Today's walk was lovely. I sometimes look forward to RTO days alone because I don't have to rush walking around BGC to match Urielle's pace cos she walks so fast haha!
Had ramen, froyo, and enough time to spare looking around Muji where I bought stationery.
Iced coffee and fries on the way back cos I got hungry again!
BGC cats are adorable!
It was so chill, I wasn't rushing, at times I would even stop just to ponder.
I love slow walks.
I had trouble getting into my parking slot but thank God I was able to get in properly without scratching the car beside me!
✱ Enjoying my macbook! Love the audio. Still getting used to the interface but so far so good. Also, the battery life is superb!
✱ Had Bible study earlier with sis RJ. It was just the two of us but I'm very thankful for her.
✱ I'm 72kgs now, from 76 last November. I stopped working out cos I got lazy, but I'm doing intermittent fasting with my husband and it's been quite effective.
✱ Been shopping the past few weeks. Our bonuses came in this month so I feel rich right now. Key word: right now haha. Got new sheets, pillow covers, dish rack, organizers, mats, decor, etc. from Nitori and Ikea.
✱ Restarting my skincare routine with Laneige. It's been effective for me before, but I couldn't sustain it cos it was so expensive for me that time. That was 6 years ago. Now I think I can afford it. But it still comes down to discipline though. My thing about skincare routines is that I can only do it at night, but I'm hesitant to cos I want to cuddle with my husband before going to bed and I'm afraid all the product will just be wiped off haha.
✱ Reinstated our Vitality policies after learning from a friend that it boosts our ACP100's coverage by 250k. And my dad said it was okay to not pay it because we're not using it anyway! Hay! Haha
✱ Happy that once a year I get to buy off almost all of the things I want without worry because #bonus haha. Most of the stuff in my cart are 1k upwards and it's difficult to splurge on them every swelday kasi mahal! haha
✱ More on my macbook. I bought a 1TB version and I'm just happy that I have finally transferred product review footage from my phone and ipad, freeing up a loooot of storage on my mobile and tablet. I was finally able to update their software lol. I moved like 50GB worth of videos. I'm so behind my product reviews!
✱ I drew a bit today! I was listening to some Ghibli lofi BGM which had really cute visuals so I decided to copy from it, not realizing they were AI generated lol. I haven't drawn in a while so this is as good as its gets haha
Finally! Got a MacBook Pro M4 this weekend! I've been looking around for good installment deals but their retail price and cash price at the mall is usually higher than the listed price at apple.com.
Beyond the Box is the only one that offers cash price near the official price and sakto they had a promo this weekend for BPI. I got it for 36 months 0% interest on cash price + buy now pay 3 months later. It's like the best apple deal ever! Instead of paying straight, I'd rather let the money earn in HYSA like Maya or CIMB while slowly paying it off.
I wasn't in a rush to get a macbook but I am actively looking around. I remember they had the same promo a few months ago but there was no stock so I decided to wait.
I'm excited about a lot of things, mostly airdrop lol and the possibility of learning to edit videos better.
I'm frustrated about a lot of things as well. I consider myself a Windows power user and I'm very very dependent on keyboard shortcuts and would prefer typing to using the mouse. In that regard, this macbook is slowing me down.
Hopefully it's just a learning curve. I've been struggling to remember new shortcuts like print screen, lock screen, new tab, quit tab, address bar, etc. Instead of being able to type on the address bar I keep making bookmarks haha. And it feels weird that the command button which acts like the control button in Windows is beside the spacebar. It's messing up with my muscle memory lol
Nonetheless, I'm more excited than frustrated so I pray it's just a matter of time.
Did you know that when we came back from Baguio, we had no water at home? Apparently we got disconnected while we were away because somehow our owner still hasn't paid all outstanding dues yet.
It's been very frustrating for us. Since last year we've been dealing with disconnection notices almost every month because our landlord wouldn't pay the association dues on time. So we thought we'd just pay it together with our utilities and deduct the amount from the rent. That's what our new contract says. And so we thought we're good. We're paying the dues and utilities on time so we're finally safe. But no! Apparently, even the parking dues, tax, insurance, and other fees are grounds for disconnection if you don't pay them on time. And of course our owner doesn't pay them on time.
