With kuya

Posted on 05/03/2022 by admin

I wanted to stay in bed longer but I needed to wake up early today to attend to my plants (it was really, really hooooootttttt) and cook brunch for the girls. Boiled quail eggs, onigiri, a bit of bacon and more broccoli.

*Bento for brunch. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

After my Zoom meeting with the girls’ homeroom teacher who reported on the the quarter-on-quarter progress of my kids, we drove south to Makati to meet my sister-in-law, nephew, and my brother in Glorietta.

*Twin A took a photo of me sketching while we waited for kuya at Starbucks Glorietta 5. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*Me with the cheat sheet. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

That head is Twin A’s; she wanted to hide herself from me by trying to sink under the table. That’s her French toast that she couldn’t finish so it was her twin who finished it for her.

My brother hied to Starbucks to watch movies on his iPad in peace while we went to the National Bookstore sale. Kuya P didn’t find anything interesting to buy while I have yet to finish the books lined up on my shelf in my room. I don’t have any business buying books these days. Plus the selections weren’t good since most were for young adults and children.

Of course boys will be boys. Kuya P went straight to ToyTown because some action figures were on sale. Yep, Gundam. My sis-in-law said her boys keep on building these just to gather dust at home. In a couple of months they will be moving into their new townhouse that they just bought in our hometown. The boys will have more space to display their toys. I told her that they can buy acrylic case for these figures online.

And they spent the remainder of the afternoon playing at Timzone with Kuya P while sis-in-law and I had coffee at another Starbucks near the movie theaters (yes, first time that they opened up the theaters).

*Cousins playing against each other. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

*The twins playing arcade games after two years. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

The cousins had a great time with each other and Kuya P is asking when can they hang out again. I’m still figuring out when is the best time I could drive back home with the girls so I can meet with another contractor (just for another quote). An alternative is I told them they can stay with us in QC for a night or two one weekend so we can all try the restaurants in Maginhawa.

We all parted at 9 pm tonight.

Because it was so late, we weren’t able to buy cat supplies at Tiendesitas!

Well, that’s the agenda for tomorrow. Probably drop by Greenhills, too, to buy a USB Bluetooth dongle because the internal Bluetooth of this old gaming laptop finally gave up its ghost. Either the latest Windows 10 update killed it or it was really its time to go.

I’m going to have to have another quotation for a build-to-suit desktop computer for me (if I could get a mini-ITX case???) or I’ll see if it’s better to get a gaming laptop with Core i5 or Ryzen 5. But I want to suck the life out of this old gaming laptop so…Maybe I’ll hold off for a bit?

Let’s see what my gut feel says tomorrow.

I couldn’t sleep. So I put my only self-portrait in one of my extra Ikea frames. Et voila! It looks decent even without the lips and nose. I feel like I looked like Voldemort here.

Meanwhile, I fixed the vanishing point problem in this sketch after determining what I can adjust. I thought this was a disaster but my sis in law liked it so it motivated me to find a solution.

Practice in perspective drawing

Posted on 04/03/2022 by admin

*Ayala Museum viewed from PLDT/Dela Rosa St.*

This gave me a headache. I just realized Ayala Museum faces Dela Rosa St. at an angle so it took me some time before I was able to determine how slanted this facade was. I need to adjust some more lines that don’t align. 😑 And I painstakingly counted all the glass panes. *wrinkles growing on my forehead* I don’t want Leandro Locsin Jr. to come after me with an axe for sabotaging his building.

*Duh. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I have my vanishing points mixed up. I need more exercises on vanishing points. 🤔

So it is done. I no longer have an official passport in the next 3 weeks.

*Punched out passport. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I had been lining up the whole day today. First, for the girls’ second dose of Pfizer. Thankfully, it only took us an hour compared to 2.5 hours the first time. I drove them home and I went to Robinsons Novaliches where the satellite DFA office was for NCR North.

*Queue going inside the mall. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

After entering the mall, I decided to have brunch first at McDonald’s and finish some digest I need to publish today. It was hard to concentrate 😫 but I had to finish what I can. Then I lined up again at DFA. The actual process was just less than 30 mins because everything was done online and the clerks just needed to verify and have my fingerprints and photo taken but it was the queue that took forever. This was different from what some friends told me when they just breezed through their renewal process in some locations like Robinsons Magnolia or SM Aura.

