This week

Starting the weekend on a thankful note!

✱ It's our fifth year anniversary yesterday!

Welcomed it with buffalo wings and cheese tart! Will celebrate more (expensively lol) over the weekend hehe ♥

✱ I got my backpay this week! 💸

And it took less than a month wow. Usually backpays take three months minimum and an enraged follow up with HR lol. But yeah, thanks White & Case! You the best!

So where did my money go?

✓ Most of it went to replenishing our emergency funds and paying our insurance policies

✓ I was also able to fully pay my iphone omg can you imagine the bragging rights haha 

✓ Booked a staycation for our anniv ♥

✓ Bought new bed sheets (long overdue) and a taller shoe cabinet

✓ The rest I spent on Shopee on random stuff like a karaoke mic hihi, a tripod, collagen drink, an ipad case, some stickers, leather tape, etc. You know, stuff that's been sitting in my cart for ages. Then I went ahead and added some more bwahaha. We just can't leave our carts empty right?

✓ Oh yeah I saved some too haha. That's me pretending to be a responsible adult. 

I'm so excited to receive the items I checked out but I'm also worried they'll arrive over the weekend when we're not here! Our reception doesn't hold items anymore and charges 50/day for items unclaimed within 24 hours so that sucks.

✱ Completed mandatory trainings

I've completed all the mandatory trainings assigned to me during onboarding, so now I'm left with nothing to do. Again. Still don't have my admin account, let alone admin rights so I can at least begin installing stuff. Oh well. Every time I raise it to my teammates they're pretty lax about it and tell me it's fine, enjoy it while you can haha. Guess I'll do just that. 

✱ Decluttered a bunch of stuff

Feels great to free the house of clutter every once in a while. I gave away a lot of things, and it felt so good cos I get to reclaim a little bit of space in the house, you know so I could put in more things bwahaha.

✱ My knees are recovering yey

Same old injury that keeps plaguing me every now and then. I thought I've overcome the fear of straining my knees during badminton but seems like I need to condition myself more. I wear knee support on both of my knees now lol. This one doesn't seem so bad though, unlike before where I had to use crutches. The moment my knee clicked in pain, I sat down, put ointment, and did a couple of knee circles. Thank God it's not too bad and I'm still able to walk properly though I had to sleep with my leg raised on a pillow because the swelling is painful. I wasn't able to come to work Tuesday as scheduled because I couldn't walk around with a painful knee, much more ride an angkas. Thankfully, the following days are much better.

Hoping for a great weekend! ♥

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What sucks

✱ Sucks that Kindle Cloud Reader doesn't permit reading of sideloaded books. Though who am I to complain haha. Maybe when I get super rich I wouldn't mind buying books directly from Amazon because what's wasting ~500 pesos on a potentially bad book right? I can just earn it lol. But right now, despite the little bit of hassle and the risk of getting badly digitized copies, I still prefer downloading through Z-lib. If Kinde Unlimited was truly unlimited I would have subscribed to it instead of downloading books one by one, but I know KU doesn't carry the same variety Kindle has so nevermind, plus at the rate at which I'm reading, I feel like paying $10 a month would be a waste. Although wait, if I average at least one book a month that would make the subscription fee worth it right? Considering a book is also around $10. Hmmm. Nope.

✱ I checked my Adsense earnings and found that my web and channel earnings have been segregated already which sucks cos it's gonna take longer to reach the withdrawal threshold now that they're split into separate accounts with separate thresholds. My web earnings is only around $10 and my Youtube is at $110, I wish I could combine them so I could reach threshold faster but oh well. My web earnings is probably gonna take another decade to reach threshold and youtube, uhm, if I get a steady amount of views despite my lack of new review content lately, maybe two years hahahuhu. Totally not looking forward to this anymore lol.

✱ Last week we went to Megamall to look for a monitor cos I just returned the ones I'm using back to White & Case. Thought I could buy them out, turns out they're not yet for lease return. And here I am excitedly looking for something exactly like what the office had provided me only to realize they were hella expensive lol. I thought monitors are cheap, like 3k cheap. Anyway. The one I used to work on is a Dell U2419H which is super great it's got like 5 USB ports, HDMI, DP, and can be mounted with a VESA plate. It's been the perfect monitor for my current setup where I alternate between my work laptop and personal computer everyday. Work laptop to HDMI, and my personal laptop to the DP. Which is why it's extremely important for me to get HDMI and DP, not HDMI and VGA like what most monitors have.

