Category Archives: living in Metro Manila

Slogging through the heat

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It’s so freaking hot today and there’s no incentive for me to go out of my airconditioned room.

Rose tea. For my mental health. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The flower teas I ordered online finally arrived this morning. They’re fragrant and calming to drink even though they needed to be consumed hot. So I started the day with a pot of rose tea and then I had back to back calls. And back to back stories.

Brunch? I no longer remember. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I can’t remember when I had my first meal because I was jumping from one task to another. Half cup of rice, some slivers of bacon, egg and sauteed kangkong. It’s kangkong all the way down because my digestive system needs fiber.

I had lunch at around 3 pm. I can’t remember if I had dinner. Did I? Was too busy messaging people all at the same time that I lost track of who am I talking to about what. Sometimes, I’m in danger of typing in the wrong chatbox about something another person shouldn’t know about. Like the chatboxes of my sources on WhatsApp are dangerously close to each other. This kind of mistake is fatal, which happened to me when I mixed up my brother with J a month ago or so on FB Messenger. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I was surprised that that the day was already gone when I finished uploading my story at past 5 pm. My brain was also shutting down so I gave up any pretense of sending emails and trying to network with people.

This curtain in progress is mine, hooman. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My obnoxious cat, Sushi, couldn’t care less about her human’s frenetic day. She would sit on anything that I am working on, including this curtain that I’m finishing. She slept on it, crumpling it further.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment and parking at my dentist is next to zero. So Grab it is. But just the thought of waiting for my ride is enough to make me wilt. Climate change is real, people. I don’t remember being this hot when I was growing up. I never heard of anyone dying of heatstroke when I was a kid and we were always outside in the grassland with my friends everyday, all summer vacation. I was so brown for playing outside all day. These days, I couldn’t even stand being in my old room in my mom’s house because it was like burning in hell. It didn’t have AC because it has always been cool there. Not anymore. Everyone now convenes in my mom’s side of the house (in her self-contained unit/studio) where she has a 2.5 hp split-type AC. I never bothered to have my old room fitted with AC because I don’t live there anymore. I haven’t even slept in there the last two years.

My cats are now convening in my room because it’s cool here.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Weekends are for chores

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If you’re a solo parent, weekends are made for chores and the thousand and one things that you should have done during the week but you were too busy to even have lunch on time.

Hotpot. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

So I finally got a few moments to cook and was able to do hotpot with beef strips, fish cake, fish tofu, and the last of the veggies in my fridge. It was so good; I missed having hotpot on weekends.

I went back to my old way of shopping for groceries. When we were in the old house, I used to do a fortnightly big shop at Hi-Top because it takes me at least an hour to finish shopping and it’s so tedious to keep doing this every weekend. Then I just top up in between by shopping for fresh produce at the wet market nearby so I just took the tricycle.

But since we moved to this apartment, I did my shopping weekly because two supermarkets are just walking distance from me. Plus I was feeding an army. Now that J is no longer here, I don’t need to shop for 10 boxes of milk, at least 2 dozens of eggs, etc every week. So now I just started doing one big shop every two weeks and just supplement it by buying fresh veggies from the vendors near UP every week. I want to have a chest freezer so I can stock up on a lot of meat and fish and cut down my trip to the supermarket or meat shop. The small size of my freezer is the reason why I always need to shop frequently. However, my apartment is small and I don’t know where I could fit a 4 cu ft of chest freezer or even a 3 cu ft one.

I realized that my grocery bill is cheaper at Puregold compared to Save More and Robinsons for the same amount of stuff I buy in all three supermarkets. They also carry more brands. The parking area, however, is very limited that I have to go shopping during odd hours.

After shopping tonight, I had the bike of one of my girls fixed because daughter A had her wheel punctured by a nail when they were biking at grandma’s.

At the vulcanizing shop. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Since it’s already GCQ, I think I can bring the girls (this time only one girl since the twin is still at grandma’s) to bike around. We need more exercise and time away from screens.

My other children are back to their obnoxious selves. Their square shaved parts (where they had their surgery) are still hairless, though.

My kittykats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Today, in a series of screencaps

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Let’s start by saying, yes, we still don’t have Internet and Globe doesn’t have any plans of fixing it.

After inundating their Facebook bot with my complaints several times a day.

So of course, there’s no phone call or whatever feedback after four hours. I’m not actress Liza Soberano, who would just complain about her Internet connection on Twitter, the telcos would come to the rescue within the day.

Yesterday the Secretary of Foreign Affairs tweeted a series of profanity-laden outbursts vs China. Which is highly suspect because this is the same guy who let Filipino fishers drown when they were sabotaged by Chinese intruders in our own seas, saying stupid things to appease the Chinese overlords. Thank God for the Vietnamese fishermen who rescued the Pinoy fishermen.

