22 for 2022 (Awaiting Completion)

I think I won't be able to complete my 22 things to do for 2022. We are again in a state of semi-lockdown. Self-imposed. Omicron kasi. I don't think I'll also be able to do a 40 things I want to do before I turn 40 because... pandemic. Oh yeah, I turn 40 this year. Blech. But my sister taught me to see this as a blessing- not all people are given the opportunity to live until their 40th birthdays, so now I almost always see getting older in a positive light. Ayun lang may mga downsides like white hair, triggered hyperacidity due to the littlest of things (such as but not limited to not eating or pooping on time, TMI, harharhar), takes time to catch up on sleep when I make puyat, 

So here are my sort of resolutions this year and also what I want to do/happen ☺

💜1. Track my expenses RELIGIOUSLY. I started March last year- I was able to list down my expenses and also make an excel file of my cash flow- but come November and December which were my busy months, I failed to write everything down. I need to train myself to write all expenses at the end of the day. 

💜 2. Start reading books again. YA na nga lang hindi pa ako makarami, harhar. And to think I kinda have a lot of time in my hands because there weren't many orders coming in. Well, I have BTS and kdramas to blame for that. My resolution for this year is only eight books and I hope I get to accomplish that.

💜 3. Eat healthy. Which means less Coke, less chips, less sugar, more veggies. It's relatively easier since I can't go out and eat whatever I want when I crave for it (like samgyup, for example), but we still have our friendly neighborhood sari-sari store that sells Coke and chichirya and also village marketplaces that sell merienda (kwek-kwek 👀) and have it delivered to our doorstep. Dahil nga tumatanders na ako, I need to somehow lessen my intake of these sinful food. I need to make a conscious effort to eat healthy para pagdating ko ng 50,60, I will still be able to enjoy life. 

💜 4. Exercise more. At the start of the pandemic until October last year, I was religiously exercising in the morning with my father at the balcony. Medyo mandatory yung attendance but come Nov/Dec when we were busy with Christmas orders, I stopped. And until now I haven't started again. Late December, I got sick and isolated myself for more than 10 days, so naunsyami na naman ang aking dapat morning routine. Because of omicron, I also avoid being at the same spot as my parents. Mahirap na. I need to exercise inside my room or at least do stretching but, you know, my mind is willing but the body is weak. I hope I muster enough discipline to do this again. 

💜 5. Take my vitamins/supplements everyday- not to be kunat with my money and buy the needed meds. Health is wealth after all. Bakit kasi ang mahal ng Liverprime!

💜 6. Post more photos on Instagram. I take lots of photos but only a few make it on Instagram. Or Facebook. Most of these photos end up in my computer memory or external storage and I get to see them only when I look for some photos or when I try to organize my files. I want to post them on IG because when it's there I see it more often- I'll be reminded more often of the memories that come with the photos. 

💜 7. Plan ahead. Be less of a procrastinator. A N G H I R A P N I T O ! ! ! Bilang isang master procrastinator (and a good one at it 😉), I always wait for the last minute to do things. Lalo na ngayon na you can't really plan things. We make orders, a surge happens, customers cancel or postpone their orders. But with regard to life in general, I should train myself to not wait for the last bottle of whatever that is to be opened before I buy a new one. I want to put this quote a saw on Twitter- If it takes less than five minutes to do, do it immediately. Your life will instantly become much more organized and productive.

💜 8. Try watching Goblin again. Haha. Pang-ilan ko nang attempt ito. 

💜 9. Start journaling on paper again. Ang limit ko na mag-blog at hindi na ako nagjo-journal on paper. Sometimes I read my old posts and I'm reminded of things or events that I would have never remembered had happened if it weren't for those posts or journal entries. Pero gusto ko this time, with more photos, with washi tapes- mas may art eme. Hihi. Let's see if I can actually do this. 

** to be continued **

New Year, New Eme

 Not. 