I tried to look for something similar online but couldn't find anything brand new. Added a bunch of models to my Shopee and Lazada cart hoping SM Cyberzone would have something on-hand that doesn't cost too much, unfortunately there were none that fit my specs requirements moreso my budget lol. I thought I'd get a good deal since it's 9.9 haha in the end I checked-out a BenQ (bengk? ben-q? hahaha) monitor from Lazada for a little over 6k (after promos and discounts) that checked all the boxes except for having USB ports for charging. So now I'm patiently waiting for it to get delivered. Last I checked it's been picked up already. I can't wait argh.

✱ My stomach has been hurting for two days now I don't know why. Last thing I ate before this was Behrouz' Chicken Biryani, and that was really good so if I may have caught something from that, well, no regrets lol. It's weird cos my tummy hurts but I don't feel like pooping haha it's uncomfortable but it doesn't hurt so much, maybe a 5/10. It sucks cos the pain level doesn't merit a sick leave, but the discomfort makes me want to just lie down the whole day. Hay.

✱ I smell like siomai

✱ Looks like my manager isn't coming in to the office today. Maybe I can squeeze in some reading time to get back on track with Surrounded by Idiots. I'm so close to not finishing it as it's not as interesting as I thought it would be. It's merely an elaboration of the four temperaments; sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, color coded into red, yellow, blue, and green respectively so it's easier to remember and attribute to people. So far it's been okay. Nothing mind-blowing. All I know is I'm most likely a combination of green and blue. Usually quiet, reserved, agreeable to a fault, with lots of inner turmoil lol. That's me pretty much. Still, I wanna get over this quickly so I can jump in to a novel. I need a story. This book is boring.

✱ My other blog, www.surfandperf.com is blocked in this machine (my work laptop) for being "suspicious" and I don't know why. I've already enabled https but it's still the same so I have no idea what's wrong. I may have to look at the add-ons and the bunch of js gibberish and remove anything remotely suspicious. Usually it's the outdated link references, but I wonder why even my empty blogs are restricted argh. I'm bummed because that's where all of my work notes are, in article format so it would suck big time to be denied access to it. Would be awkward to request for my own blog to be unblocked here haha. On the plus side, this one is accessible so I'm okay. At least I have an outlet.

✱ Hope I don't forget to bring home the samosas I kept in the ref earlier. Got them from Assad Mini Mart, just right behind the office. I would love to look around more inside but I couldn't risk smelling like masala when I get back to the office. The store smells very strongly of Indian spices and while that's heavenly for me, it may not be the case to the people around me haha. Sucks.

✱ I wonder when they'll credit my first paycheck. Is it on the day itself or a bit advanced? lol. Been refreshing the banking app ad nauseum and it's only the 13th hahaha. Well, it's already the 13th! Super spoiled at White & Case where they'd credit our paychecks at least two days early, sometimes even a week before, for unknown reasons. And on the rare times it falls on the dot, we all lose our minds haha.

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One to ten

13:15

It's day 5 in my new job. I've met some of my teammates, attended some meetings, and submitted everything that's required of me hoping I didn't miss anything. I'm not doing much yet. Understandably. 

I'm the only one present in this lane (so far). One of my teammates is sick, the other is remote, and my manager only comes in once a week. I'm trying to make myself as comfortable as possible given the seat sharing policy in this office. It's hard. Not having a place of your own lol. Although our team has a designated area and I've been sticking around in this cube for the past few days, it's not like I own it and can personalize it according to my very specific workstation preferences haha. I couldn't even adjust the monitors because who knows if I still have this desk tomorrow? I was advised to get a locker so I did. Unfortunately it sits on a different floor because there are no vacant ones on this level.
 

