Christmas tree at the lobby of EDSA Shangri-la Manila. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I attended my first face-to-face presscon this afternoon in almost two years. Two years. That long. I no longer know how it is to meet new CEOs–I forgot to bring my business cards. I got a nice story out of that and more.
Since I will be on leave starting this Friday, the new meetings I will be having are already lined up for January. I will be having a very busy 2022.
I’m blessed this year despite the hardships I’ve been through, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Good things have been coming my way. ❤️
I don’t know if this is escitalopram talking but I find life nowadays peaceful. Life is beautiful.
One day I’ll look back on 2020-2021 and tell myself, Yeah you survived that.
I attended this online Christmas party and my girls were in the background. When they were drawing the names for the grand prize, Twin I started her rain dance for luck.
But I won’t use it since iPhones have short battery lives. I used to have iPhones but I gave them up because of that and switched to Android. Plus I need a phone with dual SIM slots because I need to have my Starhub SIM activated again since I would travel to Singapore frequently. I have already lined up meetings with some sources.
I will be selling the iPhone in Greenhills to pay for my new fridge and then some. Maybe a nice bathtub to go with my tiny house which I will be building next month? A 50″ TV to go with my new house? I have so many things to plan for.
I’m getting excited about planning for my house. I’m drawn these days to the aesthetics of Anna Page.
Tomorrow I will be driving to Ortigas to meet and have lunch with a CEO. Hopefully I can get one story out of this. This will also give me a chance to work in a coffee shop I can finish the analysis piece due tomorrow.
I missed my cats so I made them lose their minds once again 🤣. They didn’t leave me last night and made sure they disrupted my sleep until 4 am; that’s when I threw them out of my room. Those damned cats made sure I was always awake 🤦🏻♀️
I conducted a one-on-one training with our new reporter the entire day. I have been making inroads in Vietnam and I hope I can fly there to touch base with my contacts and the new reporter. I have to be more hands-on now.
I remember years of not being able to have a long Christmas holiday or any kind of holiday because I had a hard time turning off the tap. I put so much value in my work that my profession has become my identity. I had a very unhealthy relationship with work. I didn’t let myself rest because news never rested. It burned me out so much that I had tried quitting the profession three times. And it keeps pulling me back.
Many of my colleagues will say that journalism feels like a natural extension of being a curious human in the world, which makes it harder yet to unlink our lives from our professions. Traits like curiosity or doggedness can correlate, or predispose us to how we decide to spend our time professionally — and in other arenas of life — rather than the other way around (i.e. our job imparting traits on us that make us who we are).
When I started realizing the distinction between who I am and what I do to earn a living, I started to draw better boundaries around the latter. I no longer work weekends or cover news. (I have two Post-it’s in my office I read every day: “I don’t have to do everything;” “I will not be at the whims of the news cycle.”) And I would argue that those boundaries haven’t made me feel any less of a journalist: I can be committed to telling accurate, illuminating stories when I put work in a box of its own.
The above passages are true of me: I always filter the world through the lenses of a journalist that oftentimes I forget I am a human with feelings and not a slave to the news cycle. I remember working until 3 am because of some breaking news or events that needed to be posted. I didn’t allow myself to be human because there is always the expectation that what I was doing is public service.
Journalism fundamentally trains us to be more observant, analytical and critical of the world around us. When I first entered the field, some of my colleagues joked that journalists are great at understanding others and their problems, but are terrible at recognizing their own. What if we turned that journalistic lens inward to reflect on how we identify, and how those identifiers serve us — or not?
However good I was doing analysis of events or stories, I could not analyze my own self until my world burned itself. I had to step back and disassociate myself.
Now I found the perfect way to manage this problem: Cover stories that you are not passionate about. That’s why I no longer want to cover national/political events. High finance is hardly a passionate topic, unless I am venture capitalist or Warren Buffet who gets his high whenever he closes a deal.
That’s the secret how I lasted this long in this current job. It doesn’t suck the life out of me.
“There’s professional identity and then there’s personal identity, (which) is tied up in the way that you see your purpose, mission and character,” Usher said. “Those things are distinct, and it’s probably helpful to see it that way.”
