Clutter Goes Digital
Aiming to live the minimalist lifestyle takes extra effort on the "effort" and "will" to live it. Read that again. It is not a brain maze but a reality.
When I skim through the social media and see posts of super tidy and clean living rooms, tidy desks, minimalist this, minimalist that, a group of my conscious and sane self always says, "I am going to do that to my room!"
*But that rallying voices quiet down the moment I close the application.*
Fact.
Reality.
*And most likely, I am not the only one.*
Go visit my sponsors, by the way! Apologies as well for not finding time much anymore in writing here. Busy is in the way.
My obsessive compulsion does not cover keeping everything in place apparently. Kinda skipped that job description. But that itch to madly clean up comes every once in a while. Though I wish it would come more often and hopefully less weak against the culprit that holds me back from disposing things - *over sentimentality.*
I go through ny stuff in hope to sift through what is *still* needed and what is no longer needed - papers most specially, and read through them and then my activity usually yields with none getting disposed.
Hence, the clutters get managed ineffeciciently.
Same goes with going through my clothes. I no longer fit medium and small sadly and hilarious at the same time .I can't help laughing at myself whenever I try one on, succesfully get it on and then struggle like crazy to take it off. And most of my stuff pre-pandemic, were mediums.
My best friend live by this line: if you haven't used it for a year, you probably do not need it. Give it away or get rid of it. She does her cleaning yearly.
That habit to cleanup and that mindset to keep things at a minimum takes a huge energy to will it. You have to actively be intentional about it. The switch to minimalism would be crazy for people like me.
Laughable.
Amusingly though, the digital houses - your phone, my phone, our file banks etcetra, adda up to "places that needs decluttering".
I have been having this warning for months now.
And it is not actually new. Again. I know I am not the only one. When we all first started with the sms exchanges we have "inbox full" often. We would have to delete some quoutes that got forwarded to us that we intend to forward to everyone else too once we get that budget for the unlimited text to all nextworks.
Either that or the creative effort in creating the graphic message using the parentheses and all other characters really captured us and we want to keep it in our inbox.
Fast forward to expandable memory, and being able to put in fresh set of cards in our phone, we now have that sign and these:
I have to move some to the SD card but that, too is getting filled. All my other extras are also filled.
And we are just talking about phone storage here. We haven't really gone through my USBs, my camera and all the other cards there is.
I guess we really cannot live without clutter we just have to be intentional in managing and organizing them. Unless we will have that courage to dump everything and start over which feels like re-formatting your whole being. Odd how we feel attached to these things. Amusing humanity.
*And yes, battle through over sentimentality.*
I need to get my butt off my chair now to free up some space in my camera. Because an event later needs space and my extras are in the other house.
Hah! Battle with letting go of some shots starts in few minutes.
How's your digital closets holding up?
Putting one up and seeing if it still gets to add more for July. Hehe.
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Buzzing in my Dreams
Bees are a recent fascination. Months back, though, I would cringe at seeing bees. In the garden, they trigger my flight response but the one with "pause, count to five and hope the flying object will not come near you, then run" type of flight. I run just in time before I feel the urge to pee. So when I am inside the house and safe, I go straight to the wash room.
Though even while I am typing this, I am opening google searches of the type of bees, the difference between bees and wasps, I still get confused a bit. Some descriptions will only give you differences in number of wings, body sizes in cm, vibrancy of the yellow stripe and how light or how dark the brown portions in their body are. I mean come on! If there is one flying around, should I know by seeing it if its size is less than 2.73 cm or if the yellow band is brighter than the other type? I am having short, senseless bouts of funny panic. Ah, the things we do to ourselves.
Anyhow. Somehow when I followed this instagram account because of their interesting bee rescues in reels, I felt a little at ease with bees. Most of their rescues, they did not need protective gears as opposed to the beekeepers of the "stingless" bees in the bee farm I was able to visit in Alabat, Quezon. https://instagram.com/bee.stigram?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
For a time the only friendly bee I know would be Jollibee, the orange mascot of our very famous fast food here in the Philippines. The other bees are always deadly for me.
I cannot find the one type of bee that I am most scared of. The black one. Now I am not sure if it really is a bee or something else. Because on quick look every time it flies close by and in panic mode I see no yellow. Oh well.
I never thought I will be fascinated with the bee bees. But after seeing the reels of the mentioned instagram account for some time now I had a quick buzz dream about bees.
In my fascination, I followed one. But I think it felt threatened and left a shallow sting on my left thumb. It was a weird sting as the sting was almost two inches long. Yes I noted that in my dream. Kinda sight-measured it. The sting was thin and white I can only see it sticking out if I gently move my thumb at a certain angle to get the proper light. It was an odd sting-in-the-dream. That kind you feel even though it is a dream. First, the area was numb, then I felt heat and then I felt pain when I press the sides of my thumb - may I remind you this is still in my dream.
I was able to remove the sting and somehow forgot about the dream until I was looking at my pictures that I captured around Burnham Park. And so I thought of looking up what it means being stung by a solo bee.
The thing about dream interpretations is that they will tell you *it is bad luck* ***but also good fortune.*** I was like so which one is it?
Because of that, I refined my searches simply for entertainment's sake. Because I am sure most of the things I will see about dreams will be like that: bad luck but also good luck.
I found one that interested me.
And I got it here. https://thepleasantdream.com/dreaming-of-bees/
In a picture, they listed down the possible meaning of different types of attack. .
I had the most hilarious entertainment with this one and this is closest I had in my dream : bees stinging you - rewards and pregnancy.
Except this is an attack by "bees" plural. In my dream there was only one bee. I think I spooked all of them and the one that left my thumb with a sting really meant to catch my attention as part of his tactic.
I guess I can take this humor to dreamland with me for now.
I wonder what is next in my dream. I have another bee-related thing. And since everyone is flying around bouncing where there seems to be nectar to live on, might as well plug mine. Visit my peakd/hive: https://peakd.com/@clicksinaframe/posts
Don't expect intros and grand stuff. I am yet to re-explore it even though I have created that account long time ago.
Those flowers in Burnham park were blooming and looking awesome that these bees (I am not sure anymore) were bouncing from one bloom to another it is hard not to notice.
It is kinda hard to chase them with a prime lens on.
Shot taken with my trusted Canon EOS M10 with 7Artisans' 35mm lens. I forgot the setting of my apperture but my ISO was set at 200 with shutter speed of 1/1000s. Processed in Adobe Lightroom Mobile.
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Spoil Yourself
... every once in a while, that is.
.. and only according to how you can do it without getting yourself loaded and burdened with lots of payables after.
The gameplay still holds a good strategy : ***live within your means.***
Take note the part where it says : "your means" and not someone else's. In this reels and Y.O.L.O and "I deserve this" culture and trend, it is hard not to be blinded by how someone else's capability influences us to think that *that* *is the standard of living a full life. And not being able to come near to that line of glam or luxury is less of "fun" and "acceptable".*
Another gameplay that holds a good strategy, too is : ***Never compare yourself with someone else.***
Cliche may be. But still and will always be the best advise you can give yourself. Now unless the comparison was used for canvassing the best deal in doing or acquiring something, comparing and trying to hold that OTHER THING as your goal without assessing the cost on you, is not actually a wise self-love move.
You would need and have to come to terms with the reality of your spending and habits. Sometimes we do need to adjust some activities or alter the norm to get that one time spoiling.
If for this month, it is impossible then save a dollar.
***It is not the price.*** There are a lot of things I would want to spoil myself with and most of them costs a kidney (or both, include the spleen, too) so I'd have to assess and recalibrate my desires for alternatives. Then I'd find other things to enjoy. Similar but would not cost me my sanity.
There are times we would feel guilty about spoiling ourselves and would want to share it with loved ones. Not bad, too. Spoiling yourself can also include spoiling loved ones. But never feel guilty for wanting to spend on yourself, too.
Again it does not have to be grand.
It just needs to be something you can call a "treat" for yourself.
Food?
Time?
Go get it.
Spoil yourself every once in a while.
No one else will do it for you.
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I guess another thing that I should mention is to : tell your plans to God.
I kid you not.
He who knows your next needs needs to be asked, too *for blessing your spending and making it a fruitful one -* ***to bless the recipient of the spending*** *(merchants, business, etcetera)* ***and the spender*** *(your well-being).*
A nose thing
*Have you ever had that moment when you are in the middle of a conversation and you wanted to say something, you open your mouth and then thought about it and decided you don't want to speak after all so you shut it and continue listening instead or let the silence linger?*
That is me for every single time I tap "Write Article" for the past few days after my latest article.
I have been lazy these days. Yes. I cannot think of any words to describe my state except for that one: lazy to type any thing.
I am taking this time, though, to break that. Somehow, as usual, I woke up from a good sleep and after few minutes I felt the gooey resident liquid trickle down from the inside of my nose bridge, started to tickle my nasal membranes and then the sneezes started.
Good morning, rhinitis!
I ignore them most of the time because after an hour or less it stops. I ate breakfast with my parents and my brother (who ate my sunny side up egg because he thought I will not be waking up till late). Seated comfortably, my nose itched like crazy. And of course itchy nose 🐽 always comes with the gooey running down. I had to get a handkerchief and the tissue roll. Hyperactive nose guards, them mucous keep going on a roll.
I finished breakfast and decided to log in for worl. By this time, I had too many sneezes already I think I shook my brain a little. I was excited to deal with the bugs I saw last night I was pretty confident I will be very productive today. I also messaged my teammates to give them a heads up that I will not be able to attend one of our afternoon meetings because I might do errands in the afternoon.
A lot more sneezes and I decided and assessed this will not stop soon so I had to take out the white oblong pill and put a stop to this sneezing and super flowing mucous reserve.
Thing is, there are moments that the pill will make me feel drowsy. But even before that takes effect, I am already groggy and spent from sneezing and running to the bathroom to clean and clear my nose, and of course hydrate afterwards.
My head felt heavy. Although I can still force myself to work on my tasks, I am also preventing further stress. These sneezes usually bring me dizziness eventually. Which I would not like to trigger vertigo. Dizziness will simply kill my whole day. It is one thing to be fighting off sleepiness from the antihistamine but it is another when you start to also struggle to keep your balance. And even have that struggle to "balance" even though you are already seated or lying flat on your back.
I had no choice but to call in sick.
Succumb to the call of the bed.
Raise the white flag.
Annnd.... Goodnight!
*But I guess I have to say, that sometimes, these forced pauses can be a blessing. See now I can type as I wait for the antihistamine shutdown to happen.*
©️ Pichi28
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Just Flow
And so to break the silence, I decided to revisit the prompter that I learned from master kudo kudo, The Most Dangerous Random Prompt Generator , and I got this for a prompt: https://www.squibler.io/random-prompt-generator
Still a chicken with taking up the five-minute timed writing, I will go as usual. Or not quite the usual.
How do you tackle a prompt?
Like I always tell myself, every thing around us is a prompt. It is only a matter of interest to us, writers, whether we'd take that challenge or chance to make something out of it.
What I like about prompts is that they tickle my imagination and then a story weaves itself.
Like for this prompt, my brain breaks down the sentence prompt to form characters and a bit of a back story. The sentence is composed of sub prompts which I will break down into characters, timeline and situation.
Whole family
Had been
Cursed
Whole Family
Whole family for me composes of parents plus child or children. If you are Filipino that could also mean the whole clan including the grandparents, uncles, the aunties, cousins, etcetera.
Oh that could work. See that? Brainstorming.
Whole family : the Caiko clan living in a compound in a small town in the middle of the forest bordered by a famous river.
