매일 {mae-il}

dino day!!!

with our monthly huddle being scheduled at 2:30pm, i let myself sleep for a little bit more after shift started. i just checked my teams from time to time in case people are reaching out to me to ask something. some of my colleagues did, but it isn't too complicated that it needed me to open my laptop or anything.

i opened my pc at around 1pm. before the meeting, i made myself a ginger/turmeric(?) instant hot milk tea. drinking hot liquid made my tummy feel better, so i'm going to do more of it.

i continued watching weight loss and DASH diet tips to help me incorporate it to my life. there are a few dishes i wanted to try making - no-water chicken soup, mille-feuille nabe, low sodium and calorie kimbap, and many more. i'd have to wait for my next paycheck to afford the ingredients for these ;u;

my sister visited me to my room to talk about recent updates from the job she's been interviewing for. i remember she showed enthusiasm and excitement about this job post, but she told me that she was quite disappointed by how it went. first of all, the hiring manager was late for about 10-20 mins. this threw her preparations and her momentum for the meeting off. when it started, the interviewer didn't introduce herself properly and just jumped straight to asking questions. the interviewer also questioned my sister about her job experience, and was hesitant about her skills in doing the role she's applying for. my sister made sure to explain that she do have knowledge of the role even though it's just one part of the whole department she's working for, but she also wants to learn more about it. the manager told her, "if you want to learn about it, then maybe you can try for the entry-level job opening for this. i need someone who's actually knowledgeable about it". while she's not wrong for stating exactly what she wants for the role, my sister felt dismissed and turned down immediately just because of her experience. based on previous prejudices her team faced in that same department, she said she felt like the manager is looking down on the role and had doubts on what they can cater for the new role she's applying for. the whole interview didn't feel right for her. i told her a quote that i read earlier today - "all the things meant for you will never miss you". maybe this job wasn't destined for her. maybe if she went and accepted the role, she will just face hardships and further scrutiny from the hiring manager.

after our talk, i opened linkedin and tried looking for open roles that are connected to her job experience. most of them are on-site though, and i think she wanted to look for a wfh setup for her baby. i do want to send her job openings that fit the setup she wants, so i'll look for more in another free time.

when the meeting started, i paid good attention, compared to my usual self. i'm still browsing recipes online, though. after the 1:30 hr huddle, i started preparing my lunch (at 4pm zzzzzzz).

i got some scoops of rice on a bowl, and i fried an egg to put it on top. while i rinsed the enoki mushrooms and sauteed it on some margarine, salt, paprika, and pepper, i scooped some gochujang and put it on the side. i also put a lot of kimchi on the other side. i put the enoki mushrooms on top once it's done cooking, and i drizzled some sesame oil and sesame seeds on top. i opened one big can of tuna to put in my bibimbap. i also got half an onion to eat on the side. my sister cooked chicken noodle soup so i got a very small portion of it, too.

let me just say this: i can probably eat this everyday if i can afford it (and if it's good for your health to eat it everyday). it was so satisfying. the serving's a lot, especially since i got a whole pack of enoki mushrooms there. i ate it while i started on anatomy of a fall.

it was around 6:15 when i finished eating. i was planning on going out for a walk to buy some bananas and a yogurt when i just decided to stay at home and fix my keyboard (the weikav lucky65 that i'm using right now). i was using my old one to write these blogs, but for some reason i missed using this one so i opened it (around 4pm) to take a look on why it stopped working for a few months now. when i opened it, i saw that the metal plate is protruding a little bit. this is obviously because of a bloated battery. i still asked some of my friends for advise since i'm too afraid of bloated batteries. both of them said it's fairly safe to remove it on your own, just avoid puncturing it.

so instead of going out, i just opened my keeb again and tried to take it out of the metal plate. i got on a quick call with one of my close friends to ask for instructions. i know what to do, though, i just want someone else to know what's happening while i try to take out this bloated battery so i'm not too scared. i managed to get it out, and when i plugged in my keeb again, IT WORKED!

i thanked both of my friends. as a way of gratitude, i let my genshin friend to take some illuga mats from my world. it also led to me exploring sumeru a bit to get some primos.

the other asked for a consultation fee of 500. i told him to fuck off (not really, but i told him i'm currently broke as fuck).

with the joy of my creamy thock keeb being back to life, i finished my pending blogs and managed to catch up to latest!!!! yaaaay!!!!

the minute cryptic puzzle today was so ass. cory, what have you done? (the word was: quadrupled)

on the early, early morning of this day, i finished catch me if you can. it was engaging, so much so that i was able to finish it on one go. it didn't stop me from looking up the real person behind this story, and all i can say is it kind of changed my verdict of the movie just a little bit.

i made sure to sleep a good amount so that my bp will be more accurate, which i think i was successful on doing so? i slept as much as i wanted and only got up when it's time for our team huddle. funnily enough, i put on a little bit of lip tint just in case they called me to open my camera for my send off. (it didn't happen).

after the meeting, i found out that joji will be having a livestream event on twitch. i was planning on taking a bath at around 12pm to get to the clinic by 1pm, but this changed my plans. i watched it for around 30 minutes and since the robots were really going at it, i moved to my phone and watched it while taking a bath.

it was still going when i finished. i quickly got dressed and booked an mc ride to the clinic. it was in the middle of the day, so i was expecting to be baking under the sun for a few minutes. fortunately, the breeze is still chilly and nice, so it wasn't too bad.

i got to the clinic around 1:30pm. they had me climbing the stairs to another room to have my bp checked. i thought the nurse will make me rest a little for an accurate reading, but she didn't waste any time and got on to pumping. she took it on one go, and it read 120/90. she said it's still quite high, despite the drop from the initial reading of 140/110. the whole thing took less than 5 minutes, and i found myself at the counter not too long after.

since my sister is a nurse, i immediately told her my readings. she told me it wasn't high. i still needed to consult the staff at the counter for my next steps. they told me that my results will be provided once i gave them an internal medicine clearance. i asked them for their in-house doctors so that the process will be smooth, so they gave me a list of internal medicine doctors i can contact to have my clearance.

after that, i waited for a jeep to ride to waltermart. i didn't know what to eat (since i'm planning on starting my DASH diet immediately) so i just ordered some vietnamese food from grab and had them deliver it to me to waltermart. i got fresh vietnamese rolls (3 pieces), shrimp fried rice, and beef pho. it might look a lot (it is), but i'm used to doing OMAD (bad thing for my gut, i think) so it should be fine (i think).

while waiting for my food to arrive, i strolled around the supermarket to window shop. i looked for some of the ing i want to buy (mentaiko and chocolates). i didn't buy any, so i just walked out and looked around. i was getting tempted to order and eat chooks to go chicken, but it was quite pricey for 1 piece and rice (i used to spend for something more ;u;).

the driver is on his way. i went to the 2nd floor to look around. i stopped by the arcade to see if taiko is still there. thankfully, it is. to celebrate, i got 2 tokens (10php) and played it a little bit. i chose かんたん for my first song (blue bird) and ふつう for my second (motteke! serafuku). it was so much fun even though i'm not too good.

i saw that the driver has arrived just as i finished the second song. i rushed to the entrance to get my food. i didn't waste any time and went back to the 2nd flr to eat at the food court (just beside the arcade).

