I didn’t want to write about that shitty debacle at the Dept of Tourism because it has been irritating me no end. PHP 49m gone to corruption c/o presidential relative, if the whispers through the grapevine are correct.

I will get to it later, after my blood pressure has come down—this government is constantly fucking up. I need to shake away the bad vibes before working today.

My sleep last night was checkered so I wasn’t able to wake up early for a walk. But this afternoon I felt the itch because I wanted to see mountains and open spaces.

There’s a big house on top of that hill where you can see the tips of pine trees. When I was about 12 years old, I had a crush on a boy who lived in that house. That hill is called xxx Hill, after their family name because they own a large swath of land there. At that time, whenever I saw this hill, I felt giddy and smile to myself as I was reminded of him. It’s funny looking back thirty-one years later because that boy is now a friend and he married his high school sweetheart who is also a classmate of ours.

Anyway, I picked up my pace and breathed in fresh air. I appreciate the fact that cars are sparse in this 1.5 km stretch. In QC, UP Diliman is the only place I can think of that can offer open spaces and trees. However, it’s still full of cars and it’s such a downer to breathe in car exhaust during or after your exercise.

I walked faster because I was chasing the light.

Three kilometers for 30 mins is not bad. If it weren’t for the bugs that may start eating me alive, I would have continued walking to achieve my goal of buring 300 kcal a day.

Since I only expended a small amount of energy tonight, I was still able to cook chicken teriyaki for dinner.

Finally sleepy.

The housing problem is eating us alive. I know some Filipino lawyers and bankers who commute to HK every week—leave Manila by early Monday and leave HK by Friday evening to be with their families during the weekend. Because housing in HK is family-unfriendly. How can you stuff you family of five in a small 2-bedroom flat in HK when you own your spacious house in Manila? Cathy Yang, when she was with Bloomberg TV in HK, told me she used to do this as well and her “school bus-mates” were these Filipino lawyers/bankers working for global law firms/investment banks with offices in HK. It doesn’t make sense to sacrifice the quality of life of your family and fit them in a shoebox just because of a job that can be lost anytime management feels like firing you/retrenching people.

What Cathy has done gave me confidence that I can do this as well. It’s not easy. I miss so many news/things/leads in Singapore and I always have to deal with the hellish NAIA. But what can I do when I see this:

The rate quoted by ULI is around SGD 3,500, which no longer exists since the data is already a year old. I read an article somewhere—I forgot to clip it—that SGD 4,500-per-month apartments have already disappeared as rents jumped 70% this year.

So yes, commuting by plane with hotel for a week every month is much cheaper.

And how can I exchange this relaxed life now in the province for a financially stressful one in SG or HK?

After I left my car at the autoshop (for aircon cleaning, freon reloading and the oil leak fix), I did a quick veggie shop and went to buy muffins from our favorite bakery and pastry shop.

I walked back home for some exercise but it was already too hot to do a longer lap.

I even had time to linger and admire the flowers that have started to come alive after the rainshowers we had the past few days. These were from my mom’s garden. When I finally have the time, I would also have these, too, in my garden.

I took advantage of the sunny day today to air/sun-dry my carpets that I have had power-washed over the weekend.

After a thorough vaccuming, I now have the bigger carpet under my computer chair to keep it from further destroying the lovely wooden floors in my room. I’m still looking for a home for the smaller one. I think I will give it to my sister because I bet her computer chair is also destroying the wooden floors in their office area.

Tomorrow I must wake up earlier to do my brisk walking before the sun fries me.

I’m finally settling into a rhythm.

One of the fruit trees in my garden is bearing fruits. Give it a few weeks, we will have rambutan to eat. ❤️

After church this morning, my girls and I went shopping for shoes and some clothes for them as they have again outgrown most of what they have. The small Robinsons mall that we have here offers limited choices so we have to drive to SM Mall of Asia or Makati one weekend before school starts. But at least my girls have better shoes to wear to church or day out with friends as they have outgrown again what they were using two months ago.

Since I had enough time for other chores before I go back to work tomorrow, my girls and I built the Alex drawers from Ikea.

Tomorrow morning I need to bring my car to the autoshop because the oil gasket needs to be replaced. My oil engine is leaking. Good thing I had my car checked after I got back from Bangkok because my gut feel told me something was not right. I thought it was the radiator but the shop owner saw there were streaks of oil at the fan belt. He initially said it might be the clutch fluid but it was already late and there might not be enough time to do it. So I brought it back to them on Saturday to check again and upon closer inspection (after I had the underwash and engine wash to clean up everything), it was the gasket and the oil pan.

Yeah, wear and tear comes with the territory of owning an 18-year-old car. I was the one who drove this car out of the Isuzu showroom in 2005, so it seems like I will be the one running it to the ground.

After a million years, I stepped out again into the world of the living. I did multiple errands and was driving all over the place that I just decided to buy lunch from one of the student food alleys because I didn’t have time to cook.

