Not impressed by the beach and yet the access to this entire resort complex is by membership only, ergo, expensive. 🙄 The beaches in Maricaban are much better than this…Bantayan island is 100x better.
Anyway, we lacked sleep so we didn’t attempt any freediving today plus there are jetskiing dudes around.
What my girls did is they buried their aunt alive to pass the time.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com Photo by CallMeCreation.com I just watched them from afar. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Somebody needs to watch the bags. Because mommy.
Need to sleep early tonight to adjust my body clock again. Tomorrow I will attempt to walk around the lagoon before kayaking and diving. Not really sure about the quality of diving here though.
Today’s life quotes are brought to you by Instagram Reels.
Yesterday morning, my neighbors’ cars were towed by the MMDA traffic patrol for obstruction of sidewalks. My neighbors’ landlady was so angry about the whole commotion, telling the traffic patrol group that they were not illegally parked because that was a designated parking area for her tenants. The problem, however, is that the parking slots were too short so the SUVs parked there ate up the sidewalk. So the video here showed some of my neighbors’ SUVs being towed away.
Whooops! They were towed again today.
Good thing I was parked inside the compound after my car repairs were done.
Meanwhile, the new national security advisor of Marcos Jr wants the US, Europe, and Japan to impose a trade embargo on us with her pronouncements. The witch.
As a lawyer-friend said: “You can’t possibly be neutral if you’re pivoting to one belligerent. The principal right of the neutral nation is that of inviolability; its principal duties are those of abstention and impartiality (the Hague III, Art 2, law on neutrality).”
The problem with these narcissists is that they think we are among the big guys that whatever we do has weight. Nope, we’re just mosquitos and trade embargoes will kill us.
I’ve loaded the food and drinks at the back of the car, the fins and snorkel sets, and the diving buoy. I’m busy packing now but my bossy cat, Kimchi, doesn’t want me to go.
Look at that angry face, Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I thought I could bring the bikes with us since we would be heading straight to my hometown after this. Nope. Our stuff wouldn’t fit.
Which brings me to the point that a sedan wouldn’t really do us any good since we usually go for outdoor stuff. We do a lot of driving and Philippine provincial roads do not play nice with cars with low clearance.
I saw this displayed at SM Marikina earlier this week and I thought it was roomy enough for us.
The two backseat rows fold flat for cargo, which is great because I haul bikes, a piano, and some furniture. More frequently than average people. Since I’m moving back to my hometown, I guess my sister-in-law and my nephew would be tagging along with us more often because my brother is lazy and doesn’t like driving.
But then again, this is the wrong time to be thinking about this. Probably when we have finally settled in our own home and we have emerged from the recession, I will revisit this Toyota Avanza.
We’re back to 1970s-kind of crisis, when petroleum had to be rationed and many children became malnourished.
I just received this press release from UNCTAD that released all my gastric juices and sent me to the bathroom. This was embargoed overnight and I was only able to tweet this later today.
UNCTAD brief: We are on the brink of the most severe global cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
UNCTAD: the current food crisis may rapidly turn into a food catastrophe of global proportions in 2023.
This is something that people tend to overlook: accessibility of food.
With supply chain issues and protectionism on the rise many worldwide will go hungry.
The World Bank earlier said that we are entering the 1970s-style stagflation. Will we see petroleum rationing and Nutribun again? https://lnkd.in/dciC32kS OMG, it is really a throwback to Marcos Sr era. WTF have we done to ourselves?
My siblings and I are chatting (via FB Messenger) about this statement by World Bank that we are entering a state of global stagflation. (And yeah, we are weird like that. We discuss marcoeconomy like we’re a bunch of experts—but then my sister is an economist and a consultant at FAO and my brother is also a nationally recognized economist whom my peers call for comments/soundbites on the economy). Anyway, there were questions whether it is smart of BSP to raise policy rates in small increments instead of going for the jugular with I-mean-business rate hikes. My brother said calibrated hikes are better for a fragile economy like ours.
You know, this is the reason why many journalists are alcoholic, in therapy, or have gastrointestinal problems. Aside from the daily stress of chasing stories and meeting deadlines, we are always the bearer of bad news like this and we can’t help but internalize the news we write. The problem of the world/the country is our problem. We can’t just tune out the bad news because that’s our job. 🙄
My mom and I will be talking about this while we bask under the sun this weekend (in true bourgeois fashion). We have to pool our funds and see how we can help the most vulnerable who need our help.
