Life Lately

✱ Reading 

I've been stuck on Surrounded by Idiots for months but I don't want to quit it because it feels wrong lol. You know when you get a really boring books it takes ages for you to finish and it's frustrating because you can't skip to the next one without feeling weird that you abandoned a book 46% into it? But man, I'm three books behind my goal for 2022 Goodreads Challenge and I can't lose traction just because of a boring book. There has to be a way to overcome this. Yeah, I'm skimming it. That's it. 

✱ Watching

Nothing, at last! We finally finished She-Hulk: Attorney At Law this afternoon which was a relief hahaha. To be honest I didn't like the show. I can't say anything good about it. Oh wait I think I have one, it's *spoiler alert* Hulk's son.

Ever since episode one I've prepared myself for the worst and to be fair, episode after episode it keeps getting worse. Oh my God.

So what's wrong exactly?

• The script. It's so badly written, full of preachy woke agenda that doesn't add to the plot, if there's even one.
• The comedy is so forced it's so cringe.
• Wasted characters. Tatiana for one, I had a lot of expectations. She was the antagonist I was waiting for, or Mallory even, or better yet -- Nikki. I'll find that more convincing, women encounter more bitches than sons of bitches in real life, believe me.
• Ruined characters, most of them men, of course. They reduced every male character in the show to either wimps, incels, or idiots just to elevate the women in the show. To be honest, I would give it a pass because some are new characters I'm not familiar with so you can introduce them however you want.
• But to reduce already established characters like The Hulk, Wong, and Daredevil? They were made so uncharacteristic just to prevent them from stealing the spotlight.
• Very shallow plot. Which is kinda reflective of the whole modern-day feminist movement and the real weight of their agenda. Oops.
• No character development. I think the writers wanted to show how Jen struggled between her two identities and eventually learned to embrace them both. I was waiting for that to unfold. But it wasn't shown anywhere. She just said she can be both at the end, but again, there was no proof. Much like everything she complained about being a woman on episode 1, all but an echo. She has no arc.
• As a law comedy it already failed on a legal front, and it's not funny too. Now I don't know what to call it.
• Jen kept breaking the fourth wall to remind us it's her show, which was cute at first, but eventually became pathetic. Up to the last episode she's been trying to claim the show. Which is weird because it's already named after her. It's such a weirdly insecure act for someone who is so self-assured.

I guess, in true woke fashion, the series is trying to show who the real antagonists are, which is everyone who didn't like She-Hulk haha. Wow. I must admit, they've really mastered the art of victimhood. Congrats! They made it required watching, baited everyone into the anticipated cameos, and yet they couldn't just make it into a good show? They just really want to push the agenda so they can make sexists of everyone who disagree. They knew it sucked and thought it was a gotchu moment lol.

✱ Listening

To BP Valenzuela on YouTube music. 

✱ Thinking

About what day of the week to come to work.

I'm in the office right now and I kinda like the spot where I'm in; row's end beside the window. I haven't been able to sit where I used to (which is beside my teammate) ever since I started coming in at 3pm and even though there's no shortage of seats around here, I don't like the fact that I have to worry about not knowing where to sit as soon as I get to the floor. It gives me anxiety, you know. The same dread an outcast feels coming in to a cafeteria full of people. Which is why I'm considering coming in on Mondays or Fridays instead. I'm still not sure.

Generally, I want to avoid days where I have meetings because I prefer to take them at home. And the only days I have no regular meetings are Wednesdays and Fridays. The good thing about Wednesday is that I get to see one of my teammates cos he comes in Tues-Thurs. We have a short overlap where I can ask questions and stuff and kinda just show myself, and that's good. My husband also comes to his office on Wednesdays, so we get to leave the house together. It's pretty practical for us. On the day we both work in the office I don't have to prepare dinner so we can both eat out. The only downside to coming in on Wednesdays is that a lot of people also come to work on Wednesdays, as I have observed, and obviously I want to avoid them haha. 

Let's take a look at Friday. I haven't tried coming in on a Friday. I think less people come to the office on this day so I wouldn't have to worry about looking for a seat. But also, I have no teammate to personally bother lol, aaaand I think traffic is generally bad on this day. Especially when it falls on a payday. 

So yeah, I guess Wednesday is really the obvious choice. 

✱ Smelling

My breath pollute my face mask.

✱ Wishing

For some clarity at work. I have a task now, and I don't know what to do. I'm currently in the information gathering phase, which isn't looking so good because I don't have a clear plan. What I know is that I need to make an as-is process documentation to really understand what they do, get the right access to relevant sites so I can emulate what they do, learn how automations are developed and deployed here (what I'm currently stressing about), and finally develop and deploy everything properly. I think I know what to do but I don't have a template for it.

What I want to do properly though is maintain a Confluence site for all of the details of this project. I really wanna learn how to do things here properly, but I'm not even teammates with the people who can help me from a development standpoint. And in order to move forward I have to really reach out, and I suck at reaching out because I'm not really the proactive type huhu. This stresses me out so much.

Part of me wants to delay this until my new teammate comes in so we can tread together. I blame myself for asking for work too early lol I could have just enjoyed the months until my new teammate comes haha.

✱ Wearing

Blouse, denim leggings, and sneakers.

✱ Loving

♥ That I got to roam around High Street earlier. I reached the almost far end of the strip, where Fully Booked is.
♥ Got 50 off on my coffee at CBTL too. It's not as good though, their cafe latte, I don't recommend CBTL anymore. Muji's is better, and cheaper too.
♥ Had dinner at Salad Stop, ordered Oh Crab Lah wrap. Love it!

✱ Wanting

To get our house cleaned. I have "general cleaning" scheduled every month on my calendar but sometimes I forget until it comes to a point where I couldn't walk barefoot at home anymore because it's too dusty. We've always had a dust problem at home. With the amount of construction happening around our condo, it's a must to vacuum every single day otherwise we'd be dead of allergies.

There are five parts to getting the house really clean: CR cleaning, surface cleaning, floor cleaning, decluttering, and organizing. I cannot do everything in just one session. Good thing I scheduled for a deep cleaning tomorrow, they'll take care of the first three parts. Looking forward to having the house clean again! 

✱ Needing

Uhm, to really make some good progress at work. Please pray for me! 

✱ Feeling

My head hurt. I need to go home now.

Life lately and my latest read (It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover)

I learned a bunch of new keyboard shortcuts today hahaha it's the shortcuts for ♥, ♦, and • respectively. That's a heart, a diamond, and a bullet point. I can't believe it took me this long to discover the correct alt codes for them. They're ALT + 3, ALT + 4, and ALT + 7 respectively yeheyy.

If you're wondering why it matters, they're my most used symbols when writing Youtube descriptions. And all these (two) years, I'm freaking copy pasting it from Google or from my old descriptions. So yeah, I'm pretty happy about it! And to make it easier to remember, the ♥ already looks like a 3 as in the <3 emoticon, a ♦ has 4 points, and I don't know about the • I guess the 7 looks like a gun or something, so may bullets haha or maybe connect the dots? Idk I think I've thought hard enough to not forget about it haha.