Where did I get the name of the family? I have a bottle of cashew nuts in front of me - "Ca" and a coffee sachet the label of which is cut in half only showing "Iko". Put them together.. Caiko!
Had Been
Why is this a prompt? For me it sets a start date for when a certain situation happened. I am then led to the trail of thought to think of when the next prompt, curse, happened.
Curse
Very wide. Think of any unusuals and use it as a curse. Like, say, the Caiko family is known to always be tripping on their third step.
Odd curse. Yes. But I cannot think of anything and tripping or being clumsy on your feet is the only thing that I can think of as harmless.
So the Caiko clan is known in their small town to be that family who would always trip or fall on their third step coming from sitting or lying down.
*Weave it .*
The Caiko clan have been in this small town since time immemorial. Their roots started here. So families have known the Caikos for a real long time. They were the most welcoming and hospitable citizen of this town. So when and if the town gets visitors they always remember the Caikos to be the most hospitable host. From the oldest down their youngest member, they are kind, generous, helpful and polite.
Being in the middle of the forest, their town is graced with various visitors. To which they all welcome if the visitor decides to stay and welcome them warmly even if they just stay to rest for a while and continue with their journey after.
One time, an old woman (of course there has to be an old woman) who visited the town. The town heard of stories that there is a living witch in the forest. But the town is not shaken. For them, as long as you are nice with any being, there is no reason to be afraid.
But as any town who have Caikos, there also is one family in the town with the most jolliest but bordering disrespectful child. The town being kind and all guides the kid as though the kid is their own. But no one can really monitor a child like Chico (additional characters along the way). Everyone is used to Chico's bursts of laughter during unlaughable situations - except ofcourse an old lady, who is tired from long journey, wanting peace and quiet, who heard of this town to be welcoming and warm and with good food.
The old lady walks ever so slowly leaning on her cane. With tiredness though, she trips on one of the steps going to a tavern on her way to get a good food. The crowd gasped but a lot of the towns people nearby was quick to help the old woman up and assisted her to walk up the steps again.
Chico, saw what happened and true to his character, laughed.
The old lady stopped short, turned around to see where the laughter came from. She knows it was from a child.
She looks at the crowd and looks for a child fitting with such timbre of a laugh.
Chico was quick on his feet, though, just as quickly he laughed at the scenario, he was gone. The only child left was one of the Caiko's. The old lady pointed at the child and in a calm, tired and shaky voice, she said,
*No laughing matter,*
*When the old's steps falter*
*This you will share*
*For every third step your clan will dare.*
No one took offense on that one. They took it as one of those old folks' outbursts when they disapprove of a behavior.
But...
*The whole family had been cursed ever since*.
The young Caiko knew it when she tried to take a step forward toward the elderly to apologize on behalf of Chico supposedly. But it was too late...
The curse was whispered and pointed sadly to the wrong family.
The young Caiko steps one, two, trips. An older Caiko moved forward to help the young one up on her feet.
One, two, trips.
Everyone was silent.
The old woman proceeds towards the tavern's entrance. Ever so slowly.
All eyes of the town followed her movement.
*Let it hang.*
*Wiw. What's up read fam? Do jot down any story! Go go go go!*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Slice of Weekend
I had to get up early. I made an appointment to get my car checked and make sure it maintains its peak performance. I had to do it on a Saturday else, I'd need to ask for a day off from the office and that will be a deduction to the leaves I am saving up for some possible vacation.
Anticipating one at least.
The thing is, if I am going to be attended to early, that means I'd be roaming around the area early, to without much establishments opened yet.
I have been indecisive these days. Like everything is a good option and my brain cells are on hyper overthinking all the pros and cons. Normally, the weighing of all the options I can think of ends up with me not doing anything at all. That usually happens a lot when I am at home. Which ending up "doing nothing" is alright. Because you are already home and comfy. But when you are out, you would most likely end up standing on the corner sidewalk watching as cars mill in towards the parking lot and typing your read article like me right now. I need to come up with a plan rather than staying on this spot.
Bright Idea 1: I can take a Grab and go back home and do some errands while waiting for the shop to call me back and tell me tht they are done with my car and that they need my money so I can drive it home. *But Grab prices lately due to the inflation and awesome (sarcastic) gas price hike, the fare would definitely be something my pocket will feel.*
Bright Idea 2: I can walk towards the nearest convenience store that is open twenty-four hours (yes i spelled that out. But not sure if it's correct but I am a little on fire with typing, going back to check and retype the whole thing will break my mojo). They do serve good coffee. *But I do not want to end up smelling like the convenience store cooking oil they use to fry their huge chicken meals.*
Bright Idea 3: Walk. It is probably a good idea. Considering I have noted that i struggled to get into my shorts a while ago. And looking at the shadow of my reflection on some window shops I am working out on some kind of a body shape there - round. Exercise is good. *But it is too damn early my muscles are protesting the idea. And willpower is still sleeping.*
Bright Idea 4: Shoot! Cannot get yourself to walk maybe a motivation will be to shoot around? Why not right? People are milling in after all. Streets will be busy soon and there is a spot where I know people are jogging. *But... Refer to but of bright idea number 3.*
Bright Idea 5: Sit in park benches. I know this place semi like the back of my hand. Part of what I loved about this part of the metro is the parks. My early morning activity when days were normal included a short walk around the park. Maybe a macro shot along the way or a simple breathing exercise. *But ever since my friend had a brush up with a caterpillar and ended up groggy in the nearest emergency room, I developed some kind of a paranoia when staying inside the park.*
Bright Idea 6: Stay in a coffee shop. Yep. Viable option. Considering I did bring my kindle. I can take sips of coffee at the rate of one sip per minute and read a ton. *But my over-imagining and over-anticipating self pictures a shivering Pichi inside a cold coffee shop.*
Then again, after all the thinking and short walking from time to time to not be staying on the same spot where I am a little blocking other walkers by getting to their destination, I realized I am hungry.
I remembered there is this pancake shop I super love nearby. And already, I have what I am bound to order in my head and yep that is the destination. I can do all those bright ideas after all.
Except the last part. It may be that I can stay there as long as I have my cup of coffee filled but I am still not a fan of small spaces with possible lots of people so. I'd have to eat and then re-do the whole bright idea list and hopefully end up somewhere where I can sit.
I might .. i just might walk to that part where people are biking and jogging around. That would be a lot of pictures and stories to practice capturing.
Or
I just might... Book that Grab ride.
*What is your story?*
Something must be in that coffee ... I am on hyper thinking and it is still early.
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Enjoying Sky Replacement
I started having interest in taking photos when I was a kid. But I did not know I will be hooked to it until I met friends along the way who also had the same interests. My very first camera was a point and shoot Olympus. I bought one in one of my visits in Thailand since they sell cheaper cameras.
It started with just taking photos. ANY photos. Then on my reviews, I enjoyed looking at candid shots of people laughing, people playing, people crossing the street, etcetera. Yes. Those shots where people do not know they were the focus.
Hobbies and interests are best honed and further enhanced when you start looking at some others' work. Not to compare but to get ideas.
Fast forward, I learned that not all photos we see in ads and websites and soc meds are all images coming out straight from the camera. There is "post-processing" where the photographer wants to add more feels or re-create or enhance the captured experience. It is not bad for me. It is silent controversy in some groups I think.
Trivia. It is in these moments that I am amazed at how our eyes are actually made and created. We want cameras to capture the beauty of what we see - everything in all range from foreground to background. Our eyes can see the bright moon and still see everything else around it and even the streets. Sometimes using a camera, you only have a choice of seeing the streets whole and the moon appearing as a dot, or just the moon and everything else is dark.
I had to learn these enhancements as well. If I want to share what I saw that time and not ruin that moment because of the weird output in my digital camera. But learning these skills is beyond my threshold of patience. And if some things go too nitty gritty on details, I blank out. So sometimes what I do is message some of my friends who *know* a lot about taking pics and ask them about their photos. Some would indulge and do give directions, others will be a little secretive with their workflow.
Thankfully, though, photo editing/post-processing softwares do upgrade their tools as well! It probably is old technology, but I only discovered it recently:
***Sky replacement.***
And boy do they have a lot of skies in their library!
I was able to share it in noise one time when I stole one portion of my busy day to have one of my photos I was already bound to delete because I am not ok with how it looked go through a trial in Photoshop's sky replacement. https://noise.cash/post/gjn0r86bvv75
https://noise.cash/post/gjn0r86bvv75
And my oh my. After that, I have a lot of doubts about what I see in Instagram even more. Haha.
It is a fun tool to play around grey-day captured photos. Most of those photos that I cannot salvage through mere snapseed quick processing, I go black and white. Drag down the saturation level to 0 and you have another image with a different feel.
As for the recent one, I was looking for my pictures I took around Tokyo. I have this one crow on top of the street lamp.
This is the original shot. Straight from the camera. this file, however, got corrupted (yeah, it happens). So dragging it through a raw post processing may or may no longer be as fun. But I saw the white, dirty-white, boring light-grey sky. And thought, why not see what PS' sky replacement can do?
Et voila!
My goodness!! So nope. Not deleting the original phot just yet. I may, if I do get the time, even find it necessary for learning composite. Which is another topic altogether.
Meanwhile, this little birdie will be going up to my FB collection of learnings and other captures. Yes, yes do feel free to roam around my senseless gallery. Then again, I need to update contents of that one. Just got to find time. https://www.facebook.com/SecondInAFrame
Admittedly, though, this seems to be a good enhancement to most photos with grey, washed-out skies, you sometimes have to be aware of how the "sky" blends with the whole picture.
Not all fake skies blend well with the picture. It will hurt your eye if you insist.
Should you want to learn more and see what can fit your "time", a friend and mentor recommended me to follow PHLEARN. I like it when folks who "know" also know how to have fun in sharing their knowledge with other people. https://www.youtube.com/c/phlearn
Can't wait to learn more and share!
*What is your story?*
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Getting Back on Splinter
*This was written days back before the season ended. The season ended without me getting rewards by the way. I lost twice after a good five-winning streak and then two defeats after, I lost appetite to play and then got busy.*
I have been on a long break from doing Splinterlands. My last was getting on the Silver Tier . Not really high compared to them who play them really well. My next plan supposedly was to rent them few cards and stay on the border of tier of Silver and then start building up on the rate and level up for when I'm gold-rated. Then start renting cards again then. But that never happened and I do not even know if it can happen or if I can pull it off.
You see, I think after three seasons folded in I am back to being a Novice. And after a while, I did try to get back up but I got annoyed with my losing streak. Yes just two losses after two wins and that gets me annoyed. I mean by now my lineup should have been solid. But I guess that is one of the fun of the games. Sometimes you really lose some.
What is another thing that is interesting is that on some days it seems I stumble on playing against players with handle pattern : <UNIFORMUSER ALPHA CHARACTERS> +<RANDOM GENERATED nunbers>. Or it is actually the number of players they have created? See? I kept losing to COAT#.
Previous seasons, I also noted that there I lose to GAMECON#.
Anyway, I am back up.
**Water** is still my favorite element and go to element for when I no longer want to think a lot on what to place.
For water, I like putting in Djinn Oshannus along with Ice Pixie under the summoner Kelya Frendul. It's like by putting in Djinn Oshannus there, I have 85% of comfort to win. Yes. Not a hundred per cent. Because there are players with better lineup most of the time. Maybe if I can get twenty win streak with my Djinn Oshannus then I can say hundred per cent!
**Life** is my weakest, weakest element. Which makes my Daily Quest now a little hard to achieve because it says my daily quest should be "Life". I do not have a solid go to life lineup yet.
