It has been quite a while since I’ve been a passenger princess so it’s a welcome change, even for a short time. We hired my mom’s driver for her appointment with the pulmonologist at Manila Doctor’s today. I’m just too exhausted to drive and facilitate her check ups so better outsource the driving part and just worry about the doctor part. I have to sit through and take down notes because I do not fully believe my mom will remember all what the doctor will say.

I’m still not well. I still have the sniffles and my body aches because I have my period. Double whammy. But I have no choice, I need to bring my mom to the doctor. Her needs above my own.

Meanwhile, why didn’t I know that Danny O’Donoghue is in the streets of Manila (actually in QC, maybe just around in Cubao area) shooting a video for The Man Who Can’t be Moved?!

@thescripttok

It’s incredible seeing how many of you are making videos to The Man Who Can’t Be Moved. Massive thanks for all the love you keep showing this song ❤️ #Tmwcbm

♬ how can I move on – 🌀💁🏻‍♀️🔝🧼🚦

I knew they were returning for a concert but I couldn’t remember when exactly. I wasn’t able to think straight and was on the fence about watching them because I didn’t have the bandwidth to schedule well and not entirely sure if I would be too tired to queue and watch them.

It’s… *sigh* ageing is just. 🫠

Oh damn. No diving this week. The National Museum of Art – Binondo – Escolta trip with my kids will be iffy as well. Rains and flood is on the calendar during my week-long PTO.

PAGASA has officially called this the start of the southwest monsoon (habagat) and this rainy week is already the signal that the dry season/ “summer” will soon be over.

Since tomorrow is a no-go for us, I might as well do my blood chem (in prep for my check ups with my doctors) and 10k km PMS with Toyota. Hopefully, Wed and Thurs will be more favorable.

I really want to do a food and shop crawl of Escolta, the oldest shopping district in the Philippines. It’s part of the Binondo/Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in the world (because the Spanish drove out the Chinese outside of Intramuros/city early on). Manila is gentrifying Escolta again.

I want to try the gentrified Jones Bridge esplanade. Praying for less rain on Wed or Thursday. 🙏 I want to be a tourist in my own country.

It rained last night; I didn’t know because I was knocked out last night after our late grocery shopping. I just woke up to a wet balcony. May is a month of hot weather peppered with rains that make everything more humid.

A maid whose wake is being held in the chapel near our place died of a heatstroke (sounds like heatstroke to me) a few days ago, my mom’s cook told me over lunch today. The weather has been unbearably hot that I don’t find it surprising.

They say that we will be having a super El Niño this year, so that means the southwest monsoon/typhoons will be more unforgiving. Makes me think twice about installing solar panels that may just get peeled off by a super typhoon.

Speaking of maid, our cleaning lady isn’t coming in so I’m stuck doing loads of laundry and house cleaning. It’s already 3 pm and I haven’t cleaned the bathroom. 😭 Instead of resting on weekends, I spend my off days just cleaning. 🫠

I’m putting this here so I can remember the books I should to buy.

We had a copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu but I didn’t grab it when I split from the ex-husband. I’ll see if I can get the rest of these from second-hand bookstores.

BUT

It’s so ambitious of me… As if I have time to read books. I have stacks of them here by my bedside and on my shelf above my bed. 😶 Still unfinished or unread. 🤪

I attended an event last Monday while I (*think*) was shedding virus all around. I started sneezing late in the afternoon as I gathered contact details of people I want to interview.

Then the next day I was down with flu. I struggled editing two hard stories so I wasn’t able to write my own.

By Wednesday I was completely useless. I just slept the whole day. If I was wake, I just stayed in my bed and spent my waking hours doomscrolling or watching Youtube videos. Good thing it was Eid al Adha holiday so I didn’t have to worry about work. My brain couldn’t handle book reading. I was just completely bedridden, blowing my nose incessantly, taking in a lot of cold tablets, drinking water, going to the bathroom. Repeat. Food was taken care of my mom next door so that’s a load off me as well.

My flu vaccine must have worn off.

I asked for personal time off next week so I could have my check ups with my gynecologist and my endocrinologist. Have my flu vaccine again. Then probably go diving one last time before the monsoon rains come.

I tried to watch all Christian Slater movies in the 1990s. I endured Robinhood because of him. My heart was broken by his movie with Marissa Tomei, Untamed Heart.

I think I was the president of Christian Slater fan club in school. 🤣

The seasons are changing. We’re in between scorching summer heat and the habagat (southwest monsoon) so the weather is a bit temperamental these days. The morning was hot as hell so I did the last few batches of laundry (cleaning lady is still isn’t coming) after Twin A and I went to the weekend market.

After a much-needed shower, I saw that the skies are turning grey. That means I have to take some laundry drying out in the open back under the roof. This makes me a bit sad that I haven’t gone back to Anilao to catch the last few days of summer.

Maybe I should take a personal time off in the first week of June. 🤔 Go diving again on a weekday.

I was at the World Trade Center yesterday (and today) for the food expo, looking for people to interview. I was able to do two interviews yesterday and follow up others in the coming days. But I got rejected, too, yesterday and today. After 30 years of doing this, it still stings. That’s why I don’t think I will last in sales.

But as another reporter told me:

You know, I just have to rhink that it’s not me who they are rejecting but rather it’s my publication. They’re not ok with providing info, while others are willing because they stand to gain something. Rejections mean I tried to look for stories, that I did my job…

Maybe because I put too much effort in chasing stories that I couldn’t detach myself from my job. I feel like rejection of my efforts is a personal rejection.

Or maybe I’m just perimenopausal. 🫠

I just learned two days ago that my friends in our HK office got retrenched. Some high-level people, too. The owner is highly leveraged that the banks aren’t happy with refinancing his debts. So the owner has to cut some more, straight to the bone, to appease the creditors.

For a moment I panicked and I had been asking God, why is that I don’t understand what he wants for me? Why aren’t my job applications moving forward? I was asking for clear directions but I feel like I can’t hear Him. All I get is the message wait.

Then this appeared on my FY:

I have to be patient and not panic.