Smiles and tears

Beneficiaries of the donation drive we had. Photo by AAPAFI.

The president of the foundation that I had been helping sent me photos of the turnover of the school clothes for the Aeta children. They said their thanks.

However, we have hit only half of the target 600 shirts. We need to raise more funds.

After all the drama with my car, I will drive up to Capas, Tarlac to visit them with my journo friend, M, who is also helping them.


Today hurts my wallet.

My entire Monday was spent repairing my old Crosswind—the expected wear and tear of an old car. Good thing about this is that I finally found a good overall mechanic. The bad thing here is he is in Cainta, Rizal, which is a bit of distance from here. His shop also does body repairs since his side business is flipping cars.

So after my trip to Pico de Loro and other trips during my week-long leave, I will bring my car to his shop for other internal and external repairs like dents and paint. Then I will bring it to the electrical shop that I had been using since 2009 for centralized locks. Then to my upholstery guy for carpets and sound deadeners.

So after all these, I hope this car will not bring more headaches until I buy a new one.


After Taal Volcano had her tantrum earlier this year, here comes Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon with her own temper flare.

And OMG! NEDA Sec Gen Karl Chua, who is much younger than me, has aged so much over the course of the six-year Duterte administration, especially now that the Philippines incurred P12.76 trillion in debts.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Karl Kendrick Chua gives an update to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during a meeting with key government officials at the Malacañan Palace on February 28, 2022. King Rodriguez, Presidential Photo

“The debt-to-GDP ratio meanwhile has risen to 63.5 percent, which is higher than the internationally prescribed best practice of 60 percent.”

ABS-CBN News

This is double whammy for a developing market like the Philippines as the US is bracing for a recession. It has always been, when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.

So I have to hold off any major purchase and I must hold cash for opportunities. My portfolio lost so much on paper so I must even them out. 😑

Meanwhile, I was able to resurrect my sister’s dead laptop. The Asus laptop keyboard I bought from Shopee arrived yesterday and I was able to replace the old ghosting one. I was able to turn this laptop on, which had been sitting idle for a long time. I didn’t want to spend PhP 6,000 for a new LCD since this is just a spare Windows machine, so I hooked up a spare old Dell LCD monitor.

Et voila! I have brought it back from the dead. And this machine has a licensed Photoshop and other layouting software.

Sushi investigating the old machine. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’m too tired tonight to paint or sketch. I have to buy new tires tomorrow. 😑

In the meantime, I’ll just watch other people draw people.

Here is the offending fan

Clutch fan. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

So my radiator guy said the good-for-nothing mechanic replaced my original Isuzu fan with something disposable that needs to be replaced every 6 months. So yeah, 6 months it is.

However, since it is a Sunday, the auto supply shop where he is getting this specific fan is closed so I have to bring the car tomorrow for this repair to be completed. In the meantime, they’re overhauling my radiator because it’s rusted.

Replacing and welding the rusted parts and cleaning the radiator. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

That’s one of the reasons why the coolant is not reaching the engine. The tubes are chock-full of rust. He said I should have this overhauled once a year, just like my AC maintenance, since this is already an old car.

Aggghhh! The perils of keeping an old car. I promise after this recession, I will sell this and get myself a Toyota Rush or a Suzuki Ertiga.

While I’m waiting for my radiator to be finished, the birds at the pet shop next door have been busily chatting the day away.


Yesterday, we went to Makati to meet my brother, sister-in-law, and my nephews. Kuya P wanted to see the twins. So we met at Glorietta and they played the evening away at Timezone while sis in law (SIL) and I shopped around.

Then we all had dinner at Food Choices since it was already too late for anything else, plus they brought their shihtzuh with them and Food Choices is not prissy about pets.

Ollie, the cutie dog. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My nephews. My brother is blocked by Kuya H. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

We broke up at Greenbelt so the girls and I can proceed to the skating event, which was a big dud because there weren’t enough skates to be rented and the food and beverage stalls were caught unprepared for the huge crowd. I was told by my SIL later last night that some friends she knew who went earlier were so disappointed by the disorganized event and the event host’s amateur way of handling it.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Queueing for skates. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Resting for a bit before going back to Greenbelt. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

In the end we just spent 11-12 midnight walking back and forth Paseo de Roxas and Greenbelt where we parked.

In the underground pedestrian walkway along Paseo de Roxas x Ayala Ave. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Good thing we spent majority of the evening with my brother’s family instead of going straight to the skating event, which was just a waste of energy. At least my girls were able to have fun with Kuya P.

Then it was downhill from there…


Too exhausted from last night’s ordeal and today’s repairs that I slept for 3 hrs. Woke up at 6 pm and I’m still in bed.

So lovely. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

This is what weekends are all about.

When it rains…

Waiting for the car towing company. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It’s 1:14 am and I’m waiting for the car towing here at the gas station along Edsa.

When we left Greenbelt I was already feeling that the AC is not working efficiently and I just had it cleaned. 🤔 I saw the temp gauge slightly elevated…when I got off the flyover ramp from Ayala, the brakes weren’t engaging and the check engine, battery, and brake light were blinking red.😣

I turned the engine off and on and slowly made my way into a gas station. All the while I was talking with my brother on the phone. He said I shouldn’t drive the car and and call a towing company, which I did.

Meanwhile, the gas station guys helped me bring down the radiator and engine temp. Then I smelled something like burning rubber. I left the engine running to see what the issue was. So here I am with my children at the back, waiting to be rescued.

And there it was, the strange clacking sound. Just as I suspected, it’s the fan clutch.

I had it replaced in December when the aircon guy at Frigidzone already warned me that the fan is already freewheeling when it  shouldn’t. I asked for a mechanic that he could refer me to. Unfortunately, he was the only guy open on 23 Dec and the rest took the holiday off. He isn’t good because it took the auto parts seller to tell him what parts should be replaced and what to do with it instead of just using silicon for the old fan so it can continue spinning.

And when I had returned to Frigidzone for aircon cleaning last week, the same guy said something is still wrong with my clutch fan and my engine will overheat. I said I just had it replaced. He said it was not done well and I should return it to that mechanic.

Hell no, that guy is a fraud. So I brought the car to another radiator/auxiliary fan mechanic and he said it’s still working; nothing is wrong.

But there’s still this nagging feeling that I should bring it to the radiator guy who did the overhaul of my radiator a few years ago. I was just buying time. I was waiting for my leave so that I can fix what should be fixed.

So here we are; I didn’t think it would be this soon.

Tow truck starting to lower its ramp. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My car on top of the tow truck. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Photo by CallMeCreation.com

It’s 3:26 am and we are coasting along EDSA inside my car on top of the tow truck. It’s rather jarring.

I’m freaking tired. I’ll solve the problem of bringing the car to the radiator guy later today. I’m dead.