Category Archives: living in Metro Manila

EXHAUSTING

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Why Philippines? Why are you just accepting this? Why are you condoning the Marcoses’ and the Dutertes’ excesses and you let yourself suffer like this? Why??? My heart bleeds. I think I will die heartbroken because you let yourself be enslaved by your stupidity.

It’s really exhausting if I absorb everything that I see and read. I know it’s such a privilege to turn my head away and pretend these things don’t happen. But sometimes doing so is necessary for my mental health, especially today when I read that a former Supreme Court justice who is now the new Executive Secretary defending Marcos’ wastage of public funds (bringing along bloggers and other hangers on) to watch F1 in Singapore. I want to remind Mr. Bersamin that there is a law that prohibits government officials from using public funds or whatever from doing such thing/s. Singapore has been holding F1 for so many years but no sitting Philippine president has accepted the invitation of the Singapore government because 1) they know the law; 2) it is blasphemy to waste public funds (or even private money because the public perception is bad) on such frivolous things when the country has just emerged from a natural calamity and the citizens could barely eat , with the latest inflation rate is at 6.9%.

Oh yes, we’re back to Marcos-era macroeconomic situation = stagnant growth, high inflation (called stagflation), weak currency, and FDIs are disappearing.

I’m angry but I’m tired of being angry. Maybe living in my hometown will help me tame my anger. Maybe the trees and absence of air pollution will calm my very busy mind. Maybe regular cycling around my hometown and nearby towns would help ease the tension I often harbor because I get affected by macro and micro news, about things that I have no control over. More frequent visits to the sea to dive or Lake Caliraya to camp will remind me of the little things that make living here worthwhile.

I no longer know how to use my platform, my pen (keyboard) to help change the situation. They’re killing journalists like me and they will continue doing that. They have already killed ABS-CBN. Now they’re silencing individual media workers.

I don’t know how long I can take this with my sanity intact.

Let me just do my indoor exercises first so I can ruminate. Maybe my pent-up fury can be expended by dumb bell lifts.

I still have a long way to go. Long, long way to go.

Bracing for super typhoon

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Cooked this from scratch before we lose power tonight. Then we will resort to time-saving, ready to cook marinated stuff I bought from Monterey today when shit hits the fan.

Meatballs in gravy. Secret ingredient: lots of nutmeg. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Apprently, I haven’t been reading the weather maps well. Typhoon Karding hasn’t made landfall yet.

PAGASA and JWC had upgraded Typhoon Karding into a super typhoon after it crossed the Philippine Sea—notorious for its warm waters—that fueled its strength before landfall. It is yet to cross Metro Manila now at 2 pm but the periphery of the typhoon is already felt with the deceptively calm rain we are experiencing now.

If Signal #4 is already raised here, then Karding is about as strong as Typhoon Glenda or Milenyo, two typhoons that knocked out power in Metro Manila for at least a week. Milenyo was in 2006 when I experienced walking from the Department of Finance to my newspaper’s office because there were no public utility vehicles. There was no power anywhere and as a reporter, I still needed to file my stories whatever the circumstances. The bigger the catastrophe, the more we must work and be on the ground.

Then the unlearned still brand us as paid hacks and useless 😑

Glenda was in 2014, when the girls were still babies. That was challenging. Right after Glenda passed, Metro Manila was freaking hot and humid—a guarantee that would send babies crying at night because it was so uncomfortable. We had to go to Araneta Center to charge our gadgets, in my case my laptop, and have some air-conditioning. Power was out for more than a week and I still had to file stories.

Twin I helping me shop for supplies. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Twin I and I went out for our supplies run before Typhoon Karding hits us. Right now it is taking its time ravaging Quezon Province. 😔

Back to making curtains. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’ve also brought out my hobbies that won’t require power, like sewing curtains and sketching/painting.

I’m writing about these things so when I’m already gone, my girls will know what to do upon reading blog entries such as this.

Also posting this link to an IG reel that hit me hard. This is for my girls as well. If they feel like they are being treated like a human appliance, they should pack up and leave. They shouldn’t sink to my level; I who groveled at the feet of men who treated me badly.

So my children, if you’re reading this now that I’ve gone to the great beyond, then remember this: be always prepared before a calamity. It doesn’t hurt to be extra vigilant. If the typhoon passes without destroying Metro Manila, it’s good. Do not treat your prep work as wasted effort.

Second point: do not stay in a relationship because you are expected to. Once your partner treats you like a maid or human appliance, LEAVE! You don’t deserve to be treated like that.

