I’ve been driving to and from Manila everyday since Tuesday and my mistake was I didn’t book a hotel stay to save me from lack of sleep. I had to wake up early everyday.

At 6 am last Monday, I barfed while I was showering. My chin spent an inordinate time on my toilet seat as I tried to empty my stomach of acids. It was so painful that I fell into a fetal position on the bathroom floor while the shower drowned my cries — my hyperacidity was acting up again. Then diarrhea came. And never left.

The entire Monday was like that. I got a terrible headache and got so weak (probably got dehydrated) that I got confined to my bed. My plan to drive to Ortigas to attend the first day of a 4-day conference was scratched out from my calendar.

And yet I had to edit a story because we were very short of editors this past week. The bureau chiefs were out of town for the annual meet and this is the first time that I wasn’t included. It was fine by me since I no longer want that job and the stress.

Anyway, my soul was floating and I was in and out of consciousness, so I don’t know how I managed to get the job done. I slept in between. It was so terrible and I prayed for healing so I can work the next day. I needed to get stories because I was on leave the previous week.

Tuesday was better and I risked going to Ortigas even though my head was still swimming a bit. On the sidelines of that conference, I got to interview one guy from the land of bubblegum pop. But he was so rude!!! Had I not been desperate for stories, I wouldn’t have tolerated his rudeness. 🤬

Another interview with a company founder from Malaysia made up for that earlier rude interview.

Wednesday was a bit better. However, I didn’t have a chance to have lunch or any snacks because I was busy chasing people, attending panel discussions, or editing. Editing jobs were piling up.

I was so busy that I only got to eat at around 7 pm. I got to my car, had a call with a source, and I was only able to drive out of the parking lot at close to 9 pm.

I was sick and oh so tired.

I decided to skip the last day of the conference and just write some stories at home and edit for a bit.

One of my bffs dropped by at home to have lunch with me since she has to tell me her uprooting plans. She and her kids will be leaving for Bangkok by the end of the month for her post doc work. Her research institute has a program with her uni in Europe and a uni in Thailand so she will be shuttling between Bangkok and our uni hometown for three years. She is also assisting her advisor in advising a PhD candidate in Thailand.

So for today, we went to Caliraya to give her a breather. We had lunch in Pagsanjan and went to Lake Caliraya to have coffee.

But we checked out Kaliraya Surf Kamp first to see if it’s still worth camping there again after five years since we first pitched our tent there.

To give my bff’s kids a treat, we rented a boat to go around the lake.

There are more camping sites now around the lake than resorts. Lagos del Sol closed down during the pandemic and our boatman told us it is already sold to a new owner.

After the hour-long boat ride, we drove down to have that long-delayed coffee break.

With this view.

Today is my last day of freedom because I’m going back to work tomorrow. 😭

Twin A and I went to the community weekend market so I can avoid cooking today. Our cleaning lady returned yesterday so I’m free of laundry and kitchen and bathroom scrubbing but I need to freshen up my room. I need to eradicate the unnecessary clutter on my work table.

I also must start sewing the new curtains.

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I finished four panels. Two for the living area and two for my bedroom.

And tomorrow, I go back to work 😭

There were a couple of Bencabs there, including his sketches. When we were in Baguio in 2017, we went to Bencab’s art museum to see his collection: he has some national artists like Arturo Luz and some newer artists.

There are Cesar Legaspi that I liked, better than the ones in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) collection.

And this is the first time I saw HR Ocampo paintings that aren’t just blobs of color on a canvas. The collection in BSP/PICC (and also I think with BDO) are the common HR Ocampo ones.

I don’t understand Jose Joya but sometimes he evokes some emotions in me. His paintings at the National Museum are large, but the one in PICC is the biggest Joya I saw.

I sometimes see some Federico Alcuaz paintings but they don’t move me as much aw Ang Kiukok does even though I don’t understand him.

Some sculptures that caught my eye. Like this Abdulmari Imao. He often depicts Mindanao/Maranao art like the sarimanok.i can’t remember now where I usually see his sculptures but when I see one, I already know that it’s an Abdulmari Imao.

There is a gallery dedicated to Guillermo Tolentino, the sculptor who made the UP Oblation.

