My sister and I checked the local maar lake after work so we can gauge whether this is a better option than the resort much father from our home. Well this is just 20 mins away and much better in terms of activities offered (kayaking, crossing the lake on a raft, volleyball on the other side of the lake, glamping, archery, rappelling, ziplining, climbing, etc.) and the hot spring pools are really hot—as hot as the artificially heated pools in Lasema in Makati. I had to ask the caretaker if they have in-room massages and yes, they do! This strengthens my observation that water along the lake/s here are hotter than on the other side of the national highway/on the mountainside.

Since this is already under the protection of the national government, the pollution of this lake was halted when aquaculture became banned 40 years ago. It also helped that the land surrounding the lake are already privately owned, hence, no one could disturb the area.

It’s really peaceful here.

Now the problem is when to go here. Weekdays are perfect because no one is here, like today. However, the kids are in school on weekdays. The coming Chinese New Year long weekend guarantees that this area will be teeming with people. Relaxation is impossible.

Because I was called away from home until 6 pm, I didn’t have time to cook dinner. I just brought my girls to a Tex-Mex resto and stuffed our faces with these:

I interviewed one exec of a Cambodian conglomerate the other day and I already know this person from way back. Anyway, we reconnected and I told him that I plan to visit Phnom Penh and Siem Reap so I can interview more people and establish contacts there, which I initially planned to do in Myanmar before the coup as I have already established contacts, one is of them is the CFO of a big conglomerate there, and some advisors. He said they have a hotel in Siem Reap and in Phnom Penh and he said just let them know when so they can make arrangements. Well, I don’t expect them to host me (because their hotel in Siem Reap is really pricey); assistance in setting up transportation from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat would be great though. I also had established contact with another Cambodian conglomerate through the son of the owner who runs the group now.

Now if the company considers this a non-priority market, then so be it. I will be doing this on my own dime and time.

I just wonder when I can actually do this when I’m flying to HK and work there for a week in March; April in Singapore; May or June we will be going to Bohol (which is still being debated because my sister wants Boracay for convenience whereas my girls want to dive). But I really want to go to Camiguin Island but getting there is a major hassle because flights are not frequent.

When can I have my me-time???

Try, I did. Controller worked well with Worms but I always get killed in death matches because I’m rusty as hell.

My mini-PC held up well, but then this is not a graphics-intensive game.

I tried Lord of the Rings Online.

This game doesn’t use controllers so I have to contend with my keyboard and mouse and risk getting carpal tunnel syndrome again.

My head was already pounding after playing for two hours. Got eye strain.

That didn’t go well, did it?

Meanwhile, the kitties are doing well. All five of them. Got a ginger tabby, two black tabbies, a void, and a tuxedo.

We have to make sure that mama cat is well fed and hydrated. Poor mama cat is always feeding, cleaning, and warming her litter. She’s so exhausted.

And then there’s a very well-fed feline down the stairs. As my mom said, my indoor cats are very spoiled.

It’s around 23 degrees C today and there are nights I don’t even turn on the electric fan. This is cooler than my normal airconditioner setting.

I finished one article today 👏 and it took me weeks to finally start it. I don’t know why I have a hard time starting a draft for this story. At least it’s done; one less thing to worry about.

I need to finish two more tomorrow. 🫠

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READ: Statement of ABS-CBN News regarding ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) operations after Sky Cable's broadcast sign-off on February 26, 2024. pic.twitter.com/bacQesZEzE

— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) January 29, 2024

It’s kinda sad that this is the only thing left with the Lopez family—from ABS-CBN that had been a kingmaker for a long time.

Duterte-Marcos was successful in killing the broadcast giant, the owner of which openly defied Marcos Sr so he (Geny Lopez) got incarcerated during Martial Law. After the Marcoses were ousted, the Lopezes built ABS-CBN again from the ashes.

Another Marcos regime, another death for ABS-CBN.

The question remains whether billionaire Manny V. Pangilinan will allocate a slot for ANC on Cignal, PLDT’s payTV subsidiary, as ABS-CBN’s Metro Channel is currently part of Cignal’s programming. ANC has been exclusively airing on SkyCable.

Bilyonaryo.com

I remember receiving a call from the head of ANC while I was still in the hospital after giving birth to my twins. He wanted me to write for ANC and vet news because of my experience in business. While I did think about it for a day, I decided later on that broadcast isn’t really my thing. I didn’t want to write for TV although I know I could. TV is just too confining for me.

After that, there was some kind of power struggle inside after ANC recruited back their former anchor from CNBC and CCTV Hong Kong. The head resigned and moved on to print—to an international publication. Then he tried to recruit me again but I said I’m doing well with my current newswire so that is that. Later that publication had to be collapsed because again, the business model was not right for the kind of publication it was. The editor moved on to become the head of an influential business group and I think he is thriving there. That’s his crowd—the alta.

Business models for news media are a hit and miss thing with the fast-changing technology. Now we are confronted by AI, which has elminated entry-level jobs like news aggregation and rewriting of press releases to be dressed up as news. It’s ever-changing. But one thing remains…news is a product that you need to sell. It’s a commodity that needed to be traded to feed the beast.

1) Marcoses and Dutertes openly declaring war with each other.

Because both are power hungry demons.

It’s common knowledge that Marcos financed Duterte, who ushered back the Marcoses to power. The agreement was Duterte will give way. However, Duterte (the whole family) is a greedy crook with no morals whatsoever, so didn’t want to relinquish whatever power he had and went head to head with the Marcoses via Inday the daughter. Now they’re slugging it out in public, exposing each other’s shit.

