The Covid Diaries 2

I slept at around a quarter to 1am trying to finish the last few 30 pages or so of ‘Salem’s Lot.’ Again, the book wasn’t how I remembered it which makes you think- it might pay to read books you’ve read in the past. I used to hold it in high regard like it was the best vampire book I ever read but now I may have to revise that. It’s not a diss against Stephen King or anything, but it’s like finding yourself at a high-school reunion and realising that the people you were enamored with turn out to be not all that you thought them to be. But when I finished, it was like parting with a good friend and there are no regrets.

Lily tried to wake me up sometime during the night, but this time, my body prevailed over waking up for the cat which we’ve been doing the day she arrived.

Tested negative- but I’m not surprised. I feel fine though you go through your day in a sort of surreal daze as if any moment, you’d wake up and everything was a dream. My throat has started to feel scratchy and I could feel when I cough, that push of phlegm in it, but who knows. I’ve bought a ton of lemons and a jar of expensive microbial honey and perhaps, I may be overdoing the hot drinks- the acid may be irritating my throat? Is all this vitamin C overload pointless?

After reading news that Netflix has spent as much as $60 million per episode on the upcoming new season of Stranger Things, I went back to finish the previous seasons as I had stopped mid-way in the 1st season. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t how I remembered it which meant I wasn’t really paying attention to it. Or maybe because someone was always pushing out the same plot of 80s kids stumbling over puppy love, aliens, and demented demon clowns every 5 minutes.

Anyhow, it was truly the 80s of my childhood- in a way. Growing up, I didn’t really have friends, but I had a great imagination, so I simply created the friends that I wanted and the adventures we had. But it was in part, fed by the stuff I read in those years: Nick Joaquin’s Pop Stories for Groovy Kids (which became my template for how I should sound as writing in a non-native language); The Body by Stephen King and my favourite, The Long Walk, also by King. So I actually did have a happy childhood just being by myself.

And when I grew up and finally made friends, imagine my disappointment- but that’s another story.

The Covid Diaries 1

So Sam tested positive last night.

I was all agog over picking up the bamboo plants over at Doyet’s the next day and it was to his credit that he thought of testing first, ‘just in case’. The red line came up swift and clear in a couple of seconds. It meant that sometime between Monday and Wednesday, in those beautiful, expensively maintained grounds in Queenstown, some dirty, stupid bitch had Covid and didn’t even know it and was passing it around like party favours. Or perhaps they did, but didn’t care as is often the case it would seem with a lot of people these days who shrug it off as if it was inconsequential.

Ugh. He rings Mary down at the flat, and I could hear her trying to keep her agitation down. So we’re all stuck at home and minutes later like in a terrifying dystopian movie, SMS alerts came up on our mobiles advising us of what we already knew.

Almost immediately after, I log into New World’s website and round up a couple of ‘essentials’- lemons (terrible supply these last couple of months), a jar of honey, cup noodles, potato chips, Lily’s favourite shaved deli chicken. In my mind, I go over the meals for the next couple of days; nothing complicated to prepare and easy on the stomach. Thank God for Filipino food like adobo which keeps forever (just make a big batch of it) and comforting arroz caldo.

I had been having allergic fits (pollen and dust mostly) the last couple of weeks with a warmer autumn season, but now suddenly, every sniffle, every itchy feeling in my nose felt like a portent.

But what could you do right?

Well, I cleaned the bathroom; did a weeks worth of laundry; finished all pending work deadlines; dusted off some books I had been meaning to read. The worst you could do really, is nothing.

And I comforted myself with the thought that next week, there were exciting courier deliveries to look forward to- a new Nespresso machine, a new pair of Yeezys and a bunch of morning Sunday Riley goodies.

Holy Week 2022

I have to admit, I miss the old traditions of Holy Week.

But that was a million years ago and even when I was last in the Philippines, much of how we celebrated it had already changed so much.

My homage to those days was practically doing nothing on Good Friday which I spent at Doyet’s. I started re-reading ‘Salem’s Lot’ by Stephen King; I took a long nap; I didn’t check my phone, muted all notifications; I didn’t even open my MacBook to watch anything. We had a nice Filipino dinner of sisig that I had made, boneless bangus and vegetables cooked in coconut milk. I went back to bed to continue reading.