I finished reading It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover before going to bed this morning and I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

♦ SPOILER ALERT ♦

(I just used the kb shortcut for ♦ I'm so happy wahahaha)

I've never read anything like this before. One thing I liked about it is the perspective it gave me on domestic violence and abusive relationships. How it's not that easy to leave immediately once you start getting hurt physically. It starts once, then you forgive, because maybe it was an accident, or he was so sorry about it and promised not to do it again. Then it happens again and he's more sorry and your heart can't take it. You're bruised and confused but your love and compassion keeps pushing your limit further and further 'til it disappears into the brink of tolerance. Then one day you get slapped and you think you're lucky you just got slapped. It's awful. This book made me feel really hurt about the reality of such relationships. And the fact that it's drawn from Colleen's mother's personal experience only fleshed it out even more. It's a painful tale which ends right. I can't say it ends happily, but the ending is right and makes sense. I actually love it.

What I didn't like though are the characters. I didn't really care much for them. I struggled to read the first half cos it's fucking smut and I usually don't mind tropes granted they're explained well and makes sense. This book exhibited tons of it but it's super boring and cliche, there's insta-love, a love triangle, I'm-not-like-most-girls, and lots of sex I want to throw it off fanfiction.net.

It's my third CoHo and now I'm getting used to her style. She likes to mix young/new adult tropes with traumatic backstories, if only to make the plotline more emotional unlike most YA's. I actually like it as it's more psychological than fantastical and her storytelling tugs more at your feelings than your imagination. 

-----

Yeahhh so that's my life lately? Keyboard shortcuts and a book? HAHAHA daming ganap no but I hey i just uploaded a new vlog, check it outt

PS. I was supposed to work for real today but guess what huhu please pray for me. Half the time I think I should go work in the office already to regain motivation but I'm not ready to commute again huhu

Life Lately

Watch: Weekly Monotony (Oct 18-24 2021)

I had a pretty so-so week. Monday we applied for National ID cos they held an on-site registration at our condo. Love that we didn't have to go to a different venue and PhilSys is really working hard to get everyone registered. 

I woke up a bit early for this so I was groggy the whole time we're waiting in line. Good thing there were chairs. I fell asleep while seated and even dreamt that I was already finished with the registration. And then the staff directed me to the next station which is a PGH blood donation drive by the pool. I looked to my side and true enough there was a tent by the pool marked with PGH and the logo of Red Cross. Then I snapped out of it and realized I was dreaming haha. Good thing I don't sleep walk? What I thought was a white tent is actually a gazebo with brown roof tiles hahaha.

I have many hopes for this National ID system but I know it's gonna take a lot of time and effort to really see it bear fruit. It always frustrates me how scattered and inconsistent our data is across government offices. If they could setup a centralized portal where we could easily pull up and update our information that would be great. Then again, that's just wishful thinking for now. Baby steps, ika nga. Pero cha-cha lol. Hopefully we'll get there.

I've finished reading Verity by Coleen Hoover and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's my fastest read this year so that's new! You can read my thoughts about it here (along with another book): 
https://www.theblahger.com/2021/10/recently-love-hypothesis-and-verity.html  

I took a leave last Friday to accompany my husband to his passport renewal appointment at SM Aura. It's my first time driving there and I missed the exit that's supposed to lead us to the parking entrance by the side. But thank God for Waze, we were able to circle around McKinley Hill and back to SM Aura in time.

We also passed by the newly built Kalayaan bridge and while it's amazing how quickly we got transported from Pasig to BGC, the bottlenecks on Pasig side are godawful. I'm thankful we don't live along these main roads. It's been 1 year and 8 months that we're working from home and I always forget how dreadful commuting is over here. How come our lives aren't back to normal and yet traffic is?

I don't remember the last time I was at SM Aura. But I do remember when it was fairly new and had the vibes of an upscale mall. But now? It's like SM North EDSA Annex, an extension that's surprisingly too crowded for an area that supposedly gets less foot traffic lol. Definitely not upscale.

HR announced that we'll get our 13th month pay along with our salaries so I've also been obsessively refreshing my banking app that day. It didn't help that we usually get our salary days in advance which means Friday is already late for a Monday payout haha. Historically (and I keep tabs), if swelday falls on Monday it gets credited Thursday the week before. We've been spoiled.

Oh well, they did finally get to crediting it, albeit on time, much to my dismay HAHAHA. And just like that the excitement's dead. Especially after looking at my withholding tax. Hay.

I don't have much planned for my 13th month pay so most of it went to ATRAM global funds. I've been maintaining my global UITF portfolio ever since I learned it earns at least 20% pa. I thought it was too good to be true, specially when our local stock market can't even maintain a 6% pa growth. But heck it only shows how fucked up the Philippine economy is. I opened a SeedBox PH account and pulled out my funds from GInvest to focus on just one platform. SeedBox has more products available. So yeah, hopefully it grows. This is what excites me now haha.

I still don't know what to do for my birthday. It's the one day I'm allowed to enjoy myself and let everyone know so it's gotta be grand right? Hahahah charot. It's the only day in a year I could justify telling my boss to give me a break lol (not that he wouldn't on a different day, my boss is cool). But now that everyone's learned to be more assertive of their personal time (ie. selfish char), I suddenly don't know how to make it more special. Personally I just want to buy myself an Apple Pencil, eat good sushi, watch a movie, and get a full body massage.

Ah this has gone too lengthy, but finally, I'd like to ponder on this verse I placed at the end of my vlog:

"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."

Proverbs 19:21

Oftentimes we get too caught up planning our lives, leaving God's will out of the equation. Only when everything falls (and it does) do we scramble back to him and let him take over. Somehow surrendering is easier when you have nothing to lose. Isn't it insulting that we've placed God as a contingency plan instead of following his lead? Why do we take his mercy and forgiveness for granted?

To be honest, I still struggle a lot with letting God lead my life completely, specially on abundant seasons. But I just realized how there's an immeasurable peace that comes with full surrender, specially to the maximally great being that is God.

So yeah, let's not forget to put God first, as in truly first. I noticed that our society is past putting money on the top of our priorities after realizing it's not a real measure of success. Now it's turned to a more dangerous idol, our selves (and k-pop char). As for Christians, may our success be based on our obedience to God and his will, after all we are his creations and we serve his purpose. Only his judgment matters.

Life lately

✱ Reading

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue 
I'm 17% in and loving it so far. The writing is very captivating, poetic almost, and has an otherworldly charm to it. I'm excited it to know how Addie's life unfolds with everything she's been through in the first few chapters of the book.

✱ Watching

Jeckie and I are rewatching Naruto on Netflix and my is it such a good anime! I remember watching this when I was younger but I couldn't remember the story (as usual). Now that I'm older, mas na-enjoy ko sya in fairness. Maybe because I'm more engaged with the story now than I was when I was a kid who was more hooked on its entertainment value.

✱ Listening 

To some Rainy Jazz playlist on Spotify :)

✱ Thinking

About highschool and how much I hated it hahaha.

Once in a while I get reminded of how much I hated highschool. This is one of those times. A group chat was created, I don't know, maybe out of nostalgia, and slowly people started getting added to the room. Some went to say hi, some went to say where in the world they are (which is not the Philippines), some went to share what they do for a living, some uploaded their kid's photos, some left immediately (respect), some went to apologize (I'm curious if it matters to those they actually bullied), and some stayed in silence just to lurk, waiting for drama lol (me). Well it didn't come, not a week later and the group chat is already silent. Guess people really didn't have much to say beyond ~hi hello sorry if I've hurt anyone before blah blah blah~, at least to the whole batch. I mean for sure we continued gossiping within our own circle of friends. I'm sure some of us are still waiting for an apology. And I'm also sure there's no need to remember highschool. 

