfortunately for them, we managed to carry it on our own Few minutes later, our service arrived (servicing us were the corporate officials of the region office that was audited).

The place is beautiful, very refreshing indeed, especially for us who have spent most of working time in the toxic life of the city. And unsurprisingly, the people were very warm in welcoming us.

 The first place that we have visited in Dapitan City (near Dipolog City) was the Rizal Park. That was the exact place where our national hero was exiled. The park is totally different from our Luneta Park in Manila, and a even more spacious than that. It have replicas of houses that was used by Rizal; his clinic, his house where he and his wife Josephine stayed, his classroom where he teached, and more.

Also, located in the park is the swimming pool used by Jose Rizal during his exile. The pool has a continuous flowing water coming from the mountain above.

Inside Rizal’s house…

 The people who are maintaining the area are mostly Rizalists. I was given an opportunity to talk to one of them (although I find it hard due to the language barrier), and somehow, was given a small glimpse of what their religion is. Simply, Rizalists are Christians too. They believe in Christ, in Mary, and in the Holy Trinity. Their bible is our bible too. Only, there is a certain part that made them peculiar, their belief that Rizal is the reincarnation of Christ. I was unable to get much detail due to the language barrier, but it’s very enlightening to know that they are Christians too.

While we were taking a rest on the grass, few kids caught my attention, and as excited as I am in using my DSLR, I called one of them and started taking pictures. From one, come another kid, and another, and another. That was really fun, my first ever photoshoot. This is my favorite amongst all the shots I’ve taken with them. 

Yesterday (June 12) was the lllth year celebration of the Philippine Independence, which was entitled “Kalayaan ‘09″. This was actually my first real attempt to seriously have a scheduled photoshoot. Scheduled in a sense that I alloted the whole day for such particular activity. The events that took place on my chosen spot was really unexpected, which made my picture-taking so exciting. There are lots of people in the area, which I really hoped for. The weather is very cooperative, although it became scorching hot that I ended finding myself having sun burn. All in all, everything seemed to go on what I have hoped for.

My budget for this photoshoot is Php200.00. It’s over-budgetted actually, but since this is my first time, I will excuse myself. The goal is to have a photoshoot with a very minimal expense.

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 The Story

I was standing at the center of the walkway beside the Jose Rizal Monument with my camera hanging on my right shoulder. I was observing everyone that pass by when this balloon vendor caught my attention. I moved away slightly so that the vendor won’t notice me when I take the picture, but to no avail. Mr. Balloon vendor notice me aiming my lens toward his direction, but instead of turning his back and walk away, he lifted his shoulder and lean on the wooden fence. And voila! The result is a comical pose at Luneta.

It was a decision between the two most popular brands in the world of digital photography, Nikon and Canon. I thought I will be buying a Nikon, but after considering one particular factor, it made me change my decision. As far as my researches are concern, Nikon cameras are better than any other brands (but Canon is just a hair line away). One thing though, specifically in the Philippines, customer support is not that impressive in Nikon. I know other photographers give the highest consideration to the processing power of the camera and lesser to the post sales services, but as an amateur in this field, and practically my funds are just crawling to meet this luxury, having a good customer service is all I can hope for so that I won’t feel that I have wasted thousands my hard-earned money. That’s why I chose a Canon, a Canon EOS 450 D with an EF-S 18-200mm IS telephoto lens.

I am enjoying my camera a lot, still no regrets of acquiring this one. Above are sample of my shots, be honest, please tell me if I have any future in this field

Oh, by the way, I’m thinking of making my own online photo magazine in the future, I think I found the webhosting service that I’ll be using, now all I need is to come a with a good domain name for my online mag. Anyone here who have nice idea about this?

The result will be posted here as soon as it is released..

Good Luck and Godbless to the aspiring CPAs..

On April 28 is my tentative schedule out of town internal audit in one of the Business Units of San Miguel Brewery, and you know what makes me really excited about this trip? This will be the first time in my life that I will take my foot off to the lands of Luzon, travel in an airplane, and enter into another major island in the Philippines. Whew! I can hardly wait Because of this instance, I made a decision to buy a particular gadget, my own DSLR camera.

