The Final Question at Midnight
For a shot at the Villa del Conte chocolates, the Dove hair and skin care package, AND the three-day stay at Sun Resorts in Boracay:
What is your 10-year plan?
The realistic one that does not involve winning the lottery or marrying into the British royal family.
Post your answers in Comments before 11.59pm.
* * * * *
The winner, chosen by our volunteer publicist and proprietor of Sun Resorts Edd Fuentes iiiiiiissss…
scientist. Congratulations. Email saffron.safin@gmail.com to claim your prizes.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 1st, 2014 at 00:53
Save money so I can pay the house, travel the world and move to another country.
October 1st, 2014 at 01:19
Finish my novel.
Set up a nail art/hair dyeing salon. For bibliophiles.
Take a trip to Bhutan.
Attend a Tori Amos concert.
Eat regularly.
Argh. One day has not passed and already, I think I might not be able to stick with this. A ten-year plan requires meticulous thinking for at least ten days. But I realize that it’s not the plan that matters. It’s the exercise of constantly planning these plans. They can be as grand as this deceptively simple list, or as long as any deceptively slight list of books and movies that I need to finish by the end of the year.
When I plan, there’s a force that propels me to move forward. Never mind that I change my mind about Bhutan and choose Paris after all, or that I realize the bookish salon is just another one of my sentimental fancies. Tori might die in ten years. I might not. I’ll continue making plans then.
I reconsider. I want a plan that will demand to be always planned and that will unconsciously lead me somewhere. This should include things that I like doing on significantly shorter terms. In fact, these terms could merely be moments. Who knows what these moments can lead to? It’s great if they can make me scream Eureka, more so if the universe says it in unison.
And I like moments. They are the substance of life.
Write on my journal everyday.
Read, read, read.
Watch movies that are really good and really bad. Predict the annual Oscars.
Listen to new and old music. And podcasts.
Eat regularly.
October 1st, 2014 at 02:13
It’s 2014 and I’m a sophomore in law school. I graduate by 2017 and pass the bar the year after. I work a year each in a law firm specializing in international law and in the Senate committee on foreign relations, spending my weekends at the Alliance and the Instituto. In 2020, I travel to Paris, on scholarship, to complete a masters program on international public management at the Sciences Po, spending weekends mostly in Spain and around France to attain fluency in the languages. I take a break and backpack across South America, since I’ve never been. I return to the motherland and immediately fill up a foreign service officer exam application form. I pass the test, undergo training and get an assignment in a year or two.
I step up to the immigration counter and hand over my blue passport. It gets stamped for the very first time. Waiting at the boarding gate, I suddenly remember writing this comment, and then the delicious chocolate, the Dove showers and that weekend in Boracay. I smile.
October 1st, 2014 at 02:53
First, I must finish my Masters within one to two years. It’s a MUST for my academic career. I will continue monitoring the development of Philippine comics industry that I already started a couple of years ago (I find comics and the artists involve more interesting than, say, politics) by interacting with the artists and comic store retailers, and collecting some of the best stuffs. I will continue crafting my own writing style. I really, really dream of writing an epic/ a saga! I must shed my current weight through natural means (no pills, surgeries, and other so-called weight-losing products. They are SHAMS). It’s a long-term goal, but still possible. And, I will save enough money to buy a piece of land, leave my folks behind forever, and live an independent life on my own terms. Having a family is the farthest thing in my mind, honest!
October 1st, 2014 at 04:57
1. Reduce, if not completely pay off my crippling debts
2. Pursue a second course or postgraduate education
3. Save up for my retirement
4. Purchase a house and lot where my adopted daughters, my mom and myself can live comfortably
October 1st, 2014 at 05:43
Publish all three aswang novels along with supplemental collections. Travel to Europe and South America. Visit all provinces of the Philippines. Earn enough to retire. Adopt a baby. Yup, I do want that at some point in time. Hopefully get to meet Madonna, or at least get to see her live. Also, buy a new Macbook.
