I think I died a little

Posted on January 28, 2023 by admin

My back broke. Sort of.

I started the day with good intentions. I cooked brunch for my girls and me and it went downhill from there.

*Rice balls wrapped in roasted seaweed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I said to myself I will just get rid of the barrier between me and my messy neighbor so I won’t have to deal with it later when moving time draws near. So I took out the wire shelf where some potted plants resided, the old chair where I used to place mums, and the hanging bar where I had hung plants.

And I bit more what I can chew.

*That monstrosity is c/o my neighbor. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*They had just been shoving rubbish between their motorcycle and my barrier.* *Photo by* *CallMeCreation.com*

These idiots thought they could just dump trash on my side. I shoved all their rubbish back to them.

I saw little rodents darting in and out of that motorcycle. I had no choice but to clean all the debris that should have been their responsibility.

*Three trash bags of rubbish. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*I thinned out my pots and plants. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*Their side is still an eyesore.* 😡 *Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I also removed the excess pots because the plants they used to hold have died. Most of these were mums/annuals anyway so their lifespan was already spent. I tamed the unruly baccularis and repotted them as they had uncontrollably multiplied. Summer is creeping in so some of my plants will start flowering again.

I did this for several hours. It was literally back-breaking work. After I scrubbed myself clean under a very hot shower, I attempted to climb the stairs by myself. I couldn’t straighten up. I had to hold on to the railing with Twin A assisting me.

I promised them we will have dinner in one of the Vietnamese restaurants around here but—it was already out of the question. I had to order it via Grab because my back is killing me. To ease my frozen back, I booked a two-hour massage from Zennya.

I feel like I’m 80 years old. I’m already in bed by 8 pm. 🫠

No Umbrella

Posted on January 27, 2023 by admin

I was listening to Cynthia Alexander’s live rendition of her No Umbrella on Youtube when I suddenly had the urge to make a quick watercolor wash of what I always imagined that song’s imagery in my head. It’s always UP Diliman, under the trees, along the academic oval. I first heard the song in 2002. For twenty years I always thought this song would happen to me in UP Diliman.

Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

It really didn’t happen exactly like this but it’s more of me walking alone under the rain when before I walked with somebody under some drizzle inside the campus.

No Umbrella

I remember
Walking in the rain
No umbrella
With your arms around me
How can I forget
That was the last time

I saw you
Waving down a taxi
Getting on without me
And you’re sorry
How can I forget
That was the last time

You’re sorry
You’re sorry
Sorry, sorry

I remember
Somewhere in the rain
The man without a face
It was you
You were quiet
I knew what you were thinking but
You couldn’t say it
Letting go of the feeling
Things ain’t what they are now
Rain is falling no umbrella
I remember you

You’re sorry
You’re sorry
Sorry, sorry

You’re sorry
You’re sorry
You’re sorry
You’re sorry
You’re sooooorry

You are sorrier
You are sorrier
You are sorrier
Made you sorrier
Sorry

I think a visit to Art Whale tomorrow is in order. I need a tube of white gouache and a mopping brush.

Up all night

Posted on January 27, 2023 by admin

*Building a new work desk. Photo by* *CallMeCreation.com*

I suddenly had a brilliant idea of going to Ikea this afternoon to buy myself a new work desk so I can give my old one to Twin A because hers is tilting dangerously and is falling apart. I would have a bigger problem if it suddenly crashes.

I had been up all night since the new work desk requires me to build it myself. I started at around 7 pm and finished at 1 am.

The dimensions are almost the same as my old desk: 120 x 60 x 70cm. I was initially aiming for the 140 cm long Lagkapten to accommodate my printer but I realized my room in my new house is much smaller even though I made provisions there for a 140 cm desk. If I find myself wanting more surface area, I could always order another Alex drawer. Or I can mount a wall shelf and place the printer there.

I also have better cable management.

My desk now matches the oak finish of my cabinetry in my tiny house. I just need to make the cables tidier by buying that spiral pipe cord protector/organizer so I can place my workstation in a command position facing the door in my new room. There’s nothing more stressful than seeing unruly cables when you enter a room.

I chose not to update my girls’ desks because I will have theirs custom-made together with their loft beds. I will just buy them additional Alex drawers (and more DIY for me) so they will have more storage.

