It took me an hour and 15 mins to reach my destination today using Skyway 3. I like that infrastructure although it means at least PHP 400 of toll fee roundtrip. It does cut my trip to Manila or Makati by half. I also like driving on that newly opened elevated highway because the view makes you think Metro Manila is sane. The views of the buildings in Makati, Ortigas and BGC are pretty, especially in the afternoon when the sun turns orange. Since I’m driving, I couldn’t stop and take a picture.

Here we are, back to our old ways but with a bit of a distance. This is an ambush interview of the newly appointed president of a company that I’ve been covering for 15 years now. I got two stories from this coverage. The leads were ok, but not that great. At least my diesel and effort were not wasted.

I still have it…charming execs into telling me stuff that they shouldn’t and the next day they would be receiving calls from my readers after my article had dropped into their inboxes. Hahaha! Oh well, dressing up and putting on make-up does wonders.

And since I was already out—on the other side of Metro Manila to be precise—I might as well take advantage and make the most of my fuel expense. I went to Ikea to buy more frames. Yes, frames. Because they’re cheap and they make my drawings look ok. That’s my form of self-love: a belief in my ability even if it’s not really good 😂🤣 and not be the first one to diss myself.

Why didn’t I just order online? Well I have a low EQ and I don’t want to wait for my shipment. But I think after today’s exhaustion, I would have to learn how to wait.

My reporter-friend M who covered the event with me this morning told me he really can’t do watercolors because he lacks the patience because they’re delicate. He says acrylics are easier for him. And for that alone, he would gladly pay for my cherry blossoms if I sell because of my effort, he said.

Well, he is right; doing those cherry blossoms really tested my patience and brush control. I didn’t go beyond brush #4. That’s how small it is.

Speaking of brush control, I really needed a #1 watercolor brush for delicate coloring so I went to Art Bar in SM Mall of Asia. Unfortunately, that branch already closed. So on the way home, I dropped by Art Bar Q. Ave and searched for that elusive brush. Errr, it was like PHP 300. No way because I could buy that online for 1/3 of the price. So I just bought some 5×7 watercolor papers (200 gsm) for my botanicals series and called it a day. I would just have to order online.

I also searched for Kuretake Gansai Tambi set because they’re almost on a par with Winsor & Newton artist’s line for a fraction of the price, according to the artists I follow online. Art Bar is already out of stock since last month so I have to search online. I’m excited to use this one.

When I go back to Japan, I would again be spending hours choosing art materials and stationery in Maruzen. The last time I went to their big Osaka branch, I was there for three hours, choosing pens and notebooks. Like they have gazillions of Pilot Fixion pens and Dr. Grip. I had been going around Tokyo and Osaka looking for art materials or stationery because the Japanese really make good stuff (like the Sakura Pigma Micron pens, Uni Pin [Mitsubishi] and Pilot). Maruzen and Loft are safe bets and you’ll be buying more stuff than planned—my credit card can tell you that. I bought my Travelers Notebook from Loft. That’s why if I’m not scheduled to go to Japan, I get my art and stationery fix at Takashimaya (specifically at Kinokuniya) in Singapore several times a year. Now that Nomura Real Estate and GT Capital (Federal Land) have a JV partnership to build a Mitsukoshi Department Store in BGC, I hopefully don’t have to fly to be able to buy these stuff abroad. The Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Taipei was a downer though. I don’t like that department store.

Speaking of traveling, my Singapore colleague and I were talking about trips to Europe. She asked me what my first destination would be, I said Spain would be first because of the food, art, and the language. First stop is Madrid, then Barcelona, then Granada (because of architecture). Some friends hiked in Spain but since I would be traveling solo, it’s not recommended for me. Before the war in Ukraine, I would have liked to visit Prague, Czech Republic because of the architecture and museums. I’m a boring traveler, I know. However, a friend who visited Prague told me it might not be safe for me being alone there. Let’s see.

But before that, I need to make sure the workload is ok when we do our transition by next month or in May. I don’t want to be gallivanting in Europe while the team is left hanging. Maybe I should limit my trips to Asia this year and wait for things to settle down first. So in that case, I would be going to S. Korea and Japan for non-work-related trips. The rest of Southeast Asia would be work-related.

Oh. I still don’t have my passport yet. 🙄

On a related note, my friend M (the one who told me he wants to buy my sakura) and I talked about not leaving the Philippines and stuff. Because I told him that I would be transferring to my home province after I turned down the relocation to Singapore and he said, yeah, you really don’t need to be there. He said he likes to travel quite a lot (and we follow each other’s travel IGs and it was his IG that propelled me to have that instant trip to Hitachi). But he’s not really hot about migrating since all he needed are here in this country. I guess I can see where he’s coming from since he’s one of those reporters who really didn’t need to work as a reporter. Meaning he’s rich and he’s just living off his investments and family money/business. Journalism is more of a hobby to him. He said it looks weird that he’s one of the few Filipinos who doesn’t want to migrate. I said, it’s not weird. If your heart is really not into it, why follow the trend? Those who want to migrate want a better life and your life is already comfortable here so why rock the boat and just suffer homesickness? Maybe he felt pressured by others to do so that’s why he’s telling me this while he gave me a lift in his car to my parking area (which was very far from our venue today).

I said, don’t worry; there’s two of us who feel the same way.

Kr asked me if I could sketch her Baguio pine trees as seen from Camp John Hay. Lucky that I took a lot of photos of CJH when we spent Christmas there in 2017 and 2018.