“For someone who is very used to living alone and staying indoors, being alone in my own apartment during this community quarantine has been a lot of things but sad." Ever since the community quarantine started last March 15, I've been writing things that I do in a day on an hourly basis. I want to share how I'm able to cope up to this crisis and how I manage to avoid the stress that goes with living alone, being far from family and friends, and having to stop working with bills that needed to be paid. Most of the time, I sleep during the day and spend the night cooking, eating, reading books, writing, and watching Netflix and YouTube. I just find it more comfortable to be awake during the night as I know that others are just sleeping that's why it's very peaceful and silent and not be stressed by the eerie silence of the day because I'm asleep. Below are the things that I've been doing that moment I wake up until I sleep. I grouped them according to the time of the day that I've been doing them. Writing at 0400AM. I woke up at around 0200AM but decided to just stay in bed and browse Instagram until around 0330AM. Lately, I've been hooked to interior designs of some homes featured on Instagram's search page. Seeing a lot of organized and beautiful interiors has been giving me a sense of internal peace amidst this extended quarantine. I'm currently having a cup of hot chocolate since I ran out of coffee yesterday. I'm just going to catch-up with the YouTube channels that I'm subscribed to, especially off-grid and design channels. And around six o'clock later, I'll take a bath and dive into some books that I plan to finish before this quarantine ends. Writing at 0500AM. I woke up to a message in my badminton group chat regarding donations given to a private hospital being confiscated by policemen and tagging those donations with the name of certain senator and re-donating it to the same hospital. Like what the fuck! Seriously? I woke up around 0400AM today but decided to just stay in bed for another hour. I slept around 0700PM last night and woke up around 1100PM and slept again after 30 minutes. I'm currently nursing a slight headache that I hope to go away once I'm done with the cup of hot chocolate and biscuits that I just prepared. I only had two meals yesterday and the last meal was around 0200PM. I just didn't want to eat, I still have some stocks in my cupboard though. I'll hang my laundry around 0630AM later after taking a bath. After that, just some more simple activities to kill time before I go to the grocery store around 1200PM to stock up on some supplies. Writing at 0600AM. It's my first time ever hanging out in the communal rooftop of my apartment building at this hour and having my laptop with me to type away and read away anything that I want. So here I am, having my morning coffee while witnessing the sun to rise way above the aluminum roofs of my neighbors. It's Black Saturday and still another day of this quarantine so nothing special is going on in the neighboring streets. I have nothing special planned for today aside from attempting to go outside, withdraw some cash, and buy some essentials for my pantry. The word here is "attempting" because I really don't want to go out. Writing at 0700AM. I haven't been gone to bed since I woke up around 0500PM yesterday. I just came back from the rooftop of my apartment after spending an hour there watching the sunrise for the first time in this quarantine. I spent my night working on the wall design and room assignment of my dream permaculture home. I finished it already, a two-story home with a basement and rooftop. I decided to remove the third floor since the rooms in the second and third can be combined in just one floor without compromising their respective areas. This is where I'm going to cut the first part of my notes, since from 0800AM to 0100PM I have no entries at all. It's because it's either I'm doing the plans that I have for the day or I'm sleeping.

