I just downloaded some of the photos taken by the BSP’s official photographer and I didn’t realize how black we all were. 🤣 I really stood out from the crowd when I wore hot pink two years ago.

Anyway, the world has gone insane over Xiaohongshu/RedNote.

Tiktok will be banned in the US this coming weekend so Americans decided to be petty. Their government accuses Tiktok of being a spy for the CCP, so in retaliation, the citizens of the great nation of USA went straight to a “more Chinese” into the arms of CCP, to a social media app where the content is pure Chinese. No translations.

It was a “fuck you!” to Trump, to Mark Zuckerberg, and to Elon Musk. They thought once Tiktok is banned, Americans would go flocking back to Instagram or *inhale* old people’s Facebook. Some of the posters I watched said, “I’d rather learn Mandarin and give my data to China than to Zuckerberg or Musk. What would the Chinese government use my data for when all I have is debt?”

@thelaineyblair

Fox News going crazy rn☠️ #rednote #rednoteapp #mandarin #chinese #KeepTikTok #savetiktok #tiktokcase #tiktokban #meta #metastock

♬ original sound – JamieJL651

So in a matter of 24 hrs, the Americans have invaded Red Note. They have infiltrated my algorithm. The Chinese were welcoming and  eager to show the Americans their, food, homes, art, lifestyles and wanted to practice their English. Yes, I learned it all by reading the comments on each Red Note video that welcomed the Americans.

The Americans are shocked to learn that they were fed propaganda by western media and the goverenment, that the Chinese live and work in sweatshops, that they could afford to eat well for little money (“they could afford to have grocery hauls whereas I couldn’t feed myself!”), that they live in nice apartments, that infrastructure is way ahead of the US (hello, bullet trains!) and that life is not miserable.

The Chinese are equally shocked to learn that Americans have to pay thousands of USD to be transported by ambulance, that they go in so much debt to go to college, they had to work two to three jobs to survive because the cost of housing and groceries is just too much when minimum wage is only USD 7.50 and hasn’t increased in a decade or so. They also got the surprise of their lives when they learned that Americans have no free time as depicted in movies and TV shows, they cannot afford holidays and days off, and that lunch break is only 10-15 mins and you have to eat in a hurry.

@tallgirl6234

♬ original sound – TallGirl6234

And what’s insane about all these?! Both sides were very, very polite with each other. Americans kept reminding fellow Americans not to bring their assholery to Xiaohongshu since they’re just visitors invading the Chinese’s social media app. It was supposed to be their safe space. If an American starts ruining it for the Chinese, they would all be kicked out and all they have left is Bluesky, some American visitors said.

And what did this TikToker above said?! Trump wants to get rid of the Department of Education?! Oh heavens! This is why Americans cannot point out Australia on the world map!

She is pointing out that the reason why the Trump wants Tiktok to be banned is because they want the Americans to remain ignorant about the rest of the world and continue to live in a bubble, believing America is the greatest of all nations. Most Americans who learned about things outside of the US through Tiktok and now Red Note said they are living in a third world country, where children are going through emergency drills for school shootings, where Luigi Mangione has become a folk hero by exacting justice on the deplorable insurance system, where you’re one illness away from homelessness or bankruptcy, maternity leaves are unheard of, and the only affordable option to feed your family is by buying boxed, canned, or frozen foods. Unadulterated fresh food is a luxury to them, in contrast with the rest of the world where even factory workers can buy fresh vegetables in a wet/public market. They have remained ignorant for so long because they cannot afford to travel given that PTO days are hard to come by and plane tickets are just too expensive.

They’re waking up now.

Here is Lea Salonga, a guest on PBS’ Finding Your Roots. It turns out she descended from a German academic named Pedro Malhabor (a naturalist) who migrated to the Philippines in the early 19th century. Who knew?!

The Philippines is somewhat a melting pot of people, an east meets west type of place. We were never homogeneous to begin with. Compared to our neighbors who tend to be purists (Malay vs Chinese vs Indian like in SG and Malaysia), we in the Philippines are a mixture races and our families could no longer trace our heritage. We always had an open door policy, especially when it comes to refugees (White Russians, European Jews, Chinese escaping the communists, Vietnamese, Syrians, and Ukrainians). It was only Duterte who denied the request for asylum for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban rule in 2018.

