Knee surgery was a success. Thought it was going to be a difficult recovery but three days later, after the anesthesia has worn off, I don't feel so much pain. I only needed crutches for a day but the following days I'm able to walk around the house, albeit limping. I was hoping to get two months WFH approved but I think I'll be back to normal in no time. I hope so.
I've been eating fast food a lot the whole time I was confined. Thanks McDo. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights. A night longer than expected. I wasn't cleared for discharge on the same day of my operation since the anesthesia has not completely worn off and I'm still being observed.
So what happened to my knee? I have a lateral meniscal tear on the right knee and a cartilage defect. I underwent chondroplasty to smoothen and reshape the damaged cartilage, arthroscopic partial meniscectomy to remove the damaged part of the torn meniscus, and debridement to remove any damaged tissue around the wound. So much damage lol.
I'm looking forward to recover fully because it's Christmas season and it's gonna be so busy I don't want to miss out.
My surgeon sent me a photo of my intact ACL and inner meniscus which is good news. I don't know which is which in the photo I only care than my ACL is good. Yey!
Thankful that my HMO was able to cover everything in full (except for a very minimal miscellaneous fee). The final bill amounted to 180k+, with Philhealth covering around 60k. ☺️
I'm scheduled for right knee surgery on Friday. Please pray for me. I have a meniscal cyst that needs to be cleaned up. Then possibly they could also repair my meniscus. Stitch the torn part together. I don't know. My knee started locking frequently this year. By frequently I mean it happened five times since March. It's super painful when it happens. Like 8/10 💀. I've mentioned it a couple of times in this blog. The pain has been worrying enough for me to consult about it. After an MRI we've confirmed a cyst that's big enough to cause the frequent dislocation of my knee.
Hopefully I recover fast. The procedure isn't as complex as my ACL reconstruction so hopefully I'd be walking in no time. Hopefully. It sucks that I have to pause coming to the gym for this. I don't want to waste all the progress we've made when we started with Coach Gene. It's been great working out. I've never felt this good with my body despite still being on the obese scale haha. I feel stronger and leaner. I really wanna be in shape and become fit. I need the strength. At the state of my knees I really wanna grow old strong.
It's sucks that I already have osteoarthritis this young. Really limits my movement. Then again, it's kinda my fault my body deteriorated this early.
Anyway, I've been working 8 hours straight this isn't me. But also I don't wanna stop? Urgh.
It's office day today! New company policy says we have to leave 10pm onwards if we want to be eligible for the shift transport allowance (STA) which is like Php300 something per day. They used to be very lenient with this, as long as you clock in the office and stay at least 4 hours you'll get an incentive. But now they're being strict. Oh well! Guess I have to wait then!
Time check: 7:27PM
Just got back from dinner and a leisurely stroll. Had pho and spring rolls at Em Ha Noi next door, then walked to Muji to look around. I was gonna get a foot massage at a nearby spa but realized I have a meeting in an hour, and also, I need to work haha.
Pressure
I just finished two low priority items recently and was excited to start with this one big task that I've been pushing off for so long because I wanted to do away with the easy stuff first. Now that I'm ready to sit down and pour my brain into it, my manager told me to prioritize something else! Hahaha
So this new priority involves exploring the AI capability of the Power BI dashboard I created last quarter. It's a really curious task, except that they wanted to present this to the higher ups next month so there's the pressure. Whew.
Time check: 9:16PM
Normally I should be home right now but I have to wait for 10PM, also I have a call then so haaay. I've never stayed this long in the office. It's usually pretty quiet during the early EMEA hours, but when the NA shift starts people start pouring in and taking calls left and right. It's noisy!
I can't believe it's been a month since we flew to Bangkok to celebrate our eighth anniversary. It's the first time we celebrated outside the country. Quite honestly it's a bit spontaneous, booked flights and accommodation just a week before. Partly because we had money to spare at the time. We got our condo at Avenida refunded, lost 50% but the other half we got was more than enough for a good vacation outside the country. It's the best vacay ever! Can't wait to be back!
Here's my Bangkok vlog:
For the whole trip which was 4 days we spent roughly ₱91k
✅ Roundtrip flight was around ₱40k with PAL ✅ Four nights at Maison Hotel Bangkok was ₱17k ✅ Cash pocket money was around ₱21k ✅ And credit card spending was ₱13k
Not bad at all! Which is why I can't wait to go back already! I could imagine spending way more for a metro staycation had we stayed here. Not considering the flight, we'd probably spend more than 50k for a fancy staycation and a steak dinner hehe.
