Life updates
It's kind of funny to me that my last post was published around this time last year, and I've just been radio silent since then. And it wasn't even a legit blog post, just something I had written for a job application and decided to publish because I am lazy.
May 26 - I quietly turned 31. Rap took me to the Eugene Torre Chess Museum, where we saw this masterpiece below.
May 26 - Shrekmate.
July 28 - Even though we don't really believe in superstition, we had a Buddhist psychic pick out this date. I think he made the right choice.
July 29 - The wedding food didn't taste like anything to me because I was so hopped up on adrenaline and excitement. However, the wedding CAKE, which I ended up craving once we got to our AirBNB, was SO BOMB. Nadine's in Tagaytay, lemon vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting. I will return for you.
August - Rap and I returned to work almost immediately after the wedding, and in hindsight, I wonder why I was so insistent on being present at work. I think I got carried away by a kind of work culture that puts a premium on working "hard," and coming from the (very wrong) thinking also that taking time off = being lazy.
August 8 - People travelled from far and wide to celebrate with us in CDO and I'm so grateful and happy. Definitely a huge investment in the emotional bank.
September 11 - Updated our voter registration since his was still in South Cotabato and
September 19 - Last speaking engagement. Of all types of work that I do, I think this might be my favorite - teaching, simplifying concepts, making engaging mini-games to keep audiences listening and on their toes. Especially when the audience is Barangay Health Workers, without whom I would not be where I am today.
September 30 - I made the decision to finally resign from work, and here is where I announced it to my teammates. They were understandably shocked - I had never talked about resigning before, or if I had, only ever jokingly. I still feel bad for leaving them but they also reassured me that I deserved to put myself first. Good thing there was this cute husky at the restaurant to lighten the mood.
It's absurd that SO many blog-worthy things have happened over the course of a year, and yet I've been quiet as a rock. So, to recap:
January - Attended the most lovely anniversary party of my lolo and lola in CDO. It was extra special because Rap was in CDO with me for the holidays for the first time ever, and he got to spend time with my grandparents and my big family. Two weeks later, Lola unexpectedly passed away from a stroke. Such painful contrast of extreme joy and grief that I'm still grappling with today.
December 24 - Noche Buena at our grandparents' home in CDO. The OG CDO cousins - and Rap!
December 27 , 2023- Lolo and Lola's 65th anniversary at Harbor Lights.
Obligatory Tumpakners with my brother Jiggy
December 27, 2023 - Lolo and lola's last dance together.
The joy on everyone's faces seeing them so happy was incredible.
January 17, 2024 - Even though she was old, Lola's death was still a shock,
one that we're all still kind of processing bit by bit every day. We miss you, lola.
February - Still grieving the loss of Lola while dealing with the harsh realities of my situation as a job order (or contractual) employee. Contractual staff are not entitled to any leaves, so the time I took off to say goodbye to Lola in CDO and be with my family was totally unpaid, plus I was still doing work anyway because of pressure from workmates. Plus, there were MAJOR leadership changes at work, which led to a lot of trouble for me and my teammates. I actually published a blog post ranting about all the chaos and how I wanted to quit, but I deleted it. Thankfully (?) it only got 31 views.
March - My contractual woes ended, and I finally got that permanent job that the autobiography in my last published blog post was for. Also spent the holy week in CDO, where I got scrombroid poisoning from eating bangus.
March 30, 2024 - The stupid bangus I ate was from a legit restaurant ha >:/
April - We fostered a new cat and celebrated my 13th year (!!) anniversary with Rap. My brother Jiggy broke his hand and I went with him to the East Avenue ER and it was a traumatic experience for the both of us (him more than me of course)
Felix the cat. He smelled like burning garbage when we got him so he got scrubbed clean.
April 16 - Jiggy's ER day at East Avenue. The ortho doctor realigned his hand bones by manual traction (i.e. pulling) under an X-ray, with no anesthesia. I'm sure she was a good ortho but the whole damn public hospital system is just so broken that we are withholding pain meds from extremely painful procedures. 0/10 never going back.
April 17 - Anniversary date night look. I am so happy that lilac / lavender is having its moment.
May - Went back to Butuan City - where I was based for 2 years. I visited my old apartment, went for a quick jog around my old village, and just felt so relaxed.
May 1 - I've lived close to this beautiful church in Butuan for years but not once have I set foot in it. I don't know, at this point I just want to keep putting it off so that I have something to do when I eventually come back.
May 26 - Shrekmate.
June - I was sent on my first international work trip. For an ASEAN health meeting, no less. I just felt so lucky that the directors and Division Chief trusted me to go, but at the same time, I was exhausted from all the work trips and also planning a big event in the next month.
July 2 - The Patuxai Arch in Vientiane, Laos. A symbol of victory of the Lao people over French imperialist rule that lasted for 60 years.
July - Rap and I got married! It's weird, I used to feel shy calling him my boyfriend (even though we've been together 13 years) and now I feel shy still calling him husband. Such a happy day.
I DO NOT recommend this for anyone getting married. Please do take time off for yourself and for your mental health.
But anyway, being this work-focused did produce results: I was asked to step up to bigger leadership roles within my office, and I spent August to September trying to mentally prepare for that.
And I got a new piercing.
And we went to CDO for my hometown reception.
August 14 - Just as painful as getting an intramuscular shot on your deltoid, except this is much prettier haha. Thank you, Tantan from Black Magic in Cubao Expo!
September - Settling into married life (which TBH doesn't feel any different from before, except now people feel even more entitled to tell us to hurry up and reproduce because everyone - particularly my eggs - are getting old). Also, more organizational changes, more chaos, more turbulence to quickly undo the glee I was feeling from all the wedding events.
The chaos signalled that it might be time I pursued other career paths, so I explored going into residency. I even ordered an iPad in the hopes of starting an art career lol.
September 2 - I got this secondhand from Facebook Marketplace and I'm just so relieved that it wasn't a scam haha. Breaking it in with this isometric doodle.
mine was... expired. Excited to vote!
September 15 - I applied to a Psychiatry residency program and got the notification that there would be a qualifying exam within in 3 days!! This is me returning to familiar cramming habits.
Except this time, we now have awesome tools like Sketchy Learning to help us get by.
September 11 - Took a leave from work to take my pre-residency exam. . . which I passed!
October - My last month of work! Such a crazy whirlwind month but we finally pulled through.
October 31 - Sitting at my desk for (maybe?) the last time.
My coworkers were so nice and threw me two (two!!) goodbye parties.
October 31 - Time to rest!
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