the food was sooooo good. i really like vietnam cuisine and i think it matches my tastebuds really well. the pho broth coated my tummy really well and didn't give me any bloated feeling. even after eating, my tummy still felt light.

after my lunch, i did some pre-employment requirement tasks i needed to do. one of them was taking a scan of my printed bank payroll account to submit to the HR. the other one was contacting all of the internal medicine doctors in the list to see who's available to take a scheduled checkup this week. fortunately, one of them obliged so i took their friday morning schedule. i just have to inform the HR about all of these progress, which i did when i got home.

i also replied to my former coworker/colleague friend who asked about my new job. he really wanted to find a new job since his new setup is quite toxic to his overall health and state. i think he initially wanted to be on the same team as me, but since there are still no openings for the role, i sent him some of the roles i applied before that resulted in callbacks. i also sent him some of the roles i wanted to try for but failed since my credentials weren't enough, i guess? i also listed a few companies with good setup and comp&ben for him to try out.

i went back to the 1st flr to shop for kimchi, enoki mushrooms, and sesame oil. i decided to eat more bibimbap for healthier meals. i was initially thinking of walking to cabanas to buy the kimchi from kmart, but since i wasn't really feeling like being stuck in traffic on the way home, i just bought it from the supermarket.

i bought a bottle of buko juice after grocery shopping. it was supposed to be in a cup (ate even asked me), but i guess she didn't hear so she just went with the bottle. it was still good, but it's so pricey huhuhu it was 65 for 16oz of buko juice ;u;

when i stepped out of the mall, i'm greeted by a warm and breezy afternoon sunlight. it was so nice and inviting, that i ended up walking from the mall all the way home. i just played some anime and old school taiwanese and japanese drama songs to keep me going. i felt kind of light headed near the end of my walk, but i persevered and slowed my pace. my watch's strap is broken, so i wasn't able to track it on my smart watch. but it's probably a 30m-1hour worth of nonstop walk.

when i reached the gates of our home, i am greeted by my sister and my niece sitting on the steps. she's feeding my niece her dinner (i think?). the sky is still bright, but the sun is setting. the breeze is still chilly and it will swoosh here and there. my niece ate her food while walking and jumping around. i had a chat with my sister about random things.

after my niece finished her food, we all went back inside the house. i got on my computer and sent any pending tasks for my pre-employment requirements. i downloaded another movie, played genshin for a little while, and looked up a lot of weight loss tips online.

i changed into my cutesy little skirt and cutesy little croptop and shin-high socks and danced to some of the dances i know: hare hare yukai, melancholic, and fukkireta. i repeated it for a few more times until my feet are hurting and i needed to lay down.

i felt tired and limpy, so i just called it a day and slept shortly after.\

/a friend pm'ed me saying she missed me, which was unexpected but nice. she's inviting me to their summer team party.

===

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

i'm not too big on leonardo di caprio movies, but tom hanks though 👀

i don't have much to say about it. to be honest, the way i felt when i was watching it up to the end scene were different from how i felt after actually thinking about the movie. let's just say, it's similar to the feeling of being "scammed". i was quite amazed of frank's deception skills, but when i found out it was actually a biopic and that he's a real person, it kind of wore down the magic for me, especially since the real life frank is an actual pathological liar.

but come to think of it, if he was successful in making a story about the crimes he was able to "get away with" versus what he actually did, then doesn't that make him a good liar? or were people just so gullible during those times that no one really bothered to speculate and snoop around to validate any of these claims?

or maybe people weren't stuck up on those things and just enjoyed the movie as it is without being too critical of a supposed "non-fiction-but-turned-out-to-be-half-fiction" film? maybe they just watched it, found it good and amusing, didn't bother to know more about the real life frank, and went on with their lives?

i wasn't sure where i stand on those, but i guess i still enjoyed the story and will just think of it as fiction than trying to validate anything. there we have it, the 2nd one is my answer.

i picked up on his grandiosity along the way when i realized all of the women in his telling of the story are somewhat "dumb" and "weak" for him. it almost felt like a harem. i didn't enjoy those as much, but maybe that spoke more about his views on the women he met (especially since the reason for him posing as a pilot is to stalk a flight attendant he fancied).

this was a good spielberg movie. the acting was incredible and it's nice to see leonardo and tom in one film.

monday. i was initially planning on going to the clinic on this day to have my bp re-evaluated, but i slept so late that i just decided to go the next day so i can have a proper sleep and a proper reading.

there wasn't any task for me, but i do have a team call at 3:30pm for my workstream. it's our monthly catchup call. we just talked about the ongoing and pending tasks for our team, they bid goodbye to me and our manager (who's going to leave the firm by the end of the month), and the call was concluded.

in my futile attempt at keeping my bp low, i ate just a little serving of rice, milkfish, and small canned tuna for lunch. i sneaked in a few of my dried potato fries chips on there for texture, even though i admit that there's a lot of salt involved there.

while eating, i continued watching la la land. for some reason, i kept on putting this movie off for the past years, but i finally started and finished it on the same day.

little anecdote: weird how me and my siblings were just talking about how our parents use the term "combo" for bands (when we were doing karaoke and told my pamangkins they could start a band) and then i stumbled upon the term again while watching la la land.

i enjoyed the movie so much. i was in the mood to start another one, so i downloaded catch me if you can so that i can finish the movie after starting it randomly while commuting. i watched it during dinner (i cooked the bibimyeon i bought from kmart and i boiled an egg) and finished it past midnight on one sitting.

===

La La Land (2016)

i wasn't expecting to like this movie, but wow. it touched on dreams and all the difficulties you might face while trying to achieve them, especially for people challenging the show business in hollywood and music industry in L.A.

their love story was also painfully beautiful. the scene in the end where sebastian (or probably also mia) was imagining the life they could've had together if they stuck with each other despite it all. the theatrical take on the scenes, the music, the buildup, and the final note before coming back to reality - ohhhh, chef's kiss.

one more thing i liked about it are the movie references. i was able to catch one right away - the pool scene from boogie nights. i'm not even sure if that's what they were referencing, but i immediately looked it up to feel satisfied. there were some claims that the director did referenced it, so i guess it's that one. i'm not too knowledgeable about the other ref'ed movies (like casablanca, etc), so i would have to watch them to find out.

the movie was structured skillfully. their personalities were imperfect and made them even more beautiful. when i finished the movie, i can't find any flaws or anything that i disliked about it, so it was an easy 5 for me in letterboxd.

my pamangkins woke me up from my slumber. i slept quite late (and quite crept out, too) but got up at around 11am-12noon.

i told my nephew's dad to give me his homework (which he told me the night before that my nephew needs help with), so that we can start early and finish it early. they were watching zootopia, but since he already watched it a lot of times before, i told him he can watch it after we finish his homework.

he's always joyful and appreciative. it wasn't too hard to guide him in answering his homework because he basically knows how to answer them himself. it's so impressive how much my nephew learned from school just from less than a year of attending school. he even got an outstanding award a few weeks ago.

