Brought Twin I to our pediatrician because of her acute toncilitis + pharyngitis. She caught it from Twin A, who recovered quickly because her anti-TB meds somewhat helped in keeping the infection in check.
What started as a viral infection (flu-like symptoms) with Twin A became slight toncilitis that eventually resolved on its own. She was sick when we visited our hemato-oncologist at St Luke’s last Friday but during her physical exam, she only exhibited clogged nostrils but her throat and toncils were still fine at that point. Her toncils were swollen only for a day or two and then the swelling went away. Her anti-TB meds really are strong, no?
Now when Twin I caught it, she had a harder time recovering. She began to have fevers Monday night, which reached 39 decrees C. I had to bathe her under warm shower to bring down her temperature. Her fevers subsided on Tuesday but I had to wait for more symptoms to appear before bringing her to the doctor. Three days of fevers, you can already test for dengue. Since Twin I no longer had high fevers, I was able to drive to Makati on Tuesday to meet with my PR friend. She still had slight fever when I came home but she was much better. However, she couldn’t eat solid food because her throat hurt. Thursday, I couldn’t bring her to the pediatrician because she didn’t have clinic that day so we relied on Betadine throat spray and Bactidol to help bring down the swelling.
The arrival of my new brushes cheered me up a bit today.
This was another rough week.
I got pummeled again by my manager. My reporter in Indonesia, who was in the email thread, told me on WhatsApp that he no longer likes how my manager treats me. He also wanted to quit; my Philippines reporter is feeling the same.
Why do Koreans treat me so shabbily? 🤬 I think I would have PTSD from dealing with Koreans. I don’t have any good experience with them—maybe except for my ex-colleague, 10 years my junior, who shadowed me in the field when he was here in 2017. His editor made him fly here because they didn’t have a local reporter for their publication (sister publication). He transferred to Wall Street Journal the following year.
Anyway, I had been feeling down and burnt out the whole week. Thursday night, my manager was still berating me on email until 10 pm for something that was out of my control. 🫠
This afternoon I wanted to tender my resignation but that is stupid, of course. What I did instead was I submitted an expression of interest for one contractor gig under one of the projects at ADB. Just to make me feel less trapped. I had reactivated my account in their consultant database, just to start the ball rolling. If I get the gig, then I don’t have to work as hard for my current company as I do now. It’s only for a short engagement but at least that would get my foot again at their door.
On Monday, I will be meeting with another prospective business partner or whatever you call it. I will be proposing a service contract that will likely solve his little issues without having to dip my hands into unpalatable aspects of PR. I will carve out the jobs that I like and do away with the things I don’t.
I have several services that I had been planning for several days now. For every income stream, I had already talked to the relevant people I could tap when I farm out these services.
Hopefully, this would pan out.
You know, art really restores the broken spirit. This piece of art was a joy to watch now that I’m suffering from anxiety and stress.
Brilliant choreography. It’s beautiful that I almost cried. Reminded me of Martha Graham Dance Company for some reason. Maybe because of the juxtaposition of tension and relaxation.