By the time I decided to call it a night (just before midnight) I was more than half-way through the book, and fell into a pleasant, dreamless sleep.

Breakfast was longganisa and scrambled eggs and Black Saturday was a perfect, crisply-cold but sunny autumn day.

I’m over trying to plan exhausting holidays that are anything but relaxing. Tradition tells you to relax and to genuflect, but then there’s also the Christian motto, ‘God helps those who help themselves’.

So I’m sure that God wouldn’t mind if I chose action over reflection; items on my list are..

1. De-scaling the Nespresso machine

2. Sorting out my clothes now that I would be spending more time at the office

3. Sorting the garden patch and transplanting some of the cacti

4. Finding a gym

5. Updating my cameras and my drones

6. Sorting out work-stuff for the next two-months

7. Sorting out the kitchen and my drawers

8. Finding stuff to put into the inorganic bin

I grow weary

Fortunately, IOS is now considerate to your needs. When you have your bed-time set, it mutes things such as messages and notifications. Essentially, you go to sleep without knowing the world burned while you did, but then, WHO CARES??

Covid, Ukraine, Trump, Marcos, inflation, dying kids in Africa, melting glaciers, and disappearing Hawksbill turtles…mmmm. I need to vacuum the upstairs.

So how was your week?

• Legs are the hardest to exercise. Ironically, they’re the easiest to develop. I’ve been persevering for a couple of weeks and I could feel a very noticeable tightness in my pants and shorts in the thigh area. This should compensate for not having substantial glutes.

• Season 2 of Bridgerton celebrates love, and this is the thing. You’d be a fool if you believe in all of it, and you’re also a fool if you don’t.

• Don’t underestimate the usefulness of the ‘walis tingting’.

• There are people who love themselves by simply having a glass of wine at the end of the day, or who play sports to get that human connection. Leila and I create- it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad (nobody is judging as it is for ourselves). Creativity keeps our soul nourished.

• I wish I could have lechon for my birthday

All the kids have grown

Ally

Juan Miguel

Chini Rae

My goddaughter Tonic

Friday's grocery

Apparently, 20% of the workforce of Countdown supermarkets has been downed by Covid and Covid related issues. The deli and bakeries were closed- which was good because I was on the lookout for some tiny bit of fresh pastry.

There was a small product kiosk selling brioche (finally!), but there were no buns left; just sausage rolls and sliders. The latter was tempting- I could buy bananas and stuff them with it along with a dollop of that Dolce & Gabbana pistachio cream spread I got for Christmas. But when I got to the meats aisle and checked my list (yes I made a list this time), common sense prevailed and I put the pack of brioce sliders back.

Kept the bananas for oatmeal though. Ugh.

There were some empty shelves for sure, but really- this is not a life and death situation. We’re far from starving.

I got:

1. Starbucks nespresso 30 pack
2. Swiss chard or silverbeet (because spinach is MIA)
3. Proper Crisps
4. Boneless chicken-thighs
5. A can of peaches (with no added sugar) and a can of pineapple
6. Several cans of tuna in olive oil
7. Chimichurri herb sauce by Salsa Brava
8. Natvia natural sweetener
9. a bag of brown sugar

Eating alone is a journey

Sam and Mary have started on the no-eating-anything-except-vegetables-or-air diet so I’ve been on my own as far as meals are concerned.

It was difficult doing my own thing at first which is funny because the whole process of preparing our meals was actually hard work:
1. you had to work with a fortnightly food budget of only $300
2. you need to make sure fresh ingredients are used before they go off
3. you need to use leftovers (which I loathe)
4. you need variety (important to me!)
5. you needed a healthy balance (even if given a choice, I’d have pork 6x a week)

It was easier during lockdown because I worked from home and I could start cooking at 4pm, but if I did go to the office on some days, I had about an hour to cook when I got home at 4:30, not that it mattered really if we ate late. But I wanted to get it done so I could exercise, or read or watch something.

But getting rid of the whole thing altogether (for now at least), was strangely freeing and unfamiliar. It makes you realize how much of meal preparation and meal-times are such rigid set-routines.

It goes all the way back to your childhood when you were called upon to eat and there were no buts around that. And that you couldn’t eat in bed (which I now do), or that if you were eating something expensive such as prawns or lobster, it had to be portioned. Or that you need to eat on time, or have three meals a day.