On the way back home I was debating whether I should drop by QC Circle to buy flowers. Well, well, well… Commonwealth Avenue in Fairview was lined with plant stores. Hahahaha! That decided for me. I bought four more flowering plants since some of mine at home dried up despite watering them twice a day. It’s just that it’s so freaking hot these days.

It was so hot that when I got home I was so exhausted. The heat sucked the life out of me and I just fell asleep. It was so hot that I was tempted to buy a giant Megabox plastic bin in Handyman that I can fill up with water so I can just soak in there.

As part of my urban sketching practice, I want to visit Escolta, Manila—the old shopping district in Manila before and after WW2 before Makati CBD came into being—to sketch the old Art Deco buildings there.

*View from the office of One/Zero architects in First United Building shows the splendour of the past* (Photo from https://i-discoverasia.com/escolta-street-2/)

I should have done it in January when the heat was less deadly.

Escolta was the old CBD that’s why it was the fashionable area of the city then. The old banks’ and trading houses’ headquarters were located there. The old tranvia of Manila plied Escolta then.

*Tranvia that was run by Manila Electric Co (Now the country’s biggest power distributor)* *Photo from https://skyrisecities.com/news/2017/03/manilas-long-lost-tranvias-once-envy-asia*

By the 1920s and into the ’30s, the Manila Tramway became one of the most extensive tram networks in Asia, rivalling those in far more populated cities like Hong Kong (600,000 by 1930) and Tokyo (4,000,000 by 1930). Its 100-kilometre urban and interurban service carried a recorded 35 million passengers during its peak year in 1925. The tramway was a central part of the rapidly modernizing city, as the former colonial port town was growing up fast. The American influence and capital that had flowed into the Philippines following the US takeover brought with it a host of impressive Beaux-Arts and later Art Deco edifices, as a series of new office towers, government buildings, and train stations began to transform the Philippine capital.
Manila’s Long-Lost ‘Tranvias’ Once the Envy of Asia

Pedestrians in the photos were smartly dressed. The tranvia network was completely destroyed after WW2. Well, Manila was the most devastated city in the world after Warsaw when the war ended. The crafty Americans gave the Philippines independence right after because the country was so war-torn and expensive to rebuild. We were left to our own devices after that.

One of these days I would brave Manila and seek some haunting scene that I could sketch. Maybe I can start with the old Luneta Hotel.

Out in the wild part 2

Posted on 03/03/2022 by admin

*A duck in the middle of Greenbelt, Makati. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Literally with the wildlife. This is so random. I saw this duck in the middle of Greenbelt Park while I was looking for a coffee shop after dropping by the corporate HQ of the presscon host. The duck was not perturbed with the presence of humans around it, like it was signalling to me “Ok, carry on hooman. Nothing to look at here,” while I overtook it.

*I settled here because the outdoor area has a huge fan. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I logged on the presscon remotely while our Manila reporter was on-site for ambush interviews. I was providing support from CBTL so we can upload/break the story ASAP since other news wires are also there. This is how we work when I know we have to break time-sensitive stories. Later Kr joined me at CBTL so we can discuss and correct each other’s contribution to the story.

A little breather after breaking the story.

*Then I started to sketch. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

As I learned from the urban sketching tutorials that I viewed/read, the key is to quickly draw on ink some rough figures to capture that precise moment and not mind whether it was accurate or not. Embrace the mistakes. I could not figure out how to draw the head of that bald guy so that is that…

*After a few minutes. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I did some rough coloring. The problem with this palette is that it didn’t have a true black so I was stuck with greys. I have to fix this later now that I’m home.

UPDATE:

*The best I can do under the circumstance. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Since I was already at Greenbelt 5, I proceeded to the third level to browse at the The Craft Central and bought the girls some materials for their hobbies.

*Expensive* *craft materials*. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Acrylic paints and coin purses that Twin A could design/paint and a fluffy ball of yarn for Twin I’s knitting projects. It was expensive but at least it would keep them off the Internet for a couple of hours.

*Twin A immediately painted one coin purse. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

As for me, the Sakura Kois at The Craft Central did not satisfy me because it didn’t have the pop-able watercolor pans and I don’t want to carry extra palettes when I do urban sketching. So I went to Fullybooked at Basement 1 to search for either Royal Talens, Daniel Smith, or Winsor & Newton.

