2/28/2022 ‒
Emptiness

This is a filler entry.

Yes, this tends to happen at the end of the month, when I realize I haven't written four entries yet and I have to punch a pointless one out to hit a quota only I care about. But this time around, I don't really need to write this. I have already hit the quota.

But I am writing it anyway, for this isn't a thought that needs a long gestation period to expand and elaborate on. It's pointless, as is most of the things - if not everything - I write on here, but this particular thought amuses me, so here it goes.

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2/25/2022 ‒
Sixteen pages

Some time when I was in elementary school, some really old newspapers popped up at the faculty room. Like, I think they were ten years old, or maybe older - I can't honestly remember which year it happened.

They were newspapers from 1986 - specifically, from that week in February 1986. They were newspapers published during the fateful days of the EDSA Revolution.

I guess one of the teachers decided to bring it over for class or something. I didn't know, and at the time, I didn't care. All I know was, I suddenly have access to newspapers from before I was born. Sure, they were published during a momentous point in the calendar, but really, these were ultimately newspapers from before I was born. I was already a bit of a newspaper geek back then. I've already seen some newspapers from other parts of the world, but those were contemporaneous, so seeing ones from 1986 were quite a thrill.

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2/08/2022 ‒
Detritus

My phone's calendar, I realized, is filled with birthdays of the people I've met.

Well, most of them. I haven't done that with the people I work with, but that's because it's a weird question to ask. The only time you are allowed to ask that question is when you're in elementary school, perhaps when you have a crush on someone and want to make their day special. These days you just wait for someone to make the first greeting on a group chats, and wait to see if the supposed celebrator responds with a "thank you" rather than an "actually, it isn't my birthday today".

What I do have are birthdays from the people I've met in college, and even then I didn't always ask about when they were born. There was this list of the birthdays and mobile numbers of everyone in my block, which our upperclassmen "lambassadors" helpfully compiled for us during orientation week. And then there was Facebook, which was new roughly twenty years ago (yep), which meant people were still excited to put their birthdays in and get an avalanche of greetings on the day.

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2/07/2022 ‒
Pinksplaining

At an online event organized by the Asian Institute of Management, Social Weather Stations' head honcho Linda Luz Guerrero talked about how Rodrigo Duterte, by their metrics, has not left the honeymoon period - that point immediately after an election when the winner enjoys wide popularity. His approval ratings throughout his time in office has remained high; it's at 60% as of their latest survey, conducted last December.

Citing a review of past surveys they conducted, she said there's no one clear reason why Duterte remains popular. There's his strong base. There's satisfaction over how he has dealt with specific policy issues. But what seems to be most critical is the perception of the president's character. The study specifically cited his perceived diligence and decisiveness. Those who see that in him tend to be satisfied with him.

Of course, not everyone sees that. Depending on where you are, the president may be the worst thing to ever happen to the Philippines - well, second worst, or third worst, considering what's very likely going to happen in May - or the best thing. Of course, this all depends on the people that surround you, the social media posts that you're served on your feed - but whatever the case, the bubble you're in is so comforting, so you don't really bother going out of it. A 60% approval rating? Whatever, you say. The SWS is biased anyway. What's true is what I know, and what I know everyone around me knows as well. I know Duterte is a bad president, and that's that!

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2/01/2022 ‒
For prosperity!

Yesterday I said I'd have Shalla make the tikoy this Lunar New Year. It's partly because, well, she can do it better - and she has done it better; I'm eating it right now as I type this. It's also partly because I, for some reason, committed myself to cook something else to mark the occasion: noodles. Pancit canton, to be specific.

I'm not sure why I thought I could do it. Was it the new wok I got? My mother got it as a birthday present - a non-stick not-quite-a-wok, a stone one, one which she's long had an eye on for herself but couldn't quite find lately. Considering the frying pan I've used for the past couple of years has been pretty difficult of late - the non-stick coating has gone - my new piece of cookware changed my life, or at least the way I did my fried rice experiments.

A few weeks back I had a hankering for Singaporean food. It's one that's difficult to satisfy lately, because there just aren't a lot of options. Megamall used to have this Singaporean restaurant that I frequented in the many solo lunches I've had, but that's long closed. Another similar restaurant popped up elsewhere in the mall, but I never got to try it, and now it's closed. Well, sure, Nanyang is good in a pinch, but it's no Toast Box, and also, I honestly don't think Filipinos are able to appreciate both Singaporean and Malaysian cuisines. We're stuck with the really generic fare, if we're lucky to find it. The more, er, adventurous stuff that do pop up - the Makansutra hawker place at Megamall comes to mind - close after a while because, I don't know, if it's not exactly Chinese, it must be weird, eh?

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