Wow this bitch is so angry, who hurt you? Hahaha

I never liked highschool for the most part. My best take away from that bloody phase would be knowing who my real friends are, other than that, there's really nothing to look back to. I know who to keep as friends and who to avoid forever, and I intend to keep it that way.

I don't even care much about reunions cos honestly, what the hell do you do there anyway? You're just gonna end up talking to your own friends. So why bother. We already have a group chat for that haha. It's not like we're up for some kind of rekindling. It's not like we're in need of reconciliation. I didn't think we're a tight-knit batch anyway.

It's not all bad though. And I know it feels unfair to pass judgment to the whole batch when it's really just just one person, and her group of friends, who made an entire year miserable for me. I have not forgiven her, and I doubt she even remembers terrorizing me, and many others for that matter. Half the girls in my batch are mean, and to have the meanest bunch on your back for a whole year is traumatizing. Urgh. 

Anyway. I'll forget about it. Til someone gets nostalgic again haha.  

✱ Smelling

Nothing much.

✱ Wishing

For a better office chair wow hahaha. I'm just learning to enjoy sitting properly while working and in my case it involves setting the seat height to the highest level (short people problems). And because my chair doesn't have adjustable armrests they keep bumping on the edge of the table huhu hassle. I'm looking at this chair from ErgoHome hehe but I would need to sell my O2 Midback first to give space for this haha

✱ Wearing

Sando and shorts hehe

✱ Loving

My time off from Twitter. I left Twitter a week ago to uhm detox cos it's become a very toxic place to lurk in haha. Everyone is too performative and I feel like it's a whole world filled with pseudo-intellectuals you can't argue with. I actually just logged out and hid the app from my home screen, but thankfully I haven't given in to the urge of launching the app every now and then, specially when I want to air out some micro thoughts once in a while. I've gotten better at suppressing my thoughts, specially when I know I can introspect some more and validate it further. Cos I know I'm not always right, and I'd rather have a few informed opinions than have an opinion on everything. Twitter has made it too easy to share stupid thoughts, I'm guilty of it too. So I wanna hold back. It's a good exercise. Thinking before posting, then eventually forgetting hehe.

✱ Wanting

A sleeping mask. Can't decide if I'll get Tempur again or try other weighted ones. I'm curious about weighted sleep masks but I also want to be able to open my eyes fully. I think right now I just want something blackout and comfy.

✱ Needing

To stop stress twirling my hair but I just can't? My mind is too weak for this. My scalp hurts, my arm hurts, and araw-araw para akong bagong gupit with all the bits of my hair getting cut off. Hay.

✱ Feeling

Hopeful about the things to come. We have a lot of new team members, coming from another department that's been merged with ours. Can't wait to get to know them, but somehow I also feel uneasy about the change lol. But whatever, I'm sure it can only be good.

Our country director has announced that they'll be allowing people to come to the office starting September but no definite guidelines have been rolled out yet. I think the firm is hesitant to put out a rule not allowing unvaccinated people in the office because it could come off as discriminatory (well, it is) but I think it's perfectly fair to do so, specially in these times. It's for the good of everyone. I wouldn't want to report to work unvaccinated. And if not everyone in the office gets vaccinated, what's the point in risking exposure. I'm much safer at home. Hay.

Well, best case scenario for me is to be allowed remote work forever haha but that's reaching for the stars so nevermind.

Life Lately and thoughts on the New Blogger Post Editor

// I woke up today with a message from the parking owner saying they'll be increasing our rate by ₱500 and that we should confirm by the weekend. It sucks. I felt angry at first, of all times really? But then I realized it's not too bad because of the following reasons:

• It's still considerably below what the average parking rate is in this property, in this year.
• Our next lease will start on July pa naman, so it's not really short notice. 
• I doubt we'll get a better deal if we move. First level parking near elevator is a premium spot to me.

So yeah, we renewed and got the PDCs ready. 👍 Also, I can't be angry at our parking landlord because it'll be awkward in our Facebook group if I start looking out for a new spot, and most importantly she's sister-in-law to one of my former managers hahaha. So yeah, behave ako lol. FYI we currently pay ₱5k for parking. If it's any consolation, a friend who lives in the neighboring condo pays ₱10k. Hehe okay.

// My spending habits are kinda normalizing now too lol. I'm draining my allowance getting stuff online. I thought I'd want to buy less this ECQ but no, I have all the time to browse Shopee and Lazada! It's a trap! Plus all my favorite foods can deliver now so who's gonna stop my laziness from spending more? It started with an overpriced sleep mask, then an android streaming box (for my parents), then we decided to do take-out dinners every weekend, i bought a pair of apple airpods, ordered watercolor journals, and just now a set of wireless keyboard and mouse. 

I actually want to get more things, my ECQ wishlist is shaking.

// My latest purchase, the wireless keyboard, is actually an attempt to improve my current WFH setup and make it more conducive to work. Laptops kill my developer mojo. I need a full keyboard. I've coordinated with our office so I could pick-up my monitor, and also get some stuff from my pedestal. I'm set to drop by this Friday. Hopefully no trouble with the checkpoints, and no traffic too.

// I want to plant basil so I can make homemade pesto spread. But where to get gardening soil, and seeds too?

// You know how I've been making weekly vlogs on my channel, I'm thinking of changing my mobile video editor. I'm currently using InShot Pro, and it's great. It's super easy to learn, has a lot of options, but at the end of the day I'm looking for more features that would improve the way I edit. It's great for montages, but I'm trying to make more reviews and tutorial videos now and I need more than the traditional features. Considering I'm using a Pro version, I wonder why I don't even have PIP and video collage options. 

Any recos for a mobile video editor? :D

// This new Blogger post editor is pretty neat! Although I have a few concerns, mostly regarding their choice of icons for the toolbar. 

Update: I figured that part of the toolbar is hidden because I was using a laptop with a smaller screen size. After switching to a monitor, I'm seeing all options in one row now.

Text align options should not be hidden in a sub-menu, it's one of my most commonly used option, so it breeaks my user experience having to click more just to get there. If there's a keyboard shortcut for those, much better!

A lot of menu icons are confusing. Paragraph Format, Jump Break, and Toggle Caption buttons all look like Text Align options.

Font Type button looks unfamiliar.

Table button looks like Border options.

I find the toolbar icons in this new post editor less intuitive than the previous one. Considering it's a Google product they should at least consider following a standard right? Take Google Docs editor for reference, I mean. They were able to stretch the editor to a full width, they should've maximized the space on the toolbars. 

Anyway. I do like that it's neater, wider, and the preview option allows you toggle between device types so you can see how the post looks on mobile devices too. 

Hope they improve this editor!

:)

Life Lately and Friday's 10 Happy Things

Wow, we're exiting the third week of ECQ (enhanced community quarantine). I hope and pray all this is not for naught. I have a lot of things in my prayer list, and I'm sure we've been praying for the same things. Healing, provision, strength, protection, mercy, cure, wisdom, leadership, compassion, cooperation. Haayyyy! I've never prayed this much for others. Most of the time I only care about the things in my own little circle. Guess it's expanded to the whole world. Hmm.

