2018.08.30 – Byebye BC!

Today I said goodbye (well, sort of) to the Business Controls team whom I have worked closely with in the past 2 years in my previous role. If you didn’t know, I’ve changed roles effective August 1, but as part of the transition, we did a visit today for my last meeting with them (and have officially handed them over to Bryan).

Bryan, myself, Burt and Ryan

It has been a great two years and 4 months for me working with these folks (missing Wenjon who has moved on a few months earlier). To me, it was a good working experience with them, and we’ve gone through some challenging moments as well. I’m grateful to have been given the chance to work together and as I leave, I hope the feeling was mutual (like they’re not actually celebrating that I’m finally moving on haha).

Time just flies, huh? I can still clearly remember that dinner we had when I just joined the team and my predecessor sort of had the same farewell dinner. I didn’t know anything about the work I will be doing that time, and it’s probably the same “lost” feeling our new hire is going through right now. Haha. I will still try to help him out, but only for one more month!

We had our ceremonnial last dinner at Soban K-Grill in Eastwood as my way of thanks and also to welcome Bryan to the team. I guess I’ll be seeing them around as friends – no more work follow-ups and emails from me, hopefully! 🙂

Music Reco: Friday Jam

Let me just leave these songs here because they’re my jam for today.

Find No Rome in this video! I have been sleeping on The 1975 but I may have to give them a listen.

Aside from this – Troye Sivan’s new album, Bloom is out! I tried to stay away from the pre-released songs because I wanted to wait until the entire album comes out. Time for a listening party!

Yes, Friday!!!

2018.08.29 – Locavore

Yes, because the day was super full of meetings – I actually forgot to have my coffee and was running on purely fat power! Add to that, being on my second day of OMAD fasting (yes, one meal a day), I was somehow able to last – but I dropped dead on my bed right after I got home. I just woke up now (it’s already 1:30 am the next day), and I’m fighting the urge to eat!!

Rewinding back, we had dinner with one of my favorite contacts from Japan at Locavore! We talked about work, non-work, and my future visit to Japan this November. She gave me tips on what to eat in Nagoya (apparently there are a lot of special food there), so that got me more excited. I wish I could visit her one day in Kobe!

Rich, myself, Bryan and Yuko!

Here are some photos of what we ordered. They do a modern/unique take on classic Filipino dishes and I love them all – albeit a bit pricey!

Bestseller – Sizzling Sinigang

Garlic (really) Baby Squid

Dinuguang Lechon Kawali – my fave of the night!

Today was also the last day to sign up for JLPT this December so I just gave it a go, even if I’m not really 100% committed yet. I purchased a class (online N3 lessons) on Udemy, so I hope that will be sufficient to push me to take this seriously.

I’ll try to go back to sleep now because tomorrow/later is another long day at work. I will also be heading to Eastwood for more meetings in the afternoon. I just hope I have enough time for coffee!

2018.08.28 – Coffee x2

Another long day at work. We had a video conference with teammates from other parts of the world at around 10-11 in the evening. To be able to last, I had coffee twice – one in the afternoon (Starbucks – Hot Venti Breve Latte) and one after dinner (my fave – Arabica Iced Tall Soy Latte).

This is really the best coffee ever

I got home at almost 12mn and still continued working until 3 am. So, there’s not much to update really.

2018.08.27 – Holiday

It’s a holiday today (National Heroes Day) so there’s no work. I’m not sure it there were any heroes commemoration happening around, either. But thank you, Heroes, for sacrificing your lives for our freedom! We still have a long way to go as a country, I hope there’s no regret from your part. Ok, I promised no talk of politics here so let’s move on.

I binged on Meteor Garden today (well, sort of), and I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. Thank you Netflix and SmartDNSProxy! I will probably write a separate review about this on my main blog, so that’s all I have to say about the show.

Today, I also quit Viber. For no particular reason, really. I wanted to switch to Line as most Japanese people use that. I activated it and it seems none of my friends are there. The Tae Kim Group Chat (an online Japanese learners group) is still alive, though, so I’m lurking there again and practicing my reading and comprehension skills through their messages. Whatsapp was the second choice because it’s simple, messages are encrypted, and friends of mine who matter to me are there. So, if you know me, don’t meesage me on Viber anymore. Find me on Line or on Whatsapp. I’m specifically open to chatting with fellow Japanese learners so if you are on Line, you may add me, my ID is jekert.