Mukha namang things won't be back to normal anytime soon with the looming surge caused by omicron and of course the people's complacency during the holiday season. Well at least we were able to dine or have coffee outside once or twice and we were able to celebrate the kids' birthday together as a family ♥ I think I can get by another six months without seeing them face-to-face again. Let's just hope and pray nang mataimtim na things will get better soon so we can celebrate the parentals' golden anniversary on May. 

Almost Christmas Update

 Christmas is still 69 days away but on my clock it's already almost Christmas. Hindi ko lang siya masyado ramdam this year because- covid, and there aren't much orders coming in this year. Not sure if wala talagang order or late lang papasok. I just hope late lang sila papasok. Dali, ngaragin niyo na ako please! Haha. 

I ordered pa naman a lot of bottles- asyumera kasi. I just hope sales pick up soon kahit sa Shopee lang. However, there's a spattering of orders of souvenirs for baptisms and weddings so that's a good thing. My only fear is that once the cases start going up, the government will again impose lockdowns which could halt operations again. Sana lang mas careful yung mga tao. Looking at photos online, parang wala nang covid eh. Crowds gathered at the dolomite beach, at the Marikina River Park, at a coffee shop in in Taguig- ¡Que barbaridad! Paano tayo matatapos nito? People, not because you can doesn't mean you should.  

Anyway... just distracting myself from reality with BTS, kdramas and webtoons. BTS muna tayo. 

It was Jimin's birthday last October 13. His 26th in international age, 27th in Korean age. Gosh, I can still recall my late 20s which was pretty angst-ridden mostly and wala pa akong pera noon. I just make do with the little allowance I get from the nail spa (no matter how I seem to hate that nail spa, I'm still grateful for it cos it led me to what I'm doing right now). So anyway, back to Jimin... wala naman kaming prepared celebration. We just ordered last mintute from our suki online meriend shop- beef spaghetti, Japanese siomai and coke. I wish things will be much better (aka may pera ako) this Nov and December para I can prepare for Jin's and Taehyung's birthdays on the 4th and 30th, respectively. I still regret not celebrating my unico hijo's 24th but I mean to make bawi (Comcalc, LOL) on his 25th. I hope by then tapos na ang pandemya. 

So again- BTS stuff... yesterday I watched In the Soop S2's first episode and I am in awe of these boys. Super. How they stay down to earth despite their worldwide popularity is beyond me. Of course I'm not 100% sure if they are really like that behind the camera, but it seems that they are. 

watching ITS2 ep1 while on quarantine
happy, because:
1. I'm watching the boys being themselves (sort of)
2. There's hipon for breakfast!

How can you not fall for or like those boys? Hay. Nakakatuwa sila, I swear- a ray of sunshine during this pandemic. 

So far I like this season better cos Taehyung's happier here. Parang medyo sulky siya last season. I'm just happy he's overcome his sadness and is back to his old, kulit self (but of course I really don't know for sure if that is the real Taehyung).  

And Jungkook being such a softie for Bam, his pet dog- OMG! 

this scene reminded me of my sister brushing his son's teeth LOL

That boy, I swear- Mom's very proud of you (he's my son in an alternate universe, okay?) Chareng. Seeing Jungkook waking up early to feed Bam, cleaning up after Bam and patiently potty-training him- endears him to me more. Okay Jungkook, Mom's okay na with your tats and piercings. LOL. Hibang ang loka. 

Seeing the boys do the chores, seeing how they look like when they wake up in the morning (correction: tanghali na sila magising, literally), seeing them take care of each other- makes me happy. I really hope they are like that in real life, that they're like that to each other off-camera too. 

Another distraction I have are webtoons! It started with True Beauty which I actually stopped reading cos it has become annoying, will give it a try again soon- I can't believe I haven't read it in four months already. Age Matters has recently concluded and while I enjoyed most of it, medyo naging so-so na lang siya towards the end. Hindi na siguro alam ni author anong gagawin sa story, ergo the decision to end the series already. My favorites these days are Secret Playlist, Romance 101, Odd Girl Out and Yumi's Cells. Those are the series I'm currently heavily invested in, but there are also tons I'm enjoying. 

