The UCC coffee I had last night kept me up until 5 am today. I was so groggy the entire day.
So for tiny house updates, my contractor told me the Meralco guys will be coming to install power lines next week. I need to apply for a water line next Friday.
Mommy, why is our bathroom fancy? Well, darling, those are tiles from Spain, which mimic microcement or slate. Photo by CallMeCreation.com I told Twin I that it would be fancier once the lavatory and fixtures are installed and the artwork are hung. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Overhead lighting in the girls’ room. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Sanding down what was a very red wooden floor. Photo by CallMeCreation.com The newly varnished bedroom door. Photo by CallMeCreation.com The cabinets are up. Photo by CallMeCreation.com The Kohler moveable kitchen faucet to make life easier for my dishwashers 😂 Photo by CallMeCreation.comCutlery drawer. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Condo-sizedbut I’m making up for it by using durable materials and fixtures. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Outdoor lighting. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Another outdoor lighting. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I went out to meet with my BFFs for coffee and bakery goods at Wildbreads this afternoon. Had a good laugh for 3 hrs but we had to break up before dinner because, you know, weekends are for errands 🤷🏻♀️. My bestfriend T and I both suffered from anxiety and low serotonin this past few days. We both hate our admin work but that’s part of what we got appointed for. I told her about the other issues that I’m struggling with, which I don’t know how to deal with right now.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Maybe, it’s the season. I scanned blog entries from last year and I could see a pattern.
But it’s good to see friends and laugh our butts off.
Meanwhile, Ate C sent us this pic of our cats waiting for us. Awwwww. 😢
I was just supposed to do my grocery shopping today but I ended up spending 4 hrs with a friend who asked for counsel about her career.
Early dinner of cold soba before walking in UP. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was the one who helped her transition from media to another industry (via my connections and gave her good backing). I was also instrumental in her pursuit of a master’s degree from Australia via a scholarship (also gave her topics for her dissertation because it was within my area of expertise). Due medical issues, she must now leave the agency she has worked for but she still has to complete her contract service. Complicated, but long story short, I was able to help her clear her head and suggested to her the appropriate steps to take so the ends are tied neatly.
Basically, stress almost killed her. She suffered from high levels of anxiety (that job is really stressful) that led to stroke. She had to go through physical therapy, speech therapy, etc. so she can regain her old self. And as a former broadcast journalist, losing your ability to speak is devastating.
It was the same kind of stress and anxiety attacks that my other friend, M, is experiencing. His BP is shooting through the roof, too alarming that he had to be brought to the ER. It is happening regularly that he needed to take a 4-month medical leave.
I told this friend, T, that we as journalists have this bad habit of ignoring our bodies when they’re breaking down because we are used to just pushing forward—because that’s what we are supposed to do. Now she realizes that mental health is not trivial.
We had discussed so many things while driving, while walking around UP campus—16k steps in all—and it feels good to untangle cobwebs while exercising.
She was so thankful I took time to see her. I said, if there’s one thing that this Covid pandemic taught me, it is that I should make time for people who are important to me. I told her that there’s a reason why I had to go through so many bullshit and earn cuts and bruises—maybe because my role in this universe is to counsel friends. To share my experiences like struggles with mental health caused by bad breakups, trauma, work, etc. Experience in managing people and in having bad bosses and ok mentors. And overall experience in the industry. As a true empath, I absorb all these and then I make sure my friends and loved ones don’t fall into the same ditch.
I said whether it’s work or relationships, we must take care of ourselves. Because T and I are both empaths, we tend to lose ourselves in the service of others. In relationships, we roll the red carpet and over-extend ourselves, while in the process, we slowly but painfully kill ourselves.
We need to set our boundaries so we don’t melt and disappear like candles because we tend to give and give even though we don’t get any in return.
A glass of bubbly tonight to end this day. Video by CallMeCreation.com
Boundaries are physical manifestations of self-love. We empaths need to preserve ourselves so we do not just melt, evaporate, and disappear because we gave too much.
Kimchi, cat with an attitude. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My obnoxious cat thought she could prevent me from working and could earn a treat by being bossy like this. I could still work from my main computer, silly little cat. 🐱
They couldn’t leave my side. Such babies. Photo by CallMeCreation.com.
