Author Archives: admin

Fresh air and financial spring cleaning

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Tonight I finally was able to ride my bike for some exercise and fresh air. On my way to UP, I saw how Maginhawa is trying to keep itself afloat.

Uno Cinquenta with diners. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I did my usual routine: I bike, tie my bike at the guard house then walk for an hour or so around University Ave.

Another day has died. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I take short breaks to do stretching exercises and then resume walking.

It has been months since I last saw the Oblation up close. Sigh. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Water break before going home. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I was out for almost two hours and enjoyed the soft, cool night breeze and the smell of grass. I also heard cicadas, the sound that reminded me much of provincial life. One day I will go back to the province and escape Manila.

Or I will be somewhere else. I don’t know.

This thought prompted me to check my investments. Well my UITF, ETF and VUL funds are tanking because they are all in equities. The PSEi last week touched the psychological barrier of 6,000 and 5,900 may not be far behind. My money market UITF is doing fine but it’s not even an investment at this point since I’m just letting my emergency funds sleep in that facility so it won’t be eaten away by inflation.

I’m debating whether I should top it up because unemployment emergency funds should be 6 months’ worth of my monthly salary.

I am more inclined to top up my VUL fund because this has been my habit whenever I get a windfall every year (i.e. bonus) but I’m thinking of opening a mutual fund with another fund management group. The reason why I got another VUL is that I want to have two life insurance policies since my kids don’t have anyone else but me to rely on financially. Their dad hasn’t given any tuition money since they started going to school at 3 yrs old. So anyway, one VUL plan is heavy in the life insurance part and not so much on the investment funds. The other VUL is heavy on the investment but not much on the (term) life insurance side but both have accidental and health riders. VULs would also protect my children from being taxed when receiving money upon my death.

So the alternative to topping up the VUL fund is I can have a mutual fund invested in a balanced fund since my investment horizon has already narrowed significantly as compared when I first bought my two VULs (I was 28).

But but but… I want to bottom-fish! If the market is tanking, I should be picking up bargains, right? I do cost averaging on my UITF and and ETF every month so a tanking market is immaterial at this point. But topping up my VUL or investing in a mutual fund now means something–buying really low.

Something to think about before I buy a new laptop.

Weekends are for chores

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If you’re a solo parent, weekends are made for chores and the thousand and one things that you should have done during the week but you were too busy to even have lunch on time.

Hotpot. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

So I finally got a few moments to cook and was able to do hotpot with beef strips, fish cake, fish tofu, and the last of the veggies in my fridge. It was so good; I missed having hotpot on weekends.

I went back to my old way of shopping for groceries. When we were in the old house, I used to do a fortnightly big shop at Hi-Top because it takes me at least an hour to finish shopping and it’s so tedious to keep doing this every weekend. Then I just top up in between by shopping for fresh produce at the wet market nearby so I just took the tricycle.

But since we moved to this apartment, I did my shopping weekly because two supermarkets are just walking distance from me. Plus I was feeding an army. Now that J is no longer here, I don’t need to shop for 10 boxes of milk, at least 2 dozens of eggs, etc every week. So now I just started doing one big shop every two weeks and just supplement it by buying fresh veggies from the vendors near UP every week. I want to have a chest freezer so I can stock up on a lot of meat and fish and cut down my trip to the supermarket or meat shop. The small size of my freezer is the reason why I always need to shop frequently. However, my apartment is small and I don’t know where I could fit a 4 cu ft of chest freezer or even a 3 cu ft one.

I realized that my grocery bill is cheaper at Puregold compared to Save More and Robinsons for the same amount of stuff I buy in all three supermarkets. They also carry more brands. The parking area, however, is very limited that I have to go shopping during odd hours.

After shopping tonight, I had the bike of one of my girls fixed because daughter A had her wheel punctured by a nail when they were biking at grandma’s.

At the vulcanizing shop. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Since it’s already GCQ, I think I can bring the girls (this time only one girl since the twin is still at grandma’s) to bike around. We need more exercise and time away from screens.

My other children are back to their obnoxious selves. Their square shaved parts (where they had their surgery) are still hairless, though.

My kittykats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Exhausted

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Waiting shed at the entrance of UP Diliman designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I haven’t ridden my bike at all this week as I have been working too much the past few days. On Wednesday I was still editing a dreadful analysis piece until 11:30 pm so until the next day I was so exhausted and brain-dead.

And tonight, I finished the only article I wrote for the week past 6 pm when editors from East and Southeast Asia have already retired for the weekend. The rest of the week I was wrestling with a lot of articles that required a lot of brain cells to fix. All my requests for interview were ignored. It is indeed soul-crushing.

