"fiscal responsibility"

two weeks ago, 17 and 18 to be exact, i came home just a bit bummed out. i had attended an international conference on fiscal openness and, on the afternoon of the 18th, had to race out of the conference and back to the office to take notes on a meeting that high-level bosses were having. and, in the whole of those two days, i had found myself in the dismaying situation of barely being able to grasp the matters being discussed at hand. i was really bothered about it.

the coming monday, 21 of this month, september, i wasn't going to proceed to work directly because i had a dental appointment so i was sitting on a chair in our living room thinking about what i felt was a shocking situation of me not being able to follow work discussions. i was wondering what i could do about it. my mind immediately referred me to don.

i wasn't sure if i could enlist don for help but i decided to test the waters. i sent him a text:

Don, hello. good am. are you busy?

he replied:

Hi cory. Just in the office.


i hesitated about coming out and telling him about the situation and involving him by asking for his help.

he texted:

what's up?

i decided to go for it:

i was wondering, would you be alright if i ask you questions from time to time about what you know about governance issues, political systems, canada's budgeting system, etc.?

he said:

yes, of course. i'll do my best to answer your questions...maybe we should meet up for coffee one of these days to catch up and talk politics and fiscal responsibility..

fiscal responsibility? my mind echoed. i felt some consternation. omg, baka mapagalitan pa ako ni don over the work of my agency. but, he seems to be saying yes. so i said:

i can? yay! kasi minsan i attend conferences and inter-agency meetings and sometimes there are points there that i want to talk about and i want to get someone else's thoughts on the matter. eh i think you know a lot about these things kasi eh and i would feel more comfortable asking you about these things. tas i trust in your feedback. my bosses are knowledgeable but i'm not so sure pa about having offhand conversations with them, hehe.

sige, libre kita ng coffee if you will let me pick your brain. ^_^

this came to my mind just now. because right now, a sunday, evening, i am here in my agency, working. and i just came across a mention of fiscal responsibility and i realized that i had misunderstood don. by fiscal responsibility, i thought he meant, being responsible on fiscal matters - things like investing properly in the right priorities, operational efficiency, accountability processes, etc. i realize now he hadn't meant that. i think, esp coming from the context of my text, he meant, the duties and work of the broad field of fiscal responsibility as allocated and exercised by the concerned agencies or instrumentalities.

naisip ko lang kasi that i had indeed knocked on the door of the right person. i mean, for 1 thing, mas well-versed nga si don kaysa sakin sa vocabulary na to. not to be hard on me - i am newcomer.

la lang. parang magaling lang din talaga si don. na-appreciate ko lang. sige, i'll go home na.

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