@melsiebelsie

@melsiebelsie 9 October 2021

Thank you @charmingcherry08 for the sponsorship renewal! ❤️ I promise to write more this month hehe

@melsiebelsie 8 October 2021

Strive To Be Happy Are you familiar with the poem "***Desiderata***"? I first heard it when I was in High School. Not from my English class, but from one of the Grade School classes competing at a choral recitation during English week. I think my sister was in one of those choral recitation groups that time. I remember getting intrigued by the title especially because of how those grade schoolers slowly pronounced it, syllable by syllable, at the beginning of their recitation (DEEE-SIII-DEEE-RAAAA-TAAAA!) I was already an adult when I finally got to read the whole thing. It was life changing! For me, this poem provides its readers numerous advice on how to be happy. Although it was originally written in the form of one long prose paragraph, I'd like to think that you can pick and choose the lines you want and read them as affirmations for when you feel down. Desiderata has pieces of advice that could be helpful in various situations in one person's life. And that's why, in this article, I'm going to list down my favorite lines from *Desiderata* and try to explain why those lines resonate with me. ***Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.*** I believe that these lines talk about empathy. Listening to others and putting ourselves in other people's shoes could help us understand how and why someone thinks and does things the way they do. ***If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.*** These words always come to me whenever feelings of insecurities arise. They never fail to calm me or put my perspective in the right direction. Some people might interpret these lines as just being contented with what you have and what you are. But I don't see it just as that. One should always strive to progress. Level up your knowledge and skills, not because others are becoming better than you, but because you want and need to be a better version of yourself. So, achieve what you want to achieve at your own pace, don't let other people's achievements and disappointments distract you from your goal. *Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.* This was the first and only time I've read about love being compared to grass lol. After looking for the meaning of the word *perennial*, I found that I very much agree with the comparison. Love, just like grass, grows unconditionally and persistently wherever you go. So, although you may experience heartbreaks or disappointments, don't ever believe that it's impossible to find love. Again just like grass, it's everywhere! Just be yourself and love will find you. *You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.* These are my favorite lines from the poem. I find that this is perfect advice for those having an existential crisis. If you're questioning what your use is in the greater scheme of things, take comfort in the idea that, just like the trees and the stars, your existence serves its own purpose. You may not know it yet, but as you go along with life, you'll definitely figure out what it would be, regardless of how big or small it is. *With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.* Although we acknowledge that there are a lot of bad things happening in the world, especially right now, we also couldn't deny that there's beauty in a lot of things around. There's the beauty of nature, of amazing (and sometimes weird) creatures, of music, of art, and all the people like you who want to make the world better. So, let's try to find happiness in the simplest things. Hold on a little longer. Who knows, your presence may be what's making another person happy. If you haven't read *Desiderata yet, you can read it* here. https://www.desiderata.com/max-ehrmann.html Which lines from the poem resonate with you and why? Another thing that I love about this poem is how the reader is allowed to interpret its lines as they see fit. So, please leave your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read your own interpretation of your most favorite *Desiderata* lines. *Images from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* *****The Ghost Month Was My First Month***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 *****Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced *****That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b *****Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An AXIE Team!***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 *****Good JAB To Us, Family!***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/good-jab-to-us-family-d74f68b0 *****C-Word Paranoia***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/c-word-paranoia-ab8b0894 *****Two Weeks Out***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 *****Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-no-no-no-cb7aa240 *****Pick & Answer 10 from 100 Random Questions***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pick-answer-10-from-100-random-questions-challenge-bef6726d *****Ondoy: Our First Time Experiencing Flood***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/ondoy-our-first-time-experiencing-flood-19c8ea18 ***Better September Indeed!*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/better-september-indeed-8c0e3c0a ***September WIPs No More*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/september-wips-no-more-61bd8d7d *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leaves comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 6 October 2021

Thank you @lucystephanie for the sponsorship renewal! I always appreciate the support gorl kahit hindi ako madalas nakakapost na articles huhu. heart heart!