Anyone with a life quest line up favorite?
There is this player with prefix "HAIA" and his LIFE lineup seem not to work for me. But maybe I can try. He goes like this for 22-mana cap, standard rule which is a little weird for me but works for him:
General Sloan
Blinding Reflector
Celestial Harpy
Truthspeaker
Xenith Archer
Pelacor Arbalest
Herbalist
**Death** is my next go to favorite. Thaddius Brood, the Cursed Windeku, the Silent Sha-vi and the Undead Badger makes me happy. Though you have to give them a good mix and placement to really win.
**Earth** seemed weak to me at the beginning but I was surprised by this element. It is my top for Mana-cap 14, Standard rule. That goes Obsidian, Mycelic Morphoid, Failed Summoner, Regal Peryton, Khmer Princess.
The Regal Peryton- Khmer Princess-Goblin Psychic team up is also a fun battle to watch. Though they do not always fit in the battle.
What I like the most about the Earth is renting the Scarred Llama Mage or Mylor Crowling. Pairing Scarred Llama Mage with the Kron the Undying is a real good lineup. But of course that means shelling out rent DECs or credits. To some they are able to get back what they paid for and more after the season. Sometimes, like me, because I don't play too often, I only get break even. haha.
There you go, the Earth lineup just played well against Fire.
Oh, Fire!
**Fire.** Is another element I am not too familiar with. Although as per my history the lineup:
Tarsa
Scavo Chemist
Radiated Scorcher
Goblin Fireballer
Serpentine Spy
Seemed to top my Mana Cap 12, Standard Rule.
**Dragon.** I have no solid lineup for Dragon. I do have the Dragon-Earth lineup for the Mana Cap 25, Standard rule that I rarely use. Dragon Earth with Kron the Undying is also one helluva lineup.
Now I have 4 days to strive for GOLD. I doubt I'd be able to carry it out but let's see what I can have for the EOS loot.
They say there is something new about this game.
Let's see...
Want to join in on the fun with this game? Join me! https://splinterlands.com?ref=lowisleyn2021
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Doing rounds 'round my Jericho
Do you have a dream?
Do you still have a dream?
Are you still building dreams?
If I were to ask you what is your most recent, reachable dream, how would that story go?
Study hard. Get a good job. Be able to sustain yourself.
That's the summary of the golden vision of what most parents would want their kids to achieve. It is a fulfillment on both part - the child and the parents. Road to being independent and with some sense of responsibility and some sense of appreciation of hard work.
That just becomes one part of our dream, yeah? The rest we have our own versions of and that can either be in the path of career or something else.
We normally dream of getting things we do not have yet. It sort of serves as our pin on the map. Like going some place. It is the end point. Does not matter which route we take but the plan is to get there somehow.
We dream of having a car of our own. A bigger house that where we are living in now with our family.
When I finally got off college and landed on a job and a role I dreamed of, I thought I was already done with dreams. What came next were smaller sets of pins on the map and it is a delightful journey. And I guess even those smaller sets of goals and dreams take hard work to achieve. No lazing around, no sir! And it has cost also.
There is a story I got to review just last night when I was doing some random reading and musings. It was that story of the walls of Jericho. Revisiting these stories really do pump up the heart somehow.
There is a tribe that was promised that land enclosed with the thickest, most awesome, military-grade wall there is. Nearing the area, they were feeling less and less powerful and smaller and smaller because the place is huge.
I remember when we were studying this story way back, we were talking about "big grapes". Because there were spies sent out to the land some few days back before the tribe crossed the river towards it to finally take claim. And the spies brought back to their camp those big grapes. So that gives a little picture of what is inside that wall - something huge. *THINGS ARE HUGE***. It is that land flowing with milk and honey.**
You know, when you come from a long journey of sleeping in tents in the middle of the dessert, crossing rivers and lands for days that seemed endless, you would want some pampering after.
Or at least you are eager to come to that day for when the madness of moving around has stop. If before that, you came from a place of slaving for every plate on the table for your family, you'd dream of having that time for when the food serving will be a feast without having to slave to have it.
If you are a kid then, the story passed down to you was that the journey you are taking is to finally get a hold of that promise of *overflowing milk and honey.* And for every step forward and every mental comparison of "what I am having now versus what I will be having soon" turns that journey into fulfilling a *dream*.
I have never pictured the promised land as a "dream". I've somehow grew up thinking it was a "promise". But then again it was a dream and a promise at the same time. It was God's direction and man's desire, too.
The tribe took them years to get there.
The tribe had to obey weird directions.
Seven rounds around the perimeter and the strongest of walls crumbled down making way for them to enter the land and finally realizing their dream.
*Feeling like your dreams are way too far from being achieved, keep going!*
What is your Jericho?
It is a good question. Knowing your Jericho will make you able to voice out to God or picture out what you want in your life.
Be bold in praying for it!
Know your Jericho and do your rounds, too!
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Random Pick Up : A Peso at a Time
No not pick up lines. I do not do that. But I can try. But I will not.
I have been too tense lately. My brain is pre-occupied with the two-hour task that will happen next week that I cannot get myself to plan and enjoy the time before that. Or even make plans after that two-hour task. It is like I cemented myself.
Realizing that, I know I can pick myself up and divert my attention. Not unless I needed time to prepare for that two-hour task. But until then, there is no use getting stuck in that two-hour horror, right?
I have to be nice to myself. So I decided to do small steps forward and to pick up my happy and care free self from where I left it off and started becoming that robot fixated on the weird two-hour portion for next week.
***Trying Paymaaya***
I finally decided to try Paymaya's crypto. I am not a trader. I do try sometimes. I do not put in too much. I probably put in too small an amount any normal investor would probably laugh at me. But I do it for simple experience and the key to that is always this : Never put in something you cannot afford to lose.
So at that time that I was coaxing myself to be brave to try it, I made mental computations of : what I can shell out at the moment and what I can track. Track and then most likely lose track of as well.
For that rarest times, I was able to time a buy in for BTC in time for the dip to rise. Or so I thought. I shelled out a hundred pesos (PHP100 = 1.89 USD) . It reflected 98 so it probably dipped the moment I confirmed the buy in. Since I'm already numb with that kind of happening I let it go. At least a hundred is easier to track and if btc starts to rise then good.
Two days later, I checked again and it finally did move up. Only a bit. I took in the 1php to let it stay in the 100. Let's see if it blow up further. Now it's on dip again. Had I took out the full hundred and bought at this time's rate I may have a chance of earning more. I am yet to see their charges, though.
Maybe I will try bigger next time. Haha. Maybe. Or when they finally have a BCH, too. That would be nice
*Re-trying Gcash GAMES*
I learned about the GCASH games through @bbyblacksheep . I checked it out right away but only chose some games I can just start and feel. I started with the hoop thing. Got bored. And did not revisit the games until three days ago. Oddly, I cannot see it in the list anymore.
Give 'em my sponsors a visit!
They got good stuff!
I revisited to see again what I can play that interests me and not make me shell out some. Not that they ask you to shell out in a lot of games. Just trying to get the feel of the app. Most games we will all be very familiar with already. We've played it at some point. I tried the bubble color game. Where you shoot at matching color bubbles to pop them. I think the game is "Bubble Woods". I played the tutorial because I wanted to know the touch sensitivity of the game, how it is played, etcetera.
I was surprised though that in the short period I was trying to figure it out, I got a "congratulations".
Along with the congratulatory message was a message that I got a peso from GCASH. I never got to win another peso that same night.
But I did find other games that make me achieve tickets from the Quests portion. The games are entertaining. Not entirely addicting YET to me. But it is a good anticipation for the concept developer to add "energy bar". Each game requires an energy so once your energy is gone, it takes some time to re generate, I guess.
*Bitcoin Blast*
I forgot how I saw it I just downloaded it and tried it. Turns out I was playing this, too. A long time ago. It does pay out BTC and ETH to Coinbase, though. I just thought of trying it and then it does pay out.
It is an easy matching game. Just right to keep you entertained and occupied for a while. The payout ain't huge but at least there is. It as Ad-filled though. So I guess if you just flicked it to play a bit, and then the ads start, chances are, you will not be able to play a lot.
I saw the small ad window on the main screen that they have Sudoku game. I might try that one.
***It pays out*** *****ONE TIME***** ***to one coinbase account by the way. So better play to the max and then transfer after you think you will not to play it again.***
So ok. Now back to moving towards other things. One small step at a time.
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Quick Tap: no people, please!
How anti-social can you be?
Stephanie ain't exactly a *hermitess*. She just happen to have that huge chance of not wanting people's direct attention.
Nope. She is not people phobic. She just does not like eyes on her. And even before a conversation starts, she makes sure she dodges it. She works and masters that unspoken conversation between creatures. You know? Like even without words, you kind of *know* the person next to you will start a conversation. Or the person in front of you who you were not entirely making eye contact with accidentally gets a false hint that you may want a conversation? She has that heightened social hypersensitivity that she mastered so well.
It is not her normal. But then, again, she is now second-guessing her normal. She can be quite chatty given the right companion or group to get into a conversation with. But she can also be that as described above - not wanting even the littlest attention or attempt to.
She is occasionally invisible. That is her superpower. And that instance is now.
However, she is caught in a situation.
The event she attended -ironically one that falls on a Sunday social gathering for normal human beings - just ended. She knows no one in that gathering. It is just as much as she wanted. Go there peacefully on her own. Take in what she can take in.
Join people. But not *be with* people.
Be part of the picture of the crowd but spinning your own story of a shared public Sunday.
Now that the main social gathering has ended, the crowd is now flocking into the lobby and most are milling out of the building going down to the basement parking and it was a huge flow of people. Stephanie assessed the stairwell. Imagined the crawl down to basement 3. And she decided she did not want to be part of that exodus out just yet and she moved towards the lobby cafe.
The lobby cafe is also crowded, of course. As groups, families, friends gathered to discuss the topic or any topic. She stares at the menu. Reading the coffee prices. Thinking they are pricey but, then again, what else can you do while you wait for the exodus crowd to thin out?
She can move to the bookstore but that would mean battling with her impulse to buy every book there is. She can hang out in the cafe upstairs of that bookstore but that would be placing herself in a smaller, more compact area which might give her that feeling of claustrophobia.
She keeps staring at the menu and checking behind her as well should there be anyone waiting for her to be done staring at the menu and planning her next moves should staring at the menu start becoming too weird for the cashier.
She needs to make a decision before the cashier thinks the silence is taking too long the "customer might need help in deciding what to get". Stephanie moves away from the menu unsure really of what to buy.
Or if she wants to buy.
But how can she not coffee? There is not much to do at the moment!
She glances away from the cafe for a while. Appreciates the huge spacious lobby. Every once in a while straining her ears at the conversations of people passing by. Scanning the crowd but not really making eye contact. Then her eyes go back to the cafe.
Just in time for her to see one person drop hundred peso bill in one of the plastic boxes. She saw him pick a cup from a stash, pick a sleeve, put the cup under one of the thermoses and pump coffee.
Without a word or interaction to any person!
Oh, joy! Heaven!
So she quickly and with much enthusiasm pulled out her hundred peso bill, dropped the bill in the plastic box, did the same as the man did, et voila!
Coffee without saying a word!
She then moves to an empty table with three extra seats and starts watching people around the cafe and taking mental and making quick stories of what may be happening in each table.
She is mighty delighted to see she is not the only one not wanting any interaction.
One lady had her laptop opened and her other things on the table obviously proclaiming she ain't sharing that space and starts playing whatever game she is playing with her laptop.
Another table had another single occupant with earphones stuck in his ears and staring at his cellphone - probably watching some downloaded film.
