Category Archives: current events

Everything is so f*cked up right now

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Something to help me through this crazy time. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

After a year, we’re back to square one. Octa Research says we’re having a serious surge of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila and the variants we’re having (damn, we already have our own ‘Philippine variant’) are not to be messed with.

The Octa team said that if the effects of localized lockdowns and stricter quarantine measures continue, the NCR would have a reduced number of cases by the end of March.

“The result is that the more optimistic scenario could reduce the number of new COVID-19 cases by the end of March to less than 4,000, compared with 7,500 if there are no changes,” they said.

We’re basically still stuck with a virus that is getting more clever. I’m just praying none of my friends and loved ones would get sick because this unseen monster could hit from anywhere. Hospitals are already at capacity again. We never managed to really to flatten the curve or had a downtrend. All thanks to the mishandling of the pandemic by this brainless authoritarian government. It makes me sadder that some countries are getting out of this pandemic and are already “near-normal” while it seems like we’re never going to see the end of this.

My hand-sewn masks for female friends. I do sew masks in male-friendly prints for guy friends. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

All the more I am busy sewing masks for friends to help me to manage my anxiety while encouraging friends to save the environment by using reusable masks while keeping safe from the infection. If they’re only going to run to the store and not be in crowded spaces or in healthcare facilities like clinics or hospitals, my masks that are made of tightly woven cotton (either Japanese, Indian, or Turkish cotton) would suffice. As a freediver, the news reports of face masks or PPEs littering the sea makes me angry.

Speaking of diving, I would have to have our reservation at Blue Ribbon in Anilao moved to…God knows when. I don’t think this surge will ease after two weeks. Besides, the weather now is f*cking crazy. Imagine, middle of March and we are dealing with low pressure areas (that could be a beginning of a typhoon). It’s supposed to be the hot and dry season right now. On a personal level, I am not complaining because at least it’s not as hot compared to last year but from an agricultural perspective, this is not good. The planting cycle is going haywire. Crops could be destroyed.

Meanwhile, my plan to buy a small lot could be within reach sooner than I realized. I have to decide where that lot could be. My job requires me to be here in Metro Manila but I cannot imagine myself staying here for the rest of my life. I could buy in my hometown and there’s a nice lot there on a hill just within or inside the university campus that is surrounded by trees that I knew was for sale. Two Cubo units that I could join together would be sufficient for me and my girls and I could upgrade it as time goes by since I will be saving a lot of rent money. However, I cannot drive to Makati everyday if face-to-face events and meetings go back. Either I give up being a super journalist and just be content being an editor so I don’t have to be mobile all the time–but I’m not sure if I am ready to hang up my shoes and newsboy cap. I love being in the field too much.

Think, think, think.

But that little dream of having a homestead by a hill/mountain or the sea is nagging me. It’s calling me. Now that I’ve decided to remain a single mom for the rest of my days made that voice louder.

Think, think, think.

Smaller world

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Taking shelter from the rain. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

5000 new cases yesterday, the highest since August. This is why they try to curtail movement again. That’s the only thing this brainless government knows how to do. No comprehensive vaccine program, no useful contact-tracing program where our records are not stolen by scammers, no nothing. It’s like being in Myanmar right now.

It’s kinda like being on a semi-lockdown again on the anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown. I can’t explain what I’m feeling right now because I am trying to suppress any strong emotion these days. The closest thing I can say is I’ve given up hope that we will be ok.

UP Diliman started banning joggers and bikers again until further notice. My daughters and I tried cycling along University Ave but it rained. We had to go back and just bought Korean ice cream from Seoul Meat on the way home to make them feel better.

Finishing their “dirty” ice cream near Mang Larry’s during our exercise last week, before UP campus had shut down. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I couldn’t bring them elsewhere to have our exercise. Police had set up checkpoints at the border of QC and Rizal so we can’t go to Angono or Binangonan for biking. I guess that would be the same case everywhere. No more going home to Laguna this Holy Week. I can’t have my Laguna biking trip. I wonder if we can still go to Anilao a week after that. I booked Blue Ribbon resort for four days before cases started spiking.

Circumstances are really forcing me to live inside my head again. I want to scream. I want to cry but I’m tired of crying. Been crying for exactly three months now. I’m stuck. In my room. The worst place to be stuck because I shared this room with him for two years. I couldn’t move houses because at the moment it’s better to be in this location since it’s near UP. My brain needs the openness of my university, figuratively and literally. It’s also convenient to have supermarkets within walking distance when you are trying to avoid people.

I want to be in Japan right now. To be in Gifu and Ishikawa. Once this madness is all over, that’s where I will be.

It’s almost a year of quarantine

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The storm drain where we rescued my cats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It will soon be the first anniversary of COVID-19 quarantine. I don’t know how long I can take it anymore. One year. We’re now experiencing a second wave, with daily new cases reaching 3000 3,500. But this stupid government still doesn’t have a clear vaccination on program. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Anyway, this also meant that my cats will be almost 1 year old. We found them late April or early May at the back of Institute of Chemistry. I visited today on my bike that storm drain where we found them trapped. It was so overgrown with weeds and other debris.

My cats are so lucky we found them before they died of hunger and dehydration in this storm drain. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I went around the Science Complex before proceeding to the vegetable shop for our weekly supplies. My bike now sports a new detachable handlebar bag from Decathlon so that my green leafy veggies will not get crushed in the other bag tied to my pannier. I’m so happy with it. I no longer have to carry a backpack (which is annoying when I bike).

I love my bike. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This coming Holy Week I will be bringing the girls and our bikes to my hometown. Let’s see if I can reach other towns in Laguna with just my pedaling power. Maybe I’ll ride with some high school classmates. It’ll be a whole new adventure going around Laguna on a bike.

Restless

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There are ok days. There are bad days. They bleed into each other. That’s why I’m itching to go and take my occasional dose of vitamin sea.

Maricaban, Batangas. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

But the new COVID-19 strain is threatening freer movement again. 🤦🏻‍♀️ When will this end?

Hope I can take advantage of the calmer northeastern monsoon (amihan) next month.

P.S. will be back to work in a few hours. I’ve never felt so relieved about going back to work.

Earth has shut down

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Has it only been a few days since I last posted? It seems like a lifetime ago. The world has gone mad and had to shut down because of COVID-19.

Italy is now on a lockdown, as well as Malaysia while Australia has closed its borders to all incoming flights. Stock markets around the world are at a tailspin while economies are spiraling down.

It has only been 6 days since the government implemented the lockdown but it feels like we had been under it for a month. And take note, we will still be under lockdown for another 3 weeks and one day. I see anecdotal reports on Twitter that some people are lining up at the pawnshop because businesses/means of livelihood have been shut down.

Empty vegetable section and meat chillers at Shopwise. These photos are owned by callmecreation.com

I don’t know how long we can keep at this. So many people going hungry now–the daily wage earners, the PUV drivers, street vendors…

Doctors, young and old, are dying here in the Philippines…and elsewhere. This stupid government has not taken this pandemic seriously and chose to protect the interests of China before its own people. It didn’t prepare for the event that we will be infected. We don’t have enough test kits, we don’t have enough laboratories, we don’t have enough facilities and healthcare workers.

My God, what are we to do? Please, Lord, protect the most vulnerable–the poor.

And in these troubled times, we need to find beauty in unlikely places to make us sane.

Sunset somewhere in UP Diliman. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com