Yusuf Dikeç, the Turkish badass ex-military Olympian, went viral in 24 hrs for winning silver medal for shooting an air pistol casually like like John Wick. Or these badasses from Pulp Fiction. He had no special equipment, just ordinary eye glasses and ear plugs, and his hand in his pocket like it was nothing. In contrast, his opponents had special glasses like in some sci-fi movie.

And of course the interwebs went crazy and you know they will be turned into memes or anime within that 24-hr period. 🤣

Meanwhile, here’s another badass, the legendary Chad Smith of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, playing for Drumeo. Completely improvising drums on the fly on a song he has never heard before.

I will always love Drumeo for showing me how awesome drummers are.

After a press briefing today in Makati, I went straight to Yupangco music store to buy the piano stand that I’ve been eyeing for two years. I straightaway ordered the model I wanted and threw in a sturdier sustain pedal for good measure.

Good thing my car is big enough (with second row seats folded) to accommodate this heavy thing.

While deciding whether I want the single sustain pedal or the three-pedal attachment, I played the baby grand pianos that are as expensive as a down payment for a house.

You can hear the differences in sound quality as you go higher in price. The more expensive ones are 👌✨.

I fell in-love with this electric baby grand piano. It’s a lot smaller than the acoustic baby grand piano but it sounded like one but the latter has a richer tone. It can fit where you can fit an old upright piano.

I played and played and finally decided to get the single pedal since I never used the soft and the sostenuto pedals anyway. I was like a kid in a candy store. I knew I would be spending more than planned. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The pedal and guitar stand for Twin I weren’t supposed to be in my shopping cart but here they are. 🫠

When I got home, I immediately opened the box and assembled the piano stand. I am already a veteran Ikea assembler so this might be simpler than building a wardrobe or drawer, I thought.

I dropped by SM Mall of Asia to buy cheaper guitar strings in one of the music stores there and some picks. The ones in Yupangco are for professionals.

I also needed to get Twin A new backpack since Twin I got a hand-me-down High Sierra school bag from her paternal cousin. Also picked up fairy lights and lanterns from Ikea as requested by my girls. They wanted to decorate their study areas to welcome the new school year.

It’s uplifting to see that my little donations go a long way. I am blessed to have all my needs met and then some, allowing me to be a blessing to others. I am also helping a group that takes care a tribe of indigenous people, the Aetas of Capas, Tarlac, ever since the pandemic started. A friend’s mom is going there this week to help distribute relief goods as the Aeta community got hit badly by the recent floods in Central Luzon.

Every little thing counts. Seeing that you make a difference in someone’s life makes living on this earth worthwhile.

---

I just finished my two-day test for the role I am applying for. I don’t think I’m stellar but maybe I wasn’t that bad. 😐

I lost my footing when I rewrote a story about a derailed Amtrak on the East Coast. I had to regain my rhythm when editing general news. I haven’t done it in a decade. Because I was under stress, I can’t remember the other stories that I edited. 👀 You see, general news and business news—especially the very niche one I am doing for the last 10 years—are different animals.

Then today was all business news but it was more macroeconomy. Although it’s up my alley, I still struggled because of the style. Every news agency has its own style, from usage of the words war/conflict/invasion to describe Gaza and Ukraine situations, down to how they write currencies and stock symbols. For 10 years, it’s automatic for me to write PHP, EUR, JPY or USD, but other news agencies use PhP or ₱ and $ or ¥ and €. Believe me, if you have to correct yourself every now and then because you got used to a certain style for a decade, it slows your editing process.

Anyway, it’s ok if I don’t get an offer. It would give me so much dilemma if I did get one since I would have to weigh whether I can give up the freedom/better work-life balance or chase higher compensation and rank but I would be under so much stress.

BUT

I was under so much stress yesterday and today because of my manager. 😩

I was just messaging fairygaymother K and told him that I would have been fine with where I am right now, but my manager is destroying all the goodwill I have for my job. “Managers can make or break a person, noh?” I told fairygaymother K. He agreed 101%.

---

I didn’t see any semblance of the Last Supper here. The man on the table is clearly Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine and fertility. This is Bacchanalia, debauchery of the highest level as the Greeks/Romans revel in food, wine, and sex.

The man on the table does not, in any way, resemble Jesus Christ. The paraphernalia is also consistent with Bacchus: flowers, fruits—all representation of agriculture and fertility.

Now, if indeed they were mocking Christianity, then they can do so—it’s very French of them to do so. Remember Charlie Hebdo? The French don’t care.

Are you offended? Why? Is your faith dependent on imagery and religious symbols? Geee, it’s really the Catholics who are raising hell (and the Evangelicals in the US) because their religion is anchored on ceremonies, symbols, and rules. I should know; I had been a faithful Sunday school-going child who became a lector until first year high school. Then I dropped out because it all didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t find salvation that way.

If mockery of religious symbols (Da Vinci’s Last Supper is not a religious relic nor canon, by the way) affect your faith, then you have so little of it!

I told my friend earlier (we both belong to the same church but different branches) that the Catholics’ faith is anchored on all these dogmas and sacraments (yeah, yeah, the seven sacraments and so many rules on every rite). That’s why they hold all the symbols and imagery so dear.

But you know, following all these do not earn you a ticket to heaven. You are saved by God’s grace alone. It’s your faith and relationship with God is what matters, not following rules and dogmas.

So what if they mocked Da Vinci’s Last Supper (but again it’s not the Last Supper 🤦🏻‍♀️)? Did that weaken your faith? Did it make God less holy? If they indeed mocked it, then it’s between them and God and it has nothing to do with you. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by just one flick of His finger; let Him deal with those alleged French religious offenders.

Righteous indignation that is so misplaced. Where was their indignation when children got torn into pieces in Gaza? When children were bombed in Syria? Where were they when children were shot point-blank by local police because the madman Duterte had this operation tokhang raging nationwide?

Hypocrisy at its finest.

---

I was praying that the rain earlier this morning would stop because I am driving the very low Toyota Vios—sedans don’t have a chance in Metro Manila flood.

Thankfully, the sky cooperated. I was able to reach the venue in time and was able to have a call with my team before the presscon. 😮‍💨

---

My high school friend, C, messaged me that she would be dropping by my house. Just because. She brought her kids, we ordered Thai food via Grab, and they spent 5 hrs here. Her kids were with my girls in their room playing Minecraft, while C and I talked the entire time.

She said she wanted to come here because she felt like having milk tea. She knows I have a huge stash of tea of various flavors and forms. It’s another way of saying that she wants to get away from their house and wants to talk. That’s the thing with my high school friends: they’re so at home here, even way back in high school, that they don’t have to have reasons to come here. It can be as trivial as wanting to have my milk tea. They knew that they were welcome in my parents’ home anytime when we were in high school. It’s still the same with my own home now.

I’m also their home. When they want some comfort, I open my kitchen and feed them. If they want to cry, my bedroom is always open so they can curl up on my bed. It doesn’t matter if my house is tiny; I have plenty of room for friends and family.

Mi casa, su casa.

As fairygaymother K said, I have so much love to give that people who need that naturally gravitate to me. They come running to my home to be comforted.

Mi casa, su casa. My house is your house.