As she sips her convenient and availed-without-talking-to-anyone coffee, she sighs and proceeds to relax slowly.
Off to few minutes of non-interaction coffee break before heading home. People watching on the side and avoiding any type of conversation but ears perked up for any thing it can catch as she strains her ears listening to stories of each table.
Making my eyes wander around just to think of stories. Killing time.
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Nostalgia from Their Stories
I have been guilty of getting hooked with Instagram's reels and some other social media's stories. Uhm. No, not tiktok, though. I've tried installing that in my phone at the start of the pandemic but I never really got a hold of how to tiktok so I uninstalled it. I still do get forwarded tiktok messages from friends and specially my from my brother.
There was a time that I did frequent less on soc med. I gave myself some distance to it when the pandemic started and a bit more before the election, too. I check once in a while since some of my groups of friends communicate through FB and IG.
Then there is this one time that I got myself off from my work chair. And after some chores, I lied down on the bed. Not really wanting to sleep yet. I started to linger around Instagram. At first I liked that stories of the dramatic husky. It was so cute. And then the next video caught my attention as well.
Then I scrolled up, the next video was also hilarious.
And then the next.
And then the next.
And then the next.
Next thing I knew I wasted huge amount of time lying on my back and watching short clips. It was not a total waste of time when you think about it. I was on my free time anyway. It was entertainment.
howdy sponsors! Thank you so much for your continouse support :)
Then I shifted to stories. I normally just scheme through my friends' stories. Consistently comment "haha" to those who consistenly post something to "haha" about. Sometimes their stories are actual conversation starters.
Conversations usually look like this:
Friend : *<posts a story of some nice beach>*
Me: Oh hey! Where is this place?
Friend: Boracay.
Conversation ends.
Minimal interaction but keeping the maintenance there. Lols.
As friends and people start to move and start to travel again. I like seeing where they are going. Part of me wishes I am going there, too. I am loading my mental list of where to go next while seeing their stories and reels.
Also, some friends would post about the places I have been too, as well. And that also gives us some connection and re-connection somehow.
One friend posted a story while he was going around Paris. One of his stories showed an old man in the street playing a violin and with its case on the ground opened for "donations". Oh the nostalgia.
That reel alone took me back to places where I've seen buskers and enjoyed watcing them.
There is on in Siam near the place where we stayed in for the week-long business trip I was in.
This one here below was one from Paris on the way to Louvre if I remember correctly.
My friend was hoping to see mimes during his trip. And I racked my brain if we were able to see mimes in the area as well. But I remember not seeing mimes in the same area but I did see some when I was allowing myself to get lost in the streets of Odaiba in Japan and also in Ueno Zoo in Japan as well.
I also love seeing the local buskers and street performers. This one below is from BGC. I also have two most recent ones in my phone that I am yet to retrieve to my laptop to be able to post them. But I guess these are enough.
Friends soc med short clips in reels and in their stories did give me a pang of nostalgia of my own travels and interests in seeing in the streets. Buskers is one of them. One loca artist that I would like to see tried busking in BGC just recently but I missed it. Since I don't frequent going there, either. Oh what a joy if I get to see him perform soon . Him and his wife! oh!
And oh speaking of busking.
Since I started out the Rising Star game, I have no idea what I should be doing there. https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=lowisleyn2021
The only thing I can do, ironically is to do illegal busking. Hey I am the one doing street performances this time.
Yep, that's me down there. Low-level, low-skilled, with no fans, no drunks as well. Do I just busk my way around till level 5 or someting? Also why is my card a dude? There was no option to change that in the beginning or is there?
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Ring the Bell!
Sandra fans her face with her hands as she sits out front on her balcony one summer Sunday afternoon. It has been getting hot and hotter each day lately. She had her brown hair in a bun now. She wiped a sweat that trickled down her nape and just allowed another trail of sweat from the right of her temple down the side of her face.
She sighed. She reached out for her glass of lemonade she placed in front of the small table and took one gulp. Letting the juice stay inside her mouth for a bit before letting it flow. She felt the cold liquid fill her with a little coolness albeit temporary. She also felt her teeth ache a bit.
She watched the kids in the house in front of her house playing in their garden sprinkler. Their squeals and laughter made her smile. Oh, to remain a child and care free of the bills! She heard their mom warning them about running too fast and may end up being in the street in their excitement and they might get hit by the passing cars.
She remembered summer days back home in the Philippines. Like those kids out in their yard, she and her friends used to not care about the heat of the summer sun. That was years ago. The earth is a bit healthier then. They did not have a yard and a sprinkler then but they did go hang out in some one else's place where ventilation is better.
They would sit there and also wait for the 3pm man with the bell and his cart of "dirty ice cream". Ah, that bell! How she would want to hear that bell again and be excited with the refreshment that goes with it.
Her mind flew off to wondering how the invention of the bell is quite a genius. It really does catches your attention.
She is thinking now, "ice cream". But the usage of bell has come a long way.
She remembers stories told to her when she was younger. Stories she heard.
In some villages, there is a bell in the middle of their village. It is to serve as an alarm - of fire, threat of war, etcetera.
One that she liked was that of Emily Dickinson's father. It was a story of a man, who, during one sun down, ran hurriedly to the middle of the village. By that time, everyone was already inside their houses preparing for supper. This man, however, saw something that caught his attention.
In glee, he rang the village bell and got everyone out of their houses alarmed and well ready to help out in putting out the fire. But there was no house burning down. There as a fire in the sky so beautiful he got so excited with how it is quite a show that he wanted to share it with everyone else. He wants everyone to see it and be as overwhelmed. Sunset.
Ah, the beauty of nature!
She laughed as she recalled the story. It would be sun down, soon, too. From her spot, she will be able to see the beautiful sunset. She had her camera ready for that one - already facing where her app predicted the sun will be setting.
Should she find a bell to ring and have her neighbors share also what she is about to witness?
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Oh, Hello June!
Six days down and I still have nothing up. I had this idea that I will load up my drafts again on weekend but then again I have been busy. So busy I cannot even remember what happened from June first!
I am read, though, for the reset. But since I am starting late. I doubt if I will be beating my previous month's earnings.
Beat your yesterday's version or improve yourself everyday, supposedly. But I guess we have to choose which areas in life we would like to do that. Choose one, get yourself to improve and be comfortable with some workflow on that one. Then once you got a hang of that, dare yourself to choose another.
Let us pick some updates...
*Me and the crypto world...*
Apart from the usual busy, I have only touched noise and kucoin so far for anything that's crypto-related. I have seen there were good updates in Splinterlands but I haven't opeend it yet. I know at some point BCH hit 200+ but was not able to get any form that rise. I was not able to buy any from the dip. But I am cool. I have managed to accept that that is how it is with our crypto life. Timing is key. And sometimes it will not go your way. I played a bit with the other coins though. So far. Breakeven is good. Lols.
Oh, hey it is down again, btw. I will look into it if I still have the energy and will to concentrate after some tasks after this.
And like many other "I will look into its" this past few days. I am expecting myself to not be able to look into it later.
*Me and Netflix*
Since I got back from our short vacation, I have a lot of tasks lined up. Busy and exciting at the same time. Not really catching up on backlogs but the vacation bought me a good rest and I am carrying on with what is expected of me work-wise. Time to pass down some knowledge to teammates.
I have been giving myself some laptop-away time. A little forced. Because I have been leaving my personal laptop in my parents' house while I work in my house where my internet connection relies only on my phone data. Aside from I do not want to bring extra weight around with me. I just know that I will be very tired after every shift that I would not want to do any more thinking but just sip a hot cup of tea.
Rest my thoughts. Or let it play around the scenes in Netflix. What's in my queue:
BIOHACKERS (already in Season 2)
LINCOLN LAWYER
I also just started GOOD MORNING VERONICA. It won't be long till I get all their stories mixed up. I get bored easily so I have to pump up some variety in the entertainment area.
*Me and Reading*
Also progressing my reading. It is a good idea to get myself off my phone and to the Kindle Paperwhite instead. Lesser distraction that way. Also for reading, I also do variety.
I have The Graveyard by Neil Gaiman. Interesting author this one is.
I have started with Michelle Obama's "Becoming". I am not really sure what to expect with the book. It is just that it has been on the "recommended" books everytime I get to talk to anyone who reads, too. It is a biography so I am reading through Michelle's life.
I have on queue the biography of Viola Davis. The lead star in How to Get Away with Murder. Viola Davis was picked to play the Michelle Obama role.
It is fun reading anything.
*****Takes you places, gives you a gist of culture and life you'd never get to live out because it simply is not your path.*****
Reading is free travel too!
*Me and My Games*
So I left my laptop in my parents' house for the work week last week. That left me with just my mobile phone to do things that is not about work. Music is fine but games need more connectivity. I decided I need more power in the internet connection and I can only have that if I go back home. I cannot play my games well. My "games" being - *Mobile Legends*. I wish there is some way I can earn from that game, soon. Unless there already is and I am just not catching a whiff of how.
I don't know. I keep going back to it. So I decided, a day before my scheduled APE, I should be back in my parents' house so I could get the "rest" I need before the APE and yes, play my game without getting disconnected a lot.
I also finally started with RISING STAR. Finally. But I am slow on the progress in trying to get the feel of the game. So far, I have been buskin' my way around.
Illegally. It seems. So everyone starts that way, I think.
Also gotta find a way to get me playing this on mobile. I don't always have my laptop with me.
*Me and Other Things*
My phone just warned me of being full. So I have to double-time on looking at my memory card/s and deleting some stuff. It is also in that activity I got to revisit playing around with Photoshop again. Let us see how we can revive those shots that I have and kept (yes I keep everything) and see what Photoshop can do.
I am also missing my little home shoot projects. Maybe I will be getting back to that, too soon.
A lot is happening! And in all those times, I've thought I've had tons of stories already in my drafts so I can just keep clicking Publish.
But reality bites. And yes I'd have to go back to putting that activity back in the daily agenda. Crossing my fingers.
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Out of Frustration
***How do you like your eggs in the morning?***
I know I have asked that before in my previous articles. I'd mention which one but I am a little time-bound (self-pressured no time limit really) and I am in no liberty (timewise) to scroll up and tag my own article here. Haha.
Has it ever happened, though, that you got served with a food that did not meet your expectation?
I am sure, though, if it is an upgrade of what we thought the food would look and taste like, we would be very happy and be silently smug about how we are enjoying our plate as opposed to one other companion who is quietly battling with confusion and frustration over her plate. She may not say it but it is written all over her face that she is displeased.
Sometimes people or customers do make a scene about it. This kind of reminds me of that scene from one of Catherine Zeta-Jones' film - No Reservation.
*Our humanity is super entertaining a lot of times, yeah? We, the thinking animals, the superior ones, sometimes allow the bursts of emotions to take over our senses.*
To some they call it survival instinct, "self-preservation" even. To some, also, it can be in a form of change of tone or volume of voice. To some, it can be quick as a reflex - a sudden slap in the face, a right hook landing on the jaw out of nowhere or our mother's flying slipper skills.
Sudden bursts of emotion, mostly anger and frustration, manifest in some form of course of action:
A scream
Like mentioned, a slap in the face
Things thrown outside the house (does it really happen in real life?)
A phone thrown off the wall after reading a painful message or after a frustrating phone call
And a lot of other things that, though we do agree we are unique individuals, we sometimes have a uniform expression of emotions. A little emotional fellowship there that connects us. Making it for one party expressing their emotions to be communicated well to the receiving party or to every eavesdropper nearby. If there is no awareness and familiarity about the other's expression we will not have a clue that at that raised voice or that slap means they are angry, at least.
