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.
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.
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 fell asleep last night earlier than normal. I no longer know what normal is since getting out of therapy. I no longer have insomia and I feel more rested now when I sleep, unlike in the past two fucking years.
Anyway, I must have slept with my phone in my hand because I was chatting with my colleague on WhatsApp regarding her resignation and transfer to another company. More of that later. I must have been already dead to the world before 10 pm. I accidentally left my door open and my fairy lights were still on. Got woken up at 6 am because Kimchi was asking for breakfast.
We left for my hometown at 7:30 am today and arrived by 9 am. Went straight to my tiny house. It’s already a house!
My contractor and I had a discussion regarding the addition of bracketless shelves because I want stuff off the very limited floor space.
They haven’t tiled yet as they are chipping away at the wall to accomodate the pipes from the kitchen sink.
And here is my daughter, showing off the huge rainshower head and comparing it to her face for scale.
I have one extra curtain rod and toilet paper holder that I need to return to Wilcon and have it exchanged for a TV wall bracket.
So my colleague corrected me when I did the Self-Assessment tool for E-pass/S-pass. I entered the wrong figure, it should have been SGD 10,400 and not 10,000. When I did that, I qualified for an E-pass.
But then that means our company would only give me the minimum 10.4k so I can transfer to SG. I said, NO WAY! I’m not going to survive with that low pay with two children. Frankly, I’m not that gung-ho about transfering to SG anyway, I told my colleague. “Why would I even lower my standard of living, like cramming ourselves in a studio because that is all I could afford with a 10.4k salary, for a company that is not looking after my welfare?!”
My own house vs a studio apartment for SGD 2k. 😶
The thing here is, she thinks that SG is the end-all-and-be-all for me since she is trying to apply for permanent residency, as well as other Filipinos she knows (like our office staff, S). I told her if our company would replace me with somebody who is willing to be transferred to SG, it’s ok with me. There are other jobs out there. I said Bloomberg editors for economy, speed desk, and emerging markets are in Manila because they don’t want to be transferred to SG. As my friend, K, said, he felt that his SG-based manager was lonely when he visited her there. Overall, SG is a lonely place, he said.
My colleague told me that her parents transferred to HK from China even though they are comfortable in the mainland and suffered hardships in HK to give their children a better future. I said, I’m not in that position, I’m a single parent and stability is my priority. Maybe if they stayed in China, she wouldn’t have the English language skills she has now. But it’s different with my kids.
But then, I am now doubting whether I’m short-changing my girls…
In any case, as a single parent, I won’t be able to focus on my kids if we’re in SG because I would be working myself to the ground because 1) I need to earn more since we’re gonna be crammed in a studio apartment; 2) they would be enrolled in a substandard international school because I cannot afford the mid-priced ones; 3) we will not be able to afford leisure trips or other luxuries because cost of living is realy high.
This Quora comment is already two years old. Many things have changed, especially with the accelerating inflation rate.
My colleague is only looking at it from the perspective of a single person. In HK, her parents were entitled to free healthcare and free education for children. In SG I’m not entitled to those and I pointed it out to her. She agreed that free healthcare and education are less of a burden, not only for families with children but for retirees as well.
Maybe because I’m so adamant at staying put (but not staying put in the current company) because I already found my ikigai.
I don’t know, life is too short to be always finding your place in this world, to be always floating, not belonging anywhere. Life is too short to always be struggling. Period. If you found your peace, then stay. I discovered my balance just recently after emerging from therapy, let me enjoy it for a while.
My peace is always disturbed by other people’s opinions that I may be short-changing my children by not going abroad and giving them the opportunities presented by living there. I’m always guilt-ridden because of that.
On the first day of 2023, the Philippines fucked it up.
A technical glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday has closed the Philippines off from the rest of the world. Nobody could come in and out. All flights were cancelled/delayed until today. Our Manila reporter is stuck somewhere in the province and she’s still not sure if her flight tomorrow night will push through.
I am part of this department’s group chat and nobody from the government could shed light immediately what was going on 🤦♀️. Talk about competence. Ghad.
Anyway, this has long been overdue. The redevelopment/modernization of this airport has been in the PPP list since forever but the Duterte administration ditched all unsolicited proposals from the private sector to improve the Philippines’ main gateway to favor San Miguel’s Bulacan Airport, which is very out of the way, and Sangley Airport in Cavite, which requires more infrastructure development (read: impassable narrow roads) to be of any use. I’ve written about it so many times over so many years.
Now this administration has been sending conflicting messages to the world; camp 1 says no, NAIA will no longer be redeveloped because we already have two airports in the works (well, they won’t be operational until 2032), while camp 2 says, it is already up for bidding. <<<< This was the last story I wrote in November and I was ahead of everybody else in publishing that the bids will be opened up this first quarter, with the TOR being drafted with help of ADB.
This is why we’re so fucked up. Too much self-interest reigning over what is good for the country. If only they had let this redevelopment push through in 2016, we already would have had a better and functional international airport by this time. Six years had passed = enough time for construction. This fucked up airport has four terminals disconnected from each other. If you’re flying in from abroad and have a connecting flight to the provinces in another terminal, better make sure you have enough time to make the transfers because you have to hail taxis or whatnot to transfer you to another terminal. No fucking sky trains.
I see some friends on social media ranting that they are still stuck and couldn’t come back home.