I keep reminding them through their agent but there's only so much I can do. We do not have direct contact.
I want to quit paying in PDC and just do direct deposit every month so we'll be safe without penalties but I don't know how the owner will react to that. I mean if they think about it they only stand to benefit from it. They don't need to worry about paying anything and just have to wait for the money to be deposited to them every month. Of course they have to trust us to be honest and diligent as well but hey they're the ones who weren't diligent in the first place.
Because of this whole hulabaloo I've been thinking of just moving out again. Somewhere we don't have to deal with irresponsible home owners. Argh.
✨ Had my 2024 performance results discussion with my manager and overall I got a satisfactory rating, met my target bonus 100% (which is 10% of my annual), and got a 5.10% salary increase! Yeheyy!
✨ Urielle and I ate somewhere new, Purple Rice, where there's good pad thai. Was supposed to have dinner at Manam but they're closed. Then we had dessert at A Mano. Love their burrata affogato! ♥️
1. I received a heartwarming feedback from one of my ex-colleagues hehe. It's not always that you hear back from people you've worked with before with such a kind comment! I don't even remember the project we worked on, there were a lot! But awww, thanks Dupe! This really made my day!
2. I survived another round of presenting to my teammates! Had a kick-off meeting earlier where I had to present 2024 automation highlights to the team. I have half a slide worth of content which I finished last week. Then 30 mins before the call I made a script to read out hehe. Public speaking always makes me anxious but it's also something I love conquering every time I'm forced to do it haha. One of my teammates commended me on my delivery too but he was probably joking haha but of course I'll take it! HAHA
3. My mom is starting to get better, so praise God! Not sure if I have shared this yet but she was rushed to the hospital three weeks ago and had to placed in the ICU for three days. She spent 9 days in the hospital and was advised
4. I'm conducting technical interviews now! One of my colleagues resigned and I was asked to help conduct technical interviews for his replacement. I'm in a panel with his manager and another colleague and it's pretty interesting how these things go. I consider it somewhat of a career milestone that I'm finally qualified to conduct technical interviews now. It's a great learning experience for me!
I've had this steamer for seven months now and I'm pretty pleased with it overall! 😃
If you haven't watched my video review here's a YouTube link:
Here's the Tefal Pure Pop Garment Steamer after unboxing. It's got the unit of course, the reversible pad attached to it, and a bunch of paperworks that is the manual, warranty, and information pamphlet. It also comes with a drawstring travel pouch for storage.
Notable features:
✅ Reversible pad system
This is probably its major selling point. It's got a reversible pad with a velvet side and a lint-removing side, the former used for dewrinkling without damage, and the latter for removing hair and lint.
Unlike other steam irons which uses aluminum or stainless steel as the hot plate, this one uses a unique reversible pad instead. BUT IS IT BETTER? Honestly I don't know, this is my first steam iron haha sorry.
I would say though, it's only easy to switch between the pads when it's cool, because you know it's dangerous to flip it when it's hot. So it's like you need to pick a side and stick to it at least for a session so you don't accidentally burn yourself hehe. And for the most part I find myself using the lint remover side more often. For no reason actually, I think they both perform the same way. I mean, we have a dog who sheds a lot so that might play into it but to me both sides work the same. Or maybe I feel like the lint-remover side clings to the fabric better because of its texture, that's why I use it more. But either way is fine.
✅ 70ml water tank - pretty small compared to other brands but quite useful for 1-2 items of clothing. Also doesn't leak.
✅ Heats fast - 15 seconds heat-up seems fast I think. And with an output of 20g/min it's pretty decent. LOL honestly I don't know what that number means, but you can iron a shirt continuously without pausing to wait for it to heat up. And even if it prompts you to wait (indicator light turns on) midway, I find that you can still continue pressing on hehe (pun intented).
