Holiday Cheer

Hello. The year is again coming to a close. I haven't been writing like I used to because a. I am not happy with the political climate these days, and b. I recently bought a new phone, and even though I do not have tech fright, the recent technology challenges me day by day as if it will swallow me whole, knowing my digital knowledge is still so miniscule despite my being abreast with everything. I guess I just find my creativity flowing more by editing video content these days than by writing. Still images remind me of the good old days of photography back in college, where I had to endure the smell of odorous liquid fixer inside my old school's darkroom/photo developing studio, which I think now barely exists as everything these days holds every memory in a small USB stick, which can even contain as many as a terabyte of your life. 

Update. I have been busy working remotely. My small e-commerce business is still thriving, and my feet have been itching to travel these days, but I haven't even renewed my passport yet because I don't feel that the global safety standards as far as traveling with the ongoing pandemic (which the world seems to be already turning a blind eye on just to have a sense of normalcy) are yet ironed out pretty well policy-wise. 

I haven't been reading a lot either and still haven't finished reading John Green's ebook called The Anthropocene because I often get sidetracked when a whiff of creativity kicks in or my cats ask me for kibbles. I have long considered getting an automatic feeder for them.

 And oh, speaking of which, my siblings and I decided to adopt a new kitten last June and July of the same year because we thought our ten-year-old ginger cat needed a friend, and the pup from the same home where the kitten came from was just a bonus. The pup, btw, is a mayhem, lol. With our current situation, we coined a term in the house: "The Cat Team," a.k.a. "The Cattery vs. Team Dog," which now consists of our eleven-year-old dog being the tiniest, a medium-sized one, and our new recruit, who looks like a pup version of those gigantic and fluffy white dogs called Shepadoodles except he's black, which we also coined a made-up breed for Shepadevil because of the amount of chewed items he has contributed to the household so far. Don't get me wrong; he's a very sweet dog for his size and thinks he's still a small puppy even if he's already seven months old. 

Our Calico kitten is a sweetheart though, because her meow will melt your heart whenever she asks for food, and I have been meaning to have one since I saw this huge ad billboard of a calico cat on one of Japan's crossings that went viral over social media. These past eight months of owning a female kitten, my sisters and I realized that our adult ginger cat isn't so bad at all socializing with another cat. We might've judged him sooner that he would not get along with another one of his kind, forgetting that he's neutered, and neutered or spayed cats are often less aggressive. 

Anyhow, our ginger cat turned out phenomenal despite the bites and scratches he accrued from playing with the new kitten in town. We even got worried at one point after his would get infected. Upon further research, we found that bites or nail scratches from another cat often cause puss-filled wounds, and whilst already considering a trip to the vet, we found a last-minute solution in the form of Nanopets (Nano silver), which was an awesome antibacterial for pets when Aozin couldn't seem to make the troubling wound go away. It worked like a charm, although I still suggest always consulting your vet because it's always on a case-by-case basis. 

Anyways, despite the biting cold these days, the holiday season compelled my sister and me to be creative by decking our house for the holidays and coming up with menu items for our Noche Buena and Media Noche. This year, we went for "Winter Woodland" as our holiday decor inspiration. It incorporates a lot of fake snow, icycle baubles, wood decor accents such as deer ornaments, fake milky leaves, and a little bit of gold baubles as well. My sister made her biggest purchases of all time by purchasing dinner plate sets, christmas ornaments, etcetera, whilst I went cheap since I already bought timeless dining cutlery and pieces in the past with my usual mantra of going for gold colors every holiday season so it'll be apt for whatever theme we will come up with, although for next year, I suggested we go for a candy cane holiday theme just for a change and so as to exude a little bit of that childlike charm before our age totally eludes us lol.

As an end note, don't lose that holiday spirit no matter how difficult things are, and always be thankful because the Christmas season isn't really for us as we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and consider ourselves guests. In a nutshell, this season is for us to celebrate life and be grateful for being alive despite all the challenges and adversities life throws at us, so don't be a Grinch. May you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year! 

♡ lots,

 Philly Jeane

Gaslighting

Source: Reuters

 I'm not going to lie; I am utterly disappointed with the outcome of the recent election, and my dismay is to the roof that I quit watching the evening news because I was heartbroken at how things ended. I know it's been roughly a couple of months since our newly "elected" officials took their oath, but still, I cannot believe how the number of "digital voters" seems to be higher than our population, and that even my dad, who braved the streets during the EDSA Revolt '86, cannot wrap his head around what is happening to our country. 

