I’m not supposed to expose myself to my kids but their screams and their constant calling out to me forced me to come face to face with them (with mask, of course).

Twin I said she fell from Twin A’s bunkbed ladder. I just don’t know how she ended up destroying the drywall in their room but there you go. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I just messaged my contractor that another repair in this house is needed. This time, it’s the fault of the residents. 🥲

This is only our first year here but my kids already managed to destroy my house. 😭

“I don’t necessarily think it’s bad if a place wants to reinvent itself or to do something different,” says Bykowicz, now the business and enterprise editor for the Baltimore Banner. “But it is uncomfortable to see a place go through such upheaval without a clear end in sight.”

NPR.org

Thus is the precarious life of journalists. We don’t have much choice these days. Even the profitable ones are laying off people.

I had a call today with fellow bureau chiefs and we were told that salary increases and bonuses are–in my most diplomatic way of putting it–rather dismal. Even if you performed well last year, the company is giving something much smaller compared to years prior since the high interest rate environment is squeezing its pockets dry. As I said here before, the parent company is very highly leveraged and given the high interest rates right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if its debt servicing has doubled. Our former APAC boss said that the owner is even being investigated by regulators because of his debts. I wonder if he really was a finance guy in the first place.

We are in a constant state of flux and it’s quite hard to find ways how to place ourselves.

Meanwhile, my sis-in-law sent me gifts that would help me in my isolation. Among then us this Kuromi figure.

To keep me from going insane inside my room. ❤️

I have throught about finishing sketches and starting some paintings in my watercolor books but it requires brain power and at the moment, my brain cells are already spent on editing and writing a stories.

What’s dangerous now in my confinement is that I have shopping apps on my phone. Because I don’t have anything else to do, I bought some fountain pen inks and a syringe for refilling the cartridges. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I exercised great restraint because I’m so tempted to buy the transparent Pilot Kakuno fountain pen. 🔥 And a Kindle. 😵‍💫 I have a tablet for my ebooks. Why would I need a Kindle?

I really need to get out soon.