One example of the diversity of our heritage is local actress Dawn Zulueta, whose grandfather is a Palestinian who escaped the conflict in Israel and sought refuge in the Philippines. Duterte’s ex-wife is a Zimmerman whose family emigrated from Germany in the 1930s via the US then resided in the Philippines.

I am visiting my bank soon. I will modify my letter of instruction to the trust department of my bank to tell them to dial down my PSE feeder fund UITF investments and instead start putting my money into the S&P 500 UITF.

I just realized that I had been investing in the PSEi (either through a feeder fund or an index fund) for nothing as it has been flat for 10 years! I have to face the reality that we won’t be trading at almost 20x P/E again, like in 2016-2017. We’re only doing 12.2x these days. 😭

My global balanced mutual fund has been giving me better dividends every month—more than my local ETF has ever done in my 10 years putting my money into it.

Fuck. I lost a lot of capital gains because I didn’t diversify into offshore funds. 🥲 But then, it wasn’t my fault that some funds (such as US and global funds) were not available to me at the time I started boosting my investments. Maybe I was so arrogant, thinking I will be fine because I was/am a stock market reporter so more or less I know how it works.

Wrong.

I didn’t count that Duterte would happen. That the pandemic would happen. That I will live through another Marcos presidency.

The PSE is so shitty nowadays that I’m enticed to put my money on crypto—which goes against everything I believed in investing on fundamentals. 😑

Fuck.

I don’t know why but I bought a new tea set from the second-hand ceramics pop-up store at the weekend community market last Sunday. Maybe because I drink hot tea more now it’s colder. Right now it’s 24 degrees C and in the coming days we will be registering lower temps, around 21 to 20. When I was in high school it there was a time it reached 18 degrees.

It’s also a form of relaxation for me. The act of bringing a tiny cup to my lips and savoring a hot brew is meditative.

Last Friday, I counseled a friend who cried to me because she couldn’t see where her relationship with her partner is going. Differing approaches to financial management really does break a relationship and it’s not a petty issue. Financial management is a reflection of your values and how you approach life in general. Financial dishonesty is a serious offense.

I told her, one of the most eye-opening things told to me by a fellow married woman was this: you do not have to mix your finances with your partner. This person was a lawyer-columnist with whom I shared rooms during a junket trip abroad. I was just two months married then and she told me that 1) I should always have my own money because when shit hits the fan, I can always walk out; 2) I can keep our finances separate and just agree on the household expenses that we can split and jointly pay for.

My erstwhile roomie told me that she and her husband, who is also a lawyer, split the grocery bills. Her husband bought the meat because he was very much a carnivore and there were expensive cuts that he favored. She, on the other hand, spends on—I can no longer remember—but the rest on their grocery list is jointly financed between the two of them. That is just one example. She pays for this, he pays for that. She told me it’s totally fine not to follow the traditional way of managing household finances where one controls the money and the other just receives an allowance. Having expenses split according to what you’re willing to spend/splurge on will lessen resentment and animosity between couples.

We did that and before we had children, ex-husband was paying for utilities while I paid for the groceries. Shortly after things flipped over and I had borne all kid-related stuff and groceries. Later on, I was paying for all of our expenses except cable TV because he’s the one addicted to TV while I couldn’t be bothered by it. And yes I was the only one paying for our kids’ private school tuition. I had too much resentment boiling inside me because aside from I was working myself to the bone, I was paying for everything, and yet he couldn’t even help in taking care of our kids.

On hindsight, this was the reason why I was always tired, stressed, and unhappy.

He was so financially dishonest that it was only when my kids and I left him did I learn that he wasn’t even paying rent. His sister let us live in that house we were living for 8 years for free. He led me to believe he was paying rent as part of his contribution to household expenses.