I’ve consulted my brother about this decision and ask if he can support me financially in buying my camera, unsurprisingly, he agreed. The term is that he will help me in 6-month monthly credit card payment for the purchase, and I will repay him within a year. This will ensure that even though I have segregated an amount from my salary to finance my personal luxuries, I can still give a part of it to my Mom. Besides, this is not a total luxury, this is partly an investment that I believe will yield returns through my online activities.

Also, I asked my sister if she could let me use her credit card since I have none yet. And yes, she gave me her unquestionable approval. I’m really blessed of having a very supportive family

And finally, my long awaited moment of owning my first DSLR camera is only a days-away from becoming a reality. This seemed to be a rushed decision for me, but actually, it’s not. Few months ago, even before my brother bought his own Sony Alpha Series DSLR (not really familiar of what particular model), I’ve been researching, and dreaming, of what particular brand and model will fit to an entry level like me, which I can afford to buy. During those times, I’ve thought of buying a Nikon D60, not on that same month, but in future months. But as I’ve got a chance to use a DSLR, my brother’s, I found out that there is a particular feature that I need, which the Nikon D60 lacks, a built-in motor for Auto Focus, that made me shift my decision from a D60 to D80.

Since I’ve been slowly entering into the world of digital photography, I’m contemplating of starting a new photo blog and find a new webhost or just incorporate everything here in Pinoy Dreamer. That, I will think about after I gave a first shot on my future DSLR. I hope everything materialize.

Starting a career for me is not having a very attractive salary (although it’s been a heavy factor considered by most of us who badly need to uplift our finances) but the opportunity to gain the maximum learning I can obtain, although it’s not only audit that offer this kind of experience, I believe that it’s the easiest one to find. Remuneration in an Auditing firm is not the best there is, and honestly, there are lots of overtime hours chargeable to experience. But despite of that drawback, I have proven to myself that I made no wrong decision in joining in an audit workforce.

The best part of being an auditor is the opportunity to travel to different places, which I really appreciate a lot. I have this dream, to travel the whole world with my very own digital SLR. The first step to this dream is to explore my own country, which I have no doubt, an auditing firm can give me. About the DSLR, I’m planning to buy my own before the next out of town engagement begin, and hopefully it materialize. Knowing the fact that we have lots of scheduled out-of-town engagements throughout the year, really excites me a lot.

Also, audit gives me a chance to meet different kind people in different walks of life. From the people in the rank and file, to the highest officials of a company, we, as auditors are given the privilege to talk to them, to interact with them, and maybe, have fun with them. This privilege is giving me a wider horizon, broader thinking, a better understanding of people, and the best of all, a very manly approach in different type of interaction.  The learning is no longer all about our career growth; it’s more on building our character as a person, with the professional growth just on the side.

I honestly have plans of submitting my resignation this month and move to the one of the Big 4, but on second thought, I fear that I might not get the same opportunity that I am getting in this small auditing firm. I’m really thinking hard about it.

It’s almost 4 months since I have been hired in this auditing firm, and proudly I must say, I really love and enjoy this kind of job. Although there are times I feel bored because of the repetitive procedures, feel lifeless because of the constantly sleepless nights, but overall, this has been the job that I really want to take. I am learning a lot of things, not only on how to practice a particular procedure, but also on how to deal with different kinds of people in different kinds of situation. My ability of reading behind the lines has been improving as well, and yes, professional scepticism is slowly sinking in.

I’m still having fun. I still enjoy what I do. Most of all, I have still lots of things to learn. Amidst of the offers that I’m getting, I think I will still be staying in the audit workforce for the coming months. Although I’m not yet that decisive on what auditing firm, but yes, I will do audit until I convinced myself that I’ve already learned enough.

I threw my free webhost account away and transferred to one of my paid webhost service provider. I replaced my current hosted domain there to Pinoy Dreamer, which is my major domain. As of now, everything is working well. I’m paying for it, so I’m expecting a better service.

As old as the saying  “Content is King”, we should always create a backup for our sites, especially our blogs. There are lots of free blogging platforms out there that we could use as mirror/backup sites, wordpress is very much recommended. Also, it is always adviced to search for good web hosting services. There are lots of webhosting directories like Web Hosting Geeks’ green hosting that offer lots of reviews about a particular webhost providers you are aiming at. This should be an SOP before making a choice in what webhosting service you will engage yourself at.

