I started my walk a little late today so the sun was already beating down on my neck when I finished at 7:30 am.

It’s Good Friday and most shops are closed. I wonder if I could drive with my kids to Caliraya to have snacks overlooking the lake and watch the sunset this afternoon.

I destroyed my diet yesterday by indulging in Chowking halo-halo. It’s not the best halo-halo out there but it’s the most convenient to have on this hot and dry season.

I just spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for twilight on my balcony. There’s nothing better than cooling off in your OWN balcony, in your paid off tiny home.

So I try to enjoy my balcony as much as I can.

Surrounded by my cats.

With global recession looming, I feel insecure again with my job and liquidity is a source of anxiety now. At least I have a paid off home now and the possibility of homelessness is no longer a fear for me. Once I have my solar power system installed in the next few months, I will have less utility bill to worry about. My internet is not as big as my Meralco bill and my Smart post-paid is only 1k a month so that’s manageable.

I feel so blessed and thankful that I have a roof over my head and even if I lose my job, we still have a home that can’t be taken away from me.

I won’t be putting money or will halve my allocation to my ETF and UITF and mutual fund in the next few months and keep everything in cash. We don’t know how deep this recession will be.

Reports said the Houthis in Yemen are reactivated and there’s a possibility that they could hold Gulf of Aden hostage, which will choke Suez and cut off global trade. This could lead us to a deep and long recession or worse, depression.

I should prepare for the worst. I will start buying gardening materials tomorrow. We need to start our veggie garden because even if Trump ends this war today, the after effects of this chaos will take months to unwind.

But Hegseth has fired the Army chief. The US military is falling apart. Russia, China, and Iran will take advantage of this. Israel won’t care. This war will be a long one and many nations will get involved.

The recession will be deep, long, and painful. We have to be prepared.

Iran is allowing Philippines-flagged ships to safely pass the Strait of Hormuz. Thanks to the efforts of our diplomats and energy secretary. It also helps that we’re non-agressive and we’re friendly to all.

The prices may remain high but at least we will have supply. We just need to bear the high prices. Many will go hungry. We just need to be nice to each other and help one another. I will continue to pay PHP 50 for a one-way jeepney ride.

Being in perimenopause is like being in constant PMS or pregnant. Your hormones mess you up. I usually find myself just crying over some Tiktok or Youtube video about a cat or whatever.

And my daughter just found me tearing up as I watched the trailer of Dreamworks’ Forgotten Island for the first time.

It’s based on Filipino diaspora and culture. Two best friends in the Philippines are going to be parted because one will be migrating to the US. Before that happens, they get sucked into a mysterious forgotten island of Nakali (sounds like nakalimutan, the Tagalog word for forgotten). The Philippine sun (from our flag) is everywhere — the glowing sinkhole was shaped like the Philippine sun. The Sarimanok (giant chicken with colorful tail), the glimpses of the manananggal, the kapre, and other Philippine mythical creatures were there. The anik-anik (the friendship bracelet), references to the blood compact. The classrooms, the metal school chairs, the school uniforms — they very much look like Philippine public schools.

That made me cry. Representation matters a lot.

President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.

In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said.

— Wall Street Journal

The dotard thinks the world is at his beck and call. Like pressure Europe and Gulf states to “lead” in opening the Strait — in other words, fix his mess.

The fuck.

I want to slap a MAGAt’s face right now.

I slept for 6 hrs straight last night because my cats couldn’t bother me at 3 am because my room was sealed. My kids and I slept in my room with the aircon on because the heat is already unbearable for my perimenopausal body and temperament.

Even though it’s still cool during the small hours, I told myself I shouldn’t let myself be miserable just because Trump is jacking up my electricity rate. Turn on the aircon!

Because I slept well, I woke up at 6 am without being groggy. I surprisingly had energy (as a non-morning person) so I decided to walk 3 km before going to the wet market for veggies and fruits and some fish.

I didn’t take my car and just rode the jeep to the market. I paid PHP 50 one way because a little help to our jeep ans tricycle drivers go a long way.

After washing my fresh produce, I cooked brunch for me and my girls. I will boycott work today. The government has declared half-day off anyway.