@melsiebelsie 4 October 2021

September WIPs No More I've mentioned in my introductory article of my tendencies to start projects that I eventually abandon, unfinished, because of laziness and procrastination. Although I was talking about blog sites in that article, the same can be said for my personal craft projects. I don't call them ***abandoned*** projects anymore. I call them **WIPs (works-in-progress)**. Because, although they're unfinished and kind of stuck in a box (or in a corner) undisturbed, I still have plans of going back and finishing them. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 The unbelievable powers of read.cash and BCH helped me through my writing slump. That's why I thought that maybe if I write about my small crafting achievements, I'd be more inspired to finish at least two of my WIPs every month. So, just like everybody's end of the month earning reports (here's mine btw), I present you my first end of the month crafting report. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/better-september-indeed-8c0e3c0a I managed to only finish two crochet projects, so don't keep your hopes up hehe. Toddler Head Bands https://noise.cash/post/q3kw8m5b57j7p Sorry, I didn't get a decent picture of the finished product before putting them in a paper bag. I ran out of time huhu. I still do procrastinate sometimes, but not because of laziness. Ze bebe takes most of my time now, so I can only write and do crafts at night. Hence, the photo taken in the dark lol. I made these headbands as gifts to a family friend's grandchild who turned three last month. We didn't know what to give as a gift so I just made something simple with yarns I have in stock. Why buy when you can create, right? I used 4ply milk cotton yarn (destashed by a member from one of the crochet groups I'm in) and a 4mm crochet hook. If you know simple crochet stitches, here's a pretty easy tutorial you can follow. This is for the headband at the top of the photo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFBNfTBHXU My sister asked me to make one for her baby. Maybe I'll get better pictures when I'm done with that. French Market/Beach Bag https://noise.cash/post/5kp4w93fwjpjq Like with the headbands, I also made this bag as a gift. This time it's for Aunt J, who I've mentioned in my article **Two Weeks Out****.** This was 2 months in the making because, aside from my usual *"I don't have time"* reasoning, I kept running out of yarn. This was the first time I used this type of yarn, so I didn't know in the beginning how much of it to use on this kind of project. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 When I finished, I realized I've used 4 cones of polypropylene yarn (featured on my articles **Reviewing My Budol Finds** **1** **&** **2**) partnered with a 4mm hook. This project was also very easy to make. But because of its size and the texture of the yarn I used (*medyo mesheket sa kamay*), it still took me a while. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 All you need to do is make a big square (mine was 36"x 36") using any kind of stitch or stitch combination that you want. Once you're done, you need to do 3 rows of stitch decreases so the part where the handle/straps would be positioned would look like they're bunched together. To do the handle/straps, I followed this pattern. https://www.twoofwands.com/blog/french-market-bag https://noise.cash/post/m0jx4zjh8rgrq The end result became a 17" x 18" bag with 10" (or longer...not sure) straps. As you can see, the bag's mouth looks like Cookie Monster's so you won't have trouble fitting in a lot of things. So there goes my craft report for the month of September. I still have over five WIPs hidden somewhere. I guess I have to move now if I wish to finish any of those WIPs soon. I'll start with my nieces Momo costume because her mom wants to have a TWICE themed photo shoot for her 5th monthsary. Since this has a definite deadline, I would have to finish this as soon as possible. Do you also have neverending WIPs? Please comment down the kind of arts and crafts you do. Aside from my WIPs, I also have a list of things I want to make but have not started yet hehe. Maybe I can add your ideas in my list too...with credits of course. 'Til next time! *Lead image from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out these articles I wrote in September:* *****The Ghost Month Was My First Month***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 *****Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced *****That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b *****Good JAB To Us, Family!***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/good-jab-to-us-family-d74f68b0 *****C-Word Paranoia***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/c-word-paranoia-ab8b0894 *****Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-no-no-no-cb7aa240 *****Pick & Answer 10 from 100 Random Questions***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pick-answer-10-from-100-random-questions-challenge-bef6726d *****Ondoy: Our First Time Experiencing Flood***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/ondoy-our-first-time-experiencing-flood-19c8ea18 *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leave comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 1 October 2021