Meanwhile, we in the Pink Movement are eating our popcorns while watching them destroy the country. We are going down in flames while China breathes down our neck.

2). CNN Philippines has closed down.

As I said during my talk at the journ dept of my college (for the curriculum review), the revenue model of traditional media is no longer working. It has been that way for quite some time now, really. I told the department that the curriculum should go beyond producing graduates geared toward traditional media. Data is king = the department should think of ways how graduates can be more attuned to the changing times, so that they can feed the hungry beast. Journalism is not free and you have to find ways how to pay your journalists.

Ironically, ANC will also follow the way of the dodo. They will also be shut down soon, my friends told me last Friday when we were at the central bank. The country’s only business channel will be gone. Once upon a time, they were the first thing I listen/watch in the morning when I have my breakfast and while preparing to leave for the day’s coverage.

So sad.

So it’s just GMA and TV5.

So far it’s only the subscription model that works these days. That’s how my company makes money ever since. That’s how news wires survive…but it seems like Rupert Murdoch is fucking it up = collapsing Dow Jones and merging it with Wall Street Journal. DJ has closed down its local bureaus in Southeast Asia and concentrated everything in Singapore.

Even “content creators” and social media influencers (not sure if these terms can be interchanged) discovered that advertising from FB and Google will not sustain them. They need advertising/product collaborations with brands to sustain their fulltime content creation jobs = marketing. Some have launched Patreon accounts, which is basically follows a subscription model. Or the content creators themselves sell their own creations, in the case of artists, it’s their paintings, prints, stickers, what-have-you.

News is content, it is a commodity that you need to sell. There must be some way to monetize news. In our case, it’s proprietary info and data catering to a very niche market.

For the kind of news that keep the spirit of democracy, freedom, and justice alive, grants are the way to go. Being backed by corporations (in the case of TV5, it’s First Pacific through PLDT) and political entities (GMA = Marcoses) is equal to getting into bed with the Nazis. You have too many compromises.

I told the journ dept, I started this career with several broadsheets out on display on newsstands. Nowadays, you would be hard-pressed to find hard copies of formerly revered broadsheets.

Times are a-changing. We’re struggling to keep up.

3) Mommy cat Ampon has five babies She’s doing well but exhausted. I keep feeding her and treating her to chicken meat and bones. The kitties are alive and seem to be healthy and suckling.

I just ordered an insulated cat house from Lazada this afternoon. I will also get a large box from the supermarket later after work today to contain the very mobile kitties.

After six months, I finally made an effort to organize my kitchen better. I realized I had difficulty cooking because my prep space was too crowded.

But before I tackled my counter, I tamed my tea/coffee cabinet with the help of jars I bought from Wilcon Depot a few weeks ago. Now my teas—flower, oolong, green, infusions, milk tea, specialty like the Christmas Edition TWG and Gryphon Artisan–and coffee are now organized so searching for the beverage I want is no longer like an Easter Egg hunt.

I’ve been meaning to get a pretty tea kettle to boil water on top of the stove but I realized I’m too busy to even keep an eye on a tea kettle to keep it from boiling over. 🫣 So nahhhh, I have to stick to ugly utilitarian automatic electric kettles and hot water flask like the one above to keep water hot all day.

Then I pushed the toaster and microwave oven parallel against the wall instead of having it diagonal in the corner to have more prep space. It was good that my contractor insisted on the 90cm width for granite counter instead of the standard 60-70cm because it gives me enough elbow room even if my appliances are permanently out and not hidden away in cupboards like my air fryer and Instant Pot.

I also removed the purified water jug off the counter after I was able to buy a narrow steel shelf from Ikea to demote it there.

However, I was too lazy to cook dinner for my girls so I just bought roasted chicken after church. I just attacked the jamon Iberico de Bellota that I got as a late Christmas gift.

Had it with oven-heated pan de sal and cheddar cheese—et voila! Dinner.

I just can’t be bothered to cook during my rest day.

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Ampon was yowling like crazy outside my door. When I entered my bedroom, she climbed the emergency exit balcony and yowled louder. I had a feeling she was about to give birth that’s why she wanted me around her.

Let’s wait for the others…

OMG! I have too many cats! 😱

We’ve got four! Three black and one orange.

Once she’s cleared by the vet, I will have her spayed.

This is my 17th year attending this annual event.

I’m sleepy now. Will continue…💤

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My girls and I + older sister are in a hotel near the area. I could have just driven back and forth from my home in the province but I spent unnecessarily for my girls’ happiness.

You see, they miss their dad. Yes, he should have exerted more effort but he is an incompetent narcissistic fool, so he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to spend money on gas and toll. My girls wanted to celebrate his birthday with him. So I told the girls to ask their dad to meet him halfway by going to the Mall of Asia and have a date there while my sister worked on her laptop in our room and I do my reporter business outside.

My journo friends said I’m too nice, he sucks. Yes, I know. But I’m doing this for my girls because I don’t want them to feel deprived of their parent even though he should exert more effort. I uprooted them, which made it more difficult for him to see them. But the counter to that is, even the time we were just 2 km away from him, he didn’t see them that often so…🤷🏻‍♀️ It’s really on him.

Anyway, once they become adults, they would realize that he is the one at fault while I did more than my share of what I should have given. I’m bending backwards so that my girls can see him.

Idiot.

I just felt bad when Twin I one morning went to me and said she dreamt that her dad got sick and died. And she woke up crying so hard. I felt so guilty. I just told her to ease her worry, call him.

Ghad, why does it have to be the children? He could just call them everyday. They can message each other via FB messenger every minute. There’s no reason for them not to communicate 🤦🏻‍♀️

Some people are just…

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