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.

Balancing Work and Wanderlust: My 2024 Travel Calendar As I Strive To Get 5/5 APR At Work

"One a year, go somewhere you have never been before."

I have this line from Dalai Lama pasted on a page of one of my diaries. As far as I'm concerned, I'm following this for the rest of my life.

Side Note: My monthly brunch with my best friends is not on this post. You may reach them here: https://bit.ly/2024_The_Exploderz_Brunch_Diary.

JAN (Weekend Travel): My year started with a trip to Zambales with my work circle. It's a weekend trip lang since lahat kami eh sadyang busy the following week. We just

needed a breather from everything we did during the holidays. And I'd say, goal achieved!

Sobrang chill lang ng experience namin sa Limliwa Beach Resort: watching the sunset while having random conversations with cocktails in our hands, swimming even before the sun rose the next day, and also, having that seafood lunch right before we went home!

Then, came the last weekend of the month. This was my second year attending the Lupi Festival in Lumban, Laguna through the invite of my partner's friend.

Aside from the festival experience of suddenly getting wet because the people had a free pass na mangbasa on that day, I super enjoyed our side trip to Liliw where we got to see artisans-made shoes and slippers plus got to have coffee and kesong puti cheesecake at Arabela.

FEB (Art Appreciation): Nothing much happened this month except randomly discovering the yummy food of Bistro Ravioli. This month was supposed to be the Art Appreciation Month of 2024 pero wala kaming naging ganap kahit isa sa museum.

But to still enjoy the public holidays sa buwan na 'to, we went to Binondo the day before Chinese New Year for that Chinese food goodness. We also had coffee sa isang rooftop cafe, sarap ng flat white nila.

Mabuti na lang talaga eh hindi kami sa actual na Chinese New Year pumunta, napakaraming tao, hirap na hirap kaming maglakad, parang pila papasok sa concert venue ni Taylor Swift if ever man na magkaroon dito sa Pilipinas.

We are yet to have a proper Binondo Food Crawl but I'm hoping that we'll have one before this year ends. Probably dalawa lang kami ni Art para hindi mahirap magdecide kung saan kakain at ano lang ang kakainin.

Last entry for this month ay ang first time coffee experience namin sa The Usual Coffee. It's a nearby coffee shop, siguro mga 15 minutes from our house. Your usual coffee orders lang ang nasa menu nila, talk about being true to their name, right? The good thing about it eh talagang perfect ang pagkagawa nila sa bawat order. I had Sea Salt Latte but it's the best I ever had.

MAR (Food Appreciation): Pagpasok pa lang ng buwan, may entry na kaagad ako. My constants sa work and I spent three nights sa Dasol, Pangasinan. Dagat pero super calm, hindi mo talaga ramdam ang alon.

Chill lang talaga: kain, tulog, Netflix, inom, repeat. Ganda sanang mag-island hopping pero sobrang init kaya hindi na namin pinush. Tampisaw na lang sa mababaw ding beach nila kaya sobrang enjoy din kami kahit na wala kaming activities.

Kahit na medyo disappointing ang accommodation na nakuha namin, we found new friends sa restaurant kung saan kami kumain ng pitong beses dahil sa sarap ng mga luto nila. It's just called La Manila, managed by two friends na chefs ng Philippine Airlines bago mag-pandemic. Sa trip na 'to first time kong natikman ang Tequila Rose at Baileys.

It's our second time attending the Manila Coffee Festival, una noong introductory year nila. Ang daming bago this year. Pero ang pinakatumatak sa akin eh ang chocolate coated coffee beans. Sarap! We bought a jar and three tin cans, inuunti-unti namin ng kain. Though grabe ang tapang, kapag antok na antok ako, I ate five pieces at naitatawid na ako until end of my shift.

This month, we also tried a new restaurant sa Glorietta, new to us, at least. It's called Mamak Kopitiam. I super enjoyed their strawberry syrup coolers and roti. Sarap ng dips ng roti nila, my fave dip was the one that kinda smelled like bagoong pero may hindi ako ma-figure out na ingredients that probably made it the Malaysian version.

Since mawawala na rin sa Ayala Museum ang Hymen, oh Hymenee ni Juan Luna, we decided to see it for the second time since libre din naman ang entrance. All I can say is nagkaroon ako ng deeper understanding of the painting when I saw it for the second time. That feeling na nagkaroon ako ng rush of ideas dahil sa nakita kong painting, I couldn't explain the feeling pero para siyang pinagsama-samang rage and love. Maybe intense passion is a better to describe it?

On another subject, it's my first time meeting my online Filipino teammate since malipat ako ng department last July 2023. It was just a very short meet-up, we just had coffee but what I liked about it was we were able to set up a then monthly teambuilding kahit na dadalawa lang naman kami.

Dapat luluwas kami ng Metro Manila for the Holy Week and enjoy the beach kaso ang sobrang traffic paalis at pauwi ang naisip namin. So we just stayed in a nearby hotel on Maundy Thursday, visited seven churches for the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and went to Taal, Batangas on Black Saturday. We were supposed to attend an Easter Mass pero nagkasakit ako kaya we just stayed at home.

APR (Birthday Travel): This is my partner's birthday month so we went to San Juan, La Union to celebrate. We spent four days and three nights in San Juan savoring the food, coffee, and some alcohol of the nearby restaurants, cafes, and bars in between enjoying sunrises and sunsets on the beach.

I finally had a photo beside a surfboard on the beach! And of course, my morning taho ritual on the beach sa unang umaga ng travel.

For the places that we went to, I enjoyed Karruba Cafe and Bakery for its creative pastries, Sabong Fried Chicken for its honey-bagoong fried chicken, Shogun Cafe & Bar for its cocktails and coffee, Putik Friends Pottery Studio and Cafe for its coffee and mugs, and Kabsat for its delicious dishes.

Disappointment for me ang Coco Mama saka El Union. Coco Mama kasi ordinary dessert lang siya, nothing new. I thought it's something na hindi ko makakain anywhere else. El Union, dito ako sobrang na-disappoint. Akala ko napakasarap ng dirty horchata nila, without the cinnamon, ordinary coffee lang na nilagyan ng gatas.

We also had a side-trip to Luna, La Union to see Bahay na Bato and Baluarte after naming mag-check-out sa hotel. Iniwan na lang muna namin ang mga gamit namin sa hotel since pwede naman daw, para wala kaming gaanong dala. Nag-enjoy ako sa Bahay na Bato. Well, it's a museum kaya given na enjoy talaga ako doon. Although the second part of this side-trip which was the Baluarte, one of the old lighthouses of La Union eh medyo na-disappoint ako. Ang ganda ng view, yes! But since hindi naman managed ang lugar, ang daming tambay sa mismong lighthouse, hirap makakuha nang maayos na photo, kailangan mo pang magpapicture sa mga nag-o-offer doon na mag-picture sa'yo bago umalis sa background ang mga nakatambay na locals.

All-in-all, sobrang nagustuhan ko ang trip na 'to. I'll probably go back to learn how to surf. Maybe on my birthday next year?

Chill at Papakape's Pop-Up Cafe in Luneta Park.

Dulaang UP's Kung Paano Nanalo Sa Karera Si Rosang Taba and roamed around UP Diliman's acad oval after a very long time.

MAY (Anniv Staycation): No idea yet.

JUN (Class Break): Weeklong Vacation (Ilo-Ilo, Bacolod, Guimaras)

JUL (Travel Break):

AUG (Travel Break):

SEP (Birthday Travel):

OCT (Travel Break):

NOV (Travel Break):

DEC (Winter Holidays):