Life's pretty boring. And I know it's a very privileged thing to say. There's not much happening outside but there's so much noise online. Of people's grievances towards the government's lack of action, our president's lack of leadership, our frontliners' lack of support. So many thinks lacking it's turned social media, specially twitter, into protest platforms. Can't really blame the people huh. But well, even before the lockdown, Twitter has always been noisy lol. It just seems noisier 'cos I'm spending much more time in there lately haha. But hey, it works. Clamoring online works. We've seen changes I know we wouldn't witness if nobody complained.

Overall I'm not too worried about myself, my husband included. We're healthy, we're both working from home, and both of our companies have been very generous. For how long, we don't know. I'm afraid if the lockdown pursues and we start cost cutting by retrenching, I'll be one of the first guys to pack up. So just to be safe, I have to be job hunt ready when the time comes *updates CV*.

I'm more worried about my parents. Not only because they're older and more prone to sickness, but also because this lockdown means zero income for them. As financial advisers, they can't go out and meet new clients, and it's gonna be hard to collect payments from existing ones too. They've recently decided to sell our house (again) because they feel like it's the only way to save up for retirement. I feel bad that there's not much I can do financially, but I do support them in their decision. With our current living state, the house is too big for any of us. If we can liquidate it and downsize, they would have enough left for savings and investment. Well, that's the dream.

My mom celebrated her 66th birthday last week. Since we're not allowed to go out I just called through Zoom. We were supposed to be at Baguio, but things happened and I had to refund my bus and Airbnb bookings. So far I've gotten around 75%, looking forward to get the rest.

On a more positive note, here are Friday's 10 Happy Things, just like the old times...

1. Before the lockdown commenced, I was able to setup my workstation properly. That is, I bought a chair and a trolley and successfully turned my vanity into an office desk. While people are emptying the shelves at the supermarket, I was busy measuring carts and pedestals at SM Home.
2. Happy that my sister could continue her work at home. At least she'd still be earning during the lockdown.
3. Finally tried using a menstrual cup. I feel uneasy right now but I'm trying to get used to it lol.
4. Cancelled trips = refund = money back to my savings pool!
5. Cinnabon's mini bons and S&R's petite cinnamon rolls!
6. My Airbnb and iWantSeats bookings were fully refunded (still waiting for Victory liner)
7. It's swelday today! They credited a week earlier than expected then also included our VL conversion. Downside is we now have to wait 3 weeks til the next sweldo but it's fine hehe.
8. My parents are both healthy and my sister is enjoying working from home lol
9. My parents got fiber connected last month which is super sakto because my sister depends on it right now
10. Ever since the lockdown started, I've been able to follow my IF schedule strictly! I'm on Day 25 right now of 16:8! As for my weight, I don't think it's changed significantly yet. I'm usually 66 to 68kgs, but right now I'm at 65.5kg.

Guess that's it for now! Hope you have a great weekend! As always, praying for healing and for this crisis to be over soon. ♥

God bless everyone!

Life Lately

In the format of The Sunday Currently.

Lovely break of day

Blogging on Sundays just doesn't work for me anymore as I'm mostly out with family. The only time I get to blog is when it's down time in the office, which you know, happens quite a lot lol. So I'm sure to always have time hahaha, thing is, when it's kinda lax at the office, what am I gonna blog about? Hehe

I haven't gotten time to make reviews too. I guess I have a couple pending in my drafts but I don't think they'll be up, ever lol. I gave up reviewing beauty products because I gathered it isn't too helpful reading someone's opinion on makeup, you need to have a face to show for it too, and I'm not quite ready exposing my bloody face to the world. I'm also done reviewing restaurants after realizing I suck at being a food critic. Everything either tastes good or bad to me and I can probably say I like this resto better or not. But to expound more on the matter? Which is probably why blogging, in its written form, has died. People have moved to other, more suitable platforms that don't require them to write paragraphs to express approval or distaste over something. Where visual content is the main product and captions don't need to relate to it. Urgh.

It's cool though, suddenly the blogosphere is back to its original form. A small community of those who like to overshare through writing.

ANYWAY. Before this turns into a bitter account of how "influencers" have littered the blogosphere with bad captions and unacceptable grammar...

Reading
Sophie Kinsella's I've Got Your Number
Funny, so far! And I'm enjoying my new PDF reader, Foxit, because it integrates with Google Drive where all my ebooks are stored. Couple that with reflow, night mode, and customizeable themes and I don't think I'm getting a Kindle anytime soon!

Writing
Uhh, this

Listening
To the loud hum of the fans in the server cage

Thinking
About my parent's anniversary celebration! I booked a one-bedroom suite at Kasa Luntian Tagaytay, after failing to find suitable accommodations at Nurture Wellness and Narra Hill. I guess it's about as much "nature" as I can get given the 2 weeks notice. Tagaytay is just so frkn booked. I'm quite hesitant about Kasa Luntian actually, mainly because it just looks like our current condo with the way the pools and outdoor amenities are designed. But oh well, it's probably much better than Citiland, Serin, or Wind lol.

Smelling
Nothing

Wishing
I had so much money right now. Don't we all.

Watching
Alternating between Youtube vlogs and Netflix's Instant Hotel Season 2

Loving
That I was able to salvage this bridesmaids dress I'm gonna use for my friend's wedding in 4 weeks. It's a mint green chiffon infinity dress that's not very flattering because of its super short wrap.

There's not much cloth you can use to style it with so unless you're okay with plain strapless or awkward halters, it's gotta be improved.

It's also very flimsy. First time I tried it on, the zipper broke. Next time, the corset boning shot through the fabric. Argh. I had the zipper repaired, managed to hide the boning, then I bought a long-ass fabric in a similar color and tried to make a shawl from it.

Now I'm okay with it!

I used the super long shawl as a wrap-around and did an off-shoulder style. Yey.

Wanting
To do something worthwhile.

Needing
To save more moneyyy.

Feeling
Excited to go home! Look at the time!

Life Lately

Supermoon in sight!

I didn't really want to break my SG Diary blog series by posting a Life Lately in between, but well, I just want to update my dear blog about what's happening with my life.

//Singapore

Highlight of this month is still the Singapore trip, the recruitment process to be exact.

I'm so glad the exam week is finally over, that means I can stop stressing about the ISTQB Foundation Level chuchu and forget about scripting for a while. Because you know what, after that week, I just know in myself I lost all chances of making it to NZ or AU or wherever the heck they could ship me to. 

I totally blew the technical exam. 

I told you, any form of technical assessment is a kryptonite for me. I can study for objective exams and practice for interviews, but to demonstrate my skills live with someone on the other end looking at my screen? I'M DEAD.

The practical exam was simple. I just have to record a search engine site and perform a search, also while capturing the Search Suggestion requests. So okay, I pulled up good 'ol vugen and played around with it. I was able to record the transaction alright, while still being clueless about what Search Suggestion is.

During scripting, my assessor stopped me a couple of times to ask some questions about why I did this and that, and what's the logic behind doing this and that, and so on. he even taught me a simpler way to perform a text check, to which I responded with amazement.

He had so many questions and I answered them all wrong. I also did one very concerning thing during the scripting process which he pointed out, that I have literally no excuse for, except for my apparent inexperience.

After the assessment, I came home super defeated. I realized that after all, I didn't have what it takes to be a Performance Tester at a consulting level. That everything I learned about this skill is frkn outdated. And that I've accumulated so many bad practices along the way. 