Better September Indeed! Good morning! I'm writing this in the early hours of October 1st because I just couldn't sleep lol. I wrote in my August report how my first month of trying to earn BCH wasn't as successful as the ones who started alongside me. But I'm glad to report in this article that September did get better for me (yaaay)...but not right away lol. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 Let's start with my ever so short and ever so simple goals. **Was I able to reach my goal of 15 articles for the month of September?** No, I wasn't. But I wrote more than I did the month before! I wrote 10 articles for September. It would've been more if I hadn't taken an almost two week break. I felt like I really needed to take a mental health break (social media related). And after spending time with family, I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to write more. So cheers to taking care of our minds when we need it! https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 **Am I more confident with my writing?** Yes, I definitely am. Although, there are a few articles where I think felt too confident in the sense that I didn't exert too much effort on editing and proof reading. Writing in the middle of the night or very early in the morning when my eyes are about to drop really takes a toll on the quality of my writing. I try to edit some of my stuff, however, if I take too long I'm afraid I'll just decide to scrap what I wrote. So I just let them be. **Was I able to make more chika and meet more virtual friends?** You know what? I think I did! Yaaay! There are a number of writers here whose works I always try to read and comment on. I love reading their stories and I hope I'm providing them with quality content too haha. I only hope I have more time to spare so I would be able to read all the works from people who I'm subscribed to, especially the lovely ones on my sponsors list. **had to stop writing because baby woke up asking for dede...only managed to continue writing 20hrs later huhu** When it came to the numbers... I really did better in September! My subscriber count both in noise and read increased. Even the subscriber count on my craft channel went up. But it's still 12 people short of 200. We'll get there soon, I know it! **BCH-wise I almost lost hope**. I wrote about how I lost 80 something cents while trying to fix my wallets here on read. I was in despair when almost an hour after, Rusty pulled through and started giving me attention. It took the @TheRandomRewarder 2 months and 13 articles to decide if they liked my writing or not haha. Don't get me wrong, I was willing to wait however long it takes, but losing those 80 something cents almost became the last straw. That's why the wait was all worth it! https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-no-no-no-cb7aa240 So for the month of September, I was able to earn **$16.74** from read.cash! Woot woot! But this doesn't include the tips I got from commenting, or the tips and sponsorship payments I gave out. I tried adding up and subtracting everything but my brain gave out lol. While in noise.cash, I got **$12.99** for the month of September. I'm not sure why I've been getting significantly lower tips than before. Is it because I was inactive for a few days? Or is it because of BCH's decline in value? Hmmm...Either way, I'll be waiting and holding everything in my wallet. Excited for the time when the BCH value pumps once again. I'm eternally grateful for the people who read and upvoted my articles, especially before Rusty came around. Y'all and all your encouragement are the reasons why I'm still here huhu. I'll tag you all but I don't want to come off as papansin hahahuhu I think I'll keep the same goals that I had last month. I'll try to pump out at least 15 articles this October while enjoying the writing experience, of course. I'll also continue wandering around to meet wonderful people in both platforms. Oh! I think, I'll add one more to the list. Share the blessing through tips as long as I have BCH to spare in my wallet. More BCH for us all this October! See you around! *Lead image from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out these articles I wrote in September:* ***The Ghost Month Was My First Month*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 ***Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced ***That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b ***Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An AXIE Team!*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 ***Good JAB To Us, Family!*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/good-jab-to-us-family-d74f68b0 ***C-Word Paranoia*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/c-word-paranoia-ab8b0894 ***Two Weeks Out*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 ***Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-no-no-no-cb7aa240 ***Pick & Answer 10 from 100 Random Questions*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pick-answer-10-from-100-random-questions-challenge-bef6726d ***Ondoy: Our First Time Experiencing Flood*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/ondoy-our-first-time-experiencing-flood-19c8ea18 *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leave comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 30 September 2021

Surprised to see a sponsorship from @scottcbusiness ! I remember commenting in your sponsorship thread a few days after I started here on read. Really appreciate the support! Just in time before September ends. ❤️