That’s why I think I will end up as a cat lady. It’s only my cats who love me like this. Sushi slept on my pillows all day. We slept together this afternoon and this evening she’s at the foot of my bed, still sleeping. She doesn’t let me out of her sight. ❤️

Back in the urban jungle

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Ah EDSA, how I hate thee. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I left my hometown at 9:30 am today. It took me only 1 hour and 10 mins (~61 km) to reach Grand Hyatt in BGC. The funny thing here is it took me 30 mins (16km) from BGC to reach my apartment 🤨 That’s how much of a time waster traveling around Metro Manila is.

Before I left this morning, I debated whether I should walk around the university campus or just hit the treadmill. Treadmill won because I brought an extra sport shirt by mistake since I thought it was my exercise pants. Can’t walk comfortably in jeans since I would be sweating profusely. So treadmill it is.

Before leaving, I checked the construction site and talked to my contractor since I decided to change the plan and I want to move the TV wall near my bedroom door because it makes more sense. The dining table (I will bring my existing one and eventually buy a round tulip table which looks and feels better in a small space) will be placed in the middle of it all, near the original TV wall. So my dining area will have my art gallery wall as backdrop.

More cement and sand.
Future bedroom. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This 10 sqm room will be my future room and everything here will be demolished, except for the wooden floor. The windows will be changed and this will become a fire exit as well so it has to be bigger and I will have a balcony outside as that will serve as the fire exit platform. I will have a million power outlets.

I told him that the interior paint will just be semi-glossy white since I will be hanging a lot of art and the walls’ clinical look will be broken by my printed curtains. Since I know how to sew curtains. I can change the look of my interiors by sewing lots of curtains.

Maybe the next time I visit this, probably next weekend (not this coming weekend) the bathroom walls and the kitchen counters will be up.

I’m scared and yet excited.

Twins

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Sushi is hiding from the twins. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My cats, aside from wanting to be with me, go to my room during the day to escape my Demolition Twins. Here we have Sushi hiding behind my curtains. She wants to be with me but invisible to the human twins.

Why?

Because this is what they do to the cats.

Look at Kimchi’s face. 🤣 Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Kimchi’s taray look. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This afternoon I attempted to finish my car registration at LTO @20th Avenue in Cubao. Ehhhhhhhhh…they started dismantling the office because they’re transferring to a new building. Ergo, I will be delayed by another day. So I went to LTO Ali Mall in Araneta Center and it turns out it’s only for drivers license renewal. 😫

Damn it.

It was already past 5 pm so there’s no point in going to LTO at P. Tuazon Ave or at LTO main along East Ave. I have to go to the main office tomorrow to get this over and done with.

To make my parking fee at the mall worth it, I decided to buy some stuff that I always forget to buy, like a new desktop mirror. This is my third mirror and the first two were broken by my cats. 🐈 Talk about having a Demolition Twins 2.0

Only PHP 189, a lot cheaper than the Ikea mirror that Sushi tipped over and cracked. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Speaking of twins, we are now having twin typhoons—and one is a super typhoon. Look at that clear eye in the middle that is fast approaching southern Japan. The more pronounced the eye is, the stronger the typhoon.

Both Tropical Depression Gardo and Super Typhoon Hinnamnor, which would be named Henry when it enters the Philippine Area of Responsibility, are unlikely to make landfall. Rappler.com

Although these may not make landfall in the Philippines, the two weather disturbances may pull each other and cause a lot of heavy rainfall as they could draw the monsoon rains from southwest towards northeast (the swirls are an indication of that). Diving could be dangerous as the currents would become stronger and more unpredictable.

Heavy rainfall is something that should be taken seriously in the Philippines, as proven by Tropical Storm Ondoy (Typhoon Ketsana) in 2009 that wreaked havoc in Metro Manila. Ketsana wasn’t even a typhoon; it was just a tropical storm based on the wind velocity. However, the amount of rainfall was unprecedented. Ondoy dumped a month’s worth of rainfall in just six hours hours (455 mm of rain within 24 hours = several months’ worth of rainfall). I remember I was about to go to my hometown that day but after reaching the subdivision gate, the floodwaters were already half my car tire. I quickly turned back. Good thing I did because a lot of people were caught off-guard by the sudden rise in floodwaters. It was a Saturday and countless people were stuck in their cars on the road. Katipunan Ave was completely submerged as Marikina River burst its banks. One reporter told me she was driving back home when she got stuck on the road because her home in Manila was like Waterworld. She spent 24 hrs in her car, I think.

So we were stranded in Cainta for days as the water reached neck-deep in our subdivision while in some parts of Cainta the water level was way above our heads. Marikina was underwater.