This really goes to show there is an orchestrated scripted anti-China rhetoric to appease the military that is ready to stage a coup d’etat against Duterte. I want Duterte out but I don’t want us to be the next Myanmar.

Wheeeee! Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I decided to ride the bike tomorrow and skip it today since my brain was already fried by 5 pm. So to help me sleep well tonight, I took out one bottle of vodka for a nightcap. But here I am still alive and blogging.

And yes, alcohol ban is lifted in my city. Hurrah!

Back to regular programming

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My friends from my former TV network interviewed me and my kids about some kid-friendly topic yesterday. It will be online next week and it was a fun interview, with my cats in the background making a ruckus like climbing on my chair’s headrest and clawing their way up the curtains that were still holding up despite the abuse. So yeah, my cats are already fine and back to regular programming.

My naughty Kimichi evading me. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

After that, the Internet went out. Good thing we were going to my hometown so I won’t have to deal with it yet.

Checking roadworthiness of wheels. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

As last preventive maintenance check, I went to a vulcanizing shop to have my wheels inspected why they’re letting out air. The rims needed grease to seal the rubber around it. Good thing I did that or else I would running on the South Luzon Expressway with a flat tire. So we traveled around less than 2 hrs and when we arrived at my mom’s house, they immediately rode their bikes after I have unfolded them.

Meanwhile, I brought my mom to a thrift store near us to buy a grill and some saucers, just to get her out of the house. Then fixed their router and modem. My kids are loving their time with their cousins. By the way, they’re all boys.

I got home before 8 pm. Still no Internet.

It’s already morning, still no damned Internet and I’ve been speaking to bots on Twitter and FB Messenger to get me a technician to visit our site. This is what you get when your service provider doesn’t prioritize customer service–you get relegated to bots.

WtF, right?

The miracle of the five loaves and two fish

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68 kg of rice. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Kgs and kgs of rice and other goods to share. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The Maginhawa Community Pantry reopened today and there’s a very long queue. I arrived late in the afternoon because I was swamped with work. However, I managed to somehow get away and buy 68kg of rice divided into 2kg packs. Then I checked the supply the organizers have to see which is abundant and which items must be replenished. I will come back after wrapping up work for the week.

The littlest of people, those who have next to nothing have the biggest heart. I’ve been reading and hearing about the generosity of Filipinos and it warms me and pains me at the same time. Prepandemic there are a lot of hungry people neglected by society and government. This pandemic created more of them.

Meanwhile, I am proud of my daughters. They’re good kids. They prodded me to take PHP 500 from their birthday money to spend on surgical masks to donate. I told them to keep the money and I will do the donation. They said, no Mommy. We still have money. We want to help.

I think because they have been aware of what I keep on doing while they were growing up. When they see their parent helping those who are in need regardless my emotional state and financial status, they pick it up. When they see me feeding homeless cats, they develop sympathy and then empathy. One night I called one of my girls to come out of the house with our plastic container of cat food and water for a kittykat near my bank. She was meowing loudly by the lamppost. I drove by our gate, picked up the food and water and drove back to the kittykat. After making sure she is fine (she was being looked after by the homeless man nearby), I went back home and tell the story to the girls.

Kindness to all humans and animals must be taught from the very beginning. No ifs and buts. I also emphasize to my girls that they should be polite to everybody, regardless of age and economic status, hence the constant use of “po” and “opo”. I always correct their manner of speaking.

Kindness and respect, generosity and empathy for all are basic things I’m teaching my girls. It will guide them all throughout their lives.

Prepare, for the end is near

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Pulse oximeter. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My pulse oximeter has finally arrived. I should make a Covid pack to prepare for home care just in case somebody gets infected and needs isolation. I should be getting the disposable and washable PPEs next.

I’m praying that I wouldn’t need all those things ever.

The situation is not easing up. Everyday my social media feeds are filled with people who express sorrow over a relative or a friend’s death because of COVID-19. Everyday. I’m getting tired and frustrated of saying condolence everyday.

My mom finally got her vaccine shot but I won’t feel at ease until she gets the second dose since protection comes seven days after the second shot. My second dose is scheduled on May 9. Seven days after that I would be confident of taking care of anybody who needs to be nursed back to health.

Meanwhile, one of my cats is in heat again. 🤦🏻‍♀️ After 3 weeks. I only had 3 hours of sleep because of her. She’s soooooooooo noisy doing her mating calls and rubbing herself all over, knocking down stuff. I finally rebooked their spaying, which was originally scheduled after Christmas. I wasn’t able to bring them to PAWS on their appointed date because I was still dead during those days 💔. Hopefully things will go well with their surgeries on the 28th. 🐈🐈