When was the last time I read a book?

Today I was reminded to get back to reading. I haven't finished a book for the past yearsss and I'm kinda disappointed at myself. The only time I get to read something is when I research about the articles I'm writing. Other that that, no new novels finished. I remember being halfway through The Girl with all the Gifts and Before we were Strangers but until now I never got to finish any of them. The company held a leadership townhall this evening to launch a book called The Power of Positive Thinking. I dunno why they called it a launch, the book has been around for decades. Anyway. My takeaway from the meet was to get back to reading. Reading helps me write better and it's a good brain exercise.

Also, I can't believe I'm part of this kind of townhall. The company held a different book launch for another set of people, but this one's for leaders, wtf. I still can't let it sink that I'm on a supervisory level already. Though don't get me wrong, I have no one under me haha. Come to think it, I'm already 5 years and counting in  the industry. When I was a newbie in the workforce, my first supervisor was 5 years my senior. Looking back at all those years and damn, it's really about time.

So yeah, it's really the fleeting feeling I can't get over with. Though technically I'm not doing anything supervisory per se, cos like I said no one's under me and we're pretty much individual contributors, it feels grand to be around people so high.

So yup. Will definitely get back to reading and this time I'll probably quit the digital format and go back to old school paperback. But they're frkn pricey so we'll see.

Last book I was checking out was the The Conjugal Dictatorship..., seems like a good read but it's so frkn long and the kindle sample I got is so full of errors arg.

Today

Is my birthday! Nothing much really, ate with family, played with friends. I can say my 5-day weekend was well spent eating, working out, and writing on the sides. I'm not so big on birthdays to be honest, what a sign of aging haha. I would usually close my Facebook wall for greetings and hide my birthday to anyone. For practical reasons. My wall is home to memes and posts I want to remind myself with and quite honestly birthday greetings are spammy at best hehe. They bury content I want easily found. I know Facebook has a way to collect your greetings in one post but there will be still be a bunch who'd write directly on your wall. IDK. It's additional work for the celebrant to, yknow... like each of the posts and maybe even reply HAHA. Not worth it for an introvert like me. Same goes for my FB messenger, it's become a major mode of communication and I don't want it flooded lol. Scrolling amidst a ton of happy birthdays is already quite a task for me. Whut. I'm perfectly fine with the few who recalled this day. The important thing is I got to celebrate with my closest friends and family. IKR.

Now let me share about my problems.

//Blogging problems!
What else. I'm feeling super sad right now 'cos my DA dropped by 3 points. I've narrowed down 2 activities that may have caused this. And being that I'm not super versed with how domain authority rises and falls, here are my hunches:

1. 2 consecutive guest posts
2. Leaving my blog URL in comment exchanges

For the first one. I'm not so sure how a do-follow link affects the standing of my blog. All I know is that I'm earning from it so I must keep improving my DA. Next, comment exchanges are there for the purpose of artificially improving reader engagement. I sometimes feel bad participating in such initiatives 'cos it looks desperate. The only good thing I earned from this is maybe learning about new blogs to follow. Other that that, I don't know. I don't even reply to the comments because I know it's from a comment exchange and was written for the sake of commenting hehe (with the exception of the really curious ones). Well, I'm guilty too. I'm thinking my DA dropped because of how frequent I left backlinks on other people's blogs this day. Could that be the reason? Alright, will not put my URL anymore lol.

//Money problems!
We're 3 months behind paying our condo (the one we bought 2 years ago) and Security Bank called to inform us they're taking legal action if we don't call tomorrow. As if. But I'm basically stressing about it right now. This wasn't a problem when it was BPI handling the auto-debit collection of our down payment. They'd just add a ₱200 penalty for every month we miss and that's it. LOL

6 months ago, Avida Asten management changed their collector from BPI to Security Bank and we were informed about it through mail. But then they stopped collecting for 5 months so the money was accumulated in the bank. Back then, we were in the middle of pooling funds for our wedding so we kinda used most of our condo funds to pay our suppliers! Now it's payback time! HUHU. I want to blame Avida and Security Bank partly for this. If they debited on time we wouldn't be tempted to touch the money intended for them. LOL.