"If I will not go to work today and wait until it's safe to be outside, when will that day come?" This is the question that I asked myself when I decided to work on-site last April 20. Since I was still on training, getting a work-at-home kit from the company was very unlikely, I may not be even on the list of employees who were eligible to receive one. Fast forward to today, after finishing a week of compressed training, after a week of on-the-job training, and two weeks of doing the actual job, I've learned and realized a lot of things. When I went to work for the first time after being on quarantine in my apartment for a month, a lot of things changed outside. For me to be able to go to the office, I have to walk for about 30 minutes from my apartment to a nearby mall so that the company's shuttle service can pick me up on the way. On my way, it's very obvious how nature has started healing. The trees on the sidewalk just seem to be very healthy and happy without the black smoke coming from private vehicles and delivery trucks that frequent that part of the city before the quarantine. Also, I've been constantly seeing different birds species flying and hopping from branches to branches of those trees. Aside from waiting for the sometimes unresponsive driver for almost one hour, I have to endure standing on the roadside with occasional people passing by who are coming in and out of the mall's nearby supermarket. Though I'm so used to waiting in line when buying things before the quarantine period, waiting in public places these days gives me more anxiety and stress than it should be. Before entering the shuttle service, a personnel gets my body temperature through a hand-held digital thermometer and log it in a manual tracker together with my name, employee number and department, provides alcohol to disinfect my hands, and only that personnel can open and close its door. While inside the shuttle, I am to avoid or at least lessen touching things. Before entering the building, I have to disinfect my shoes on an alcohol rug pad in the doorstep of the building and another personnel gets my body temperature. Both the shuttle service and building personnel do not allow employees without mask and with body temperature higher than 37.6 degrees Celsius to enter the facilities. Another personnel located in the lobby of the building keeps track of my body temperature together with my name, employee number, department, and some Yes-No questions for the symptoms of COVID-19. In the elevator, only four people are allowed, three passengers and the operator, who is the only person allowed to touch the buttons for the floor numbers. These elevator buttons are also covered with a transparent plastic that is being disinfected every three hours. To avoid the long lines for the elevator and being confined in a small box with people who may be asymptomatic of COVID-19, I usually use the stairs. Before I can finally get to my department's work area, another personnel gets my body temperature. Inside, all workstations are at least one meter away from each other. All of us in the department are only allowed to talk to each other if we are to maintain at least one meter distance. Also, at least two admin staff are randomly inspecting each department to enforce the one meter social distancing policy. During breaks, only two employees are allowed to share a table with dividers as if we are on a blind date. When buying cooked food from the concessionaires, only disposable plates and utensils are being used. As for me, I bring my own utensils and just wash them after eating and tuck them away in my locker. For the first two weeks of being back to work, the company gives its employees 20% salary incentive, 200 pesos transportation allowance, meal stubs, and on-site accommodation for those who want to stay in the office and/or just go home on their rest days. Two hours before I go home, I send a text message to the same shuttle service driver so that I can reserve a seat for myself. After being dropped off in the same spot where I waited for it in going to the office, I walk the same path to go home for another 30 minutes. On my way, I usually pick some pantry essentials so that I don't have to go to the grocery store anymore during the weekends, hence, having lesser contact with other people. For the things that I can't buy in the nearby pop up wet market, I ask one of my friends at work to buy them for me whenever he goes to a supermarket near his residence. Personally, these experiences make me realized that working in the office amidst this health crisis requires a lot of patience while going through all the health check measures, thorough personal hygiene, and smart ways of unloading stresses and anxiety.

"I usually spend the usual lunchtime sleeping because my apartment is just very inviting for that." This is the second part of my first ever post about my day in this community quarantine which you can read here. Writing at 200PM. Right now, I feel like going back to sleep, my head feels heavy and putting it on top of a very soft pillow feels so heavenly. But I'm hungry and my brain is telling me to eat first before doing anything. Except maybe for typing my thoughts away. I'm currently heating a pan of water because my water heater just gave up on me two days ago and I really need to have tea now. As I wait for the water to be ready for nice cups of tea, I'm watching Food Insider's Regional Eats on YouTube. Yes! I find watching videos about different foods very calming during this time. Writing at 0300PM. It's been two weeks since the community quarantine for the whole Metro Manila has been implemented to minimize if not zero out the infection of COVID-19 to the whole country. But where exactly are we now? Am I still okay? Or am I just denying the that I'm not worrying at all? Two weeks have passed and I'm still here in my apartment, alone, getting messages from family and friends from time-to-time, watching movies and videos on Netflix and YouTube, sleeping, eating. And to emphasize my boredom and hidden anxiety, I already finished washing all the clothes in my laundry basket that I've been trying to finish since November last year. Am I worried? Worried that I may get infected when I go out of my place to buy food supplies? Worried that I may not be able to survive this crisis, not because of the virus, but because of starvation? Am I worried that my family in the province may get infected? Am I worried that it may come to a point where the company that I'm used to work for before this