17:49

I wanted to setup my new locker immediately so I walked to MC Depot earlier this afternoon to buy a padlock. Maps says it's only a 550m walk from here; mostly flat. Of course it didn't mention the numerous stoplights I have to wait for and the scorching midday BGC heat that threaten to burn through my darkest sins. It was so fucking hot. And I only walked for ten minutes! Maps says eight, but given my short legs therefore small strides, ten's about fair. 

Approaching the depot felt like nearing an oasis. I'm almost there, almost half the battle. It should be cold there. I stepped into the warehouse and thanked God for the shade. But where's the cold. Fucking hell. There's no airconditioning in this place. Fucking hell. Might as well get over this as quickly as possible. I was sweating profusely the whole time I was picking a lock (pun intended) and lining up at cashier. Thankfully there's an industrial fan by the counter that brought temporary relief to this agonizing quest. I thought MC Depot caters to a certain demographic, being at BGC lol, but it doesn't even have airconditioning. How anti-rich.

Should've bought a hanky. Beats me why I have to do this so early in my shift (see title). Should've done it now, in the afternoon, as the sun sets, where I wouldn't melt into a puddle of tinted sunscreen.

Well at least it's done now and I don't have to carry my headset, mouse, mechanical keyboard, and tumbler from now on every time I come to the office. Yey.

I wonder if I can go about my entire shift not talking to anyone. I have a seatmate now. The area is starting to fill up with people.

I'm worried about my backpay. I haven't received news on whether I can buy out the two monitors I was supposed to return on my last day. Our local IT says there's a high chance I can buy it out, but I haven't heard anything. If it can be bought out I should have received a salary deduction form already. Otherwise, they would've told me to return it. The longer this goes unsettled the longer it will take for my clearance to get routed to completion. Argh. And we're stinking poor already. 

I should get a banh mi. And Vietnamese coffee. Hope they accept card cos I'm so fucking poor right now.

19:03

They don't.

My laptop spacebar is doing an annoying squeaking sound. I kept my mechanical keyboard in favor of a more silent option because uhm I feel like my pretentious typing is gonna tick some people off. Who's this newbie who doesn't even have anything on her plate yet and yet types like she's resolving a P1 incident lol.

I badly want to go on an Ikea shopping spree. The mobile app is buggy and I can't add items to the cart. Somehow it gets deleted so it's no use using it as a wishlist of some sort. I want a taller shoe cabinet, frames, a fake plant, an uplighter, and a storage box. Also some meatballs.

Update on my monitors. I have to return them to the office. Damn. Here I thought I could buy them out. They were very good monitors. VESA compliant, has HDMI, DisplayPort, and tons of USB ports for charging. I'm looking online for similar monitors and they're so damn expensive. Should I bite into this second hand Dell monitor that's exactly what I need? It sells for only 5k but is probably hit and miss with the quality. Most reviews are good but I don't wanna risk ending up with a spotty screen as I'm gonna use it as my main monitor.

19:57

I just checked out a VESA mount and a laptop stand. 

20:31

I really don't know what to do. I think I could work from home tomorrow if none of my teammates are coming in to the office. At least I could get up early and try to go to Megamall to probably buy a new monitor. Now I'm excited. 

I shouldn't have completed the mandatory training yesterday. I should've chopped the modules to bits so I'm not left with absolutely nothing to do on a day where there are a lot of people around me (who are probably wondering if I'm an equal opportunity hire on account of my inability to speak [and socialize]). It's hard to pretend you're doing something productive. I've scrolled through the code of conduct, re-read the welcome email a hundred times, but I really can't do much without admin access. Once I get my admin access I can pretend to look busy again installing stuff and reading Confluence articles. 

21:15

Wow I think I can survive an entire shift without talking to anyone woah. You can tell by the length of this brain dump how badly this asocial animal needs an outlet. It's not like I didn't utter a single word in the past eight hours. I did talk, you know, to the guards. And the staff at Family Mart and Banh Mi Kitchen where I bought dinner. That counts as social interaction right? I'm not totally mute the entire day.

Clock is ticking and I can't fucking wait to get home and pack up my two monitors and drive them back to my old office. My old office. My beloved old office. Hay. Did I make the right choice moving here? 

