Once you pop, you can’t stop

Decathlon bike section. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

So I bought a bike. Then bought extras. This disease afflicts all new bikers, even the occasional biker like myself. Problem is I bought one accessory that doesn’t fit my folding bike so I have to go back to Decathlon to return it.

Now that I no longer have a mountain bike to hitch at the back of my car, I can finally have the interior cleaned. 🎉

I didn’t fully fold my bike but it can be smaller so it can be carried in trains or in condos. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My triathlete friend said that bikes ruin the interior of your car. She and her husband (who’s a professional triathlon coach) prioritize the bikes over the car so our cars’ interiors share the same look. Madungis. 😁 They don’t want their bikes exposed to elements when traveling because the bikes are as expensive as second hand cars.

I brought along my bike yesterday when I transported his mountain bike to my hometown to deliver it to my nephew. I thought I could go around the campus but I arrived there at noon 😓 So freaking hot so I decided against it. I thought I could take advantage of the open spaces and traffic-less campus 😔 As my triathlete friend said, this is the disadvantage of living in Metro Manila: you need to have a car to transport your bike to a place that is more bike-friendly. Which is ironic 🤦🏻‍♀️ and moronic. Unlike in my hometown where it’s ridiculous to even bring your car to run errands like buying from a store outside the campus because 1) everything is so near; 2) no parking space. A bicycle or a motorbike is the way to go.

Metro Manila is a deathtrap for bikers.

That said, Singapore is supposedly ideal for bikes as main mode of transport but I seldom see people bike to work, unlike in Japan and Taiwan. I only saw a white dude in a suit riding a Segway. Which is a shame. If I transfer to Singapore, I will have a bike with me. I loved the mama-chari bikes in Japan so I rented one for a day when I was in Hitachi.

This new hobby sometimes make me forget him. However, biking is almost synonymous with him since I always drove him to places where he could bike around. Yup, I was a glorified chauffer. It was all that I meant to him.

Shopping in the time of COVID-19

Because of social distancing, there is a long queue before you can even get inside the supermarket. Photo taken from outside Save More. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Grocery shopping for me is an undesirable chore. Moreso with this pandemic. It’s torture. As much as possible I try to minimize the time spent grocery shopping. Pre-COVID-19, I allot an hour for grocery shopping. But now…🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll be lucky if I only stay in line to enter the supermarket for 30 mins, an hour to get what my household needs, and another 30 mins to queue up for the cashier.

The long line to the supermarket that I must endure every week. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

I used to shop at Hi-Top Aurora Blvd in Project 4 because 1) there are so many choices there; 2) they have items on sale every week; 3) they have Monterey meat section; and 4) grocery items are cheaper compared to bigger chains. But because of the pandemic, the lines are now unbearably long there. I am forced to stick to the big chains like Save More which do not give me choices that much and grocery items are more expensive.

This is what my grocery cart looked like in Hi-Top:

This can last us for two weeks and I only had to do a top-up shop the following week for perishables like vegetables and eggs. This was taken before the lockdown at Hi-Top. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

But because my grocery shopping has gotten more expensive as I now do shopping closer to home, my cart now looks like this:

Let’s not forget the uncomfortable masks. Good thing that the masks I made are breathable and snug but my other masks that were bought from tiangges and street vendors are so thick that I may end up with carbon dioxide poisoning.

Now that the Monterey Community Market is open in my village, I can do now my weekly shopping for food in the nearby mini mart, vegetables at the vegetable stand infront of it if I’m not able to go to UPD (the fruit and vegetable stand in the old tennis court) then meat at Monterey. This way I can avoid the long lines at the bigger supermarket chains.

Grocery shopping these days requires more strategizing. Tedious. I want my weekends back.

When uninspired, we go to Pintô Art Museum

Just because. Sometimes we want fresh air. Sometimes we just want to be artsy fartsy.

Pintô (“door” in Tagalog) Art Museum sits on a two-hectare garden in a subdivision in Antipolo, Rizal. I’m sorry, I’m pretty useless when it comes to direction on how to take the public transport to get to the museum.

I’ve always encouraged the girls to appreciate art so when I have the energy, I bring them to museums like this one. The first time I brought them to Pintô was when they were three or four years old. I remember the exhausting moment when Twin A threw a tantrum and Twin B kept coming back to the wire sculpture of the “disappearing man.” They were also scared of the bulol (rice god) displays in the lower gallery

This also captured their eyes

Twins by Marina Cruz. Pintô Art Museum

The museum also has a lot of art installation and sculptures in the garden/outside the galleries. New buildings and gardens have been added in the years that followed after I first brought my girls there. Like this building below, which is reminiscent of an adobe house in Mexico.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com.
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

The nice thing about Pintô, aside from the outdoor spaces, it has a lot of sitting areas. Like the ones below.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Last month when we went there, we were able to visit the newest and biggest gallery, Gallery 7.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

My girl, Twin B, liked the Bamboo Forest art installation.

The first time I visited the Bamboo Forest room, I stayed there for a bit and soaked in the atmosphere. It was strangely peaceful. There were others who appreciated the artificially induced peace by meditating on the benches along the walls.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

This painting struck me down. Because I love leather bags and shoes. 😩

The Mindanao collection is below.

Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com
One of the posts in the gazebo outside the Mindanao gallery. Pintô Art Museum. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday
9 am – 6 pm

Pintô Art Museum
1 Sierra Madre St. Grand Heights Rd,
Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines

T +63 2 697 1015
pintoartmuseum@yahoo.com

Little free diving secret tucked in the middle of the metro

This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on Instagram

My kids had been bugging me about swimming or going to Anilao in the middle of the monsoon season. Harassed mommy went searching online for swimming pools other than in somebody else’s condo or Ace Water Spa (I don’t wanna deal with weekend crowd). It would be perfect if there are diving pools here in the city that are open to the public.

I thank thee, whoever put up Plunge Dive Club in Pasig. We now have a substitute for Anilao (albeit a very poor substitute). We have something to do on a weekend other than going to the mall. For P500 per head, my kids can swim and dive to their hearts’ content all day. And we can bring food too!

This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on Instagram

Bring your own gear (fins and snorkel set) or you can rent from the club. P300 for the snorkel set and fins.

It can be a bit crowded on weekends since survival and dive classes are held there. We just go there during off hours (which I won’t tell you 😏) so that we can enjoy our free diving sessions.

The pool is 4 ft to 16 ft deep. My girls can dive effortlessly up to 8 ft to retrieve the weights I throw at them to practice their free diving skills. I’m still training them to breathe better and equalize ear pressure when they go deep.

And it seems like it’s rare to see 8-year-old children free diving there. People were often gawking at my kids because they beat older swimmers. The lifeguard is entertained by them as well.

I like the place because they let you do your own stuff and not prissy about it. The bathrooms are clean but they are small. They provide lockers with no locks; you have to bring your own padlocks.

Free drinking water is provided via the water cooler that is accessible to everyone. They have tables and monobloc chairs for divers/swimmers where they can eat and rest.

It can dent my weekly budget but going there is better than hanging out in the mall or being glued to iPads on weekends. (Besides, I hate malls). It also burns calories. I just hate driving on a weekend though 😐

Plunge Dive Club is located at The Upper Deck, G/F Ortigas Technopoint Parking Building #1, Doña Julia Vargas Ave, Pasig, Metro Manila