quarantine will just lay me off because they don't have the financial capacity anymore to support their business? Hell, yes! I may not be showing my worries physically but deep inside, I'm a tornado of worries right now. And writing this is my only way to not bother other people because I know that we are all struggling from different things with this current crisis. I just got up from bed 20 minutes ago from my second sleep since five this morning. I just couldn't get to sleep at night. I feel like it's safer to sleep during the day and be more alert during the night. So, I just forced myself to watch Netflix and YouTube videos last night but not really being able to focus on what I was watching while stress-eating. My mind was all over the place, thinking of things that may happen if this quarantine will not be lifted after a month from the day that it was implemented. It's the 14th day now of the quarantine and I feel like I'm such a mess. I have a lot of things in my mind that I want to do but all I can do is think of them and create plans to execute them once this quarantine is lifted. Writing at 0400PM. I tried to have siesta but sleep just won't visit me so here I am again in front of my laptop looking for any interesting random videos on YouTube. Writing at 0600PM. Having my first meal of the day after sleeping from 0600AM up to 0430PM. I just received a pack of noodles and a can of sardines from my landlady. I'm not so sure if it's from her own pocket or from the local government, either I'm just thankful that I got something to add to my supplies without spending anything. I bought something for snacking later in the store of my landlady. It took me almost an hour though to get up from bed after sleeping from 1200PM to 0430PM because of the tea that I had around 1130AM. I was very surprised that the combination of the different packed teas that I have would make me so sleepy. Right now, I just want to eat something heavy, something with a lot of carbs and protein. Writing at 0700PM. I just finished folding my remaining freshly dried clothes. I'm currently watching the continuation of the YouTube video that I started watching earlier today while steeping my second cup of tea for the day. Writing at 0800PM. I just finished my dinner, corned beef sandwich. Internet today is very slow, I'm still watching the two-hour video that I started earlier today. I'm having my second cup of tea now. I'm still steeping another cup though, but that is for the iced tea and milk tea that I'm planning to make tomorrow. Writing at 0900PM. I just took my first bath of the day and put on some perfume just so I can feel like it's just another normal prep to work but suddenly I just decided to just work from home. I already had my dinner two hours ago sponsored by my landlady. I also registered earlier to an online workshop on forex trading that will be on Saturday afternoon. I just took my first bath of the day. I haven't eaten yet for the past 12 hours and yes, I was asleep since 1000AM until around 0600PM. I'm already hungry but I don't want to cook anything. I feel like I have to consume my stocks slowly and just eat if I feel very hungry already because I think this quarantine will not be lifted next week, as planned. And I still don't feel safe going out even if the government will lift it next week. Writing at 1000PM. I just got up from bed after sleeping for a good one hour. I already ate my dinner around seven o'clock earlier. My landlady just gave me another free lunch today comprised of bread, lumpiang toge, a meat dish, and a cup of rice. Since I was sleeping the whole day, I just ate it during dinner. Also, I just got the fully approved loan form that I sent last Saturday to our company HR. I'll be sending it tomorrow to the concerned government agency. For today though, I have nothing planned at all. Maybe I can just read a book for the whole night or watch some movies again. On the contrary, my mind and body are already yearning for work. I'm just worried though that once this pandemic is over I may not have a job to get back to given that IMF already said that the world economy is already in recession and many US companies have already laid off many of their employees. Writing at 1200AM. I'm currently cooking rice since I'm hungry again despite eating dinner four hours ago. While waiting for the rice to be cooked, I'm watching farm life videos on YouTube. Writing at 0100AM. After thinking of how my day should go while having a very later first meal of the day, I took a long bath to feel more energized and be ready for another day in front of my laptop. I decided to get out for a while to look for an open computer shop so I could have my application form for a loan in a government agency printed. Unfortunately, all of the neighboring shops were all closed. So, I just went back to my apartment to fill out the form using a PDF editor online and had the form sent to the HR Team of the company that I'm working for so they could send it to the agency as their confirmation and validation were needed. As I worked on the form, I was catching up with my mother in the province regarding the current situation in their neighborhood. Simultaneously, I was also chatting with my partner on Messenger. Being able to talk to my loved ones has been one of the things that keeps me grounded since this quarantine started. Five o'clock hit and that's my cue for my first nap of the day. After almost two hours, I was awaken by the community mobile reminding the people of the curfew hours from 0800PM to 0500AM. Since I could no longer go back to sleep, I decided to get up and prepare my dinner already. Writing at 0200AM. I tried to sleep but it seems like my body clock is already returning to its previous routine when I was working in my previous company. Writing at 0300AM. I'm now starting the mood board of the permaculture property that I want to have. Please note that I already stopped writing my hourly entries since I'm already working on-site since the third week of April. After all the things that I did and experienced while staying at home to be safe from the threats of COVID-19, it's safe to say that being alone and away from your loved ones at this time has its own good and bad sides. I never have to worry about infecting them just in case I contracted it while doing my grocery shopping or working on-site. But the anxiety and stress that it can cause need to be checked from time-to-time. As you must, always take care of yourself and be safe out there (a line that I've been using at work).

