I’m super tired today, I don’t know why. Anyway, Twitter is all abuzz about politics today.
My favorite news:
The new generation standing up to the Marcoses. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏I love this so much.
And big media is fighting back.
It says: it has formally been announced that the former senator, son of a dictator and a 2016 vice presidential loser, his intention to run for the highest office in the land.
But then, you have curve balls like this:
I cannot fathom Kris Aquino running for VP. Leni should know this is political suicide. Having another Aquino is polarizing and that’s the last thing you want when you want to unite everybody vs Marcos/Duterte.
But I’m hoping this is the truth.
USB condenser microphone. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I ordered two for my girls because the built-in mics of their Tylex bluetooth headsets are wonky. So are the mics of their cameras. They just don’t pair well with Linux. Anyway, these mics are working very well and their voices are now loud and clear enough for online classes. I bought these from Lazada a few days ago and the description says it’s good for vlogging/podcasting.
I’m thinking of getting one myself but maybe I’ll get the Maono brand or Fifine, which are vlogging/podcast condenser mics since I will go on air next month for my Youtube series with my high school friends. But so far my webcam is serving me well and its mic is loud enough.
I don’t have to elaborate how and why. I mean, my household is very careful given that I have unvaccinated children with me and the three of us are asthmatic people and yet we still caught Covid from somewhere we couldn’t trace. My mom’s household is still quarantined because all of them got it. And my sisters rarely go out. I have a lot of my friends who are Covid-positive now. Many of my kids’ teachers are sick now, probably with Covid, and couldn’t hold online classes.
As I said a few months ago, it’s just a matter of time when we will get it.
Then we will have clowns running for president next year
There were too many news about Pacquiao yesterday that I dreamed about him last night. In my dream I was supposed to buy one of his cars and we were supposed to meet in a hotel lobby to do our transaction. However, his car fell from the hotel’s elevated parking space and it was already beyond repair.
That was weird.
It’s probably an omen.
I went out to withdraw some cash from my bank on Tuesday. Feeling too confident, I walked from my apartment to my bank and back. I didn’t realize that was already too taxing for me that I fell asleep that night with my lamp and PC on. Then yesterday I did nothing but sleep the whole day. Lingering Covid fatigue hits me hard. It’s sneaky like that.
So I had to order groceries again from Puregold to be delivered at home and my cat supplies via Viber to my suki vendor from Tiendesitas today. Tomorrow will be meat shopping from Monterey Community Market via Viber again. My problem are fruits and vegetables because the vendor on Facebook who has a stall in Nepa Qmart has duped me. A lot of items were missing and she sold me two small potatoes when I ordered 1/2 kg of those. Either I will brave it tomorrow and drive to UP or let my househelp buy from the nearby Robinsons (and veggies there are sometimes not that fresh, they cannot be stored that long in the fridge).
Now I’m back to buying random shit again online. Bought a new protective case for my phone because my old one was already falling apart.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
China’s Golden Week starts tomorrow so we will be out of three or four editors. It will be a week-long holiday for them so I guess I have to work twice as much in the coming days.
CCP will again will have a show-to-the-world-we’re-tough ceremonies in Beijing sometime next week.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to my own birthday holiday towards the end of October. Since I’m still weak, a biking or camping holiday is out of the question. Dining out is also a risky endeavor. I guess I would have to pull the trigger and buy that movie projector and just binge-watch Youtube videos and Netflix on my blank white wall during my vacation.
My girls are begging me to spend the Christmas here in the apartment instead of spending it with their grandma in my hometown. They don’t want to leave the cats.
Let’s see how the world will flow in the coming months.
This is what you call dynasty graft and corruption.
I don’t want to dwell on this today because it’s my day-off and I’m not supposed to stress myself.
