I wasted gas and toll for this yesterday. Some journo friends and I were trying our best to angle a story from yesterday’s briefing but we really couldn’t force ourselves to produce anything. We didn’t get anything of substance.

However, the more important coverage is today so I decided to book a room at Red Planet so I won’t have to leave home at 4 am the following day just to be here by 7 am.

I don’t want to be stressed by traffic and anxiety over getting to the forum on time.

Because there were no distractions in my sparse hotel room, I was able to write two stories that had been stewing in my to-do list since last week. So in a way booking a hotel room was worth it because I was able to get these things out of the way and not have these nagging at the back of my mind.

After I finished writing, I walked around to see what else was there besides the coffee shop and snack bars at my budget hotel. Uptown Mall and Mitsukoshi are just walking distance. I chose to go to the former to check out which restaurant would interest me.

None.

After a small purchase from an Issy stall, I decided to go back to probably munch on a burger or something. I ended up eating a hotdog sandwich from 7-Eleven because I was just too sleepy to bother with a full meal.

My sis-in-law joined me later at the hotel after an afternoon of “malling” at BGC. She’s still there, comfortable under the covers, making the most of my hotel booking. I left my car at the hotel and just took Grab to the venue so I won’t have to stress over parking problems.

Hoping for better story yield today.

I was getting hits from North America, Europe, and different parts of Asia so I had to go offline for a bit. I don’t like it when I attract a lot of readers.

But I had to blog again because of this madness that Trump x Netanyahu have created. They dragged the entire world into this ego trip. We in the third world countries — just barely hanging on — are now suffering from high cost of fuel prices. Of everything.

The Philippine government even has to implement a 4-day work week to save on electricity and fuel.

This is reminiscent of my grade school days when the first Bush administration started the first Iraq war (a.k.a. Gulf War) of 1990-1991. We had an oil crisis then. We had rotating brownouts then plus fares in public transport suddenly shot up. We had to implement daylight savings time.

And I clearly remember this novelty/pop song hitting the airwaves, which mirrored the sentiment of the Filipino masses at that time.

It’s like history is repeating. It’s always the US that drags us through the dirt, to hell and back.

I’ve been attending fora/conferences and talking to people to feel the pulse, to get the market sentiment. All my stories would have to be guided by how quicker inflation will drive companies’/executives’ decision-making. We are all holding our breaths because we know at the back of our minds this is not going to be over by the end of this week. We know how delulu Trump is.

I hate the Republicans for unleashing Trump to the world.

If I still had my Isuzu Crosswind, I would be paying PHP 80 per liter by the end of this week. Since now I drive a Toyota Avanza, which uses gas, I will be forking around PHP 61 per liter by Friday, which is still pretty hefty as I drive 120 km++ whenever I have work in Metro Manila. I need to be judicious about my drives to Makati or BGC (or anywhere) because we don’t know how long this war will last.

This is just a view from a petty bourgeoise like me.

But if we look at the grand scheme of things, this is like a rock tied on the necks of the daily wage earners whose earnings won’t get a bump anytime soon. I always give tips whenever I can because life is already hard. The waiters, the Grab drivers/delivery guys, and the grocery baggers don’t have much — any help goes a long way.

I remember when I was working only two years after graduating from college, I was only receiving a pitiful salary so every peso counted. If my daily budget goes askew (like the MRT breaks down and I would have to take the bus or an extra jeepney ride), it meant that I had to sacrifice something, like I won’t be able to order this meal because I would be short by 2 pesos. Or I have to buy a no-name shampoo brand because it was cheaper than Pantene or even Palmolive. I lived cheaply because I could not afford anything.

This is why any extra like tips (which would go to their fares or hopefully savings) would really mean a lot to minimum wage earners.

Let’s all be kind to one another during hard times like this.

Because we are on the brink of another world war.

… Has a mass near her right kidney.

I brought her back to the vet today and had her confined because she’s not drinking water. She’s dehydrated. Now the clinic has told me an hour ago that after calming her down and whatnot, they were able to do an ultrasound scan and saw the suspected mass.

Good evening, ma’am.

We were able to continue Kimchi’s ultrasound once she became calmer.

We found a suspected mass near her right kidney. At this time, we cannot determine exactly what it is but we suspect it may be causing mild blood loss (which her body is compensating for, as shown by the high reticulocytes) and may also be affecting her drive to drink. This is something we will need to monitor.

As discussed earlier, she can go home tomorrow and we will prescribe medications to help manage her symptoms.

We will explain everything in detail tomorrow. Salamat po.

I pray it’s not cancer. But if it’s near her kidney and NOT in her kidney, maybe it’s treatable with surgery. If it’s in her kidney, then I elect to remove the kidney and give palliative care until it’s time to let her go.

It’s breaking my heart.

My band used to play Creed. A lot. Their songs don’t get you down but you sing it when you’re down or when you want to get hyped. I got sad when I learned about Scott Stapp going all drugged, weird, and suicidal.

But here they are, back and 25-30 years later they still sound so good. Scott’s voice didn’t change it seems.

Welcome back, Scott.

And here’s Mark Tremonti talking about Higher, my favorite among all Creed songs. I loved the intro guitars here and I remember we did play this acoustic in one or two gigs.

Creed, Collective Soul, P.O.D., and Skillet are the go-to when I needed encouragement when I’m so down and out. I listen to Jars of Clay when I want to cry (Worlds Apart, Tea and Sympathy).

Speaking of old music and bands, I suddenly felt nostalgic when I saw this video.

It was 1996 when Breakfast at Tiffany’s broke into the airwaves. Deep Blue Something and Toad the Wet Sprocket were in the soundtrack of my college years, together with Gin Blossoms and The Verve Pipe.

This must have been how my father felt whenever he listened to RJ Radio on Sundays, playing the music of his youth.

We’re not ethnic Chinese but we came to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a trip to Tayabas, Quezon province to eat inside a decommissioned airplane.

I drove two hours from our home to reach Air Summit Gourmet, a restaurant inside a decommissioned airplane. Don’t ask me if it’s an Airbus because I can’t tell the difference.

Since we’ve driven a long way, might as well check out the old Basilica of Michael the Archangel.

Yes, I have a thing for old churches.

Drove back home for two hours.