This weekend I will start throwing away old stuff that we have been harboring under the stairs. Then we will start eliminating things that we wouldn’t be bringing to our tiny house.

I’m sleepy. I will collect my thoughts later…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I’ve been selling my ETF in tranches this week because the outlook is bad in the coming months. While I have already completed the payments for the entire contract with my builder last week, there are extra expenses that I have incurred because of additional posts and making the laundry/utility area downstairs more decent. So I needed to draw down from my stock investments.

This is the reason why I don’t spend on luxury bags, designer clothes, and other unproductive things. Bags are not an investment; an investment is something that will help you increase your earnings—not to boost your ego. Besides, these luxury houses target the insecure middle class customers who want to be perceived as rich. It’s aspirational.

It’s so superficial.

I buy a lot of bags–some expensive, some are just so-so because I often break my bags. I rotate them so as not to tax one particular bag and destroy it before I get my ROI.

I’ve been investing in the stock market since the great market crash of 2008. This enabled me to build my house debt-free. Although it’s small, I have the option to enlarge it later but then I don’t want a big house to clean…At least I can get off the rental market now and build wealth faster. One of the killers of wealth-building is consumer debt and rent. I don’t have both. This recession is a buying opportunity, granted that I don’t lose my job or some other catastrophe happening like illness.

So for those who look down on me for not having designer bags or designer everything–I want to pose this question: Do you already have a retirement fund? Are you fully insured? Do you have emergency funds? No? Then come back to me when you already have one/some.

Because I’m feeling extra today

Posted on January 25, 2023 by admin

*Marinated baby back ribs. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I just suddenly felt like doing something extra today. That weekend trip back home to see friends lifted my mood that carried over to this week. So far, so good. I will be interviewing a candidate tomorrow and I have three CVs on my file now, all are promising.

I first grilled marinated baby back ribs until they looked cooked on the outside. Then I cooked it on the Instant Pot on High Pressure for 16 mins with a combination of beef broth, ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce as liquid marinade under the ribs that were placed on a trivet so they won’t be swimming in the marinade.

Et voila! It was tender and yet perfectly glazed on the outside.

*This was a bit spicy. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

My customers (i.e. the girls and Ate C) consumed it all. With pinakbet as vegetable side dish, this was *chef’s kiss* The thing here is that I didn’t have this for lunch and instead I ate leftover meatballs with home-made gravy. I am limiting red meat intake, if I can help it. My brother is now diabetic, like my two sisters. And my mom. So aside from sugar, I should be watching out for my red meat intake and processed carbohydrates.

I’m also restarting my exercise regimen. I got stalled in October when I got the flu.

This is a light sketch of a scene in my head that keeps playing over and over whenever I hear the song Beauty and Madness by Fra Lippo Lippi. I had been trying to draw this for over 25 years but I couldn’t because I lacked the proper technique. I will try to make this again and again until I get it right.

In my head, the sky is dark with slight illumination from the moon that is sometimes obscured by clouds. A woman is on a cliff overlooking an angry sea. Or an unquiet sea.

I don’t know why I’m stuck with that imagery and it’s forever attached to that song. Maybe I read too many Gothic novels when I was younger.

I had been playing that song by oido for years as well. The chord transcripts I had and the music sheet I have of the song are somehow incomplete.

This transcript, which I got from a tutorial on Youtube, is close to the original piano version.

*I wrote the chord transcript by hand. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I should review my major and minor sevens. I keep on forgetting them, unlike other chords, which are now like instinct when I play them on the piano.

This song reflects the struggles of people, in varying degrees. It resonates with me, even way back in high school, as I am drawn to the darkness of the image it painted. But the melody is not dark; it is quite emotional–it’s haunting, like there is this emptiness that you haven’t quite figured out just yet.

Who will see the madness in your life

And who will be there to catch you if you fall?

*Still a work in progress. I will let it dry until tomorrow. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Why I’m doing this…

Posted on January 24, 2023 by admin

It’s past 9 pm and I’m currently listening to a webinar for our company about my current journalism specialization.

And about personal branding.

It’s all about the compelling story. No one will listen to you if you don’t have a story to tell.