"Para sa pusong nalulungkot, nasasaktan, natatakot, nangangamba, isang mahigpit na yakap." Para sa mga pusong iniwan at nang-iwan, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong iniwan nang hindi alam ang dahilan, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong nang-iwan para hindi na muling masaktan, isang mahigpit na yakap. Para sa mga pusong nasaktan at nasasaktan, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong nasaktan ngunit natutong lumaban, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong nasasaktan na ang sugat ay hindi pa naghihilom, isang mahigpit na yakap. Para sa mga pusong natakot at natatakot, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong natakot ipaglaban ang nararamdaman, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong natatakot sumubok ng bagong pagmamahal, isang mahigpit na yakap. Para sa mga pusong itinago at itinatago, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong itinago nang dahil sa lipunang mapanghusga, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong itinatago dahil hindi maintindihan ang nararamdaman, isang mahigpit na yakap. Para sa mga pusong umasa, umaasa, at aasa pa rin, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong umasa ng masayang kahapon, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong umaasa na makikita din ang kan'yang halaga, isang mahigpit na yakap. Sa pusong aasa pa rin na bukas ay kapiling na ang minamahal n'ya, isang mahigpit na yakap. Para sa mga pusong puro pasakit sa buhay ang nadarama, isang mahigpit na yakap.

"Thank you for calling Company X! This is John. How may I help you?" This is a common greeting that you will hear when you call a company especially its call center. But what is it really like to work as a call center agent? Why are most of them working at night? Why is it that most of them have jackets? Have coffee? And are speaking in English even outside of their companies' premises? Well, let me tell you a story and answer some questions that I think are top of mind for you. The hiring process in a call center is somehow the same as how other companies in other industries do it. You can get selected for an interview by having a catchy resume when you apply online either by sending it directly to their recruitment team or by applying on LinkedIn, JobStreet, and any other job portals. It is also very much accepted if you'll just walk-in. But as for my experience, it's better to apply first online so you will have someone to contact to get further instructions before arriving in the venue of the interview. Also, applying online first will save both you and the recruiter the time and other resources since the recruiter can conduct first a short phone interview to gauge your comm skills and the overall qualities that will determine if you will be a good fit for the company. If you'll pass this phone screening, the recruiter will invite you to their office for a face-to-face interview (can be group/panel interview and/or one-on-one) and some assessments. Once you pass the initial interview, you will undergo a typing test to assess how fast and accurate you type words/phrases/sentences. Also, you will be given some other computer-based activities to test your people skills, decision-making skills, grammar, and your overall know-how of the language that you will be using while doing the job. If you'll be hired, meaning you will get a job offer and you'll accept it, the company will require you to undergo a physical exam for that fit-to-work slip. Also, you will be asked to submit a copy of your NBI clearance, your TIN, SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-Ibig numbers, and maybe at least two valid IDs for your payroll account (though most of the times, NBI clearance already serves as a valid ID). And take note that these should be done and submitted on or before the first day of your training. Before the first day of your training, a member of the recruitment team will inform you of its time and venue. From my experience, training can either be scheduled to start as early as 0600AM or as late as 0200PM. And the venue is usually within the same building where you applied, just in a different floor. On the first day of your training, it's totally acceptable if you will not be able to find your training room immediately. I experienced this twice already. First was because the security personnel just didn't know where the training room was. The second was because I was directed to a different training room by the receptionist. But don't worry, your trainer will understand this. Just keep in mind that if ever you will be late on the first day of training, that should be your last incident. Because during your training, the company will also observe your punctuality as this is one of the most important attributes that call centers are looking for in their new hires. I had one co-trainee before who was absent for a day during our training period and because of that, he got moved to another training class that would be starting on a later date. It happened because he already missed a lot in just one day of absence. Yes! A day of training can already cover a lot of topics in your overall training agenda. Not only it will cause you to have a delayed production schedule but it may also get you terminated in some instances. During your training period, you will be introduced first to the company that you will be working for: its values, mission, vision, and other things like that. You may also get some random