I had a lot of leftovers in my fridge so kimchi fried rice it is. I chopped up all the fish cakes and kimchi that were taking space in my fridge and dunked these on the day-old rice.

GMA News reported last night that there is a possibility that a kilo of pork could go up to PHP 500 by next week or in the following weeks.

Prices of basic necessities would go out of control. There are only a few jeepney and bus drivers who are braving the high diesel prices. Commuters are stuck. The ordinary workers are so fucked.

All because of an insane man. I want to throw a lot of expletives at my MAGA uncle. You and the rest of the ignorant Filipino Americans like you installed a madman that is bringing so much strife to us and we didn’t even want this war.

The Americans should oust this president, for the love of God, they should — through people power — before the world is dragged into WW3. The Philippines did it twice. Sri Lanka did it recently. There should be an end to this madness.

It has been a week since I posted because shit has hit the fan.

Since Monday, I’ve been chasing CEOs, regulators, and whoever I can talk to about this oil crisis.

And yes, I was driving to and from Makati/BGC and absorbing the gas prices that doubled since this shitty war. It hurts, damn it, but I needed to work. I needed to chase people. I needed interviews.

As of Tue when the government declared a national energy emergency, the Philippines only had 45 days worth of fuel. It had to negotiate with SEAsian neighbors and even Russia for at least 700,000 barrels of oil to augment our supply. As of Friday, the government was able to extend the buffer to until June.

But this doesn’t ease the burden of skyrocketing pump prices.

Jeepney drivers could no longer bring home earnings because the price of diesel has more than doubled. I feel for them.

Patreng Non again opened the community pantry for public utility drivers and food/ecommerce motorcycle riders. However, that is just one area of Quezon City. We need to do this nationwide.

One of the CEOs I interviewed last week said this is worse than what happened during the pandemic. What we had then were mobility issues, which was manageable because we were able to work around it. This time it’s different. It’s a supply problem and that means if you don’t have it, then there’s no workaround. You just don’t have it.

He said Metro Manila is vulnerable because all of its food supply is trucked into the city. It doesn’t have its own food supply whereas people from the provinces have backyards and smallholding farmers that can sell food within a certain radius.

One of my bffs who has a trucking business stopped operations because it no longer makes business sense. The cost of fuel is just too high while the contracts didn’t change.

I had already thought about this carefully so tonight I decided to shop for two months worth of groceries. It would save me the trip as I have to be careful with my fuel consumption. Prices of goods after March would jump and Lord knows how long we have to endure such burden that we have no control over.

My freezer is now filled to the gills and my extra supplies are now stashed under my couch and over my kitchen cabinets.

The thing here is, I don’t know if I would still be able to hold on to this job. Iran has threatened to cut the subsea Internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz and 90% of internet traffic passes though there. If I don’t have internet, I can’t work. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Iran has been trolling Trump for several days now and it’s hilarious and at the same time scary. This is psy war in a different way. They’re using humor to drop hints at what they’re going to do next but it doesn’t remove the sting.

Aside from hacking into the emaik of the head of FBI, Iran has also tracked down the Israeli pilots that have dropped bombs on Iran and now they’re doxxing the pilots. The civilian bombings in Israel are really targeting the families of these pilots. Iran has their coordinates. 👀

You see, this war is different. US and Israel are not fighting ragtag jihadists in Iraq or Syria. Iran has a well-trained and organized military. They had been waiting for the two for 20 years. This is a fight for their existence and you know how that went with Vietnam…

Reports said the US 82nd Airborne Division is already en route to Khrag Island, an important oil terminal in Iran, for ground assault.

Por Dios santo, Trump is leading them to their senseless deaths!

I’m so fat. My last outdoor exercise was in November and during my last visit to my endocrinologist, my test results showed that I’m losing control. My HbA1c test was elevated so my doctor asked if I want to change my medication. I said I’ll try to go on a diet again and exercise. If I still can’t bring it down, then I have to have a more aggressive blood sugar drug.

So I put on my new OnCloud shoes yesterday at 15 mins before 4 pm to hike up on the mountain.

I thought my body would hurt because it has been months since I did long distance walking but I still managed to go to the weekend community market this morning on foot without aches. I should walk again after church this afternoon.

Then a deep tissue massage.

Sounds good.