Good morning, welcome to my jungle and a coup on the other side of the world

Sick? Open your door for some fresh air. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

After a good night’s sleep, I was feeling a little bit better but I could still feel my cold is getting the better of me. I sunned myself for some Vit D while sipping my tea.

Mornings here are often beautiful. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
A promise of a lovely day. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My yard is slowly being rehabilitated now that the additional rain water collection is done.

My yard is now ready for garden beds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The old rain water collector with new filtration system. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Household water reservoir connected to the mains. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Now I’m feeling sleepy again. My girls will be fed by my mom at her house so I can have peace. Let’s see if I feel better after my catch-up sleep.


Just woke up with the girls on my bed. I don’t know how we had fitted on my queen bed but we managed. Oh well, when you don’t feel well, you always want mommy beside you to feel comforted. ❤️

My new water filter in action. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Meanwhile, we had been using the new water filter for a week now and it’s so convenient! No more dragging of blue water containers from the gate, up my stairs, and hauling them up on my kitchen counter. It also freed up space on my counter and my dish drain now rests on where the blue water containers used to be.

Installation was a pain at first because my faucet has no groove at the mouth but there are several adapters that came with the system. So far we haven’t had any tummy problems. I must order extra cartridges for when the time comes the filter becomes blocked.


And here’s a coup.

As an international journalist, I must monitor this new development in Russia, a fluid story about the Wagner paramilitary group that has launched what it seemed to be a coup d’état. My subscription of NYT and Nikkei have now more use.

What are the economic and trade implications, we don’t know yet. On top of my mind are oil and gas prices. Inflation is still elevated in most parts of the world but this turmoil in Russia could trigger another round of price hikes as Russia is one of the biggest producers of fossil fuels.

Let’s see in the next two days.


Psychosomatic

It turns out nothing is wrong with me. My bad cholesterol, uric acid, and triglycerides are back to normal from their stratospheric heights in 2021 while my blood sugar (both FBS and hba1c) remains normal. My major organs are fine (unremarkable, the interpretations said). So what’s the deal with my stomach pain that knocked the wind out of me?

It’s stomach acids, not the pancreas, my attending physician said. If I respond to the drug he gave me, then it’s acids. If I don’t, then it’s likely ulcer and I need an endoscopy to ascertain it. But my GI specialist isn’t that perturbed because there is no bleeding or signs that I am at that point. He just gave me an order for the pancreas scan if I wanted to but he says it’s not needed unless I get another similar attack. I will have that scan because stomach acids cannot explain the pain that radiated to my back.

Shit! It’s really stress. It’s eating me alive.

I am really, really done for.

And you know what’s the tragic thing here? They don’t f*cking care if you die. You’re just another tool. Another cog. You are replaceable.

Just like our in-house legal counsel. He had cancer and he worked himself to death. He loved his job because he was a journalist first and then a lawyer second. He bit the bullet for us whenever we had lawsuits. And now, he is forgotten. The new management didn’t even get to know him.


I checked my house first before going to the hospital this afternoon.

This staircase will be torn down soon. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Digging deep for the expanded base for my new industrial strength staircase. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The outside night light. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I can finally close my bathroom door as my granite countertop has been trimmed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Finally, a proper window. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The shelves on the tapered side of the counter. For toiletries maybe? Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Cabinet for toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Bookshelves/lookout platform for my cats. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I strolled a bit to go to the jeepney stop because it’s better to take public transport than bring my car. I don’t want to fight for parking space at the hospital. The campus is teeming with students again after almost 3 years. The first semester was hybrid so it was still like a ghost town here from August to December.

The students are back for the second semester. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I decided to go back to QC early (3 pm) since traffic was light and took the mountain bypass road that I had grown to love through the years.

Faculty housing on my right. My bro didn’t move from their apartment to a three-bedroom housing unit because he didn’t want to maintain a lawn. His own townhouse now doesn’t have any lawn or garden at all. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Driving through a secondary forest. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Maybe moving back here is the right choice. My stress is not as pronounced compared to when I’m back at my apartment in QC. Maybe because I’m cooped up in there. Maybe because I’ve always been a provinciana that the knots in my whole body uncoil when I see trees.

Mental health break

I just finished some spillover work this morning and didn’t bother to help with the edits today. I NEED TO DISENGAGE.