Here's our complete itinerary:
Day 1 (arrival at night)
Dinner at SW1 Market
Day 2
Lunch at Bangkok Train Station (Lap Paak)
Ayutthaya
Dinner at McDo
Day 3
The Grand Palace
Wat Pho
Lunch at The Deck
Malling and dinner at ICONSIAM
Day 4 (departure at night)
Lunch at Nobu Bangkok
Anyway, here's what went down at Bangkok:
Day 1: Arrival and SW1 Market
We arrived at Bangkok around 7PM. Obviously didn't have the whole day so as soon as we got to the hotel, we just dropped our bags and walked to the nearest night market which was SW1 Market.
It's like one kilometer away from the hotel and a good 16min walk. It was pretty far for my standards but it was a great place to experience their night market! Lots of food options! Some good, some bad. My favorites were pad thai, crispy pork, and crispy pancakes. Thai milk tea was also good! We tried crispy insects which literally tastes like seasoned nothing haha it's just crispy, nothing special. The mango pomelo sago I tried was also underwhelming, their mangoes aren't that sweet, pomelo isn't too, and the coconut meat was not real it's like coconut gulaman? Mango sticky rice was quite good though. Their mangoes are big but not as sweet unlike Philippine mangoes which is a bummer cos I really love mango sticky rice here. But their sticky rice and coconut cream? So goood! Then we also tried some skewered stuff, crocodile meat, chicken, and beef. Nothing special, I guess I didn't like the barbecue sauce. Wish I had the capacity to try a lot more dishes, but I got full already!
Today I clocked in 12k+ steps! Whew!
Day 2: Ayutthaya and McDo
This was an adventure. We didn't join any tours so we really planned this day out. Ayutthaya is famous for being the old capital of Thailand, before the Burmese attacked and occupied the city. They obliterated every royal structure, burned down temples to extract gold, and beheaded buddha statues everywhere. Now it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to historic parks, preserved ruins, and Buddhist temples.
We took a cab to Bangkok Railway Station and bought a train ticket to Ayutthaya. It was only 30baht for the two of us which is really cheap. The train is PNR levels though, fan only, and had so many stops. It took 2 hours to get to Ayutthaya. It's 80km north of Thailand.
After alighting at the station we booked a tuktuk tour, they're right by the entrance offering packages to tourists. They're not tour guides but they're gonna drive you to your chosen destinations and wait for you while you look around. We found it really convenient especially that the temples are far apart and we got there around 2pm already. They have a list of all the popular temples, parks, and attractions and you just point to where you wanna go and the driver will get you there. Depending on how much time you have, cos temples usually close at 5pm, the driver will suggest spots that are near each other so you can maximize the tour. It cost us 1,200baht for 3hours. Quite steep but pretty convenient if you ask me!
We were so exhausted after visiting 4 or 5 templates that we wanted to get back to Bangkok as quickly as possible and have dinner at Hia Lek Chinatown. Initially we bought the same ordinary train back, it arrives much later but drops us off near Chinatown (Hua Lampong). But after learning that there's another train that leaves earlier, has less stops, and arrives earlier at Bangkok as well - we decided to take that. Even if it means riding another train to Chinatown because it stops at a different train station - Krung Tep Aphiwat - which btw looks like an airport wow.
Train to Bangkok was super full. People were standing. But it's not MRT rush-hour full haha. After getting off at Wat Mongkon MRT station (Chinatown) we walked so far to Hia Lek only to find out it's closed! It's not even 9pm! We were so tired that we just decided to go back to the hotel area, find a nearby McDo and eat something local haha.
Clocked in 15k steps today!
Day 3: The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and ICONSIAM
It's ferry day today and day two of temple hopping! We woke up pretty early (before lunch) to commute to our destination. Getting around Bangkok is pretty easy once you figure out the train system which is very efficient and interconnected. We walked to BTS Nana station, rode 'til Siam, transferred trains, and went down at Saphan Taksin station where Sathorn pier is. This is where the river ferries are.
All of the temples in our itinerary are best accessed through Chao Phraya river ferries, and so we decided to go this route. Also, for the experience! We bought an all-day pass with Chao Phraya Express Boat for 150baht each which allows us to ride the ferry unlimited times throughout the day. We thought this was the cheaper option because we had four destinations and each ride costs 40baht but then we realized that there are other boats going around the river that are nearer our destination and that we don't even need to ferry from The Grand Palace to Wat Pho haha.
The Grand Palace was huuuuge! Unlike Ayutthaya which is more nature park like, The Grand Palace screams royalty. Every building inside is meticulously adorned with all the shiny and colorful things. It's a different kind of awesome.
After getting lunch at The Deck where we had a pretty view of Wat Arun, we rode a ferry to ICONSIAM which is freaking enormous mall. It's so overwhelmingly big we got lost in a food court wth. It's also so very beautiful and have lots and lots of food and shopping options. One part of it looks like Podium and the rest is a maze-ing! Haha lol
Learned that we can ride the BTS train home because it's linked to the gold line. It's also at this point that I realized I lost the BTS Day Pass the hotel gave us huhu.