But, then again, we are no mind readers, speaking or talking about it via calmer communication usually, still, is the proper strategy. No one is hundred percent accurate (except for mother-child cases) in tantrum-reading.
*Have you ever, in your frustration, did something whack that afterward, realizing your own crappy trail of thoughts, you laugh at your own decision-making?*
*...And the outcome of it.*
*... And the follow through decision-making after that?*
Our propensity to make mistakes and multiply that even more by just ourselves is amusing.
Yes. Laugh at yourself. It is also a self-loving gesture, mind you. Accepting your flaws and finding humor in that flaw-ny moment is key to not being too onion-skinned. Just know that someone, somewhere out there may have done the same thing and maybe some may have done worse.
In my frustration, I did something that caused me to scratch my head and laugh at myself today. That was a few days ago (felt like it was just yesterday actually), because I can't seem to crack the eggs I have in the house and not burst the yolk and, I cannot have burst yolk for my poached egg, I dumped three eggs in the freezer. I only intended for it to maybe "grow a thicker membrane".
... But I totally forgot about it...
Hah!
When I remembered it, I was thinking I could have a bigger problem if the whole egg burst and I will end up cleaning the freezer (not on sched). Thank God none of the three exploded.
There was one with crack already though so I cannot put that back on the tray because if I did, it will melt and all the gooey stuff will leak.
Only one thing to do now: cook 'em! Just the cracked one. It was frozen alright. It was tough to crack the eggs but I did it anyway.
Tada! Frozen for real. Like ice candy but it is raw egg.
Then one crazy decision after another, I decided to cook it. Excited that I was, I never waited for it to thaw out .. Not all frozen stuff melt its whole being all at the same time. It melts surface by exposed surface, right?
So i popped this one in the microwave with a bowl of water and a drop (maybe a lot) of vinegar. Turned the dial and voila ..
... Another frustrating poached egg! It looked so nice and I cannot trick science supposedly after the putting it out the microwave the cooking process still goes on. So as it still cooks beside me while resting it, I watch in amusement as the white coagulates batch by batch as they melt.
They look like fluffy clouds. And nope. Not taking a picture of that outcome hahahhaha
Good morning! How do you like your eggs?
Haahha...
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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All in the Game of Bluff
"Bluff" is today's favorite word. I do not particularly have a habit of picking a "word of the day" but for some days, some word just have more appeal than most. It is like walking through a typical crowded market where everyone is colored grey and at some point there is this one person who stands out because his grey suit suddenly glows yellow.
That is the word today : Bluff.
"Everybody Lies".
That is one line from Doctor House. Have you seen it? It is in that line that made me so fascinated about him and really liked him for his full-conviction in saying "everybody lies". It is a fact for us human beings anyway. Whether by self-preservation, or protecting someone else, it is still a lie.
And bluffing is one form of lying. A quick search with Google will give you some other way of trying to make "bluffing" the lesser lie.
Bluffing is commonly accepted and used when one is using it to *make an audience believe* what he is selling them. It is used as a strategy.
Playing poker uses bluffing (and putting on a poker face) to make the other players think the cards placed down by the dealer completes the combination with what cards you are dealt with.
I have discovered just last December of other card games that uses some trickery and sorcery under the generic guise of bluffing making one think the other has a card that cannot be defeated with what card the one person has resulting to him succumbing to the road to defeat.
Those were fun bluffs. They are used in a game. Not that it is less of a lie.
Amusingly, you know? Used and mastered well, it can be an essential skill eventually. Because you can use that practiced habit of bluffing to spot and see right through some people's bluff.
Again, not that I agree that it should be used at all but me agreeing or not will not really stop anyone else from honing and mastering it.
I was just watching a courtroom episode where they get to pick out the jury -jury selection. We do not have jury in the Philippines . I was told long ago. Or do we now use jury?
Anyway, back to bluffing. The defense attorney tapped an old friend who wins most of her poker games because, well, she is good with bluffing and also played the game for too long she developed an eye for seeing right through others' bluffs.
The judge, the defense attorney, the prosecutor each asks jury candidates some questions. Watching the whole process, the lady friend also uses body language to gauge which candidate is bluffing.
Such skill of being aware of every "tell" and subtle communication and interpret it confidently is simply amazing. They also had to analyze that real quick.
We need that scouting-analyzing-sniffing-the-bluff skill sometimes. Not bluffing. Bluffing is au naturel for us humans. Reigning it in takes effort.
It is a bluffy world out there.
Don't get me wrong I still think humanity still have in their heart and mind to always lean on being real and truthful. And not deceiving or manipulative. But at one point or another, we do get trapped in situations.
Either we take control of the situation by bluffing or we reel in control of ourselves and err on the side of not using a bluff or two.
Arrgh. Let me go back to my jury selection.
What was your last bluff? Just curious.
***What's your story?***
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Odd Policy
Anyone here working in the food industry? I oddly had a mind-boggling experience with one when we were on our trip.
We got back to Iloilo from Guimaras with time to burn before our flight out. Despite the fact that the local weather beaureau already declared the start of the rainy season, we were mighty glad to have been blessed by bright sunshiny days when we need it. A drizzle here and there and a looming threat of heavy downpour, but the only downpour we experienced was in Gigantes Island during our sleeping hours.
We essentially still felt summer when we pushed through finally with our Iloilo-Gigantes-Iloilo-Guimaras trip.
Our flight back to Manila was not until the evening. We were back in the city around 2 in the bloody hot afternoon. we can stay in the airport and wait but then we do not want to crowd in the place yet with the other passengers. There is not much to see there except the airport chairs. Maybe two shops with long lines of people wanting to buy goods they can take home.
We asked the local taxi driver who picked us up for any suggestions where we can stay for a while that is not a mall or Jollibee. Somewhere we can eat preferably local food. But also somewhere we can eat ice cream.
We could have done city tour but with the heat of the afternoon and that little tiredness that we are already feeling rejects the thought. Besides, we deliberately scratched off city tour and ancestral house visits for this particular trip. We were simply hungry for a short island getaway.
The driver agreed with us that such time is not an enjoying time to be walking outside visiting churches and taking pictures with old houses. While driving out of the port, the driver also consulted with his fellow drivers.
He dropped us off in this area where there were lots of places to eat in. Some had a lot, but not full, of customers. Others were empty. It is like food haven. Also some areas with spa. Has it not been that I was hauling a heavy backpack, I would have wanted one hour of massage. But then that treat would have been cancelled out because I would put stress on my shoulders again when we pick up our stuff again.
We sat inside one of the shops just in time for a table getting freed up. We looked in their menu and both my friends ordered Halo halo. While I ordered some banana con hielo not wanting to be overwhelmed with too many items in the food. I ended up with a banana shake. Honestly that was far from my expectation but the drink was good.
From time to time we check their menu again in case we would like to try more. I saw their cake lineup and I pointed to my friend that their cakes are from this one distinguished bakeshop from a nearby province. So we ordered a slice of blueberry cheesecake. But it never came. We never followed up either because we will soon be needing to go and might not have time to enjoy the cake anymore.
Time passed and the driver texted us that he is already back where he dropped us off a while back. He can now drop us off in the airport. We asked for the bill and saw that the blueberry cheesecake was punched in. So we told the crew that that needs to be scratched off as it was never served.
The crew asked who was our order-taker. The tone of the voice was a little alarming. But we thought maybe that is just the way he speaks. We said we can't really remember. Then he walks away. We were surprised when the waitress who took our orders approached us, and openly admitted that it was her who jotted down our orders.
She apologized.
I found that unnecessary. But the tone of her voice was a little more than sorry.
When we said it is ok and they just need to scratch it off our bill, that is when she apologized again and asked us if we would want to take it still but to-go.
I had no intentions of taking out any food. My hands were full as it is and so was my tummy.
She quickly blurted out though that if we do not take it to go, she would be charged with the cheesecake price.
That shocked me.
We were quiet for a moment. We all made a mental computation and a mental what if scenario and it just broke my heart to know they have such a policy.
We decided to take it instead.
*It was heartbreaking to have that kind of policy active even during the time when tourism and everyone else is just starting to pick up.*
Was it really her - the ordertaker - fault? I was simulating their possible system in my head with possible owner of each action :
She takes the order
Cashier punches it
Cashier calls it in the kitchen
Kitchen preps it
Kitchen places order in window for cashier to place in pickup area
Cashier calls out the order
Waiter / order taker picks up the item
Waiter/ order taker brings it to customer
At some point there was a disconnect with the flow it seems.
For me it was not her fault. Unless she was called out multiple times about an item waiting in the pickup area and she never heard it.
But then again, any crew who sees an item untouched in the pick up area not being moved I'd imagine that crew will take initiative to bring it to the customers.
I cringe at the though of having their salary getting deducted for something that could easily be reversed in their end. Because the item seemed to not have been prepared. So what would she bring to the customer?
I hope business owners will also rethink about their policies specially at this time of recovery.
But what do I know, right? It is an industry I know nothing of. Maybe the policy is normal?
I still shake my head when I replay the scenario in my head.
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Momentary Escape
I was waiting for this day. When I and my travel friends will finally get to roam around the Philippines and visit islands, enjoy the sandy shore, enjoy the blue provincial seas and enjoy each other's company.
One day when COVID restrictions finally loosened up, we booked a trip to Iloilo. No itineraries yet and still picking up the vibes in case the restrictions suddenly become stringent again. We had moved our previous scheduled and paid for trip for the last two years since Batanes is taking a while to open to tourists. Seems we will have to move that again to next year.
When we finally got through the work week and finally reached Friday for preparation, I was excited. We were able to finalize the itinerary then. Whew. Packing was crazy. I suddenly do not know where my stuff is.
I had to list down the days we will be out, and give enough time for me to collect all I needed before putting them in the bag.
Our usual checklist:
Bathing suit (including rash guard/s)
Goggles/snorkels
Enough dry clothes for each day after the wet activities
Sunblock
Toiletries
Medicines
Dry bag
Cameras (minus the usual GoPro. Seems we've outgrown underwater shots. Or we misplaced our underwater cases -which is my story.
Quick dry small towel
Extra money
And the little extras these days:
Alcohol
Extra masks
That was a quick jot-down. I will probably be seeing some things missing once I do my review after publishing.
I would like to think we were contributing to reviving our country's tourism and helping the locals also to regain momentum in entertaining tourists.
In the same way, it helps us relax, enjoy and regain happy mood and break the busy days we have been doing adulting.
We needed this as well.
I was so happy logging out of work last Friday. I made sure I had all my deliverables submitted and those in queue properly distributed. Also went through some team stuff and noted the items that can wait till I come back.
I met up with my friends in the airport. Setting foot in it brought an excited smile on my face. The place already had a lot of travelers. The longest queue I think was going to Hongkong.
But then the local flight we were on, was also full.
Compared to last travels we were on, it seemed a smoother process this time. My captured vax card, itinerary and ID were acknowledged. I never had to bring out a printed copy of the itinerary or show my physical ID and vac cards. We printed out our baggage check-ins using their printing kiosks. We dropped our bags in the respective counters and went to grab breakfast.
The boarding gate was also crowded. Distancing? Uhm barely. But most have their masks on. We waited for out turn to get on the plane and my happy self just cannot stop smiling silly.
My only prayer that time is that my ears will not hurt from the pressure and that we do not get to experience too many turbulences. I have grown old the past two years (haha) and my nose were stuffy at that time. I have no colds but it felt that way anyway.
That was granted. Praise God for the safe travel.