Driving back to QC is terrible when you lack sleep. I drove for 3 hrs with a pounding head. I think my astigmatism got worse so I need to see an optometrist ASAP. It seems like the pandemic is only a figment of our imagination given the volume of cars out today on the highway and expressway.
Hosting our alumni homecoming last night was ok, except for low battery microphone issues. My class was able to raise about PhP 1.9m (USD 38,000) for the school (IT equipment like laptops for students in need and Internet access for them), digitization of records, and seed money for the endowment fund.
After the event, we just ate, had a little jamming session, and had the hired mobile/sound systems/broadcast/camera equipment company, etc pack their stuff. We didn’t have the energy to party like we did in the past when we only quit when the sun is already up.
This time we were out of the venue by 12 mn. That’s what growing old means.
Because I was so tired and sleepy, my mom and my older sister were the only ones who were able to join the caravan for Leni Robredo in our town and nearby cities this morning. In solidarity, I wore the volunteer shirt last night before we had our live broadcast.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
On our way back to QC, I bought some plants to give to friends for Christmas.
Photo by CallMeCreation.comPhoto by CallMeCreation.com
These plants are relatives of the birds of paradise (Musaceae) and they have to reach 5 ft before they start flowering. Given the right conditions, that can easily be achieved. Just look at my own birds of paradise, it has grown from a rhizome to 4 ft in 12 months. Had the mother plant lived, it would have flowered by now.
One of the reasons why we needed to go home ASAP is because my cats have been so sad. Ate C sent me another photo of Kimchi waiting for me to enter the door last night.
Waiting.
Meanwhile, my fridge has already given up on me. Ate C had been messaging me while I was driving that the lower part has remained at room temp but the freezer is still ok. She tried her best to do what I did as a band-aid measure when this fridge conked out a few months ago. But Ate C’s efforts it didn’t work.
So the first thing I did when we got home was to scan Lazada for deals. I finally bought the 11.6 cu ft two-door, bottom freezer inverter refrigerator from Panasonic with free shipping. I no longer want LG-branded fridges. This one at home is only 7 years old and the one it replaced was a Samsung, which was only two years old when the insulation burst open and leaked ice and water all over the place. I wanted the Hitachi bottom freezer fridge but Anson’s Online’s pricing was confusing. At first it said there was a discount of about PHP 3,000 but when I was checking out the item in my cart, it went back to the original price. It was dodgy. So they wouldn’t give discounts for those who are using credit cards online? That’s stupid.
And oh, I must talk to my financial advisor. I need to draw down one of my funds because construction for my flat will start in January.
Today I saw my BFFs, who had been with me since elementary days. We laughed so much over lunch. One of them even took a leave of absence for work so we can hang out.
We needed that face to face connection. Serotonin boost for all of us. We all had been feeling blue about the daily drudgery of life and for a moment, we just relished each other’s company, and giggled like we were back in high school.
My girls, on the other hand, went out by themselves since my hometown is a very safe place to let them be. Especially inside the university campus. They ate at a Korean restaurant and hung out at Starbucks with their kuya and their tita and they were fetched by their tito (my brother) and dropped off here in grandma’s house at 9:30 pm. Tomorrow they will be out again with their kuya, eat at a ramen house and play hooky.
I think my decision to transfer here is a good one. For my kids to be more independent while being safe.
My older sister put up the lights this afternoon. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Even the garage was decorated. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This Toyota sedan was offered to me by my mom so I can let go of the old Isuzu. But that old car has so much use as I can carry three folding bikes and plants there all at the same time. This Toyota can only carry people and groceries.
I’ll be back here on the 24th. While my girls will be with their dad, paternal grandpa, and other relatives on their dad side, my cats and I will just be lolling about in the apartment. ❤️
Meanwhile, Ate C sent me these pics of my forlorn cats missing me. They kept waiting for me by the door.
Need to sleep early. I will be driving with the girls to my hometown at 5 am tomorrow. We need to be at my mom’s house at 8 so my girls can attend online classes on time. I have a call at 10:30 am and another call at 3 pm.
I have hosting duties on Saturday, that’s why I’m trying to be one day ahead