Anyway, it was a really exhausting and fun day! Got a relaxing and amazing foot massage a Sook Siam food court before going home. Then when we got back to the hotel we tried smoking a joint because it's legal in Thailand (medically). There's a smoking lounge right by the hotel. It's our first time to try mary jane and also we're not smokers so we're the ultimate weed virgins. Waste of money I tell ya. We got something beginner friendly that would just calm us down, like 22% something, shared a joint and followed their instructions to inhale twice, wait a bit and puff it out. Then drink water. Well I drank a lot of water cos inhaling that thing dried my whole throat. I brought my tumbler with me which was a bad idea because now my tumbler straw tastes like weed urgh. I hated it. I didn't even feel sleepy.
Anyway, walked 17,500 steps!
Day 4: Nobu Bangkok, flying home
Last day in Bangkok. We booked a Grab car to the airport in advance because we noticed how difficult it is to book a ride here. Or maybe Bolt is better? Had lunch at Nobu which was pretty disappointing because there was no Omakase during lunch and the menu is quite limited. Not to mention it didn't taste any better than Nikkei, which is loads cheaper.
Should've just eaten breakfast at the hotel!
We left Bangkok at around 7pm and got to Manila 11pm. It was definitely our best anniv celebration yet. It's so easy to plan vacations like this when you have money on hand no? Doesn't happen always so I'm really grateful for this year!
Converge has been down for almost 10 hours now it's ridiculous how they've not restored connectivity yet. On top of that, our supposed backup - Smart and GOMO - are both super weak today. Couldn't get any work done the entire day. Good thing I only had one meeting.
Anyway. Just another day in the Philippines, where services are bad and customer support is worse.
The other day I had a thought. We weren't really looking into greener pastures in other countries. I thought we had it good here. 6-figure salaries, stable jobs, comfortable lifestyle. But then I looked at our current pay and wondered how long is this gonna sustain us before we had to switch companies again and look for bigger salaries? I thought I could retire at my previous company cos the culture and the work is perfect, but eventually the salary couldn't keep up with inflation, and I had to leave. If I stayed there, we have to tighten our budget year on year because there's no way the annual increases are gonna match the rate of inflation. Every year we had to downgrade, find some way to limit expenses, or God forbid work another job (not going back there again).
Then I wondered about my colleagues in other countries. How come they were able to stick to a company for more than 5 years without complaining about the salary? How different is the salary structure here vs there that we had to jump ship every now and then to inflation-proof our lives? I don't want to keep changing companies. It's troublesome and you lose retirement benefits for it.
Then I realized maybe we should just move to a different country. A red state in the US, or Australia, or New Zealand, wherever there's opportunity. Maybe Bangkok. I don't know. The more I learn how we have it bad here, the more I get jealous of those who were able to migrate.
I recently got a new work laptop after my old one was marked vulnerable due to having Viber Desktop installed 😅. It's the second time my laptop has been replaced in my three years in the company and I think it's because I kept installing Viber? Haha. I didn't know it was the culprit and I only learned about it this week.
Funny thing is, I got a new model which looks really nice. Seems like I got rewarded for installing illegal apps instead. Still freaking big and heavy, and the screen is more squarish, but it's all good. I couldn't request for a smaller laptop because dev laptops by default are all 15.6 inches. Oh well.
My laptop transfer this time feels more seamless. Thanks to OneDrive. I just had to wait for everything to sync and all my files are back in the same place. However I do need to reinstall everything else. UiPath, SSMS, Notepad++, Github Desktop, etc. And I need to setup my shortcuts again. What I failed to do is backup my Postman APIs so I'm feeling a bit upset about it. I should've created an account. Hay.
I can't believe it's been a week since Charlie Kirk died. My heart still aches unexplainably, and I'm still very angry at the violent liberal freaks celebrating his death, twisting his words, misquoting him, and calling him all forms of phobic when they're the ones who are clearly and evidently incapable of arguing for themselves.
They can't debate him so they called him names. Names an extremist responded to with a gun. That's how dangerous leftist diagnosis is. Instead of discussing why you believe the things you do, with an open mind, with empathy, they label you so wrongly with words that don't even come close to what you believe in. It's lazy. All because their ears start to ring in disagreement. They can't stand being explained to. Can't fathom the possibility of being wrong. Their mentality is built on an echo chamber that crumbles under a test of logic. Weak. Fed only hateful jargon to describe conservatives. They end an argument by walking away and calling you either a bigot, transphobe, homophobe, racist, nazi, or other godawful things just to justify their hate and exit the discussion, or rather an attempt at one.
I'm disappointed at a lot of my friends. But on the bright side, I found new friends to follow. Even influencers.