visits from people in the operations management, workforce management, and human resources. For the first five days, at least, you will be introduced to the culture of the country where you will be getting calls, chats, and/or e-mails from. Also, this is the part of the training where your communication skills and your know-how of English will be tested. You will be given oral drills, call listening sessions, computer-based activities, groupworks, and even mock calls to test your composure while handling a call. In the end, you will be given final test/s to assess your learning which can be either written/oral or both. Most of the times, all the trainees in your class will be able to move forward to the next stage of the training: product-specific training. But for those who will not be able to pass this toll gate, they will be endorsed to HR for the paperworks of their proper separation from the company. Product-specific training is the part where you will be taught of the specifics of the product or service that you will be representing. The technical skills needed to execute the job will be taught in this stage too. And this will also be the part where you'll be allowed to handle live calls. The assessment of this training can be divided into different parts: one part can either be written/oral exam or both, another one can be your overall performance in handling a live call. If you'll pass this toll gate, you'll then be scheduled to take calls for a longer period of time with some mentoring time to further improve your call-handling until you're ready to take calls for eight hours in a day. When it comes to the people who will be with you during the training period, you'll have trainer/s (depends if your culture trainer and product-specific trainer will be different), communication coach (or comm coach as known by many), and quality evaluator/s who will evaluate your calls according to some guidelines approved by the company and the client. Most trainers are considerate enough if they see that you're doing your best. Some may even give you additional coaching sessions so they will be able to help you polish your skills, mostly it's just your communication skills. Aside from your trainer, you may also get additional help from a comm coach and/or from a quality evaluator. Given the above pieces of information, I hope that somehow I'm able to give you ideas on how to get into the call center industry if you're planning to or maybe just inform you of the challenges and victories before a call center agent answers a live phone call, chat, and/or e-mail.

"Having a nine to five job can be plainly boring most of the time. Nonetheless, I always try to find things that can make my eight-hour night shift exciting. Things like chika with a teammate about a certain process or maybe about a new item on a shopping website. Kidding! Hahaha." Working at night is not new to me anymore. I had a few night-shift jobs before I became part of a workforce management team. I used to be a credit card application representative of a well-known foreign bank. I also worked as a marketing consultant for the clients of a small-time digital marketing firm that targeted the international market and later on became a business development associate of another firm. Few, if not many, somehow don't have that much understanding of the people working in call/contact centers or the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. The majority of the people working in this industry are the first contact of customers to companies, (either by a phone call, e-mail, or chat) to assist, inform, and/or solve their issues with the companies' product/s and/or service/s. And just like working in any industry, working in BPO requires certain skills and a lot of patience. But I'm not here to talk about being in the frontline of this industry, I will talk about my experiences as a call center associate in a different post. Instead, this is about my role as a member of the workforce management team. You may be wondering what workforce management (WFM as commonly known) team is. According to callcenterhelper.com, WFM is a term that encompasses all of the processes that a contact center undertakes in order to have the right number of staff available at the right time. I can try defining it in my own words but it will be pretty much the same thing with synonyms for encompasses, processes, undertakes, right number, and staff. Kidding aside, the team that I'm working with is comprised of people in forecasting, scheduling, and command center. But as a whole, it also includes people in call routing. The forecasters, obviously are people in forecasting, are responsible for predicting the needed staff against the volume based on trends be it long or short terms. This team is also responsible for what we call capacity planning or staffing needs planning with people from operations. As for the command center or the intraday team as known to many, they are the people who answer calls from agents who are sick because it's payday. They are also the ones who call agents out for logging in late, having long hold/call, not following scheduled offline activities (breaks, lunch, training, meeting, coaching, etc.), aux jumping or haduken (a type of manipulation for an agent to be pushed back in the queue), and other agent activities that affect the staffing. Moreover, this team coordinates and reports all staffing issues to operations and other management teams in real-time and resolves them. To be continued...