@melsiebelsie 30 September 2021

Ondoy: Our First Time Experiencing Flood It's been raining on and off again these past few days. Then, remembering that it's still September, traumatic memories of Ondoy flashed back in my mind. It has already been 12 years since it happened but the memories are still there. I quickly searched through read if anyone had written about their experience and the first article that popped out was by @yhanne . She was at work when all the flooding happened. Imagining getting stranded outside in the midst of a natural disaster sends shivers down my spine. I used to enjoy the rain when I was younger. Especially the monsoon season because classes would get cancelled allowing us a week or so of just staying at home, sleeping in past our alarms, and enjoying the cold weather. I felt comfort knowing that we lived in an area that never gets flooded when typhoons come, until Ondoy happened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Ketsana I slowly woke up to the sound of @mgrshgian (my elder sister) and my mother arguing. *Ate* was getting ready to go to school and my *Nanay* was scolding her and trying to stop her from getting out because of the rain. I think *Ate* was arguing back that they needed to finish something at school that's why she really had to go. *Nanay* resigned from the argument with a "*Bahala ka nga!"(*Have it your way!) and just let her go amidst the non-stop rain. My youngest sister, being in Grade School that time, didn't have classes because it was a Saturday. I can't remember if I had classes or if I just chose to skip hehe. Like *Ate*, @Micontingsabit and I were in college that time but we were both staying at home when the *delubyo* happened. Delubyo Unlike other typhoons that let their presence be known by bringing in thunder, lightning, and howling winds, Ondoy was a silent killer. My sisters and I didn't notice a lot happening because the rains felt like just the normal heavy ones...but with no breaks. Little did we know our parents were already getting worried. They kept on going out to check on the river nearby. They were accessing it through a vacant lot across our house. Our neighbors did too. When I went out to check, the brown water was already high enough to cover the houses of settlers on the bank of the river. There were also household things being washed out. I don't know if he was just joking, but *Tatay* said he witnessed the kitchen area of one of the houses along the river slowly crumbling then joining the flow of the river. He said he also saw a hapless pig drifting by huhu. We noticed things getting serious when the power went out. *Tatay* then told us to start hoisting important things up on top of our bunk bed. So, we did. Then water slowly started getting through our gate. While my sister and I were chucking things we thought we could save on top of all our beds, our parents spoke with a friend who was living on the second floor of the apartment behind our house. She was kind enough to agree to keep us in when the water eventually started getting close to our doorstep. So my sisters and I climbed up a ladder and slowly treaded on our roof until we got to our family friend's apartment. Good thing they had an open laundry area that's why it wasn't so hard getting to their space. Our parents stayed below. They got busy saving *Nanay*'s sewing machines (she had two or three heavy duty sewing machines that time), putting them on top of chairs and tables. I think they also did that to our fridge because I remember it survived the aftermath lol. They also carried our dogs inside the house and let them stay in one of our beds. We had three dogs that time and I was so worried about them. We weren't the only ones our family friend had to adopt for the night. Some of the families on the first floor of the apartment building also asked to let their kids stay in the safety of her home because their apartments were also flooded. Wherever you are *Aling Rosario*, you're one of the kindest people we know and I hope life treats you well. The Aftermath I'm not sure if we already had a camera phone then. If we did, we didn't take a lot of pictures because we were saving our phones' battery. But we had one of those Samsung brick phones with a solar panel at the back. Once the other phones ran out of battery, this was the only thing we could use to check on our relatives. And on *Ate,* who was still out there somewhere. https://www.gadgetking.com/2009/08/11/samsung-e1107-cell-phone-with-built-in-solar-panel/ Our parents didn't get a lot of rest. Flood water got inside our house but, luckily, it wasn't that high to cause a lot of damage. However, the flood water outside the house was knee deep. Because of our parents' quick thinking, partnered with adrenaline rush, *Nanay*'s sewing machines were saved from disaster. When the rain stopped pouring, *Nanay* and*Tatay* armed themselves with broomsticks and swept mud out just as the flood waters started to subside. They were saving us from exerting too much effort the next day that's why they started the cleaning while the mud had not set yet. True enough, while our neighbors were shoveling ankle-deep mud in their properties the next day, we only had to sweep thin layers of mud from inside and outside our house. Although our Ondoy experience was bad, it wasn't as bad as what some of the people we know had experienced. We knew a bunch of people who had to start from scratch because their properties were totally submerged underwater. A friend of mine, who at that time was recovering from surgery that replaced his cancer stricken knee with titanium, had to swim through flood water which caused his surgery wound to get infected. Hearing through the news about all the devastation Ondoy caused was really heartbreaking. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2009/sep/28/philippines-philippines But in the following weeks, news about people organizing donations for families that were heavily affected also were spreading. Proof that the spirit of *bayanihan* never left. https://www.rayomar.com.ph/disaster-relief-community-work-for-typhoon-ondoy/ As for *Ate* @mgrshgian *,* she managed to go back home safe and sound...a few days later. She had her own adventure with her classmate and I think she'll make a separate article about this haha. Because the Philippines is an archipelago, we will have an abundance of typhoons yet to come. However, we have to make sure that natural formations that help lessen the effects of these typhoons, like forests and mountains, remain protected. Have you also been affected by typhoons? Please don't hesitate to share your stories in the comments section. *Lead image from* *The Guardian* https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2009/sep/28/philippines-philippines *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* *****PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e *****Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 *****OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 *****That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b ***C-Word Paranoia*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/c-word-paranoia-ab8b0894 ***Two Weeks Out*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leave comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 28 September 2021