So that’s what I did. By 2 pm after my girls have finished washing the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, we drove south to my hometown to catch the annual February Fair.

But we first checked my tiny house.

My bathroom pendant lights are finally working. I finally have electricity. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The corner of the granite countertop for my lavatory needs trimming or else I won’t be able to close the bathroom door. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Built-in shelves for the girls’ room. Their loft beds will be delivered next week. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Wall fan and curtain rods installed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My walk-out closet. I have a bit of space above the closet for my luggage. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Kitchen almost done, with the powerful Rinnai rangehood already installed. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Dining area pendant lights look cute. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Another angle. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Double kitchen sink finally done. All I need is to be connected to the mains to have water.

Tomorrow I’ll take pics of the outside.

After our house tour, we walked to the fair grounds since it’s so near and it’s more of a hassle to bring the car.

Short cut to the park/fair grounds. We used to call this The Dirt Road but it’s no longer a dirt road since it’s already a fully concrete road now. I used this road a lot to run to my 7 am comm and humanities classes. And computer science class. Why did I even have 7 am classes? 🤦‍♀️ Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Walk, walk, walk… Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Early evening at the park. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Inside the fair grounds. Of course, anime. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Cosplayers, to the delight of my girls. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
At the concert grounds. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Live music. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My girls are enjoying their first open air concert. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Tomorrow I have to wake up early to queue at my gynecologist’s clinic: Mammogram, pap smear, order for executive check up and referral to a gastroenterologist. AND I might as well go all the way, have my osteoma checked by another specialist and schedule for removal.

Up all night

Building a new work desk. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I suddenly had a brilliant idea of going to Ikea this afternoon to buy myself a new work desk so I can give my old one to Twin A because hers is tilting dangerously and is falling apart. I would have a bigger problem if it suddenly crashes.

I had been up all night since the new work desk requires me to build it myself. I started at around 7 pm and finished at 1 am.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The dimensions are almost the same as my old desk: 120 x 60 x 70cm. I was initially aiming for the 140 cm long Lagkapten to accommodate my printer but I realized my room in my new house is much smaller even though I made provisions there for a 140 cm desk. If I find myself wanting more surface area, I could always order another Alex drawer. Or I can mount a wall shelf and place the printer there.

I also have better cable management.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My desk now matches the oak finish of my cabinetry in my tiny house. I just need to make the cables tidier by buying that spiral pipe cord protector/organizer so I can place my workstation in a command position facing the door in my new room. There’s nothing more stressful than seeing unruly cables when you enter a room.

Available on Lazada

I chose not to update my girls’ desks because I will have theirs custom-made together with their loft beds. I will just buy them additional Alex drawers (and more DIY for me) so they will have more storage.

This weekend I will start throwing away old stuff that we have been harboring under the stairs. Then we will start eliminating things that we wouldn’t be bringing to our tiny house.

I’m sleepy. I will collect my thoughts later…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


I’ve been selling my ETF in tranches this week because the outlook is bad in the coming months. While I have already completed the payments for the entire contract with my builder last week, there are extra expenses that I have incurred because of additional posts and making the laundry/utility area downstairs more decent. So I needed to draw down from my stock investments.

This is the reason why I don’t spend on luxury bags, designer clothes, and other unproductive things. Bags are not an investment; an investment is something that will help you increase your earnings—not to boost your ego. Besides, these luxury houses target the insecure middle class customers who want to be perceived as rich. It’s aspirational.

It’s so superficial.

I buy a lot of bags–some expensive, some are just so-so because I often break my bags. I rotate them so as not to tax one particular bag and destroy it before I get my ROI.

I’ve been investing in the stock market since the great market crash of 2008. This enabled me to build my house debt-free. Although it’s small, I have the option to enlarge it later but then I don’t want a big house to clean…At least I can get off the rental market now and build wealth faster. One of the killers of wealth-building is consumer debt and rent. I don’t have both. This recession is a buying opportunity, granted that I don’t lose my job or some other catastrophe happening like illness.

So for those who look down on me for not having designer bags or designer everything–I want to pose this question: Do you already have a retirement fund? Are you fully insured? Do you have emergency funds? No? Then come back to me when you already have one/some.

Little changes

It’s a new year and I have again changed the position of my bed, hopefully this can help with my very problematic sleep. I also wanted to have my workstation removed from a vulnerable position i.e. back facing the door, because there were many instances when my girls walked in during my calls because I forgot to lock my door. Even though I have my virtual background on, it’s still unnerving to have them walk in on my calls and webinars unannounced.

