Holidays 2025: Practicing the Art of Slowing Down

"Sa travels natin, let's be intentional in having a slow pace. Enjoy the present and savor the moment. Time has this ability to sneak up on us, at magmamalay na lang tayo na matatapos na naman pala ang taon."

Nov 4 (Mon): This year, I slowed down at work. I realized that how I'm valued as an employee is not equal to how I do my tasks compared to my teammates. I still hit targets and deadlines, but that's it. I'm only doing what's expected of me. I'm not quite quitting, as a matter of fact, I love my job. I just don't want to rush things anymore.

At home, I appreciate slow mornings more than taking only a minute or two to finish my cup of coffee. I now take my time when taking a bath, enjoying more the smell of my body wash than rubbing my skin with my body scrub in a rush. I feel so refreshed when the cold water from the shower slowly and steadily washes away the shampoo in my hair.

On the left is a snap from one of our slow dinner cravings, shy lang ako d'yan. I can still vividly remember that dinner; there was no rush to finish our food, just my partner and I savoring the Vietnamese flavors in our order. I'm enjoying this Thai Tangerine Tea, not so Vietnamese, huh?

Nov 6 (Thu): Here I am in my favorite neighborhood coffee shop, enjoying my hot Spanish latte and chocolate chip cookie while trying to figure out how I will move forward with my three process documentation projects and two course creation projects. Also, nakakatuwa kapag ganitong month na. Super light sa pakiramdam at nae-excite ako sa isiping I'll be able to meet my friends again over coffee and some pastries, catch-up malala sa mga ganap namin sa buhay bago matapos ang taon.

Nov 09 (Sun): Just finished working. I was still able to do some household chores. Well, may parating na super-typhoon named Uwang, and Metro Manila is already on Typhoon Signal #3 while my hometown is already in #4. God help us! Despite the weather forecast, it's still very calm outside, so hopefully ay hindi na matuloy si Uwang at malusaw na lang sa karagatan.

Anyway, last Friday night (Saturday, really, at 12 AM), my work friends and I went to Tagaytay to catch up, have dinner, and enjoy some coffee. Then, uwi na rin. Hahaha. Very quick indeed pero enough na for us to decompress from the stress we're getting from work, chill lang pero puro tawanan sa kung anu-anong bagay na napag-usapan.

Here we are posing for a photo while waiting for our orders: inihaw platter, seafood soup, and mango shake pitcher. Sulit din ang experience namin sa 24-7 restaurant na 'to. Hindi masyadong malamig pero grabe ang fog papunta at pauwi. There were spots where the road was no longer visible. After this, we had coffee at Hiraya, a Starbucks Reserve. Sa dami ng tao, we just opted for a to-go order and just enjoyed our lattes in the car.

On the way home, we bought fruits sa hilera ng tindahan sa kalsada. It's been a long time since nakakain ako ng guyabano. I also bought saba for my rice substitutes.

Anyway, I gotta prepare now. I have a badminton game from 8AM to 1PM. Sana, hindi na talaga matuloy si Uwang dito sa Pilipinas and just totally dissolve in the ocean.

Nov 24 (Mon): Another manic Monday! My partner and I watched the second part of the Wicked movie last Saturday. For someone na hindi fan ng play and source literature itself, sakto lang yung movie. Maybe it's the action-movie-lover in me, nakulangan ako sa main conflict scene ng movie. Anyway, I really booked the movie kasi gustong-gusto nang mapanuod ng partner ko, and that's good enough for me to actually watch it.

Dec 11 (Thu): Long day at work, but managed to squeeze in a 3.50-kilometer walk. Not much, but a perfect start after being idle on this morning routine for almost a month. I tried a new route today, the one that crossed borders between two cities. I also found a specialty coffee space named Satori.

Dec 16 (Tue): Yesterday was something that I hope not to experience again. But who knows? Anyway, this week is kinda very uneventful for me since ang huling badminton game ng club namin ay last Sunday na, and we'll resume with regular games on the 4th day of next year na. I plan to walk-run daily, starting tomorrow morning, to shake off the holiday laziness I've been feeling since last week. I also want to get a haircut, maybe tomorrow afternoon. But today, I wanna get done with the second module of the course that I've been targeting to finish by the end of this year. Wish me luck!

Jan 09 (Fri): The holiday dust has finally settled in our household: ang mga pagkaing nasa ref namin ay finally paubos na, clothes worn during our vacation and Christmas events sa wakas ay malapit nang malabhan lahat, and my pre-work routine is almost back to normal. Ang post-work routine ko na lang ang kailangang kong maibalik sa dati.

This first week at work is so chaotic and disorganized. Ang kaunti lang ng mga nagawa ko per shift pero parang pagod na pagod ang katawan at isip ko. Hopefully, it's gonna be different starting next week.

Jan 26 (Mon): So far, my January has been both boring and exciting. Boring because I feel like I’m stuck in one place, yet my mind and body can’t seem to find a way to move forward. I’ve been feeling demotivated, made worse by the cold weather, which has been giving me a hard time. I’ve had a common cold since Wednesday last week and have been having difficulty breathing—a clogged nose is one of the things I dislike the most.