Pick & Answer 10 from 100 Random Questions Challenge As a way of celebrating his first week here on read.cash, @Theodore is hosting a random questions challenge with his 1 week earnings here in this platform as a prize. The mechanics are simple. https://read.cash/@Theodore/giving-away-my-1-week-full-amount-salary-in-readcash-aede4b7c Unfortunately, he had to create a new profile ( @Caleb07 ) because his account was mysteriously tagged as spam. The writing challenge is still on, however, he needs words of encouragement at the moment. If you have any advice for him, don't hesitate to leave a comment on the first article on his new profile. https://read.cash/@Caleb07/should-i-continue-or-quit-81c5270c Let's get on with the questions! What's it like being you right now? Tiring haha. Every mom with a baby or a toddler would know what I mean. Taking care of a little human requires a lot of energy and mental strength. My husband and I are privileged enough to be living with help from family, but still my body feels like dropping dead by the end of the day. The only "me time" that I get is when I shower (which I do at night when husband gets off from work), when I wash my baby's cloth diapers (once a week as early as 6am), and at 11pm onwards when baby is asleep. "Me time" doesn't really mean rest for me. It means doing things I need to get done that doesn't involve the baby. So when the baby finally sleeps at night, I stay up until 3 or 4am either writing an article for read or crocheting a project that's nearing its deadline. That's why I really salute working single parents who had to everything on their own. It's only right that they get discounts and benefits from the government. They're super humans in my eyes What's something you never leave home without? When I was still working pre-pandemic, I never leave the house without a book to read. I love reading. My commute to and from work was really long (LRT 1 & 2 plus hours of traffic) so it's such a waste of time to just stare at space (and at people) the whole time. Now, I never leave the house without my phone, alcohol, and a bunch of face masks. What are you grateful for? I'm always grateful for my family and friends, especially during this pandemic. Being able to see them and talk to them, even only through video calls, kept us sane when everything started to feel too much. What's your idea of heaven? My idea of heaven is somewhere where you could be with people you love and do things that you love doing without having to worry about running out of time...or money. Basically, a worry-free environment. What's your idea of hell? The opposite of what I answered in the previous question haha. I am a very anxious person and I worry a lot about a lot of things. So the idea of having a panic attack could already give me a panic attack lol. What's one thing you're certain of? I am unsure of a lot of things. But the only thing I'm certain of is that I love my husband and my daughter. What makes you cringe? Thinking about embarrassing things that I did in the past. Most of them are things I did to look or sound cool. Ugh. When were you most afraid? Ah. Laying on top of the operating table all alone, waiting to be put under anesthesia for my Caesarian Section. It was the first ever surgical procedure done to me and all I could think about before everything started was what if I die during/after child birth. I was trying not to cry but, because I was still hormonal, I couldn't stop the tears from falling. I just tried my best to hide it from the nurse who was busy preparing everything. Who would you like to forgive and forget? A not so close friend who is now an ex-friend who broke our trust. He offered us an X-deal -- catering for his wedding in exchange for photo-video services for our wedding and my sister-in-law's debut. To make the long story short, he wasn't able to deliver his promises. I still feel a whole lot of regret and anger whenever I think about everything that happened. I wish I could forgive and forget easily just to avoid feeling those negative feelings. Maybe if he apologized properly and admitted to his mistakes, then it would be easy. Oh well. Time will tell. What's your unanswerable question--the question you seem to always be asking yourself? Am I good person? I mean, I always try to be. But there are just times, mostly in moments of exhaustion and frustration, that I can't help but think of bad thoughts. Mostly judgemental ones. This is one habit I've been trying really hard to suppress and to hopefully erase. I think I'm making progress. I'd like to be a good person so I could raise my daughter to become one. There you have it. I apologize if some of my answers are not that elaborate. It's already past 2am and my mind is starting to shut down already. But if you wish to have the tea on some of my answers here, don't hesitate to ask in the comments section haha. *Lead image from* *Florian Klauer* *from* *Unsplash* https://unsplash.com/@florianklauer *Here are other articles I wrote that made use of writing prompts/challenges. Please check them out if you have time :* *****Getting Better At Speaking A Language***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 *****PWES: My Memories Of Getting Drunk With Friends***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e *****OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 *****That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://noise.cash/u/melsiebelsie *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leaves comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 27 September 2021

Another #BetterSeptember update! Thanks again @renren16 for the sponsorship. I really appreciate the support! <3

@melsiebelsie 27 September 2021

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no. If you use Tiktok a lot, you'd be familiar with the song my title for this article is from. I chose that title because of a stupid mistake I made yesterday huhu. I was supposed to write about it last night but bebe and I fell fast asleep after watching KMJS. Both of us were sleeping so soundly we didn't even feel the house shaking from a magnitude 5.7 earthquake that happened at around 1am. We're all safe don't you worry. I hope everyone is. Anyway, here's what happened. I was thinking about fixing my read wallets yesterday afternoon. Everybody here knows that every time you open read.cash in a new device a new wallet gets created. Unless you opt to use the original wallet address that was first created and entered the seed phrase assigned to that wallet. But I didn't know that when I started. So I had two wallets, the original one created using a laptop and another one that was created when I first opened read.cash on mobile. I had 80 something cents on my second wallet, a few cents more than what I had that time in my first. I thought that maybe it's time to just use the original wallet for everything read related. So without thinking, I tapped on the "use other wallet" option and entered my seed phrase. Success! Looking at both wallets on my screen, it sunk in that the 80 something cents is still there on my second wallet. Tapped on the "use other wallet" option again in the hopes of being able to access the amount, then I realized that I did not have a seed phrase for the second one! I should've sent the money first before switching wallets huhu. 80 something cents doesn't seem a lot, but it felt like a lot for me esepcially because I haven't felt Rusty's generosity ever since I started. I could have used that amount to tip a number of articles. Or to top up my sponsorships huhu. After venting out to my husband, I decided to let it be and charge it to experience instead of wallowing in regret. But I still couldn't stop thinking about it while browsing through articles. Then a miracle happened! What an exaggeration haha but I almost jumped for joy when I saw the notification. @TheRandomRewarder finally decided to visit me! He/She/It definitely works in mysterious ways because they left two more tips on my previous article. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/two-weeks-out-dd6f19b8 Those tips definitely made me feel better about what happened. Hoping this will be the start of a wonderful relationship between Rusty and me lol. I just need to be more consistent in writing and reading articles. Has this happened to you too? Is there a way to still get that money back? Please let me know because I haven't given up hope haha. *Lead image from Unsplash* *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. 😀* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leaves comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 25 September 2021