Now I want to unlearn everything and start anew. It can't be good that I suck this much at what I consider my specialty.

Nonetheless, it was a good run. Definitely a different kind of application experience. It was very arduous, expensive, and intense. I'm on the 4th stage of the recruitment process and while it pains to be considered not fit for the role at this point, I'll bring home with me a ton of learnings!

If there's one thing I'm proud of myself, that is finishing the frkn ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus in two weeks. Reading it was so frkn enlightening. 

Oh well! Let the waiting continue!

//Work

As I mentioned before, and I still feel the same way, I'm not ready to leave, assuming there's an opportunity. Work is starting to pile on our laps now, the kind of work that I enjoy doing. Ever since we introduced RPA to the different teams, we've been getting a lot of automation requests. It's exciting! And just last week, after I came back from SG, we attended a 4-day UIPath training. It was very insightful and educational. It's very rare that I get to see the value in what I do so there's a part in me that wants to cultivate this further. My goodness I love this company. ❤

Also, SURPRISE! My manager just informed me a few hours ago, and very casually too like 'tara kain' ganong level lol,  that we have an RPA presentation tomorrow with our deparment's core team (CIO and directors of the technology group). *gulps* Jusko. Sir, I appreciate the faith and I know how easy it is for you to speak in public and all, BUT ME?! I need at least a day's notice. T___T

//Writing

It's been three weeks since my last writing task and I'm not sure if I'm ready to take more right now. I think I want to wait for the job results first before I decide if I'm still keen on working extra. If I get a job offer, I would have to continue writing because we would badly need the extra income to proceed with the application (Visa, IELTS, processing fees, etc.). If I don't get an offer though, that means I could stop writing because there would be no immediate need for money. Haha

Oh well. We'll see.

The week that was

I'm kind of enjoying documenting my week in terms of expenses. For one, I get to remember what I did the whole day haha and I can always babble about the things I spend money on because don't we all???

Monday (Oct 29) - ₱110

○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110

Still not completely recovered from flu. My colds has escalated to an annoying cough, a splitting headache, and now... a freaking toothache?! I'm not really surprised. Whenever I get a flu I tend to always always wheeze everything out like crazy 'cos I can't stand the feeling of a clogged nose. Apparently I'm killing my sinuses and for some reason the nerves are connected to my teeth, so yeah.

Work wise thank God there's progress in this RPA workflow I'm creating. I was having a hard time dealing with this Silverlight application our finance team uses but thankfully I found a way through it. Wooh. There's still more to this task so help me Lord!

Tuesday (Oct 30) - ₱110

○ Parking at Greenbelt 5 - ₱110

I'm done with the 2nd sequence of this frnk RPA workflow. I'm so stoked to get through this and focus on other automation test cases next. I'm looking into spending some time going through UIPath Academy to soak up on tutorials. Maybe I can try getting certified too, they offer free certification until December 31 soooooo... we'll see!

Wednesday (Oct 31) - ₱108

○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Starbucks coffee - ₱80
○ Bus going home - ₱14

My officemate gave me Starbucks GCs yesterday so I had the chance to use it today. Shared it with a colleague and we both got this customized drink that's too strong and too sweet. If I remember correctly it's white mocha breve something no water double shot something?! Hahaha! Too sweet!

For our baon I cooked honey garlic chicken wings with butter parmesan baby potatoes on the sides. It sucks. Remind me to stick to bbq marinade, the honey garlic we got is too... bland haha. Also, I think I undercooked the chicken it's still frkn bloody huhu.

Thursday (Nov 1) - ₱0

Totally no expenses today 'cos it's the start of the long Undas weekend. Jeckie and I had plans to drive to Fairview to see my family but we backed out because we wanted to rest and just spend a whole day with each other.

We ate dinner at Kabab and Curry where we got to spend our coinbank money. We didn't max out on our 3k budget so hooray for another date covered!

Speaking of that coinbank money, I'm not sure if I've already shared but at the beginning of the year we made a conscious effort to save all the 5 and 10 peso coins we have till we fill their designated cans to the brim. We were able to fill the 5 peso can last month and it totaled to ₱3,320 -- that's 10.4lbs! And instead of going to the bank to exchange them, we went to McDonald's instead where there's always a need for coins especially during weekends. We got the paper bills good and the store manager even gave us free BFF fries. Yay!

Friday (Nov 2) - ₱319

○ Lunch at Galleria - ₱179

○ Costa Primo Iced Coffee - ₱140

Met with the in-laws for lunch at Galleria and stayed 'til night. Our tita was checked in at Holiday Inn so we hung out for the rest of the afternoon eating and playing Undercover. It was fun, albeit super stressful. My palms were sweating the entire time that my phone can't recognize my fingerprints! Hassle haha. 

GRAND TOTAL - ₱647

SUB 1k weeeeek! HOOORAY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!! :D

Life Lately and a bunch of nothings

Reading
Nothing. Still halfway through Dan Brown's Inferno. I can't remember when I last left off that I had to Google the title of the book kasi limot ko na, and alam ko lang Dan Brown, jusko hahaha. I updated my GoodReads and tagged it as Currently Reading ALTHOUGH, we all know how close it is to being tagged as DNF (Did not finish). There should be a GoodReads category for that.

DNF would be a purgatory where books either get forgotten for good, or re-read and finally finished. But they could also be stuck in a limbo of being read over and over but never finished. Yikes. But of course, what kind of reader would throw a book in limbo.

Writing
Nothing, but I have two pending articles about how to learn crossfit and how to stand out among your friends lol.

Listening
Nothing lol. Maybe I should write this off as "Life Lately and what to do next" no?

Thinking
About what to do if we had won the Ultra Lotto 6/58 Jackpot yesterday. It was our first time to place a bet, just for fun. I asked my sister to place some numbers for a single draw. The digits came from my husband's dream where he saw the figures 24% and 6,000. It's not that straightforward so we tried to piece the numbers to see if it would give us 6 figures. Lo and behold, what came out of our pag-pupumilit maging prophetic and panaginip were the following numbers:

02-06-14-24-40-50

And of course it didn't win (otherwise you woudn't hear about this), but we had fun daydreaming about how to spend that insane amount of money. The pot was at 900M. 

Smelling
Nothing. This question doesn't really appeal to me, what should I replace this with?

Wishing
I had parking privileges in our office. Today's commute was so bad. It rained so hard when I left and by the time I was able to hail a cab I just got my second shower. My pants were completely drenched I could wring a handful from it. I should've brought the car but the uncertainty of a parking space kept me from getting the keys.

Watching
Alone: Love in the Moonlight (re-watching 'cos I didn't finish it last time)
With my husband: Designated Survivor Season 2 and Kim's Convenience (when DS gets too heavy lol)

Loving
Hello Panda Matcha Green Tea biscuits

Wanting
To get a full body massage before my period kicks in this week, aaaand manipedi!

Needing
To lose weight. The past few weeks have been so indulgent.

Feeling
Useless at work. It could be just my lack of proactivity but I don't feel like I'm doing something major at work. :(

Life lately and fully loaded weekends

The past two weekends have been incredibly eventful. Soooo muuuuch foooood!

