When will this end?

They have already multiplied, as of the latest story I read. Soon we will be overwhelmed again by Delta and God knows how long the lockdowns will be again. Indonesia and Thailand are overrun now by this variant. Our inoculation rate is low and we have run out of vaccines here in Metro Manila.

I’m tired.

Saturday bento. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I only got out of my room to make bento. Then I slept the day away. I think I’m sick or hormones are out of whack again (hello premenstrual syndrome!) and I’m aching all over. I promised the girls we would be riding our bikes in an hour but I’m sooooo 🤒

Kimchi lying on top my laptop. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My cats are driving me nuts. They meow like they’re dying if they get shut out of my room. Then they do the zoomies around my small room while I try to sleep. They follow me to the bathroom. They sit or lay on my table when I work. Or underneath my table. On my chair. On my chair’s headrest while I work.

I should buy cat leashes so we can take them for walks so that they can expend more energy instead of zooming all over the apartment.


Today marks the 7th month since I died. Or the old me died.

It is hard.

Climbing out of that dark pit of grief, anger, and self-pity is soul-crushing during a pandemic. You are left with your thoughts for days on end. You can’t see you friends or distract yourself by traveling or just going about your normal business such as working at Makati CBD.

Oh they said, “You’re still young, you can find someone else.”

The thing is I don’t think I can trust someone again. I don’t think I can go all through that pain again.

I have children, you see. No one would love and accept them except for me, as proven by this experience. I don’t want them to experience the kind of rejection that I experienced from J. I didn’t tell them that J didn’t like them that’s why he left, among other issues. He left when they were in my hometown with my mom. When they came back, Tito J was already gone. No goodbye whatsoever. He left like a thief in the night, like a typhoon that passed us by.

Those 7 months were hard. As I said here before, those were the hardest months I had since my dad died. I tried my darned best to keep my head above water because I had two human beings depending on me for survival so I had to survive too. I needed to save myself before I could save others.

I’m better now. I’m a bit proud of myself for not making an ass of myself infront of him during my darkest hours. Of not asking him to change his mind and come back. Of groveling at his feet.

But the grief is there, it never goes away. I just have to be a bigger person so that ball of grief won’t hit my inner walls that often.

Seven months. Back then I didn’t even know how I would survive the month. My only goal then was to survive the day. Take it one day at a time. I couldn’t picture myself in seven months but here I am, frayed but still intact. Still finding my way out, trying to find myself. Still figuring out what’s the best way forward.

But maybe this is the way forward. I don’t know. I mean, I have a general idea of what I want but the details are not clear. I had been with my current company for seven years, the longest I had been with any employer. I am feeling the seven-year itch but I’m not sure if this is the best time to jump given the difficult economic circumstances. But my doors are open and I’m already looking around. If the right opportunity and timing is right, it will land on my lap. As God has always done.

Back again

National Science Complex. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I was writing this piece that has been in writing purgatory for weeks… and glanced at the watch above my speaker that said it was already 4:00 pm but I still haven’t had lunch.

Then daughter asked if we could go biking. I glanced at my flabby tummy and as much as I want to lie down and rest my exploding head, I acquiesced that I needed the exercise.

By past 5 pm we were already on our saddles. We first cycled our way through almost all the streets in our village. By 6 pm-ish (I think), we biked our way into UP through one of the side gates and went to the National Science Complex.

Taking a water break. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I missed this place. There’s still this twitch inside my gut, somewhere deep down, as this place holds bittersweet memories. But I’m better now, I think. For now. When we stopped by the benches, I took in the view and I felt… I don’t know, probably a mix of nostalgia and wistfulness. There’s a perfect word that embodies those feelings but it escapes me now.

I’ve come to love this place since it’s secluded and peaceful. And it’s where we found our kitties.

Free to run. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

There was also a family there with little kids with their bikes but that was it. We had the place to ourselves. I laid on one of the concrete benches there and stared at the sky that was already turning orange grey. I listened to the chirping birds flitting from one branch to another. Then the cicadas took over, signalling to us that we should be heading back home.

We had a good exercise; we got home at 7 pm. ✅ calories burned ✅ fresh air ✅ a way to get out of the house without having to be near another human being.

We’re going back there on weekend and we may bring snacks and we’ll see if we can lay down on the grass or the benches and stare up at the clear sky.

Because Saturdays

Because Saturdays are for bento and leftovers. Clockwise: leftover Century tuna recycled into sauteed tuna salad, thin scrambled eggs sliced into noodle strips, blanched salted spinach with sesame oil and seeds, and seasoned rice with dried seaweed. Dividers are dried seaweed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Soybean paste soup with rehydrated kelp, soft tofu, enoki mushrooms. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We didn’t go out today because I tried fixing and cleaning my six-year-old LG refrigerator. And it took all my energy and it knocked me out by 2:30 pm. It was leaking again so I guess one of the drain tubes got clogged again, same as last year. I tried contacting the repairman but he never responded. So I took matters into my own hands and tried to do what that guy told me to do when this happens again.

