I had lunch and coffee chika with some people in the last 2 days, just keeping in touch so I wouldn’t lose the personal and professional connection. This is what I like about my profession, it’s the connection with people and the knowledge-sharing.

Surprisingly, the traffic was not as bad as last week. Only took me 1 hr and 30 mins or less to get from my place to Makati or BGC and back.

I had my last interview in the morning with an executive from a US company and I have to write that story on the last day of my working day for the year. 😭 My editor from the land of bubblegum pop has one of my stories last night arrested and it seems like it would have to be carried over next week. WTF!

I won’t work next week. Let that story die.

Filipinos are really blessed when it comes to music.

Of course, it goes without saying, Lea Salonga.

Nicole Scherzinger (Filipino American)

And all Filipinos know how to sing. We are in tune.

That’s like almost 100k people singing in unison and not one out of tune moment.

So dear Lord, if I may be reborn in another dimension, please give me the ear of Lea Salonga and the pipes of Ann Wilson.

It’s funny how a few years have changed me. Last night, my friends and I were out of our high school gates by 8 pm. About two years ago I would have gone to the afterparty and drunk myself silly until 2 am. A high school classmate who was with us last night told me this morning at the weekend community market that he was the only one left in our class when we have gone home. 🤣 When the batch one year older than us asked where is the rest of our class, he said, oh the oldies (my friends and I) already went home to sleep. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The truth is, we rushed home because C left her two kids in my house and Twin I was babysitting them. She was worried that the two kids were already burdening my kids. But they were good children so Twin I didn’t have much to do except for making them take a break from playing Minecraft on my kids’ laptops and giving them dinner that I ordered via GrabFood.

Now let me take a nap…

This is what I do everyday, every fucking day… It never ends! I’m tired.

Ah yes, the 1990s. I was there in the thick of it. The music, the clothes, the gadgets or the lack thereof. It was fun. We didn’t need much back then. We had more patience (imagine waiting up for friends at the designated meeting place without cellphones) and were more resourceful.

It was a simpler time but it was also a difficult time as I was wrapped up in so much insecurity.

As I told one of my bffs, I loved my life before but I won’t go back to my teenage years and my 20s. I was a mess then. I love what I have become now as I have come into my own person, beginning when I reached 43 years old. I have mellowed and I learned to love myself.

My friends and I are going to our high school homecoming tomorrow for nostalgia and to see people. But no, we won’t relive what is all in the past.

I finally was able to write my third story for the week yesterday and it was such a relief to have all those interviews out of the way. I still have two more interviews to make into articles and some more interviews in the pipeline, hopefully, these would be scheduled in January. I hate scrounging for stories after the Christmas holidays.

It’s surprising to be ok working until the 19th. Last year I couldn’t wait to be off by the 11th because I was so stressed and exhausted. Dealing with reporters and their productivity issues day in and day out has sucked the life out of me.

This time, I’m just responsible only for myself and that has made a tremendous difference. Because of that, I’m not so ragged by the end of the year.

I just don’t know how long this relative calm will last though.

I drove for a little over four hours on Tuesday to attend a conference. I only stayed for two hours, did two interviews, and I drove back home because I was scared of the rush hours. I may get trapped inside my car again for hours. 🫠

I was so tired that I think I was already asleep before 10 pm. Then on Wednesday I just spent the entire day in bed, sleeping and watching videos. It’s my mind and body trying to recover from the horrors of driving through the Christmas rush.

I have no rational explanation why the volume of cars exponentially grow during this season.

Finally, I was able to write today and be a bit productive. I think I may need to get out and work in a co-working space tomorrow because I may just  sleep again.

Only a few more days…

I live at the foot of a mountain. It’s raining. It’s cold and wet. I just want to curl up in my bed with a book or watch a movie on my tablet.

It’s a holiday today, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

But I have an interview at 3 pm and I chased this CEO for months. 😭 I have a conference tomorrow the entire day. Two weeks of slogging through this festive season. I just need to get past this week…

Yesterday I was alone at home. Twin I was at Festival Mall in Alabang to celebrate her classmate’s/friend’s birthday with their other classmates. Twin A was with another friend and they went to another town to watch a district meet basketball game. I had all the freedom in the world to do crafts.

What used to take me days to finish by hand only took two hours.

In short, we are fucked.