I really fear for my relatives in the US. Good thing my mentally impaired uncle already went back to the Philippines. My cousins, my aunt and uncles…even the super MAGA uncle…

@jalvarez840

♬ original sound – JAlvarez

And this is where Putin and Xi wants the US.

Jesse Ventura is right here. What is happening in America is reminiscent of the martial law years under Marcos Sr.

@fox9mn

Former Minnesota Governor and professional wrestling icon Jesse Ventura shared his thoughts about the deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

♬ original sound – FOX 9 | KMSP – FOX 9 | KMSP

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His invasion of Venezuela is no different from what Bush did to Iraq. It’s all about greed for oil, for power — it’s America’s old bullying ways again. And you know how Iraq ended up, right?

Denmark recently declared that it is ready to defend Greenland should Trump invade that large inhospitable land.

The US creates wars to prop up its economy, which won’t be doing great in the long term. Right now, the US economy is propped up by the corporates (mostly tech doing the heavy lifting) and the high-income households. This is what the economists call the K-shaped growth — only certain segments of the economy are growing or different segments have different rates of growth. Given that only the rich are advancing, that means the middle class and low-income segments are left behind. They are the ones feeling the full brunt of the higher prices due to tariffs and slowing jobs market.

High-income households spend aggressively, boosted by soaring wealth, while middle and lower-income households remain worried about job security and the impact of tariffs on their spending power.  — ING

The next six months are precarious given the geopolitical tensions and inflation concerns. Japan has recently raised interest rates, the highest in 30 years, while other central banks remain cautious despite the cooling inflation in their respective markets. Jobs and wages are uneven.

I’m currently working on my own economic and public and private markets outlook and I’m racing against the clock. The expert comments are just coming in trickles. I HAVE A DEADLINE, PLEASE!!!

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I’m bored. It’s probably the reason why I am endlessly procrastinating this week. I haven’t produced anything and my mind keeps wandering off — like I want to do something else. I need to get out of this funk because I cannot afford to just pick up my bags and leave.

My bff/business partner is so busy with their startup logistics company after they purchased two cargo trucks a month ago. We couldn’t get our business idea off the ground because we both are busy with other things.

I need to have my brain working overtime tomorrow to make up for the slack this week.

This nativity scene would soon be taken down and the world will go back to how it was before the Christmas rush. Students will go back to enroll by next week or the week after that. My friends would have been done grading this week and are taking their brief academic break.

I’ve always taken photos of my kids on by this nativity scene almost every year. One day I will line up all those photos from when they were still babies up until the time they still take photos by the scene.

Meanwhile, I’m back to work but today is slow and my brain is not functioning yet. I’m supposed to reply to a number of emails but my head is still full of cobwebs. Probably because I’m on intermittent fasting and prayer this week. It’s hard to think when your tummy keeps on telling you it’s hungry.

Getting out of bed is harder as well because the temperature keeps dropping. It’s at 24 degrees C at night and at times it goes down to 23. Suffice to say we no longer have our aircons and electric fans on. I also have taken out my comforter and put on fresh duvet covers for it to snuggle up. I’m playing catching up with the holiday that I missed. I wasn’t able to have a Lord of the Rings movie or book marathon, which I used to do during Christmas holidays ever since I started working in Manila. I wasn’t able to play my games but I managed to buy Twin A her own controller because I don’t want her taking mine.

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Whoa whoa whoa! Philippines’ Alex Eala with her partner Iva Jovic defeated the Venus Williams (former #1) and Elina Svitolina (former #3) at the ASB Classic in Australia.

Rizza Maniego-Eala, the former CFO of Globe Telecom, retired early to support her daughter, Alex, as she goes around the world to put the Philippines on the tennis world map.

I haven’t taken down the Christmas curtains because I was too lazy today.

Come to think of it, I haven’t had a good rest this Christmas break. I spent 9 days in the hospital, barely sleeping because my mom needed all the help she can get.

When I rushed her to the ER on Dec 23, her intestines were already dying as they got more and more entangled. CT scan showed that there was severe adhesion and there was definite obstruction.

We transfered to PGH because the surgeon who was a consultant at TMC who operated on a friend’s dad (colon cancer) was still at PGH. From ER, my mom went straight to the OR. At that time I was already more than 24 hrs without sleep.