Two Weeks Out Helloooo. I'm baaack! I don't really have a good explanation as to why I wasn't active here at read (huhu sorry sponsors), except that we went to stay at my parents' house for over a week. Speaking of sponsors, please check out their profiles! Ever since the pandemic started, J (my husband) and I decided to schedule a stay at my parents' house for at least one week of every month. It was just so that my family could spend time with mi bebe at first because she's our family's first neice/granchild. But as months went by, and with an additional bebe (not mine), these week-long stays became something that I would look forward to because I get to spend time with my family. Nothing like a pandemic to make you appreciate your family more. Because of the ever-changing lockdown restrictions last month, we weren't able to go visit. We were supposed to match our stay with my Aunt's vacation leave, but her schedule got affected too. So as soon as the restrictions were loosened and my Aunt's leave confirmed, mi bebe and I went ahead on the 15th with a plan for J to follow suit in the weekend. This Aunt (lets call her Aunt J) is like a second mother to us that is why it was very important for us to go see her. The last time we saw her was on my elder sister's ( @mgrshgian ) wedding before the pandemic, which feels like a long time ago already. Too bad *Ate* wasn't able to come while Aunt J was around. But we'll get together next month, minus Aunt J but still I'm excited! Two days after we arrived, we celebrated my niece's 4th month of being out in this world. @Micontingsabit kind of documented it on her article **"Monthsary or Milestone?"** . Her baby wore a Nezuko costume and it was sooo cute. If you looked at her pictures and didn't know the anime it's from, you wouldn't guess that the character is a demon and the short bamboo stick's purpose is to conceal her fangs haha. https://read.cash/@Micontingsabit/15-min-rush-monthsary-o-milestone-66f73fed Aunt J had to return home a few days after so I quickly finished crocheting the bag that was meant as a birthday gift for her. She didn't know that what I was crocheting was for her, so she was surprised when I handed her the bag. I'm posting the picture here first before my craft pages haha. We stayed at my parents' place longer than Aunt J so we could make up for August. Mi bebe spent almost everyday playing with her grandparents, her aunts, and her cousin to the point that she's all so sweaty by the end of the day. She couldn't stop exploring her climbing abilities. She climbed everything she thinks she could climb: chairs, tables, beds, headboards. Good thing she knows how to calculate her movements. Still, her carers needed to be on high alert! https://noise.cash/post/w6kjqwqam686w We also watched ***Squid Game*** as a family, some episodes at least. *Tatay* and I watched the first few episodes together. The whole family watched one episode during dinner. *Nanay* and *Tatay* binged watched the rest of the episodes the same night while we took the babies to bed. The next day, I couldn't trust my parents to not spoil the show for us so my sister and I finished the episodes we missed. The show was so brilliant we couldn't stop talking about it! We went back home yesterday afternoon, and I admit I'm quite sad. I guess I won't be sad for much longer because we're going back in two weeks time. I just hope that Covid cases would lessen so very strict lockdown restrictions wouldn't have to be put in place. Then we could see our loved ones from other places more often. Do you have family members you miss being with? When was the last time you spent time with them? How do you cope with being away from them especially during this pandemic? Please share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read your stories. *Lead image from* *geralt* *from* *Pixabay* *.* https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/ *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* *****I Won't Abandon You Too***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 *****All The Time In The World Is Ours***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 *****Reviewing My Budol Finds***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 *****Getting Better At Speaking A Language***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 *****PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e *****Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 *****OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 ***The Ghost Month Was My First Month*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 *****Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced *****That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b *****Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An Axie Team***** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 ***Good JAB to us, family!*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/good-jab-to-us-family-d74f68b0 ***C-Word Paranoia*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/c-word-paranoia-ab8b0894 *Let's make noise at* ***noise.cash****!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who reads, leaves comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

@melsiebelsie 18 September 2021

I'm sorry for not being active these past few days. Will just finish a few crochet projects this week and I'll be back in no time huhu. I'll write an article about these projects when I get back. Will be back to making chika again soon!