Weekend at The Manor

Last weekend my teammates and I went to Baguio for our long overdue team building! We stayed a night at The Manor at Camp John Hay. Ate a hell lot, laughed a whole lot, and found a new favorite cake (Vizco's Strawberry Shortcake is the best!). I want to go back to this place someday! It's the perfect Baguio staycation! <3

Weekend at Sofitel

The previous weekend naman, my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary at Sofitel. We booked 2 nights, dined 3x at Spiral (2 breakfasts, 1 dinner), and further indulged in Frankie's chicken wings when we got home. Such a gastronomic delight!

Hotel staycations are the best. Wish we could do this more often, but we don't always have money to spare lol!

Uhhh that's it hehe

Life Lately and infinite loops

I may have kindof recreated a bug at work that ran an infinite loop that created 40k++ records on our PROD database and impacted a page on my MANAGER'S timesheet.

It's not that bad though, my manager knows of the issue. We've worked out a plan to prevent the issue from happening again (implement better data validation both on UI and backend), but the problem also piqued our curiosity on how infinite loops work.

Being that I'm more interested in the mystery of these loops, I want to uncover what happens during an infinite loop first before I actually apply the bug fixes. I'm sorry! But in my defense, my boss was also curious! Scenario:
I submitted a form that inserts records on a database based on the date range I provided on the UI form. Date range starts on December 14, 2018 and ends on September 21, 2018. Yep it's backwards and that's the issue because the backend took it. Please don't comment on the quality of our code. HAHA

Now, backend logic would loop through the dates on a daily increment and run an insert statement per date. Problem is, since the end date is a past date, the loop will never reach it, thus creating an infinite loop.

The bug created 41,046 records that dates back to December 14, 1901 all the way to January 19, 2038. And for some reason it left out April 1995 to December 2018. So what the hell happened?

Thank God for Google because all of my questions were answered.

I learned that January 19, 2038 is an important date in software development.

January 19, 2038 would be the maximum value a datetime variable in a 32bit integer data type can handle.

Now adding 1 day to that would be an abomination. Datetime couldn't read January 20, 2038. The variable would overflow, wrapping it in a negative value, which the system would interpret as... *drumroll please*

December 14 freaking 1901.

So that's what happened.

The infinite loop started on December 14, 2018 (input start date) and inserted records all the way to January 19, 2038. When it got past that day, December 14, 1901 came next on the calendar and on and on it went until April 1995. Or more accurately, after 10mins of running over the loop -- which is the default remote query timeout value set on our SQL server.

So today... I learned about the 2038 bug, a remake of the Y2K bug where 32bit datatypes storing datetime values would overflow and reset to 1901. Hopefully we already know what to do. Google has a lot of info on it already. And it's still 20 years from now, I wonder what I'd be doing then hehe.

Case closed.

Back to the real life lately...

I, uhhh, have a new bag!

My new everyday bag with Velma from my old Kipling

I'm retiring my 2-year old bag because the fabric tore somehow huhu. My husband bought me a new bag, and it's the most expensive bag I've owned so far (even more expensive than my luggage, apparently). Thank youuuuu my love! This counts as my anniv, birthday, and Christmas gift already so a girl shall ask no more hahahaha.

I was so torn when I found my everyday bag got torn (pun intended). I kept looking for the same model in Kipling stores but I couldn't find it. Either it's phased out or I may have actually brought an imitation one haha. It's a Kipling Anette I bought from TJ Maxx in Minnesota, it's kindof an outlet store for overrun things but I can't be so sure hahaha. Anyway. No luck finding something similar here so I looked at other stores. Never found something I liked at SM Dept store except for those parang Pac-safe anti-theft bags that are overly expensive, so pass. The next day I tried looking at the The Travel Club just to spy on cute bags to search on Shopee/Lazada, I don't care for imitation I just want something nice and sturdy haha. Then I found this...

I love the functional aesthetic of Hedgren bags but it's one of those super unjustifiably expensive things I'll only get to mindlessly buy if my pay grade was at 6-digits you know? But there it was looking all nice and perfect. So I took it to Shopee, Lazada, Zalora (baka may discount), and FB Marketplace to look for this one model I like. It's Hedgren Appeal, the one with a 13inch compartment. But to no luck. Nobody sells a good enough replica of it. :(

I went to the store for the second time before heading home just to take a final look at it and decide if it's worth the occasional splurge. This is an item I definitely cannot afford without maxing myself out, you know what I mean? Like you have extra but it's not meant for such kinda bags. So my husband rescued me! YEHEY! I have a new bag!

.
.
.

Uhhh, so that's the highlight of my week lol.

Life Lately (we finally have a bedframe!)

Meeting finally over. I hate Friday evening meetings, they take away the T in TGIF. I was mentally stressing about it earlier because I feel like I wouldn't know what to say. But thank God for my senior who stepped up and said the words I was struggling to communicate because I kept waiting for the right timing lol. So in the end, he got to clarify things for me. And to validate my attendance, I re-clarified it for my own good HAHA cos don't we all want to be clear about everything? But really, I just had to break the 20 words quota in order to be officially part of the meeting hahaha. Anyway, that means I have work to do! Today marks my first year (and two days) with the company. My batchmates tried to celebrate through dinner, but I guess we're just too withdrawn from each other to even bother pushing it. I had a meeting too, so there's that. Hehe

Have I told you we finally have a bed?

Oh it's gorgeous. It's made of imported pinewood and cost us ₱10,600 (delivery and installation included). Now our room smells like musky wood yey ♡

Having a bed custom made has been on our wish list ever since we learned we can't fit a standard queen sized bed frame in our space. Our best bet would be a bed box, but I didn't like the idea of it haha.

My biggest worry was looking for a contractor to hire because I didn't know where to look and I'm clueless about this whole home improvement game. But well, looking for a contractor was actually easy! I just joined a woodworkers group on facebook and asked for leads. I posted my pegs and specifically requested for an actual on-site estimate because we wanted to make sure the bed would fit on that corner. 

Would you believe it, not a day in and I got 7 quotes from professional suppliers who have really great portfolios. The most affordable offer was ₱6,500 and the highest was ₱18,000. In the end I decided to get Kismet Construction & Supply. They're located so far up (Caloocan) but I got them majorly because I saw they've already worked with something similar, and delivered to a condo with the same developer as ours. Yehey!

That bed is high. It's definitely higher than your regular bed, and I didn't expect it to be that way haha but it's actually nice. I can definitely put storage underneath, which is my next project! ♡ I'm inspired with this post: Storage Upgrade (Or How I Conquered the Chaos Under My Bed)

And thaaat's it. I really wanted to share some more but I can't guarantee to keep the positivity so I'll just dump them woes on my twitter.

Happy long weekend!

Life Lately

Wow we're halfway through the year wth.

Thinking about our parking situation

I've been contemplating a lot*** about renting a parking space at our condo so that my husband and I can enjoy having a car during the weekends. And also so we could invite our parents over when the slot is free. But the cost man. Here's a breakdown:

• Parking fee is 5k to 6k a month. I'm lucky if I can haggle it down to 4k.
• Fuel is currently at 55/liter on this side of the metro. Back when I used to drive daily to work, I spend 500/week on gas for a 24km ride per day. If I were to drive to work today I'd only have to ride 12km a day lol. Let's keep the higher estimate.
• If I bring it to the office, that's gonna run me additional 50 to 200/day depends on where I park.
• Add those to our monthly amortization and we get a monthly additional expense of...

