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Another new year, another set of goals and resolutions reflected upon and listed. Some resolutions are new but, if you are like me, most of this year’s resolutions are recycled from previous years, because they were not achieved. For many of us, our resolutions and goals are tied to what we mostly do during our waking hours — work. In an earlier article I wrote, I intimated my disbelief that one should love one’s work; that it cannot be true, because it is not true for everyone; that there are certain activities that would be almost impossible to love, like cleaning a poso negro. A noble job, yes; something that can help one provide for the family, but I find it hard to accept that one can love doing such a task.

After all the firecrackers have been lit, after all the food have been eaten, and once all the noises have dissipated, we remember that we now have to turn the pages of our calendars or replace them with new ones. We face another new year filled with unknown challenges and surprises. There is also the realization that, while the year is definitely new, we, on the other hand, have gotten older and fallen prey to the unstoppable hands of time once again. Isn’t it ironic that one of the most accepted symbols of the new year is an infant in a top hat, sash, and diaper? The Baby New Year is an avatar of optimism as the clock ticks down to midnight on December 31. The infant symbolizes on top of everything associated with it humanity’s desire to forever hang on to youthfulness. The reality of it, however, is that every new year we grow older; we age.

On December 25, Christmas Day: Filipino families will gather in their homes to share sumptuous food and exchange gifts under the bright and colorful lights of Christmas lanterns.

I just finished reading the book The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the 21st Century by American journalist Ryan Avent. It took me 10 months to finish the book. My son who gave me the book as a Christmas gift in 2017 was shocked to find out around the third week of October that I have not finished reading the book yet. The excuse I gave him was that the book was quite heavy. Avent admitted in the epilogue that his book is rather gloomy at parts. The Wealth of Humans will probably go down my personal history as the book that took me longest to finish reading.

This past week has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions for Filipino sports fans like myself. The University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, after more than three decades, are finally back in the UAAP Men’s Basketball finals against the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles. The jubilation was somewhat dampened by the heartbreaking losses of our national basketball team, Gilas, against Kazakhstan and Ira while our national football team, the Azkals, lost the first leg of their semifinals match against Vietnam.

Given the shortage of skilled labor and the potential cost savings involved, more and more organizations are outsourcing their knowledge-intensive businesses to the Philippines and other Asian countries.

Last November 7, 2018, I talked on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) and its impact on the accounting and assurance professions, as a guest speaker to the 13th Washington SyCip Lecture of the University of Sto. Tomas Alfredo M. Velayo College of Accountancy.

Christmas has officially arrived. Invitations to Christmas parties have started coming in. Christmas decorations at our offices and in the building are all up. In the grandiosity of the holiday season, marked by spectacle after spectacle of dazzling light displays, sumptuous feasts, and lavish gatherings in every corner, it is easy for everyone to lose sight of why we celebrate this momentous occasion in the first place. It is easy to forget that, before anything else, Christmas is a solemn celebration of our Savior’s birth; that, unlike our luxurious preparations and meticulous Christmas day activities, once upon a time, a poor boy was born in a manger to save humanity from sin.