Author Archives: admin

Good night

Posted on by
Binangonan, Rizal. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It is a heavy Monday. I was drowning in work. I again forgot to have lunch and only remembered to eat at 3 pm.

Then I said goodbye to a friend and colleague who has begun sleeping to never wake up.

How do you say goodbye to someone who is dying? What do you say? I was at a loss for words but I knew I needed to say something. His family says he still can hear as hearing is the last of the senses to go before one crosses the rainbow.

So we sent our recorded voice messages via FB Messenger or email. I told him I hope he realizes how much we love him and appreciate how he touched our lives. That I know he will continue fighting for our rights as journalists, as human beings. That he shouldn’t worry because we will carry the torch after he moves on, that we will fight his fight, that the fight will continue.

I always jokingly post on FB that I need him to keep me company trolling the trolls on Twitter.

I told him I hope he is no longer hurting and that he is happy with what he has now and what he has accomplished.

Sir, good night.

Biking in BGC

Posted on by
Bike lane at BGC. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We felt trapped inside the apartment and biking to UP is not yet feasible as some side streets were still closed. So my daughter, Twin I, suggested we bike in BGC where they have dedicated bike lanes.

So we did. Waited for the sky to clear as it has been drizzling earlier yesterday morning. I loaded up our foldies at the back of the car, drove there for 40 mins then parked at OneParkade. I felt it was a bit safer to bike there since it was a weekend so the volume of cars is much less plus the bike lanes are protected by those orange posts that deter cars from occupying the bike lanes as they do in EDSA or C5.

Crossing via pedestrian lane. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Some sections of BGC don’t have bike lanes so we didn’t have much choice but to use the pedestrian lanes and sidewalks since I am with my daughter. If it was just me I can attempt riding on the streets.

Almost empty roads. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Bike rental. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We saw a bike rental in some parking lots. I haven’t investigated how these things work, like the bike only unlocks via an app? How do they keep these bikes from being stolen? In Taiwan they have something like Ubike there, the yellow rental bikes scattered all over Taipei. It makes sense since traffic in Taipei is bike friendly and their sidewalks allow bikes if there are no dedicated bike lanes. So if you live in one of the condos in BGC and work somewhere else in BGC, it makes more sense to get a bike or scooter than take Grab or a car. Parking in BGC is a nightmare as parking lots are always full.

So before going home, Twin I and I stopped at McDonald’s at the corner or 5th and 32nd street to get sundaes and cookies. Talk about carbo/sugar loading negating the calories we burned.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It was an eye-opener that I can bike in BGC on weekends but not with kids. It’s hard to keep them safe from the asshole drivers, like that taxi driver who entered the bike lane because he didn’t want to be held up by a red light. I shouted at the driver that what a prick he was for almost mowing us down.

So I told my daughter that we would just have to stick to UP Diliman for now, even just along University Avenue, until they open up the campus again for bikers and joggers. Maybe tomorrow, if I get off work early.

Tsundoku

Posted on by

Tsundoku is acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them

Wikipedia

For the second straight year, I haven’t been to Big Bad Wolf book sale, which is basically a huge warehouse of books marked down to 60%-70% of their normal prices. This time, though, they managed to have an online book sale until 7 July and during the first hour I was able to snag some books for my girls–boxed sets–but overall there are only a few good titles and most of the books for me got sold out in a few hours. I only managed to get one, which is a memoir by Salman Rushdie during the time he went into hiding after the fatwa on him was issued following the publication of his Satanic Verses.

I still have tons of books on my shelves that I have yet to finish. Always on the “to read” pile. Tsundoku.

My mom just messaged me on Viber that there is a growth of something where her malignant mole had been. She had surgery years ago to have that removed but now it seems like there’s an outgrowth. She went to two doctors today and she will have new sets of doctors to see on Monday.

Lord, please don’t let it be full-blown cancer. 😞 It’s a difficult disease and she’s past 70.

I need to go home soon. 🥺

So many drastic changes this past 30 days. One of my househelpers is pregnant (I’m not surprised) so she will be going home to her province on 15 Aug. Another person gone from my household. J had been urging me to send her home earlier because there’s an excess labor here at home and they’re not being maximized and I’m just wasting money. But I said I’ll just wait for her to resign on her own since it was just a matter of time that either she will get pregnant or get engaged, whichever comes first. I was right.

One of the people I had been helping for years has turned his/her back against me. For a petty reason. I guess I was not a friend at all, despite all the help I’ve been extending to this person.

Another reporter is resigning. Now I’m at my wits’ and how to bridge the gap.

Lord, give me and my mom the strength to deal with all of these.

Rain

Posted on by

Time carries us away
From all the places we have come to love;
Just wishing we could stay
But maybe that’s not the point
What makes this all so god damn beautiful
Is knowing that its bound to fade in time
If you listen you can hear the wind talking to the trees
Like words of quiet angels, or so I’d like to believe
I don’t know where I am going
I don’t know where I want to be
But as long as I have a soundtrack
I’ll make it there breathing
And so it comes, the heavy rain…
The storm we’ve all been waiting for
To wet our hearts and make sense of this pain
From standing still for far too long…
(from holding out and holding on to all the things
You know will only hold you back in the end)
..like you’re just holding out for something better
To steal you from these tired days that you don’t want
What are you hoping for?
Miracles happen all the time, so where is yours?
The rain, it never lies
Writing its secrets on the window pane
You lose your focus in the subtleties of its poetic grace
There’s just something about its sadness that makes
You feel okay
Do you remember that rainy afternoon
When we cried in each other’s arms?
When we knew we’d found perfection
But somewhere deep inside
Knew it had come too soon for us to hang on
Or try to make it last
We can’t forget these moments baby
But our lives are now
Don’t lose yours in the past
Once we find ourselves I swear I’ll find you again someday
But the western wind is calling me…
I heard the angels say my name
My loner heart is aching, so I’ll be leaving soon
To start this lonesome journey
When the leaves dance for the moon

Demolition Twins 2.0

Posted on by

My cats have destroyed my closet because it’s their choice furniture/infrastructure for sharpening their claws. I bought a pint of wood filler to remedy the situation and then I let it dry/rest before I sandpaper it. Then paint.

I had a quick trip to Tiendesitas for a month’s worth of cat supplies and it yielded me this lovely contraption:

Scratching post for PhP 480. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Because scratch pads don’t cut it anymore.

I’m sleeping early tonight as I have an early morning interview at ⌚ 7 am Manila Time/4 pm US Pacific Standard Time. 😢

Killing us one by one

Posted on by

During Aquino’s term, I’ve never heard of anybody being sacked for doing the right thing. Even if one is being critical of government. I also wrote some analysis pieces and spot reports that had been critical of Aquino’s administration but I’ve never felt I was in danger.

This Duterte administration is so insecure, so afraid of a dead man that social media trolls are working doubly hard these days. Mainstream media like GMA is killing its own.