we finished his homework and went back to the room to continue watching zootopia. but my sister suggested that we do karaoke on the tv, just like what they did the day before. we have a rechargeable mic and the tv's audio is connected to its speakers. my sister opened the karaoke app and we sang for awhile. my pamangkins sang the most since they seem to enjoy singing, especially the songs they learned from their favorite movies.

after that, we picked a movie to watch. we decided on elio, since it's new and the poster looked promising. i just played it and everyone got their own thing going, either cooking lunch in the kitchen or playing computer games in the room. some of my pamangkins stayed to watch the movie with me together with my bil's mother. it was one of those classic family movies and i did enjoy it especially since it's centered on cosmic things.

my sister finished cooking and we're all called to the dining table. she prepared a lot of food and she even heated up my leftover pancit bihon (that she fixed a little due to lack of taste) and the sisig that my eldest sister packed for my sister. my bil cooked the rest of the dried pusit and espada outside to avoid the house smelling like it for days. we enjoyed eating and my other bil washed the dishes.

i tried continuing to read strange pictures, but i got so sleepy that i just laid down and snoozed away. i woke up in the afternoon, and my pamangkins are getting ready to go home. i helped to carry some of my sister's bag to their car, and i said goodbye to my pamangkins and to my younger bil. my sister got out shortly after, and they all went home to me.b.

in the evening, after i slept for a little while, my sister told me to stack away the food for any leftovers since i'm the last one to eat. it was around 9 or 10pm when i prepared my dinner, and i basically ate almost everything that's left. i put some of the ginataang mais inside a tupperware and stored it in the fridge.

while eating, i continued reading strange pictures. i was so spooked that i opened my overhead room lights in the tender time of the night. there were only a few pages left, and it's getting quite interesting. after that, i finished my dinner and opened my pc to play a little bit of genshin and watch a movie.

for some reason, i just can't finish goonies and start goldfinch. i'm probably not in the best mood for these movies. so i decided to watch la la land and eat my serving of ginataang mais. i didn't finish the movie, though. i called it a night and went to bed with a full tummy.

===

Elio (2025)

an E.T movie, but not quite.

it's one of those movies that you know the path it's going to take, but somehow they still landed it really well.

and i'm talking about the scene with the father, where he destroyed all of his faux shield and armor and firearms, all in his most vulnerable self, just to give his son the care and nurture he needed. can we say that he's a bad and strict father? well, yeah. he's like one of those dads who's strict and tells you what to do "for your own good", because they know what it's like to fail and be at their lowest. but they just don't know that what their children need is their trust that they can do it even without their strict supervision. even without their pre-planned path for them to walk on.

and the scenes where both the aunt and the father showed that they know their children best. the meaning was depicted clearly and the parallels were good.

the other scenes were nice. i liked the cinematography and the setting they created. the cosmic feels were cool and executed well. not my favorite animation, but they delivered quite well.

i don't have much to say, but i do know my pamangkins enjoyed it, too.

here's a very, very short (and boring) review i left on letterboxd.

===

book: Strange Pictures (2022)

i didn't know which came first, so i started with strange houses. but apparently, i should've started with strange pictures because it gave me a better characterization for kurihara.

the story started nicely. it set the tone for "this is a book about strange pictures", just like how uketsu titled it. the anomalies were not obvious, but when they were solved, they were not over-the-top and ridiculous either.

some of it felt a little bit like an episode of detective conan, though. like the whole mystery and methodology they used in the camping chapter. other than that, the other parts connected really well with the next chapter like a train chain.

what i like about how uketsu tells a story, and how he unravels some of the clues, is that he lets you connect the dots. as straightforward and direct as he is, he doesn't flash the answer right to your face. he hints it, shows its tail, lets you guess what the next pokemon is. the difference from this and strange houses is he stayed truth to the path he carved for the characters, compared to a faux and good facade he showed in strange houses.

i can say i liked this one better, though. something about it felt satisfying and slightly creepy and complete. i like strange houses, too, but the ridiculousness of some of the parts kind of threw me off.

my sister told me that i should go home to m.b early because my pamangkins are there. maybe i had this in my subconscious when i fell asleep because i woke up quite early even though i slept late (while finishing up strange houses).

my sister's partner was still sleeping when i woke up. i shook them up a little and told them the time. i guess they are also aware and had woken up not too long ago, since they just answered "oo, thank you ebi".

i went to the bathroom for my morning pee and sat at the dining table for a little while. after that, i took a bath and noticed that it's raining again. when the rain stopped a little, I bid my goodbye with all my bags on tow. it's quite heavy, i must say.

since i'm saving up quite a bit to prepare for a month-long drought, i took the tricycle-uv-mrt-bus commute route home. this also helped me move and walk a lot.

i ate my lunch at komoro sm megamall. i remember suggesting this restaurant to my coworkers when i was still working in the next door building, but i suppose since the place doesn't have any available seats, and somehow it looks quite dark and gloomy, we decided to eat at the nearby panda express instead.

luckily for me, there's a few vacated seats when i dined in. i ordered an oyakodon, a side of miso, and a piece of ebi tempura. (so much for "saving up money"). the serving of chicken for the oyakodon was a lot for its price which is a good thing. it tasted nice, and it's warm enough to give a good pat on your gut. the ebi tempura was alright. the size was too small, but i guess it had to do with the expensive prices for shrimps. i almost always get a side of miso soup when i eat at a japanese restaurant. if the oyakodon was a good pat, this one was a warm embrace to my struggling gut.

once i'm finished with my lunch, i immediately got up and let someone else take the table to eat at this quite popular place. i walked around a little, but really i'm looking for an ice cream store/stall where i can sit down and rest. i can't find miguelitos, so i walked all the way from building a to building b, near the skating rink to reach the food court. it's somewhat a bougie one, but i spotted a stall selling 50php ice cream with a small 붕어빵-like bread on it. i ordered one, bought a bottle of water from the next stall, and sat on an empty spot nearby.

after a little while of resting and scrolling through socmed, i got up and continued my walk to the mrt station. i'm used to taking the route of my old company building, and so i did just that. fortunately, it was a saturday so there are very few people inside. i doubt someone from my former team was in there.

i got on the mrt and got off at the last station. i strolled around a bit, looking for parting gifts i might give to coworkers. i was contemplating on staying for a while and eating somewhere, but i just went straight to the bus terminal and got on the bus. it was still quite early (around 2pm i think?) so i got a good seat by the window. since i know i'll be waiting for them to fill out all the seats, i started reading strange pictures.

it wasn't too spooky, maybe because it's still early and the vibes on the bus was warm and bright. but the clues and the pacing of the story is still as good as the first uketsu story i read. i got sleepy sometime around mindanao ave, but i woke up when we were entering nlex, so i continued my read.

i got off at rob malolos because i got hungry. i walked straight to marugame to eat katsu curry (what happened to saving money??!?!?!?). i took my usual sides of ginger, wasabi, spring onions, and tempura crumbs. it was so good that i finished quite early. i'm still reading the book while eating.

after that, i got on a mini bus to go home. i immediately saw my pamangkins by the gate, with their beautiful smiles and heartwarming welcome. my sister told me to get ready since we're going to snr in a short while. since i was just outside and we're going somewhere again, i didn't bother to change my clothes and just washed my hands.