✅ Cute colors - it comes in coral red, teal green, sunshine yellow, and alpine blue. Of course I picked the red one!
✅ Handy and portable - 2 meter cord is just right and it's a good sized item to bring with you in your travels. I've seen smaller though which can even fold but yeah.
Anyway that's really all I have about this product. It's a pretty simple appliance that needs no further explanation. I have been meaning to get one of these for a while now because we don't have an iron at home. I try not to buy clothes that need ironing in the first place, but I've forgotten about that recently and I've just noticed a lot of my shirts are too wrinkly now. Oh wait I think it's because we've been air drying our clothes now that we have a washing machine at home. Back when we used to do our laundry outside the hot dryer would dewrinkle our clothes nicely, but yeah that's not the case anymore hehe.
I may have been influenced into getting this particular brand because I saw David Guison use it in one of his vlogs. Then I noticed it's being used by other vloggers in his circle as well so yeah I knew they were sponsored and I'm giving in to the marketing trap. Good job guys!
💵This costs around 3k to 4k at Shopee or Lazada. Make sure to get from the Tefal official stores. I've also seen in SM Store and True Value.
⁉️Do you need like a before and after test? Okay sure but know that the product works 100% as expected and if you're not pleased with the after that's proooobably a skill issue on my part okay? haha
Last week was pretty hectic. And this vlog is an understatement to how tired we were haha
My husband underwent TDC (Thyroglossal Duct Cyst) removal on his neck, the technical term for it is sistrunk excision. Was admitted at VRP for two nights. I had to watch him so we left Koomi in the care of my in-laws for those days. I also took a leave because there's no way I'd be able to work in the hospital. Though I did answer some emails because I couldn't help it. There was a technical interview we had to cancel last minute because of my absence, but the hiring manager assured me it's fine. It was scheduled for the next day, but the applicant didn't show up. Too bad.
Before we admitted him to the hospital we did a quick BGC date. In case he dies at least he had wagyu in his stomach as his last supper lol. Dined at Steak & Frice. Got their American Wagyu Ribeye which was around 8k worth. I'd say it's very unlike Japanese wagyu which had undeniable marbling. The steak was good but it's not worth 8k. If you're getting wagyu, better get the highest grade Japanese kind. If you're getting ribeye at Steak & Fries just get their regular ribeye for 4k. It's much more worth your money than their American Wagyu. Loved the blooming onion of course, and the steak rice and fries. We were so full afterwards but I still managed to get dessert from a mano. I got hot Americano and tiramisu. And it was heavenly. It's the most accurate Tiramisu I've tried with its real mascarpone lightness. Next in line would be my neighbor's but she doesn't sell anymore.
There's really no reason to be scared of his surgery. It's a minor one and he can be out in a day. But in that moment of course you can't make me believe that. I was very scared for his life but I was also too physically tired to worry. My husband wasn't worried. I remember with my past two knee surgeries I wasn't too worried either. I just wanted to get over it.
And we did. I was awaken by the intercom three and half hours after he was wheeled to the OR. I was called down to talk to the doctor. In my head I was panicking but I was still too tired to panic fully. I wasn't able to sleep well because the bed was too cold and the loud and broken AC only had two settings: a fan mode which turns off the thermostat, and a low cool setting which had the thermostat fixed to the coldest setting haha. And it was leaking too. But between sweating and shivering, the latter is more manageable.
Thankfully there's only good news and the doctor went ahead to tell me the gory details. Said they had to extend because the cyst was too big it almost reached the bottom of his tongue, confirmed it's TDC, and showed me a bowl containing a part of his cyst for biospy. I was relieved and went back to the room to hopefully get more sleep.
He was discharged on Friday around 10am, but we didn't get out until 2 hours later after I've completed processing his papers. The good thing about VRP is that's pretty easy to get around because it's small. The Intellicare office was just at the ground floor, along with the admission, billing and cashier department. Parking building was just behind the hospital, and although it's a challenge to weave through the narrow ramps, it wasn't too bad. Oh we also just live nearby so it's very accessible to us.
