Watching Local Films on IWant TFC

I subscribed to IWant TFC last year but it's really only recently that I have started to optimize it. I discovered that the IWant library includes films from the Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema including a couple from critically-acclaimed director Mike De Leon. Here are the movies I got to see in the last couple of months.

Kisapmata

photo from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisapmata

This movie was released during the 1981 Metro Manila Film Festival but only now, almost 40 years later, did I get to see it. I remember my mom telling me a long time ago that watching Kisapmata gave her a feeling of claustrophobia and I gotta say, I fully agree. Vic Silayan plays the lead role, a retired policeman named Dadong, and he is so domineering, intimidating, and even menacing that you can't help but feel the same fear that the characters feel from the way Dadong laughs, makes snide remarks, or manipulates the people around him. (He won Best The story unfolds in a way that you know something sinister is happening in the house but you don't immediately know what it is. It's in the second half that we start to slowly understand what is really going on behind closed doors (literally) and the revelations are quite jarring and chilling. I can completely understand why this movie swept the 1981 MMFF, winning a whopping 10 of 13 awards! While this movies is pretty intense and heavy, it is definitely very highly recommended. Kisapmata is now one of my favorite films.

Kakabakaba Ka ba?

I actually watched this film once, many years ago, when it was shown at the UP Film Center. Mike De Leon's range as a director is truly one-of-a-kind because he directed Kakabakaba Ka Ba?, a musical comedy a year before his psychological thriller Kisapmata was released. While this movie is light and easy to watch, it still injects really interesting social commentary about how religion can potentially be used to control the masses. It seems Mike De Leon's favorite actress back then (maybe still now?) is Charo Santos-Concio because she appeared in three of his movies, including this one. I also forgot that Christopher De Leon and Johnny Delgado can sing. The song "Bigyan niyo po kami ng tinapay" (I don't know if that's the official title of the song) is so catchy that I think it's a shame I can't find a clip of it on youtube. The climactic musical number where the devious plans of the Grand Master in Japan are revealed is so engaging and lot of fun to watch.

Oda sa Wala

Oda sa Wala is a very unique movie. I haven't seen any film - local or international - quite like it. It is extremely minimalist, with very few characters and little dialogue. The story revolves around Sonya, played by Pokwang (who goes by her real name Marietta Subang in the credits) who lives what seems to be a bit of an empty life. After watching it, I knew it was very interesting and intriguing but I didn't appreciate it as much as I expected I would. However, I found myself thinking about it a lot, trying to understand and analyze what happened and figure out why Sonya did some of the things she did. When a movie stays with you like that, you know it's pretty darn good. (SPOILER ALERT: I will talk about some details of the movie.) Towards the end, when we learn that what we saw in a certain scene wasn't real, it makes you wonder what other scenes could've just been in Sonya's head. Visually, this movie is stunning, from the cinematography to the framing to the color-grading. I was also really surprised at how good Pokwang was. She delivered an impeccable performance (she won Best Actress award at the QCinema International Film Festival). You might need to be in the right frame of mind to watch Oda sa Wala but I do recommend it.

Death of Nintendo

Death of Nintendo is a coming-of-age film set in the 1990s. I read some positive reviews about it and since I kinda wanted to watch some lighter fare, I decided to give it a go. To be honest, I thought it was just okay. I'm not particularly sure t know what makes this movie significantly different from other coming-of-age films. I also wasn't quite certain where the story was headed or even what happened in the end. I also wasn't a fan of the cliched use of domineering parents as plot devices, causing kids to act or react in certain ways. I do like how Philippine culture and traditions are presented here and the use of the Pinatubo eruption and the incessant power outages in the 90s as backdrop added flavor and personality to the film.

*****

My IWant TFC list now contains dozens of movies and I'm excited to watch some critically-acclaimed Filipino classics such as Himala, City After Dark, and Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos. I have of course added other more recent films and some light-hearted, feel-good films too. I'm definitely looking forward to watching more local movies.

i'm so tired... by Lauv and Troye Sivan (Stripped Version)

Despite this song being released more than 2 years ago, I only discovered i'm so tired... by Lauv and Troye Sivan recently and I immediately loved it. While playing it on youtube, I saw this stripped performance in the related videos and I decided to play it. As much as I love the original, I found myself connecting more deeply to and being more moved by this version. Listen to it here:

  

video uploaded in youtube by Lauv

Thankfully, this stripped in LA version is also available on Spotify. Needless to say, I've been listening to it a lot.