October 1st, 2014 at 08:18
I used to have this 10 year plan which seemed quite simple enough: rise from among the ranks in the government agency I am presently connected with, take up advance studies on the side, and save up for my retirement.
Everything seemed to be well going as planned, until my Boss, who is the most dedicated and honest civil servant, was suddenly and unfairly dismissed from the service which threw us all out of the loop. Oddly enough, this has also happened to my two previous bosses, who were likewise unjustly separated from the service.
So now, I no longer do 10-year plan. Rather, a resolve to approach life as it is one day at a time while trying to derive happiness from it always.
October 1st, 2014 at 10:11
A decade from now I plan to sustain the financial viability of my newly established company and expand it to two additional core services, publish a comic book/graphic novel, double the number of scholars, travel to various parts of Europe once every two years, watch a Wimbledon or Roland Garros tournament at least once, write a blog every other day about food trips and cultural escapades, read a novel a week and save enough to establish a farm/health resort. Well, I wish the Philippines’ socio-economic and political situation will not be on the negative side.
October 1st, 2014 at 10:39
Next year, I will try to start to study fashion history in Paris. Work for the House of Chanel or Vogue Paris in the next few years and eventually live in Paris.
But Manila, will always be my home.
October 1st, 2014 at 10:41
Ten year plan, that’s tough. I like the question though as it “forces” me to actually put my plans into concrete form.
– Be working for my dream company.
– Have a total of five dogs and one cat.
– Take my daughter on a Tokyo holiday.
– Have a healthier lifestyle than what I have now.
There are a lot of other material things I would like to accomplish, but these rather intangible four are more difficult and will take a lot of planning but ultimately will bring better returns. Thank you for this question, it actually helped me focus what is steadily becoming an aimless life.
October 1st, 2014 at 10:51
Enroll and finish med school, practice, get married and have at least one kid. Climb a couple of mountains. Spend all my free time in my parents’ home in the countryside with my dogs.
October 1st, 2014 at 11:12
1. Look younger than my age.
2. Regret nothing.
October 1st, 2014 at 11:26
Leave my corporate job so I can pursue my passion for design and hopefully in 10 years I’ll be the creative head of my own company.
October 1st, 2014 at 11:48
The operative word is “plan” not “hope”.
October 1st, 2014 at 12:19
2015 (year 1): Climb Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia (already scheduled for March). Save enough money to start my own business(es) or snag a corporate job that allows me enough flexibility to be an entrepreneur on the side, whichever comes first. Business ideas: tea/coffee/dessert house and library, a la AntiTeasis on Maginhawa St., but bigger; food truck, because Manila simply needs more food trucks; event organizing.
2020 (year 5): Be running all three businesses smoothly, if they haven’t all been started yet.
2025 (year 10): Be living entirely off business profits and the interest on my bank account. Quit my corporate job, if I haven’t done so yet.
(Somewhere in those ten years I’d like to be able to write a fantasy novel or two, and climb some more mountains in other countries.)
October 1st, 2014 at 13:43
I stay in the corporate world for 2 more years, while setting up my own bakeshop. I learn how to blog, and I make it a good source of income too. I open another branch in the next couple of years. In 2020, I buy back the farmland which we sold when my father had died of cancer. By 2024, my own family lives in that same farm where I grew up.
October 1st, 2014 at 13:56
Start my own business – any business – so that I could retire early from my corporate job.
October 1st, 2014 at 14:21
I was ten when I was told of how abnormally sickly I was as a kid that I believed I will die early without having to go through college. I never had plans or conscious choices.
Now, I’m 26 and “what is your ten-year plan” is an awakening question. What the…? Haha.
Here is my plan:
1. Get rich. And this means I have to get out of my present job as a government employee because nobody gets rich by being one despite the bonuses, pension, 13th month pay… And as I see it, nobody ever felt fulfilled.