Around 12nn on Friday we're back home and I have to work in a few hours. I thought Friday was going to be as uneventful as my usual Fridays but I had tickets to work on, two interviews and two meetings to attend that require all my braincells. Needless to say I was desperate for some rest.
I'm very thankful that my in-laws brought Koomi in that night because I'm just so tired the whole day.
Overall I'm thankful that it's all over and done with. My husband is recovering well and I've got all my energy back.
Finally got the time to do this! Calling it a screen recap seems apt cos I also read on a screen, much to my book count's dismay.
Movies
Watched 3 movies on big screen: Deadpool and Wolverine, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and The Kingdom.
Deadpool was fun. Marvel finally learning from their mistakes hehe.
I also loved A Beautiful Mind. It's a classic that deserves a lot of praise.
The Kingdom, a local entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival, also impressed us. First with its premise, an uncolonized Philippines, then with the story and acting. I would say it's a quality film, by Philippine standards yes.
Most of the MMFF entries this year look promising. Lots of good cinematic trailers, good acting, interesting storylines. None of those corny comedies that are 90% product placement and 10% story. I want to believe we're entering a new era of filmmaking, where good films are getting much deserved attention and a fair critic.
I guess we have the poor economy to thank for this. Movie ticket prices have soared making it difficult for poor families to afford watching a movie with their 10 children. This shift in demographic probably prompted the film industry to pander to a new wave of movie goers. Those who wouldn't pay shit to watch shit.
It's not difficult to produce a quality film that everybody would love. For the longest time, Philippine cinema has been littered with movies that are produced not by creatives but by manufacturing companies. It's hard to be creative when your paycheck depends on how much screentime you give a fucking liquid detergent.
It's about time they stop looking down on movie goers.
Series
I loved The Boys. Actually I enjoyed most of the series I watched this year except for LOL, Crash Course, and Agatha All Along.
LOL because eventually it became too gross to laugh at.
Crash Course because it became boring.
Agatha All Along because the characters are hilaw and the gayness was forced (referring to Agatha and Rio). I didn't mind that Billy was gay, he was okay. But they were trying too hard to build chemistry between the two girls that it just wasn't landing. Also I expected Rio to be more powerful and threatening.
Books
As foor my book count, definitely not proud of it. A Little Life was a little overhyped for me. Sure I cried a lot, then I got tired of it and got mad that I even cried in the first place. Anyway, I already made a review about it here → Just read: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I hated it.
Just putting this out here for accountability haha.
Image: hardwarezone
I want to buy a 14" Macbook Pro M4 in space black with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage. It's actually already in my cart and it costs ₱121,990.00 in Powermac. It's gonna be a very big purchase for me so I kinda want to justify it by working to deserve it haha.
Since one of the primary reasons I wanted to get a macbook is to edit videos, explore the apple ecosystem further, maybe develop apps, and be more ✨productive✨, I wanted to BE PRODUCTIVE first to prove myself worthy of this great purchase.
And thus, I challenge myself to finish all my Youtube backlogs FIRST before even considering swiping for this. I've been looking at credit card deals, even applied for a new card just for apple deals, so hopefully I can maximize my savings. In 3 months I'll most probably have the money to pay for it straight, but if I can stretch it to 36 months at 0% interest I can put that money in a digital bank instead so it's earning while I'm paying incremently for the item.
Anyway, back to the challenge, here's my current backlog:
⏹️ Tefal Purepop Garment Steamer ⏹️ Keychron K5 Pro ⏹️ Hurom H310A Slow Juicer ⏹️ Machenike K600 ⏹️ Moyu Mini Washing Machine ⏹️ TCL S45H Soundbar ⏹️ Royal Kludge 104plus
They're in no particular order. Some items may even be obsolete already hehe.
The footage is taking up too much space in my phone and ipad and eventually I'm gonna run out of storage for my weekly vlogs so I'm not just doing this to earn a macbook lol I also need to do it for memory's sake (pun intended).
So yeah! Let's see if this pushes through! At best there's gonna be a new item on that backlog haha ✨manifesting✨.