We tried getting out of Cainta through some back channels that were a bit dry but first we needed to push my car through the floodwaters in the subdivision. I needed to get to work because my boss shouldn’t be manning the desk alone (I was already an assistant business editor then). Because when disaster strikes, we journalists cannot NOT work.

We spent about two (or three?) weeks in my sister’s condo in Mandaluyong before the flood in Cainta subsided.

Several months after Ondoy, I still had emergency provisions in my car trunk like rain boots, food, extra clothes, flash light, emergency lamp, etc. The following year, we transferred to Quezon City and we made sure the place is never flooded. Every time it rained heavily, my anxiety levels go through the roof. This is why I always check NOAA Western Pacific satellite images to predict the weather and plan my activities accordingly. Blame Ondoy.

Back to chaos

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Dinner before coming back to QC. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Katsu curry. Not happy with this but this is the restaurant nearest my mom’s place. I can do a better version of this. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We decided to have dinner outside before driving back to QC. After the chaos in Metro Manila roads today, I was surprised that it only took me 1.5 hrs to drive from my hometown to our apartment.

My cats were frantically meowing at us by the door when we arrived. It was like Kimchi was scolding us for being away too long. I gave the kitties their treats and I unpacked my stuff in my room with them. They didn’t want me out of their sight.

My Shopee buys also greeted me by the door 😂

Perfect fit! Now my cats can no longer shed on my piano. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My mom also gave me a beautiful Yakan weave table runner that can double as a piano cover. It was a gift to her but she said she doesn’t have any use for it so she passed it down to me.

Zamboanga: Yakan people and their weaving

A good friend of mine from my former TV network told me not to use this as a piano cover because my cats would luuuuuuuuurve to get their claws on it. He estimated that this would cost PHP 6,000- PHP 8,000 given the intricate design. He was in Zamboanga covering Leni Robredo’s campaign and while he was there, he bought a Yakan weave but the cheaper ones.

OK, I will just have it framed.

I’ve been gifted a couple of times with ethnic woven fabrics like this but I used them as piano covers, which I shouldn’t have. Over time these table runners/wall hangers get destroyed, especially now that I have cats.

Malong from Zamboanga. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

As I have blogged here before, I was given by my undergrad college a malong from Zamboanga for being their guest speaker earlier this month. Now this feels richer/silkier compared to my Davao malongs so I won’t use this as a beach cover/mat. Because this made of better cloth than my Davao malongs, I can fold this smaller and stash this in my carry-on bag when I travel.

Oh well, back to the usual chaos of Metro Manila. I will need to bring the car tomorrow to the autoshop for the final buffing and polishing.

Better quality of life for less

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This is exactly why we’re moving out of Metro Manila. This carmageddon will never end.

I am currently working now in my future bedroom, my laptop propped on a portable table. I have sketched a new layout for my flat and added the measurements of the Pax cabinets I will be ordering from Ikea for my wardrobe. I hear the wind agitating the trees, amid the relatively peaceful environment, and it makes these photos above more horrifying for me.

I will be driving through this Bedlam tonight.

This morning I walked under a drizzle to buy beef at a much cheaper price compared to those sold in supermarkets in Manila because 1) the cow that was butchered was under the university R&D and extension office i.e. it is not meant for commercial sale (she just happened to have an accident, like a broken leg so she had to be culled); 2) it was a milking cow (hybrid Holstein), part of the cattle that the university keeps under the Institute of Animal Science to produce dairy products under its extension program.

My father used to have his office here for many years. This building is only one of the few that remained intact after World War 2. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
At least 2 kg of high quality beef inside this cooler. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My lovely view while waiting for my beef. Mount Makiling is obscured by rain clouds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Walking back home, I saw this vegan and vegetarian restaurant next to the football field. This used to be an artillery building during World War 2 so it’s built like a bunker. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I rested for a bit so I can savor the feeling of being in the football field where I spent endless hours playing the sport that I once loved so much. It’s so peaceful. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So sweaty. With Baker Hall in the background. Behind me is the one-storey building where I buy our fresh milk bottles and yogourt everyday since Friday. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Carabao’s milk. Yum. I didn’t buy mozzarella cheese because…I’m still thinking about our menu for the rest of the week. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Breakfast for today. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

After expending 160 kcal from my early morning walk, I gained it back by having breakfast. LOL.

I started the day early and worked in a better mood than usual. Monday.

I’m romanticizing life here now because I’m not yet living here again full-time. But so far my stress and anger from last week had ebbed and my early morning walks helped a lot in regulating my mood.

To be continued…