And we have 14,000 new infections today. Very apt.
To make myself feel better, I tried again the oven and grill feature of my new stove top. Less oily food for us today.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I received some packs of Quorn products from its parent company as part of their relaunch in the Philippines. So for today I baked the vegetarian nuggets while i cooked tamagoyaki on top of the oven.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
After this I removed the pan and replaced it with a wire mesh to grill okra.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I haven’t tried grilling steaks on this gas griller and I don’t want to ruin a perfectly seasoned steak. Not yet anyway. But I tried grilling burgers on it last week.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It has been quite a while since my meals have become irregular. Too much work. But it was last week when I realized that I had consistently been eating less in terms of serving and frequency. Only twice a day. I tried fasting yesterday with only milk as my source of nutrition (breakfast). By 4 pm I gave up. I couldn’t go without food. I needed to eat, especially after writing a 1,500-word article.
So if I should attempt again to fast, I should do it on a weekend and not when I am pressured to write epics. 🤦🏻♀️
I am distracting myself with cooking because right now I want to kill the DOH secretary. I don’t want to be stressed today with news about him and the COA report. And the mass resignation of healthcare workers.
Meanwhile, the lockdown may be extended given the steady rise in the number of new cases and hospitals operating at maximum capacity. A lot of people are going hungry again. I am in touch with one of the community pantry organizers here and they are now distributing food packs to jeep and tricycle drivers. I’ll see if I can give them a hand during my work leave.
The strict enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) a.k.a. hard lockdown has started a few hours ago. Since I was busy with work, it was only this morning I was able to go to the barangay hall to apply for a quarantine pass.
But they sent me home because I didn’t bring a 1×1 photo for the pass, which they will make as an ID of sorts. Who the hell carries a 1×1 photo all the time?!
Good thing I always have a stash of photo papers at home. I printed 1×1 photos all over my A4 sized photo paper. I just don’t know how I will be able to use up all those when everything these days are digital 🤔
I went back to the barangay hall only to be told that I don’t need a quarantine pass because I can use my work ID. Drats. So I called up my househelp and told her to apply for her quarantine pass instead so both of us can go out.
While I was at it, I asked about the seal of authentication for my vaccine card. The barangay officer took my card and said the barangay captain will collate all those needing the authentication seal and have them stamped then they will return it to us. I just hope they do it soon.
Then I spent the rest of the morning and noon panic-buying. I bought a lot of meat from a Monterey Community Market, then shopped at Puregold for other food and household supplies we will need in the next 2-3 weeks. Then went to UP for vegetables.
I just want to quit. Quit this company. All I can say is you cannot make yourself small for somebody who refuses to grow up.
As I told a friend, I just do my job, keep my head low, get my salary, then jump when the opportunity comes.
I’ve been looking at openings but so far none stirred excitement inside me. I mean, none tugged at my insides yet.
Pita bread and curry. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Beef strips with enoki mushrooms that I made myself. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Since we’re stuck indoors again, I have been trying to cheer ourselves by cooking yummy food (and yes I am forcing my girls to eat Indian food). I no longer know how to make things better for the four of us (the other househelp already went home to her hometown and got married the other day) because…we are all tired of all of these.
I have already asked for a leave of absence for a few days this month before they announced the lockdown. I was initially planning to go to my hometown for a mini-break (bike to nearby towns and just chill) but I guess that won’t be happening anytime soon. So I will be stuck with nothing else to do.
So the rains just took a little breather this weekend but it seems like more will come in the next few days as we see we have three tropical depressions forming north and northeast. They look like they will be typhoons heading to Japan later this week, which may pull more southwest monsoon rains for us in Luzon and in Taiwan. Monsoon + lockdown = cabin fever.
Or extended lockdowns = joblessness/hunger. I need to keep my coffers available again for the community pantry.
Which spells trouble for us economically. As my economist brother posted on social media:
The purpose of the quarantine is to delay the surge so that the system, specifically the health care system can prepare itself. The question is, does the system have the resources it needs to prepare/recalibrate/upgrade? Can we expect additional health workers? Do we have enough vaccines for the planned intensified vaccination program? Have these vaccines been distributed or are they ready for distribution? Have we taken stock of the capability of our LGUs to vaccinate or intensify the vaccination drive? I HOPE THESE WERE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION BEFORE LAGUNA WAS PUT UNDER MECQ. REMEMBER QUARANTINE DOES NOT KILL THE VIRUS. BUT IT KILLS THE LOCAL ECONOMY AND THE LIVELIHOOD OF OUR PEOPLE.
Because this freaking government does not have any concrete plans at all. we’re 1.5 years into this crisis and yet we still don’t have plans. The healthcare sector is completely exhausted. There are no more nurses; hospitals are understaffed. Doctors are tired.
People are sinking into anxiety, anger, and/or depression because of this never-ending lockdowns while other countries with high vaccination rates are returning to normal. They’re opening Lion King on Broadway, while we scramble to get our shit together before we hunker down again and wait for another disaster.
So Filipinos are distracting themselves with the Olympics, with the stellar performances of our athletes, despite all odds. They’re serving as beacons in the dark days ahead.
Our boxer, Eumir Marcial just knocked out his opponent today, assuring him of at least a bronze medal. He’s up for silver in the next bout.
