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Being still is not stagnation.

I’m still figuring out what I want to do, need to do, and must do. I’m not giving myself a deadline or immovable goal posts. I will just live peacefully and try to be content. I shouldn’t live by other’s measuring sticks.

My household awakens at noon these days. I start cooking at 8 am and go back to bed. I don’t have any ambitious to-do list this week so I can be forgiven if I’m indolent like this.

Twin I and I went out to buy fireworks and ingredients for our charcuterie board. We would be grazing on cheese, nuts, fruits, and crackers while we wait for media noche and light the fireworks.

Fireworks may be subdued this time because the parish priest next door is a killjoy.

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Happy new year!

It kept on raining and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to light up our fireworks.

But right after midnight, it stopped. Went out to the street, a nun and some of her “house-mates” (convent mates???) went out with us to watch us light up some fireworks.

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… but I should start a new year’s resolution this time. I really, really should contain my frivolous spending. I’m buying a lot of crap online to self-soothe. Like I’m justifying my purchases by saying I deserve this after going through so much shit with my boss. Enough with the bag purchases that cost me thousands of USD—the last batch of my US Black Friday hauls that arrived today will be the last for the next 12 months.

So this January, I should start the no-spend month and only food and essential purchases/payments (including utilities and repairs) will be allowed. I already doubled my budget for ETF and mutual fund unit purchases this December. For January I should also start doubling my UITF and VUL budget. I should open a PERA account with BDO (like the 401k in the US), which is income tax and estate tax-exempt. It also entitles me to a 5% tax credit (but this will complicate my ITR filing 🤦🏻‍♀️ which is already complicated).

I should revisit my personal finance spreadsheet tomorrow.

On January 6-10, I will be doing my semi-annual prayer and fasting. Last year I wasn’t able to do it because I got hospitalized in December because of my enlarged liver and inflamed pancreas. Fasting would have done me in.

Which brings me to my point: I should focus now on my health. I should complete my check ups with my doctors, especially now that I need to monitor my blood sugar. Cutting down or eliminating sugar from my diet six months ago could have helped me stave off taking maintenance medicines. Or it did not. I need to know soon.

Genetics sucks.

I haven’t cut back on food with high purines such as red meat, tuna, and fish sauce. If I did, then I would be leading a sad life. Well, I have minimized my consumption of beef but pork is still a work in progress. My high uric acid is manifesting through my painful knees. I have eliminated alcohol (except for that interview last month) since my hospitalization last year and only drink sparkling grape. I no longer consume sugary food and beverages like sodas (except coke zero) and sugar-coffee a.k.a Starbucks.

I should work on integrating long walks into my daily routine. This should keep me from shopping online, which I do when I get upset so I can get a dose of dopamine.

We shopped yesterday at the local Korean mart for some seaweed side dish and other stuff. I picked up this Buldak cheese ramyun out of curiosity—I was wondering why Denmark banned Buldak in June.

I tried it this morning and ohhh boy, I shouldn’t have done it first thing on a Sunday. It was soooo spicy that my stomach acids have acted up. It took some Herculean strength to keep me from vomiting while I was brushing my teeth. And to think I have tried to neutralize it with real melted cheese.

So yeah, Denmark was on to something but it shouldn’t be a nanny state and dictate what its citizens should or shouldn’t eat. Let the Danes discover how bad Buldak can be for breakfast.

Yesterday I just let my girls do their own thing at the mall while I assisted my mom with her shopping. Time flies so fast. It was like only yesterday I was chasing them down in malls or leaving them on the floor when they were throwing tantrums at Toy Kingdom. Now, they do their shopping on their own. 🥲

I have always been supportive of my kids’ musical endeavors, just as my parents were. I always encouraged them to pursue such hobbies and it is paying off. Twin I and her bandmates won 2nd place in their battle of the bands two months ago.

Twin A’s guitar already has a built-in pickup (so she can plug it straight into an amp) and tuner—something my father would have loved to have. I kept telling my mom that father would have been jealous of Twin A’s guitar. I remember buying a clip-on pickup for his guitar because I used it for our gigs when I had a band 25 years ago. When the guitar was at home, my father would plug it in our primitive sound system and play and sing until he gets tired.

My father would have been proud of his granddaughters as they took after him. ❤️

The place was pretty but it is still a work in progress. Overnight accommodations are still being constructed and some areas are still being developed.

Since we had reservations, we were shown immediately to the spa area and had our welcome drinks. Then had our 1.5-hr massage. The girls had their hour-long hot bath in the large kawa.

The massage was mehhh—can be better. Not worth the PHP 1,800 my older sister paid for (1.5 hrs massage). She and my mom had better luck since they were happy with their therapists. The kawa bath (PHP 750 for 1 hr) was not as hot as Lasema’s, my girls said. Maybe the staff dialed down the fire because they were underaged and didn’t know my girls grew up going to jjimjilbang so they are used to really hot tubs.

The lunch was a happier affair though.

We went back to Lumban to buy a barong or Filipiniana top.

I decided to have a handpainted organza top that I can put over a black dress or blouse + skirt (or pants) combo since I always wear black anyway. This is more versatile.

I always knew that the terno or butterfly sleeves won’t look good on me. I opted to have one made with 3/4 flat bell sleeves.

Why did I go for the handpainted one? It’s easier to pack when I travel and I don’t have to iron it. Embroidered terno or barong needs to be ironed well or else the embroidery will look bad.

And now, I have to go back to sleep as I would be driving to Mall of Asia later today.

After Christmas church service this morning, I got busy in the kitchen because I had to cook for 12 people, four of them males with big appetites.

I had no choice but to grill on my doorstep because it was raining nonstop today. My balcony had been useless for a week now  because everything is wet.

While I was busy cooking up a storm, the cousins played parlor games in my mom’s house. They had fun while each player got richer by a thousand pesos after the games ended. The rest of the afternoon was spent eating, drinking, and playing PS5 games.

Tomorrow I will be driving to Las Caidas Wellness Resort for some much-needed relaxation.

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Merry Christmas!