Dear 2020 (Part 2)

Dear 2020, last January I wrote you a letter and asked for a better second month since January didn't start very well. I had planned for a spectacular 2020 since 2019 did not work the way I wanted it. But 2020, you had a mind of your own. Now that the year is almost over, let's see what happened to the spectacular year I planned -

Health - errr, things have gone downhill since May! I did achieve some fitness goals, but that went haywire when the circuit breaker kicked in. And now I'm on an extended medical leave. I'm still hopeful that things would get better.

Home Management - the move forced us to remove some stuff. I had plans to reduce clutter, but ugh blame online shopping (marked not safe!). We need to seriously declutter over the next few days. There's one thing though I managed to do and that's to get a pest control company to work on my childhood home.

Work on Financial Freedom - we were working on this, but had to set aside our plans since we couldn't go home.

Reading and Writing - my original plan for blogging was to complete a 30-day challenge. I kept it going since it has helped me cope. In a few days I would complete 365 days of blogging. Yay! On reading, I have a couple of new books! But I have read none because I've been so busy. The only thing I've consistently read is Didache.

Breaks - true to form I received a reminder from HR to take breaks. I would take one-two days off every so often, but I guess I should have taken longer breaks.

Travel - the only travel I did this year was back to Singapore last January. We've all been grounded since. We did a staycation last November. We wanted to do one more for Christmas, but then I got hospitalized. I really wanted to explore more this year.

Learn - ended up learning how to bake bread! I learned through YouTube University haha. I focused on Filipino bread and you can check out what I made in my Home Panaderia playlist.

Hobbies - still quilting, I made a huge batch of mug rugs which I gave away for Christmas. I'm not done yet though. I did start a new collection -- Baby Yoda! Sweetie surprised me with one and that started the collection.

Play - sigh, I haven't really done any playing. My Switch has been in it's bag for a few months now.

Special Projects - I wanted to work on gathering our family recipes. Ended up starting with my own recipes. Check them out at Recipes for my Son.

I'm glad I made a list and after reviewing it I realized I was able to do a couple of things. The biggest setback though is my health. What 2020 took away was time with family and friends. We're still lucky though because there's technology that allows us to make video calls to connect easily with our loved ones. I'm also thankful that my family has been okay. 

A friend pointed out that the biggest challenge about this pandemic is dealing with your mental wellness. Her whole family was infected and only she and her newborn baby were spared. I agree with her since I'm still living in fear that I might get it or someone from my family would get it. And now that there's talks that the "second wave" has started the nightmare continues. 

So, dear 2020, I hope you don't spill over your bad vibes to 2021. I want to see and hug my family soon. 

CB///264 #StuckAtHomeDay/294 #StayHome #BeKind

Life Must Go On

Hi! How are you? How have you been coping with this funny, funny not so funny year? I think all of us can collectively say that 2020 is one of the worst years ever. 

I started 2020 on shaky ground. I was on a long-break from work to rest and to "clear my cache". When I came back I was somehow okay, but not yet 100%. Then I was thrown in to crisis response mode (for edu) and it's a been a crazy roller coaster ride the last few months trying to help. I would have at least 12-15 meetings every day and in-between there was also a lot of program work to do. 

Yup, it has affected my health even though I try to cut off work by sundown. I've been accorded a different kind of body so my katawang lupa has been having a hard time coping with what I have to do. It's hard, but I still love what I do. I know I can't do this forever and I would need to eventually move on and do other things. 

I think all of us has had enough of this pandemic. The reality is we're all in limbo for now. No one has the answer on when this will end. The saddest thing for me is being far away from Miggy and my Mom. I've just been telling myself that in time I'll be with them again. 

A few weeks ago I watched a video about the Spanish Flu. I was wondering how they coped back then and how long it took before things got back to normal. It took about nine years. And even after nine years the virus still exists today (H1N1!!!). World War I was also ongoing during the Spanish Flu pandemic. I would also imagine there were natural disasters during that time. My grandparents were still kids during that time, I would probably ask them about that period if they were still alive. 

But life went on. My grandparents survived, got married, had children. Lived through World War II, Martial Law and we lived through the turbulent 80s, the horrid 90s blackouts, a multitude of natural disasters (Pinatubo, typhoons, Taal, etc.). I've lived through 2 open heart surgeries, survived several illnesses with high mortality rates and I'm just grateful to be alive. 

2020 may have brought us one bad situation after another. 2021 is just around the corner. We are all hoping that the new year will turn the tide. Let's have faith that things will change soon. 

Don't forget to look up and look at the future. 

#CB//221 #StuckAtHomeDay/251 #StayHome #BeKind 

What the World Needs Now

Jackie DeShannon made popular this beautiful song -

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

2020 so far hasn't been kind to us. It's mantra is to wreak terror at every point. Honestly I've been afraid to read the news because of all the bad things happening. I do read the news and there's a lot of things happening I do not agree with. Earlier today I saw an old man shoved by a policeman. He fell down on the pavement. When someone tried to help him, a policeman stopped him. The old man was bleeding on the ground.

I asked myself, "Have we forgotten to be nice?" Have we forgotten the golden rule?