On the bright side, my partner and I were finally able to experience Sinulog. Although it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, our overall experience was pleasant. Lastly, I’m already seeing improvement in my badminton games. During my game last Saturday, I won all six of my matches. As for my game yesterday, I won six out of seven.

Jan 30 (Fri): Today is the last day of my manager in my full-time job. I'm sad. I don't want to say goodbye; I'm never good at saying goodbye kaya parang ayoko ring um-attend sa farewell call for her later today. Although sabi naman niya eh we can reach her any time on WhatsApp. She's been one of the best managers that I ever had since I started working in 2013. I pray that she'll have the wisdom and strength to go through this phase in her life. And I just hope na maging friends kami outside of our work set-up. Alam kong mabait at mabuti naman siyang tao.

Feb 03 (Tue): Closing this 2025 Christmas tradition today. I'm not satisfied with the number of entries I have for this year, but life happens, and that's totally fine.

Cheers to a more productive 2026!

Holidays 2024 Reflections: What Christmas Feels This Year

I'm a week late with this Christmas tradition but here goes... This has random events of my daily life posted at random times of the day, which can be once or even thrice a day. Also, there's nothing formal here, I'm just typing anything I want to share.

Nov 11 (Mon): I woke up at 0630 again. The weekend was uneventful except for the few hours in the mall yesterday to buy storage boxes for my books and some grocery items since jowa had already run out of his coffee. And this is how I want my weekends to be. Just chill at home doing house chores, reading a book until I fall asleep for a siesta, and an every other weekend badminton catch-up with friends.

On another note, I'm excited about this workweek. Mainly because I now have a second monitor to use. Ayos lang naman sa akin na laptop lang ang gamit ko for work, never had an issue using one. Sadyang excited lang ako for the additional monitor kasi it's gonna be a lot easier to move from one window to another and share screen one at a time during meetings. As for the second reason, matatago ko na for now ang books na nabasa ko na at hindi na ako mahihirapang magtanggal ng alikabok from time to time.

Also, I'm daydreaming about this view from our quick side trip to Boracay last June. I'm really missing the beach already. It's a good thing my work friends want to catch up on Thanksgiving weekend. And yes! That's a beach trip for two nights. Maybe this is another reason for me to be excited about this workweek. LOL.

Nov 12 (Tue): I feel so relieved to finally put my books in storage boxes which we plan to move to our new home in the next couple of weeks. Our shelves are finally easy to dust and easier for me to pick the book that I want to finish within the month.

After making some reports and updating some templates, I decided to go for a coffee run and buy some groceries for the pasta recipe I plan to cook tomorrow. This is also to have a new environment to continue working on the report that I plan to present to my team this week and to finally start the articles we will publish in January.

Nov 13 (Wed): So... I was not able to buy the ingredients yesterday for pasta kasi napakahaba ng pila sa cashier. Since I don't feel like going out of the house today, I informed my partner na sa Friday na lang ako magluluto.

In other news, my friends at work already booked the accommodation for teambuilding on Thanksgiving week. I looking forward to it kasi gustong-gusto ko nang makapag-beach at pool ulit. Five months na since my last trip to a beach.

Very great progress for me today, finally! Nakapag-start na ako ulit sa reading ko. I've already stacked the books that I plan to read in the next six months. I'm very hopeful that this is going to be the restart that I've been wanting.

Nov 14 (Thu): Walang gaanong ganap yesterday, other than finally I have something to put in my report. I got all the information I need; I just now need to organize them in a way na easy on the eyes para smooth lang ang flow ng presentation ko.

Also, I'm so excited for tonight. I'm going to cook chicken fettuccini alfredo. Since hindi pa kumpleto ang ingredients ko, sakto na nagustuhan kong lumabas ng bahay. Ang sakit na din kasi sa tainga ng construction na malapit sa apartment namin. But first coffee! LOL. Stay muna ako dito sa coffeeshop near the supermarket ng mga 2 hours para makagawa ng daily report ko.

Now at work, I had a quick chat with my manager. She needed help in setting up a shared mailbox in her e-mail app and a quick chat about our reporting project. My takeaway from this meeting:

Some things are not always given or obvious. In leadership, sometimes, we have to remind people to keep them on-track.

For context, I finished researching the task she assigned us some weeks ago. She asked me if I also reminded my teammates about it. I said that I thought it was already a given pointing out that it was a task assigned to everyone in the team. And I got that response from her which I agreed with because for some reason there are people in any team who always think that agreeing on others' work is enough contribution from them to a project.

Nov 15 (Fri): I couldn't read pages of my current book yesterday dahil nakalimutan ko itong dalahin when I went out. At nakalimutan ko na rin bago ako natulog last night. Pero bumawi naman ako today and read the pages with so much more understanding and takeaways. But this is what struck me the most:

If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.

The author further said that goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress and that a handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.

