On the first day of 2023, the Philippines fucked it up.

A technical glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday has closed the Philippines off from the rest of the world. Nobody could come in and out. All flights were cancelled/delayed until today. Our Manila reporter is stuck somewhere in the province and she’s still not sure if her flight tomorrow night will push through.

I am part of this department’s group chat and nobody from the government could shed light immediately what was going on 🤦‍♀️. Talk about competence. Ghad.

Anyway, this has long been overdue. The redevelopment/modernization of this airport has been in the PPP list since forever but the Duterte administration ditched all unsolicited proposals from the private sector to improve the Philippines’ main gateway to favor San Miguel’s Bulacan Airport, which is very out of the way, and Sangley Airport in Cavite, which requires more infrastructure development (read: impassable narrow roads) to be of any use. I’ve written about it so many times over so many years.

Now this administration has been sending conflicting messages to the world; camp 1 says no, NAIA will no longer be redeveloped because we already have two airports in the works (well, they won’t be operational until 2032), while camp 2 says, it is already up for bidding. <<<< This was the last story I wrote in November and I was ahead of everybody else in publishing that the bids will be opened up this first quarter, with the TOR being drafted with help of ADB.

This is why we’re so fucked up. Too much self-interest reigning over what is good for the country. If only they had let this redevelopment push through in 2016, we already would have had a better and functional international airport by this time. Six years had passed = enough time for construction. This fucked up airport has four terminals disconnected from each other. If you’re flying in from abroad and have a connecting flight to the provinces in another terminal, better make sure you have enough time to make the transfers because you have to hail taxis or whatnot to transfer you to another terminal. No fucking sky trains.

I see some friends on social media ranting that they are still stuck and couldn’t come back home.

Good job, Philippines, good job. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

I drifted off to sleep very early last night and I just found myself surrounded by cats at midnight. Then at around 6:30-ish, I woke up with Kimchi’s favorite toy on my bed, as if she was offering it to me. She and Sushi occasionally give me love offerings like small dead rats 🙀 back when the other unit was harboring too many pests that they cross over to my unit.

Thank God I am moving out. I don’t have to deal with pests, messy neighbors, and inconvenient parking situation.

Speaking of moving out, my girls and I went to Wilcon Home Depot after getting cat supplies at Tiendesitas to buy proper curtain rods and curtain rod brackets, shower curtain rods, shower curtains, towel bar, toilet paper holder, bathroom hooks, and behind-the-door bedroom hooks. I chose the expensive brands as these were made of matte stainless steel, feel solid, and will last for an eternity or until I get tired of them and have them replaced.

I was about to chuck a Birke toilet paper holder into the cart when Twin A said, “MOMMY, WHY ARE YOU BUYING A TOILET PAPER HOLDER FOR ONE THOUSAND PESOS?! We just buy it in Ikea, it’s much cheaper.”

But I want this stainless steel beauty. 😟

So ok, I changed it to the cheaper Pozzi one to appease her. But I didn’t relent with the other fixtures because they all must go with the Hamden, Birke, Kohler, or Grohe ones that my contractor bought (pre-approved by me).

We were looking at tubs and I really, really want this upright soaking tub:

But it won’t fit in my shower area to have a bath/shower combo. I also did away with the glass enclosure because based on the few condo bathrooms that I’ve seen and used (mostly with J), it’s hard to remove the water stains when you have hard water. Using acid (citric acid from lemons or acetic acid from vinegar) to cut the water stains don’t work if they have already set in. Plus it’s too much work to wipe down the glass enclosure every time you take a shower. A good shower curtain will be a better option since you just chuck it in the washing machine and you’re done. Plus you can have more artistic choices with shower curtains. I can even commission a local artist to create a shower curtain on polyester fabric cloth.

I still have to complete my shopping before everything becomes permanent e.g. tiling work.