And in true bourgeois fashion, my new iPad case and keyboard that I ordered from Lazada have arrived today. It transformed my tablet that I mainly use for flicking through Pinterest and watching videos on Youtube and Netflix into a lighter laptop alternative.
Yep, it has RGB backlight. Photo by CallMeCreation.comI have too many screens now. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So I will be leaving my Lenovo laptop (which seldom sees action) at home when we go gallivanting in Batangas and just bring this with me. It is lighter and more compact and has longer battery life. I don’t expect to write stories or edit while I’m on my break but I have to be prepared ALWAYS.
I have already downloaded MS Outlook and installed our office email and all the security authentication app that my office requires. Our IT guys are now confused why I have so many equipment registered with them (as I just upgraded my mobile phone unit this week). If I need to edit, I will edit in Outlook itself.
Anyway, I will totally avoid working or even responding to emails during my holiday. It’s good for my mental health.
I will just probably use the keyboard to write on my blog. It’s sometimes hard to blog on my phone if I feel like writing long entries.
Ahhh my cats would have to wait for days again until I come back.
My ridiculous Kimchi. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Only one more working day tomorrow!!! ❤️ then I will be packing my diving buoy, sunscreen, long flippers, and my new Speedo swimsuit that just arrived yesterday.
A dose of Vitamin Sea is just what my doctor ordered.
I need to shake off the sadness and insecurity that enveloped me this week. As my colleague-friend asked, why do you still think about him? I said, I don’t know. She said, “it’s not good for you.” Don’t I know it?
But I’m getting better. Better things will be coming.
We don’t know how long the elevated prices and supply squeeze will last. The oil prices at gas stations keep rising and jeepney drivers are throwing in their towels and are now looking for alternative sources of livelihood. They simply can’t make ends meet. Not with this daily price hikes and horrible traffic.
And yet this stupid government is still saying the PHP 20-per-kilo-rice is doable, at the expense of poor Filipino farmers
But Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives national manager Raul Montemayor said the DAR’s plan would only make farmers end up losing more, especially if the farm-gate price — or the selling price between a trader and a farmer — is further reduced.
Montemayor said if a kilo of rice would be sold at P20, the farm-gate price would have to be about P10 a kilo.
As a rule of thumb, the retail price of rice is at least double the farm-gate price of palay (unhusked rice), which is currently P19 a kilo.
Meanwhile, the outgoing cabinet secretaries of Duterte admin say it simply cannot be done.
These idiots are not even coordinating their press releases 🙄
If these asshats have any iota of intelligence, then the first thing they should fix is the supply chain problems/inefficiencies/bottlenecks, which eat up 40-50% of the cost of goods, especially food, in this country. That alone has an immediate effect on the prices of food, which comprise bulk of the CPI.
I spent the day talking to this investment company that primarily provides mezzanine financing to SMEs. It slightly lifted me out of the doldrums but I’m still having a tough battle with the promotion of my people. Like what the heck?! Why is it even hard to have my good reporters promoted and have their pay raised? What the fuck is this company??? It was like defending my thesis all over again.
I was so angry this afternoon that I refused to work overtime.
I had put my ass on the line by saying that if they don’t give these people their due, they will leave the company—and one of them was already being pirated in front of me by a rival company (which was 100% true). If that happens, my work will be unbearable because I will be plugging the gap by myself and that would force me to look for opportunities elsewhere because I simply cannot overwork myself for little pay, I said.
Now I have to look for Plan B.
Being under this new parent company is much worse than being owned by a PE that squeezes the life out of a business. 🤬
Today just sucked the life out of me. I was feeling sorry for myself since last night until today and this HR issue added to the pain I’m having today.
Oppo Band. To motivate me to move. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I’m sooooo looking forward to my break next week. I will shake off the bad jujus and tune out. I will love myself and make myself believe that I am not as horrible and unlovable as my ex-partner thinks I am.
I hit bumps like this from time to time because I’m still working through my trauma. It’s part of the process.
Anyway, I took advantage of the sale last Saturday in Glorietta and bought this smart watch that I will test this coming Saturday in Pico de Loro when I dive/swim laps.
Meanwhile, the cats managed to bring a smile to my face last night despite feeling like shit.
Sushi inside the paper bagKimchi’s turn to destroy the paper bagHave paperbag, have cat. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