We'll see on the payslip haha. But for now, let me regret leaving my beautiful motorized standing desk at White & Case. I miss my old office.

21:54

I've brought some of my stuff to my locker and also took a walk outside around the building. Just to pass time. And yet here I am still waiting to clock out. Just a few minutes more before I punch out of our timetracker that, according to my manager, nobody really checks cos we're on an honesty system around here. Still, I have to show some integrity right? At least on my first six months, kidding. Haha.

22:05

Hallelujah I'm going home!

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Celebrating my unemployment

I don't really know how to write this post but I just have to say last week was one of the most memorable weeks of my life as I spent my last day at the firm "partying" with my officemates and spending the rest of the week in Baguio (our favorite place) to rest, mostly eat, in celebration of my unemployment haha.

Here's my Weekly Monotony!

✱ Last daaaayyy

August 23, 2022! Booked the lifestyle room and enjoyed the whole night just eating, singing, and occassionally attending to issues hahaha last day na nga eh may humahabol pa. I have the sweetest teammates, they really took note of my favorite foods and endeavored to have them available for our small salu-salo! I had planned to order Frankie's for everyone but the weather was so bad that day and most of the stores closed early. Even BPI closed early and I was supposed to run an errand with them argh. In the end I got wings from Buffalo Wild Wings haha sarap naman!

Anyway. Sobrang natouch ako. My friends got me cheesecake, Mama Lou's pizza, Amber's spaghetti and palabok, and mooore! Huhu sobrang daming food. Red and Henry gifted me a new phone case too huhu! And Camille got me SAMOSAS kami lang mahilig sa Indian food HAHAHA it was so good I hope more people would appreciate Indian food it's THE BEST!!!

White & Case will always have a special place in my heart. It's the first time I felt this comfortable in a company. Like I said, I could retire here. I really appreciate this day a lot, the effort it took for my friends to come in despite the stormy weather! The fooooood and the overall thoughfulness. I will never forget you guuuysss huhu. We're not complete in this pic but you're all in my heaaart hihi ♥

It was a delight having to experience our lifestyle room din! The Grand Videoke HD is the bomb! The sound system is perfect, we have mic stands, a big ass TV, there's even a PS5 but we just really want to sing hahahaha I love it! ♥

But all things must come to an end. After surrendering my stuff napaisip ako kung tama ba tong desisyon ko hahaha oh well, too late! HAHAHA

✱ Baguiooooooo

We love Baguio so much we keep coming back. The last time we went there we stayed a week at an AirBnb and tried to live "locally" as in not like a tourist. We bought groceries, I cooked every day, and worked like usual. In the afternoon before my shift starts we go out and explore, one spot a day, then come home right before it rains. Okay we did touristy stuff din pala haha. But everything worked within our schedule so it was perfect.

✱ Giraffe Boutique Hotel

This time is different. We booked at a hotel and just planned to eat all day everyday lol. At least I did. Jeckie went to an MMA gym haha. We've been eyeing The Manor at CJH but it just never went within our budget haha maybe next time. We stayed at Giraffe Boutique Hotel through a friend's reco and we loved it! I'll give it an 8/10.

We got a Superior Room that's 3.5k per night so not bad! It's beautiful, spacious, I love the colors. Just look at this ♥

I specifically requested for a room with a lot of windows but I didn't realize it meant getting the corner room that's right beside the road and the outdoor garden. You know what that means. Noise! Our first night was terrible because it was very noisy outside, if it's not the dogs barking, it's cats literally fucking around. And very early in the morning as the restaurant kitchen bustles I could've cried at the painful sound of cutleries clanking and of people talking and going about. We also had a cockroach incident. Could've soundproofed the room better but I don't really know what that entails. 

Besides the noise, privacy was also an issue. I requested for windows because I wanted better lighting and ventilation but I didn't realize we were facing a very busy part of the hotel and people kept walking past haha. In the end we had to keep the curtains down the entire time. So much for the view right.