I just suddenly missed Japan today so I went for Japanese dinner at the nearby Izakaya Hideyoshi. I used to frequent this restaurant a lot pre-Keto, but the Keto-friendly options here are limited so I’ve stopped visiting. Since I missed Japan so much, I decided to sacrifice my diet a bit, went to the restaurant and ordered Spicy Salmon Sashimi. I ate the panko(bread crumbs) hoping this much would not kick me out of Ketosis. I also had a new-found appreciation for wasabi, I liked how well it goes with the saltiness and spicyness of my order.

Spicy salmon sashimi

I thought of getting a highball but went against it and decided on Teaberi (again) instead. I’m not used to being alone at home anymore, because I always have my brother or the usual visitors (or Ralph) keeping the house lively. So, I spent an hour at Teaberi listening to A. Venue’s live band as I caught up chatting with friends on Whatsapp. I’m actually looking forward to working tomorrow because I’ll be surrounded by friends. I don’t know what’s happening with me, wanting to be around people lately.

The reason for my plateau-ing weight

Now I’m back at home and thinking of getting some studies done. I’m also thinking about what to do with my blog still. I’m happy being able to post here everyday since I quit social media, but this is really more for me. I want to also share something the world, but I don’t know what, or if I even have anything worthwhile to share. This is just me rambling. Let me actually sit in front of my laptop to figure out my plans. Saying good-bye for now!

P.S. Here’s a photo of the moon tonight.

Moonlight over Makati 😀

2018.08.26 – Credit Card Theft!

Wow, when it happens to you, you’ll realize how serious online security is. Today, somebody, somewhere, used my credit card to purchase things (games, credits?) on Steamgames.com. He/She managed to spend 600 USD before my credit card’s Anti-Fraud found the transactions suspicious and blocked my card. I also got the text notifications reporting the transaction and the warning, so I called them up to confirm that the transactions are not valid. My card was with me the whole time, and this happened at around 12 midnight. Also, there is usually a verification process for online transactions (OTP sent through SMS), but I didn’t receive any verifications for these fraudulent transactions.

I guess we really can’t be too careful when it comes to financial transactions online. I haven’t installed any new apps that could have potentially leaked my credit card details so I don’t really know what happened. My credit card company will be investigating these transactions and hopefully, I will not be charged for them. I’m grateful that my credit card company sends notifications after each transaction, so I knew within a few minutes that someone was using my card fraudulently. In a way, the credit card company also blocked my card “proactively”, before other additional charges went it. I received 4 more transaction attempts after the proactive blocking. The nerve of this person! I wish all thieves die in hell – people work hard to earn money and they just steal it like that??! I wish there was a way also to report this to Steam Games so they can trace the account and suspend it!

I know these details are an individual’s personal responsibility, but how can you prevent it, really? In this age of the internet where everything happens online, you cannot not prevent using credit cards for purchases, etc. The best thing one can do is select financial institutions with great controls and anti-fraud detection. The next step for me is to change all passwords and have all of my cards replaced. Again, one can’t be too careful with these things!

2018.08.25 – Saturdaze

I slept my heart out and woke up a little past 1pm already. I showered then headed to BGC with my brother (on his bike) and Mhealler (after a lot of forcing). My brother wanted to bike around but he didn’t want to do it alone, and being the child that he is, sometimes, I have to give way. Lol. Anyhow, I wanted to drink Arabica’s coffee so badly since I miss the taste so much! So yeah, we went to BGC in the afternoon for coffee.

The cutest dog was there!

While having coffee, it started raining outside so we had to wait it out (I was parked at the office, which is a couple of blocks away). After the rain let up, it was the perfect ambiance outside. Wet pavements, refreshed trees, cool air – I wish BGC was like this everyday!

Hello office building!

We got home, bought groceries for dinner. I cooked Chicken Tinola and Fried Dilis. Stuffed ourselves full, and ended it with Teaberi (c/o Ralph).

And then there was mahjong. Ryan arrived so he took over my place while I still had some winnings. Haha. And mahjong it will be for the rest of the night.