There is love in the most unexpected places. I never thought that someone like you would Ever came into my life the way you did. Today marks more than a year of great love, Truest companionship, undivided faithfulness, Unplanned adventures, and sweetest romance. May we be able to endure the challenges of Life and society to lovers like us. May our relationship be stronger through time. I hope to hold your hand and shout to the world That I love you, anytime and anywhere that I want to. *

"Darating at darating ka pala sa puntong hihilingin mo na sana nagkapalit na lang kayong dalawa ng sitwasyon. Na sana ikaw naman ang kailanganin. Na sana ikaw naman ang habulin. Na sana ikaw naman ang hindi kayang mawala sa buhay niya." Ang sakit-sakit na pero wala kang magawa kung hindi ang maghintay. Bakit? Kasi mahal mo eh. Kasi kahit na pagbali-baliktarin mo ang mundo, siya pa rin ang taong tanging isinisigaw ng puso mo. Siya pa rin ang taong tanging makakapagpasaya sa iyo. Kaya naman wala kang magawa kung hindi ang maghintay. Minsan, tinatanong mo rin ang sarili mo kung ganoon din kaya siya sa iyo. Ano na kaya ang nararamdaman niya para sa iyo? Ikaw pa rin kaya ang tinitibok ng puso niya? Ikaw pa rin kaya? Katulad pa rin kaya ng dati? Mahal ka pa kaya niya? Alam kong gusto mong itanong ang lahat ng iyan sa kanya pero natatakot ka sa magiging sagot niya. Natatakot ka na baka hindi na ikaw ang isinisigaw ng puso niya. Natatakot ka na baka hindi na ikaw ang nakakapagpasaya sa kanya. Kaya wala kang magawa kung hindi ang maghintay na lamang sa oras na ibibigay niya sa iyo, sa oras na hindi mo alam kung kailan darating. Kaya napag-isip-isip mo, paano kung nagkapalit kayo ng sitwasyon. Ikaw ay siya at siya ay ikaw, gagawin mo kaya sa kanya ang ginagawa niya sa iyo ngayon? Mararamdaman at iisipin ba niya ang nararamdaman at iniisip mo ngayon? Ang dami mong tanong sa sarili mo na gusto mo ng kasagutan subalit ayaw mong masagot. Bakit? Kasi mahirap. Kasi masakit. Kasi mahal mo pa rin siya, mahal na mahal. Pero gusto mo, kahit isang beses lang, na sana ikaw naman ang kailanganin. Sana ikaw naman ang habulin. Sana ikaw naman ang hindi kayang mawala sa buhay niya. Sana ikaw naman.