But that's just on the first night. The succeeding nights were better, it's not always noisy and even when the curtains are drawn it's always cold hehe. So yeah, despite the noise and privacy issues, overall we stll had a great stay. Will write in detail on a separate blog post. :)

✱ Mangiamo Ristorante Baguio

I think the best part of the hotel is their restaurant, Mangiamo. It means "let's eat" in Italian ♥ 

If you are to stay in Baguio, you must try dining at Mangiamo. They serve delicious authentic Italian food that is so much worth every penny. Probably the best Italian we've tried. The chef is Italian too. I think we ate here two or three times. I recommend the following: 

• Mangiamo pizza - so freaking good, has truffle and ham, best pizza ever!!!
• Tagliatelle w/ truffle cream sauce - if you love truffle, this is a must!!! It's not on the menu but is usually on the board
• Mushroom soup - okay we love mushrooms. This is so legit, filled with wild mushrooms, not salty, not too creamy just pure mushroom soup goodness. 
• Caesar salad - if you love a garlicky caesar dressing this is lovely 
• Tiramisu - argh just typing it down makes me crave for it
• Apple pie ala mode - just the right serving! Perfect to cap off your meal 
• Prosciutto crudo e melone (parma ham and melon) - my goodness this is delicious! We loved prosciutto wraped mango when we we first tried one in Bora, but wow I love this melon one more! ♥

Now that I've started with the restaurant roll call, next up!

✱ Visco's

Everybody loves Visco's strawberry shortcake but have you tried their restaurant offerings? It's delicious!!! Especially their fried chicken. Reasonably priced too. 

I got the original fried chicken and Jeckie got the honey mustard one. We both enjoyed it. The chicken actually reminds me of Ellen's fried chicken in UPLB. And the gravy is buttery. Love it! ALSO, the ceasar salad on the side is delicious. Must try!

✱ Overtones Ito Sushi Bar & Japanese Restaurant 

Aaahh Jeckie's friend recommended this to us. Like Vizco's, you can find this along Session Rd., between Sizzling Plate and Pizza Volante. There's a small entrance there that's easy to miss because it's just a narrow entrance that leads to a flight of stairs. So don't miss it! 

I ordered Chirashidon, a favorite, and it's delicious! There's salmon, mackerel, octopus, UNI, tamago, crabsticks, etc., and lots of rice I couldn't finish. Besides the uni I also loved the squid wrapped nori. Super delicious! Jeckie got the wagyu sirloin. The cut was pretty thin so for medium rare it quickly turned to well done. So maybe next time get it rare? Teriyaki sauce is delicious! My iced mocha too!

There weren't a lot of people dining in so I'd say this one's a bit underrated. It's also a bit pricey for something along Session Rd. hehe

✱ Grumpy Joe

We though we're being careful with our restaurant choices so we went with one that's highly recommended by the internet. There was a line when we got there. We were 9th. We looked at the menu and everything looked promising...

... until my first order came. The corn chowder soup. It doesn't look too bad but the mound of grated cheese on top made me wonder, they use this type of cheese? I mean for a restaurant of this level I was hoping they'd opt for something more refined. Did we just fall into the hype?

Uhh yeah. Cos everything that was served after was underwhelming. The ony thing overwhelming is the serving size.

• Corn chowder soup - it was okay for 85 pesos but the mound of quickmelt was a bad precedent of what's to come
• Spicy buffalo wings - not spicy, not buffalo. Had we ordered barbecue glazed chicken wings we would've enjoyed this, but we didn't so it turned out disappointing. 
• Grumpy Joe special burger - oh this one will make you grumpy. So here's a burger, with a thin and dry patty, a pineapple slice that's thicker than said patty, ultra thin pickles, some cucumber slices, and caramelized onions siting right in the middle of the pineapple slice. There's also lettuce and a slice of fake cheese. Sauce? Maybe, I couldn't sense any. Did Joe make this when he's mad? Cos it shows. It's an abhorrent attempt at an aloha burger. Jollibee is laughing its ass out. The fries on the side however, tastes great! 
• Greek salad was so so, I don't get why this is marked a best seller
• Five cheese pizza - this was supposed to be a bestseller but the moment I tasted quickmelt cheesefood (apparently they use Eden) in there, I was defeated. I mean it tastes okay. But it's not 5 cheese delicious. Eden cheese isn't even real cheese. Yellowcab's 4 Cheese is much better. 