They are currently running the Philippine Art Deco, which is a significant period in the country. My kids asked why I keep on taking pictures of old buildings in Escolta and around the Binondo-Intramuros area. I told them, there are only a few Art Deco buildings left because most of them were destroyed during WW2 or destroyed by the commercial interests. The local government didn’t give a fuck about preserving such sites.

It was the time of vaudeville, flapper girls, and the rise of Philippine cinema.

I didn’t take many photos of the furniture and clothes of the Art Deco era because… I don’t know. Because I still see them around??? They remind me of my grandmas.

Our visit to the Fine Arts Museum in 2018 was hazy so I don’t remember the foyer to be like this.

And I don’t remember the Senate Hall to be like this.

And definitely, there was no coffee shop there on the 4th floor when we visited 8 years ago.

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From Fine Arts Building, we took the tricycle going to Divisoria.

We went to buy wholesale garments and some textiles for table cloth, curtains, and pillow cases. Because I still have this grand illusion that I have time to sew. 🤪

From Divisoria we took the tricycle again back to Red Planet, drove out of their parking space, and went straight to Mall of Asia, about 35 mins away, to finish our back-to-school shopping.

Got back home at around 10 pm. I was so exhausted that I was only able to enroll my kids for the next school year at around 2:30 pm the following day (yesterday).

Still exhausted today that I wasn’t able to come with my sister and mom to my uncle’s funeral this morning.

Tired.

My kids woke up late yesterday and we had brunch at Sincerity, known among locals for their Chinese fried chicken. I think we got to the National Museum for the Arts around noon.

It was a good day to be out; not too hot, not rainy. There were no long lines of children on a school trip, it’s just families taking time to see national treasures.

The last time we were here was in 2018 and the building was being renovated so we didn’t see much.

I thought I saw Spoliarium in Malacañang Palace but my memory is faulty. It was one of Juan Luna’s Blood Compact, not the Spoliarium that I saw.

Anyway, I fell in love with Luna’s boceto and that of Fernando Amorsolo’s. Twin A remarked that Amorsolo’s hand sketches are beautiful. We both know that it’s hard to draw hands.

Luna stayed in Japan briefly and he made paintings and sketches of daily life in Japan. His sketches and paintings were looser compared to his European ones like this below.

Given that his European/classical subjects require more details, he produced so many bocetos for me to ogle at.

I love seeing artists’ sketches and studies because I get a glimpse of their thought process.

Meanwhile, Felix Hidalgo is equally talented but we do not have as many boceto and paintings as Luna in the national collection.

Twin A is enamoured of Fernando Amorsolo. She fell in love with his color palette and fluidity of movement.

Amorsolo was a prolific artist. Aside from commissioned portraits, he left behind a lot of sketches and studies.

Twin A loves Amorsolo. I, on the other hand, think that he’s ok but not really charmed because he paints idealized scenes. Look at this painting of Bataan during WW2. Death and destruction shouldn’t be this beautiful. I hardly feel that ugliness of war. I don’t feel anything at all. And art is supposed to evoke emotions in me. Sadly, most of Amorsolo’s paintings don’t.

Another national artist I introduced to my children is Carlos “Botong” Francisco. I told them, Botong Francisco uses happy colors, whatever the subject is.

My heart aches whenever I see a Vicente Manansala painting because it reminsmds me of the Manansala mosaic that I lost. 😭

I never thought I will like cubist-esque style of art but here we are, gravitating towards Mananasala’s happy colors.

He wasn’t always a cubist. Look at his pen/pencil drawings, it shows his versatility.

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I showed Twin A Binondo Church so she can refresh her memory. I was able to bring them here when they were about 7 yrs old but that was a chaotic Binondo. Today, the streets are calmer and cleaner, hence, easier to navigate.

From here, we went to Escolta then we went to Yuchengco Plaza to reach Jones Bridge Esplanade.

We walked to the other side, the Intramuros side as I saw the walkway along the walls were also rehabilitated.

On the way back to Jones Bridge, we saw the New York City Bank all lit up and looking grandiose.

More than 14k steps upon reaching the Chinatown arch. I was too tired so we took the tricycle to David’s Tea house because I was craving congee and spareribs with tausi.