Sick? Open your door for some fresh air. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
After a good night’s sleep, I was feeling a little bit better but I could still feel my cold is getting the better of me. I sunned myself for some Vit D while sipping my tea.
Mornings here are often beautiful. Photo by CallMeCreation.com A promise of a lovely day. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My yard is slowly being rehabilitated now that the additional rain water collection is done.
My yard is now ready for garden beds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com The old rain water collector with new filtration system. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Household water reservoir connected to the mains. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Now I’m feeling sleepy again. My girls will be fed by my mom at her house so I can have peace. Let’s see if I feel better after my catch-up sleep.
Just woke up with the girls on my bed. I don’t know how we had fitted on my queen bed but we managed. Oh well, when you don’t feel well, you always want mommy beside you to feel comforted. ❤️
My new water filter in action. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Meanwhile, we had been using the new water filter for a week now and it’s so convenient! No more dragging of blue water containers from the gate, up my stairs, and hauling them up on my kitchen counter. It also freed up space on my counter and my dish drain now rests on where the blue water containers used to be.
Installation was a pain at first because my faucet has no groove at the mouth but there are several adapters that came with the system. So far we haven’t had any tummy problems. I must order extra cartridges for when the time comes the filter becomes blocked.
And here’s a coup.
As an international journalist, I must monitor this new development in Russia, a fluid story about the Wagner paramilitary group that has launched what it seemed to be a coup d’état. My subscription of NYT and Nikkei have now more use.
What are the economic and trade implications, we don’t know yet. On top of my mind are oil and gas prices. Inflation is still elevated in most parts of the world but this turmoil in Russia could trigger another round of price hikes as Russia is one of the biggest producers of fossil fuels.
— Khandaker Muntasir Hossain (@KhandakerMunta) June 22, 2023
And that’s the reality, folks. Some rich adventurers who dived into their doom get so much attention and support from the world and yet those who get lost in the sea because conditions back home are so bad that they risk dying in open sea don’t get help. Both tragedies happened at the same time.
Anyway, at this point there are no survivors since in theory their oxygen has run out hours ago. Hopefully, they didn’t have to suffer and it was instantaneous. I don’t know if it’s better to have gone when it imploded due to pressure or I die slowly and choke because I no longer have oxygen.
When I go freediving, I could already feel the pressure in my ears and we’re not even talking about several hundred feet…at 15 ft you could already feel it. At 375 atmospheres…
I think because this thing is so macabre that’s why the world is fascinated with this story. It’s like a well-publicized assisted suicide.
I don’t know how I feel about the whole thing. But the whole media circus touches the raw part of me that is scared of dark depths so it kind of creeps me out. My freediving is my way of confronting this fear but then, what is happening/happened to Titan is raising my fears again.
This is also like the feeling I got when I read Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado.
I was unproductive today. I wasn’t able to work because I just slept most of the day. I might have caught a nasty bug from Twin I, who in turn caught it from her younger cousin, L.
I will sleep for a few hours and let’s see what daylight brings later today. I was supposed to process yesterday at noon the conversation I had with L last Monday but I fell asleep as I was attempting to type it into an update of yesterday’s blog entry.
Hopefully, I would feel better later today.
No, I feel worse. It’s making editing today difficult because that job requires a lot of brain power. I’m brainless today. However, I need to go grocery shopping later tonight because my fridge is empty.
I’m too sick to do that either.
Since my fridge is empty and we’re too sick to go out for dinner or even collect FoodPanda or Grab at the gate, I resorted to making weird food out of stuff left in my house.
Heating up whole wheat tortilla that has been sleeping in my chiller. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Grilling hotdogs, the only thing left in my freezer. Photo by CallMeCreation.com This is a cross between a burrito and a hotdog sandwich. Photo by CallMeCreation.com And that’s dinner. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I had to make an advisory to other editors that our Philippines reporter and I will take the day off because idiot president hastily declared a holiday late Thursday afternoon. We could have made better plans for the long weekend.
Despite the declaration of a holiday, the event at the central bank pushed through. Of course, you can’t reset a thing like this without making a mess of bank presidents’, CEOs and conglomerate owners’ schedules.
The good thing here though is that the roads are less congested. Wohoo!