So I told this friend that she and her partner should keep their finances separate since they’re not even married. There’s no way to protect her when shit happens. She’s stressing over her partner being financially irresponsible and the ironic thing is this person is in banking. 😬 I told her that it’s up to her how long she can wait until the partner wisens up. I mean, some people can be taught financial responsibility and they’re not beyond redemption. Until that happens, she should keep her finances separate or else the resentment will boil over.

In my case, I compromised so much. I was like a melting candle and in the end I was so spent that I no longer had anything to give. You cannot pour from an empty vessel.

I am without a fridge for more than a week now. I had to throw out a LOT of food and the frozen goods that thawed had to be transferred to my mom’s house to be cooked.

It took a week before the Panasonic Service Center in my hometown to pull out my fridge. And it will take another week for them to bring it back for PHP 7,300.

I can’t cook because I have no food except for canned stuff and instant noodles. If I cook, there should be no leftovers. I had to throw away leftover rice.

What I have are eggs and Chinese buns. I cooked them on the steamer that my older sister handed down to me. She received this as a gift or won it at a Christmas raffle and had been stuck with her for two years because she doesn’t cook.

So I made steamed eggs. I didn’t have spring onions with me because I had thrown out all my vegetables so I had to do without. Twin I and I liked them that she ate it with rice.

Hmm, I can make steamed fish in ginger and soy sauce.

Twin I said she can’t wait for the fridge to come back because she misses my cooking. ❤️ She is so done with food deliveries.

This is the first bankers night at the central bank that I didn’t take photos of. The first in the 19 years I’ve been attending this annual event, except of course duringthe pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

Why is that? I don’t know. The people that I had been fond of are no longer attending because they have moved on from their former roles, or they have moved on from this plane. Maybe I was just too busy chatting with people.

I saw journo friends and many of us stayed behind after the bankers have left. We were the ones left eating the excellent wrapped spicy sisig, lechon, roastbeef in pan de sal… The caterer was CIBO and I say Margarita Fores delivered. 👌

One good TV reporter friend of mine, GDP, and I exchanged gifts at the parking area. I gave him the 1001 song book I found in Booksale and the Gold Roast coffee I brought from Singapore. For some reason friends and family like Gold Roast so the last time I got home from SG, half of my luggage was coffee and milk tea. 🤷🏻‍♀️

GDP in exchange, gave me this from his family’s trip in S. Korea:

I guess I would have to start dabbling in watercolors again. 🙃

My kids are doing well in school. Twin A has improved a lot, her lowest grade is 95, which is Math. She’s on top of her class, her advisor told me. Twin I is already near the ceiling with most of her grades already at 98 to 100. She’s reviewing now for the Philippine Biology something, like a Math Olympics, and would be competing at Ateneo in two weeks.

I thank God my kids and thriving. Twin A is doing her volleyball training so I have to fetch her from school every Mondays and Wednesdays as the school bus service is long gone by the time they’re done.

I asked them last night if they want to join the youth camp during the summer break and they said no, they have their own trainings or activities slated for those months.

Oh, am on the way now to Manila and have a packed day ahead.

I’ve consulted so many people in the past two days regarding what I should do with my boss. All of them told me NOT to talk to directly to my boss and level off with her. This would complicate things. My HR manager cousin told me, as an HR professional she recommends that I should tell our HR through an anonymous feedback mechanism that most global companies have. On a personal level she told me she doesn’t recommend it because there will be retaliation and I have to weigh if I can take that risk.

I told her that given I am a breadwinner, I can’t afford to do that (retaliation and all) but this is taking a toll on my mental health. I was told to either quit or learn to manage how I approach and respond to my manager. My cousin knows me well; she knows that I do not take things sitting down, that I am not a “yes sir, yes ma’am” kind of person. She advised me to take a life coach or counseling to help me manage that side of me if I want to stay in my job because there is no way my boss will change or I will be assigned to a different boss.

It’s a matter of who blinks first. Of course, I know I will be the one who will end up quitting.

So life coach it is. I think it’s high time that I do because just the thought of going back to work after the holidays gave me so much anxiety that I felt physically sick.

It’s not like I wasn’t looking for jobs or alternatives. I did! But nothing panned out. Until an opportunity comes along, I should try to manage myself when it comes to my boss.

So I will call a life coach tomorrow.