Friends Reunion, WW84, and HBO Go

When I subscribed to HBO Go Asia last March to watch Zack Snyder's Justice League, I intended to terminate my subscription after a month. As it turn out, I ended up extending my subscription in April so I could watch Wonder Woman 84 which became available on HBO Go on April 21 and I extended my subscription again in May to watch the Friends: The Reunion.

Friends: The Reunion

I was one of the many millions of people who tuned in regularly to watch Friends across all its seasons so I definitely had to watch this. But rather than this reunion being a show that told us how Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross were now, it was a nostalgic walk down memory lane with Courteney, David, Jennifer, Lisa, Matt, and Matthew, along with other cast members and creators of the show. Lisa was asked towards the end of the reunion whether they've talked about making another episode or another movie and she said that the writers David Crane and Mrta Kauffman said that "they ended the show very nicely and they would have to unravel all those good things in order for their to be stories." I actually liked the format, which involved the cast talking to each other and reading scripts, showing clips from the show, and even having all of them interviewed in front of a live audience. It was so nostalgic seeing Matt and Matthew sit on Joey and Chandler's reclining chairs, seeing Matt put on all of Chandler's clothes again, hearing Lisa, Rachel, and David reenact the time when Phoebe found out about Chandler and Monica, listening to Lisa sing Smelly Cat again, and even seeing Maggie Wheeler who played Janice (Oh... My... God...) and James Michael Tyler who played Gunther make special appearances.

It was mentioned during the reunion that the one sentence pitch is for the show was "it's about that time in your life when your friends are your family" and seeing the cast together and talk about how important they all are to each other really tugs at your heart. Oh and to anyone who might not know, I believe it was Friends that coined the term "Friendzone". Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugYEJfwUdcA. 

Wonder Woman 1984

The first Wonder Woman film is one of my favorite superhero movies so I wanted to see this sequel. It was entertaining and enjoyable to watch, but it wasn't as good as the first one. It was an interesting story, which I won't spoil, but as we all knew that Chris Pine would reprise his role as Steve Trevor who died in the first movie, I wanted to see how that would happen. I was also curious to see Cheetah's origin story and understand how her powers would be at a level that would enable her to match up against Wonder Woman. (When this is revealed in the movie, I thought it made perfect sense.) SPOILER ALERT: One of the cool things in this movie is that we got to see Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman in the TV series that aired in the 1970s.

*****

Since I'm already subscribed to HBO Go, I tried to maximize it by watching as many movies as I can. I normally play a movie while I'm doing other things at home (for instance, doing chores) so I tend to watch films that I've already seen  before. In the last couple of months since I subscribed, I've re-watched 23 movies. These are: Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, Wonder Woman, Red Eye, Four Weddings and a Funeral (I've forgotten how funny this movie is), School of Rock, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Red Riding Hood, Blues Brothers 2000, The Specialist, The Pelican Brief, Minority Report, Justice League: War, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, Pacific Rim, The Guilt Trip, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Assault on Precinct 13, Mean Girls, The Italian Job, Scooby-Doo, Along Came a Spider, and Snakes on a Plane. Aside from Zack Snyder's Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984, I only got to watch one other movie - The Enchanting Phantom - for the first time.

The Enchanting Phantom

This is a Chinese Movie about a scholar Ning Cai Chen who falls in love with a woman who turns out to be a ghost. This "enchanting phantom" named Nie Xiao Qian seduces men so she can steal their life essence. Somehow, Nie Xiao Qian ends up falling in love with Ning Cai Chen as well. It's an easy enough film to watch with a few interesting twists and events but I realized that recently, I find it difficult to stay focused on watching new movies, moreso if I have to read subtitles.

I know that Godzilla vs Kong was released on HBO Max recently - last month I think - so I'm hoping that it becomes available on HBO Go soon.

Quarantine Stories Part 10

I've been hearing about Lola Nena's donuts for a while now. Many of my friends tried it during the quarantine and many of them were raving about it. I hadn't gotten around to trying it until recently. I discovered that there's a Lola Nena's near my family's house but whenever I'd pass by, there was a line (given the pandemic, even a really short line meant that I would have to wait with other people and I am trying to avoid being around other people as much as possible). However, last weekend, when I passed by, there was no line at all. I decided to make a quick stop to purchase their triple cheese donuts. A box of 8 costs P216. These donuts are a twist on the traditional Pinoy sugar donuts that we could get from the neighborhood bakeries. The difference of course is that these ones are stuffed with cheese. The verdict? While I don't think I will crave these donuts in the way that many other people do, they are definitely very good value for money (each donut has a good size and costs only P27) and are perfect for merienda. I will surely buy these again in the future.