But really, it's our fault for pushing for a wedding we can't afford. Did you know we're over a hundred thousand in debt after the wedding? Yep, even with the hundred thousands we received in gifts. And I'm all about paying them completely before the year ends. Blog, don't jinx. I just don't want to deal with the stress of paying ASAP because my face is already ageing exponentially with all the extra work I'm doing right now.

//Work... problems?
I don't know if I have a problem at work. I shall know tomorrow because my manager called for a catch-up meeting. Allow me to be paranoid, there were times I think I'm being extremely underutilized because work's kinda lax recently. And being the super introverted person that I am, I'm not pabibo enough to ask for work. In fact I enjoy being chill. It gives me time to read. I just do what I'm told specially if there's a deadline. Which sucks, I know. So I had a, uhm, a what-if scenario. What if because of my low performance they reduce my status to a contractual employee and that my term will end in 6 months? I was mentally crying at the thought but at the same time preparing myself for it.

Pros: I can finally try working freelance for real and see if I have any chance at it at all. I can ask for more articles to write, maybe even apply for a full time position. Also, if my current company fires me I should be getting some kind of severance pay right? So yep, that's money to live off for maybe a month, while I'm out (or in) looking for a new job.

Cons: I will be constantly stressed looking for a new job. I'll be bugged by our bills. I'll probably lose weight. I'll lose my iPhone and my only source of internet connection.

So. Yeah, I'm 27 by the way!

Alright, back to writing about fish tanks... which is my 102nd (is there a limit to adding nds and ths?) article. Grrr I totally forgot to celebrate my 100th article with this client who's been underpaying me for 6 months now, charot hahaha. I was supposed to make a celebratory post for it, but in my eagerness to earn money I haven't stopped writing and now I'm on article #102 and it's an odd number to celebrate to, ironically haha. Anyway. You'll hear about this next time.

For now, sleep.

5 Ready-To- Drink Protein Shakes for Women

Disclaimer: this is a guest post.

As a rule, the focus of most female users choosing a diet supplement is to cut calories and get a slim shape. Yet, some women are not satisfied with what has already been achieved and shift to another level that foresees putting on muscle mass. The way of weight management you choose is the shaping factor of the supplement to choose.

Instant Protein Intake 

Being a woman in the present time means to be a universal soldier. Wife, mother, employee, athlete, and other personalities are implemented in one body and one mind. An abundance of versatile tasks cut the time for such vital activity as taking a meal. And having enough amount of energy to succeed in all endeavors within a day is obligatory. Naturally, the so-called junk or fast food can be the way out. Yet, such solution entails miscellaneous unwilling consequences like overweight and digestion issues. An alternative is represented by a healthier product named meal replacement. You may also find it under the name of RTD or ready-to- drink protein shake. The essence of the drink is to supply a maximum possible set of vital ingredients within a tasty and low-calorie shake. Thus, you replace your full meal with a pack of nutritional materials in liquid form. These products differ in content, brands, price, and other important aspects. On this account, we decided to introduce five decent solutions for female users currently available on the market.

Pure Protein 

170 kcal in a small can is a convenient way to nurture your organism. Pure Protein is low in sugar and fat. Yet, the volume of the core ingredient is impressive – 35g. Moreover, the drink is an excellent source of calcium. Though the shake cannot boast of benefits of Shakeology, users admit its flavor versatility, as well as decent performance for both intense training and average daily needs.

AdvantEDGE 

If the mentioned amount of calories and protein is too much for you and you hate cans, meet another RTD with decent nutritional values but in the paper pack. Obviously, this drink produced by EAS is not a fit to achieve high results in gaining musculature. Yet, if you pursue the goal of cutting body mass, AdvantEDGE’s 100 kcal plus 17g of protein is a perfect solution.

MET-Rx 

As we mentioned in the very beginning, female users can set opposite goals. So, if some woman may consider 35g of protein as an overstated value, others may need a larger content of this ingredient. RTD 51 by MET-Rx offers the value indicated in its name. Indeed, along with  250 kcal, each can of this drink supplies 51g of the muscle-building material. Besides, the shake is packed with versatile minerals to cope with your hunger.

