Weekly Ketchup 09 - Risks and Regrets

Other than Geek Fight and my pitch landing our agency a big campaign, this was generally supposed to be a quiet uneventful week.

Until this weekend when I practically blew majority of my savings on a plane ticket to San Francisco and a Panasonic FZ200.

This after repeatedly talking about my crusade to save money? What gives?

Well, what do you think have I been saving for?

Flying back to the States has always been the plan, except I didn't really take any active step towards that goal. Remember the PrudentiaLife returns I alluded to before? That money was supposed to fund that trip and now that it's gone, I had to save up. Fortunately, earlier in the year, I learned that Philippine Airlines had been offering Budget Economy class seats, which were really cheap. So for the past couple of months, I've been monitoring the available flights to either Vancouver (where my aunts and cousins are), San Francisco (where my friend Dek is), and Los Angeles (where my dad is). I could've booked earlier but: a) I needed to check with all concerned parties first; and b) I needed to make sure that I didn't leave myself broke when I finally do. Yeah, it's ironic, I know.

So I gave myself until the end of February to make the final booking.

Meanwhile, the cheap seats were getting scooped up and I was running out of dates.
I really wanted to fly before the year ends, otherwise I'm never leaving.
The only reason I'm flying extremely late in the year (my original plan was October in time for my birthday) was because a couple of friends are getting married  later this year and I want to be there!

Everything worked out according to plan and I was feeling great about it.

I didn't see Rak of Aegis 'cause I was trying to save money.
So here I am with Mark and MR at La Creperie (Great place, by the way) waiting for our friends who saw the show last Friday.
Pic from MR's Instagram.

But then I got a job to shoot a video for a client.

It's a great opportunity but I don't have the right equipment.

I had three choices knowing that I was headed for a big expenditure:
a) Rent equipment (but I wouldn't know how to work them until the day of the shoot);
b) Get a cheaper but capable camera and continue to pine after another camera;
c) Or take the leap and use this opportunity to get the camera I've been lusting after for years.

Well, it's apparent what option I eventually chose. The thing is I did look through a lot of other cameras but I kept coming back to the FZ200. It just had everything that I wanted in a camera, it's universally praised, and it's reasonably priced. Yet no matter how much I liked it, I never would've gotten it unless my current cameras finally break down and I decide to upgrade or, as so happened, I had a professional need for it.

Also got a back, a spare battery (always important), and a C-10 32 MicroSD.

By the way, remember when I blogged about how the universe somehow just conspires to make things fall into place for me? Well, yesterday, after withdrawing money to pay for my ticket, I maxed out the withdrawal limit from of my ATM card. Unfortunately, neither PAL nor Henry's accept EPS payments, so I wasn't able to get the camera then. But lo! Later on I found a much cheaper seller in DBGadgets and that's where I picked up my unit earlier today. Thank you, universe!

So yeah, I'll be using my camera for a paid racket. I won't recoup all the expenses I made but at least I opened myself up to more opportunities down the line. Look at me thinking forward! Also: I did say that I want to do a bit more work with my hands, rather than just going purely digital. Well, I know that I'm good with production work and documentations, so getting this camera is really the better fit for me.

(Yes, I'm aware that this is not a DSLR but I'd rather get a top-of-the-line bridge than a basic standard lens kit for the same price. Also: Lenses scare me.)

Note to self: Only buy accessories WHEN NECESSARY.

Now back to the flight. Knowing that I had an upcoming project that needed funding, I suppose I could've delayed booking my flight at the risk of paying for a more expensive seat. Or I could've waited for seats on a later flight to open up. But either way sets a deadly precedent. "'Someday' is a very dangerous word. It's a codeword for 'never'" or so I've heard it said.

So now I risk going broke in a matter of weeks and not having ready funds for emergencies. Do I regret it?

Not really. I suppose I regret the timing - but I have no control over that. But making a brazen decision? Definitely not. I've said it before that I regrets the things I didn't get to do, not the things that I did. I could've made the biggest mistake of my life right now and I would be fine with it because the alternative would've been to wonder about what could've been. And I'm not just talking about my financial situation.

In ten months, I have to decide whether I'm going to finally uproot myself and move back to the States permanently (Canada is an option, too). That is the biggest risk I'm probably gonna take. But until I try I'll never know. And I'm afraid. Well, according to Theon Greyjoy, that's good 'cause that means I'm not stupid. Then again, Theon Greyjoy as life coach? Really?!

In the same ten months, I have to earn back this weekend's expenses and make sure that I have money for the trip. I also have to make sure that I have enough savings left over. But don't worry about me - I'll be okay. I just need to close my eyes and leap!