The lawsuit threat was still being dealt with until this morning and I was a bit stressed by it but it’s mostly the fault of the PR for talking too much. But still we need to be careful in these markets that do not have free press because they think reporters can just be pushed around. They don’t know how to deal with independent media.
To add to my stress, my HSBC credit card was hacked and some dude in the US used my card to order from GoPuff—a grocery delivery service in the US—which clearly I do not have any use for. I had HSBC cancel my credit card to be replaced and I filed a dispute, showing proof that I used the same credit card on the same day to physically buy something here in Makati. I hope the bank can prove to the merchant that it was an unauthorized transaction since it was almost PHP 7,000. Whoever that bastard is may he fall on the sidewalk and break his ankle. I just received an email this afternoon that the HSBC held the amount until the dispute is resolved.
To relieve me of stress, I finished this watercolor sketch.
And I began a new one.
This is just the first layer. I need to do three layers of this because this scene is supposed to be very dark. I cannot do wet-on-wet coloring because this would come out muddy. Mixing colors and doing wet-on-wet painting is a disaster for me. Only professionals can do that.
I need to buy more brushes because it seems like small nylon brushes for fine lining cannot do the work for me. They do not absorb water enough. My other brushes are ok since I don’t do large formats yet.
Maybe I should do this, no?
I’ve been studying several styles of sketching and these days I just do either ink and watercolor or pure watercolor. I should explore this type of sketching.
I need to practice and practice everyday.
Tomorrow I will bring the girls to UP Town to play at Timezone while I practice urban sketching again. I also want to look at brushes and more watercolor paper (at least 300 gsm) because I am heavy on washes.
I wanted to return to walking in UP but Twin I said their dad does that everyday and I don’t want to encounter him there. So I guess we’ll just do our walkathon or biking at BGC on Sunday and then have breakfast there??? Until we transfer to my hometown, our only choices for such activities would be UP and BGC.
Speaking of going out, next week Kr and I would attending separate press conferences and we’ll just meet in Ayala Center again. Now I’m thinking of having that co-working membership and have a Manila office. At least I won’t be a floating entity here as I am not based in Singapore even if I would be head of the regional bureau. Let’s see how fast these face-to-face events would come back. I don’t know what’s more convenient for us: to have a co-working space membership or we just plop down in coffee shops since we have irregular hours anyway.
Meanwhile, all the political rallies of Leni Robredo had been blockbusters. Each province is trying to outdo one another, even if hurdles were put in place by the local government units allied with Bongbong Marcos, people still find ways to join them. The image here below is from Bacolod City.
That’s why Marcos’ camp has been showering LGU heads with bribe money so that they can help in cheating in May. This kind of people turnout happened in Bulacan, Iloilo and Cavite.
This gives me hope.
None of the Marcos-Duterte rallies had this kind of response. And most of the attendees were given incentives to attend (cash or goods) whereas Robredo’s followers are all volunteers. It has been documented.
The surveys by SWS and Pulse Asia are skewed as they are commissioned by political parties. They have not even shown their methodologies—which is why the UP School of Statistics called out those surveys. They’re mind-conditioning strategies.