when we got to snr, they renewed their subscriptions and we went on our merry way to stroll around. i wasn't planning on buying anything, so i just went wherever they went. m.b family were still quite broke, so my younger sister was the only one who bought from the food place. they bought my pamangkins their usual post-strolling ice cream. my sister turned out to buy food for everyone, so when it's all finished, we went home to have our dinner of pizza and chicken.

at dinner, my sister told me that she started watching heated rivalry. well, i did warn her that it can get pretty r-18 with the scenes but she told me it's just not really for her. she said my bil told her "this is really something that ebi likes, huh?" telling me that this genre really fits me.

they were planning to watch a movie after our dinner, but i guess since everyone's quite tired, we just called it a day and slept.

i continued reading strange pictures because i'm so intrigued.

my sister's partner told me to wake them up if i ever see them still sleeping by the time i wake up (which they're assuming would be around 8 or 9am) but i woke up at almost 10am, and i hurriedly checked if they're still sleeping. the bed is empty, so i just got up and went to the restroom to piss my morning piss.

i was planning on sleeping a little more. i climbed on the bed to turn off the aircon. i laid for a little while when i heard coughing from the living room. i immediately got up and turned off the aircon and headed out. there, i saw them sitting with their pug dog. i told them i thought they went to work already, but they said they're not feeling too eager to go to work so they're trying to condition themselves.

i sat at the dining table to check my laptop (since it's basically 1 hour after my shift started). there's nothing to do, so i just charged my phone. they asked me if i wanted to drink anything (knowing that i don't really fancy coffee) so they offered the tea that my sister is drinking nowadays. i obliged on the offer and they handed me the cup of peppermint tea. i drank it while checking my messages again. i got curious with the benefits of the tea i'm drinking, so i looked it up and saw that it's good for de-bloating, managing the gut, and it's not too high on acidity so it's perfect for those with gut problems. it's the best tea to drink for those that underwent gallbladder surgery. that's probably why my sister drinks it a lot. and it shows, too, with the amount of weight she shed after her surgery.

after downing the whole cup, i can feel that my stomach is starting to burp out the gas buildup. i even shat right after finishing it. so i decided to just take a bath and prepare to go to the office again.

when i finished my bath, i saw from the window that it started raining. i was planning on commuting to work, so it kind of bummed me out. but i just waited a bit for it to stop so i can still commute to work. my sister's partner is still sitting on the couch and contemplating whether to go to work or not. i was jokingly encouraging them to not go to work, but of course if they feel like they don't want to, then i support that all the way.

the slight downpour stopped, so i bid my goodbye and walked to the side street to wait for a tricycle. for some reason, i can't find the terminal for bgc, so i walked back from the market to the familiar buildings along the street. when i thought it's way too far from my usual commute, i asked some of the people in the gas station where it could be. idk why they seem to have a bit of trouble answering me, but i just decided to go back to the market to look around and maybe i can spot it (i still thanked them for answering). on my way back, i saw it right beside a food stall that i remembered from earlier. it's weird how i missed this spot.

i got on the uv and waited for it to completely fill. after a while, it started its journey and we got to bgc after around an hour. since it's quite early still (around lunchtime), i looked around the nearby food court to look for any food i might want to eat. i was thinking of eating congee, but they said it's still warming up. i went to get the "special pancit malabon" from rita's and ordered a solo serving. while waiting, i also bought beef pares from across the stall. the pancit malabon was tasty, but it's quite pricey for the small serving. the pares was alright.

after lunch, i walked to the terminal to get on a bus or jeep ride to the office. i waited for a while for it to fill. i got to the office around 3pm.

there are a few people in their workstations, but no leads. since, again, there are no tasks for us to do, me and my friends decided to go grab meryenda nearby. we decided on getting drinks, eating kwek kwek and calamares in the food stalls positioned near the building before (but now they moved somewhere a few blocks away), and get drinks and snacks again from 7/11. the price of the kwek kwek and calamares is ridiculous. and it didn't even taste good!

after that, we went back to our workstations and chatted for a little bit more. we can talk for hours about anything under the sun. at around past 6pm, we decided to go home. same routine with my one of them, we ride a jeep to market2x and then get off at market2x. i was contemplating whether to ride the uv home, or just book angkas. but since i wanted to walk around (especially now that i only have a few things with me), i crossed the street to walk to fully booked to window-shop. i went inside and browsed on some genres that i like. idk why, but the book prices just keep on getting more ridiculous. the standard price for a book now costs around 600 pesos. and for the good ones, around 1-1.5k. i'm guilty about buying a book that's beyond the 1.5k price mark, but i'm even more sad (or disappointed? or envious?) at the fact that sunrise on the reaping released a another hardbound version without the papercover. it costed less than the initial release, and i have to say i like the design and size of the newer one more than what i purchased. it felt more like the hunger games book i read before. still, i'm grateful that i had the chance to buy the first version, from the same branch.

i strolled a bit more to look at more books. i stayed quite a while at the manga and jp books station. i picked up some of my favorite series from the shelves. i guess the more i walk around, the more it piques my interest and thirst for more books to read. the 4th floor comprised mostly of self-help/psychology books. i tried looking for dan howell's book, but i couldn't find it.

after a while, i stepped out of the store and continued my walk along high street. i looked for a place to sit on since my feet are getting tired. with a new found desire to read another book, i whipped out my phone to start reading the book ate i (my eldest sister) recommended me - strange houses. she sent an e-pub to me via imessage, but for some reason i can't access it. so i swam the ocean and looked for it. the download was pretty fast, and next thing i know i'm reading it page after page.

there's something about it that captivated me instantly. my focus is like a k9 bite. i went on reading until my back hurts from sitting on the bench with no back support. i decided to walk a little bit more and just go to bgc stopover to continue my reading there (and eventually, book an mc ride home).

i noticed that the street from where i sat is along the street of my new company, so i went around the building to know it a little bit more before i start there 2 weeks from now. i looked for any interesting shops nearby, but all i got was the nearby lawson, and the tower with a few (overpriced and overrated) restaurants. i saw a goto place along the way and contemplated on eating there. i was about to wait to cross the street, but i had the urge to just walk to bgc stopover and eat at jollibee or popeyes or whatever.

i spotted the lawson across bgc stopover and checked if they still had the 2nd floor seating so i can just eat here instead. but it got smaller and the store is now too cramped. i stepped out of there fast and just continued my walk. i eventually decided to just stay a bit at the bonchon in bgc stopover. i got a bingsoo and regular fries. (i remember eating bingsoo at this same building 9 years ago, but on the 3rd floor hobing that occupied before. it was when i was a kmusical student in KCC).

while eating the mango bingsoo and fries that i ordered, i continued reading strange houses. it got me so hooked because of how the author just blatantly threw all the clues and mysteries to your face without warning. after a while, i booked an mc ride home because i wanted to continue reading so badly. i knew that i had to go home first so i can read all i want.

when i got home, my sister's partner is still there but now they're continuing the paint by numbers project they started. they showed it to me the day before, but now the progress is really noticeable as the sky is almost filled out completely.

since they already ate dinner, i proceeded to prepare my own dinner (with the sisig that we saved from the night before). i ate while reading the book and it's starting to get quite spooky. i told my (still sleepy) sister that i started reading it but still not finished.

i took a bath (while my eyes are open because again, i'm getting spooked out), and called it a day. i finished the rest of the book before sleeping, with the flashlight on (since i occupy the little bedspace under the actual bedspace and it's quite dark in there).

