I didn’t schedule any meetings for today (except for that botched interview) so I can finally sit down and write. I wasn’t that successful in finishing one draft but I did edit two stories and managed to email some sources. I have yet to respond to emails with new contacts though. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had been ranting to a colleague about some favoritism within… I just had to rant and then go back to working my butt off. As I promised myself, I would just ignore such things, especially office politics, and just do my job well. I have to upskill (data analytics training) save some more for retirement and move out of the industry. I have a more realistic timetable now of five years, slowly building contacts and network.

One of my bffs and I are planning to open up a business—similar to the one we had before ex-husband fucked it up. Now I can do a full suite of services for corporates once we pull this off. My bff will be in charge of operations and logistics (since she’s already doing it for her clients) and I will be in charge of network/client acquisition. We need to attend trade shows in Singapore, HK, and Shenzhen to get suppliers. Then the other aspect of the business is the PR and comms consultancy. The five years I am giving myself are enough lead time.

By then my kids would be starting college and hopefully in UP so it won’t be painful to my pocket and that will give me more space for risks.

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The interview went well and interviewee was nice. Now I have to sit down and write all my interviews—all CEO interviews.

I lost my extra phone that I’ve been using whenever I go abroad. Along with it was the Starhub SIM that I’ve been keeping alive for quite a while. It was annoying that I had to buy a new SIM card when a top-up of SGD 10 everytime I fly here is sufficient because I get 9GB of data for free when I avail of the one-week validity and it keeps the sim alive longer. I use that number for transactions here in Singapore, like the registration for the SimplyGo app and whatnot.

Anyway, I kept searching for the phone at home, which just lived in my second drawer in my room. It’s unlikely that my kids took it; they aren’t interested in since that’s a very basic phone. I don’t want to put suspicion on my cleaning lady who has all access to all corners of our tiny home. My kids’ friends don’t come near my room. So I don’t know…

The frustrating thing about this lost phone and SIM card brouhaha is that it was difficult to buy a new Starhub prepaid, similar to the one I had. The ones being sold at the airport are too expensive (SGD 50) for a short stay and they’re Singtel. Of course they’re going to push the state-owned brand. I couldn’t have access to the MVNO brands because I’m a foreigner. They had been throttling the access of foreigners to prepaid SIMs that have longer lives to keep text and call scams at bay. What I got is an M1 SIM and it seems like I can only top it up with SGD 7 and keep it alive only for 120 days—and I can’t use the data in the Philippines. And only it’s only the Philippines in Southeast Asia where I can’t use it.

The Singtel tourist SIM isn’t different. A tourist can use the local data allocation in major ASEAN markets except for the Philippines. I noticed that my Starhub wasn’t working in the Philippines for a year or two now. Does it have something to do with the presence of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators?

Aside from human trafficking, these POGO entities are suspected to be behind the text and call scams all over Southeast Asia. They used to be housed in Cambodia only but have proliferated in the Philippines during Duterte’s time. Before Alice Guo’s arrest, Filipinos were inundated with text scams. These slowed down after the ban on these POGOs.

I suspect that they’re also running boiler room-like operations to scam people in other ASEAN markets. Singapore is particularly vulnerable because they have a lot of elderly people who have been scammed of their retirement funds. These criminals are foreigners and use foreign numbers. The call scammers in the Philippines are the same. I tried talking to one of them just for lark and also to get a sense of their accent and how they run their schtick. Then I reported them to my telco.

Meanwhile…

I went inside the Singapore store of one of the contemporary brands I had been patronizing and went out as quickly as I could. The prices are just unbelievable. I can buy the same item from their official website in the US and have it shipped to the Philippines for 20k less. 😑 I already have the item in my cart prior to flying to Singapore. I guess I would have to click the check out button once I come back to Manila. That extra 20k that I would be able to save can be socked into my investment accounts and make my frivolous purchase a win-win situation.

And that, my friends, is very tellling.

Ok, I got to prepare for my conference and dinner interview with a CEO.

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I got stood up.

I was supposed to have the last interview of the day at 7 pm on the other side of the island. Because I was not familiar with the area, I arrived an hour before the appointed time and prepared for the interview. An hour after the supposed meeting time, the interviewee was surprised that the interview was today. Then he realized he made a mistake as he entered the wrong date on his calendar.

I had to graciously accept the apologies and I just rescheduled the interview for tomorrow night. I cannot leave Singapore without this interview because it’s one of my deliverables. Although my harvest during today’s conference was a lot—better than I could hope for—I still need to maximize my working hours here. It will be quite a while before I can come back here, with Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays coming up. We have a company Christmas dinner two weeks from now, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile for me to fly again since all the people I need to talk to here would have flown out of the country by then, taking their own long Christmas breaks.