*Tiny watercolor half-pans. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

So I resorted to buying individual half-pans of the colors that I didn’t have like deep black and white that cost PHP 125-PHP 169 each tiny pan. Unfortunately these are not the artist-grade type. Van Gogh is Royal Talens’ line that is one step higher than student grade (more pigmented than student grade) but not yet artist grade while the Winsor & Newton Cotman line (different from Winsor & Newton, which is super expensive since it’s artist grade—PHP 500+ a pop) is student grade (i.e. chalky, less pigmented). But I think it would suffice since it’s just black and white (for mixing and highlight) plus gold and umber for nature sketches. Those four already cost me over PHP 500. That’s why I have to be careful in buying these stuff because I may just end up not using them all.

Because of my breaking news and search for watercolors, I missed my appointment with my shrink…😣

Tomorrow we need to be early for the girls’ second dose vax and my passport renewal. How can I work in between?

Self-portrait

Posted on 02/03/2022 by admin

*Selfie. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com*

This is supposed to be a self-portrait, from my selfie in my previous entry. I only got to the shadows because I’m having difficulty in drawing my nose and my weird smile. I’ll wait for this drawing to be completely dry before I layer again. I still need to finish the highlights in the water and fix the sky. If I’m not confident about drawing my nose and smile, I’ll leave this as is. Aside from hands, I hate drawing noses.

I should practice drawing people. It’s hard to practice on myself 🤦🏻‍♀️

HOT! HOT! HOT!

Posted on 02/03/2022 by admin

I swear the Philippines may have carved out itself from Earth and made its own orbit closer to the sun. It has been freaking hot this week that I’ve been looking at possible staycation venues just to cool off.

*Anilao Awari Bay Resort. April 2019. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

But I remembered that we still have the reservation at Blue Ribbon from last year so I asked management if we could book it on 17-19 April. I shortly got an email from them confirming the dates.

Wheeeeeeeeee!

So I could dive in the morning, then have breakfast, then work. Then dive again in the afternoon to take a break from work. Lovely. ❤️❤️❤️ I need to order the diving donut and new freediving flippers soon. ❤️❤️❤️

*In Maricaban Island, Batangas. May 2019. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

But before this, maybe I can book a room at Twin Lakes Hotel in Tagaytay to be able to have a cooler break this month before the AGM season starts after Holy Week. Face-to-face meetings are back so I may have to physically attend some of those.

I should also book succeeding Anilao trips early. Oh wait, I still have a Boracay trip with B. 🤪

Twin I said one of the reasons why she doesn’t want to live in Singapore is that there are no coral reefs there that we can go to in a heartbeat. Yep, that’s true. Only jellyfish in Palawan Beach 😂 Or you have to go to Indonesia to have a proper beach getaway.

In the throes of my anxiety attack because of that painting that was sent to me early last month, I ordered something from Shopee to make me feel a bit better, like a love letter to myself: a made-to-order planner cover for only PHP 600. It’s PU leather so it’s cheaper than the real leather version of this, which is around PHP 1,600. I think I will order that later. But this one still looks good and looks sturdy.

*Tadah! Maroon (color of UP) side by side with the plastic ring binder planner that it will replace. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I’ve been a planner junkie since elementary. I feel more organized if I jot things down and not rely so much on electronic calendars (they’re for alarms only for me).

Gold hardware. *Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

The manufacturer gave me a choice of colors for the cover and the hardware. I figured to get myself my school color and gold hardware to match. It looks lovely and I think this will hold up better than the Filofax Domino I bought from Kinokuniya in Singapore (always my first stop after dumping my stuff at my hotel whenever I fly in). That one was a bad binder as it got frayed within a short amount of time. So much for its advertised leather cover 🤨.

Planner pages. *Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

I make my own planner pages because I could customize it. I download it from this blog that I’ve been following for years since it also offers pages for Midori Travelers Notebooks (which I searched for in Osaka). The Filofax fillers are hard to come by in Manila plus they’re more expensive here compared to the ones I buy in Singapore.

The numpad from Mofii that I ordered from Lazada also arrived today. I discovered I could not work without a numpad since I do a lot of computations for work. 😂 very ironic for somebody who evaded Math courses in college. But I deal with a lot of financial reports and doing simple financial ratios are easier with a numpad.