Lola Nena's Triple Cheese Donuts

One of my recent online purchases was a desk lamp. The lighting in my apartment isn't that great so I realized last year during quarantine that I couldn't really read books comfortably once the sun was down so I would always read next to my window during the day. I did buy a ring light last year but I couldn't really position it next to my bed in a way that the light hit the book properly. I decided to look for an inexpensive desk lamp on Lazada and I found one - a Lumix hanging desk lamp - that can stand on its own but can also be clipped onto a side table. I didn't properly check the product details so I ended up getting a lamp with white light (I wanted to get one with yellow light) but it is definitely serving its purpose. The neck is flexible so I can position the light right behind me when I read. I even use it when I'm checking my phone while in bed. I'm really happy with this purchase.

Lumix Hanging Desk Lamp

Another recent Lazada purchase was Cheeza. A friend told me she absolutely loves these crackers so I searched it on Lazada, found it, and decided to order a few so I could try it. There seem to be three variants but the one that was available at the time that I ordered was the blue one. While my friend was raving about them, I thought they were just okay. That said, because the crackers have a very strong cheese flavor, they actual partner very well with wine. 

Glico Cheeza

A big problem I had recently at home was that both sinks in my apartment ended up getting clogged at the same time. In fact, the kitchen sink was so clogged that if I washed even just 3-4 items, the water level would go up in my sink and it would take about 1-2 hours for the water to drain. I wasn't sure if I should use a drain declogger such as Liquid Sosa so I asked the engineering team in our building and they said that it's better to clear the clog mechanically rather than chemically. I had to take a personal leave from work because the machine that would be used declog my drain was apparently very noisy which meant it couldn't be operated during weekends or in the evenings (building rules indicate that noisy house work have to be done between 8am and 5pm from Mondays to Fridays). I did a lot of cleaning and disinfecting after the plumbers left but thankfully, my drains are no longer clogged.

Nadal wins Rome Masters Title #10

Rafa Nadal just won his 10th title at the Rome Masters, beating Novak Djokovic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the final. Wow!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Internazionali BNL d'Italia (@internazionalibnlditalia)

This is now the fourth tournament where Rafa has won at least 10 titles (the three others being the French Ope, Barcelona, and Monte Carlo). It is also his 36th Masters Title, tying him with Novak Djokovic. It's just mind-blowing to think how dominant Nadal has been on clay over such a long period of time.

That this achievement comes a week after Nadal was awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year makes it even most special. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Laureus (@laureussport)

Roland Garros is only two weeks away and I'm really hoping that Nadal wins his 14th title there. It's going to be a tall order though, especially since Nadal has had his fair share of losses to the next generation (both Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev beat him on clay this year) and world #1 Novak Djokovic is still playing at an exceptionally high level. But if his Rome results are any indication - he beat both Zverev and Djokovic - he still has a fighting chance. Vamos Rafa!

We lost our dog 😞

The last several days haven't been kind. Shortly after I lost a very good friend, my family lost our dog.😞

No one knows exactly what happened but it seems that when my mom went to work late last week, the dog slipped out of the house when our gates were opened. Normally, whenever our dogs go out of the house, they always go back after a short while. Unfortunately, because my mom left very early in the morning, no one else was awake to open the gate for our dog when it came back home. It was only when my nephew was going to feed our dogs for lunch that he noticed that one of them was missing. It's been several days now and he still hasn't come home. I am heartbroken. 

I am hoping that our dog didn't suffer badly if anything did happen to him. Or if someone else captured him and took ownership of him, that they take good care of him. Either way, I will be praying for our lost dog.

Rest in Peace, Karen

I just lost a dear friend.

I met Karen around five years ago through common friends. She was tremendously kind, generous, and supportive. She would read her friends' blogs - I remember sharing links to my Russia posts because she was interested to visit Russia - and watch their vlogs. In our chat group, she would respond to people's questions, even if it was just to say that she didn't know or that she wasn't familiar with whatever was being asked. When I was prepping for my South America trip, there was a Samsonite luggage sale at the Rustan's Department Store but you needed to have a BDO credit card to get the 40% discount. Karen said that she had one and she volunteered to accompany me to Rustan's. When we got there, we found out that it was a specific BDO credit card that was needed so Karen and I ended up just having dinner in A Veneto in Glorietta. While the luggage purchase was a fail, it was still a good evening because we got to hang out and talk about stuff, including things we wanted to do.

What makes this loss even sadder is that it was all so sudden. One minute we were chatting about Smart TVs and the next, I learned that she had passed on. It didn't even register immediately. When my friend told us that Karen was gone, I thought she was referring to another person with the same name. It's really heartbreaking that I wasn't even able to say goodbye or wish her well. But that's how death is most times. Unexpected, like a thief in the night.