So much for the hype. I think this is okay for big families with kids in tow. Jeckie says it's elevated school canteen food. Harsh but totally apt. I think kids would love the food here. But foodies? Beware. 

✱ Oh My Gulay

Hmm. Located along Session Road at La Azotea Building, you have to climb 6 flights of stairs in order to get into the restaurant. It's on the 5th floor but there's another flight when you get to the restaurant entrance so yeah, siguradong gutom na gutom ka na pagdating mo sa taas haha. Obviously this is not for the physically challenged. The place is a visual feast. A museum slash nature sanctuary. It's like a mini Tam-awan Village! They serve vegetarian food so I know not to expect too much. 

We both got sisig. Which I regret. Jeckie seemed to love it. But to me it's just tastes like scrambled eggs. The sliders were disappointing too. Patty too dry. Remind us to stick to originally vegetarian dishes next time like eggplant lasagna, vegetables samosas, salads, humus, etc, and not converted meat dishes because I swear, they never come out as good.

I ordered pumpkin soup but it took too long to come out so I just cancelled it. I also ordered mango crepe but they gave out peach crepe so I had it remade. They must've rushed my order because the crepe was still hot when they served it. Consequently the mangoes got warm so it's not a good experience. They probably thought to compensate by drizzling extra chocolate syrup but heck they went overboard haha.

I'm not happy with this experience but I'm willing to try again, definitely with a different dish. 

✱ Lemon & Olives Greek Taverna

Finally got to try this! I'll tell you right now, this one's worth the hype unlike Grumpy Joe haha.

We ordered special lamb chops for two which came with L&O Salad, Poikilia, and lemon pilaf rice. Ordered hummus, plain yogurt drinks, and I got me some Turkish coffee (which I realized isn't my cup of tea lol).

Just looking at the photos already makes me wanna come back! 

• L&O Salad - absolutely delicious. Everything was balanced. I loved the peaches. It reminded me of Go Salad's Sweet Caroline except they use honey lemon vinagraitte instead of honey balsamic. It's sweet and tangy and my goodness I could eat this all day.
• Lamb chops - lamb is an acquired taste. I had to eat a lot of lamb dishes to realize how delicious it it. And this one is great.
• Hummus - simple, savory, creamy, garlicky, tangy. It's so balanced I love it.
• Poikilia - an appetizer plate. There's pita bites, sausages, and cheese sticks. I love this spread. Everything tastes good, specially the cheeese!!!

Aaaand that's it for my Baguio food diaries! I already wanna go back cos there's still so much we wanna try! Despite Grumpy Joe haha, I think this is still one of my favorite vacations! 

I'll be starting with my new job on Thursday so wish me luck! ♥

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Today

I completed transitioning all my work items to my teammates. Whew. This is it. 

A couple of weeks ago I filed my resignation at the firm and now I'm down to my last two weeks here. I should be relatively free from now on seeing how I've finished handing over my work stuff to my teammates, but I still have to fix a couple of issues on one of my robots, and that's what I intend to do next week. After that I can relax. Well, after that AND after hearing some news from my new employer. 

You see, I'm kindof feeling anxious that it's been 10 days since I submited all of the requirements they asked for and I still haven't gotten any form of confirmation besides the autoresponder. The deadline they set for sending requirements is not until next week, so maybe I'm just worrying unnecessarily. Actually it's because I randomly saw a post earlier about rescinded job offers that got me thinking. Then again, this won't get me anywhere. Worst case scenario: they rescind. So I retract my resignation and get to keep my job at the firm (which pays well and has great benefits). Still sounds good right? 

But fudge I already bought a new phone and changed my number everywhere hahuhu.

Speaking of new phone. I bought an iPhone 13 Pro because of cinematic mode and didn't realize it was too heavy. And that I didn't need the additional macro lens. And that I would be cool with just the iPhone 13. Which is 30g lighter and costs 10k less. I'm having buyer's regret, mostly because my wrist is hurting from holding it and it's only been three weeks.

I should probably limit my screen time. Or get bigger hands yeah.

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