The government has now declared Metro Manila and nearby provinces to be under general community quarantine (GCQ) albeit with heightened restrictions and I really lost track of what is allowed and not allowed in the new lockdown-not-lockdown classification. I want to go diving but the daily new cases are still high at almost 7,000 as of today. I don’t know where I can go to have a breath of fresh air and a different scenery.

I’m so tired.

I need to be away, I guess. For a week. To where, I don’t know. To do what, I don’t know. Even though I’m fully vaccinated, I’m still not protected from Covid because of the low efficacy of Sinovac’s vaccine. This limits my options. Maybe I’ll just drive to nowhere.

Geeking out

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EDSA looks pre-pandemic EDSA on my way home from Greenhills. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Another day of not being able to write my own stories 😫 Too many edits and stressors today (i.e. dealing with other human beings).

I spent my early morning sorting through my receipts to account for my expenses charged on my credit card and debit card. I want to go shopping online guilt-free for computer monitor brackets/mounts so I can free up space on my desk. Because I’m geeking out on tech gear again. Sorting through my receipts makes me feel like a responsible adult who will be embarking on an irresponsible act of shopping for more crap online.

Adulting. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My cats helped me shred the receipts that I have already recorded. So helpful but messy kids.

Kittykats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

And to relieve me of that incredible guilt that would soon follow (hello Lazada!), I bought some ETF shares after sorting out my receipts. This is on top of my UITF that is regularly debited every month from my bank account.

Anyway, after spending hours laboring over several edits, I drove to Greenhills to have my new printer checked why it’s leaking ink (it’s not, the ink just spilled from the containers of the CSS) and to have the very old laptop the girls’ dad handed down to them checked out because the keyboard and track pad are malfunctioning. Long story short, that old laptop is conking out. Just as well because the girls don’t need it. The girls have new Core i3 desktop computers that I had my suki computer guy in Greenhills assembled for me in December.

Last week, I asked for a quotation from him for my own Ryzen 5 desktop that I plan to have him build for me. I’m debating whether I should get the standard case or I order online for an itx case. The latter is more expensive by 3-4k and there might be heating issues but it would look cool and would save a lot of space on my desk. The plan is to have 8GB RAM (I have another 8GB DDR4 RAM stick here lying around), 480 GB SSD, and MSI B460M motherboard that already has Bluetooth 5.1 and Wifi 6, lots of USB ports (two 3.2 type C, five type A and six 2.0 USB) so I will never run out of ports, HDMI, VGA and DVI-D because I have dual screens and will never go back to single screen unless it’s 27″. This set up with 2.5 Gbps LAN will maximize my 200-300+ Mbps internet connection and will allow me to upload videos without hiccups. The reason why I want a gamer desktop is so I can edit videos without freezing (yes, I may go back to my multimedia roots) and my band mates (high school friends) and I plan to record for our homecoming in December and because we’re already bored out of our skulls. I would also have to invest in a good mic condenser and midi connector for my Roland E-09 arranger.

I’m also debating whether I should get now the Chuwi Aero because my Lenovo Miix 3 is virtually useless now that its touchscreen has given up its ghost. Besides, that thing is super slow, running on Windows 8.1 on 2GB RAM. But I think that can wait since I still have the old Acer gaming laptop I hijacked from J. Hmmm but that thing is heavy to lug around when the time comes that we’re back to going out in the field.

So I have

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It hasn’t been easy. It’s still a bit hard but I’m a lot better now compared to when I was half-dead in December and January. I’ve come this far, at this stage that I never thought I’d reach.

I still struggle sometimes when memories hit me but they’re few and far between now compared to before.

Hopefully, healing would soon come.

i see you in every sunset i see

But these sunsets are now mine to keep

i see you in every starlit velvet sky

But the night is the one i’m taking with me

i feel you in the gentle waves

But it’s their lullabies that rock me to sleep

Soon, i tell myself

i will be standing over the edge

And see the world below

I conquered

I live

Better this time

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Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The vaccination process this time is much quicker (under 30 mins) and I don’t have a headache yet. I’m itchy but I’m not sure if it’s going to be as bad as after I had the first shot. I’m developing a rash now and I have body pain. Let’s see if I would be feverish later this evening or tomorrow.

This morning, I received a gift that made my girl (who’s with me now) happy. She has a sweet tooth.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This went well with tea.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

They say I took after my mother. I owe my mother everything: the best of me and the worst of me. That’s why whenever I go home to her, I bring her flowers from the flower shop in my hometown and a box or two of Korean Solomon’s seal tea that she liked because every homecoming for me is Mother’s Day.

I think I’m going to sleep early tonight. My body is fighting off the inactive coronavirus and it is getting heavier by the hour.