As for the kdramas, will make another post as soon as I'm done watching Hometown Cha Cha Cha. 

Ending this post with BTS' newest collab with Coldplay ♥ Me gusta muchoooo

Still Grateful at 39

Family and close friends know that I like celebrating my birthday. Pagkatapos pa lang ng Christmas, I always say, "malapit na birthday ko," which is actually on September, nine months after Christmas. But alas, this wasn't the case this year. 

Around a month ago, one of our house helps, Mimi, told me she wasn't feeling well, that she had a sore throat. Since we don't really go out, I dismissed it as one of her "episodes" since this girl would always not feel well most especially if it's her monthly period. So ayun, binigyan ko lang siya ng Lola Remedios. That was August 9. 

The morning of August 12 she was coughing and my sister heard it. I told my sister that Mimi wasn't feeling well- may ubo at may sipon. Sabi ni Ate sa kanya, "eh bakit andito ka pa sa baba?" She was sent to isolation right away at buti na lang, because after two days she told me that she had lost her sense of taste. At this point I was still in denial. Hindi naman nga kasi kami lumalabas. Sobrang dalang. So I messaged her and asked her where she thinks she could have gotten it, if it was it. Sabi niya a day before the ECQ (Aug 6), she was asked to buy gata and sago in the market when she accompanied Nonoy to the apartment. Tinanong ko siya, "Maraming tao?" Sabi niya, "Oo." Sabi ko, "Eh, bakit ka tumuloy?" Natakot daw siya na baka magalit si Mommy at Daddy sa kanya. Sentido comun diba? Pero siguro napangunahan siya ng takot.

The morning of August 14, our Manang already had a case of the sniffles. And so she we asked her to go up her room and isolate right away. This was when it has sunk in- that our household may have been infiltrated by the virus. Pero in denial pa rin ako ng slight. We wanted to make sure so we booked for a home service swab test on August 15, Sunday. The results came in August 16. Positive si madam. Hindi na namin pinatest si Manang. If Mimi was positive, for sure Manang also was since they share a room. This was when my brain went into overdrive. Overthinking galore. We had to practice social distancing inside the house and wear masks because at that time we didn't know yet who else had it. Bawat ubo ng tatay ko, parang tumatalon ang puso ko. Nung isang gabi na sumakit lalamunan ng nanay ko, parang hihimatayin ako sa kaba. We consulted my Dad's pulmo on what to do since we had a positive person in the house and we're close contacts. He gave us meds to take and instructed us to get swabbed on the 7th day after last exposure. Eh hindi ako mapakali. We scheduled a swab on the 5th day instead. Not following directions si ako. Hay.

And since Mimi and Manang were on quarantine, Ate and I had to do the chores ourselves. Hindi ako marunong magluto at si Ate naman WFH. Our arrangement was she'll cook and I will do the dishes. Nangyari most of the time was we just ordered cooked food from the village marketplace, pay via GCash and just get the delivery para less interaction. But a few days after Mimi and Manang started quarantine, Ate started not feeling well. She always gets dysmenorrhea on her first day but since these are not normal times, we can't be too sure. OMG grabe yung anxiety level ko! Ang pulse rate ko ay naglalaro between 104 to 116. I slept in the other room kasi nga diba para sure. But in the other room I can hear my Dad coughing at night or in the wee hours of the morning. By the way, he has COPD so he has been like that even before the pandemic started but I feel mas naging worse dahil andito lang sila sa loob ng bahay for 18 months now. Pero alam mo yung feeling na simpleng ubo nga lang ba siya o ibang ubo na? Ayayay! Ang babaw ng tulog ko. I'd wake up at 2am. Sleep again. When my dad would cough again at around 4, magigising ako ulit. Tapos I had to wake up at 6am to cook rice. 

N AP A G O D  A K O  M G A   B E S H! I think if it was just the manual labor, kaya ko eh. Pero kasama yung anxiety, sobrang napagod ako. And I lost 4 kilos! On normal conditions, that would be cause for celebration pero dahil nasa pandemya tayo at merong positive noon sa bahay namin, hindi ako masyado natuwa. Eh paano kakaunti lang tulog ko tapos wala akong ganang kumain. The last time I felt that was when I was in law school for two weeks- so anxiety nga siya. 