Good job, Philippines, good job. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
I drifted off to sleep very early last night and I just found myself surrounded by cats at midnight. Then at around 6:30-ish, I woke up with Kimchi’s favorite toy on my bed, as if she was offering it to me. She and Sushi occasionally give me love offerings like small dead rats 🙀 back when the other unit was harboring too many pests that they cross over to my unit.
Thank God I am moving out. I don’t have to deal with pests, messy neighbors, and inconvenient parking situation.
Speaking of moving out, my girls and I went to Wilcon Home Depot after getting cat supplies at Tiendesitas to buy proper curtain rods and curtain rod brackets, shower curtain rods, shower curtains, towel bar, toilet paper holder, bathroom hooks, and behind-the-door bedroom hooks. I chose the expensive brands as these were made of matte stainless steel, feel solid, and will last for an eternity or until I get tired of them and have them replaced.
I was about to chuck a Birke toilet paper holder into the cart when Twin A said, “MOMMY, WHY ARE YOU BUYING A TOILET PAPER HOLDER FOR ONE THOUSAND PESOS?! We just buy it in Ikea, it’s much cheaper.”
But I want this stainless steel beauty. 😟
So ok, I changed it to the cheaper Pozzi one to appease her. But I didn’t relent with the other fixtures because they all must go with the Hamden, Birke, Kohler, or Grohe ones that my contractor bought (pre-approved by me).
We were looking at tubs and I really, really want this upright soaking tub:
But it won’t fit in my shower area to have a bath/shower combo. I also did away with the glass enclosure because based on the few condo bathrooms that I’ve seen and used (mostly with J), it’s hard to remove the water stains when you have hard water. Using acid (citric acid from lemons or acetic acid from vinegar) to cut the water stains don’t work if they have already set in. Plus it’s too much work to wipe down the glass enclosure every time you take a shower. A good shower curtain will be a better option since you just chuck it in the washing machine and you’re done. Plus you can have more artistic choices with shower curtains. I can even commission a local artist to create a shower curtain on polyester fabric cloth.
I still have to complete my shopping before everything becomes permanent e.g. tiling work.
❄️ It’s cold here because of the breeze coming from the lake. ❄️🌨️ And we’re at the foot of the mountain.
This morning at 6 am, I cleaned the cat litter box, refilled it with fresh litter, filled up my cats’ drinking fountain, filled their plates to the brim with kibbles, and off I went to drive south.
Since today was declared by the governent to be a non-working holiday, people opted to stay where they were. This meant no private vehicles! Wohoo!
All the way to the south, still no cars!
It only took me less than 1.5 hrs to reach my mother’s house. I then checked my house, which was devoid of workers since it’s a public holiday.
I edited some articles from China this morning until my kids were ready to leave at around 1 pm. We first went to a local park because I wanted to show the girls the former lake port where I boarded the ferry 🛥️ that whisked me away from my hometown to Guadalupe, Makati when I was in college. Because I wanted a more adventurous commute to Metro Manila. 😜 I did that several times when I had to go to UP Diliman.
After some photos, we went straight to the lakeside resort. It’s very windy.
Since there was no other editor around, I picked up more stories from China and India for editing. 😑 My kids and their cousins had played in the hotspring pool while I slaved away.
It was already dark when I finished work.
They turned off the hotspring valve but the pool is still warm. However, I’m not enticed to dip because I’m cold.
I’ll just wake up early to have a dip when the pool man turns on the hotspring valve. Before I start to edit again. 😑
If it weren’t for my cats, I won’t be rushing back to the city tonight. But then I miss my bed. There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed, customized according to your preference and sleeping habit/s.
Everyday I’m closer to having a home of my own. ❤️ A home that is customized according to how we live and I can change it however I want without having to deal with another entity who would object to my plans.
I had everything painted flat white so artworks would pop out. This clinical look can also be softened with curtains, beddings, books, or tchotchkes (if my cats will not destroy them). I still have the woven runner from Zamboanga/Sulu that I’m still figuring if it’s better to hang it like a tapestry or have it framed.
Still no upper cabinets yet since the lower cabinets are complicated. I have a pullout garbage disposal unit under the sink.
I could still hear the grinder cutting tiles outside. But I think all the tile work will be done by end of the month.
I had worked on the documents that I need to submit for my application for a new Meralco line and for a new water line. Our water utility people will be coming over on Monday to check the water pressure and configure if I would still need a water pressure pump and tank and if I do, what horsepower and how many cubic meters are needed.
After I got my barangay certificate of residency, I went to the mountain bypass road to buy my friend from my old TV network bird of paradise plants. The ones I gave him last year died because they were battered by winds on their condo balcony.
And I went to the flower vendors along the national highway to buy my mom her favorite flowers.
Painting, cabinetry work, lights and switches… Will soon be a home ❤️🏡
I’m taking photos of areas in my house to see what I need to buy more of (curtain rod hooks, TV wall bracket, clothes hooks, towel bar) and what I will no longer use or can’t fit in my house (a lot).
It was raining/drizzling the entire day yesterday so I couldn’t do a campus walk. I’ve been out of exercise for almost 3 months and got bloated again. 🤦♀️
So I went out under the rain last hight to buy an eyeliner from Watsons. My girls were out with friends from 2 pm and only came back at 8 pm after dinner with friends (with a friend’s parent, who remembered me from high school).
My walk wasn’t enough so treadmill it is.
Got tired, uneven sleep = early night. I fell asleep holding my phone.
Staying here is helping me adjust my body clock again. Listening to forest sounds and having more fresh air lull me to sleep. Now I’ve woken to early bird chirps that you hear from forests.