12k if I drive to work daily (6k condo parking, 4k office parking, 2k gas)
7k if I use it only on weekends (6k condo parking, 1k gas) Is it worth it? I really wanna know but I don't want to risk it. Minimum parking lease is at least 6 months. I just want to try it for a month haha.

Argh. We'll see.

*** - by that I mean I've been literally dreaming about it. Ugh.

Lord of Merch, please approve!

I uploaded a couple of designs today and is still waiting for approval. I haven't been able to sell a single shirt since I uploaded my work lol. Didn't think it would be this hard! Sales today is really more on the marketing and less about the product , I notice. But anyway, still leaving these cuties here para may photo insert naman tong blog post na to haha. Bottom row is World Cup related if you notice. I'm enjoying the theme, it's like one template can make multiple entries. I just hope it's not too late yet. But first, they all need to get approved argh.

An ipis situation

Two nights ago I had one of the biggest scares of my life (charot). There was a cockroach lurking in the bedroom when I got home, and when I was about to spray it dead with Baygon, it fckn flew towards me! I instinctively shut the door to protect myself, then spent the next 4 hours miserably  waiting in the living room for my husband to come home so we could fight the damned thing together. So scary.

To add to my worries, my dad, who was supposed to land at LA that night hasn't communicated me with me yet. I specifically told him to let me know as soon as he's out of TSA and immigration check. It was 8 hours past his ETA and I was getting worried for him. My head is reeling in suspense, at a possible immigration issue, or an impending deportation, or a random check gone wrong... and this fkn cockroach who held me hostage in my own house is just making me feel worse.

Anyway. The break of dawn brought in good news. One is that my dad finally contacted me. He arrived safe! Second, my husband got home and we battled the cockroach together. It was hiding behind the curtains. We were so careful not to provoke it to fly. He lured it by tapping the floor with a stick, saying cockroaches navigate by vibration. True enough, the bastarded thing followed the sound! And once it's out of the room we sprayed it to death, flushed it in the toilet, and heaved a sigh of relief.

For better or for worse. A cockroach won't do us part.

A post shared by Yan Dave (@yanbirog) on Jun 26, 2018 at 5:37pm PDT

Die bitch.

So unproductive at work

I don't even know what to say about it. Uuuuurrgghh. What do I say to my boss when he's back?! T__T

Life lately

Random: our packed lunch yesterday

We finally sold our condo!
THANK YOU LOOOOORD! After 3 months in the market (OLX, Lamudi, FB Marketplace), we finally sealed the deal with a buyer who found the ad from OLX. This is crazy. I didn't think real estate was a promising investment. When my husband bought the unit 3 years ago, we thought this is where we're gonna live in the future. It was exciting, in a way. We're getting a property! The adult in us cries in validation. But eventually, the idea became quite unattractive because I realized I didn't want to live in a cramped studio with barely any ventilation and a stoic view of the city. We both changed our minds and thought, ehh we can just rent it out instead. But then we learned that's it's not so wise to do that when you only have one property to rent. At best we're just going to break even with the monthly repayment of our housing loan. Which would take maybe 20 years to pay. Not very profitable. And so we decided to sell it instead. Best decision ever. January this year we put the property up for sale. Our target is to sell it before August because by then we would have to apply for a housing loan and be in debt for 20++ years. Thank God it didn't take so long. In two months we got a sure buyer already and we're so happy to have finally removed a liability from our lives lol. Happy 200+ articles to me!
I believe I haven't celebrated here yet hahaha. Come June and I'll be celebrating my first year anniversary with my writing sideline. Lol until now I still don't know how to call it. Client? So far I've written 206 articles of varying topics. I can't believe was able to do that, honestly. Like what the heck do I know about repairing a damaged lawn, or taking care of your fish tank? But Google truly proved to be a good good friend. It has all the information I need to deliver my job. So yeah, that's over 103,000 words written in the past 11 months! :O I'm not claiming to be a good writer but I believe I'm capable enough to take writing jobs (except academic) bwahaha. My personal record in writing a 500-word article is 1 hour. And that's if the topic can be filled with pambobola lol and is under lifestyle and fashion like, '5 tips to wear a little black dress', or '5 fashion trends you wouldn't want to miss this 2018'. That happens rarely though. I've done it only around 5 times out of the 206 articles I have so far. My average is maybe 2.5hours per article, depends on how pressured (aka I'm late for the deadline) and how focused I am. This job still takes a majority of my sidelines and I'm glad it does because it's not so uhm magastos sa utak unlike designing which really saps my brain and keeps my neurons firing even when I sleep argh.

I finalehh found a milk frother!
5 months ago I was so eager to try bulletproof coffee every morning. So I knew I had to get myself a frother to be able to enjoy the drink better. FB people says there are cheap ones are Daiso and Japan Home but they're always out of stock. Last weekend I got lucky. I FOUND A FROTHER I almost cried, seriously! And my goodness when I tried it, it's maaaaagicc!!! The butter and coconut oil really creates a frothy and creamy substance on top of my drink. And it's really super creamy and milky. I super duper love it. Eh yun nga lang ubos na coconut oil ko huhuhu. Why isn't Laurin coco MCT oil in major supermarkets! It's the best VCO, it's doesn't make you gag.

Err that's it for now. I have so many pending articles to do. Argh.

Life lately and tamad na tamad na ko ano baaaaa

// I've been feeling sick for weeks. Reason why I'm not in the mood to do anything lately. I was supposed to go to the city hall for my NBI clearance but had to delay 'cos my bed kinda hostaged me today. That and I was wheezing like crazy too.

// My sister and I finished doing my DIY kraft envelopes this weekend. IT WAS SO FUN. You know, smelling paper, cutting, folding, piling, AAAAARGH. I'm not really that crafty but I'm having fun doing simple tasks like this kahit paulit ulit. It's satisfying, the feeling of mastery. Our backs hurt a lot after that 'cos we were hunched on the floor the entire time but okay lang ang saya parin. Also doubles as bonding time with my sister too. I try not to think about it but I feel sad every time I think that in two months, we'll be seeing less of each other na. Aargh. Even my parents. My mom gets emotional whenever I talk about how Jeckie and I are looking for a place to live in after the wedding. It gets me too huhu. :(

// I thought transitioning out of my current job is gonna be easy peasy. HINDI PALA. Jusko all the documentation I have to turn over. 

// Despite feeling a bit sick, I feel like things are turning out good. Jeckie just started in his new job today! I'm not getting a lot of writing assignments lately but alam mo yung bigla na lang may darating na pera? I had to borrow the money I set aside for the car's amortization to pay for my credit card, so sabi ko Loooord help, I'm broke! In the next days I got a message from one of my recent clients, saying -- she would like to buy one of the first revisions I did for her logo 'cos she felt it embodies her company more. Ako naman, suuuuuure. But deep inside I was racking my mind if I already deleted that file 'cos that was like an ancient revision. I made seven variations for her and it's funny we're going back to the very first logo din pala. HAHA. Anyway, the point is ANSWERED PRAYER WOOOH THANK YOU LOOOORD!

// Wedding wise. Uhm. We changed photographers HAHAHA. And hired a prenup stylist too. Yey. Looking forward to it. :) Yun muna!