And while our household was on quarantine, my other sister broke naman her news to use that she was positive too. And her son had just underwent a heart surgery just a few weeks before. So dagdag na naman sa anxiety ko. 

After two weeks (a little over two weeks, actually), we scheduled Mimi and Manang for a saliva test to confirm lang that they're negative already before we let them come down. We got Mimi's result on August 31 but we let her come down Sept 2 pa, just to be sure. We didn't get Manang's result right away, kaso mabubuang na daw siya sa kwarto nila so we consulted our dad's pulmo na lang ulit and asked if we could let her come down na after three weeks. Safe naman na daw. So ayun.

But even after three weeks of isolation, I still was praning. We're still practicing social distancing and double masking inside the house. No going out unless very necessary. 

And I still wasn't in the mood to plan anything for my birthday. I wanted to sana but I couldn't. At that time I was still imagining all the worst-case scenarios in my head. I couldn't even get to distract myself with BTS and my Kdramas. I'm grateful for my sisters and cousin who sent food and cake ayuda- Thai food and Mango Bravo cake from Conti's from AD, chocolate cake from Dodoy and Jungkook bento cake and Borahae pillow from V and family. 

Little things ♥ I'm so grateful for the food and cakes! Tom yum, pad thai, pineapple rice tapos may Coke pa ♥ I hope and pray by next year things are much better para I can say 'Life begins again at 40!'

So it's exactly a month after Mimi's positive result. Mas okay na ako ngayon- eating and sleeping well. I gained a kilo already hoho! And I started watching Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha ☺ I still wake up at 4am but I use that time to pray instead. I also hear mass via YouTube at 6:30 in the morning. Kung meron man akong habit na na-acquire this pandemic, eh mas naging madasalin ako and I hope (and I will try) to keep it. 

So there, our COVID ordeal. I pray that would the first and the last time. I pray for the pandemic to end soon. I pray that things would go back to normal or at least some semblance of normalcy- pero sana we keep the lessons we learned because of the pandemic.  

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10💓

Believe. Trust. Surrender.

 Kumusta naman ang araw niyo?

Ako, eto, stressed. Nag-positive lang naman yung kasambahay namin for COVID. 

Hay, 

I'm worried for my parents who are both senior citizens with comorbidities. Good thing is we're all vaccinated. With Sinovac nga lang but better than nothing. 

We are on Day 4 of our home quarantine. We're getting swabbed tomorrow afternoon. 

I pray for negative results most especially for my parents.

Please, Lord God. 

Escapism Therapy: Imitation

💜💜💜💜💜

It's always the dramas I said I wasn't interested in watching. Always. 

That was the case with Reply 1997 and 1988, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, Hotel de Luna, Vincenzo and now Imitation. Unknown actors (at least to me) and when I first read the synopsis, it didn't tickle my fancy. I don't know what made me actually start the series but I'm glad I did. 

Actually, I started watching episode 1 of Imitation right before going to sleep and I fell asleep just a few minutes into the drama. So I almost dropped it, dismissing it as not too interesting. But I gave it another try and so begins my crush on newfound eye candy, Lee Jun-young (around episode 3, actually). The second time around, right before the first episode was done I was hooked. 

In the beginning, what really got me into the drama was the hate-to-love trope (my favorite 😁) and the undeniable onscreen chemistry between our leads. 'Nung umpisa I didn't even find Ryoc attractive and I actually found Lee Ma-ha too pasty (in other words, mukhang siyang mumu sa isang Korean movie kaysa isang Kpop idol), I just like the story so much and where I think it's heading. Ryoc's appeal came later na lang, as mentioned before around episode 3 of the drama. Until the end, I found Ma-ha mumu-looking and also what's with the hair? LOL. I hope they made her hair short na lang instead of putting extensions because it made her hair look like a helmet, eh wala naman bearing sa kwento yung length ng hair niya. Her helmet-ish hair and pasty appearance bothered me. But their love team, I still 'shipped!