Considering the local weather monitoring already declared the start of the rainy season, my next prayer was for sunshine to follow us throughout our adventure. That was granted, too.
One happy kid here!
*Sneaking a quick post while killing time chilling in a cafe before we fly back to our reality.*
*Praying for safe ride back home and a healthier mindset and psyche going back to work.*
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Picking Ten
I was drafting an article last night that I was so sure is going to go flop. I had this think of things you see from where you are seating that starts with letter "A"? I started typing and I was going to end up not being able to see any thing at all that starts with that freaking start of the alphabet.
I aborted that mission and decided to give my brain a rest. So here now, browsing and thought of getting more this or that in the loop. Such a sweet escape!
Picking ten from the questions here: Prompter prompter make me richer. That's not the title. Matter of fact you will not see that statement anywhere in the page there. I just thought about it like a chant, you know? From that link I scrolled down to "Deep This or That Questions". I thought why not and scrolled down to see the questions. Now I am wondering and laughing at the same time with what's so deep about these? Prompter prompter says this will make you get to know the other person on a deeper level. Oh for what it's worth. Let's go? https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/this-or-that-questions/
**--> Museum or amusement park?**
Is there some psychological research or study about picking either one making one person more "deep" and the other a different kind of "deep"? I like museums because of their air conditining. Joke. What I like about museums is that learning you get. Most museums show historical artifacts and having loaded your brain with some of that information makes you feel hmm how do I say it. "Connected"? to the past of some sort.
Amusement parks, however, have a different strike for me. Like Disney, you say? Gosh! Enchanted Kingdom? I think the one thing I like about amusement parks is that they bring you to another world. For a day, while you're there, you are elsewhere.
Which one would I pick? I'd go for amusement park I think.
**-->Intelligent or funny?**
Funny. Let's have lots of laughter, shall we? I remember my brother and his best bud has this line. Anyone who has humor beats anyone who has the looks.
But. Can we have a mix of both?
Not all intelligent people have humor. And not all funny people are quite wise. This one is not deep. These questions are tough. Eh?
Not thinking of any scenario, I'd go for funny any time.
--> Freedom or hope?
Now we *are getting deep*. I would always go for hope. Freedom is not free from consequences. Hope is endless. Hope fuels freedom to be upgraded or improved. Else, we'd be bored.
-->Success or happiness?
Finding happiness despite the metrics of world-wide success is still golden. I find it depressing to be successful but not happy at all. I am not saying that we should be happy and just keep that as a goal we still aim for things that add value to ourselves but not sacrificing our happiness too much.
-->Money or free time?
You guys familiar with the story of how our life cycle goes? We work hard for the money during our prime years of strength and never get a free time to enjoy it and by the time we have enough money, we no longer have the strength to enjoy it? Well balance is key even with these choices. You sometimes have to practice that will to choose and face the possible consequences.
So I'd pick money. Ahaha.
I think with money I can have the free time I want. Free time's a waste if I'd only be spending it staring at the ceiling because I have nowhere to go and no money to spend.
-->Hunting or saving?
Is this like a survival role choice? Villain or hero thing? Hunters or preys are the villains and those who choose saving are the heroes?
Hunting. Just for the sake of choosing and for a reverse role. I'm pretty sure everyone would be choosing to save creatures or people or what-not. Now if everyone would be saving, who would they be saving everyone from? Let's complete that equation and volunteer to be hunters. Who's with me?
-->Handmade gifts or expensive gifts?
Handmade gifts for when I have a source. Definitely not an expensive gift unless it is for myself. Some gifts justify being expensive. Diamonds, for one. But it is not a gift you give just anyone, right? Sometimes we go with the thought counts but some life's happenings do come "perfect" with expensive gifts. Well to some.
But I'd pick handmade gifts more than the expensive ones.
-->Trip or staycation?
You kidding? Definitely a trip. Scroll back up, i got money y'all!
Seriously, though, I'd go for a trip specially these days that we've staycation-ed for like a long time. Throw me some place else please!
There is such relaxation and wonder of discovering and seeing places. Looking at how they do things. What are their food, etcetera. And yes while you are there go look for their museums that may be free of charge.
-->Rom-coms or documentaries?
Depending on the documentary. I'd pick documentary. But boy oh boy, Rom-coms please first! More time laughing and giggling than musing on the documentaries please.
There is a lot of items and questions to choose from in that link. Go take a stab at trying to answer and choose for yourself!
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Now the Prompt: Which is Worse?
Funny stumbling on kudo's article : Which is Worse because I saw the notification of him publishing it just when I was reviewing my draft and thinking of when to publish the one in queue which is of the same title initially. I had to blink twice and make sure I wasn't cross-eyed. I thought I accidentally published my article. But I was confused because it was not from me. Hahaha. https://read.cash/@meitanteikudo/prompt-which-is-worse-ea85da99 https://read.cash/@Pichi28/not-a-prompt-which-is-worse-b5004e0b
I was so laughing when I realized my own confusion. This time, though I think it is just right to start with the prompt as well.
Let's go...
Depending on how crazy my hormones were cranking up at that time, I will probably raise hell for both scenarios.
Kidding.
Well if you think about it if our last conversation was like him saying, "Promise, I won't be late this time..." and he did come in late for an important date, would that not be hitting this two bad things in one go?
And our fight would probably go, "I don't know which one's worse, love, is it that you were late again or that you broke your promise?"
On a less magnified scenario, I'd say the worse still would be breaking a promise.
I am putting "late for a date" for also a consideration on my end. Suppose I was late for a date because of traffic, or some other compromise that we both can agree to be important "to me". It sounds selfish but hey there are those things to consider.
Getting rejected would most definitely be the worse. Because I have never had a crush who never knew my feeling about him and I've never been rejected.
That's a terrible joke. Don't dwell on it, please.
Getting rejected is the worse. Crush or not. Rejection is never a happy feeling.
Now about crush not knowing about my feeling. I think it is fine. There is a thrill sometimes in hiding that level of admiration. Playing a game of "chase" or "hide and seek" or "truth or dare" only in your head. That thrill in trying to solve the mystery "does he find me attractive, likeable, loveable, pretty even?" but not really braving to find out. Not letting him know that the simplest "Hi" and a smile can send your heart skyrocketing to , well, the sky.
... and seeing him do the same to many others who I think may be more attractive than I am can send me spiraling down to feeling, well, unseen, unrecognized and yes, rejected...
So not until you realize that hurts, it is not the worst thing over getting rejected.
I am so scratching my head. "CRUSH" right? just "crush"?
Straight out dog dies in a movie.
Though I would be in disbelief and cry even if a hero dies. Then again depends on how the story goes. Sometimes hero dying adds zest to the story.
A dog or pet dying in a movie is just depressing.
Still with the "crush"? haha so cute.
Sending a screenshot to the wrong person is the worse. Specially if it is a screenshot of something he or she should not know you've taken a screenshot of. Like your conversation for example. That's a dead giveaway the you are telling someone else about your conversation or planning to pin him or her with that conversation someday.
Or if it is a screenshot of an important code because you are too busy at the moment to memorize it or write it down elsewhere.
That liking an old photo of a crush is an awesome dilemma. Specially if there is no "un-liking" in that app and everytime you try to tap the like instead of it being unliked, it notifies your crush again. Stalking failed but hey at least you made the "first move" for a conversation. Rolling my eyes.
Too hot. Like at the moment.
Too cold for when there is no way to get any heat to control it.
Germs are waving. And really making themselves seen and known to everyone every time you smile if you can't clean your teeth. so that is the worse. But in my imagination, you can't clean your teeth without having to think of cleaning your tongue, too, right?
And I know of no one who'd clean their tongue but not include their teeth since you are already doing business there.
Being single is fun. Being single with friends is even more fun.
But having no friends at all is the worse. I know people have different definitions of that one. I think to some having no friends is also fun and fine.
If we tone down "having no friends" to "having no one to connect your thoughts to" then there it is the worse.
Ugly pics up is the worse. Old pics can go with the "that was the old me" or "that was a long tme ago" or "that was the thing then". But when friends upload an ugly pic of you and later on dug up old pics and saw no difference. Hehe. That's fun and hilarious scenario.
Oh yeah I got through that!
Eenie meenie mienie moe.. which of these would be a NO?
Which one is your choice?
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | `#ClubBrokeBCH`
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Sit With Them
The world is chaotic no doubt. It did not just start being chaotic the moment COVID decided it is its time to make its presence known to the world. It did not start when the election result was unbelievable. It did not start when countries went to war. It started when human decided to practice the decision-making and yes that was an unbelievable decision making.
That gets passed down. We get things mixed up a lot if times. The good for the bad. The bad for the good. The maybe bad for the better good. We live in a fallen world as they say. Ergo, we live with the blessings and woes of living in a world that, well, chose and chooses to continuously walk that path of doing it our way.
Anyhow, all these are allowed to happen so to speak. It is by far, things that has to happen for things foreseen from the past to happen. End game will and always will be : that God will be glorified.
Yes that may be scandalous to most of us seeing that everything is too far from being "glorious" or "glorifying" even for humanity what more for God?
Ah, the vast of things He is allowing and doing will not be entirely fathomable by us mere humans.
*Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterward you will know.”*
*John 13:7 HCSB*
*https://bible.com/bible/72/jhn.13.7.HCSB*
And another one from one of the books that I liked..
*Look at the nations and observe — be utterly astounded! For something is taking place in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.*
*Habakkuk 1:5 HCSB*
*https://bible.com/bible/72/hab.1.5.HCSB*
That may be a message to some other tribe but it holds true to this day. A lot of things happen that surprises us.
I admit the turn of events are shocking, painful to most and admittedly amusing in some cases. I am shocked at how rabid my friends became come the campaign period. But most of all I feared for the young people I guided and "grew up" with in faith. I am okay with the differences in our choices. I have prayed for them and they have prayed for their decisions as well so I am at peace with however God guides, will guide and is guiding them.
I did, however, got alarmed lately for some statement. Immediately I sent out a message of gentle reminder and warning to them. Be careful of how the leader will lead you.
Then I felt the need to clarify. Because as bipolar as these scenarios are that is happening to our surrounding and will happen, as weird as how divided and at war most Christians are with the outcome, and no matter how chaotic the world is, the mandate is the same :
A. Internally, not walking in the pattern of the world, renew our mind...
B. Outwardly, as much as possible, love and be at peace with everyone.
*Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.*
*Romans 12:15 NASB1995*
https://bible.com/bible/100/rom.12.15.NASB1995
As same as one of the soc med personality I am following., there is a reason why Christians are scattered with their decisions and I'd probably agree with him when he soon reveals his take.
Hopefully, even through this, Jesus will be shared and preached.
This is, after all, just a page in the redemption story.
And it is important to have that same depth and same magnitude of pain ...
.. so you can sit with them and weep with those who weep ...
Same depth of sense of victory
... So you can sit with them and rejoice with those who rejoice.
But not compromising His statutes.
*Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.*
*Romans 12:21 NASB1995*
https://bible.com/bible/100/rom.12.21.NASB1995
That way we can show them who holds our heart. Why we are hopeful despite the chaos.
... There is still a huge load of thoughts on this.. but for now, this.
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Before Noon Thoughts
Turning screentime to something that converts to moolah. Ain't this what we are doing when we spend time posting and interacting using platforms like read and noise. But balance is key, though. We should not stay too long online because the dishes will not wash themselves.
I am up for more or less four hours now. Read a lot of stuff from the net, from my Kindle, from my memories and my mind have journeyed a thousand archipelagos and have created ten thousand award-winning movie scripts and screenplays.