On the way to Makati to pick up another journo. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I worked for a bit at Starbucks in G5 because of companies (or rather pushy PRs) that insist on their own way, forgetting that there is such thing as editorial independence. Diva execs, pushy PRs, and unreasonable company policies–what a way to end the week.
A bit of a pain to work with MS Outlook on Android because it doesn’t have a search function and html formatting editor but it will do because my Samsungtablet is much lighter than my laptop.Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Upon arriving at the central bank, I noticed there were new paintings at the 3rd floor lobby. One staff member told me they have just acquired the collection of UCPB and that is now scattered all over the main building. Unfortunately, I only had time to see three paintings when there must have been hundreds of them. I had to work my butt off last night.
I will never probably understand or appreciate an HR Ocampo piece. Photo by CallMeCreation.com 1898 by Edwin Wilwayco. I like this take on the Philippine flag. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Jose Joya, an artist that I could not appreciate when I was younger but now I do. It’s not about what you need to see but how an artwork makes you feel. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
One time I will tell my friends at the BSP comms dept I will drop by to see the sculptures and paintings in their collection during one less hectic day. It’s not easy to gain access there and I had been going in and out of their premises regularly for years as a reporter. Might as well take advantage of that.
They gave me this uncut live currency to add to my collection of like items and commemorative coins. I’m still looking for the uncut 20-peso bills where I had former central bank governors sign their names. Two of them sadly passed on. That item is one of the, if not the most precious souvenir I had kept as a banking reporter. The girls’ dad must have it with him, including my analog cameras.
Zoe is a Filipina transplant in Singapore. Money is very tight given that Singapore is expensive for families not on expat package. I could understand why her parents don’t want to leave them behind in the Philippines and chose to live an almost hand-to-mouth existence in Singapore. I may have done the same because I cannot be parted from my children; but the difference is that I have a choice and I chose to stay here and live comfortably. Zoe’s father doesn’t. There is not enough employment options for Zoe’s parents in the Philippines as wages remain depressed while cost of living continues to jump.
Zoe impressed many when she replied to the trolls by posting a follow-up video in which she tearily explains her humble background and talks about privilege.
She told ST via e-mail that her family moved to Singapore from the Philippines in 2010. While she declined to say more about her parents, ST understands that her father works as a mechanical engineer.
So when her father gave her an SGD 80 Charles & Keith handbag, she was so happy that she uploaded on Tiktok that finally has her first luxury bag.
“My family didn’t have a lot. We couldn’t buy things as simple as bread from BreadTalk… when we moved to Singapore… Your comment spoke volumes on how ignorant you seem because of your wealth,” said the eldest of four siblings, who is being home-schooled.
The Singaporeans bashed her so much. The luxury brand-obsessed Singaporeans belittled an immigrant because her definition of luxury doesn’t match their own. My colleague told me that they shop so much because there is nothing else to do. In the end, they just throw out stuff with their price tags still attached because they no longer have room for more shopping. She felt Singapore produces so much waste because of this obsession with shopping.
They do not understand the kind of privilege they have and that only a fraction of the world’s population enjoy that kind of privilege. They live in a bubble.
Luxury is relative.
There was a time that C&K was a luxury to me as well and all I could do was just look longingly at the window displays in Rustans as I walked the length of Ayala Ave going to the MRT station wearing my beaten up black loafers from SM department store (Parisian) and blouse and skirt from Surplus Shop. I had to choose the cheapest toiletries and meals to make ends meet because I was just a year off from college and was just earning minimum wage. I had to share a dorm room with four other girls. My worldly possessions were my electric fan, my clothes, and my analog cellphone that I bought second-hand from my brother. I had to be judicious with sending SMS because at that time one SMS costs one peso and I only had PHP 300 budget for airtime load a month. Books and magazines were also luxuries to me. The only way I can indulge myself was to go to Booksale and buy PHP 10 to PHP 30-paperbacks or PHP 100-back issues of Vogue.
So for Zoe, it was a big deal to be given a Charles & Keith bag because her parents could barely afford it. People just 🤦♀️ love to hurt others.
Meanwhile, my quest to make nice bookmarks is not yet through.
Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com This one was just an excuse to use my new Holbein watercolors. It doesn’t have to be pretty and correct. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.comTrying my hand at children’s book illustration. It’s a book mark so it doesn’t have to be correct or pretty. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com This one was an experiment. I just washed the entire paper and let the color bleed. My big mistake was lining it with a marker. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com
I need to go to a museum. I’m losing my spark again. 😑
Driving along Skyway 3 from south going to direction of Nagtahan, I saw a long convoy of Philippine National Police – Special Action Forces. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Yesterday was rife with tense undercurrent as memos coming from various Philippine National Police (PNP) camps/regional offices started surfacing in group chats and private messages like this below.
This was sent to me by a friend asking if this was true.A long convoy of Philippine National Police – Special Action Force. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So I had to ask my network of national beat reporters regarding this. One of them said PNP held a press conference and of course they denied that this was not true. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also denied such thing in a press release.
However, my source inside AFP said the resignations were true as the senior officers got disgruntled with the flip-flopping of Marcos.
A fellow reporter and I were throwing theories at each other, thinking about the power struggle between Duterte (whose AFP Chief was Centino and was a holdover) and Marcos (Bacarra is Marcos’ appointee who got unseated by Centino again).
One of the messages passed on to me by a reporter said:
From a lawyer na anak ng retired general
-What is not fake, is the fact that the AFP CS, Lt Gen Bacarro, has just been replaced by Gen Centino. Gen Centino the CS AFP carried over from PRRD’s administration, was earlier replaced by Lt Gen Bacarro, who was appointed as CS AFP, by BBM in August 2022. Bacarro was scheduled to retire on Sept 2022, but because of the new law fixing the term of the CS AFP to 3 years, Bacarro’s term as CS was until Aug 2025. However, Bacarro could not be promoted to 4-star general as Centino, a 4-star general, was set to retire on Feb 2023, and under the law, the AFP should only have one 4-star general. Hence, the anomaly of a 3-star CS, with a 4-star general-former CS on floating status until his February 2023. Then after the New Year, Centino who is not yet retireable, is surprisingly appointed by BBM to his former post as CS AFP, replacing Bacarro. Parang pawardy-wardy ang galaw ng gobyerno. So what gives?
And one of the national defense veteran reporters in my network said:
The last message sent to me was this.
The facts:
there was a memo from the PNP about destabilization in the AFP which required them to be on red alert. The memo was pulled out same day.
3 DND USecs resigned the other day
Bacarro was compulsory retired and Centino was placed back as CSAFP Allegation:
unrest and destabilization in the AFP Theory:
PNP sowing misinformation to redirect the current issue (request for mass courtesy resignation of all Colonels & generals of the PNP) away from them.
Some of my friends and my even my sister said, let them implode so that both Marcos and Duterte camps destroy each other and the Philippines will benefit. We’ll just eat our popcorns while we see the meltdown.
Never have I experience this kind of negligent government that just let the prices of onions and other basic vegetables go nuts (PHP 750/kg of onions!) while the harvests up north get stuck and are not transported down here in the south to stabilize prizes. Because Marcos never cared about such things anyway. He’s just in this for the perks of the presidency as the entire family gets diplomatic immunity as they were not able to travel for decades due to the conviction handed down to them by international courts. He’s now preparing to travel to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum, an event that he does not even understand. He’s just there for the junket trip.
My little haul tonight from my suki UP veggie vendor. This is ridiculous. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My PHP 740 only got this much of veggies and this does not include onions because there are no onions available! Lord, how are the poor feeding themselves?!
Yesterday, I just wrote here that I’m staying in this country because I’m happy here but staying means I’m forever having this toxic relationship with the Philippines. Like I’m not leaving because of some messianic thing, being a journalist with a higher calling shit, etc etc.
It’s stupid, really. I don’t know what I’m doing but this is shit, man. If all of the people like me leave (educated, with a voice, have the means to change things), who will be left to help in nation-building? My maid, who will be finishing her college education in 2024 with my financial help, would be able to lift her family out of poverty, since I pledged that I would be supporting her education until she graduates even if we’re going to part ways by May.
This is just like what my parents did for my nanny, who finished college, got a job at the university as a tech staff with my parents’ help. She was able to help her parents send siblings to school, went home to her province, went to school again and got a permanent position in her local government unit. She was able to send her kids to UP and both are already professionals while she is now the head of the local registry in their LGU. Not only that she was lifted out of poverty, but it had a multiplier effect so her extended family also got out of extreme poverty since she sent her siblings to school and was able to buy land for farming.