After 4 hrs of surgery, our surgeon called me to explain what happened. My mom’s hysterectomy scar (from way back 2017) adhered to her intestines. As her scar healed, the more it got stuck to her intestine. The duodenum then adhered to the large intestine and everything got twisted. The mind-numbing pain that my mom experienced was the sign that her duodenum was gasping for the last oxygen/blood before dying. So when my mom’s pain subsided at the ER before she entered the OR, that meant the duodenum already died and it was not because the pain killers were working.

The surgeon said if the surgery got delayed, my mom would have died because gangrene would have taken hold.

She showed me the 34 cm they cut and she told me the intestine was supposed to be pink but here she was, showing me a blackened intestine that clearly already died. There was too much blockage as well, hence, my mom’s vomiting and difficulty passing gas.

They reattched my mom’s healthy intestines and it took us 8 days before her bowels were working properly.

I could no longer describe the difficulties both of us experienced during her recovery.

I just thank God that 1) we were already in Metro Manila when my mom started vomiting as we were only a few mins from TMC, which made it possible for us to have a CT scan within a few hrs we were in the ER. If this happened in our hometown, it would  have taken forever to have a CT scan and I doubt if there would be a consultant available in minutes given that it was already almost Christmas. 2) Thankful that we were able to transfer quickly to where the very good colorectal surgeon was and the emergency surgery was made possible, just right in time. 3) That we were in the hands of very good UP doctors. They made sure that my mom, being a professor emeritus from the same university, was given the best care and respect. 4) That everything wasn’t expensive since PGH is a national hospital.

My mom is 76 years old and she is recovering well, considering that she just had a major bowel surgery. It’s not easy for anyone at any age to recover from such.

I just realized that Twin A’s hospitalizations in the past two years trained me to become unemotional, unflustered, efficient, and practical when taking care of patients in the hospital. Messy green diarrhea every 10 mins and all.

First off, my mom and I spent 9 days in the hospital because she had to have an emergency surgery to untangle/cut and staple back her intestines. More of that later.

We got discharged in the afternoon of December 31, just in time for New Year’s Eve celebration. My mother was still weak — well at 76 years old who had a major bowel surgery, what do you expect? — but was in better spirits.

We checked in at Seda Makati Residences as planned several months ago. We were joined by ny sisters, my nephew, and my girls. However, it was only Twin I and I who braved the long walk to the Make It Makati New Year’s countdown, which was near the intersection of Ayala Ave and Makati Ave.

Even though it’s not SB19, Twin I still wanted to watch live music.

I enjoyed the Cup of Joe segment.

The encore was Eli Buendia. I was disappointed with his set because the songs were from the old Eraserheads hits. I’m not probably aware of his new music but he didn’t play anything fresh that night.

While Eli was singing, Twin I was livestreaming SB19’s performance in BGC. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The fireworks lasted 15 mins and it was so pretty.

And as usual, the rest of Metro Manila looked and sounded like a war zone at midnight, as captured by several Pinoys that night.

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After all the noise and spectacle was the long walk back to our hotel along the stretch of the very empty Ayala Ave.

My mom and sisters just stayed in the hotel on New Year’s Day while the girls and I shopped for unnecessary things. 😬 I just bought a scented candle from Anko to treat myself, for surviving 9 days in the hospital to take care of my mom.

Right before we checked into the hotel in Ortigas Center this afternoon, my mom started vomiting and was twisting in the hotel’s clinic bed because of intense abdominal pain in the lower left side that spreads to the upper left abdomen to the center. Not appendix, the hotel’s nurse said. I rushed her to the nearest hospital’s ER. (A hospital that I had regularly written about). Dehydration for senior citizens is dangerous.

The surgery consultant ruled out food poisoning after lengthy interviews with him and the residents. Physical exam showed that there is no hardening in any part of the abdomen and the pain is not radiating to the back (so not kidney and gall bladder stones). What they’re looking at now is a possible bad case of UTI (the most beign possibility) or an inflamed colon. Her youngest brother is battling GI cancer now so…

Off to CT scan.

Hoping that it’s just UTI. The urinalysis and CBC aren’t back yet so we’re still groping in the dark. Otherwise, we’ll be spending Christmas in this hospital and a colonoscopy or surgery as noche buena.

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Welp, for emergency surgery. Blockage in the colon.