But ‘eating alone’ has thrown all the rules out the window, and now you can do anything:

1. …but not eat anything you want, like pork belly Tuesdays, fried chicken Wednesdays and Thursday night ribs. You just can’t. And I’m fine with that now.

2. I had pork ribs the other week though (St. Louis brand imported from the US) and the whole rack (about 1.5kgs) lasted me through two meals.

3. There’s such a thing as too many shrimps- especially when they’re frozen. Not as good as fresh.

4. I can’t have just toast for dinner. I tried and it’s stupid because I just get hungry after an hour. I’m working out constantly now that I can feel my energy ebbing when I don’t eat anything substantial.

5. There is something spare but beautiful in a plate of grilled salmon over ramen noodles.

6. Suddenly you have heaps of time to do stuff.

7. You save money

I'm actually fine...

..but not inclined to write about it. And this is the thing- I don’t do that much writing anymore. Work is fulfilling. Work makes me happy, I’m good at it, I’m fast and efficient, and I get paid well. But it’s no longer just writing.

At the end of the day, I finish chores, get to work-out (and can see changes in my body that I like) and I need to rest and relax, and there’s Netflix, my reading list (Gabriel Garcia is next, ugh), Lily the cat.

And then I remember writing so I open a fresh page (I’m currently using Evernote) and then close my eyes. When I was younger, there was a whole different world to see when I opened them. Now, it’s just this ratchet real one that I see. It’s like, I’ve lost that access. And I’m stuck here, but then you know, it’s fine, I’m happy. But there’s always a but…

small and inconsequential things

I found myself in the last few days, doing small, seemingly inconsequential things like finally getting containers for the olive and rice bran oils that I’ve been using for cooking. We got white plastic squeeze bottles, the kind you’d find at a restaurant and labelled them accordingly. Now they’re no longer in their 2 gallon and two-litre containers near the stove with an invisible pool of oil underneath. No matter how careful you were hoisting them up and tipping them over, there was almost always a small rivulet of oil that ran down the side which you end up not bothering to wipe off. And now that’s changed. And after that, I moved on to sorting the coffee area; threw away expired packets of protein powder; empty boxes of tea and using the espresso machine again. And this weekend, it’s sorting the pantry, rearranging the cupboards and doing an inventory on baking stuff, because yes- if I end up getting a Kitchen Aid mixer for the birthday, I just might take baking a bit more seriously.

Chores- they may seem insignificant, but they can save your mind you know..

Stop. It doesn't really concern you

You know what, it’s a beautiful day; I’ve finished my work; the cat looks happy resting under a side garden we’ve fixed up that’s now flourishing and healthy; I finally shed 1.5kgs (not that I even needed to when my weight is an ideal 74kgs); it’s a Thursday and there’s a relaxing three-day weekend ahead.

So why be bothered by anti-vaxxers, the Marcoses or people complaining why Chanel had a horse trot down its runway??? THEY COULD ALL GET FUCKED. Bye.

and just like that

Doyet and Jong had gone to Christchurch for the week so I decided to spend my two working from home days in Papakura just to see how the kids were. And of course they were fine; I forget that two of the kids are over 20 and that Chini at 10 has enough vocabulary to solve the Wordle game I left open on my phone. She got the word EPOXY.

Plus, the fridge is groaning with food, and I remember how we were back at my house during the pandemic when we were locked in with our $300 per fortnight food budget. That didn’t include snacks and we rationed those. But it was fine. I had started working out again and I felt physically great so non-essential food wasn’t really tempting at all.

And then ‘normality returned just before Christmas. We started trusting the supermarkets again. We were snacking twice a week again. We thought we could plan fabulous birthdays again (private dining room with a custom menu).

And just like that, we’re standing on the precipice of another Covid wave with omicron. Like WTF (though of course, we all knew this, but still..)

For a minute there (exacerbated by working on some work-comms when I’m actually on leave), I thought I couldn’t do it all over again. All 4 months of it or longer who knows, no matter how well planned or how well-oiled I made my daily routine to be.

By request from the kids, we had Papa’s Korean chicken for dinner- those crispy, Moorish bites, your palate cleansed with cool, slightly astringent radish cubes. It was only at the end of last year’s lockdown that we were able to have some takeaway food, not that it really mattered enough to line up at the crack of dawn which is so stupid.