You see, small things like this make a difference. What I’m doing for my maid now is just one of the many we’re doing for our fellow countrymen. I also have a platform; I can help change things, small things, little by little.
Fuck it! I don’t know why I’m justifying to myself my decision to stay in this wretched country. I guess I’m so bothered by the opinion of others who have no idea how I was raised.
But then, my guilt towards my children is eating me up alive.
On the first day of 2023, the Philippines fucked it up.
Screengrab from FlightRadar24
A technical glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday has closed the Philippines off from the rest of the world. Nobody could come in and out. All flights were cancelled/delayed until today. Our Manila reporter is stuck somewhere in the province and she’s still not sure if her flight tomorrow night will push through.
I am part of this department’s group chat and nobody from the government could shed light immediately what was going on 🤦♀️. Talk about competence. Ghad.
Anyway, this has long been overdue. The redevelopment/modernization of this airport has been in the PPP list since forever but the Duterte administration ditched all unsolicited proposals from the private sector to improve the Philippines’ main gateway to favor San Miguel’s Bulacan Airport, which is very out of the way, and Sangley Airport in Cavite, which requires more infrastructure development (read: impassable narrow roads) to be of any use. I’ve written about it so many times over so many years.
Now this administration has been sending conflicting messages to the world; camp 1 says no, NAIA will no longer be redeveloped because we already have two airports in the works (well, they won’t be operational until 2032), while camp 2 says, it is already up for bidding. <<<< This was the last story I wrote in November and I was ahead of everybody else in publishing that the bids will be opened up this first quarter, with the TOR being drafted with help of ADB.
This is why we’re so fucked up. Too much self-interest reigning over what is good for the country. If only they had let this redevelopment push through in 2016, we already would have had a better and functional international airport by this time. Six years had passed = enough time for construction. This fucked up airport has four terminals disconnected from each other. If you’re flying in from abroad and have a connecting flight to the provinces in another terminal, better make sure you have enough time to make the transfers because you have to hail taxis or whatnot to transfer you to another terminal. No fucking sky trains.
I see some friends on social media ranting that they are still stuck and couldn’t come back home.
Good job, Philippines, good job. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Kimchi’s gift. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I drifted off to sleep very early last night and I just found myself surrounded by cats at midnight. Then at around 6:30-ish, I woke up with Kimchi’s favorite toy on my bed, as if she was offering it to me. She and Sushi occasionally give me love offerings like small dead rats 🙀 back when the other unit was harboring too many pests that they cross over to my unit.
Thank God I am moving out. I don’t have to deal with pests, messy neighbors, and inconvenient parking situation.
Speaking of moving out, my girls and I went to Wilcon Home Depot after getting cat supplies at Tiendesitas to buy proper curtain rods and curtain rod brackets, shower curtain rods, shower curtains, towel bar, toilet paper holder, bathroom hooks, and behind-the-door bedroom hooks. I chose the expensive brands as these were made of matte stainless steel, feel solid, and will last for an eternity or until I get tired of them and have them replaced.
My girls and their shopping cart. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was about to chuck a Birke toilet paper holder into the cart when Twin A said, “MOMMY, WHY ARE YOU BUYING A TOILET PAPER HOLDER FOR ONE THOUSAND PESOS?! We just buy it in Ikea, it’s much cheaper.”
But I want this stainless steel beauty. 😟
So ok, I changed it to the cheaper Pozzi one to appease her. But I didn’t relent with the other fixtures because they all must go with the Hamden, Birke, Kohler, or Grohe ones that my contractor bought (pre-approved by me).
We were looking at tubs and I really, really want this upright soaking tub:
But it won’t fit in my shower area to have a bath/shower combo. I also did away with the glass enclosure because based on the few condo bathrooms that I’ve seen and used (mostly with J), it’s hard to remove the water stains when you have hard water. Using acid (citric acid from lemons or acetic acid from vinegar) to cut the water stains don’t work if they have already set in. Plus it’s too much work to wipe down the glass enclosure every time you take a shower. A good shower curtain will be a better option since you just chuck it in the washing machine and you’re done. Plus you can have more artistic choices with shower curtains. I can even commission a local artist to create a shower curtain on polyester fabric cloth.
I still have to complete my shopping before everything becomes permanent e.g. tiling work.