@melsiebelsie 13 September 2021

Maraming salamat @Marinov for the sponsorship! It's becoming a #BetterSeptember indeed! ❤️

@melsiebelsie 12 September 2021

C-Word Paranoia Free writing this at midnight while bebe is asleep. I'm heeding @bmjc98 's advice from my August report article to start with publishing four articles per week and then, when I get the hang of it, try publishing every day. So here goes. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 It was really a gloomy Sunday because of the rains. Waking up, I was surprised to see that it was already 10:50AM, which is way past our usual wake up time. Maybe it was because of the cold weather. I did notice baby sat up earlier but I was so groggy to realize how long ago that was haha. Good thing she doesn't cry whenever she wakes up earlier than us. What she does is she finds my shirt, pulls it up (or down depending on what I'm wearing), then she just makes *dede* (nurse/feed on my breast). She does that until she falls back to sleep or until either mommy or daddy wakes up. Maybe both of us also got tired from our visit to my parents' house the day before. Mamshie (my mother-in-law) needed to get stocks of loam soil, which she sells in our neighborhood. So she asked my parents, who also have a small business selling plants and gardening supplies (check out their carousell shop here), to go with her to their supplier. They have the same one so they always plan their trips there together to save gas. And because we haven't seen my family for over a month now because of the ever changing strict lock down protocols, baby and I came with. We stayed with my sisters and niece at my parents' house while the *tanders* did their garden shopping. They took their time so we managed to have quite a lot of fun together. https://carousell.ph/u/theplantitangina So here's when the paranoia started. I was drinking Coke when I noticed that the flavor was kind of not the same as how I'm used to. I thought it was just because of all the ice I put in. The Coke they bought from the store was the ones contained in glass bottles, so it's supposed to taste better (at least in our opinion). I finished a big glass, which indicates that my paranoia can't stop me from being addicted to Coke haha. We went home, had a few bites of food (literally), and J (my husband) handed me an ice cream sundae without syrup from Jollibee. Again, I noticed that the ice cream didn't taste as sweet as I remembered it. I could feel the cold on my tongue but it wasn't sweet. This was when bad thoughts came rushing to my head. *If I really lost my sense of taste does that mean I have Covid??? I don't have other symptoms. Gotta check my sense of smell too. Wait, but I'm vaccinated! Oh yes, I remember they said people who are vaccinated could still get Covid but with milder cases. But where could I have gotten it??? If I lost my sense of smell too, I have to tell J. But I have to have a plan first. We should get everyone tested. But where? and how? I saw on twitter that Angkas offers RT-PCR home service. Maybe we could get that so we don't have to go out. But are they trained to swab babies??? We have to get my family (the one we visited) also tested! If no one's positive, then great! But if I became positive and the others don't, I'll have my daughter sent to my parents', who hopefully would turn out to be negative too. They'll take care of her very well. She can have some of my sister's breast milk. Or I can pump too.....yada yada yada* All those things ran through my head. Paranoia really runs a mile a second. So to calm my head, I got the balm that my daughter took home from my parents' house, opened it. and smelled it. Ahhh...I could smell it very well. It smelled nice. Then I took J's Vicks nasal inhaler. I could smell it too! Basically, I tried smelling everything there is to smell. Even the strong scent of disinfecting alcohol gave me relief. I also went downstairs to test my sense of taste. Had a few sweets. I was relieved to find out that I still have my sense of taste. Then I remembered that the ice cream was already a few days' old and had been taken back and forth into the freezer a number of times which might have changed and lost its original taste. So, although it was a gloomy Sunday because of the weather, it wasn't as gloomy for me because of the relief in the thought that I still have these two senses that kind of became one of the earliest indicators if you have Covid or not. I enjoyed all the food I ate today and all the smells I smelled today, thank you very much. This scare reminded me to take extra precautions even if we don't go outside that much. And to remind other people in our household who do go outside to be extra careful. This paranoia was brought on by the news that more and more people we know are getting the virus. And it feels like even you've been careful it's just a matter of time. Glad that we've all been vaccinated. But, still, we never know what could happen next. Cue Garbage's "I Think I'm Paranoid". https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/good-jab-to-us-family-d74f68b0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypr18UmxOas Have you had Covid Paranoia before? Do you still have it now? How do you cope? Please share your thoughts in the comments. I'd love to read your story. *Lead image from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* ***I Won't Abandon You Too*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 ***All The Time In The World Is Ours*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 ***Reviewing My Budol Finds*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 ***Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced ***That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b ***Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An Axie Team*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *I'd like to thank everyone, my sponsors and everyone who read, leave comments, and upvotes my articles, for encouraging and inspiring me to write. The process is getting easier because I'm getting a lot of practice. Going to read more articles and get more ideas for topics too!*

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@melsiebelsie 12 September 2021

Uy sis @Bloghound ! Thanks for renewing and upping your sponsorship. September really is starting to get good hehe. I always appreciate your encouragement and support. ❤️

@melsiebelsie 12 September 2021

Woah! Thank you @charmingcherry08 for the sponsorship! More motivation to write hehe. I'm so grateful sis ❤️