Yesterday, my new Maya debit card arrived. This is my new card I applied for (via the Maya app) after their rebranding into a digital bank with e-money features. I use Maya (formerly Paymaya) more than G-Cash since the latter is full of bugs or is usually down.
New Maya Bank debit card. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
We broke the story of PLDT via Voyager applying for a digital bank license and their Series fundraising rounds are for this purpose. ❤️
Speaking of work, while I was busy chasing 3 stories today, I was also doing some admin work—re-hiring a reporter who left and wants to come back because I am the new manager. I never thought this would be so complicated and the amount of justification needed is more compared to just doing a new hire. 😭
It’s mind-numbing.
And they have yet to approve my promotion and raise. 😑
Too much red tape here.
I had a video call with a journo friend (the bureau chief of a competing news wire) and we were both wearing tank tops—basically comfortable house clothes— and she said, hurray for working from home! Indeed! I said, that’s why it’s ok to work late as long as we can do it in our tank tops 🤣 and bare-faced. No need to put on make-up and uncomfortable shoes. And no more driving for hours.
The aircon guys reinstalling my room AC. Photo via webcam
And here I was yesterday, working with the aircon guys at the back. I had my AC units cleaned as part of their quarterly maintenance. I just woke up so that’s why my hair was in a messy bun and my face is really bare and shiny.
Even though I barely come out of my room during work days, I always end up exhausted with the amount of brain cells I needed to overwork everyday. This is what my friend and I were talking about: our brains are elsewhere i.e. pursuing national and international news but we’re stuck inside our rooms. Can’t complain though. It’s a privilege to work at home when we feel like it.
Maybe next week I can attempt to work in Makati and have dinner with friends. I need stimulating conversations with humans face-to-face. Thankfully, most of my friends have great minds so every conversation with them enriches my life.
I don’t think I can live with someone who is small-minded—we will run out of things to say to each other. If you and I cannot carry a conversation about anything interesting, we’re doomed. You don’t need to agree with my ideas and vice-versa, but at least we know each other’s minds. If you are as shallow as the water on a saucer, no matter how good-looking you are, you are only just that, a face. I remember having drinks with the most good looking guy in my sister’s class but he was as boring as a doorknob. We never went beyond discussing people. 🙄 I don’t want to end up having dinner or drinks with him again if it’s just the two of us. Besides, he only goes after literal beauty queens. Maybe he was just testing the waters if I could fit his criteria…errr no.
Anyway, I need to schedule this coffee date with another friend who is recovering from a stroke. She was overworked that’s why her neurologist recommended that she let go. I was advising her to just take a consultancy gig so she can work remotely most days of the week. Anyway, she just came back from abroad and she just finished graduate school. I will help her draw the terms of the contract and the deliverables. We will also draft the communication plan for this particular office.
And if we’re successful, we can tag-team later on and do consultancy work together. ❤️
A video shot by my sister-in-law who watched the UP vs Ateneo game live
We all had a very bad week (and bad next six years or so). But at least the UP Men’s Basketball Team gave us something to be happy about last night.
First championship since 1986.
And in 1986 a woman led the people to oust a Marcos. You know, hope springs eternal. I have a feeling Junior will not finish his term.
I’ve been supporting the UP Men’s for decades as a former Maroons player myself (football) with an ex-bf who was also a UP basketball player. My sister was also a Maroons, playing volleyball in the WNCAA. I know the struggles of UP athletes—underfunded but full of fighting spirit. And to win the basketball championship—the most watched and anticipated UAAP event—after 36 years of struggling is super sweet.
My friends and I had dinner and drinks in Makati last night. Three of us are international news wire editors and one is a former reporter who is now a mid-level government official. We all covered the Treasury at the same time so we had this deep bond that spanned more than 15 years. What was supposed to be an election crying session turned into a laugh trip dinner and drinks. We hardly talked about the election and we just picked up where we left off when we had our last get-together dinner in March last year.