2. Establish a book shop that serves coffee, espresso, tea, frappe, muffins, pastries, etc. which I will name ‘Tooth and Spine’ for the sweet-toothed bibliophile.
3. Or open up a restaurant that serves strictly healthy food (but tasty) which will be stationed near hospitals. This is for the honor of my mother who died of cancer. She was looking for a variety of real tasty food while on chemotherapy to keep her appetite for life. Bittersweet ampalaya-melon shake, anyone? :)
4. Establish a farm of organic spices, medicinal plants, and sweeteners of low glycemic index (to help diabetics and cancer patients). Farm products will be sold online.
October 1st, 2014 at 14:58
1. Be carefree.
2. Accept, if not revel in, dotage.
3. Check off a trip to New York in my non-existent bucket list.
4. See friends.
5. Buy an oven.
6. Build more shelves for books and records.
6. Find a steady fuck buddy.
October 1st, 2014 at 16:13
1. Spawn. I’ll be running out of egg cells soon, so I’d better get pregnant in the very near future…
2. Finish my PhD. I’ve been at it for more than 10 years now…. super over MRR (Maximum Residency Rule) na. The college will probably kick me out of the program if I don’t get to finish it soon.
3. Travel. I want to go to Paris. I’ve never been out of the country before. I plan to go to Hong Kong or Singapore or Thailand this year, then maybe Europe in the next few years. Oh, and I also want to go to the Vatican- just to see if the Illuminati symbols are really there, as per that Dan Brown book.
4. Stay at a castle when I get to Europe. Maybe one that has been converted into a hotel. I just want to know what it’s like to live in a castle.
5. Get a real house. No more condo living…
6. Get a Chow Chow when I move to a house. Pets are currently not allowed in our building.
7. Get a memorial plan.
Wow, this is similar to making a bucket list.
October 1st, 2014 at 16:23
By March 2015: Start online services/marketing business
By May 2016: Expand online business/reduce corporate responsibilities
By June 2017: Full time entrepreneur for online marketing platform
By 2019: Work as consultant/part-time for corporate work | Focus on business
By 2022: Leave corporate work entirely | Focus on being an entrepreneur
By 2024: Organize small office/agency for online/social media marketing
October 1st, 2014 at 16:36
10-Year Plan
1st-5th year
Personal (also true for 6th-10th year)
1) Increase time with family and friends, i.e., more time at home, more shared activities, and more trips and travels
2) Try other forms of exercise, relaxation and other stress-reduction methods, at least once in 6 months, and maintain and/or change current engagement in sports and forms of exercise, depending on need
3) Gain more knowledge and skills on organic and sustainable farming, and start weekend farming on acquired land, look for other possible farming sites for acquisition, with a view to more hours spent on farming, both as personal fulfillment and as an alternative earning source
4) Increase funds for retirement
Career
1) File for optional retirement at current job in 1-3 years
2) Gain knowledge and establish connections in other areas of profession
3) Continue studies on human rights issues through reading, participating in trainings and conferences
4) Reconnect with human rights groups and advocates, make new alliances and participate in biddings for small human rights projects as an individual consultant or as part of a group
5) Increase hours of reading and writing, with a goal of publishing a book on short stories/essays in 2-3 years
6th-10th year
Career
1) Continue to gain knowledge and establish connections in other areas of profession
2) Transition to a less-rigid, and more varied practice of profession, by getting involved more on consultancies and short-term projects
October 1st, 2014 at 17:20
Oh, I forgot:
8. Remarry my husband in 2021 (if we’re still together). This time, we’ll invite our family and friends. :-)
October 1st, 2014 at 18:46
Year 1:
Pay off credit card debt.
Look for a higher-paying job, Singapore is a definite option.
Year 1-5:
Build the habit of saving (10-20% of income).
Build the habit of writing every morning – and publish poetry.
Start a laundry business.
Buy some property in Bulacan.
Settle down at 35.