Fave game

Now, I’m planning to study for JLPT N3, which I’m still unsure of taking. I have 4 more days to decide because registration ends on August 29. What to do??!!

2018.08.24 – FRIDAYYYY

Yessss!!! Last workday of the week is here! Today’s highlight would be our PE Potluck during lunch! Had a great time catching up with my old teammates that I forgot about Paydro’s 100K game.

PE TEAM!

Suffice to say, I ate most of the shrimp. This was also our farewell to Jepoy, who cooked a lot of food for us (and came all the way from Calatagan, too!). SM Banban treated us to coffee after! Yey! My stomach was full! I also hope we get to hangout more often!

After work, we had another unlimited samgyeopsal for dinner at Matgalne. What am I doing eating all of this food???!

Yum beef brisket!

Al fresco dining so we don’t smell like samgyeopsal haha

I’m just so glad the weekend is here. No Friday night out, but I guess that’s for the better? At least I get to save money. Although I am thinking of opening that Bacardi in the ref. Let’s see!!!

P.S. F*ck it it’s Friday!!!

Again, thank heavens for Coke Zero!

2018.08.23 – Almost weekend

Despite Tuesday being a holiday, this week felt like the longest week ever! Messed up sleeping time and body clock and hectic work do not match. I felt like a mosquito flying against the wind (wew). Ok, that’s an exaggeration but you get what I mean.

Today was another day at work. But it felt a little bit like a Friday. I had early lunch at home but when I got to the office, I still joined my friends for lunch. I didn’t eat, though. I just had coffee, because you know, coffee is life.

Fireside’s Buttermilk Fried Chicken Fingers!

They ordered my favorite Four Cheese pizza, too! But I stayed strong and calm and Keto-ed on. Haha.

Since I was late in coming to the office, I stayed a bit later than usual to finish up some things. For dinner, we went out to Mercato. I bought 1/4 kg Spicy Lechon and a box of chicharon bulaklak. And they had Avocado Juice, too (with no sugar!!!). What a perfect Keto dinner! Haha. I have no photo of the food, but here’s a photo of #TeamPura. Ralph and I bumped into our gorgeous friend, Debbie!

#TeamPura

We ordered for take out since there were no available tables/seats anymore. We ate at the pantry, then resumed work for a bit.

HNNZZZZ

At around 8:30pm, we called it a night and headed home! We watched 2 episodes of Hana Nochi Hare. I had my fave Green Tea Cheese Froth from Teaberi. I also ate an entire 🍋 (lemon) with salt – my fave snack lately. It reminds me of Tequila, minus the tequila. And it’s good for my gout, so yeah, perfect Keto snack. Just drink lots of water after!

Now it’s almost 3am. I quit social media but I’ve been watching too much YouTube videos lately. I will probably post a separate entry about my favorite YouTube channels. For now, I need to sleep because I have a 9am meeting tomorrow, and it’s also a full day of meetings until 6pm – but I don’t care because it’s the weekend and I just can’t wait!

おやすみ!

2018.08.22 – Zombie mode

Basically, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep so I decided to just go to the office early and wing it. I was already at work at 7am, went through all emails, and spent the morning updating my slides for the afternoon meeting. By 10am, I was already super exhausted and sleepy – I had to get my second cup of coffee because I just couldn’t anymore.

Venti Breve Latte from Starbucks

I spent 10 minutes trying to fuel my brain with coffee before heading back to the office. Work again – then lunch – got eliminated at Paydro on the first question (an online quiz app much like HQ Trivia), then back to work again. Our meeting started and it didn’t turn out as scary as I imagined it to be. Well, I guess the crammed preparations somehow helped. But, I’m happy that’s out of the way because there’s more work to be done, STILL. After the meeting, I immediately booked a ride home because my body and brain were already shutting down.

At 5:30pm, I was asleep in my bedroom.

Then I woke up at 10:30pm, had a snack of peanut butter (finished what’s left of the jar), played some Pokemon Go (just at home) and watched some tech YouTube videos while trying to get sleepy again. It’s now 2:40am and about time to sleep. I hope my body clock has reset. I will try to wake up at 6am later because work again! Good thing Monday is a holiday – I will really make the most out of this long weekend to reward myself!

That’s all for now. Ciao!