But you actually thought, you were finally back to whatever place you were before all this happened; when you felt safe. When you could make plans and make them happen.

But who am I kidding? This is where I am, and I have to adapt fast before it gets the better of me.

Office essentials

1. AirPods (the fucking 3rd gen ones don’t fit- I had to put a ‘condom’ over them so they could stay stuck inside my ears but just barely).

2. An external drive (where all my working files are so I could work literally anywhere as long as I have it and a laptop).

3. Sunglasses

4. Readers

5. gum

6. mask

7. sweet treat (just for this week).

Back to the office

Who doesn't want to be in the office?

There’s free coffee from a professional-grade coffee-maker, cookies and biscuits on the house, a one-hour break (30 minutes for morning tea and 30 for lunch) and great air-conditioning?

Assessing 2021

I never look back. I may glance over once and while, but what is done is done.

I don’t remember even half of my past, only because I’m 101% sure, that I never, ever repeat bad decisions, not that I’ve actually made many.

But it’s the habits that can trip us. It’s those little things like not taking care of your body (I’m good at this, but don’t want to be that ‘perfectly’ healthy person that dies suddenly of a heart attack and becomes a cautionary tale); postponing things far too often (like trips to the dentist), or buying things too often (I give myself a B+ for 2021).

So in assessing 2021, I think I could have done better, way better. So for 2022, I will try again and perhaps harder this time.

That’s all we can really do…

hello 2022

I could say fuck you to 2021, but I personally had a terrific year so….

Relax my ass

The following things relax me:

1. A cup of coffee
2. Work task done and dusted
3. Clean carpets
4. Not having spent much (this is a recent thing)
5. No pending work task the next day (because I’ve all done them the day previous).
6. A good meal that wasn’t too complicated to prepare
7. A flat stomach (on some days)
8. Finished a work-out
9. A good book
10. A good short-something on any of the streaming services

So eight days into the Christmas break, I feel like I’m over it. I should have planned it better, but then planning is also hardly relaxing. But really, there are only so many hours you can spend not doing anything; only so many chocolates you can eat before you feel absolutely sick. I look at the time I have to spend on holiday and it triggers the same feeling I get looking at the Prezzy card I got from work; I don’t want to fuck it up by wasting it on shit.

Noche Buena 2021

A Simple Prayer for Christmas Dinner

Dear God, we give thanks for this time when we can all be together. We give thanks for this food which is bountiful and delicious. We give thanks for this joyful holiday when we can celebrate our Savior and his love for us. With joy we pray, Amen

Surf and turf

Our favourite- a seafood boil

Graze well

Standing beef roast

Fruit cake

Not supermarket bought- ordered from an artisan company in Christchurch that does only Christmas cakes

Vegan is here to stay

Bust all your vegan myths; this vegan Tiramisu cake is the most decadent thing we’ve ever tasted

Summer of 21

Where did the time go?

I've missed the city

First time I saw the Auckland CBD, I thought, is this it?

At about 4+ km2, Makati City in comparison is nearly 8x bigger. Funny how you equate size with greatness which is kinda true if all you think that makes a city great is what you can buy, see and eat in it.

And there’s not much of that to be honest. But after 13 years living just 21kms outside the city (the funny thing is how Kiwis think of that commute as torturous when they haven’t experienced EDSA) I’ve learned that quality is really better than quantity- part of that is the fact that as you grow older, less is better for your health and survival and yes, happiness.

You get to adapt to a way of life where you get to compare and assess your needs and wants, and realise that not being able to find a good French restaurant is NOT a fucking big deal. Or that you can’t find the jeans you want at the mall.

Living in Auckland is all about managing your expectations, which is a great thing to learn if you find yourself living elsewhere (I don’t think I will).

The city was almost empty today when I went to pick up these shoes I bought; but then it’s never always full even on a work-day, pre-Covid. The density is such that you don’t get to literally rub shoulders with crowds on the streets (which is why our Covid rates are low) which now- Covid era- is gross.

I could have stopped for coffee, but Starbucks wasn’t on my way, and I’m still trying to be careful- the city may be empty, but not all of its occupants are necessarily visible…