Karen said she wanted us to take a crack at the Morbid Morgue room in Mystery Manila - it was the one room we still hadn't tried in the Ayala the 30th Mystery Manila - but now I'm gutted that we won't ever get to do it, at least not with her. Maybe when the pandemic is over, I can gather our friends so we can give this room a go in her honor.

I'd like to end this post by sharing a song that's in Karen's Spotify playlist, Funeral Bell by Phildel. It's a hauntingly beautiful song and, given what has happened, also sadly appropriate.

video uploaded in youtube by Phildel - Topic

*****

 

Eternal rest grant unto Karen, O Lord

And let perpetual light shine upon her

May Karen and all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace

Amen.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

 I just finished reading my first book this year: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley.

This novel centers around a struggling artist who, along with a four-year-old boy, survives a plane crash. This miraculous tale of survival and heroism gets turned on its head by the fact that all other passengers and crew perished. What started out as a story of inspiration slowly and insidiously turns into one of intrigue and innuendo.

While this book is classified as a suspense thriller, I found it to have a relaxed and easy pace. The writing switches back and forth between the present and the past, allowing the reader to learn more about the passengers and the crew which in turn this strengthens the reader's desire to know what caused the crash. That said, the climax was pretty intense and unexpected, and as I finished reading, I was left wanting to know more. Which is a sign of a great story: you get so emotionally invested in the characters that you want to know what happens to them after.

Now that I finished my first book of 2021, I'm hoping that I have gained enough momentum to keep on reading.

Nadal wins Barcelona Title #12

 Congratulations Rafa Nadal for winning the Barcelona Open for the 12th time!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rafa Nadal (@rafaelnadal)

It wasn't an easy road to the final. Rafa dropped a set in his first two matches before finding his form in the quarters and the semis. In the final, he faced an in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas who not only won Monte Carlo the previous week (and without dropping a set!) but who also defeated Rafa in a tough five set match in the Australian Open earlier this year. Rafa actually held a match points in the second set of the final but it was on Stefanos' serve. Not only did Stefanos save the match point, he managed to win that set to even things out. In the 3rd set, Tsitsipas was on the verge of his second consecutive title as he held a match point against Nadal but he managed to save it. He then won that game, broke Stefanos in the next game, then served out the match. Check out the match highlights here.

 

video uploaded in youtube by Tennis TV

This win means that Rafa has now won at least one title each year for 18 consecutive years (from 2004 to 2021). This record in men's tennis is just absolutely staggering. I am hoping that this gives him confidence to defend his French Open title. The next generation players including Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and now Andrey Rublev are really getting closer to the top as they consistently challenge the Big Three now. I'm hoping Rafa can still hold on to claim Roland Garros #14.

Good luck, Rafa, and congratulations on your Barcelona title!

My First GForest Tree in GCash

Achievement unlocked: GCash will be planting a tree on my behalf!

GForest allows users to earn green energy when performing cashless activities such as bills and purchase payments. While I already enrolled most of my bills in my online bank app, I still had one credit card for which I didn't have an online payment option in early 2020 (during the first ECQ). I learned that I could use GCash to pay for it so that's when I started using GCash. I then told my mom and my grandmother that I could pay their bills via GCash so that they wouldn't need to go payment centers for Meralco, PLDT, and Maynilad. Now, after about 10 months of online bills and purchase payments through GCash, I earned enough green energy in my GForest to plant a tree.

Actually, I earned enough points to plant a tree months ago already. However, back then, there were only three trees you could plant: Narra (worth 9,411 green energy), Dungon (worth 10,080 green energy), and Yakal (worth 20,560 green energy). When I finally had enough points to plant Narra which requires the least green energy, all trees were out of stock. It took a while for trees to become available again but when they were, I was quite close to Yakal already so I decided that I wanted Yakal to be the first tree I would redeem. Unfortunately, when I finally earned enough green energy for it, it still wasn't available.

Then, a few weeks ago, several more trees became available in GForest, including Molave which was worth 18,410 green energy. Yakal was still not available but the green energy requirement of Molave was close enough to Yakal so I decided to redeem Molave instead. 

I have now planted my first tree through GForest. I'm starting to use GCash a lot more heavily now since I use it to make Lazada payments as well so hopefully it won't take another 10 months for me to have enough green energy to finally plant Yakal. And hopefully when I do, it will be available.

As of this writing, almost 7.4 million trees have been planted through GForest. This is amazing! Thank you GCash for planting trees on behalf of your users and customers.

