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.

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.

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.

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

I was so busy trying to email people, arranging interviews here and in Singapore that I almost forgot to cook dinner. Good thing I have the InsantPot, I can cook kare-kare in under an hour. That InstantPot and Philips airfryer are the best buys I had for my kitchen. They made my life easier now that it’s just me who does all the cooking.

Speaking of interviews, I just emailed my bosses that I got a free media invite to cover a conference in Singapore in a couple of weeks. It was short notice but I hope they will approve my travel as I also clinched an interview of a CEO of a company I patronize. He agreed to an interview if I fly to Singapore and have the face-to-face interview. He even gave me his WhatsApp. 😁

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Oh ‘Murica!

You might scoff at me and ask, what do I care about the results of the elections in the US?

Well I’m not going to be directly affected by the stupidity of the US electorate but like the rest of the world, we are going to be collateral damage.

I will just write about this tomorrow when my disgust lowers a bit.

I now know the best way to avoid skirmishes with my manager: just shut up.

Whatever is asked of me/us, even if I’m asked for an opinion, just shut up. I should not give my comments, my opinions—just keep quiet. I don’t think she is used to dealing with a strong-minded, opinionated person who goes against the grain. I just have to nod my head and say I agree.

Anyway, I had a call with my manager and our APAC head last week (even if I still didn’t have power) about bonuses and contracts. I was asked if I want to transfer to Singapore. I said no, that I’m happy with the current setup. Singapore is too expensive for comfort and it will just cause me a lot of stress. I just need to fly as frequently as needed to do my job well and that’s it.

Well, they haven’t mentioned that I will be replaced as manager for my team for refusing to move to Singapore. I just hope they understand that Singapore is a hostile place financially for a solo parent with a single income stream. I am also not willing to leave my children here while I work there. I don’t want to be an OFW. I’d rather do something else than to part from my children.

Kr, our Philippines correspondent, left her side gig because it was causing her more stress than what the job was worth. The boss/owner is an asshole—a dictator who belittles everyone. She said for what it’s worth, she found that she can do other things and that in order for her to stress less about our boss, she has to channel her energies elsewhere. “The grass isn’t greener on the other side,” she said. She now has more appreciation of what we’re doing/we have now. She said our job doesn’t require us to wake up at 3 am or 4 am just to earn decently and we can have breaks—when markets are closed for the holidays, we’re also entitled to be off from work. Unlike in TV—you’re still on and you still have to wake up before the sun rises so that you would be able to arrive on time at the studio to do your morning show.

I realized that God is telling me to stay a bit more because none of the plans I’ve been hatching are going into fruition. The jobs I’ve been applying for are not panning out. 🤔 I wonder if there’s something big going to happen that’s why the message is to keep still. 🙃