Isopure 

The first thing about this shake admitted by users is the appearance. Indeed, it looks great and attracts with its appealing view. Isopure Zero Carb does not resemble a regular meal replacement but a flavor-infused water. However, 40g of protein disconfirm this possible mistake. Forget about sugar or carbs when drinking this fruity liquid. Besides, due to a large volume, you can split the content into two servings with 20g of protein per each.

Muscle Milk 

The final product in our list does not need to be split since it already offers 20g of the core ingredient. Muscle Milk is a well-balanced drink for those who cannot imagine their life without the gym and women that require a decent meal replacement. In addition to the low content of such vital nutrients as sugar, carbs, and fat, the RTD provides a magnificent flavor for its customers.

Money Diaries: a week in November

In which I talk about my week by sharing my expenses. But first, here's a giant Christmas tree being set up at the office. It's maybe 3 floors tall. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The last time I did this was seven months ago, and back then it didn't sound so legit because I still live with my parents and thus get a lot of things for free. And yet I still spent over 3,000 that one week lol. Anyway, this time it's for real. We're now living off of our salaries and man is it so hard so keep a strict budget on everything.

I'm hoping to taper my expenses by limiting my milk tea, salad, and coffee consumption, and also confining myself to eating only those that I packed from home. ALSO, I want to quit taking Grab/Uber/Taxi because sobrang gastos aaarggh but they're always so tempting especially when I'm running late for work or feel like going home faster. Anyway, thank God we did the grocery last Saturday so our pantry's pretty full. Plus our parents still come by to stock our ref with food. What is #Blessedt.

★ Monday (November 6) - ₱28 YASSS!!!

○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Bus going home - ₱14

Mind you I brought so much food with me. For snacks I had 3 choco wafers, 3 one one's lol, and cinnamon bread x arla cheese spread sandwich (so goood). My lunch is corned beef flakes, and super garlicky chicken breast.

Free food:
♥ My officemate brought imported cheese. It's packaged like an oversized sausage, smells like tinapa, and tastes delicious. I think it's smoked gouda cheese. I googled that.
♥ Milo from the pantry
♥ Joined a forum at the office where they served snacks afterwards. Was able to score a ton of  hors d'oeuvres. Theres maki, vegetable sticks with super yummy asian sauce, wheat crostinis with amazing liver spread sauce, ham balls in crazy garlic mayo sauce. My goodness everything tasted so goooood huhu.

So you see, no chance I'm buying food outside. Free food is life.

★ Tuesday (November 7) - ₱478 

○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ CSR contribution - ₱450 (which will go to filling 5 shoe boxes of school supplies for kids)
○ Bus going home -  ₱14

Was so tempted to grab a cab going home 'cos it was almost 1am when I timed out, but in the name of cost cutting and our burgeoning bills, bus it is!

★ Wednesday (November 8) - ₱3,356.82

Had to pay our monthly dues asap because I can't make coffee and rice. In short, I'll die. Our condo supplies us with drinking water as long as we pay our dues on time hehe.

○ Condo dues - ₱1,516.36
○ Utilities - ₱1,812.46

I wasn't supposed to count them under my expenses but for the meantime I'm paying for them 'cos we're broke AF.

○ Bus going to the office - ₱14
○ Bus going home - ₱14

This afternoon I finally got my backpay and my clearance from Pointwest. Yey for money in the next three days, which will be gone in an instant because we have debts to pay lol.

Also, I accidentally withdrew funds from Paypal which I was supposed to convert to PHP. Crap. That means I'm getting charged 300 when it reaches my bank account. Huhu. I'm praying for more writing assignments this long weekend so I can save enough to pay for my credit card. Have I mentioned we're broke AF?

Okay, I just informed my client that I'm open to accepting more writing tasks this week due to the long weekend. Who cares about my birthday. Let there be more work cos I have bills to pay!

I swear when my check gets cleared I'm going to pour all my freelance earnings to balancing out our dues. It's gone crazy.

Another good news, I've reached the threshold on Google Adsense. AFTER A MILLION YEARS YOU GUYS. I'm gonna get my first-hand experience cashing out on Western Union. It's only a hundred dollars but still, I'm thrilled for Google Mail!

