Broke and independent.

I'm broke. My salary's gone kaput. At first, it seemed inevitable that I will have to survive on 3 canned goods (2 corned beef and 1 can of sardines) and a box of SkyFlakes crackers for the next 9 days. Thank God I have an understanding roommate who lent me some cash to use for the time being.

So what happened to my salary? According to my Salary Expenses Excel file [how geekoid, hee], I've overspent on internet. The budget I allotted for internet is, well, ZERO, but I spent almost 1,500 pesos on it. And the month isn't over yet! And I'm in an internet cafe right now blogging! Sheesh. When will I ever learn.

Aside from my inability to refrain from surfing the Net, and aside from inability to patronize cheap but cramped 20-peso internet cafes with no XP OS's and no 1028x768 resolutions, I blame PLDT for the financial disaster I'm currently experiencing. Despite our persistent calls asking them to connect a phone line in our room so that we may be able to access their PLDT Vibe 440 promo (that's over 1,000 pesos in savings, come to think of it), they just wouldn't do it for the simple reason that our landlady failed to pay a huge amount of telephone bills at a distant time in the past-- perhaps way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and spore-producing plants dominated the land.

"The house is blacklisted," so they say.

"But the room isn't blacklisted," so we say.

"We can't be assured that you won't leave the boarding house and leave the bills with your landlady, who, of course, wouldn't pay your bills." Good point, but not that good.

"Then pray tell, Mr. PLDT Man, why do our next-room neighbors have an authentic PLDT line connected in their room?"

"Nakalusot lang po siguro sila."

What the *^%&!?!? Damn you, PLDT.

I've already called Globelines, but there is a strong possibility that there aren't any Globelines connections here in our street. That leaves us with BayanTel. BayanTel is my only hope of preventing another 1,500-peso financial loss next month. I can't afford a loss, especially next month. Jel and I are planning to buy a small TV to accommodate me during my lonely, lonely weekend nights. So a loss is out of the picture.

That reminds me, I should be heading home right now. I've spent-- what? an hour? an hour and a half?-- in this cramped, 20-peso-an-hour, non-airconditioned internet cafe already. At least it has an XP OS and a 1028x768 resolution.