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.

So I was having a sort of argument with this friend on messenger. She was sharing her thoughts and I was sharing my experience—or so I thought.

She took it differently and told me to shut my trap and not give her unsolicited advice. I said I wasn’t giving any; I was just sharing that after all the bullshit I’ve been through, including my struggle with my daughter and crap at work, I finally found my peace. I said I was explaining to her why she didn’t understand me that time, why I didn’t want to date, and just retreated to where I am now. I told her what I was sharing with her is the edited version because I didn’t want to bother her with my pain because I can see in her IG stories, what she is posting there shows how much she is struggling. “For me to say that I am at peace is like exhaling after all these,” I told her.

I wanted to append, not everything is about you—reminiscent of what I told her when we were 12 years old.

Some things never change.

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I needed some exercise and didn’t want to cook today so I went on foot to shop at the community weekend market, where engineers, professors, small business owners, and some expats cook and sell food of their hometowns/countries. Many of them started as hobbyists and sell their wares/dishes to affirm their hobbies and meet the community. Like the husband and wife duo behind the delicious Ilocos food here, the wife is an engineer on weekdays and chops up bagnet on weekends.

I skipped Singaporean/Malaysian food this time since I will be in Singapore next week so opted for Mexican tacos carnitas for brunch.

I stocked up on my handmade shampoo bars and made my regular purchases of XXL iced macha for my girls and sourdough donuts.

I’m enjoying my sunny Sunday morning outside because bad weather will set in tomorrow.

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I have so many appointments next week that I had to book a hotel stay to save me from driving back and forth. Then the weather goes rogue on me. 🥴

I should brace myself for the coming  floods next week.

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I was late. I just bought some ETF stocks and mutual fund units three days ago because I completely forgot that the US elections was yesterday (technically two days ago). I thought I was able to buy FMETF cheaply at PHP 14.5 per share but because of the shitshow that was yesterday, that price became expensive given that the PSEi was menstruating today. I didn’t have funds to buy more in time because I emptied my COL account three days ago. And because I was so busy this morning with other things, I forgot to transfer additional funds when the market opened and do some bargain hunting. 🤦🏻‍♀️ FMETF dropped to PHP 11.8 apiece.

I was able to transfer money at noon so I can have some retail therapy by bidding for ETF shares at PHP 11.5 because I’m a greedy biatch. But nope, it went back up at PHP 13.0 and now I have stranded funds in my COL account.

But I think the market already digested the Trump victory and the slower-than-expected GDP growth of the Philippines for 3Q24 that was announced today. I guess another interest rate cut by the BSP is in order after the US Fed has done its bit—a market-anticipated rate cut in the coming days. This unlikely will send share prices to reach the lows of today so I lost that narrow window for market correction. 😑

But now with a Trump victory, we don’t know if it’s still wise of the Feds to do the cut.You see, the King of Tariffs, as he calls himself, will cause imported goods to go up, pushing prices back up in the US. But that’s the least of the US and rest of the world’s worries…

War-monger Trump will not hesitate to light the fires in the Middle East, while Ukraine will completely be taken over by Russia given the Ugly Orange One’s ties to the Russians. Prices of wheat and cooking oil (rapeseed, etc) that are sourced from Ukraine will go up once again. Ukraine is the seventh largest exporter of wheat and third largest exporter or rapeseed. It’s also a major producer of corn and barley. The Ukraine invasion posed a lot of problems for Monde Nissin when it had to scramble for alternative sources of raw materials for its products. It resisted price increases because Lucky Me noodles is a staple in more than 90% of Filipino homes, cutting across economic classes. That’s how a Trump geopolitical crisis affects countries.

If the Middle East situation worsens because Trump may light a fuse somewhere there, oil prices will again shoot up, hitting net oil importers like the Philippines.

China is also a collateral damage. The world’s second-largest economy is suffering from a protracted economic downturn since its draconian handling of Covid. It hasn’t also recovered from the real estate crisis. A fresh round of economic trade embargos by the US will send its economy hurtling down. Those that have depended on China for exports of commodities (I’m looking at you, Southeast Asia) and durable goods will get hurt.

The situation in the West Philippine Sea and across Taiwan Strait will become more volatile and a real war could erupt under perfect chaotic conditions. Throw Kim Jong-il into the mix—et voila!

One thing is clear: Those who thought or hoped the first Trump term was an aberration were wrong. Overnight, America looks like a different kind of superpower: more isolationist and less predictable. The stakes, from the Middle East and Ukraine to global trade and climate change, could not be higher.

The New York Times