★ Thursday (November 9) - ₱ 107.08

Before heading to work I had to meet someone for an OLX transaction so hooray for earning extra cash!

○ Bus going to Ayala - ₱12
○ Grocery - ₱81.08
○ Bus going home - ₱14

It's raining hard outside and the temptation to ride a cab home is unbearable. But nope, must stick to the budget.

★ Friday (November 10) - ₱ 298

I was running late for work so I decided to book GrabShare. Too bad I still arrived late. Waste of money, so never again.

○ GrabShare to the office - ₱164
○ GoSalads Smoothie - ₱120
○ Bus going home - ₱14

★ Saturday (November 11) - ₱ 0

Stayed at home all day. Jeckie did the laundry, I cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the floor. We spent hours and hours watching Brooklyn Nine Nine. SO HILARIOUS. Officially one of my favorite sitcoms now! We ate whatever's on the fridge.

I can't believe I'm seeing a zero day. It pays to be an introvert guys, literally.

★ Sunday (November 12) - ₱ 398

Grab to Shangrila Plaza - ₱44 (promo)
Lunch - ₱136 (that's KFC + Zagu)
Snack - ₱45 (Nova)
Dinner - ₱173 (Chowking)

We were out the entire day. Met with the family, went to church, visited some friends who live nearby (which we learned just this afternoon haha). Not proud of my food choices, but I loved my Zagu Pearl Milk Tea hehe.

Total? ₱4,665.90. Damn the dues. No pun intended.

Holiday Romance: Pros and Cons

Disclaimer: this is a guest post.

A holiday romance can turn your vacation into a real adventure. But in order for such relationships to leave only good memories and not turn into bitter disappointment, you need to follow certain rules.

These tips were kindly provided by Jump 4 Love. There are no people with whom it doesn’t happen. Once or several times, leaving good or, conversely, sad memories, a holiday romance happened with many. Holiday romances are good for those who know how to quickly let it go and forget; who is able to turn off emotions at the right time and turn on the mind again. It is also great for those who treat life easily, like thrills, don’t strive for serious relationships and don’t want to create a strong family. For such people, a holiday romance is like energy for their “battery” of love, new feelings, emotions, and impulses.

What are the pros of holiday romance? 

Photo by India Tupy on Unsplash

Improvement of self-esteem. Nothing convinces a man of his irresistibility like compliments and attention from the opposite sex. But here it is necessary to be cautious because self-esteem can increase during romance, but greatly decrease after its completion.

Feeling of happiness. Going on vacation, most people leave their worries and problems at home and it helps them feel really happy. But this feeling can intensify into a hundredfold when you begin to communicate with new people and feel the obvious interest of beautiful girls.

New experiences and sensations. You met a new person and got a new experience of communication (not only mental). You can meet again in the future if it is really good to be together. Who knows, maybe you can start a relationship built outside carefree holidays. Undoubtedly, you can gain experience in personal relationships. Such a holiday romance doesn’t oblige you to anything. It allows you to fully reveal yourself and implement even the most intimate fantasies. You can remain yourself or play a role that you could only dream of at home, for example, to become a reckless hooligan.

Revaluation of life values. Perhaps, this is one of the most useful aspects of holiday romance. After a man experiences very strong emotions, he usually overestimates his own life and what was once important for him.

Careless life. You are perfectly rested, let all your feelings, desires, and impulses go, satisfy all your fantasies, allow yourself just to enjoy life. Love. This point is in the last positions completely not in vain, since such relations very rarely become serious. So, there is always a chance that you will be lucky and meet true love as in holiday romance movies.

What are the cons of holiday romance?

Photo by Timothy Kolczak on Unsplash

Venereal diseases. No one should forget about one’s own protection. Whatever emotions and impulses you feel, no matter how this romance ends, including sexual relations, contraception may protect you from many possible unpleasant consequences! Don’t forget about it.

Scammers. Experienced scammers always know where they can profit. So, very often they go to different resorts. After all, it is very simple to deceive relaxed, having a rest and nothing unsuspecting holiday-makers. Therefore, be very careful and vigilant. You have to be very careful when getting acquainted with new people.

