At 6 am last Monday, I barfed while I was showering. My chin spent an inordinate time on my toilet seat as  tried to empty my stomach of acids. It was so painful that I fell into a fetal position on the bathroom floor while the shower drowned my cries — my hyperacidity was acting up again. Then diarrhea came. And never left.

The entire Monday was like that. I got a terrible headache and got so weak (probably got dehydrated) that I got confined to my bed. My plan to drive to Ortigas to attend the first day of a 4-day conference was scratched out from my calendar.

And yet I had to edit a story because we were very short of editors this past week. The bureau chiefs were out of town for the annual meet and this is the first time that I wasn’t included. It was fine by me since I no longer want that job and the stress.

Anyway, my soul was floating and I was in and out of consciousness, so I don’t know how I managed to get the job done. I slept in between. It was so terrible and I prayed for healing so I can work the next day. I needed to get stories because I was on leave the previous week.

Tuesday was better and I risked going to Ortigas even though my head was still swimming a bit. On the sidelines of that conference, I got to interview one guy from the land of bubblegum pop. But he was so rude!!! Had I not been desperate for stories, I wouldn’t have tolerated his rudeness. 🤬

Another interview with a company founder from Malaysia made up for that earlier rude interview.

Wednesday was a bit better. However, I didn’t have a chance to have lunch or any snacks because I was busy chasing people, attending panel discussions, or editing. Editing jobs were piling up.

I was so busy that I only got to eat at around 7 pm. I got to my car, had a call with a source, and I was only able to drive out of the parking lot at close to 9 pm.

I was sick and oh so tired.

I decided to skip the last day of the conference and just write some stories at home and edit for a bit.

One of my bffs dropped by at home to have lunch with me since she has to tell me her uprooting plans. She and her kids will be leaving for Bangkok by the end of the month for her post doc work. Her research institute has a program with her uni in Europe and a uni in Thailand so she will be shuttling between Bangkok and our uni hometown for three years. She is also assisting her advisor in advising a PhD candidate in Thailand.

So for today, we went to Caliraya to give her a breather. We had lunch in Pagsanjan and went to Lake Caliraya to have coffee.

But we checked out Kaliraya Surf Kamp first to see if it’s still worth camping there again after five years since we first picthed our tent there.

To give my bff’s kids a treat, we rented a boat to go around the lake.

There are more camping sites now around the lake than resorts. Lagos del Sol closed down during the pandemic and our boatman told us it is already sold to a new owner.

After the hour-long boat ride, we drove down to have that long-delayed coffee break.

With this view.