Because in our world today, no one will really pay attention to you–as a job-hunter, as a potential employer, as a buyer, as a company founder doing fundraising, or an investment banker or consultant–if you do not have a good brand. I used to abhor journalists or bankers who have been doing self-promotion. I always thought that it’s about the craft, your work, or your deal that should speak for yourself.

Apparently it’s not enough.

Yes, of course you should have impeccable and high quality track record–not the half-finished this or that, not the empty/padded resume. You should have the solid background as your anchor but more than that, you should control the narrative—your narrative. You have to be an expert of something so that when you talk, they will listen.

My work week has been better than the previous one in the sense that my anxiety level has gone down. I have received two CVs already and I should do more outreach. I should also reach out to our talent acquisition team but I must get the OK of my bosses, who are still on a Lunar New Year break.

I was relaxed even if edits came flooding my mailbox. I’m happier doing this than trawling LinkedIn for possible candidates for at least three positions I’m trying to fill up before 1H23 ends. Or else the hiring window may close since majority of MNCs right now are freeze-hiring at the moment or are laying off.

The strings during the intro—it’s eargasm. Makes me want to watch Sting in March but damn, it’s sold out!

I’m looking at the concert calendar and only Sting stands out. Sting > Harry Styles. The rest are K-Pop concerts.

Little changes

Posted on January 23, 2023 by admin

It’s a new year and I have again changed the position of my bed, hopefully this can help with my very problematic sleep. I also wanted to have my workstation removed from a vulnerable position i.e. back facing the door, because there were many instances when my girls walked in during my calls because I forgot to lock my door. Even though I have my virtual background on, it’s still unnerving to have them walk in on my calls and webinars unannounced.

*So this is the first thing you will see when you enter my room. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*My bed is at the farthest corner of my room. CallMeCreation.com*

I could have turned the bed perpendicular to the window…but that was the old position of my bed and it carries undesirable memories, so nope. I would have gotten more space with the old bed position–but nope.

*My workstation’s back is facing a less vulnerable position. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*But the background is still not Zoom-worthy. I have to stick to virtual backgrounds for interviews. Photo via webcam.*

*Hopefully this is a cozier spot for the bed so I can have better sleep quality. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I’m going to miss these big white walls where I can put a lot of artworks and photos. My tiny house has limited wall space for such things so I have to rotate frames depending on my mood.

There are now 50 individuals (mostly from government agencies) who have signed up for the data analytics training I helped organize with the graduate school of my university. That number includes my friends. The dean told me that they are prioritizing my group when it comes to scheduling since it was my idea to have this training for journos/communicators.

The unfortunate thing here is I could not commit yet to specific dates because of my travel itinerary, which still hangs by a thread. What is definite is that I need to to go to Singapore in April; I would have to assign the Bangkok coverage (two conferences) to my senior reporters in May because I would be moving houses (5 days off). I decided that I would only use 5 days off in December 2023 so I can have 5 days off for that training then another 5 days off in October for my birthday leave (that hopefully I can finally use for travel abroad).

Or I can ask for a study leave since this is a legit professional training.

Let’s see.

I didn’t work today. I could have but I decided not to. I declared my own holiday. Well, none from Southeast Asia i.e. Philippines submitted a story anyway. So what did I do the entire day? I really don’t know. It’s surprising how I can pass the day without remembering what I did. I think I watched videos of watercolor painting the entire day???

And I was also planning in my head how I would place the furniture in my tiny house so that required a lot of daydreaming.

Because I could manipulate spaces in my head, my contractor told me that I saved myself about PHP 20k since I was able to draw my plans in 1D but could still picture in my head how my sketch would translate to 3D or in the actual space. We were able to understand each other when I was showing him on-site where and how things will be positioned. If I didn’t have the capacity to imagine the spaces in my head, he would have to have the plans rendered in AutoCAD/Autodesk or Sketchup, which is an extra expense. Maybe it runs in the family 🤔. My uncle is an architect and he designed the blueprint of my parents’ house. It didn’t enter my mind to try my hand at architecture or interior design but I have always been interested in it. I always thought I didn’t have a knack for it.

Now that I have designed my own house, I think I can say I did it!

I would just have to invite my uncle to my housewarming to show it off and see his reaction. 🤣

Stories from the sidelines

A journalist has a life other than news

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