I cannot believe that the previous administration totally paved the way for the most corrupt family to come back and rule the land, disregarding their very bad track record, not to mention the number of people who died during Martial Law. Don't tell me what happened in the past was a lie because that's what journalists are for—to expose the truth; otherwise, it'll be libelous to assume and speak of "rumors" in journalism. That's why there is a job for that and not just assign someone like a Youtube vlogger to scuffle in Malacaang before the press does, because responsible journalism and history aren't made by gossip mongers. 

Anyways, moving on before I flare up, maybe the reason why our President and his VP never took part in any debates is because they assumed a "sure win" through measures we don't know how to implement despite the strong resolve of those deserving and highly qualified candidates (who aim to alleviate the crisis our country has been facing since God knows how long) who laid out their platforms and plans for the country. All I can say is that money definitely played a cosmic role in this whole ploy to take over our democracy, which our parents fought for against those who relinquished and left our national funds dry and our country wallowing in the abyss of debt. Again, these are not rumors, and so are the number of extrajudicial killings during martial law and the number of properties bought by the Marcoses in New York while our country is being fed with Nutribuns from USAID during the dark regime to combat national hunger, which again the Marcoses took credit for, like how our current president in one of his speeches stole credit for the Bangui Wind Farm in Ilocos Norte, which is really a project of the Northwind Power Development Corporation. 

My point is, with our country already wallowing in insurmountable debt, we cannot afford corrupt rulers who will just rub salt in an open wound in such a poverty-stricken country as ours. The divide here isn't about which side of the fence you are on; the big question is, who will serve our country without vested interests? How can we trust a ruler and his cohorts who barely allow opposition in their administration? Is our current administration going to be transparent to the Filipino people? Then why abolish the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission first and foremost? If a leader does this first over every national issue that needs tending, I would suspect big time from the get-go that such a head of state refuses to be checked for corruption by everyone else unless birds of the same feather flock together, and that's why. 

Although it's not really rocket science considering how nepotism and it's-who-you-know are playing out these days when it comes to assigning someone in his cabinet and his "friends" as heads of various government agencies, I think our current administration is a joke that, as a leader, he can just assign himself as head of the Department of Agriculture, and his vice president can just assign herself as head of the Department of Education, just because they want and they can. How will other countries treat us seriously, then? I hate to admit it, but our country is a laughing stock at the moment because the whole world knows the truth, and sadly, we also know it, but the majority are turning a blind eye for reasons that will never benefit them or their posterity. 

Moving on, while our current administration is busy making a film revising history and the cost of goods and gasoline are also skyrocketing left and right, I highly feel our government is unfazed because their concern is to "clear their family's name." The Martial Law regime was never the "Golden Age" in Philippine politics because a lot of our countrymen suffered and were brutally persecuted for speaking the truth while our nation wallowed in poverty while the then first lady was busy holding and hosting events (from taxpayer money) and demanded to rush the construction of the Manila Film Center, which explains why it collapsed in the process while the poor workers instead of being exhumed from the rubbles were buried alive for the construction to push through in time for the hosting of the International Film Festival in 1981 because Imelda Marcos wants our country to outshine Cannes. Is it a rumor? No, it's in the archives.

Now, if you're also one of the many who is currently being gaslighted by this whole "Martial Law Golden Age" black magic, as per wiki, "historians believe that the Marcos dictatorship was marked by 3,257 known extrajudicial killings, 35,000 documented tortures, 77 "disappeared," and 70,000 incarcerations." Some 2,520 of the 3,257 murder victims were tortured and mutilated before their bodies were dumped in various places for the public to discover. Now, if you still believe that blatant corruption, murders, and torture aren't criminal, well, I hope you can sleep well at night.

As of the moment, my hopes for this country are dwindling because I feel like the aftermath of the recent election is becoming more of a time for retribution in a violent form, thus violence begets violence because the allies of the current administration feel that someone got their backs. So are you the type who will condone violence and the use of public funds while the vast majority of Filipinos barely make ends meet?

Truly, the fight these days is between the army of trolls paid to spread lies and deceit against those who truly fought, were tortured and murdered during Martial Law alongside their surviving families, and those who believe in justice and truth and stood against the oppressors. Let's pray for the Philippines and hope for the best that the darkest side of our history does not repeat itself ever again. 