===

book: Strange Houses (2025)

when i started reading it, i was half expecting that it might take a while for me to finish. but it's just something that you can't put down. the mystery is captivating enough for you to keep on reading and wanting to find out the truths behind them.

i would say it's quite an easy read, which probably contributed on the speed i had. it's also a rather short novel. everything about it is straightforward, yet still very mysterious and secretive that you think the characters might actually "performing". which is weird to say to characters that are meant to do it, but it's like they're giving you a pair of eyes to see something that they want you to see, rather than what actually happened.

this is evident with the final chapter from kurihara's perspective. his final chapter shone a new light to some of the places in the house that were purposefully left in the dark.

here are some of my slight qualms about it, though:

for some reason, i didn't like how the mother is believed to be a descendant of the branch family because they're from one of the children from the "seventh child". i think, the whole "he married and got so many wives" was so convenient that you can just go on and on about other "children". and then that same child has another sibling? it's too convenient, even though it might be the actual truth. it's just too easy to plant, and it's like they pulled it out of there like a "oh, by the way" type of telling.

i like kurihara so far, and i have no doubts about his knowledge and genius skills. but how come he's right almost at the first speculation? very gifted and genius characters aren't new to me (with the likes of sherlock and conan and galileo and most of these "high potential" geniuses) but also the way uketsu eats them all up just like that? uketsu can be quite biased, especially with the girl's family. but in the end, he didn't want to believe kurihara, and just went on with the truth he wanted to believe in.

how can uketsu just tag along, ALONE, with the girl to meet her mother, when he has knowledge of what their family can do? it's like you're stepping into the lion's lair without any backup plans.

there are times in the old houses' telling that it kind of got ridiculous. i like the progression of their speculations, but it got too complicated for it to be "reality". especially the sleep time and all that. i wonder if kurihara is just trying to catch the girl about it, too.

but overall, it's one of the few books that i finished in one sitting and this fast. it ignited a new sense of desire for me to read more books and be this intrigued. the scenery and stories were told in a simple way, but it didn't hinder my imagination to picture it and feel it. even though most of the novel's scenes were dialogues (like norwegian wood). really good spooky read.

it's another rto workday. my sister asked me when i'll be in P-MM so that when she cooks sisig, i will be there to try it, too. (this kinda created a misunderstanding on my part because i thought she's asking this because i'm the one cooking sisig, but i totally misunderstood. so instead i offered to make korean salad, instead). i told her i will stay there until saturday, so i packed clothes good for 3 days. i also brought 1 serving of the pancit bihon i cooked the night before (packed by my sister).

since i don't have much tasks to do, i decided to stop by the bank to open my payroll account for my new company. i didn't rush to arrive early. i got there around 2pm. there's very few people in the bank so i was assisted right away. the longest part was when they're inputting my details on their database and they're filling out forms after forms. maybe this is why they offer to discuss to customers the insurance they offer. i said yes (for them to discuss it with me) though i wasn't really looking to apply for an insurance saving account. but i just listened asked a few questions which the staff gladly answered.

i was there for about an hour or so, and they told me that i can claim my payroll card next week thursday, along with them getting my biometrics.

since i got there without eating or drinking anything, i decided to stop by somewhere to get something to eat. i spotted a korean mart not far from the building, so i crossed 2 streets to got there. idk why even though the koreans are basically the "foreigners" in here, i still felt intimidated when there's a lot of them shopping in this store. not in a bad way, but i felt like i don't belong. i grabbed a packet of bibimyeon (infused with apple) and a korean bottled coffee. i was looking for any mentaiko products they have, but i couldn't find any. so i just went the counter and checked out my items. i also grabbed a sealed serving of kimbap and a 5 peso candy. after that, i booked an mc ride to the office.

it's around 4pm when i arrived. there's still a few people in my team who are in their workstations. i chose one and set down my things. a co-worker saw me, and since she's clocking out, she told me "hi! goodbye!".

since i'm hungry and still haven't eaten anything, i told my friend to eat with me in the cafeteria. we bought from the cafe stall downstairs first, then we headed up again. since the cafeteria is still open and offering food, i bought a longganisa and a serving of 5 dumplings and a free soup, together with a cup of rice. i ended up getting way too much food, on top of my pancit bihon and kimbap. i shared my lunch with my friend, although she said she's too full to eat the heavier stuff (she ate the pancit bihon).

after eating, we went inside the "arcade" section of the cafeteria. this is where they store the games stuff that staff and employees can enjoy. the music club probably left their instruments there, since we saw guitars, drums, and the keyboard as well. we stayed for a bit, and headed back to our floor again.

one of my other friend colleagues was also going to stay quite late that day. one of our managers asked us why we're still in there and why weren't we getting ready to go home. one of us answered "cubao" without hearing the full question and it gained laughter from all of us. after a while, we continued with our work (mostly just talking about random things). the 3 of us ended up staying until 7pm.

in the restroom, we talked about how that same manager is also rendering his work days now since his last working day will be at the end of the month. i was shocked because i didn't have prior knowledge about this. apparently, it was announced in a team huddle (which i probably isn't listening intently to). we talked a bit more about it on our way down the elevator.

me and one of my colleague friend took the jeep ride to the mall/bus terminal. i need to buy the ingredients for the korean salad, so i stopped by the supermarket. i got the necessary ingredients and booked an mc ride home. i even bought these oranges that are individually packed and sealed inside a plastic. i got home pretty early, so i immediately washed up and was thinking of prepping the salad so my sister can eat it before going to work.

a little later after i finished taking a bath, my sister's partner arrived home. they were pretty shocked when they saw me, and laughed a little after. i was trying to wash the dishes when they told me they will wash the dishes and if i can, i can start on prepping our dinner. so i heated up the sisig left by my sister on the cast iron, where she also left canisters of sisig - 1 for my sister back at home, and 1 for her partner's baon. since the sisig in the cast iron are plenty for just 2 people, i transferred some of it in another bowl for consumption the next day. i turned the heat low as it sizzles, and then i added 2 eggs. once it's ready and quite toasty, i turned off the heat and fixed the table for dinner.

my sister's partner talked about their day at work. it was quite stressful lately, especially since they're a team lead. they're talking about how they're trying to get out of a yellow flag situation. i got to learn a lot about how they operate, and how the system works in higher levels.

the sisig is so good. i was trying to cut down on the cholesterol, so i stopped eating when i felt full. my sister's partner took on washing the dishes while i prepped my korean salad. it took me a long while to cut everything to thin slices, then i made sure to clean the leafy vegetables properly. and being careful with my sister's gut situation, i told her that i will add just a tad bit of the sauce in her salad (since it can get spicy). everything was done when she's preparing to go to work, so i secured her salad baon. i was so afraid that it will be too spicy, but her partner, now trying the salad i whipped out, reassured me that the spice level is just right and that it's quite delicious. i also ate a serving and though it can get spicy after several bites, it's not too bad. my sister even told us that it's even better for us to eat it after the sisig to cut down the oil.

not too eventful of a wfh workday again.

i answered some inquiries from my former team members. i got on a quick call with my manager to talk about some stuff, especially the requirements for both my exit clearance and my new work. i chatted with my colleagues for a while, but after that i'm pretty much free from tasks.

instead, i continued my wbls and decided to get as much certificates as i can while i can.

i'm still monitoring my bp since i'm quite afraid that it might be serious case. i even asked if i can still use my HMO while i'm rendering. bp is still quite high so i'm intending to see a doctor soon.

i cooked dried pusit and dried espada for our lunch. it was sooooo pungent that we had to open most of our windows. my sister, my niece, and i all ate lunch together.

after shift, i played a little bit of genshin, cleaned my room, washed half of my laundry, and watched superbad. i napped for a bit. at around 8pm, i decided to cook pancit bihon. i finished after 2 hours. it turned out better than i expected. this will last for a few days.

i ate 2 whole bowls of pancit bihon while watching superbad. i ate a few pieces of freeze dried potato fries and kinoko no yama after.