“That feeling of always missing someone! As if living the life you've always been dreaming of is now modified into a realm of something wonderful, adventurous, and sexy.” A small chat with a hi and hello led us to a reality that I never expected will happen very soon. You captured my unique taste for a person. You even twisted my view of how some things work in this world. I thought a concept that has been formulated out of concepts will never be true. You made me realized that love that has been created out of loyalty, patience, sacrifice, and many other intangible values of reality have always been true and I just needed to be with you to finally experience it. Can this really be true? That first conversation totally stroked my whole being. I thought it was just a disoriented version of reality that was designed to deliver me to my nearing doom. I thought this feeling was just an isthmus to connect my old boring version with my dying unlucky self. Instead, you paved the way for my beautiful, unexpected, full of dreams life of today and the future. That moment of awkwardness opened a door for something new and exciting in my life. It’s a boring afternoon of Saturday while buying some supplies in the nearest grocery when you texted that you’re already on your way to my place. I didn't know what to feel at that time because it’s my first time to meet a person who I thought will be a good match for my ever wondering and choosy mind. Yes! You intrigued me already the first time we talked about a random topic and I just noticed that we’re already jumping from one topic to another, being in a relationship to healthcare in the country, from being a student to the current political state of the Philippines. And I was like, “Okey, this is it.” After the dinner came that awkward air. I, being very new to this kind of set-up decided not to do anything but acknowledged the awkwardness. Yes! I did think that that was an awkward moment but you said that it will just be awkward if for me it's awkward. You said that it's only a matter of how I look at the situation, how I wanted it to be, how I perceived it. And that amazed me again of how you think. You shared to me again a piece of your cake that I'd never reject, a drop of your juice that I'd always crave for. But that conversation escalated quickly. You grabbed me by the shoulder, lowered my face, and devoured my innocent lips. Your tongue danced like a pro and invaded a foreign territory with no hesitation. A pro you were, you started a sword fight for dominance. A fight that both of us won. As the night neared midnight, the love that I was feeling deepened just like how we moved and satisfied our cravings for something that's very unfamiliar to me. After a long time of devouring each other, I got the courage to ask where our meeting would lead us. And destiny had its own game that night, it led us to a place where our hearts never had the chance to deny the longing. Morning came, I thought the euphoria of the last night ended that night. But I was so wrong. Hot air was softly caressing my neck, an arm was embracing me from the back, and two not so hairy legs were intertwined with mine. And I was right, you were there sleeping with me throughout that night. It was indeed the best morning of my life. That morning led to another hot and passionate breakfast in bed. Lunch came and we decided to eat within the university premises. It was a simple lunch but a memory to keep. We had lunch that I would not forget. You gave me the most butterflies inside my tummy and put me on thousands of floppy clouds while we're just talking about random things about your life and mine. I did not know by that time why I was so happy and contented by just talking and talking and I even forgot that we're eating. You often caught me staring at you and when you did, I just smiled and said nothing. But now, I know why. It's because I genuinely fell, falling, and will fall in love with you for the rest of my life. After our lunch that seemed to be so fast, I invited you for a dessert in my favorite ice cream store in the campus. Good thing that you liked the variety of flavors available and even tried one of my favorites. After we got our own cones, we decided to take a walk to the Sunken Garden for a breath of fresh air. Once we're there, we sat on the grass under a big shady old tree while licking the melting sweetness in our hands. We sat there comfortably and you did it again to me, you put my heart in a race that I thought will never stop. We talked and talked and talked until I just realized that we were already talking about our future, a future with you and me in it, together. You know what, that's the highlight of that moment for me. I will never forget that instant that you uttered "our future". I was in high heavens when you said that. You totally had me there. Until now and forever, that moment gives me shivers and chills of love and passion. Upon returning home, we decided to take a nap but we ended up again kissing each other passionately. It's the passion that burned into a fire that even ourselves couldn’t control. It consumed us with joy and satisfaction. It was satisfaction as if there's no tomorrow for things that only two of us can do. The night came and you had to go home. That night, I experienced the sweetest goodbye. You left me with a mark that no one could ever replace. That night, the rain poured with loud thunders and fierce flashes of lightning, as if celebrating our firsts together. Our firsts but will never be our lasts. Our firsts of the many other things that we'd have together until forever.

"I came up with this recipe because I wanted something that's hot, with soup, and sardines that were not directly coming from a can going straight to my plate." My body naturally craves for something hot and spicy whenever it's raining. As I'm not so used to ordering food in the middle of the night, I had to look for any ingredients that I could cook into something that's hot and spicy. The following are what I found during my cupboard-and-fridge shopping. 2 bundles of glass noodles (sotanghon) 1 can of small sardines in tomato sauce with chili some chopped Chinese cabbage, separate the stalks from the leaves (any greens will do) I also used the following cooking staples: 2 cups of water 1 teaspoonful of olive oil 1 small chopped red onion 2 cloves of chopped garlic ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt to taste In a pot, I sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil. I added the chopped stalks of the Chinese cabbage when the onion was already translucent. Once I smelled the distinct scent of Chinese cabbage, I waited for another two minutes before adding the sardines. I let the sardines to cook for at most two minutes before adding the two cups of water. To make sure that I got every drop of the tomato sauce from the can, I wash its insides with water and poured it back to the pot. Once I saw bubbles popping on the surface of the mixture, I added the leaves of the Chinese cabbage. After a minute, I added the glass noodles. Glass noodles cook very fast, at most two minutes, and absorb a lot of water. If you want more liquid, you can add another two cups of water. After a minute of having the noodles in the mixture, I added the ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt. I turned off the heat after two minutes and served it immediately. You may also pair it with garlic bread or some white bread slices and dip them to the hot noodle soup. #BetterTasteTip: Since glass noodles absorb a lot of water, you may want to add another cup of hot water if ever you will want to have another serving. Also, don't forget to add more ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt according to your taste.