References:

Manila Film Center Tragedy

Victims of Martial Law

2022 Philippine Election

Marcoses New York Properties Amidst Martial Law

Vote Wisely

    It's few days to go before election day and during these times we should think hard and think twice as to whom we are going to give the highest seat in our government to because our nation's future greatly depend on it. It is mandatory not just a must to vote for someone with NO history of corruption, oppression and above all human rights violation otherwise history will just repeat itself and when the term is over our country would be left in forlorn.

    I remember post Edsa Revolt, hopes were high and the world seemed like a better place until the aftermath of a Fourteen year regime was felt. Our economy was really in a bad state post Martial Law because the country's funds was gravely depleted not to mention the political turmoil thereafter. It was like our country was hit by a natural disaster because all that was left were problems and mess. We are in better state now (although, to be honest, we'll never be so to speak when a country is wallowing in so much debt and poverty) and hopefully we will not allow anymore atrocities and threat to relinquish our national funds to some people who feel like they are entitled to do so. The taxes paid to the government came from the blood and sweat of the Filipino people therefore is meant and is intended for them for when a natural calamity strikes, to fund rehabilitation projects and so on and so forth. 

    Let's  not forget that we are the 'boss' here and not our future leaders thus coined the term 'leader.' Every leader's primary role is to lead the nation, protect our sovereignty, lead us to the right path and not to swindle us all. 

Hello Tiger!

Hello, let me just say a Happy 2022 and Kung Hei Fat Choy all at once! I no longer have time to write like I used to especially this past holiday season as it was my busiest time of the year because I just love Christmas. I have a lot of fond memories of the holiday season as a child and as usual my siblings and I must carry on the tradition of celebrating it no matter what. We celebrated the holiday season as a small unit so as not to burst our bubble because Covid is still a stealthy enemy. We went for all vegan dishes last Christmas and New Year's Eve and cooked everything ourselves. Sissy and I just bought our all vegan ingredients from a local vegan online shop which does same day delivery can you believe that? Vegan stash is becoming more and more accessible these days where I'm based so thanks to that. 

For Noche Buena, we had vegan Greek Pasta salad which was oh so delish, Carbonara, Pineapple Tofu viand and some homemade Apple Pie which I did not use Granny Smith apples for since they were way more expensive than the red ones yet still turned out great nevertheless! For Media Noche, we went for Oyster Mushroom Macaroni Salad, Pancit Bihon (Stir fried Glass Noodles), Tofu stuffed Shanghai rolls, Rice cakes (Puto) and Ginataang Bilo-bilo (Glutinous Rice Balls in Coconut Milk). The good thing about cooking all these food for the holidays is that they will save you heaps of time cooking a week later because of the leftovers LOL. We had our usual gift giving thingy as well came midnight to keep us all awake and welcome Christmas and also New Year 2022. What I enjoyed doing the most though was setting up our table for both the Christmas and New Year's eve dinner. We went for Midnight Allure last year for our holiday season color scheme which centered on vintage Gold, Deep Blue and Teal Green.  You may check out my YT channel here.

So, how was my 2021 really? Truthfully, last year, business was slow which occurred to me as a surprise although I figured there's a logic to it. The lockdown last 2020 caused many people to shop online to ease out their pain and loneliness for not being able to socialize and go on with life as normal and, with the advent of vaccines to combat the virus, everyone was able to go out again (not minding we are still in the middle of a a pandemic) like crazy as if this pandemic never happened thus the resurgence of the covid-19 cases. 

Anyhow, when the pandemic broke out during the first quarter of the year 2020, I expected it'll be a tough year ahead because the order of things are bound to spiral out of control and so they did not to mention the Domino effect afterwards.  2021 was a much tougher year since 2020 pretty much just carried over all its unresolved issues to its successor and as expected majority suffered a great deal. But then, despite all these, there goes the adage "When life throws you Lemons, make Lemonade" which means this whole pandemic situation will eventually wane over someday and as always life is a series of moving on and striding forward. The silver lining is,  ending the year 2021 healthy and strong is already a feat in itself. Therefore, let me welcome 2022 with open arms. Hopefully, all our  hopes and aspirations will come through this 2022! It's the year of the Tiger after all, an animal known for its willpower and strength.