So I had my meeting this morning at the so-called Sinigang Valley, which is just a strip in Poblacion, Makati and spitting distance from Rockwell Center. The execs that Kr and I chatted with told us that their area is dotted with tech startups and VCs like them. Their office looked like a neat townhouse that sits in the middle of a residential area in Poblacion but is actually an office. I liked it and told them so. I said it’s better than occupying a co-working space in BGC or along Ayala Ave and cost-effective, too. The ground floor is the reception area, which is like a hip reception area of a resort with an open-concept conference room. The top floors are the staff and exec offices. They have a small garden with outdoor sitting area, conducive for meetings.

Poblacion is really the old downtown of Makati (hence the name) that’s why the streets are old and narrow, the lot and house sizes are small. It became notorious in the past decades as it became the red light district (along Burgos St) where dirty old men (local and foreign) from the CBD area flock for some unholy entertainment, which included mud wrestling of women in teeny-weeny bikinis.

The area is now gentrifying as real estate prices continue to climb. A prime spot like that shouldn’t go to waste just because of the presence of seedy establishments. A lot of watering holes have sprouted in the area, and along came the hoteliers. The area where Century Mall and the Century Property condos stand now used to be the campus of International School Manila and I still remember playing a friendly football game there with their girls’ team in the mid-1990s.

Since the Poblacion is very near Ayala—the general CBD area of Makati—it was a good spot for startups and VCs to locate without breaking the bank. There are also decent places to eat that aren’t as expensive as those in BGC. That’s why you have Sinigang Valley there—friendly on the pockets.

Anyway, we finished our meeting at 11 am, had a leisurely lunch at Powerplant with Kr, and I decided that it’s better to drive home early and not be stuck with Friday traffic madness.

By 2:30 I’m back at my hometown. Then I realized I should have my oil change today because I don’t think I would have the time nor motivation to do it next week.

It was quick and I managed to buy new oil and fuel filters next door, which made my life easier.

During the time I was at Powerplant, my sis-in-law told me they were at my house and Kimchi bit my bro. It was my bro’s fault, SIL said, because he was irritating Kimchi.

Of all the strangers that Kimchi had met, it’s only my bro whom she allowed to pet her. For some weird reason, she thought he was familiar. That was the case when they first visited the apartment in QC. Kimchi didn’t run away from bro; she even went near him and smelled him. She probably thought he was J.

Animals do remember. It’s kinda sad though.

I super miss Zennya massage 😭

Now I have to physically go to the spa and schedule according to available time slots, which is tomorrow afternoon. 😭 In the meantime, I have to content myself by having a robot massage my back. 😭😭😭😭😭