Which leads me to... idols' secret relationships. Idols are said to be prohibited from getting into romantic relationships and while others may say that is preposterous, I think I kind of get where their managers and agencies are coming from. If the drama's portrayal of idols in relationships is accurate ha. For example, we see Ryoc as someone very hardworking and focused on his career, both in music and in film, but when he starts developing feelings for Ma-ha and eventually get into a secret relationship with her, we see him so out of focus. I know it's ridiculous for these youngsters not to fall in love with equally good-looking humans which I think are abundant in the world they live in, pero ayun nga they have to keep their eye on the prize. For them to withstand all those grueling hours of training, I guess they really liked being idols. And I guess they know naman what they're getting into. I'm not saying that's right, but business is business nga diba? And these talent agencies shelled out lots of moolah to train these talents for years! And in the drama, once Ryoc sort of realizes his feelings or at least like for Ma-ha, he loses his focus. He suddenly spaces out therefore missing out on instructions and he breaks rules he once called out his bandmates for breaking (ie. dating). Although I'm not sure if allowing them to date out in the open will "fix" that. 

Loved this drama albeit the anti-climactic ending which was too cheesy for me. And I doubt if this is feasible in real life- kpop idols rebelling against the system. 

I hope I see more dramas from Lee Jun-young ♥ And I also hope they make favorite webtoons into live action dramas, too! 

Recreation Therapy: Kdramas That Kept Me Entertained While in Lockdown 2021

 Here's my latest list of K-dramas I've recently finished watching 😊 

1. How to Be Thirty
2. Vincenzo
3. So I Married an Anti-Fan
4. Law School
5. Please Don't Date Him

Lima lang pala. I thought the number's so much more than that. Maybe because I'm also watching some ongoing dramas like Nevertheless and Imitation (which is my current favorite OMG 😍) and there are other dramas I still haven't gotten myself to finish watching just yet like Oh My Ladylord, Doom at Your Service and You are Beautiful. 

Anyway, here are my non-review reviews.

How to Be Thirty

💜

Although I am already pushing frakkin' forty and not thirty, I sort of felt that maybe this drama's something I could relate to. Eh hindi. But then this ajumma's also a sucker for noona romances so ayan. 

I was enjoying it at first kilig kilig eme but in the middle my interest kind of waned. And the drama's only 20 minutes, mind you, so that's not a good thing. Maybe the fact that it was only 20 minutes long was also the reason why cos there wasn't much room for character development? I don't know. I almost didn't finish the drama but I sort of wanted to know if our Female Lead will end up with the director. I think she did (I'm not too sure, LOL). 

Law School

💜💜💜

I'm not sure if this Kdrama's based or at least inspired by How to Get Away With Murder, but I assume it is based on the theme song. I almost didn't watch this cos I'm trying to steer clear of anything stressful. 

I've always liked murder mysteries, whodunits but also I noticed that I get sick more often when I watch too much of it. So especially now that we're in a pandemic, I try to watch only feel-good shows. I enjoyed this show but at the same I think I didn't understand most of what's going on- Korean legal jargon! 

Ryu Hye-young's (Sol A) character here was very different from her role in Reply 1988 and for that I think she's a good actress. Also, I didn't recognize Kim Bum right away! Sabi ko lang he looks familiar so I must have seen him in another drama, but boy was I shocked when I found out it was him. Last drama of his I watched was That Winter, the Wind Blows. That boy didn't age a bit. It's beyond me how these thirtysomethings could play high school or college students. Well, law school students naman na pala sila but still! 

I may not have liked-liked this drama but I liked it well enough to watch it as soon as new episodes come out every week. 

Please Don't Date Him

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Sooo I watched this one because of Lee Jun-young, my newest eye candy (thanks to Imitation). I may not have liked the storyline that much but I definitely liked this scene

Hahaha!