So yeah, I looked ridiculous in that restaurant in my conference get-up (dress, pearls, and all), looking like a dejected girl who got stood up by her Bumble date.

I was so hungry that I ordered horfun for myself. It was large but it’s ok, I will have it for brunch tomorrow at the office.

First time I got stood up. 😑

Pepito/Man-yi has become a Cat 5 supertyphoon before it landed on Catanduanes. Bicol region, which is still reeling from that bitch Kristine, is bracing for Pepito.

It’s deceptively calm here but chaos is estimated to arrive here in the morning as Pepito crosses Luzon. I decided not to hitch with my sister tomorrow and to go with the original plan of going to the airport on Monday at 1 am. Pepito would have been in Pangasinan by then.

After arriving from Holiday Inn this afternoon, I took a nap in my room. I told my girls to just have dinner at their grandma’s house because I was so tired. I thought it was a nap. I just found myself waking up at 12:30 am.

Now I can’t go back to sleep. 😩

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May this inspire me to start the garden and stop being lazy.

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It was clear by 1 pm that the worst was over. There were gusts of wind blowing here but it was just for an hour and the typhoon made its way up north. Typhoon Pepito landed on Baler, Aurora then got torn apart by Sierra Madre. Hopefully the Cat 5 status was slowed down to spare Central and Northern Luzon. We’re so tired of typhoons. Four strong typhoons back-to-back just this November.

At 10 am I braved the community market because I wanted to buy 750g of fresh yogurt to make lassi. I also bought pita bread and hummus for breakfast.

My girls liked them so much that they ignored the nilagang baboy (stewed pork) I cooked for them. 😑

Typhoon Kristine left us without power for a week. That was so difficult because the nights are muggy right after a typhoon and sleeping without an electric fan is a struggle. So I pulled the trigger and finally bought this Bluetti power station. I chased the 11.11 sale and before Typhoon Pepito arrives within the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

I’ve charged it via AC/power grid but I can charge it via solar panels, which is critical when we have no power for extended periods. It can also do pass though charging, meaning we can use this battery while it is charging—useful when we’re totally off-grid because of typhoons or when we go camping.

Its capacity is 1,000W so that means if I use my Acerpure air circulator, which has a max power consumption of 36W (almost half of the 60W-70W consumption of normal fans we have in the market), my girls can sleep comfortably with the fan running for the entire night. We can still charge our phones and power the modem at the same time.

It also has a mobile app where we can monitor the charging and discharging of the power station.

When the battery got full, I plugged the Acerpure fan to see how much power will be used and how long will the battery power the fan. I slept without aircon last night for this test.

Well, well, well. The battery was still 88% after 9 hrs.

Then I tested the solar panels and charged the battery on my balcony.

The charging was slow because it wasn’t facing the rising sun. So I changed the direction.

Still wasn’t enough. We’re almost near the winter solstice so the sunrise was off, or my balcony was off. The best place to put these PV panels is outside my window, at the fire exit then feed the battery in my room, away from direct sunlight. So far, I’m satisfied with the product and I’m hoping my kids don’t have to use it in my absence.

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And I drove for almost 6 hrs. 😭

Traffic was so horrible because it’s a payday Friday. This is also the day when many have received their Christmas bonuses.

I finally arrived at the party venue. I  left my kids at the mall beside the hotel so they can get busy entertaining themselves.

I didn’t chase sources tonight, I was just there to wear a costume. Because why not? Have fun and be merry.

Typhoon Ofel is going to land on Cagayan tonight but Pepito will be wreaking havoc in Bicol on Sunday, Southern Luzon and Metro Manila by Monday. This is problematic for me because I can’t be driving through a potential Cat 4 or 5 typhoon on Monday at 1 or 2 am. My tickets and hotel bookings are non-refundable and my company is not going to reimburse me for a trip that I haven’t taken.

My sister is flying to Greece on Sunday and she will be driven by my mom’s driver to the airport on Sunday afternoon. I figured it will be better for me to hitch with her and just book Go Hotel along Airport Road so I don’t have to battle my way through a typhoon along SLEX. I need all the sleep I can get because straight from Changi I will be heading to my first meeting of the week at Suntec. Yes, dragging my luggage and all that.

So I pulled the trigger because we will be hit by another typhoon: I finally bought the Bluetti power station with solar panels.

I’m still waiting for the battery to arrive but at least I would be able to test it and teach my girls how to use it and charge it before I leave. My guilt for leaving them while they’re going to be battered by another typhoon would be eased upon knowing they have back up power to sustain them (modem, electric fan, charging stations for cellphones).

Good thing I didn’t stock up on too much meat so in case they go powerless again for days, there will be minimal spoilage.

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Whelp! Southern Tagalog and Metro Manila will be directly hit earlier than expected. It’s right smack in the middle of the Sunday and Monday, according to the latest bulletin by PAGASA.