Year 6-10:
Start a family, homeschool the kids.
Publish a collection of poetry.
Plant Mahogany for sale.
Sell the laundry business or offer franchising.
October 1st, 2014 at 19:20
Within the 10 year period, I still plan to be employed by the same company I’m working for right now. By then it will be 32 years of doing the same thing over and over again. I don’t mean it in a sarcastic way, more like stating a fact and foreseeing what lies ahead of me in 10 years time. But of course, I need to pursue something else to help me break the monotony of work, that’s why I also plan to paint and craft jewelries and bag charms.
October 1st, 2014 at 22:01
I’ve always planned to do the following things for the next ten years.
Self-learn the German language enough to be able to qualify for a scholarship in Germany (ongoing at the moment. I’ve began learning the basics)
Get a masters degree abroad and/or enroll at a medical school
Purchase a piano and a simple house
Backpack my way to Russia for the 2018 World Cup (same goes for the 2022 Qatar World Cup as well)
Write my own book
Make my mom spend her retirement years enjoying all the things that make her happy.
October 1st, 2014 at 22:02
To be an editor in this newspaper company where I am currently working and to write and publish my own successful novel(s) and collection(s) of short stories.
October 1st, 2014 at 22:11
1. Build up my practice into a successful empire so i can put up a foundation that would sponsor free operations for indigent patients (this goal is in the planning stages)
2. Raise my daughter into a kind, compassionate, upright, nationalistic, street-smart feminist by my example (admittedly, this involves a lot of hope on my part)
October 1st, 2014 at 23:08
1. Quit my corporate job and put up my own 3-in-1 store [cafe – bookstore – car wash]
2. Have my parent’s house renovated
3. Finally move out of newly-renovated parent’s house
October 1st, 2014 at 23:29
1-5 years:
– Get posted abroad as junior diplomat, preferably where I won’t contract malaria and/or regularly threatened with rape, murder, or revolution.
– Buy that piece of land overlooking Manila. Near son’s school and has fantastic view. Plus it’s to high up the mountains, the floods won’ t reach me.
– Finish thesis then proceed to PhD
– Learn how to do perfect splits again and take adult ballet classes
– Buy lego as part of retirement plan. Read somewhere legos are the new diamonds for smugglers, crooks, or similar. Wait 40 years then resell in ebay. Profit.
5-10 years
– Financially stable enough to support another child. Will adopt a baby girl.
– Open a cafe for bikers and other athletes based on ones I saw in Vietnam. It will be called: Hammock na Kapihan Lamang
– Increase investment for retirement
– Try to wiggle my way to be assigned to the office handling human rights and climate change. Appear in UN.
October 1st, 2014 at 23:40
The Plan
YEAR 1: Take my kids to Disneyland Resort in Tokyo, Japan.
YEAR 2: Get a car loan, a 2014 Kia Rio Hatchback.
YEAR 3: Complete the payment for my 120 sqm lot in Bulacan. Start a small business involving chairs and tables.
YEAR 4: Commission my architect friend to design a two-storey house (an indoor garden occupying half of the floor area) and start the construction before the year end.
YEAR 5: Expenses, expenses and more expenses while saving for YEAR 10, simultaneously.
YEAR 6: Upgrade the business and include catering services (food not included in the packages, at this point) and complete the payment for the car loan from YEAR 2.
YEAR 7: Enroll in a culinary school, more trial and error for the business.
YEAR 8: Upgrade the business to include the food in the catering services.
YEAR 9: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE for YEAR 10.
YEAR 10: Resign from my current job, leave the Middle East and be with their kids during their teenage years.
The Hope
Complete the 10-year plan in 5 years, yee-hee!!!
October 1st, 2014 at 23:41
*YEAR 10: Resign from my current job, leave the Middle East and be with my kids in their teenage years.
October 2nd, 2014 at 00:16
This contest is now closed. The winner will be announced this afternoon.