===

Superbad (2007)

i watched for mclovin. and i stayed for mclovin.

literally, almost all of the good scenes are mclovin scenes. i still love evan and seth's friendship, but i feel like when they're making progress on their love lives, they just can't help but fuck them up. still, they have so many funny scenes. and when i say funny, i really laugh my big laugh for them.

another blessing from the movie is bill hader wearing a cop uniform and a pair of glasses with his tidied hair. his role is so funny though this might be biased.

it's just a beautiful mess of dick jokes, funny loser encounters and recounts of real incel life. i love everything that is wrong with it.

there might be rewatches in the future just for a quick wheeze. biased review here.

i'm supposed to go to the clinic for the follow up retake of my urinalysis. i made sure that my meetings for the day are done first (team huddle, team member call, exit interview), then i went to the clinic around 3pm.

i still managed to submit a new urine extraction. i did have to pay additional. after that, i walked to the nearby mall and strolled a little.

i bought ingredients for pancit bihon, which i've been craving for a few weeks now. i also bought some snacks and chips for my superbad movie watching. after that, i wanted so badly to eat mentaiko kamatama udon from marugame, but the one in this mall doesn't offer that so i kind of contemplated if i still wanted to eat there.

after some pondering, i still end up going to marugame to eat a spicy beef udon, tuna onigiri, kakiage, tamago tempura and ebi tempura. i finished all of it while watching some documentaries.

after being bloatedly full from all the food, i commuted by bus to go home.

it's monday, but since i'm done with my transitions and handovers, there's not much to do but complete all my requirements for my exit clearance and for my pre-employment for my new company.

i booked an nbi clearance from a town an hour and so away from where i live (because that's the only branch offering a slot in the earliest time) so my sister, my niece, and I all got into a car ride to go all the way to the border town of my province.

we departed pretty early. the whole ride probably took an hour and 30 mins. we did some sightseeing (of possible shops to stop by on the way home) and we spotted a dried fish stall near a church. we mentally took note of where it is located and planned on stopping by to buy some dried pusit on the way home.

we got to the nbi branch pretty early noon. the whole process took less than 5 mins (compared to the whole car ride ;;) and we decided to stroll a bit in the supermarket just on the ground floor of the building.

after a few minutes, we went back to the car to go home. since we're hungry, we stopped by a kfc to eat our lunch. i ate waaaay too much but it did satisfy my sticky, greasy kfc original chicken cravings.

after that, we crossed the road to have the car wheels pumped. while this is happening, my manager told us we need to hop on a quick call for 5 mins. i parked somewhere beside the main road (in front of a tile shop) to take the call. it took about 15 mins, where she asked us about the status of the handover and what we should do now that we're basically not booked to any work.

we continued the drive after the call. we saw the dried fish stall again and bought dried pusit and dried espada fish. since my youngest sister is calling us (and she told us she is in lto getting her driver's license) we decided to go straight to her house. the whole drive took around 3-4 hours.

we waited for my sister near the street going into their house so we can pick her up. when we arrived, my nephew and niece were so happy for our surprise visit. we played and i napped a little (i was so sleepy) and then we ate a quick dinner before going home. during dinner, my sister shared some traumatic family truths that stayed in my mind to this day.

it's february! and it's one of those rare years when the weeks, days, and moon aligned really well in the calendar. it's going to be a very good month.

again, nothing much for this day. we ate lunch, and then we decided that we're going to the local food park in the city hall to satisfy my cravings (which i've been yapping about for days so i think my sister probably wants me to stop, jk).

we went there around 6pm. kuya A propped our director's chairs (care of my eldest sister), so we can stay there and eat our food. my sister, my niece, and I walked around and bought these food: pani puri, grilled dried squid with onion sauce condiment, shawarma and birria, choco crepe, some more grilled dried squid, and buko shake. (these are 2 trips in total)

the food are nice, and the price is pretty nice for a bunch of these food we ordered (for 3 and a half people). my niece's teeth are growing out, so it's still quite painful. she enjoyed eating the choco crepe and drinking the buko juice because it's easy on her teeth. kuya A lined up for the spuds (with a loooong line) for us to try it. i bought 8 pani puri to go because it was soooo good.

while we were eating, there's a man flashing his flash light on the ground looking for his motorcycle key. while we were sitting there, he probably passed by around 4-5 times.

it's a saturday.

we didn't have much to do.

we ate porksteak for lunch (which my sister cooked). i played a bit more but slept after.

i am feeling under the weather and honestly, quite dizzy. idk if this is because of the bp readings the day before, but i feel so fatigued. i even had dreams (or subconscious recollection) where i can't feel my body even though i badly wanted to touch something. i had to jerk my body to get out of that loop trance.

i watched a movie and actually finished it the same day!! yay!!!

===

Dazed and Confused (1993)

this was in a few of celebrities' top 4 (one being djo) so i put it in my list to watch. as with all the other films i've watched, i don't read the synopsis and dive right into the material. we rawdog in this house.

what i liked most about this film is how much story they got out of a single night of the start of their summer days. you get to know a few people - from the freshmen to the seniors. it's a nice mix of coming-of-age struggles and experiences, which i think are normal or canon experiences a normal american highschooler has. i'm not an american, so i don't share most of the experiences they had. but by the end of the movie, i kind of wished i had a bit of the same things they had there (only time i wished this, and probably not even that serious).

cast is good. i immediately recognized ben affleck. after a while, even matthew mcconaughey. crazy how different their films are now that they're full-on adults.

the movie is just good, summer-y vibes all along. i think nostalgia is the greatest amplifier for the whole feel of the movie, but i guess since i never lived those, it was a whole new experience for me.

it is office work day. but i also need to do requirements for my new job.

the plan was to do my PEME as early as i can. and that means i had to be in the clinic before 7am. but, of course, i arrived at around 10:40 am. i was already in my semi business casual outfit (with a borrowed gray coat from kuya A) for the team dinner later this day.

time blindness is a terrible thing. i thought i can finish before 1pm (especially since i have an exit interview at 2pm) but i guess that's just not going to happen. i had to wait for lunch break to finish since the doctor will be back at 1pm. so since i wanted to finish the exams i needed for that day, i went out to eat lunch first. i made sure i drink any malt or caffeine drinks so i can push out some shit later on.