* Management Advisory Services (MAS) – Mr. Rodelio Roque
* Auditing Theory (AT) & Auditing Problems (AP) – Mr. Gerardo Roque
* Business Law and Taxation (BLT) – Atty. Dela Cruz
* Practical Accounting 2 (Prac2)- Mr. Chris German
* Theory of Accounts & Practical Accounting 1 (TOA & Prac1) – Mr. Tom Siy III & Atty. Conrado Valix

Starting from Mr. Rodelio Roque. The conceptual style of Mr. Rodel has really made wonders for me during my review and in the actual board exam. Indeed knowing the “why” is better than just knowing the “how”. It applies to every subject and makes learning deeper and easier for me to retain and recall. The same with Mr. Chris German of Prac2. Yeah yeah, Prac2 is one of the most procedural subjects of the Board, but getting the logic of each procedures is better than memorizing the first, the second and up to the Nth step of the boring procedures. I hate memorizing, so I guess that explains why I exhaust my efforts squeezing out every logic I can get from various procedures, of which I’m really comfortable than the memorization process.

Down to Atty. dela Cruz of Business Law and Taxation. This is an assurance for Atty. D (as he wants him to be called), the review course will never end without you having a very good laugh, tickles to the bone. His lectures are fairly enough to study to understand almost everything about the subject. He has this diagram that extends from the east side to the west side, from the north pole to the south pole of the white board. His comic strip lecture, a term that I have heard from some of his students, is a very comprehensive one. Without exaggeration, the most comprehensive notes I’ve encountered in my whole academic life. Alright! Now you see who’s my favorite.

Mr. Gerardo Roque of Auditing Theory and Auditing Problems. I remember the first impression I had on him during the first week, not so good but not so bad. But as the review course continue, I started to like him as well. His approach to the discussion is very unique to me. Although I find Mr. Valdez of PRTC better, but I’ll the fun of discussion trophy to Mr. Roque. That hilarious character conceal in a serious face, a real kind of disguise. You’ll see what I meant when you encountered him. In regards to Auditing Problems, I honestly haven’t attended any of his discussion, but I have heard that he is better than his counterpart. (I honestly don’t attend the AP discussions because I find it too boring )

You can never get lost in the Practical Accounting 1 discussions. Both Atty. Valix and Tom Siy are good in what they are doing. I have Tom Siy as my reviewer and the impression is “OK” and that goes the same with Atty. Valix, although these two get very funny most of the time.

Alright! This is my top pick of reviewer. Most of you guys may or may not agree, but this is how things worked out for me. But always remember, reviewers are only guides, in the end, it’s always the effort that we give that help us succeed. Another but, a perfect mixed up of guidance and effort can give a virtual probability of conquering the board exam. So, Goodluck with all of you Guys!!!

So I’m back in the real world I guess. I missed slacking around, doing nothing, worry-free. The feeling won’t take long I know for I have to search for a job, but for now I’ll be enjoying this kind of environment. I’m still fiddling with my new post, about my success of conquering the board exam of course. It’s been a long while since I’ve started wanting to share some first hand success stories, and now I finally got an opportunity, I’m trying to make it worth reading, and hopefully, inspiring as well.

Another thing. I’m really grateful reading comments from you guys, especially to those who get inspired of my senseless rants I never thought this blog can make some sort of inspiration, and knowing about that, it did push me to share a lot more. Also, I’m receiving a lot of requests from you guys to post more review materials for everyone to use. Ok, I’m trying, but I can’t promise to accommodate each request because I too have a very limited resource. In fact, I’ve published my email ad for everyone to see so that they can share their resources, but sadly haven’t received anything yet. I have here an audio book that I found to be very useful in the review. This is a huge file that our internet connection here in the house could take a decade to upload. I’m finding ways making it accessible though, I’ll just keep everyone posted.

I’ve conquered the CPA board exam, and now, I’m a CPA. Thanks for those who wished me luck, and for all those who prayed for me.. It is not easy, but it is not impossible..

I really want to say a lot of things, but as of now, I’ll be cherishing the victory.. I’ll be writing hopefully, something inspiring about how things turned the way it is now.. Until then..

Thank you Lord for everything. I didn’t made this on my own. You were my backbone when I felt like falling. Thank you Lord for this very wonderful blessing. Thank you. Thank you.