So this is the first thing you will see when you enter my room. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My bed is at the farthest corner of my room. CallMeCreation.com

I could have turned the bed perpendicular to the window…but that was the old position of my bed and it carries undesirable memories, so nope. I would have gotten more space with the old bed position–but nope.

My workstation’s back is facing a less vulnerable position. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
But the background is still not Zoom-worthy. I have to stick to virtual backgrounds for interviews. Photo via webcam.
Hopefully this is a cozier spot for the bed so I can have better sleep quality. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I’m going to miss these big white walls where I can put a lot of artworks and photos. My tiny house has limited wall space for such things so I have to rotate frames depending on my mood.


There are now 50 individuals (mostly from government agencies) who have signed up for the data analytics training I helped organize with the graduate school of my university. That number includes my friends. The dean told me that they are prioritizing my group when it comes to scheduling since it was my idea to have this training for journos/communicators.

The unfortunate thing here is I could not commit yet to specific dates because of my travel itinerary, which still hangs by a thread. What is definite is that I need to to go to Singapore in April; I would have to assign the Bangkok coverage (two conferences) to my senior reporters in May because I would be moving houses (5 days off). I decided that I would only use 5 days off in December 2023 so I can have 5 days off for that training then another 5 days off in October for my birthday leave (that hopefully I can finally use for travel abroad).

Or I can ask for a study leave since this is a legit professional training.

Let’s see.


I didn’t work today. I could have but I decided not to. I declared my own holiday. Well, none from Southeast Asia i.e. Philippines submitted a story anyway. So what did I do the entire day? I really don’t know. It’s surprising how I can pass the day without remembering what I did. I think I watched videos of watercolor painting the entire day???

And I was also planning in my head how I would place the furniture in my tiny house so that required a lot of daydreaming.

Because I could manipulate spaces in my head, my contractor told me that I saved myself about PHP 20k since I was able to draw my plans in 1D but could still picture in my head how my sketch would translate to 3D or in the actual space. We were able to understand each other when I was showing him on-site where and how things will be positioned. If I didn’t have the capacity to imagine the spaces in my head, he would have to have the plans rendered in AutoCAD/Autodesk or Sketchup, which is an extra expense. Maybe it runs in the family 🤔. My uncle is an architect and he designed the blueprint of my parents’ house. It didn’t enter my mind to try my hand at architecture or interior design but I have always been interested in it. I always thought I didn’t have a knack for it.

Now that I have designed my own house, I think I can say I did it!

I would just have to invite my uncle to my housewarming to show it off and see his reaction. 🤣

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Mission accomplished

It was rainy today. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I finally completed the last curtain panel for the living room of my apartment. All of these, as usual, are done by hand (no sewing machine whatsoever). I like to create things with my hands. I made these panels much longer so it can also be used in my tiny house, which has larger windows. I was shifting between finishing the curtains and drawing bookmarks for a few days now so that my mind and hands are occupied.

I like that the living room looks warmer and homey. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The grandma aesthetic (floral curtains) has softened the industrial look of this apartment’s French windows, with all the grills and aluminum screen frame. Once the floral curtains are juxtaposed with the hard clean lines of the black window frames, the pendant lights, and cabinetry of my new home, my home will feel cozier and not very stark in its newness. I will soften the look further with floral throw pillows, art, and books. Lots of art and books.

The grey sofa here is still functional but its upholstery is butt-ugly now because of the cat scratches. I will have it reupholstered in emerald green or chintz and transfer it to my mom’s house because it’s too big for my own house. The red divan will also be reupholstered and be given to my brother and sister-in-law for their gaming room/den because it fits in the nook under the stairs.

Now that I’m done with these floral gina curtains, I proceeded to re-work the muslin curtains and lengthen them for the girls’ room in my house. So of course, my cats want to join.

Photo by CallMeCreation.com

Another mission accomplished: buying Twin I’s spicy Korean fried chicken from Jjang Kkae. It was rainy and it was so cozy just staying at home but I had to drag my ass our of the house to buy this and some banchan. I also bought a variety of mushrooms for hotpot that i will cook some time this week.

Yum. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

I just want to stay in bed all day tomorrow. 🙃 Or draw.

I don’t want to work and be an adult tomorrow.