Suffering from unrequited feelings. If you are careless and fall in love with your new acquaintance, who doesn’t reciprocate to you, this can turn into a serious problem for you. But in addition to suffering from unrequited love, you can drive yourself into a kind of “emotional trap” that will not let you go any further and establish a serious relationship.

All the things we DIYed for our wedding

Which would not be possible without my dear sister and maid of honor. Together we braved Divisoria to buy my wedding gown, our entourage flowers, and a lot of other stuff we need for making uhm, rustic accents haha. Mind you, I'm not a crafty person! While I consider myself creative, I prefer to concentrate my creative juices to digital outputs. I make a mess of glues and tapes and I'm averse to any creative endeavor that requires dirtying myself. Which is why I'm sooooo happy that my sister is super game with helping me with JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. <3 So here you go:

• Invitation layout and design
• Kraft invitation envelopes
• Boutonnieres
• Flower balls for flower maidens
• Guestbook
• Loop video for the screen

Invitation layout and design

Of course I had to do our own haha. Shameless plug: www.yanbirog.com for my creative portfolio hehe. 4 cards, 5x7 in. The hardest thing about this is actually doing the map because it involves illustrating and scaling.

Tool: Adobe Photoshop CC
Fonts: Bringshoot, Libre Baskerville, and Monsterrat
Graphics: Freepik
Printing: c/o my father-in-law because they have a print shop yeyyy!
Paper: Linen 246 GSM

Kraft invitation envelopes

I wanted to get kraft envelopes talaga but there seems to be none in the market! National Bookstore has brown baronial envelopes but the flaps are trapezoid, I want triangle flaps HAHA. So yeah no choice but to make our own! The materials are SOOOO CHEAP it was really the labor (of love) that racked up the value of these envelopes haha. So please guys if you received one... I hope you think it's pretty. Then, you can throw it away lol.

Tools: Kraft paper, ruler, pencil, scissors, glue/paste/double tape, A7 envelope as pattern (5.25x7.25in)

There are kraft cartolinas at National Bookstore that cost around ₱8/pc. You can make 5 standard A7 envelopes with them. BUT we've searched some more and found kraft paper being sold at Prestige Paper. They're not on the shelves and are used to wrap packages but the staff offered it to us because we couldn't seem to find what we're looking for. It's local quality recycled paper. It's the same paper used in regular brown envelopes. WHICH IS DEYM PERFECT. Kraft cartolina is too hard and too brown. Prestige Paper's paper (haha) is just right. Peso power? ₱6/sheet. One sheet can make 12 envelopes are you kidding me?!

Nope.

Prestige Paper is located at the back of Fisher Mall in Quezon City.

Boutonnieres

Another major labor of love! We weren't able to use them 'cos we got convinced that it's bad for barong, but oh well!

Fake flowers and leaves are from Cherry Berry in Divisoria.
Jute strings, floral tapes, and pins are from Tabora St. and Anding's (around Divi).

Flower balls for flower maidens

Para maiba, we didn't opt for the basket of flowers for our flower girls. Instead we made these 2 flower balls.

Tools: 7in Styro balls, mini flowers, dress pins, ribbons.
Useless tools: poster paint, glue gun

All of the tools were bought from Divisoria, except for the useless tools. The mini flowers cost ₱2/pc, we were advised to get 100 pcs per ball so we got 200pcs. In the end we weren't able to use everything, I think we still got around 100 pcs left haha.

The plan was to cover the ball in green paint before sticking the flowers with glue gun para hindi pangit if may gap. BUT HOLY MOLEY the ball turned out very sticky even after the paint dried. It was kindof useless too in the end because there were no gaps when I finished the project. So much for dirtying my fingersss! ALSO, if you buy flowers like that I suggest you PIN THEM instead of glue-gunning (???) them. I REALIZED THIS TOO LATE haha. You can pin the center of the flower with a dressmaker pin. Imagine my grief when I learned about this.

Guestbook

Since our photo and video package didn't include a guestbook, I decided to make our own. With less than a week left for our wedding, I didn't have enough time to order a custom Photobook huhu. So yeah, ano pa nga ba.