So ajumma of me. But seriously, I really thought he was older than his age so ayun medyo no guilt if I stan him. But upon checking, he's only 24 years old and was born the same year as Jungkook (my son in another lifetime). So paano ba 'yan? Anywaaaay, he's the main reason why I watched this drama. 

It was okay. If it weren't for Lee Jun-young maybe I would've not finished it but he's in it and that made the drama a whole lot more interesting. 

So I Married an Anti-Fan

💜💜💜💜

I really liked this drama but I felt that there was not much chemistry between the leads, hence the four hearts. Although I like Sooyoung, I'm not sure if she's female lead material. I loved her in Run On and I actually was more interested in her storyline in that drama more than the leads. I wasn't sold on the male lead, Choi Tae-joon, at first but eventually he kind of grows on you. So I liked them as actors per se but as a love team, medyo nakulangan ako. Mas kinilig pa ako sa webtoon which I'm not yet done reading :D 

A little backstory- I tried watching the Chinese film adaptation of the webtoon around 2019 and I didn't finish it. Hindi ko siya masyado maintindihan at that time. Parang patche-patche, ang pangit ng flow. Then come 2020 lockdown, I fell into the webtoon rabbit hole and I came across the webtoon version (from which the movie was adapted from) and loved it. I'm not yet done with the whole thing yet, it's currently ongoing on the webtoon app. But anyway, the webtoon's what made me want to watch the Korean miniseries version. This year I tried watching the Chinese movie version again and while I did finish the movie this time, hindi ko pa rin siya bet. The Kdrama was a whole lot better even if I found the pairing a bit lacking. 

As I was saying, the Kdrama version had little pockets of kilig but it was not enough, if you know what I mean. 

I want to watch another Sooyoung drama whether she's the lead or not. I like her the way I liked Lee Sung-kyung when I watched Cheese in the Trap. Kahit kontrabida siya dun, I can't seem to get myself to not like her kahit sobrang bwiset yung character niya. I hope Sooyoung gets a role which can catapult her into Hallyu status. 

Vincenzo

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Saved the best for last 😉 Enjoyed this drama tremendously! It was a mix of everything- action, drama, comedy with love story on the side. And to think I almost didn't watch it because, 1) I'm not really a Song Joong-ki fan so kung yung come on niya for others was it was starring SJK, hindi epek sa akin, and 2) I don't really like action as in full-on action dramas, napapagod ako. Thanks to AD's recommendation, I watched it and I loved it.

As with all dramas, a bit of suspension of disbelief is needed. I mean, even if Vincenzo is legit mafia, he can't single-handedly take on South Korean gangsters. Or that Babel, with all its money and power, would actually hire more reliable and more ruthless henchmen to do their dirty deed. And if Babel really wanted Vincenzo gone, they could do it at a snap of a finger. But of course, bida natin siya so hindi puede. 

I loved how this drama makes you feel a rollercoaster of emotions. Matatawa ka, maiinis ka, mae-excite ka at kung anu-ano pa in just a span of an hour. The actors did a great job portraying their roles. Hong Cha-young's was sort of the comic relief with the other residents of Geumga Plaza. The Geumga Plaza residents actually reminded me of OTWOL's tenement peeps. Ang galing din ni Ok Taecyeon- how he portrayed a seemingly clumsy, mej shushunga-shunga na newbie lawyer at first to a psychotic CEO capable of so many atrocities mid-series. And omigosh that Choi Myeonghee- isa pang halang ang kaluluwa. I thought at first she was one of the good guys- apparently, not. 

Out of all the characters in the series, my favorite was Jang Han-seo, Jang Han-seok/Jun-woo's baby brother. Ang galing ng character development niya! At first I didn't want to trust him, I felt as if he was just trying to appeal to Vincenzo to save his ass or to get rid of his evil stepbrother for good but towards the end he has redeemed himself. 

So ayun na nga, I enjoyed this drama and I hope I find another series na ganitong level. It doesn't have to be action pero sana yung something that I'll look forward to. I actually have Imitation but tomorrow is the series finale. I'm definitely posting about that kdrama soon!