Zack Snyder's Justice League

I've seen a lot of ads for Zack Snyder's Justice League which premiered lasst March 18. You can only watch it on HBO GO. I still have Sky Cable and apparently you can subscribe to HBO GO through Sky Cable so that's what I did. I am now one of the many people who have seen Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Funny and stupid thing: I actually thought this movie was a sequel to the Justice League movie that came out in 2017. Apparently, this is more like a director's cut that would allow Zack Snyder to present the film in the way he envisioned it (he was unable to complete his work on the 2017 film because of the death of his daughter so Joss Whedon took over as director). This means the story remains mostly the same so not a lot of suprises.

SPOILER ALERT: stop watching if you don't want any spoilers (it's pretty much the same story but I will be talking about some differences that could spoil you if you plan to watch the Snyder cut).

The first major change: the length of the film. Zack Snyder's Justice League is almost 4 hours long! I started watching it at 1030pm on March 18 and I had to stop watching and just continue the next day after work.

Another change is the tone. It feels darker, with characters being more serious and somber for the most part and having less funny banter with each other. However, it also feels less angry. I mean, in the 2017 film, Cyborg seemed to be angry at his father while in the Snyder cut, he isn't (or not as much) and they seem to have somewhat of a positive relationship. I also kinda felt there was less friction among the superheroes here which I appreciated.

Finally, we get to see a few more characters in this film, the most important of whom is Darkseid. Justice League was supposed to be the first of a trilogy and Darkseid was meant to be the supervillain in them but he wasn't in the 2017 version. We also get to see Martian Manhunter in a couple of scenes, including one where he talks to Batman about joining Justice League.

Sadly, it seems that Zack Snyder is not interested in making more Justice League movies anymore, which is a shame because the Snyder Cut sets things up quite well for what would have been future installments. Hopefully, these future films can still be made (and made well).

Quarantine Stories Part 9

The number of Covid cases has increased significantly in the last week or so, with new cases in the Philippines exceeding 7000 per day. I wonder if it's because people have gotten a bit more complacent given that we have now been in some form of quarantine for a little more than a year (we were placed under ECQ on March 17, 2020). That, or people have just gotten tired of being cooped up at home. Just a few hours ago, an announcement was made that additional restrictions are going to be implemented to hopefully reduce or better manage the number of new cases. While I wouldn't say I've gotten complacent or that I'm feeling an extreme urge to spend time outside my living area, a couple of weeks ago, I did get a haircut for the first time in about a year. I haven't had a haircut since quarantine started but in the last couple of months, my long hair had become increasingly annoying. I scheduled an appointment at the salon next door during a one-week leave that I took and I requested for the first slot at 9am on a Monday. I figured that there would be few to no other customers during that time plus the fact that being the first appointment meant that no other customers would have been serviced yet. My assumption proved to be correct since I was the only customer during my slot. Cool!

My first haircut in a year

Another benefit of me being on leave for a week was that I was able to have my broken Samsung phone battery replaced. Not only was my phone discharging very quickly - a full charge would only last a few hours - but if I was actively using any apps, my phone would immediately die even if the battery was still at 50%. The closest Samsung service center was in Megamall and as it turned out, I had to go there twice because I was told during my first visit that a battery replacement wasn't available and they still had to order it. Thankfully, it arrived while I was still on leave. The problem was that I had to wait about 3-4 hours because the technicians still had to observe the new battery and ensure it was working properly. Thankfully, it was a Friday afternoon so most people were at work and the mall wasn't packed. I had a late lunch in Pizza Express since only two other tables were occupied when I got there. I was hoping to just stay there the entire afternoon but they didn't have any coffee so after lunch, I moved to French Baker (there were maybe 2 or 3 other tables occupied and French Baker had really good dividers between tables and even seats so it felt quite safe). Thankfully, my phone battery now works.

I also started using my the Save Money service of GCash. My friends who work at GCash and Globe told me that the interest rate was 4% so I thought it would a good place to save some of my money. As it turns out, the interest rate has gone down to 2.6% now. Still, it's much better than what most other savings accounts offer.

Finally, I am now exercising again. Since the start of the month, I've probably exercised 6 to 7 times. I still want to work out a bit more frequently than that - maybe 4-5 times a week - but at least I'm not sedentary anymore and I get to break into a sweat every now and then. What I discovered is that a 15-minute HIIT workout followed by a 15-minute yoga session with my Down Dog apps is the best, at least at my current level of fitness. Hopefully I can keep at it and lengthen my exercise sessions or make them more difficult in the near future.

