I tried the local onsen this afternoon after cleaning the inside of our water reservoir with my new power washer. That left me itchy, cranky, and exhausted 🫠

To save my back, my sister and I booked a 30-min onsen + 2-hr massage. The massage was ok; I fell asleep. But the hot tub was so disappointing. The onsen relied completely on the heat of the natural spring water (which was likely near-surface level, hence, the warm temp and not HOT) and did not complement with artificial heater.

In some parts of our town the water is piping hot, especially near the lake. My mom said these areas have ground water nearer the magma level than in some other parts of town. My other bff told me about one hot spring dipping pool by the lakeshore which her triathlete coach of a husband frequents everyday to relieve his aching muscles after 100-km bike rides in the mornings. We’ll try that one of these days.

For now, my quick fix is invading my mom’s bathtub and cranking her heater to the highest setting, dumping a half bag of Epson salt, and wallowing here for an hour.

My one-week wellness break has been meeeehhh…🥴

Why can’t we have nice things and efficient services?!

Oh yeah, Filipinos keep on voting for crooks, so everyone—from the Office of the President down to the rank and file—is useless.

I had my license renewal yesterday and guess what? We still don’t have license cards.

I use my license as my de facto national ID because our actual national ID is not honored by most institutions because of the fucked up way how they rolled it out. Those who have applied for the national ID three years ago have yet to receive their ID cards. Majority of Filipinos are just issued paper IDs that can easily be forged, mutilated, and lost. 🙄

I certainly don’t want to use my passport as my ID to bring with me everyday in my bag. 😑