I really don’t like pink but I was forced to get this to match my raspberry Logitech keyboard.

My colleague in Shanghai has been telling me that he has been feeling angry and betrayed by his manager who hasn’t been responding to him, especially now that he needs to renew his working visa. He has been all over the place a few days ago and didn’t feel like working. I said you owe yourself basura days because we are not robots and there are just times that we are not 100% up to the task. We should excuse ourselves when we don’t feel like it. I told him I learned this from one of my bffs who lost her daughter to placenta abruptio when she was giving birth. She suffered from depression after that and in her grief, she allowed herself to slide during some days when depression strikes and her thoughts go back to the events that led to the death of her precious daughter. She just couldn’t comprehend the death and she was the one who told me that we need to accept that there are just things we could not find answers for. So she allotted basura days for her mental health.

She also told me to treat myself once in a while and create our own happiness.

So I told my colleague, this has been the one I’ve been doing for over a year now—just accept there are basura days and just make up for it the following day. So yesterday was my garbage day and now I’m still doing the digest that I need to publish tomorrow. And I’ve been treating myself to simple things like what I’ve been buying for myself to make me feel better or make me inspired to do my work, like my keyboard, my planner, the materials for my urban sketching. Then tomorrow I will be going out to work, do some urban sketching in between, talk to fellow journos before the start of the presscon, just interact with the outside world so I won’t live in my head anymore.

My colleague said he will adopt my strategies.

We gotta create our own pockets of happiness because sometimes the world is unfair. Self-love, because sometimes the world is harsh.

Lets’ Eat

Posted on 01/03/2022 by admin

This short animation is simple to the point that it’s already cliche but it strikes the heart. It reminds me of why I keep cooking for my loved ones even though somebody else could do that for us. Because you know, home-cooked meals remind you of your mom, of home, of comfort, of love…My mom was a terrible cook (she’s really more of a scientist) but she tried her best. It’s the meal shared with her that counts. I want my girls to remember me by the food that I cook for them—the taste of home. My food will always draw them back home wherever they will end up when they fly the coop. I cooked for J, to remind him that he had a home with me…but he threw that away. Oh well. *shrug* I sent home cooked meals to K’s condo because his family is in the US. He posted on FB one time that he loved my food and it reminded him of his mother. I cooked for my friends and cousin here at home or I send them my food when they’re sick.

Food cooked at home is not just food. It’s love in a pot. Mothers, especially single mothers, do their very best despite the tiredness of raising children alone. I hope it’s not too late for children to say their appreciation to their moms before they’re gone.

I couldn’t contain myself so I drove to Katipunan, went to Fullybooked and bought the other Tokyo Finds artist-grade watercolor palette.

*The Artisan set. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Then I tried to squeeze each pan in one tin tray so I would only be carrying one when I do my urban sketching.

*And I’ve made color swatches because the original color chart that came with the palette was not accura*te.

I can buy empty half-pans from Lazada and put them all in the second almost empty palette tray and I will be buying—sloooowly buying—more expensive half-pans or tubes that I could squeeze the contents of in the empty pans for more saturated colors. The difference of the artist grade pans from the student grade paint box that I first bought is that the former has more saturated colors and is “cakey” compared to the latter. I’ll save money for the artist grade Winsor and Newton. Its field box version is already almost PhP 5,000

Same with Daniel Smith.

In the meantime, I’ll practice some more using this Tokyo Finds Bento Picasso artist grade until I get better. Well, my earlier watercolor drawings were just created using Pentel watercolor tubes and they haven’t faded yet. I think I can live with with Tokyo Finds and Sakura Koi.

I finally adjusted the colors on this watercolor drawing. I think I’m already satisfied with this one.

*Updated.* *Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Then I decided to play truant today instead of finishing my articles so I made another one.

*Still very wet. Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Takipsilim sa UP Diliman. *Art and photo by CallMeCreation.com*

Broadcast City tower here looks odd. Hahaha! I’m still debating whether I should add tiny humans but I may just destroy it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll layer this.

I need to practice everyday. On Thursday I’ll be sitting in UCC almost all day so I can do this while I write and edit in between.

I’ve spent this month’s budget for plants…they became watercolors. Oh well. All for my mental health/self-love.

Stories from the sidelines

A journalist has a life other than news