Oh Lord, let me have the strength to last the 2022 elections. Or survive the Philippines. 🤦🏻♀️
Last night, it’s my other daughter’s turn to cook. Taught her how to make meatballs
She mixed ground pork, salt, pepper, egg, soy sauce, and bread crumbs. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Formed them into balls and rolled onto a floured board. Photo by CallMeCreation.com And then fried. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Made gravy from an instant mix. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It’s their dinner. Since I no longer eat heavy dinners, I just had a small sandwich.
Then I continued with sewing masks to give to friends who sent their love when I was sick.
Look at how fine my hand stitches had become. A lot of practice, I can soon emulate the Victorian seamstresses who are rather particular about their hand stitches.
My boss couldn’t help it. She messaged us on MS Teams, flabbergasted, after reading the news that boxer Manny Pacquiao is running for president next year. And other clowns like Panfilo Lacson and Tito Sotto are also vying for the president and vice president seats. Then here comes wishy-washy opportunist Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and this Willy Ong (where did he come from???) announcing their candidacy yesterday.
Isko’s announcement crumbles the idea of a united opposition. I guess he is another weapon by the Marcoses so the opposition under Leni Robredo’s banner–if she decides to run for presidency–would be broken. He is, after all, a politcal butterfly. Isko knows he doesn’t have the machinery to win but if he is under the good graces of the Marcoses, his future by 2028 would be assured if Bongbong–God forbid!–wins next year.
And Duterte is running for VP, without a president yet, so he will be assured that graft cases and ICC human rights cases would not be heaped upon him if an ally wins the presidency.
How do we solve this problem of ever worsening politics in this country? Everyone should probably read the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, so the intelligentsia would understand that we are not the ones who should be teaching the masses but rather we join them in learning how to get out of this oppression through their own experiences and social construct. I first learned about this during my theater + activism years, when we have “teach-ins” and when I attended classes for community theater. It’s not easy; it would take a revolution to change all this. (And I now sound exactly like my father!)
I don’t know how we would end this rotten system.
Meanwhile, I’ve been getting better but I easily get tired. Today is the first time in two weeks I went out of my room to take a shower and do my bathroom business at day time. I had ordered a new car battery to be delivered and installed at home because my old one died and my car wouldn’t start. I edited a story and wrote my own story, albeit a simple one, without my brain bleeding. I still had this headache after lunch and tried to sleep but I couldn’t so I just stared at the ceiling, at my ipad, at my cat.
I had been imbibing Berocca the past two weeks, the supplement that helped me get over the flu-like symptoms of Covid, especially the sniffles.
Berocca, every Philippine business reporter’s friend. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Every reporter I know has this in her/his bag when we still roamed the metro digging for stories. We still worked even if we were sick. Nowadays it sounds so reckless…Oh wait, I’m working even if I am sick. Oh well.
One of my best recent discoveries on Youtube is Rajiv Surendra, a very curious and very creative person who is like a Renaissance man. His enthusiasm for art was like that of mine before I lost myself in ugly relationships. Rajiv, however, is more talented than I am and I just attended classes and apprenticeship because I could, not because I was talented.
I remember attending writing workshops in Philippine High School for the Arts, script writing for play workshops, theater directing workshops, theater workshops, song writing workshops–all classes and workshops I could attend because I was curious and wanted to learn. Because I wanted a creative outlet. Just because.
Watching Rajiv reminded me of those times that I got excited by art, by beautiful craftsmanship, by learning new skills. I want that again–that zest for life. I remember I used to make my own writing pads, my own notebooks (I learned book binding in school), and I used to have sketchpads and watercolor notebooks with me. I lost all that.
I suddenly realized that I’ve been dead for 20 years.
Now that I live solo (I mean without a partner), I can rediscover that part of me again. To be curious again and have that eagerness to learn. To be creative again.
The Marcoses have showered money again on all those social media trolls trying to revise history–Facebook and Twitter are sooo full of them right now. The Marcoses are also hiring actors and “influencers” to propagate their lies, especially that Bong-bong Marcos is running for president next year.
