Status report

It's a hot Monday morning and the heat's getting to me, in contrast to the past week when cool temperature pervaded because of rains brought by Linfa (which just left the Philippine area of responsibility). It's been more than a week since I left QC and I'm quite content here at home. I eat regularly (i.e., 3 meals a day at the right times), I could cook some fare for breakfast (usu. egg with tomatoes and onions), lunch or dinner or assist in making them (I'm clueless about cooking for the most part so I need this exposure). I've also tried baking a failed lengua de gato, a popular sweet food from Baguio, and banana-cinnamon oatmeal cookies (yum! everything's gone and I wasn't able to take a picture). I tried to exercise my composing skills when taking shots using our Canon IXUS. I have access to a daily newspaper, and yesterday, I was able to read a lot of opinion columns in the Philippine Star. There's also a DSL connection here so I could surf anytime. I was hooked on Facebook before I came home because of the myriad of quiz apps available. Now, I'm constantly checking it because of MafiaWars (RJ actually got me curious because he coaxed me into making an account at Tagged so that I could join his Mafia there; now he set up a Facebook account so that he could play FB's MafiaWars which is a little bit different from the one at Tagged.

So one week or so flew by net-surfing, eating, reading Mills and Boon romances (they're my Mom's), trying to cook, sleeping late, getting up by 7 in the morning (it's only been three times since I've gotten up later than this), taking nature-themed pictures such as plants, flowers (the ordinary kind) and some common animals here (like cat and snails), discovering that we have sources of malunggay and calamansi in our own yard on top of sili, atis, guava and saluyot, and sweeping the house everyday. There were other things I had planned to do before I came here. On top of these was enhancing my Spanish and German writing and speaking skills. Then I planned to write regularly, something like on a day-to-day basis. Talking with my parents soon after I got home brought the pressure to start earning so one of my immediate objectives was to find a work I can do from home. I can't say I'm fulfilling all three satisfactorily but I'm putting myself on a schedule starting this week so I can fit all three on top of my daily activities. My problem is when I'm online, I don't immediately get to do what I'm supposed to do. Surfing about also shows me many things I'm interested in so my time in front of the PC lengthens. I ought to make a list of things to do before I go online and stick to it, then accumulate more tasks for the following surfing sessions. But sometimes, it's just easier to give in to impulse. *sigh* Oh yeah, because of those activities I planned to do, I thought it would be a good practice for me to manage my time since I really suck at it.

I also told myself I'd be more informed about, and if possible, more involved with this country's affairs and international issues.

One downside of staying at home is my lack of physical activity (and I mean the running around/competitive type which I could do with Sikad when I'm in QC). I don't know of any who play here and I certainly haven't seen or heard of anyone playing the sport in our city north of NCR. There's no space here where one could really jog around and for awhile, floods have claimed our lawn so there's no space to play basketball or badminton. I've watched two games for the Asian qualifiers to the 2010 World Cup and I envy those countries because they have the pride to send their national teams to vie for a place in that tournament. Hopefully the Philippines reaches that position in the next five years.

That's all the time I've got for today's musing. Will work on my to-do list and shcedule, then cook milkfish for since lunchtime's approaching. Ciao!