It must be the confinement, the crappy feeling I have because of the booster shot, or maybe I had a dream that I no longer remember now that triggered that melancholic feeling I had earlier today.
I suddenly missed him.
I tried quelling that feeling the entire morning so I just stayed in bed, answering emails on my phone. Took a nap just to get rid of the feeling or else I would be bogged down the entire day when I have deadlines.
Well, I lost half a day. I promise to be better tomorrow. This confinement is not good for my healing.
Thank God for cats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I want to have a dog again. Once we transfer to my hometown, I’m gonna get me a rescue dog.
I received this from my Zennya app two days ago. This is how terrible the situation is right now. The DOH reported 33k new cases today, and this does not include those who just used antigen tests and those who chose not to test at all because of the lack of test kits or testing labs still operating at capacity. My nephew tested positive for Covid via antigen test after exhibiting symptoms (he’s still unvaccinated because vaccination for kids 5-11 years old have not started yet). He has fever, colds, cough, vomiting, headaches…Of course my mom’s entire household may be infected too, it’s just that they’ve already had their booster shots so the symptoms are not that bad or no symptoms at all. They need to isolate again for 10 days.
My sister says she suspects that the carrier is their bi-weekly cleaner who refuses to be vaccinated.
One of my high school classmates who’s a nurse said there is an unusual surge of people now wanting to be vaccinated. I told him, who wouldn’t want to be vaccinated in this situation?
Even though there’s no strict lockdown now, people are just too afraid to go out. Yesterday only a few like me dared to go out because of vaccination. A reporter posted on Facebook that she was the only customer in a restaurant in Greenbelt today. Greenbelt is deserted.
Meanwhile, Comelec’s database was hacked again ahead of the national elections. The hack in 2016 was the biggest data breach, topping that of Turkey, that same month.
A Manila Bulletin piece said that hackers were able to enter the Comelec’s system and downloaded 60 gigabytes’ worth of files that include usernames and PINS of vote-counting machines, which will be used for the 2022 polls. #PHVote#WeDecide
Comelec is denying Manila Bulletin’s story but I’d rather believe Art Samaniego (who broke the story about BDO Unibank’s security breach that led to funds of 700 depositors being siphoned off) than a government agency that has been told by the National Privacy Commission that it is guilty of violating the Data Privacy Act for the 2016 hacking incident.
To help me balance these WTF news, I just turn to my cats. They’re my stress relievers. They’re so lovely to squish.
Kimchi is a cow. I need to exercise her. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Our laser pointer got broken. I need to buy a new one to exercise the cats.
I still feel like crap today because of the after effects of the booster shot but I had back to back calls today. No rest for the weary. My head was pounding and I felt feverish at times so I had to lie down in between calls. Finally at around 4 pm I took a nap and woke up at 5 pm and I no longer felt uploading one story on our CMS.
My boss told me our global head is going to call me in the coming weeks regarding my promotion and the alternative to moving to Singapore. I am adamant that I will not move to Singapore.
Look, if these companies in Forbes’ list can grant remote working, why can’t my company too? I mean there is little reason for them to plant me there when all the admin stuff is already concentrated in London. Client meetings and such can be scheduled when I fly in there.
It was different when J was still here. I would have worked my way into transferring to Singapore if he chose to do so for his career. But things are different now.
Drive through vaccination. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I saw on Instagram this noon that you can just “walk in” or rather drive through for a booster shot at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Pasay City and they’re giving Moderna. I quickly took a shower and got dressed, hoping that I could make it because they’re offering it only until 3 pm.
It was 20 km away from my apartment but it only took me 30 mins to reach DFA via Skyway 3. It’s ok if I had to pay PhP 400+ for roundtrip toll as long as I’m done with this booster business ASAP.
My arm now feels heavy. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I had to wait for 30 mins after receiving the vaccine for any allergic reaction (my histamine went haywire twice when I got Sinovac before) but so far I had no no rashes or itchiness.
It took me only 30 mins to get back to QC so I took this opportunity to run errands since I’m already out. I bought A LOT of paracetamol and antihistamines from The Generics Pharmacy near our house and went to UP for veggies.
Makeshift half basketball court. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It has been a long time since I last been here. They built a makeshift half basketball court in the middle of the compound (the old tennis courts) where Enriquez vegetable and fruit shop is located. It seems like life is normal here except for the sight of masked people. Sharp contrast to the streets earlier today where it’s eerily quiet and only a few vehicles are out.
Finally, I could feel the effects of the vaccine. I took one paracetamol tablet and now I feel like I’m high or floating. I’m sleepy and my whole body aches. It’s only a few mins past 6 pm but I think I’ll call it a day.
Last year was just brutal and I couldn’t define what it was but it was an uphill battle. Thank God for supportive friends, some of whom had to literally drag me out of the house to join the living.
So as part of this year’s theme, I’m celebrating the things that made me who I am.