In service of the Filipino people, I am making available this book by Primitivo Mijares, a book which caused him to disappear (and his body was never found) and cost him his son’s life. I bought a hard copy for my mom on Amazon several Christmases ago. This book was not made available locally for a long time.
Today is the 49th year of remembrance when Ferdinand Marcos, one of the world’s greatest crooks, imposed martial law in the Philippines.
September 21, 1972. #MarcosNotAHero #MarcosMagnanakaw #NeverForget
I’m supposed to write something today and/or tweet on Twitter but I got so stressed with all the trolls that I abandoned the idea and focused on taking care of myself instead. Maybe next week. I need to get better because, as one of the people who got imprisoned during martial law told me via private message last week, we need to fight another day.
So today is my last day of confinement in my room. I don’t think I have the strength to go out and withdraw cash so I will have my househelp do that for me. In any case, all my transactions these days are online so cash is not a top priority right now. I finally was able to order meat from Monterey Community Market and have it delivered here. The transaction was seamless as well. I have yet to order vegetables via Facebook Messenger. Some friends have sent me food packs and groceries with fruits. One sent her love all the way from Singapore.
Sushi is as tired as I am. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My cats never fail to visit me and keep me company everyday. They love scratches behind the ears and underneath their chins.
Kimchi in her odd sleeping position again on their cat bunk bed. Photo taken by the girls’ ate.
I edit two stories a day–the maximum I allow myself to do these days. Doing more would make my brain bleed. I still feel dizzy at times and have some random headaches. I need to sleep by lunch or early afternoon. I don’t know how long I will be like this. It seems like my biking to and from UP to buy vegetables is a lifetime ago.
Here we have a president who’s supposed to be a lawyer who doesn’t know the basic laws of this land. The Commission on Audit is a constitutional body that is just doing its job. The state auditor who did the DOH audit just died of a heart attack yesterday because of the stress he has to deal with because of an in util president who doesn’t know anything at all and just uses his gangsta attitude to run this government.
And now this demon of a health minister is using emotional manipulation (no one is buying it, you idiot!) to play victim. Damn you! If I could only slap you in the face right now, I would. Tell all these things to the doctors and nurses who died without receiving their allowances and hazard pays.
Meanwhile, I’m joking to friends that former colonies of Spain only need two years of residency to apply for citizenship. I said we can now all apply for asylum status in Spain if Bong Go or Sara Duterte wins next year. Learning Spanish for us is not hard because our language, Filipino, is a hybrid of Spanish, Malay and English. It’s not like learning Nihongo or Korean that the grammar and script are completely different.
I envy my kids in a way, they only had to worry about small things while I am thinking that the Philippines will become Afghanistan. The Nancy Drew I ordered finally arrived so at least they can be away from their computer screens for a while.
A childhood friend and I talked for two hours tonight as she related to me that she has a boyfriend now after a failed marriage. I told her I am the worst person to talk to right now if she’s seeking advice or assurance that everything will be all right. I said enjoy it while it lasts and think about it when we’re 65, are you going to regret it? If yes, don’t go into it. If no, then just enjoy it and be happy. I’m just a jaded old crone who cannot say anything nice right now about relationships post-divorce/separation because I’m still processing things.
She says I will meet somebody and I’m still young blah blah. I said, you know what? Just enjoy what you have right now. If you’re happy, it doesn’t mean it’s your responsibility to make sure that everybody’s happy. I’m way past it. I don’t have any desire for romantic relationships anymore. Yes, there are those who are showing signs of interest but I don’t want it. I’m emotionally bankrupt and I don’t want to go through hell again.
So dear friend, don’t listen to me. Just be happy. Enjoy what you have right now. I’m a party pooper. Don’t be like me who gave it all and received so little. I ignored all the red flags and justified so many things. Stay away from judgmental people; they do not understand things. Do not ignore trivial matters that bother you because there’s a reason these “trivial” things nag at your brain, that they keep hanging around your amygdala. Do not be like me who has nothing left anymore to give another person.