"It's almost midnight and I was craving for pasta but I just wasn't in the mood to order food online. So..." I just rummaged my fridge and cupboards for anything that I could use to whip an easy pasta. And I found the following: 1 long chicken embutido 1 cup of cream 2 cups of pasta shells 1 bar of cheddar cheese, cubed To put them together, I used the following cooking essentials: 1 medium sized onion 2 cloves of garlic 1 tablespoon of olive oil water salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste Right after coming up with the idea of the pasta that I wanted to cook given the ingredients that I had, I set the stove to high heat and put a pot of water to boil with 2 tablespoons of salt. When the water was already boiling, I dropped the pasta shells and cooked them for 3 minutes. When my alarm rang, I transferred the shells in a bowl with five tablespoons of pasta water. For the sauce, I sautéed the onion and garlic. When I saw that they already achieved my desired color, I dropped the chicken embutido that I sliced into quartered coins. After a minute, I put salt, pepper, and chili powder. After which, I added the cream and let the mixture simmered for 2 minutes. To easily serve the pasta, I just added the shells into the pot of sauce with the cubed cheddar cheese. And there, I was able to whip a white pasta in less than 30 minutes. #BetterTasteTip: It tastes the best 20 minutes after cooking.

"Lets minimize our eat outs and just cook lunch or dinner during our weekends together, though I really want to meet my protein goal per day." Yes friends! Those were jowa's lines before, though I really wanted na rin naman to lessen our eat outs to save more for something that I really want to buy before this year ends. Besides, I also aim to explore and hone my cooking skills. Hahaha. And one of the main ingredients of our weekend cooking is chicken, being very easy to cook and jowa can easily estimate his protein consumption. A little side story, jowa had to buy the ingredients for this dish on his way to my place since I was so sleepy to go to the supermarket because I just came from an overnight with my best friends. And this resulted to a not well marinated chicken meat. Hahaha. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this dish because: (1) Jowa cooked it; and (2) Of course it kind of gave me a new taste for a chicken dish. Hahaha... Okay, so for the real highlight of this post... We only used few ingredients in this dish, namely: 2 chicken fillets (breast part) 1 pack of garlic marinade 1 pack of chicken gravy any amount of corn and carrots We're supposed to marinate the chicken overnight. But guess what, we're not able to do so. Well, sabi ko nga kanina eh nag-overnight ako with my best friends. Hahaha. It kinda sacrificed the taste of the chicken. So if you wanna have a tasty chicken meat, marinate it overnight. What jowa did? He just rubbed the chicken with that packed garlic marinade that he bought. And I somehow didn't like the taste of the chicken with this marinade. Hahaha. He knew this already. If you're not so fan of garlic as a marinade like me, you can always create your own. As what I learned from watching too many cooking videos, a tasty marinade has equal parts of sour, sweet, and salty. For me, I usually use soy sauce, honey, and lemon juice. After marinating the chicken, it's time for that sizzling sound. Pre-heat your pan. You'll know that it's ready when you see smoke whenever you put water droplets into your pan. Just put in there the fillets, making sure not to overcrowd your pan to make sure an easy and even cooking. Once you achieve a golden brown meat, it's time to cook the other side. Once you're done cooking, you can always plate your seared chicken in any way you want to. But of course if you're too hungry, you can always skip the art of plating and just dig into that chicken goodness. #BetterTasteTip: It tastes perfectly with blanched carrots and corn.