Since K had his appendix taken out a few months ago, he told us about his experience and the lingering horrific pain of having a catheter pulled out. 🤣 We three women agreed that catheter pain is what we remembered most during our own surgeries. Catheter > epidural needle. 🤣 I told them that pain relievers don’t work on me and I have a weird relationship with anesthesia. My dentist is forever frustrated with that. Even my anesthesiologist was surprised and alarmed when I was awake, talking, and still felt “something” during my gall bladder operation. I clearly remember asking her, “Why am I still alive?” when I wanted to ask why I was still awake 🤣 she hiked my anesthesia to put me back to sleep. When I woke up from surgery, I was on a higher dosage morphine drip.
Our conversations have changed from year to year and now we’re talking about hospitalizations and health. Gee, we’re old 😂
K asked me how I was since my anxiety attack in Feb. I said I’m already fine and that recognizing and accepting that J was just truly evil that’s why I went through all that shit is part of my healing process. And art therapy. I may not yet be healed but I’m much better—to the extent I had been off alprazolam for more than a month.
We were like Cinderella and had to break up the party at 12 midnight. Three of us are moms while K has a strict sleep and gym schedule.
I had a very good guy friend (if there was a best guy friend, he was it) in college and we were close. He was there every heartbreak I had. He was protective of us girls in the group. I often had drinking sessions with him. Right after we graduated he confessed: that he liked me from the beginning, on the first day our block met. He said he was in love with me and he took the same classes I took so that we would be classmates. I was so clueless then; I had no idea. And the reason why he didn’t pursue me was I had a boyfriend who was his fraternity brother. When I was free, he was in a relationship with our common friend. He said it was not meant to be.
So I brushed it off and it was like my rejection of him. I did not entertain him.
But his girlfriend knew she was just playing second fiddle to me and was very insecure of me. Since I was also her friend, I chose to cut the ties with both of them so they can live in peace. I had since transferred to Manila.
However, he was being weird and was sending me weird messages on YM and emails. I had to lie that I was already married (but I wasn’t) but the message got warped and it made a whole lot of mess, to make the long story short. His girlfriend was so angry that she called me names and other stuff on the phone. I don’t know why she was angry when I was the one who was already cutting her bf off. So this gf and her bestfriend slandered me online and so on and so forth. Later, things soured between the couple that they split. This guy friend was so angry with me (and I don’t know why when he was the one who was being weird) and that finally burned our bridges.
Years later, the former gf and her bestfriend apologized to me and said it was jealousy and deceit by the guy that propelled her to do what they had done to me. For me it was a non-issue anymore since they were so far removed from my reality…I mean I was leading a very different life and they no longer mattered.
A few months ago, this guy friend requested to follow me on Instagram. I was glad that he no longer has issues with me. Today, this guy friend reached out to me on IG and asked about my kids that he often sees on my posts. I also commented on his kids and we were talking about kids, his wife, raising children, etc. It was like nothing happened. We are finally mending fences after 20 years. He said when we come back to our hometown, he’ll bring his kids to meet mine.
You know, when the friendship is true, it doesn’t matter how far and how long you had been away from each other. You will still be friends again at some point. Because you respected each other and if you hurt each other in the past, in the end it won’t matter anymore because the ties that bound you are still there.
I can’t say the same for romantic relationships that were built on lies and deceit.
My little pink rose. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This rose struggled but against all odds it bloomed again. It started out as plain pink rose but now it bloomed into a variegated mini rose.
They lived! Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My flowers survived days after their transplant/re-potting. Yey! The real culprit in many of my plants’ death is the root rot because the water didn’t drain well. The planter’s holes were blocked so I spent almost an hour just punching holes in this one and changed soil. Now I have to condition it with humic acid fertilizer that I buy online. This was effective in helping my dormant roses and mums flower again.
My garden at night. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My goal is to fill every nook and cranny of this small courtyard with flowers before we leave this apartment next year. I want this to bloom all year-round.
Slowly. One step at a time. I am building myself up again, mending fences with the past, and forging a new future with new self-respect, love, and appreciation for myself and for whatever I have. Because as I said before, all I want is to have peace and be content.
Time check: 3:42 am. Damn, I only slept for 30 mins. I could no longer go back to sleep. 🤦🏻♀️
