I appreciate all the greetings of well-wishers on my pregnancy. Unfortunately, last Monday, I had a miscarriage.

At 10 weeks, at 8:30 am, I lost my baby. It was a very traumatic experience for me. Something I would never wish even on a person I dislike.

Everybody has told me that it is God’s will, that there might have been something wrong with the baby and it is nature’s way of taking care of things.

Then, may God’s will be done….

My bestfriend who recently went back to the Philippines (and whom I went to the same University with) got a hold of a copy of the tuition fee breakdown for the College of Architecture for the University of Santo Tomas. Holy Smokes!!! Amost 50 thou for a semester??!! Grabe! I remember when I started in Archi in 1990 it was only 6 thou a semester and when I graduated in 1996, the tuition fee was up to 10 thousand. That was only about .6 percent increase a year. Taking that into account, the tuition fee should have only increased at least another 6 thousand.

This is totally absurd! No wonder the number of kids dropping out of college is increasing!

After 3 years (going on 4) of marriage, several visits to the doctor and lots of praying…finally!

I took the first test and it is supposed to show 2 lines. The 2nd line was so faint that I had my doubts.

So I went ahead and bought another one. I took the test first thing in the morning after I woke up (which according to the instructions was the best time for it) and yes, it came out positive!

Next thing to do is set up an appointment with my OB/Gyne to make sure I am not basing these on unreliable instant pregnancy test results (although they guarantee 99.9% accuracy).

How do I feel? Like all would be first time parents, excited and scared!

I am lucky enough to have started this job and work with a couple of co-workers who live as far from work as I do, so we have started carpooling. The thing about carpooling, you have to have a lot of people skills. You have to deal with these people 10 hours of everyday, Monday to Friday and I must say, there are pros and cons.

PROS
1. Since there are 3 of us in the carpool, I save about $90 to $100 worth of gas a month.
2. You get to know your co-workers better and you can develop deeper and lasting friendships with them. (that is if you get along with all of them..)
3. Less wear and tear on your car.

CONS
1. If you have an errand to do during lunch break, you are at the mercy of the driver for the week if they will be nice enough to drive you to where you want to go.
2. Some people have problems more than others and bitching about it first thing in the morning puts a dent on my day.
3. For some reason, because you are together 10 hours a day, it is assumed that you become an unbreakable group that should do things together and watch each others back. It doesnt help that we all belong to the same department.
4. If you do decide to quit the carpool it is hard to tell them that you are quitting or even find an excuse to do so.
5. If you don’t have a brand spanking new car, the other tend to tease you about it.

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It has been a busy holiday. Working full time does not leave enough time to prepare for a Christmas party (which includes decorating the house and cooking), Christmas shopping, do regular chores around the house, etc. I appreciate the fact that our company decided Christmas Eve should be a holiday. But we had to go to work on New Year’s Eve though.

All in all the transition to 2008 was all smooth. I would have wanted to start 2008 with a happy and positive outlook on life without grudges and  ill feelings but one cannot always get what one wants.

When I was laid off around October, I had to apply for unemployment so I would not dip into our savings. After all, (I believe) this is a right that I have gained by paying my taxes. The form instructed me to list previous employers within a span of 1 year and this included a company that “supposedly hired me” as a subcontractor. Having gotten information and documents from me, Unemployment of Florida decided that I was eligible to collect from said employer. To make the long story short, I received a letter in the mail informing me of an on-going case with the Florida Department of Revenue between Unemployment and my former employer.

It was not my intention to get him in trouble. I just wanted what was due to me. As I rationalized to my husband, all Unemployment had to tell me was that I was not eligible to collect from said company, instead, they found him liable and “brought him to court” for “evading taxes and refusing to pay medicare”. To top it all off, I was supposed to work on said company’s website but had to cancel because of this letter. They had sent me an email saying that they do not see a problem with the Revenue Office and that I was rightfully informed that I was to work as a subcontractor, and that I was supposed to have paid my taxes.

I have cut off all communication with them and I do not regret having filed and submitted those forms and documents of evidence. If it helps to straighten out one employer who likes taking advantage of people looking for jobs (specially new immigrants who know nothing of US/State laws), then so be it. My conscience is clear and I have nothing to be ashamed of.