For this project I wanted to get a small sketchpad that's not springed para hindi mukang scrapbook haha, stick some photos inside, and wrap it with kraft paper or whatever haha.

Thank God I found Abbey Sy's My Lettering Progress Keeper at National Bookstore. It's the perfect sketchpad for this DIY! It's not springed, the paper is artist grade watercolor paper from Canson (doesn't really matter, just wanted to spell out the specs haha), it's in the perfect size (7x10in), and it has 25 pages only! Just about right considering I don't have a lot of photos haha and duuuh guestbooks aren't usually thick diba haha, like.. who needs all that space. At best, people are just gonna write congratulations and best wishes over and over HAHA. I really just wanted something they can look at and pass around lololol.

Anyway. I had our prenup photos printed in 4R size at Tronix. I was worried that the prints would come out too glossy but thank God they use Satin paper, which is like half linen and half glossy, basta. Maganda naman sya. ₱7/photo. For the cover, I took inspiration from pinterest and made a heart shaped collage of our photos. I also designed the cover and had it printed in A4 size for ₱30, still at Tronix. Then I used that to wrap the sketchpad. Ang hassle magbalot jsklrd HAHA. The paper, as I mentioned was Satin, so it was sticky and kinda not waterproof hahaha. Sobrang ingat ako madumihan yung papel! But yeah, I pushed through HAHA.

And voila! Our guestbook is doooone! <3 Now that the wedding's over, we're peeling out the yellowing photos and turning the book back into its original form, a sketchpad!

Loop video for the screen

Because I didn't want the screen to be blank all the time, I made a loop video for display purposes. Also to remind the guests of our wedding hashtag #DAVEstWeddingEver haha. I actually love it!

I can't believe how easy this was to do. I had to learn the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro but basically all I wanted was to put some text with a video background - which I got from Youtube. Just search for "HD background video loop", take your pick, and get it using your favorite illegal downloader (char).

Aaaaand that's about it! Thanks for reading all the way, awardddd!

Wedding gown hunt: Divisoria

Hay I'm so lazy to chronicle what happened months back during our visits to Divi, specially that I'm writing this 5 months late hahaha. So eto na lang, let me show you the winning gown, as well as a couple of other gowns I tried from various parts of Divi that I'm not ashamed to show you hahaha. LOL isa lang naman ata hahaha

Jenen!

Brought this at Blitz - 168 Mall for ₱8,500 only, accessories included. Most of the gowns I tried range from ₱10,000 to ₱15,000 so I was really sold when I scored this for a lower price. It's the only gown I tried that didn't need alteration so pak, we got it right away. It's an off-shoulder, ball gown with a-line petticoat so the skirt doesn't open too big. 

In fairness, props to our photographer Dave Sarabia for making our wedding elements look mahal HAHAHA. I know right, nasa photographer talaga. 

Here's how it looks when I tried it on sa Divi. It looks really niiiice and not cheap looking hahaha. In fact when I was wearing it around the store there were people asking the ate how much the gown is. Tas si ate pa-simple na ₱12,000 daw. Wow naman sinuot ko lang tumaas agad ang value! Charot.

If you're going to look for RTW gowns in Divisoria, I suggest you look in the air-conditioned malls na lang because dyahe magsukat sa labas promise! 

168 Mall is already brimming with choices, go visit the basement, ground floor (not sure), 4th and 6th floor. Blitz is at the 4th floor around the escalators pala. :D Dragon Mall has a lot of choices too but they're on the pricier side already. 

Aside from 168 Mall we also scoured the streets outside because we heard there are tons of great options there as well. True enough, sobrang daaaaaamiii sa labas. We went to Ylaya, Tabora, and the dry markets in between the streets. They're filled with patahians and you'll go crazy with the gowns too. Downside is sobrang init and ang haggard magsukat. As in. 

Be prepared, there are no fitting areas in the stalls. Wear comfortable clothing, pieces where you can slip in and out easily. Buti na lang I was trying purely ball gowns so I had the space under the skirt to undo my clothes. Kebs lang din naman cos hello, what is Divi. Not for maartes (like me, internally). We carried through and I was able to try 2 gowns at the palengkes which are all super sikip on me so waley. Bye.

So... yon.