Australian Open 2021

Congratulations to Novak  Djokovic and Naomi Osaka for winning the Australian Open Men's and Women's singles titles respectively!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Australian Open (@australianopen)

Novak Djokovic proved yet again that the Australian Open is his house by winning the championship for a record-extending 9th time. This is now also his 18th Grand Slam singles title, only two short of the men's record held jointly by Nadal and Federer. He is also guaranteed to break Roger's Federer's men's record of most total weeks at number 1. Novak also showed everyone just how mentally strong he is this tournament (in my opinion, his mental strength is second to none). He survived a 5-set scare from Taylor Fritz in the 3rd round and he had to overcome three other players in four sets. In fact, against Zverev, he was down a break in both the third and fourth sets but he still managed to eke out a win in both of those sets. I actually thought his opponent in the finals, Daniil Medvedev, was going to break through to win his first major since he had beaten Novak three times in their last four meetings. However, Novak's Grand Slam championship mettle proved too much and he overwhelmed Daniiel in straight sets in the final. The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if Novak also ends his career with the record for most major wins among the men. (It will be really interesting to see what happens in the next few years.)

Naomi Osaka won her second Australian Open title and her fourth major and I wouldn't be surprised if she regains the number 1 ranking and wins many more Grand Slam titles in the future. She moves well, her ground strokes have got some serious sting, and she's developed her serve into a solid weapon (I believe she hit more aces than any other woman in the tournament). But more importantly, she seems to have strengthened her championship mettle. In the fourth round, she faced two match points against last year's finalist, Garbine Muguruza, but she saved both and then found another gear, turning the match around and winning in three very hard-fought sets. After she won the US Open in 2018 and followed it up by winning the Australian Open in 2019, I thought she was poised to be the next great women's champion. However, she was unable to maintain that level of play. Now, after winning both the US Open and the Australian Open trophies again, I think she may have just found the right formula to keep winning more Grand Slam events.

Congratulations, Novak and Naomi!

Quarantine Stories Part 8

Thank God for small mercies. We've been on quarantine for 11 months now but I'm tremendously grateful that I've had the opportunity to handle administrative things in a safer environment than the average person. What am I talking about? First is paying the annual Real Estate Property Tax. Normally, I have to go to City Hall to pay this. Lucky for me, the community where I live organized a satellite payment center so we could pay next door instead of having to go to City Hall. Even luckier was the fact that my friend, who's also my neighbor, told me via text that we had a satellite payment center in the area and that it was only for that day. And finally, I was working from home that day. I was able to go on the last hour and when I got there, there was only one person ahead of me in line. I was done in maybe 5 minutes and I managed to practice social distancing. Perfect!

Also, our amazing community organized another round of Autosweep RFID installations. I blogged about being able to get an Easytrip RFID intalled late last year and this time, I got to do the same for Autosweep. Once again, there was only one person ahead of me in line when I got there so I was in and out in a jiffy. Not that I will be going out of town any time soon. (I have been really wanting to hit the beach for a while now or go to Tagaytay but I guess I'm still not confident that it's safe enough, even if so many people I know have done it

In other news, I cooked tikoy for the first time last weekend. My boss very generously sent me and my teammates tikoy for the Lunar New Year. I decided to cook it and bring it to my family when I visited them. I asked a couple of my friends how to cook tikoy and I also did some research online. To summarize:
- put the tikoy in the refrigerator to make it easier to cut
- before cooking, cut it into small pieces
- dip each piece in a lightly beaten egg (this is supposedly so that the tikoy slices don't stick to each other)
- fry it (one of my friends recommended frying it in butter)

I have a small Masflex non-stick frying pan so I had to cook three batches (actually, I ended up just packing a fourth batch since I didn't have time to cook it anymore). I actually forgot to put butter for the first batch but the tikoy still didn't stick to my amazing non-stick pan! That said, because my friend said tikoy tastes better when fried in butter, I made sure to add some for the second and third batches. I have to say, the tikoy fried in butter really does taste better!

I brought the cooked tikoy along with some Chinese dishes to my family. I also brought some chocolates and Tiramisu since it was also Valentine's day. Not a bad way to enjoy the long weekend with my family.

Boardgaming in the Time of Covid

If you've been reading my blog over the years, you'd know that I am an avid fan of board games and tabletop games. I would normally play at least once a month and sometimes, I would get to play multiple times a month. Unfortunately, the pandemic prevented my for enjoying this hobby for most of last year. To give me some semblance of normalcy, I decided in late 2020 to purchase Herbaceous Sprouts online from Gaming Library. This game looks visually appealing and it has a solo variant, meaning I can play it by myself. It's a quick game and the instructions are easy to understand. I found it to be quite enjoyable to play. I'm the only one in all my board game groups who has played this game so I look forward to the day that I can introduce it to my other friends.