i went back around 1pm. i went straight to the rest room to wring out pee and shit out of my body. it was a bit of a struggle especially since i'm wearing wide, long pants. when i stepped out of the cubicle, i saw my former workmate (one of the TLs in my old team). it surprised me since even though she's from the same province, she's not from the same city as me. we chatted for a bit but i had to go out to submit my urine and stool (and also because i'm shy about all the smell i just let out in that restroom lmfao).

after that, i waited to be called for the physical exam. the exam went on like normal, save for the part where the doctor told me i needed to be checked for genital, rectal, and breast too :D my rectum is still quite itchy from extracting some stool. though she clarified that there are no red flags in any of the 3 extra checks. one alarming thing was my high bp (which never happens), so i should really be careful with my bp.

i drank more water for the drug test. i went back to the waiting lounge since i still don't really feel like peeing any time soon. my former coworker went to chat with me a little bit more. we caught up a little but since she had to check on her own physical exam queue, we bid our goodbyes a little after that.

i moved closer to the water dispenser so i can drink all the water i can. i guess i had 6 cups in the span of 15 mins, until one of the staff there told me drug tests are only until 3pm (it's around 2:40). i had no choice but to submit what i can.

as with any drug tests, you have to be accompanied with a staff. it took just a few minutes for me to pee on the little canister (i still got it full) and went back with her to do biometrics.

after that, i am ready to go. i went back to the restroom to finish any unfinished business. i checked my phone and saw that the urinalysis team said there should be a 3-day gap from my last menstruation day to have accurate results for the urinalysis. they're asking me if i would like to just go with the initial findings, or if i should redo it (redoing it costs additional and should be shouldered by me). since i want my results to be accurate, i told them i'll just go back next week to have another extraction.

i hurriedly walked to the terminal to catch the earliest bus. i got on the mini bus. the ride was smooth and barely any experienced any traffic.

i got off at sm north edsa to buy the time phoria lip tints. it was quite pricey ngl, but they said it's good so i still bought some. all the water i consumed from the clinic are now rushing to get out of my system. i went to the restroom and peed and prepared to commute again.

i walked the long route of sm north edsa to mrt. by the time i got on the train, there's only 30 mins left until registration time. there's nothing much i can do about me being late so i just went on with my usual commute routine.

there's a significant amount of traffic from the train station to my office and i can't book any motorcycle services. so i booked habal habal from one of the parked motors and paid twice the usual fare. the travel time took almost 40 mins (i saw a truck hauling a few number of horses to idk where).

i only stayed in the office for 5 mins before i book another motor service to go to the actual team dinner. it didn't take long (but i did give a really big tip) and i got there after an hour and so.

by this time, i'm late for an hour and a few mins, although they only just started with the event itself. i was even mentioned because they saw me entering the room.

after that, we ate our dinner (while i smell of manila traffic) and spent time with my friends and colleagues. i was seated with a really good group of people which are among some of my friends. the whole dinner party wasn't too long and we eventually booked a grab car ride home around 8:30pm.

i went home with kuya M since we're neighbors. we talked about my new work on the way home (while he took me home with his motorcycle). i got home pretty late and was quite tired from all the things that happened.

i stayed at home for work because i'm anticipating a work event/competition i'm participating in (as a group).

my manager finally announced to the team that i will be leaving the firm. some of my workmates messaged me immediately to ask me about things. i guess i do have a few people who somehow cares about me in that team.

before the main event, i had a quick call with another team for another team activity. they are aware i'm leaving the team soon, but still let me join for some tasks i can do. i was tasked to create a team ship design that looks like a sheep. it is vital that we use gen AI to do this, and so i did.

i didn't prepare that much for the competition and thought i can just wing it. apparently, i cannot just "wing" it. thankfully, one of our team members did it so well (kuya M) so he submitted his work. i was also told that i won't really be needing to know much about it since i'm leaving soon.

after that, there's not much to do in my engagement and in my work, so i logged off and decided to go to my sister's house. before leaving, i washed the pants i'm going to wear the next day for the team dinner. i was able to leave the house around 6pm. i had a quick dinner in a nearby eatery which is a sit-inside set up where you literally go inside a house and eat there. the soup had these little bits of hair (which i assume, and hope, are from the cow itself) and it kinda made me gag. the rice is waaaay too soggy it's almost like a goop. the vegetable roll was too burnt that it's like i'm eating glass. you can't even taste it that much. my experience was so bad that i know i will not come back anytime soon.

i took the jeep ride to my sister's house. by the time i arrived, my hair is too dried out and i smelled of public transport smoke and fumes. i played with my nephew and nieces for around 2 hours, ate food, waited for a while, and it's time to go home again. my nephew cried when we are about to leave. it happens every time we visit, and it really makes it hard to go home because it hurts to hear him cry.

i was planning to sleep early for my PEME early next day. but i heated up my leftover chicken and pizza from the music club event last night, and grinded on genshin to pull for ineffa.

it's office day. i woke up kind of late, but not too late that i'll get in trouble. although, we don't really get in trouble when it comes to arrival time since we're pretty flexi on time.

i got on a p2p since the other bus is not available. i tried watching "catch me if you can" on the bus ride to work but i know i had so little sleep that i decided to snooze off a little. i woke up just in time for the bus to load us off to the mall.

i went straight to catch the train. i didn't buy any food (even though it's around lunch time by this time) because i was looking forward to taste subway's pineapple gouda. i really like 7/11's hawaiian sandwich so i know i'll enjoy this one. sadly, they don't do pick up orders (only delivery) so i had to get lunch from elsewhere.

i decided to eat kwek kwek and kikiam instead. the one i got is hella pricey but i guess for a mall establishment they can excuse the daytime robbery. i also wanted to eat pancit bihon but the binalot express kiosk is still close (and i think they won't open any time soon), so i just went back inside and bought one of those ready meals from the grocery. i bought a lechon kawali rice bento box. it was quite pricey but the serving is good. the only downside is the parts are too fatty, and this is coming from someone who likes fatty pieces. it was too much that i kinda wanted to puke a little from the grease.

after lunch, i booked an mt to work. i got there at my usual time. i did a little work, yapped nonstop with my friend, relayed my resignation to some of my close workmates, ate a whole serving of tiramisu and kinda gagged, bought turtle chips and takoyaki flavored chip balls from kmart. the music club i'm in will have a music jamming session from 6pm - 9pm, so we hurriedly finished eating and went back to the building by 5:40pm.