These days have been tough for everyone with the election results rather shocking for almost the whole country. It has been a roller coaster of a ride. Personally, I am ok with the results. It does not mean it does not shake my head but overall, I am ready to look forward to the good and battle through with my fellow Filipinos with the bad.
It will be tough facing every tomorrow if we start each day with the burdens and pain of yesterday and the fear of what may be ahead.
It will take time for the wounded to rise again. But I do pray that as it heals, a better perspective and learning is in place.
Anyhow, I stumbled on tough questions. Quote and quote as some of it are simple to me. This one popped out though :
I like questions that take me to daydreaming. I had the simplest dream when I was young - *leave the house*.
Haha. That may sound that it comes from a sad background but it is not really. It is more pumped with that juice of adventure.
"What is out there for me?"
"What is it like out there?"
Growing up though, you'd realize life is an awesome adventure in itself. Whether you leave the house or not. Doing things cyclical or not. ***How you make it an adventure is really up to you. What robs you of your sense of adventure is also up to you.***
Another one of my silly thoughts when I was younger is a life brought about by *boredom and laziness.*
I dreamt of having a house that cleans itself. A bed that makes itself. A bathroom that cleans up after itself. A sink that un-clogs itself.
A kitchen that has a very high sensitivity of my mood and cravings it starts cooking for me the moment I enter the house. Oh yes, the fridge has to have collected awesome data from observing me and refills itself with proper groceries. That would be cool, yeah? And a house that is setup to sync with banking and paying bills. No missed due dates!
So am I living the life of my dreams? I guess in line with my dream of amazing self-cleaning rooms and self-keeping house stuff, I am so far from it. Haha.
I clearly have no "dream life" that is in solid blue print. I am everyday thankful I have every day that chance or that shot to make tomorrow "better".
So are you living a life of your dreams?
What is your story?
I'm crazy. I know.
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Not a Prompt: Which is worse?
So I found myself half-interested in this cop-forensic series or cop-crime series, whatever! Half-interested because I am barely paying attention to it but I would play it in the background anyway. That's the beauty of watching series and films that are in english. Unlike korean novelas which require me to read while watching.
This series is not as exciting as CSI and barely even close to Blacklist. But it is good enough another series to make me be untrusting to most authorities. The Blacklist had that effect on me.
This one series showed me thoughts and truth of our humanity like:
Anyone can be corrupt at any time without them really wanting to
One corruption leads to another
And boy! How that corruption ripples out to suddenly affecting those nearby, is painful.
Anyhow, one scene involves a primed investigator and her husband talking about the husband suspecting the wife having an affair.
There was this one late night, the wife informed the husband she needed to attend to some work. So she left their house but she forgot her phone on the kitchen counter. The husband, being the good hubby that he is, picked the phone and tried to catch up with his wife. Because working without the phone where all his wife's colleagues can contact her for information will not work out right. It was in this attempt to catch up with the wife that the husband witnessed the wife to turn a different route instead of the route to the headquarters. She parked the car somewhere else. She then took a cab and got off some apartment block.
So for while the whole scenario affirms the husband's suspicion for a long time and he wrestles with the thought of going up there and confronting his wife and the suspected lover, here is what was really going on:
The wife, the investigator, went up to a colleague's flat to confront him about him making reinvestigation of her case behind her back
The colleague had good reason to because he knows that the investigation was done rashly and an innocent man is being held for something he did not do
The investigator wanted to scare or tell the colleague to stop.
Colleague would not back down.
Some hand flinging and heated argument later there was a quick incident of the colleague accidentally placing his hand on the pan he was heating while trying to balance himself. The investigator concerned went close to see the hand. Ofcourse coming from a heated argument and knowing the person you are arguing is a threat to your security inside your home, you wiggle away from the person. In wiggling away from the person, the colleague accidentally hit the investigator to the face. To which she labeled as "assaulting an officer". In panic, the colleague tried to calm the crazy investigator. Some more struggle and the colleague accidentally pushed the investigator back too hard she fell hitting the back of her head on the kitchen counter.
Now, had the husband had the guts to follow, hear the grunts, and bang on the door. He would probably find a horrific scene.
Somehow the investigator regains consciousness and was able to turn things around.
The bloody horrific part is that the investigator was able to : injure the colleague by cutting through the neck hitting the jugular vein.
The investigator thought of cutting off the fingers of her colleague to remove DNA evidence from their struggle.
This scene would have shown the dark side of the wife to the husband. The trusted, primed investigator of her city because of flawless record.
And that made me wonder .
Which is worse? To find out your partner is capable of killing someone and seeing him or her in the act of doing it?
Or..
Finding out the truth that she/he is having an affair and seeing that for yourself, too?
I think I'd cry about the affair..
And I think I will faint and go nuts with finding out he is capable of killing and dismembering a human being - a colleague for that matter.
Aaack.. weird stories. Thankfully they are fiction. But then it is one fiction that shows the vulnerability of being human.
The good book ain't blind about that warning..
*Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.*
*1 Peter 5:8 HCSB*
*https://bible.com/bible/72/1pe.5.8.HCSB*
Any minute.. any second, we might find ourselves corrupted.
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Comfort Food
I craved for something that would make me happy. Not rhat I am not happy waking up, I am just feeling a bit under the weather.
I had breakfast but had to leave before being able to gulp a joe because I volunteered to take my mom to pick up my aunt and drop them off at the out-patient of the general hospital for my aunt's checkup.
I planned to get my coffee fix after dropping them off. Any coffee would do actually. It is after all the very staple "comfort" drink I can safely just swig and feel less crap.
Aside from chocolate and ice cream what food makes you feel "less crappy"?
I had a crazy battle with trying to sleep last night. Considering I was ready for bed and really looking forward to dream land.
Oddly, as I was trying to prepare for sleep last night, I started sneezing and my nose started getting clogged. Not really un "normal" for someone with reactive immune system when weather changes, dusts decided to tickle my nose, or some body temp change (hormone) so I have the proper med for that -antihistamine.
Instead, it seems, the clogging is not loosening up a least bit. So I ended up trying to find the best head position to be able to sleep. I am cautious not to sleep with my mouth open because that is our tendency when breathing through our nose is a little less comfortable, we tend to open our mouth and breath le through it. As much as possible, I stop myself from doing that because once that happens, waking up to a dey throat would definitely lead to tonsillitis.
Ever since I have that ugly battle with a sore throat in my high school (i was voiceless for a week and the excruciating pain was well really excruciating), and finding out that once I get the tonsilitis, I would most likely:
Get the fever
Get the cold
Toughest cough bout
Sexy bedroom voice all day .. but closer to being voiceless
All this being cautious and mindful of how I position myself to sleep made me hungry (an excuse). And I did get some rest and I find that victorious for me.
Victories need to be celebrated. After dropping them at the hospital, I went to park in the nearest mall. So happy to get a seat in one of the good food place where I can get....
... A waffle fix!
Oh that butter!
I don't mind a second serving of breakfast. Checking the clock this one can count for a lunch as well. Depending on my seemingly also suddenly huge appetite.
This one is on the list of my comfort food. Though most people would say viands with soup will do for times when you feel sick. I could go for those but I am also ok with:
Just coffee - brewed black very hot
Coffee with waffle
It is once in a blue moon that I get to eat here, anyway. And to see that the place is people-less it is perfect for a little making myself happy.
I am all smiles behind my mask.
I am hunting, though, for another thing. Gosh my hunger is insatiable! I am thinking of food again!
Bagel. Bagel with cream cheese. Now where was that poster I saw one time...
Let me hunt....
The stories you can tell while figuring out the sudden heightened urge to stuff your mouth with food.
What is your story?
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Travel Along
Alright! Let's go traveling!
I saw this one from @emily2u in her article: This or That: My Travel Preferences . I have a travel plan set for this month. My friends and I talked about it and I have noted some changes in the way we prefer how our travel would go about. https://read.cash/@emily2u/this-or-that-my-travel-preferences-dd519199
Let us see now.
****Boat or Airplane****
First item and I am scratching my head. Classic case of making an overthinker decide on two simple items. Well, in order to go to a place where I can ride a boat for island hopping, I'd need to ride an airplane. That said, I need both.
Overthinking plays on a scenario.
Now if the question was "Going to Greece would you like to go by Boat or by Plane?" And then I find myself in a deeper ditch. Because I'd have to ask if "by boat" you mean a cruise tour then I'd say, "Definitely by boat." But if it is just a boat boat then I'd say airplane.
Locally, we have 2GO and we took one going to our Palawan trip way back. Going by boat is cheaper sometimes.
****AirBnB or Hotel****
Depends on how long I will be staying, number of people I'm with and how near is the AirBnB to some place we would be going to and some place we would be eating in. I've only done AirBnB for a family outing. Most travels are hotels or resorts or Backpacking Inns.
****Beach or Snow****
Beach definitely. I am yet to experience snow but I am so sure I would not be able to move around much. So beach. BUT there are places where I need to suck it up when it comes to feeling cold and that's for trying to see the Northern Lights and all that. So depending on the trip, but for regular getaways, definitely, beach baby!
****City or Mountains****
Huh? City in the mountains! hahaha. Do you mean staying in the city versus camping up in a mountain? Depends on what's the planned activity, I guess. Staying in the mountains sound like a good getaway for when you don't want to be in a city.
Tried trekking for a bit during our stay in Luang Prabang and trekking sure does lead to something beautiful. https://read.cash/@Pichi28/enchanting-trek-in-luang-prabang-9db8bef0
City in the mountains like our trip to Toledo and Segovia in Madrid is enchanting as well. So it depends really.
****Adventure or Relaxing****
This is one part where I think we've "changed" our preference a bit. We used to want to squeeze all possible activities in one go. But now we would like to chill a bit. so for this, it's RELAXING.
****Local street food or Fancy restaurant****
Fancy restaurant serving local street food. Kidding. Unless this "fancy restaurant" is the top most must try in the area.
Going on a local street food trip is fun and fine except that I have allergies so I can try the local street food like I did in Japan's Tsukiji Market some in Thailand's and Vietnam's street but I will not be able to try all. Sad. My friends will be able to but I'd only get to eat some.
****Hot air balloon or Helicopter ride****
Haven't tried either. Would love to try both. Hopefully someone would sponsor as well. Haha.
****Backpackers or Resort****
Doesn't matter as long as we can entrust our sleep and our stuff in the place.
****Quiet nights or Party nights****
I am not into parties. Though I visit areas to check the place out but not really to stay. So quiet nights with the stars out would be very cool.
****Oceanfront villa or Cozy cabin****
Oceanfront provided I can run down the beach and swim.
****Glamping or Camping****
Both, too. I like glamping for the convenience and the comfort. But I like camping for the bear survival feel it gives.
*What is your story?*
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Thank you my friend @emily2u !!! I so saw that!
Unbelievable
Eh? Start of the month, I wanted to start strong and make the most of this platform. But guess what?
*If distraction is going to come your way, distraction will find its way no matter how you dodge it. That is the insane version of my Murphy's law.*
I thought I had the strategy laid out and figured out. But what good is a strategy if you are not going to move a muscle to push it, right?
This is the part where I interject this thought:
*Same goes with our candidates for the upcoming elections. They all have good platforms and some may have promising background and track record and some supporters would bet their lives (and burn bridges) also just to stand by their candidates. That is what they have - strategy. But what good would that be if they cannot push it?*
I am not siding on anyone. Besides, they can plot out all their strategies *but it would still be a different ball game when you're seated*. You see a different perspective and you see how wildly dirty leading a country is. But let us leave that up to them brave souls who dared to lead. As always, we, who only see from where we stand would always comment only on things we see from the ground.