The last few months have really been hard on all of us. We all cope differently. I struggle a lot more especially when I'm unwell, but I always remind myself to try to be kind. I'm not perfect and there's probably times when I've offended people. I try to be extra mindful because I've been on the other end of outbursts and being treated unfairly.

There is a Filipino saying, "Kapag binato ka ng bato, batuhin mo ng tinapay" (If someone throws a rock at you, throw back bread). It basically means, if someone treats you unfairly, treat them with kindness. I experienced something terrible yesterday. It was so traumatic I wanted to hurt back. I ended up crying most of the day because it was really so hard to be at peace. I am so lucky I have guardian angels who look after me. Thank you guys.

Which brings me back to Jackie DeShannon's song, "What the World Needs Now is Love". My prayer is for everyone (including me) to remember to always be kind. Maybe then we can help make the world a better place.


#CB/60 #WFH47  #StuckAtHomeDay90 #StayHome #BeKind

Re-aligning 2020 Plans

So we've been basically stuck at home the past few weeks for a number of things. I originally planned 2020 to be a year to explore new things. I wanted to travel more, enroll in a cooking class and generally be more active.

I guess this year is going to be a different kind of normal for all of us. When SARS hit almost two decades ago we were not as scared as we are today. Well I was in Manila back then and I did survive SARS, but I didn't feel scared as I am today. It was just another illness to get over back then and things went back to normal.

We're going to be stuck at home for now and I've been thinking about things to do at home. Oh but I really wanted to do more outdoor stuff this year since I was already stuck at home the last two years since I had PE. The PT has been helping me a lot become more active so this situation really sucks.

Anyway, the best thing to do now is accept the situation and be flexible. Here's a shortlist of things I can do at home outside my home-work-home existence.

(1) Watch Netflix - I think I'm doing too much of this since I've been generally unproductive at home haha.

(2) Read - I have quite a lot of books that need to be read.

(3) Quilt - I haven't sewn since I finished that huge blanket I gave as a wedding gift. My projects are wanting to be finished.

(4) Happy Thoughts project - I started working on it, but probably need to give myself a deadline to get me going.

(5) Blog - I've been blogging now for more than 40 days! I wanted to do more vlogs, but since we can't really go out I need to re-work that plan.

I could still go out, but Sweetie and Miggy are worried I'll pick up the virus somewhere so they want to make sure I'm safe. My friend today sent a message that there was a suspected case near the office. I've been home the last two days because of slight fever. They've been checking the temp of people coming in to our building so I thought it would be better for me to stay home and rest.

What about you? What adjustments did you have to make because of the current situation?

Dear 2020

Dear 2020,

I know we started off on the wrong foot, but things got better on the second week. A page turned and I felt I was ramping back up. It took me a month to get to that level. I was so happy about it I made an effort to go out with my son for a fun Sunday date. After hearing mass and having lunch I read about the Taal volcano eruption. I thought about buying additional supplies, masks and an air filter and actually passed by those stores to check, but it did not occur to me that the ash would reach us.

Things started going downhill when the mall had a brownout while we were waiting for our ride. Then ten minutes into our ride I had an asthma attack. It was when I looked at the sun when I realized I should have focused on preparing for what was going to come. When we got home we immediately harvested our laundry from the roofdeck and closed all the windows. We even covered the aircon to prevent ash from coming in and Miggy said we shouldn't use the aircon that night.

The ash started falling just after sunset. We had settled in the living room to listen to the news and I called my Mom to warn her about the ash fall. I couldn't sleep because I was having a hard time breathing. I wore a mask and eventually dozed off. I woke up early the next morning and immediately checked our balconies through the glass door.

The ash fall wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I experienced the 1991 Pinatubo ash fall). Checked the news and Phivolcs announcements, looked for ways I could help and checked on Mom. I had to remind her not to go out because she mentioned she did some gardening that morning! She mentioned that the roof was cleaned up already and they only got a pail-full of ash (it was 5 sacks in 1991).

It was a huge struggle for me since I have severe asthma, but I can't imagine the pain of those severely affected. I had to find other ways to help since I had to retire from doing crisis response because of my health. It was frustrating, but I knew I had to take care of myself so I don't get sick. That same week news about the novel corona virus was ramping up. I also started monitoring it since we were due to fly to Singapore. The issue blew up the week we were set to go back to Singapore. It's a huge concern for me because I previously caught the other virus back in 2001 (passed on to me by family who flew in).

Prior to the eruption there was the issue in Iran, the worst locust invasion in Africa in the last 70 years and many other issues. January hasn't even ended yet and it feels like the whole year has passed already. I've been doing a lot of reading and I can't help by compare how other countries have been managing issues. Sadly in the Philippines the leaders are more focused on other things and they have been making decisions that are not pro-Filipino. It's truly heartbreaking and I pray things will change since a lot of Filipinos depend on the government for help.

So dear 2020, I hope things will be better in February because honestly I'm looking forward to 2021 already. Please help pray also for all the doctors, medical personnel, police/military, volunteers and everyone helping in these calamities. That they may have strength to help more people.