A genuine display of sportsmanship! Philippines’ Eumir Marcial and Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan hug after the men’s boxing middleweight division at the #Tokyo2020#Olympics. Read more: bit.ly/3ygA204. (: Luis Robayo/AFP)
Meanwhile, another woman in a “masculine” sport is gunning for gold. Nesthy Petecio will be facing off with her Japanese opponent in the finals. As Manny Pacquiao has proven, the Philippines is one country to beat in boxing.
Meanwhile, EJ Obiena is also up for gold in pole vaulting. These guys are so inspired now that they saw how Filipinos celebrated Margielyn Didal and Hidilyn Diaz the past few days.
Hoping for three golds. So at least my countrymen would have something to smile about in the coming days.
This reddit post has made the rounds on social media because of its universality among Filipinos. This is one of the most annoying attitudes I have encountered among those Filipinos who just happened to have stepped on foreign soil. I related to J this situation when he told me of his encounters with at least two Filipinos here in the Philippines who have distanced themselves from Philippines-based Filipinos and elevated themselves as superior to those who stayed here. One insisted he is a Singaporean (even if he’s really a Filipino) and he is just “forced” to be here because his company assigned him here because, well, he is Filipino! While the other one is a Fil-Am who grew up in the US and kept on insisting he is American and he disdains being identified as Filipino during his conversation with J.
As I told J, some of us chose to stay here because we can. Our families have means to stay here, meaning our parents didn’t have to go abroad to give us decent lives. Some of us stayed to help the country because if all the skilled manpower and the intelligentsia left, who would be there to help the oppressed and the voiceless build the country? Brain drain devastates a country. This is the primary reason why none in my immediate family left the country, even if we’re going to be a cesspit come 2022 elections.
And yet we get flak from those who just happened to have a whiff of foreign air. I have heard from my classmates, my sister (who tried to live in the US for a while) and other relatives and ex-in-laws stories about the Filipino communities in the US, the primary preoccupation of their members is to one-up each other. The reddit thread in the above post also talked about that toxic environment among Filipinos that some of them have all together avoided Filipinos or left the US to live back here. One high school classmate of mine told me about the toxic community she was forced to live with for a time when she was pursuing her master’s degree in the US. It was so toxic that she avoided all Filipinos within the state.
I had a lovely drive yesterday to my hometown to pick up my other daughter after she spent three weeks with her grandma and cousins.
On the way there, I passed by a huge fire along the highway that was causing some traffic build up. When I passed by the houses engulfed by the flames, I could feel the heat even inside my airconditioned car. Even the trees were on fire.
Fire! Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Before proceeding to my mom’s house, I drove around the campus to catch a glimpse of my old stomping ground.
I used to bring the girls here every summer when they were younger, with mats for some kind of picnic so they can run around. We flew kites too. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It was beautiful but eerie due to absence of humans. I would have loved to lie on my back on that green grass to stare at the blue sky. But the roving police will surely apprehend me as they are still on a lockdown.
Football field without the goal posts. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I spent countless afternoons here playing football in high school and college, rain or shine. This used to be teeming with football players and athletics varsity players. I remember plunking on the grass with my sports bag every afternoon to put on my knee pads, knee socks and football boots. And gloves. Yes, I was a goal keeper. Oh how I *loved* rolling in the mud.
On the way back to Manila, I dropped off my nephew at their house and took this photo of the road that leads to bypass mountain road. I love taking this bypass road.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It was already dark when we arrived at home. It was nice to get out of my cave and drive to see some greenery.
When the government fails the Filipinos, people power rises. Bayanihan at its finest.
Maginhawa community pantry. Photo from Facebook.
Filipinos are accepting and have big hearts. We do not hesitate helping our brethren, be it our fellow countrymen or foreigners (white Russians, European Jews, and Vietnamese refugees come to mind). A lot went hungry when the government started imposing lockdowns again without enough or no financial support to the most vulnerable. So kind-hearted souls started a community pantry, in Maginhawa St, Quezon City.
The sign says “Give only based on what you can afford. Get only based on what you need.” According to anecdotal reports, no one or only a few abused this honesty system. There may be one or two who brought sacks but most only got what their family needs. The queues were long but everyone was disciplined.
This community pantry concept spread like wildfire nationwide. ❤️ It is so heartwarming. When the government failed, ordinary Filipinos rose up to the occasion to make sure no one goes hungry.
Farmers and fisherfolk donated to the community pantry. Excess produce and catch were given to those in need.
Of course dirty politicians will mess up this pure-hearted endeavor.
What this FB post says is that the barangay captain in Los Baños has been demonizing the founders/organizers of the local community pantry because they refused to play politics. The barangay captain wanted them to move the donations to the barangay hall/office so it would look like it’s his initiative. Or the donated goods will be repacked with his name/seal in it. Because politics.
DDS trolls began red-tagging the efforts, saying this is a communist move to brainwash the people. Of course they will tarnish the movement because this is a slap on the face of the Duterte administration that failed the people. It proved that the demon in Malacañang doesn’t fucking care and is just concerned about image and obsessed with bringing down critics.
As part of my continued support to the less fortunate, I will buy rice packs tomorrow and bring these to various community pantries around me.
Because we can’t let anyone die of hunger while we are privileged to be able to stay at home and live comfortably.
Philippines’ Eumir Marcial and Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan hug after the men’s boxing middleweight division at the 
Read more: 
: Luis Robayo/AFP)
