I couldn’t go out earlier today since there were only two of us editors on duty today for the whole Asia Pacific. I had to edit one story from one of my reporters and once I finished it, I was free to go shopping at the local hardware store for materials for Twin I’s homemade microscope for her science project.

Only then was I able to get out of my house this week. Been cooped up inside for too long. The stormy weather dampened my appetite to go on long drives this holiday season because all of the things I wanted to do were outdoor activities like hiking and jumping into one remote lake (Lake Yambo) several towns away from here. I even planned to go glamping in Tanay, Rizal with the girls but…oh well. Maybe I’ll do that for Chinese New Year when there will be less stormy weather.

It’s only today that it stopped raining. 🥴

Now that our HQ has ordered everybody to be back in the office, I would need to go to Singapore once a month, I guess. That’s annoying. I would have to squeeze it between Twin A’s regular MRI scans and check ups, Chinese New Year, Taylor Swift concert (she has pushed up the prices of hotel rooms and plane tickets so I have to avoid those dates) and Ramadan.

And now that I have finally moved house and Twin A will soon be ending her TB treatment, I would finally be free to travel abroad for leisure, my first since 2018. My travels in 2019 were all for work and it didn’t leave me any room for leisure travel outside the Philippines. I gave my Philippine Airlines miles to the ex (for Taiwan and Hong Kong) so he can travel because he needed to be out of the country every 60 days for visa renewal. I also used my Cebu Pacific miles so we can travel together to Bohol for my birthday.

Anyway, 2020 of course was a disaster, 2021 was iffy and 2022 was easier but I didn’t dare travel outside of work because my experience with Covid was still fresh and my bout with the disease was a nasty one and I didn’t want a repeat of that.

Now, where will I go? I can go to Sapporo in June or Ho Chi Minh/Hanoi in May. I can ask fairy gaymother K or my sister to go on a train expedition with me along the Greater Mekong region, but that requires two weeks of personal time off from work and I don’t think I have enough holidays to cover that—unless I plan to give up a week of holiday in December. Europe, specifically Spain, is too expensive for me this year as I’m still rebuilding my investments after spending on the construction of my tiny home without bank loans… I think I can do that if my training in London for the ambassadors program pushes through. I can extend my stay in London for a week then to Scotland. However, this would be derailed if they have the training again in HK. 😶

Meanwhile, I was featured in a newspaper article this week.

The writer is a good friend and she said she quoted me verbatim because the experiences I shared were very different from that of my other colleagues here. 🤣 🤣🤣