Life Lately

To be honest I'm feeling kindof down lately. But it will pass. I'll stop sharing about our wedding planning for now 'cos I feel like it's being jinxed the more I talk about it. Something unexpected came and now Jeckie and I are scrambling to get new jobs. Can you believe it, right in the middle of saving for our big day. So yeah, will bottle it in 'til it's over then dump all the reviews when I'm officially a Mrs. I'm just thinking sayang cos I just learned that wedding related keywords are frkn evergreen. Hahaha On the plus side, I've earned around $200 doing freelance work last month. It's tiring, writing about pool accessories, home repair, and frigging drones, but I'm learning yeah. It's just that sometimes I wish I had more passive income, so I don't have to toil every time I needed extra money. It's like yeah I may be skilled in a couple of things, but it won't translate into money if I don't work extra, which sucks.

Anyway. I'm just so tired. For an unseasoned (just haha ok) writer like me an article a day is quite a stretch. I can't believe I pulled it off though. I'm still so exhausted from all the thinking and researching, but here I am wondering if I could get some more assignments 'cos I need more paypal funds to pay for my bridesmaids dresses hahaha.

Hay Lord. I just need some good news.

Life lately and a cincher on my waist

Long time no life latelyyyy
So, what's up?

Waist training

You'd think it's some special program you enroll in to slim down your waist area but it's really just wearing these expensive binders that flatten your tummy. I'm wearing one right now. I bought it on Instagram and it's called 9-boned latex hook and eye. What can I say, it's pretty effective in tightening my core. But then all my fats spill over to my upper body, enlarging my boobs, and the sides. I look terrible. On the plus side, I can't slouch. This thing is too stiffly wrapped around my waist it's uncomfortable so slouch. Isn't that good? It really takes some getting used to, now I get why it's called 'training'. Hehe

Okay I just took it off. No way I'm enjoying my revel bar and blueberry tea with this on.

Writing

So. Remember I told you my last writing gig was a scam? Looks like it's legit after all. I got paid around a week after I kept emailing the guy. He apologized too, saying he hardly communicates with his writers via email, and finally invited me to be part of his team, and his slack group (which is pretty neat!). Damn. I feel so bad for hating him. I even went as far as contacting his "client" (the link I used in one of my articles) to say he's a scammer who doesn't pay his writers. ARGH. Stupid girl. I retracted the complaint immediately, but still.

I've written seven articles for him now, and I'm getting paid. Why, Lord. This is embarrassing.

Designing

There was a styling gig I agreed to a few weeks back but there aren't any projects yet so I'm pretty chill. Today, however, I was contacted to create a logo by a client from the states who paid agad agad the upfront down I asked for. It's the first time I got a client who is not a referral and who came from my site, so thank you Lord for organic leads! It's pretty flattering! Also, it's the first time I'm working on writing and designing at the same time, so, uhm. LET'S PANIC.

Wedding preps and keeping the expenses down

I realized that if I really wanted to have a budget wedding, I have to let go of all these nice-to-have things brides rave about at w@w (it's a facebook support group for soon to be married couples. it's pretty enlightening). And they are:

• Bridal robe - so overrated, but I'm probably gonna get a pretty one too HAHA #PeerPressure
• Gift to your partner - we have our entire lives for this
• Thank you cards - don't the souvenirs count already?
• Videographers - same day edits and aerials are the bomb right now, but I don't think we need it. I think I'll be fine with just pictures (NICE PICTURES), but yeah we already booked one. It kinda puts pressure on the couple too, cos they have to shoot too many places to get more (and beautiful) footage.
• And a lot other favors you give the guests - like heyyy I just treated you buffet lunch what else do you want? Actually, nothing. Guests are pretty inexpectant when it comes to weddings. They won't even notice the table centerpieces you bitched about to the caterer, and the additional 100/head you paid just to put their asses on rustic champagne tiffany chairs with burlap ribbons.

You see, there's a price for aesthetics. Once you book an acclaimed supplier, the rest have to follow. Why is there this kind of pressure? But you see, I think a really good photographer can fix all my aesthetic needs HAHA.

For instance, I didn't think Microtel was pretty, but this photographer, with his bright and natural shooting skills made it look so poooosh! Now, I'm set to booking Microtel for our preps haha. How I wish I could afford photogs like that.

Okay, I'm blabbing. Back to writing about phone systems and how to choose one.

Have a happy weekend!

Life Lately

Divi Day

I told myself I'm not going to buy anything, but ended up getting a bridal bouquet and two floral crowns. The agenda is to look for gowns and check out artificial flower shops, that's all. While I'm already sold on the idea of getting fake flowers for my whole entourage, including myself, my mom always gives me a disapproving look whenever I mention it. I already told her that it's tons cheaper, looks better, and counts as another gift to my ento, a pretty home decor that won't rot! But she doesn't understand because fresh is fresh daw. I have a feeling she just wants to impress the guests because she has an image to uphold, but well, we have a budget to stick to. It's frustrating. :(

All of my gown hunts have proven to be disappointing. I have to be at least 130lbs to get a chance at scoring decent RTW gowns. Otherwise I'm running short of time to get a custom-made one. Also, we really don't have the budget for it.

Queensland vs Hizon's

I'm well aware they're not on the same level, Hizon's being a hundred steps over Queensland in terms of everything (except styling), but Queensland's rates remain to be "competitive" as far as budget is concerned. However, their customer relations is damn disappointing, so it's hard to let Hizon's go entirely even though that spells a 30k difference.

Malas lang ata ako sa agent.

Related:
Hizon's Catering Food Tasting Experience
Queensland Catering Food Tasting Experience

Writing Scam

I signed up for a writing opportunity over at a Facebook group, and eventually agreed to write for $8 per 500-word article given it's a long-running engagement. Where is my self-worth? I submitted a test article about antiviruses and is awaiting feedback (and payment), but it's been 5 days and I haven't heard anything from the damned guy. The doc I submitted has been checked and edited already (says the history panel), so I don't know what's the fuss about not even acknowledging receipt. Did I just get scammed? I know I'm not one to bother 'cos I could simply publish my own article in my own site and to heck with the customer he sold my article to. I don't care about getting duplicate warnings either, I can very well prove I own the writing. But does it really matter? How will it affect my site? Grr

Bad mood

My mood has not bettered ever since my last call with Queensland. I'm sensitive like that and will always be bothered with unresolved things. Which is why I don't wanna deal with them anymore and even possibly get a refund since they didn't stick to the price we discussed during our food tasting. I feel like I've lost all faith with them just because of how inconsistent and unaccommodating their agents are. I didn't want to entrust anything to them at all. I'm afraid with all the bad impressions I have about them, which I have publicly expressed to my blog, they would get back at me by sabotaging my wedding. The horror. They're a major supplier too so I can't let them stress me out. And they are, so I'm hating on them a lot. I don't think I could ever talk nicely to anyone from there, honestly.

The Girl with all the Gifts

Still struggling to finish it but I must say I've come to the interesting part of the book, which is their escape to Beacon - a safe place away from all the zombies (or hungries, as they call it).

Althea Korea

Someone stop me for ordering again! They have BUY3FREE1 promo that's ending in a day and I really really want to order some more products to complete my skincare regimen! Mind you, this BUY3FREE1 promo is not what you think it is. I thought it meant if I buy 2 of the same product, I'll get another one for free, but nooo. It means if I order any 4 products, I'll get the cheapest one from my cart FOR FREE.

You have to try it!