2 of my coworkers will also perform. i already picked a song to sing from the list they gave out and i rehearsed the hell out of that song at home. i was kinda nervous and afraid that the tiramisu i ate will blurp out of my mouth if i attempt hitting high notes.

when we got there, a few people are already singing and playing musical instruments. i met with my choir member again. he's the one with a really high energy. some of our friends also stopped by to watch the performance. i am truly, truly touched by their sweet gesture ;u; especially now that i'm leaving the company, these little moments count a lot.

while preparing for my chosen song, torn, someone was already singing it at the front. i was kinda hurt, mostly because i practiced it at home ;; but since it's a free-to-all jamming session, i didn't take it too personally. i did feel bad for my friends as i think they made all the push for me to go there and perform. it can be annoying to have to be the one to do the nudge to someone as shy as me ;n;

though for one of the songs, my coworker (who played electric rhythm) called for me to go to the front to sing after their band. but then, i heard the lead of the music club call me and one of the other members. it's the cute guy that i spotted immediately after arriving to the room. i pointed him out to my friend a few times.

when i was called, i can't help but smile so big to my friend since i'm paired up with the cute, speckled guy. the song we were given was "I'll Be". i know a bit about it, though i'm not too familiar with the verses. i told him to do most of the verses, and i'll just sing along.

i did harmonies to his already amazing voice. his singing voice is clear and hits the notes so well. i can hear people cheering us up when i joined him in second voice. i continued doing it since it will sound better to have than with me singing in rhythm just like him.

after that, he gave me a high-five and went back to his seat. they kept chanting "more! more!" but he said his voice is a little coarse that day so i had to go back to my seat.

when i went back, i told my friend "i think i'm okay with that", meaning i can live with not singing another song that time since i kinda got my (unexpected) wish that day.

we had a lot of fun and it almost felt like we were partying at the year end party again. we were dancing and singing along the band. we were cheering them up. we stayed until 9pm and waited for our coworker who played the guitar to go home as well. we chatted a bit about his guitar when the lead of the music club asked me,

him: hi ebi, ginagawa mo na talaga yung, ano nga yun, harmonies? like sanay ka talaga dun?

me: opo, nasanay po since may mga nakaduet na rin po ako before.

another person: aaahh, nagdduet pala siya.

him: ang ganda, [pwede yang ganyan]. (name of guy that i sang with), plus (my name) = (ship name), oh taray bagay.

i think he was still saying something else and i was laughing alongside him when i noticed my friend that just came back from the restroom and i called her.

after that, we went outside the building and we wanted to hang out more so we went to kmart while we said goodbye to our coworker.

we just bought our own sodas and sat down inside to yap endlessly. when i say endlessly, it's not an exaggeration. we can talk about anything under the sun and still have something to talk about. i honestly feel bad when i don't remember some of the things she told me since i get distracted sometimes, but she's amazing because she recalls a lot of information about my yaps. i'll be more mindful of the things she's telling me.

we talked about how happy i am with the unexpected high school musical "start of something new" moment i had in the jamming session. then we talked about work and coworkers and gossips and a big chunk of our yap sesh was infinite since the store just played a bunch of infinite songs while we were chatting. we sang and danced along the songs and shared a lot about our fangirl lives. it was so fun and we still kept on talking about random stuff. we just noticed that it's getting really late and i have a long commute time home and she has a quiz showdown the day after so we really need to go home.

when we stepped out of kmart and on our way to the mts we booked, someone called my name. i turned around and saw my former classmate from the korean class i had the previous term. she happened to be working at a nearby building. she's walking around the block and stumbled upon me. she shared about not getting a ticket for the gongyang bts concert and she's so stumped. we asked about our plans in enrolling to another term to the same institute, but we're both having our breaks from korean class.

after that, i took an mt ride home (from bgc to trinoma) so i listened to a lot of music.

i woke up wit a terrible, terrible headache. it's that feeling when you got blinded by the sunlight for a while and your sight needed to adjust a bit. multiply that and make it last for a few minutes. this might be because of my terrible sleeping pattern for a few days now.

since KT sessions are done, we only needed to give them practice requests to work on. barely any requests enter our mailbox, so i slept for a bit more until it's huddle time.

i took the call through my phone since i still feel nauseous. i would slip in and out of sleep between announcements, but i think i listened to most of them, thankfully.

after a while, i worked on my pending requests. some of my coworkers are now aware of my departure. some of them even ask me to take them with me. i guess a lot of them want to move jobs, too.

for some reason, i didn't finish goonies. but what i did is finish brick by rian johnson. since i have been craving for kfc for a while now, i finally bought some and also some for my sister and her baby. i ate it while finishing the movie.

i started it again because i forgot most of the first scenes. i also downloaded a better subtitle file since the one i had isn't synced up well.

===

Brick (2005)

i first heard of this movie from rian johnson and josh o'connor's letterboxd interview. i saw a glimpse of joseph gordon-levitt with specs and curly hair and i immediately decided i need to watch that movie soon. someone said it's rian johnson's very own "twin peaks" movie, so i really want to see for myself what they meant by that. (or am i even remembering the interview correctly?)

as with the other movies i've watched, i refuse to read any synopsis or summary on what the movie is about. if it's meant to take me in by surprise, then so be it. this is even more fitting to RJ's movies. it's meant to do that, so i let it.

the only RJ movies i've watched so far are his knives out ones, so i think the bar is already quite high. with the opening sequence, i already know this movie wouldn't disappoint. it showed the mystery right away, and you only really need to unravel the truths peel after peel.

i'm not big on neo-noir films, so this wasn't my usual setting. the dialogue was quite a challenge to understand (and i wouldn't have been able to comprehend it if it wasn't for the subs) but with context clues, you'll just get what they mean. it also piqued my interest on how the words are used on an entirely different manner. though i'd say some were getting tiring, like how "tales" are used for story. it's quite interesting, but with how often it was said in a single shot/scene, i just had to anticipate it and my brain automatically looks for it. (also idk why but i thought brendan sounded like eminem for some of the parts)

the choreography and editing for the fight scenes were so charming and different. some of it even comes off as hilarious. i loved repeating them as it captivates your attention. even the off-timing of some of the funny scenes were so intricately and geniusly placed.

the story itself is amazing. how RJ showed the "clues" were smart. even showing their humanity in times of despair and minute decision making were nicely done.

i will definitely add a lot more of RJ films in my to watch list. also JGL films because he's just so charismatic and beautiful (and definitely my type hiuiihiii)

monday, and it's KT session day.

i have a KT session to teach first thing in the morning. i prepared a bit, but since they know most of what's needed for them to do, it's just quick and only took an hour and a half.

the rest of the day were quite challenging. i didn't have proper sleep, so most of the session 2 were just me barely listening. (though it's not really part of my own team's tasks, so i guess it's fine). i'm still procrastinating my task on my other deliverables, and i really really want to get it over with.

i continued watching goonies, but still not finished with it.

it is my bsf's birthday, so i greeted him.

i craved bbq while watching, so i ordered some and asked my sister if she wants any. she said she's feeling quite acid-y in her stomach, so we just ordered for her husband.

i loved every bit of my meal. though it might be a bit much, but it just tasted so well. i'm craving it now while i'm typing this.

in the evening, both me and my sister got a whiff of what seems like electric wires caught on fire. so both of us hurriedly check our backdoor in case something caught fire there. we checked and there's nothing. i thought it might be my pc since i've been using it for a long time on this day, so i turned it off and checked if it will change (although it's not really the culprit). my sister said she had a waft of the bbq smell from my room, too, so all of a sudden she's craving for some.

my sister said someone lit up something that made a loud noise outside, so we're guessing it might be our neighbor and their friends since they seem quite busy nowadays with something (is this a breaking bad irl scenario?)

after a while, the smell subsided. i opened my pc again and played a bit more genshin. I FINALLY HIT AR60 AFTER 5 YEARS!!! (i played on and off since release orz)