I stocked up on the medicines since I think we’re going to have more flu incidents once school starts in August.

Another reason why my girls’ and my allergies have lingered is because the trees are confused with the weather. The whole tropical forest we’re surrounded with is confused. The fire trees are blooming (as shown in the photo) when it shouldn’t be. Normally, these trees bloom (together with the acacia and cotton trees) in April-May during the hot and dry months. July is southwest monsoon season so the trees should already be losing the flowers. But here we are…

I can’t remember July being this hot when I lived here full-time more than 20 years ago.

Ah well, that’s climate change for you.

---

These are the remnants of a four-hour dinner. If it weren’t for C’s daughter asking where she is, we wouldn’t have broken up our conversation at 10 pm. These BFFs had been with me since high school and it’s such a nice evening interjected with so much laughter.

The world looks all right when I’m cocooned like this with friends who knew me when I was just four feet tall.

The two of them will be working remotely/have a long weekend R&R in Tagaytay starting Thurs. I asked if they booked an AirBnB and BFF T said, no more AirBnBs.

“I don’t want to deal with broken toilets and spending my supposed holiday cleaning the bathroom because of a broken toilet and the host will leave a bad review of you as a guest. I want room service, I want someone reachable when something goes wrong with/in your room. We’re at that stage where we can already afford hassle-free accommodations. I want it to be accessible and not in some subdivision,” she said.

That’s what I call spending money wisely. I mean, why are we even working hard only to deprive ourselves of few creature comforts because we’re scrimping? So, yeah, I agree that AirBnBs are more of a hassle when you’re traveling for leisure/staycation.

I won’t be joining them because I need to be healthy and well rested before my Singapore trip, which will be next Sunday. I called ParkNFly an hour ago to make my reservation and spend the next five days anxious about the security of my car.

Been stuck for an hour reading a Twitter thread about the productivity-wage gap that is wider now, which keeps the new generation from owning homes.

:/ pic.twitter.com/PKxKnlDGZJ

— internet hall of fame (@InternetH0F) June 27, 2023

In a nutshell, this is one huge reason why:

For decades now the increase in median home prices has vastly outpaced the increase in median household income.

Look at this chart comparing the two since 1965 pic.twitter.com/l8alSUQzxh

— Mark Wlosinski (@LTI_finance) April 1, 2023

Owning homes before was a lot easier because land was more affordable/plentiful in my parents’ generation. My parents, lowly state university teachers with four kids in private elementary school, were able to own their first home (after renting in Makati and later on in my hometown) in 1979 when they were 30 years old. Home loan through GSIS was easier. However, money was tight–very tight–because they were paying off their mortgage. They sold that bungalow to build a five-bedroom, two bathroom house in a 250-300 sqm lot within the university perimeter. They paid it off in 15 years through GSIS. Money was still tight but we could afford a few luxuries then as my parents earned their PhDs.

That said, home ownerhship was not impossible.

I moved back home because I cannot afford a house in Metro Manila, not on my income alone. The prospect of being in debt for 30 years for a condo with perpetual association dues scares me. I also cannot really own the unit because I only have air rights. If an earthquake destroys the building, I would literally be homeless. I would not own land to rebuild a home. If I lose my job and won’t be able to get the same salary level I have now, I would also become homeless because I won’t be able to service my debt. Yeah, you also have to take into consideration that I’m a solo parent who is also the sole provider of my kids’ needs and education.

The good thing about my situation is that my mom is generous, helping me out with my house as I was provided with a place to plant myself, allowing me to take my share of the assets she will pass down to us in the future. It was possible for me to move to an area with lower cost of living because my job is remote and my salary is above local standards.

But without these concessions, it would be impossible for me to own a house. Even a small house.

So going back to the tweet about home ownership in the US, my generation (Gen X or Xenial) and the millennials have it bad. The housing situation there is worse. I had been watching tiny house videos and read threads; reading personal finance blogs and news articles over the years about cost of living and how screwed the healthcare system there is–a simple surgery there without insurance can bankrupt you. Canada is worse when it comes to housing costs, followed by Australia. I did research these markets as candidates for a possible migration for me and my kids but it seemed difficult.

Let’s not talk about Singapore for a moment because citizens there have their HDBs. It’s a different story for foreigners though. Hong Kong, meanwhile, is absurd so we’re going to write that one off when we talk about home ownership.

---

Speaking of home ownership, the construction around my house is done. My contractor cleared the garden and everything else today.

Meanwhile my laundry/utility area is easy to work with.

One thing, I’m glad I’m already out of Metro Manila. But that doesn’t mean I no longer have to prepare. The rainwater reservoirs we have here may not be enough if we’re facing a long dry spell. These are only good for flushing toilets and washing rags, cleaning floors, and watering plants. Should we have more tanks???