As of this hour it hasn’t leaked yet so yey for that. If my fix didn’t address the issue in the coming days, then I guess I have to make that trip to Anson’s in Cash and Carry Makati and buy that Hitachi fridge. If not the Panasonic one.

I need a bigger freezer since we make fridge cakes and ice cream at home.

I read in an FB group about money saving hacks that you can go to Anson’s in Cash and Carry to haggle the sticker price if you pay cash and if you ask nicely ( for a manager’s discount). I know enterprises need to push out inventory as fast as they could and if inventory doesn’t move in xx days/months, they’re losing money. The brands I’m going for are not as popular as Condura/Samsung/LG so I can try my luck. If I can bring it down by PHP 5,000 then I’m good.

Meanwhile, I also need to visit a paint center and check if I can match the color of my closets, which is close to between light blue and Tiffany Blue. Because cats. I patched the scratches with filler but that means I need to cover the wood-colored filler with paint. If I can’t match it, then I would have to sand everything, put a primer, and paint it with teal or light blue.

I’m keeping myself busy so I don’t live inside my head. It’s the most dangerous thing for me these days. If a raw nerve gets plucked, just like last week, it results into basura days.


The IATF has now allowed children above 5 years old to go outdoors but not in malls, restaurants, or any enclosed space. Which is the right thing to do because Indonesia is suffering the consequences of their lax rules.

We still can’t go back to Anilao because the danger of Taal Volcano spewing ash all over the province is high and it could happen any time. We’re waiting for the big one again, just like in January last year. Resorts in Anilao and elsewhere in Batangas had shut down. Right now we’re in Alert No. 3, some communities have already been evacuated.

I’m racking my brain with things that we can do so we don’t go stir crazy and the kids won’t be glued to their computers all the time. Camping is a bit iffy these days given the monsoon rains.

Demolition Twins 2.0

My cats have destroyed my closet because it’s their choice furniture/infrastructure for sharpening their claws. I bought a pint of wood filler to remedy the situation and then I let it dry/rest before I sandpaper it. Then paint.

I had a quick trip to Tiendesitas for a month’s worth of cat supplies and it yielded me this lovely contraption:

Scratching post for PhP 480. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Because scratch pads don’t cut it anymore.

I’m sleeping early tonight as I have an early morning interview at ⌚ 7 am Manila Time/4 pm US Pacific Standard Time. 😢

The world according to my cats

When I’m in my room, they meow to death and they let themselves in to be with mommy. How? I was able to video it recently.

My girls have this bad habit of not closing my bedroom door properly. J called them longtail because of this. So anyway, my cats take advantage of this and are able to push their paws/body against the door to open it.

My househelp told me that when I’m away, my cats wait for me by the window near the front door of the apartment. Sometimes majority of the day they wait for me there. And when I come home, they meow like crazy like I haven’t fed them for a week. Or scolding me for being away too long.

It’s cute. They’re like obnoxious dogs.

I am the only world that they have known. Except maybe for the short time they were with their birth mom cat and that traumatic time in the storm drain. This knowledge keeps me from being away for too long.

I wonder if I can bring them with me when we go camping 🤔

I plan to camp again in Mt. Purro Nature Reserve high up in Sierra Madre that is still part of Antipolo. J and I went there once with the girls to swim. There are cottages but there’s a camping site there and we can hike and go river trekking.

No, can not bring cats.

Where do broken hearts go?

To Lake Caliraya. To camp. And bike. And ride the jetski.

First thing we did after paying was to pitch the tent. The last time I did this was 21 years ago, when my friends and I climbed and camped in Mt. Maculot in Batangas.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I brought my Korean portable stove to cook rice. And the grill for tomorrow’s breakfast. But for today’s lunch, it’s grilled chicken that I cooked at the grilling station.

My mom cooking rice. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Chicken inasal. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Of course my mom is not roughing it out. She rented a cabin, a tiny house made of container van.

PHP 4,000 a night. There’s a deck on top and a private bathroom. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We’re camping while my mom still has her creature comforts. Win-win. Good that I was able to bring her out of the house after a long house arrest.

And we were able to bike around. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Me, biking to the nearest sari-sari store to buy ice for our cooler. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Relishing the moment the girls are biking. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
And this is us now before going to bed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This would have been a good camping experience for the girls if not for the freakingly annoying campers who brought six huge concert speakers, their mixing tables and DJ equipment and had basically boom boomed the day and night away. 🤬

You can check out Kaliraya Surf Kamp and rates and amenities are here.