Herbaceous Sprouts

I would have played Herbaceous Sprouts more frequently if not for the fact that some of my friends gave me online games on Steam. We decided that for our online Christmas get-together, we would play online games so I set up a Steam account and I got Lords of Waterdeep, Wingspan, Agricola All Creatures Big and Small, and Viticulture as presents.  (Thanks friends!) I also downloaded Tokaido on my phone because it's free on the Android Play Store. We got to play a couple of rounds of Lords of Waterdeep, Wingspan, and Tokaido that night. It wasn't quite the same as getting to play with my friends face-to-face, but given the situation, it was the next best thing.

The cool thing about these games is that you can play against AI players. As such, I ended up playing Tokaido quite a bit on my phone. This is such a relaxing game, although while there is still some strategy involved, I do find it is quite luck-based and the start-player sequence does play a part in how the final results are determined. I did manage to win my fair share of games against the AI.

One of my winning games in Tokaido

Lords of Waterdeep is the game I have played the most. I think this is one of my top 5 favorite board games because, while there is some luck involved, it requires a lot of strategy while having relatively simple and straightforward game mechanics. This makes it perfect for both newbies and experienced board gamers. I've played a few times with my friends online but most of the time, I play against the AI and I think I've become quite good at it haha. I've had more than my fair share of wins but the best one came earlier today, when I got what I think is the highest score I've ever achieved in Lords of Waterdeep - 191 points! - as well as my largest lead (I was 71 points ahead of the second placer). Amazing!

I'm Player, with a score of 191!

I'm really happy that I have these games now and maybe I will try purchasing a few other games on Steam, such as Scythe and Terraforming Mars. Until then, I will enjoy the ones I have now.

Welcome 2021

So it's taken a while for me to write my first post of 2021. In the past, I would normally post something within the first week of the New Year but I've really slowed down in my blogging in 2020. This is mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic which still rages all over the world. To ensure safety of all employees in the place I work, our management implemented work-from-home for all employees. You would think that because I work from home all the time now, I'd have more time to write. However, the opposite has happened. I think this is because I would normally sit in front of my computer at home for several hours each day so once work is done, I don't feel like looking at my computer anymore, even if it just is to update my blog. Of course, I'm thankful that I can work from home because it allows me to practice social distancing and it minimizes my exposure to other people, thus reducing my chances of contracting Covid. However, this means that until I get vaccinated and it feels safe enough again to go out, I won't be writing as much.

Thinking about it now, maybe it's also because there hasn't been much to write about. While I am grateful that my family, my friends, and I have remained safe and healthy throughout this ordeal, the events of last year have meant that there hasn't really been a lot of interesting things going on. Being stuck at home has left me being a lot more unproductive than usual. I've barely seen anyone outside my family. I haven't hung out with any of my friends, I haven't gone out for meals, I haven't traveled, and I haven't played board games. I also find that I am spending more money: what I save in gas because I don't travel, I spend more on food. There is a cheap cafeteria in my office where I could get meals with protein, vegetables, and rice for under P100; I can't get that at home unless I just cook canned goods which I don't want to consume too much of. I also tend to buy a lot of junk food and sweets; the weight I lost in 2019, I have gained back in 2020.

That said, there were still things that happened last year that I'm thankful for. I got to be a ninong for my new nephew. I read four books - the most I read in a year in maybe the last few decades - and I completed the John Wayne Cleaver series (which I very highly recommend). I learned how to cook and while I had more than my fair share of kitchen failures, I also did manage to put together a couple of dishes that were pretty successful. I discovered and got to try a lot of different food items and online food sellers. I purchased an online work-out app (although I barely exercised in the second half of 2020 because of my very heavy workload). I put some of my savings in PRU Life UK and SunLife investments. I also downloaded the Lazada app and learned how to look for and free shipping vouchers. 

Covid is still infecting thousands of people each day in the Philippines. The UK coronavirus variant, which is more easily transmissible, has also made its way to our shores, which means it is still not that safe to go out. There are efforts to make vaccine available and accessible to Filipinos. I hope that my family and I can get access to a working vaccine soon. I can't wait for the day when I can go out without a face mask and a face shield, travel both locally and internationally, and hang out with my friends and family again.