My gallery wall. Photo by CallMeCreation.com My photos and my watercolors. Photo by CallMeCreation.com When I was in high school I experimented with a Chinese paint brush. My control was dismal but at least I tried. Photo and art by CallMeCreation.com
I ran out of picture frames so I guess I would have to order online from Ikea.ph instead of going there again. I have a lot of photos I can print and hang. Or I can paint again with watercolors. But I’m super rusty. It has been 25 years since I have picked up a watercolor brush. I’m not good but at least I’m enjoying it. I’m not even aiming to have an exhibit like my sister but this is just something for my own home. Some of the better watercolors I did in high school were given away to classmates.
I’ll take photography seriously again, just like when I was in college. I didn’t invest in DSLRs because I know how time-consuming photography is as a hobby to justify the expensive equipment. And time is something I didn’t have for decades. For now I’ll use what I have–my cellphone and my Fujifilm XQ1–until I can say that I can now commit time before I step up and buy myself a mirrorless Fujifilm, which I find to be the best when it comes to low-light photography. I’ve worked with Canons, I had a Nikon, and two Olympus cameras but I find Fuji to be the best when it comes to color rendering and low light scenes. I have yet to try a Lumix. I’ve read about Hasselblads when I was still fooling around with films because those are the go-to cameras for medium formats–for book covers and posters. But those things are out of reach of the general public, especially now in digital. I’ve only seen a Hasselblad in a studio for portrait photography.
I lost all my Lomography cameras 😔 I had a Holga and I still had a black abd white film stuck in there when I left it in the old house. All that is left of my Lomo stuff is the 135 film converter. 😕
Rose tea to stave off colds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I’ve been imbibing copious amounts of tea as I’ve been feeling under the weather. I might have contracted the girls’ colds so I took 500 mg of vitamin C, Neozep every 8 hrs, and a lot of bed rest. I slept early last night and slept some more after lunch. So far it has worked but I’m refraining from going out because this may turn out to be the dreaded omicron variant. It can’t hurt to be paranoid; look at what happened last year when I thought what the girls had was just an ordinary flu turned out to be Covid that knocked me down.
There is this Gwyneth Chua from US who broke her quarantine stay to party in Poblacion, Makati. She was positive for Covid and has infected 15 people whom she had dinner with or partied with. Stupid, stupid privileged asshole. And Twitter has the receipts. As it turns out, she studies at De La Salle University and Lasallians are now disowning her.
Now, we’re back to a higher restriction due to tripling of cases in the last three days. Another lockdown to stem another Covid wave is not far behind. 😩
Our neighbor’s fireworks on the street. Photo by CallMeCreation.comMy girls’ sparklers’ dying out. Photo by CallMeCreation.comFireworks in our village. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Here’s to a healthier 2022. More camping trips. Hopefully we would have roadtrips and diving trips.
Less stress from work. Better working conditions for us.
No more Covid please!
Please no Bong Bong Marcos presidency!!!
More personal growth for me and the kids. More love for family and friends.
I hope I hurt less. I hope I no longer hurt. Period. I hope I become more numb so I can finally move on.
But I should be kinder to myself because it’s not easy to emerge from that kind of heartbreak when you have given your love unconditionally like that. This is not a race. I should give myself time to heal better. As my shrink said, I should heal in a proper way so I won’t have another relapse and get into a cruel cycle.
2020 is horrible in every possible way. 2021 is like walking through fire barefoot. I hope for 2022 I come out stronger than steel forged by fire of the past 2 years.
If Marcos Jr wins, it will be worse than having Duterte for the second time. OMG 😱
We need to reach out to the masses. I want to render my services for free as a communication strategist for Team Robredo. They have no unifying theme. 🤦🏻♀️ The campaign is organic, yes, but it lacks cohesiveness as a result. The messaging is undefined. The actionable message is lacking, there is no aspirational thrust.
We need to do something!!!
I had been refraining from writing anything political during the Christmas break because I don’t want to be stressed out. So I’ve been writing about inane stuff to take my mind off stressors like the thing above 🤦🏻♀️
So back to inconsequential stuff, I picked up my glasses and contacts in Cubao, then went to Tiendesitas to buy cat supplies. Because I’m still a bit apprehensive about dining out indoors, I still wear two masks (surgical and cloth) and sunglasses in lieu of face shield. Because I still haven’t had my booster shot yet. I’ve been trying to book online but there’s no schedule yet for A3 people for QC. After experiencing Covid, I’m more adamant at having the vax ASAP.
My sister said I look like somebody who’s hiding from the paparazzi. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I then jumped to Makati to get myself another pair of shoes before I pick up the girls from the airport at around 5 pm.
Wrong move. There were a lot of people!!! Like there’s no more pandemic and omicron is just another Greek letter that doesn’t mean anything. It gave me some heebie-jeebies. Because of this, I wasn’t able to find that pair of shoes I need because it seems like face-to-face press conferences and meetings will be more frequent next year and I don’t have enough good shoes for such occasions.
I think I would have to buy online and grin and bear it if the pair of shoes turns out to be painful to wear. 😬