Super eye-opening nito for me kasi in the previous years, halos walang mintis to, talagang I took my time making my goals for the year. I probably spent four weeks deciding on my goals in the coming year. Since I did not think about the systems to achieve each goal, I probably could only reach 15% of them. Sad, 'di ba? But I think this coming new year, it's gonna be different. #FingersCrossed

Nov 18 (Mon): Our weekend has been somehow busy. Last Saturday, we went to a park a few minutes from our apartment. We had coffee, explored their supermarket, and had dinner at one of their restaurants which had way too big servings for just two people.

Last Sunday, we tried the new LRT 1 stations. We went to the mall nearest the last new station. The experience was pleasant. I just didn't like that we got trapped in a shopping hole and we went home with at least five thousand worth of charges to our cards. LOL. Anyway, this is me trying to justify that unnecessary expense, we bought clothing items that we can use on our vacations, at least on our beach trips.

Today, I was supposed to have my annual physical exam in our nearby office but my teammate who I was supposed to go with had a personal emergency and I decided I'll have the exam on Wednesday.

Dec 30 (Mon): The 30th of December is way too far from my last update, more than a month, imagine that! All I can say as an explanation is life happened. Some days were just too exhausting to even get up from my bed. Nothing much happened but my body and mind, most of the time, just wanted to sleep, eat, repeat. But I think I'm okay now.

Here's a photo that I recently uploaded on Instagram and this was still from our June trip, we called it Almost Panay Island Vacation because we were not able to go to Antique. I still haven't uploaded photos outside of this trip. I think I still have three more vacations worth of photos to upload.

I miss the beach already even if I just had a trip to the beach last Thanksgiving weekend. I feel like I need more of the sun and the salty water of the sea.

Anyway, I'm currently on my second week of leave from work, I'll be back on the 6th. And this vacation, though I never really went out of the city and just stayed in our apartment, has put my perspective and mental health back to normal programming. I already went back to playing badminton and hopefully, I'll be able to play every week through the new year.

On a fresher update, my partner and I watched "The Kingdom" earlier today, a Metro Manila Film Festival entry for this year. I can't tell if I liked it or not. It's a refreshing entry to this yearly film festival. I haven't seen a lot of entries in this genre. On the other hand, it felt like the plot tried to tackle a lot of things in a movie

that's less than two hours. Before, I wanted to watch as many of the entries this year as possible but now, I don't feel like it anymore. Aside from the expected high volume of movie-goers that by the way has been making my head spin, watching a movie in cinemas isn't financially sustainable for us anymore. From Php250 last 2019, I think a decent cinema experience is at least Php400 now. Way better if we'll just wait for them to be available on Netflix which by the way has been a great platform to watch all MMFF entries after the festival.

Jan 05 (Sun): Happy New Year!!! Well, it's been a few days again since my last update and my 2-week vacation from work ends today. Although I didn't do much during this break from work, I still love it because I could slow down even if it meant not regularly updating this page too. I know you understand, there were just some days that slowing down meant not doing anything at all.

Anyway, since I started this Christmas tradition a week late, I decided to extend it for a week. So... Here are some bits of ganaps since the 31st of December:

My partner and I decided to run to the public market to buy some essentials for the cooking we'd be doing for our New Year's Eve dinner. It's just the two of us and our dog, Miggyboy, so we decided to cook something just so we'd have something new to eat from dinner until breakfast the following day. He cooked pepper squid and bangus sisig and I prepared some snacks for our movie marathon. We were supposed to make a prosperity bowl but we opted to just do it on Chinese New Year.

Came New Year's Eve, and we spent it cuddling Miggyboy because he was very afraid of the firecrackers. There's nothing much that we did at this time other than cuddling, watching movies, and ultimately sleeping around one in the morning. During the day, we attended the mass in Don Bosco Church which isn't too far from our place, about 30 minutes, two jeepney ride away. We decided that for most of our Sundays this 2025, we'll be attending the mass in this church because their 06:30PM mass is not very crowded. After that, we went to the mall to eat dinner at Chibo. The food was okay but Raviolli was still way better. We had coffee before we called it a night.

The 2nd and the 3rd days of the year weren't eventful at all. My partner had to return to work already while Miggyboy and I just stayed home and slept a lot. Yesterday, Saturday, I played badminton with my new game buddies. It was my second game day with them and I think I want to keep this already as my Saturday morning routine. I had to hurry home to prepare for a late lunch out with my partner's brother's family. We ate at a garlic-themed restaurant. I think the children liked it. We also gave them our Christmas gifts that my partner couldn't bring when he went to his hometown before the New Year. After lunch, we had coffee while making kwentos of all the travels and plans that we had and have. My partner and I ended our Saturday with a quick tour to a Samsung Store to pick up the Fit 3 bands, my Christmas gift to him, that I bought online. Unfortunately, Fit 3 is no longer compatible with iPhone, so we have to sell his band and use the money to buy another watch compatible with his phone.

For today, I'm thawing steak on the kitchen counter. I'll cook it for our lunch and we'll attend the mass in a different church just because it's convenient since we're going to a nearby mall to look for ASEAN costume my partner needs for his work.

Jan 23 (Thu): I thought I could continue this until the second week of January. I was so wrong. This month is almost over and I'm still writing the closing portion of this post. So I guess, that's it for this one. Better luck next time again, just like how I ended last year's post.