Disney Christmas Advert 2020

I couldn't think of a better thing to write about in my last post of 2020 than Disney's Christmas advert that was released last month. I'm not sure how many times I've watched it but it really does move me every time. Why? Because it showcases the Filipino Christmas and the Filipino family. Check it out here:

 

video uploaded in youtube by Disney UK

As a human, there are so many things to love about this 3-minute story that is told without words. Seeing a young girl grow up to become a grandmother in another country then later lose her connection with her granddaughter before her granddaughter realizes the importance of spending quality time with family is a universal theme. It can surely be appreciated by anyone in the world.

As a Filipino, the story and its details become even more significant and heartwarming. This video honored the Philippine Christmas as well as our traditions, culture, and even language. Some of them, such as the parol, the mano, the flag, the skin color of the characters, and the word 'lola' are quite overt. There are a few less obvious ones, such as this doily which adorns many Filipino households along with the tin box reused as a container of arts and crafts items (very typical Pinoy):

...and the sewing machine, which many Filipinos also have at home.

That said, one of my favorite things - and I only discovered this when reading the comments on YouTube - is the picture of lola as a nurse. It feels to me like this acknowledgment that so many nurses all over the world are from the Philippines is a way of honoring them and the value that they bring.

A couple more things. The song in the video, Love is a Compass by Griff, is so beautiful (I've been listening to it a lot on Spotify since I discovered it). Check out Griff's piano performance of this song here. I also love that Disney UK released this tutorial of how to make a parol. So cool!

Thank you Disney for paying homage to the Philippine Christmas!

Christmas in the Time of Covid

Every Christmas gathering I had with friends was done via online video conferencing platforms such as Zoom or Google Meet. I will say though that my FOMO keeps getting triggered because more and more of my friends are meeting up physically. I see so many people posting their face-to-face get-togethers on social media that it makes me want to do that to. But in the end, my fear of contracting Covid and possibly spreading it to my family still weighs more heavily in my mind so I haven't met up with anyone outside my immediately family since March. Even our Christmas celebrations at work were via Zoom. I attended two of them: the company-wide one and the one for my department. Both parties had raffles and I was pretty lucky to have won something in both. In the company-wide event, I won a headset while in our department party, I won a 2-in-1 Electric Griller. I still haven't received the headset but the griller was already delivered to me. Cool!

My raffle prize: an Electric Griller!

Speaking of deliveries, this is the first Christmas where I had gifts delivered to friends. My high school friends and I agreed early on to just do a Secret Santa instead of having each person getting gifts for everyone else. We all shared our wishlists and my "baby" was based in the US so I ordered her gifts from Amazon. I, on the other hand, got a new board game - Notre Dame - from GeekBox PH. It has some good reviews so it's too bad that it will be a while before I can play it.

Notre Dame board game

While I did drop off some gifts to a few friends (it was great seeing them, even briefly and even if no hugs or handshakes were shared), most of my gifts were purchased via Lazada. I was able to get several free shipping vouchers so I saved a lot on logistics. I also skipped the surprise part: for many of my friends, I took screenshots of gift ideas and I had them pick which one they wanted the most from that shortlist. Most of what I ordered have already been delivered but there are a couple that are still on their way, including the JBL earphones for my "baby" in our department Kris Kringle event. In that event, I myself got a portable Bluetooth speaker.

The gift I got from our office Kris Kringle: a Bluetooth Speaker

There was a bit of a disaster during Christmas eve, however: the place from which I ordered our food had major kitchen issues that resulted in massive delays. Not much more detail was provided but my order was supposed to be picked up at 3:30pm and it was 6:45pm when I got it. Crazy! While I was tremendously frustrated, I didn't complain anymore because the people who got there before I did were complaining angrily.

I would normally be livid myself but my greater concern at the time was the size of the crowd and my prolonged exposure to other people amidst the pandemic. I was expecting a more or less in-and-out food pick-up situation so getting stuck in a large crowd of people was extremely stressful. I could've waited in my car but I was worried that if my order came out and I wasn't there when my name was called, someone else might claim it. The sad thing is that by the time I got home, my family had all eaten dinner already. I did get to have Noche Buena with my nephews for the first time in years; normally, they celebrate Christmas with their relatives on their mom's side but because of the Covid situation, they stayed home with us. I also cracked open a bottle of really good wine that we all enjoyed that evening (don't worry, my nephews are of legal drinking age).

My crazy experience waiting for our Christmas food and stressing out over the lack of social distancing emphasized how fortunate and privileged I am compared to most other people. I get to work from home and have stuff delivered, thus minimizing the amount of times I go out and get exposed to others. The same can't be said for most other Filipinos, who need to brave the thread of Covid infection in order to make a living and survive. I don't know how much longer this pandemic will rage on but my Christmas wish is that working vaccines can be made accessible to people all over the world and that everyone can live and thrive in a much safer world.