Anyhow, I had to let that out. I have other lengthy thoughts on that and I admit these days current events have been the ones bothering me and getting in my head. All I needed to do was to click publish on some drafts I have saved up (reviewing my queue I only have one hahaha not enough to make up for days I was not able to publish) and create more from the articles from co-readers I have bookmarked. I made my May month easy but I have things in my head I have to write down elsewhere if I want it cleared up.
Am I disappointed with myself? Far from it. I am in disbelief, yes. But I guess that is the beauty of living everyday, yeah? We get to know ourselves better. I am amazed at how lazy I can be because I am wrestling with my thoughts. All I needed was to click Publish. Yet I cannot. Because my focus goes back to a lot of self-talk instead.
*...a lot of silent prayers for my country.*
I have learned few days back to be comfortable with writing mostly using my phone. Just click write an article and tap away. I thought since I have lodged up a lot of drafts through my phone last few weeks of April, it would be easy to do the same for May.
But it is not yet too late, right? We're still on the second week and a lot is happening. We can filter out some that we can share and some we cannot, we leave unwrapped.
*How are you?*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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When I grow up...
When we were kids, we could not wait for that time when we are categorized as "grown up". We have lots of plans anticipating that time while simply enjoying the benefits and privilege of being a child. I remember only thinking of "when I grow up I will.." lines :
when asked
when I got scolded at
when I was not allowed to have what I want to have
in line with the previous bullet, when I was stopped from doing what I want to do because I am still "a kid", "a child", "young".
And these lines have an amusing and funny history.
**When ASKED...**
*What will you want to be when you grow up?* The conditioned answer for me then was to become a doctor.
**When I GOT SCOLDED AT....**
Usually after settling things with my parents and apologies were given, I had in me that "When I grow up, I will have a good-paying job so I can eat hotdogs and hotdogs and bacon only. No veggies!"
The scolding lines from parents back then was the training to eat what's set before you. They have this line that goes: when you finally get to buy your food, you choose what to eat. But for the mean time, eat what is served.
**When I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE WHAT I WANT TO HAVE**
Similar line to when I get scolded. The training line there would be not spoiling the kids. It develops that someday I am going to buy myself this and that.
**When I WAS STOPPED FROM DOING WHAT I WANT TO DO..**
This one is also similar to that of being scolded. But I think this may have been broken a little for one time I asked my dad, "when will I not be young? I would always be a kid to you." Hehe. Still it has that, "when the time comes that I am 'of age' I will be doing this and that".
Or sleeping in the afternoon! Oh that one! I hated sleeping in the afternoon when I was a kid. Or that I am not allowed to stay up late. So I had that when I grow up I will stay up late with the adults. It's hard specially when there's a get together and all your cool aunts and uncles are up all night laughing, you'd want to be there with them laughing and eating as well.
But of course, when you grow up, you outgrow some of these thinking and some you realize that they were necessary disciplines.
There is that one "When I grow Up..." though that is still with me and I will forever be laughing at myself about.
As an adult, ***DO YOU STILL FEEL EXCITED GOING TO TOY STORES?***
I do. I tend to compare the upgrade of the toys kids can have nowadays and the toys I see in the stores when I was young.
I was not deprived of toys growing up. I just know that there are some toys that I cannot take care of, we cannot buy, and it most likely will not get passed down to cousins or siblings, in short they will be just waste of resources. I never really bothered nagging my parents about it growing up because I am also an outside kid. I play outside a lot more than I play inside. And yes I violate my curfew so scolding time is a regular everyday thing, too. Hahah. So I would rarely be playing with any toys inside the house. Save for the basic: medium-sized affordable doll, some plastic miniature cook wares, etcetera.
The cool ones like Barbies, doll houses, etcetera, I get to play with in my friends' house.
I used to say, *When I Grow Up, I will buy myself and collect Barbies*. Yes lots of 'em like filling a whole shelf with them. I knew this was expensive when I was a kid and guess what? IT STILL IS for me. It cracks me up and I shake my head thinking about it.
I also have a thing for poly pockets or anything miniature life toys so I also eyed this one.
But part of me knows so well that these things will no longer be of any use for me. Let alone, have space. I won't be able to use them or play with them.
I still do visit their sections though when I go to a Toy Store. or a TOY STORE is one of the sections I visit when I go to a department store.
What were the things that you were thinking when you were a child starting with "When I grow up..."?
Were you able to do them? or achieve them?
*What's your story?*
Found these photos while deleting from my hard drive. So why not use and earn from them before saying bye bye, right? haha.
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Easy on a Monday
Let us take it easy on a Monday, shall we?
I was entertained by @Ruffa 's article and realized I can answer some of her questions in the ending part. Yes, of course, I weigh the questions and briefly answer them in a draft in my head before assessing if I *can* use it for an article. https://read.cash/@Ruffa/first-day-on-readcash-and-you-dont-know-what-to-do-try-this-f012c8b2
Her article did bring me back on how I started in this platform. I remember starting in noise and then checking read and then not getting back to it until I got to interact with some people. I started out testing the waters with some ten articles. Just getting the feel of what this platform is about.
This article being my favorite as testing the platform also means testing the communities and how sensitive they are with their rules. I submitted it to some short story community and true enough they were strict with grammar. Thing is with creative writing, you play with the rules sometimes. I played with making "I" the main character and using "I" in the middle of sentences will raise red flags for grammar check. https://read.cash/@Pichi28/the-other-glow-e863737a
Then as interactions in noise bring you to meet friends there who are also here, I was encouraged by @Bloghound to write some more by joining prompts. That was fun, too.
Then after that, I felt at ease with what to blabber about. I enjoyed the interaction and it became a must part of the day. I remember racing unintentionally, with @Eylz2021 and Bloghound to click the publish button.
Then exploring other users' work, and also feeling a little more at ease in exploring the new ones coming in, I realized, most starters always had an introduction. I did not. I suppose I do not like introductions.
>*Tell us something about yourself. Just a little bit of information to know you. For starter, what's your nickname? Your hobby? ....*
So reading this part from Ruffa's article got me laughing and maybe I can shell out a few information. My nickname is PICHI28 as most of you know it is very far from my real name which is Lois. As for hobby I think I can't deny watching Netflix but my topmost hobby would be daydreaming. Very necessary for when I start writing.
>*How did you discover read.cash?*
I read a post about it in noise. I then checked it out. I created an account. I explored, did not know what to do. I did not write until few days or weeks (can't remember) after I created my account. Wrote a few ten articles before getting visited by the rewarder I think. And I interacted after then, too. I did not know how it works so interacting barely was in my vocabulary starting out.
>*Where were you before you discover read.cash?*
Earth. Sector 54. IP address 192. kidding. I was in noise mostly. Home. Perfect getaway and an additional therapy for when we started getting locked down. Perfect hideout.
>*Do you like blogging?*
Yes. I had other blogs but they don't earn. Blogging is pretty much my online diary. I rarely share items in public either. When most of my office colleagues also started blogging they know my thoughts through the late *Multiply.* Then there's *Wordpress* and then *Tabulas.*
>*Do you know Cryptocurrency?*
Yes. Saw it in those lazy games for simulating mining. They use bitcoin as the game's currency. And I'm just busy playing the game then. It was not until I downloaded coins.ph that I got to really know that the bitcoin was real. But if the question is if I UNDERSTAND CRYPTOCURRENCY FULLY WELL, I'd honestly say no. I only know them as something I can exchange fiat for and start investing on and then convert back to fiat. Fiat. I only know about fiat when I was already interacting with other cryptoheads in noise.
>*What's your first Cryptocurrency?*
BTC and ETH. Because I know of nothing else when I started. I only knew of BCH when I started to join noise.
>*In 6 words, how are you?*
I am grand, awesome and chill.
***The advantage of reading through other's articles is that you get an idea yourself for what to write, too.***
*What is your story?*
© Pichi28 | #ClubBrokeBCH
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Uhmm.. Eggs?
What is the first food you learned to cook?
The first thing that comes to mind would always be fried eggs. Sunny side up to be precise. Next to that would be scrambled eggs. Both the easiest go-to for a quick grumbling tummy fix. Something you can fix up and eat with rice or bread or none in no time. I always prefer rice with them.
Growing up, my brother liked hard-boiled eggs and then soft-boiled eggs. I prefer my eggs already out of their shells but between the two, I like soft-boiled better. I like my yellow gooey.
There's omelette or omelet which I learned to like a little later on. The usual omelet or as we call it, "torta", has onions and tomatoes in it. The other versions can be meat leftovers or fish. So using ham, cheese and mushrooms are a little on the fancy rank.
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
I only had two answers first time I was asked by the man in charge with the egg station in one of the buffet breakfasts I had. That's sunny side up and scrambled. I like my sunny side ups runny but I did not know I can tell him that too so I settled for however it is done.
I did not know there are plenty of ways to cook them eggs and I only knew some twenty from this article that I read. There probably is more in other countries that may not have been covered. And some mentioned would have been variations of the common sunny side up that we have a different term for. https://cooktopcove.com/2020/07/08/20-ways-to-answer-how-do-you-want-your-eggs/
So I have these on my list and how I do it if it was me preparing it:
A. Sunny side up - runny
Crack 'em eggs onto a pan with oil. Some people might add their salt here but I don't add salt to my sunny side up.
B. Scrambled egg
Crack 'em eggs onto a bowl. Beat it like there's a race. Sometimes I add powdered milk. One time I tried to make it fluffier so I put in mayonnaise instead of milk. Do I add salt? Yes. For this one I add a pinch. And then I add pepper also. Pour it in the hot pan.
C. Poached Egg
I learned poach when one restaurant I ate in offered it. The waiter goes, "would you like your egg poached?". New word for me. So I said, "yes". And boy I liked how the white enveloped the runny yellow! I also liked that it was not cooked in oil.
This one I loved preparing the most. It is tough to perfect the poach. My chef friend would always cheer me on and we always crack up at how I fail.
Simmer water. Add vinegar before it boils. Stir the water and while it is swirling, crack 'em eggs and onto the vortex. Continue gentle swirls and watch as the white coagulates and wraps itself around the yellow. On good days this would go perfectly on MOST days they won't. If you get a little distracted the outcome becomes a well-done egg (yellow not runny). And on some glorious days, you burst the whole thing upon taking it out off the pot.
The shortest poached egg preparation I did was to put water in a small bowl, add the egg. Maybe add in a vinegar. Maybe add the salt and pepper or do it after it's cooked. Stash it in the microwave and cook for I don't know how many minutes. Just check on it every once in a while.
Among the list that was in that article, I tried doing ham and cheese omelette. Never did it again. My omelette was too rich for my liking. Maybe I'll try again next time.
I haven't tried doing (would love to try) but have tried eating and liked :
Deviled eggs - seemed like an easy one to prepare. Interesting also for how you are going to do the center paste. It says mustard with something so I would like to have a hand in fixing and mixing that one up
Marinated eggs - the ones in ramen. The one they call aji tamago. For this. I doubt I would have enough attention and concentration in doing it but maybe some day.
I am no EGGSpert these are just how I prefer my eggs done.
How about you?
This was brought to you by an inspiring breakfast involving a hard-boiled egg.
Happy first day of May! Happy wallet reset!
Happy labor's day to all Filipino workers. Supposedly it is a holiday for us except that it landed on a Sunday. Days when it lands on a weekday, people extend their vacation to go on a Labor day escapade. Some frequent Boracay and call it their LABOR-acay beach, beach party getaway.
Anyways, have a meaningful and fruitful Sunday, everyone!
*What's your story?*
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@Pichi28