@melsiebelsie 10 September 2021

Good JAB to us, family! *Written on Sept. 10, 2021 at 11pm* Yey! We now have a fully vaccinated household! Despite the heavy rains the other day, my husband (let's call him J) went out and got his second dose of the Moderna Covid19 vaccine. He's the last one in our household to get fully vaccinated as her sister got her last dose of Pfizer the day before. Although we still have to abide by health and safety protocols when outside (wearing masks, face shields, social distancing, frequent hand washing/disinfecting), we're beyond relieved that all the members of our family have less to worry about because of this additional protection that we now have. How easy (frustrating) was it to get a schedule? We live in one of Rizal's municipalities and I can say that it's been frustrating waiting for any kind of update or announcement regarding any Covid related news in this area. Living in the same subdivision as the Mayor and Vice Mayor (husband and wife tandem ugh), one would think that we'd at least get a trickle of update about their plans. Nope. But at least we know that construction for a private space they own in the subdivision has been going well amidst the pandemic *shrug*. Registration forms for the vaccine were distributed per baranggay. However, our household of six (excluding the baby) only got two forms which were only dedicated for the senior citizens in the house, Mamshie and Papsie (that's how my daughter calls J's parents). J and his brother work for companies with big names so there was no question that they will have their own vaccination programs. With no updates about vaccination for non-priority citizens in our location, the only thing sis-in-law (a college student) and I could do was wait. As soon as online registrations at my beloved hometown Marikina, was opened, I immediately signed up. They only required a valid ID with a Marikina address, which I still have but with my maiden name. Since I didn't belong in any of the vaccination priority groups, I thought I would have to wait for a long time before getting a schedule, which was fine for me since bebe and I don't go out a lot anyway. It turns out, I would be the second in our household to get the shot. *Brother-in-law got his first dose ahead all of us under their company's vaccination program. *I got a schedule from Marikina in the first week of June, along with two of my sisters. This was a surprise for me because I got my first dose even before my husband and in-laws, who belong in the vaccination priority groups, did. We got assigned with Sinovac because we didn't choose a specific brand when we signed up. We went for the option "Any" because we wanted to get inoculated as soon as we can with whatever that's available. *Mamshie and Papsie, despite filling out registration forms, still had to walk-in and fall in line very early in the morning at the vaccination site to get their first dose. We've been checking the "schedules" that the municipality posts on their Facebook page but my in-law's names still weren't there. They heard that a few of their friends had already gotten their shots, so Papsie filed for a day's leave (yes he still works) and he went to the vaccination site together with Mamshie (a business owner). Despite their age, they're still out and about that's why they wanted to get vaccinated as soon as they can. *Sis-in-law got help signing up for a schedule from her friend who lives in Mandaluyong. Her friend was so generous at helping that she also got to sign up two of sis-in-law's childhood friends who live in the same municipality as ours. Those girls have side hustles while studying that's why it's just right that they get vaccinated as soon as possible. They didn't mind traveling far just to get their first dose. *J missed signing up for a schedule that his company set up in partnership with an LGU. He thought that the vaccines their company purchased will come soon but, alas that was not the case. In an email update, HR informed them that their vaccination program will be rolled out in the last quarter of this year. We didn't want to wait that long, so I asked my parents, who still live in Marikina, for help in procuring a baranggay ID for J. My father prepared the requirements and we had everything processed during one of our week-long stays with them. I immediately registered J for a schedule online after getting our baranggay IDs. Then in August, he finally got a text telling him that he's scheduled for his first dose. Side effects We didn't experience any serious side effects when we got the vaccine. Those of us who got Sinovac (Me, Mamshie, Papsie, Bro-in-law, my parents, and my three sisters), experienced just a little bit of *pangangalay* (muscle pain) in the arm where we got the jab. We also got very drowsy, so we took long naps afterwards. Sis-in-law and her friends, who got Pfizer, also experienced the same thing but with more muscle pain than what we experienced. I noticed that she was having a hard time granting bebe's wishes for *buhat* (carry) when she asked for it. J's was considerably worse than ours. Just a little pat on his arm would send him almost howling in pain. He also had to file a sick leave the day after his second dose because he got a fever. Paracetamol and a whole day's rest took care of it but, I wouldn't lie, I got scared a bit there. Vaccination progress at our municipality Almost two months after Mamshie and Papsie got inoculated, they finally got a text from our municipality that they have been scheduled for their first dose. We're like...wtf?! Aside from the very late notice, don't they have an updated database of who already got the vaccines? And don't they have someone cross checking these names from the ones they got from their online and manual registration? They started doling out vaccines almost the same time as Marikina but until now they haven't gotten their plans down pat. While I understand that vaccines are in short supply especially in the province, inefficient planning will only leave the citizens more scared and confused. Especially if these citizens don't get to see their supposed leaders or hear anything from them. If anything, this pandemic has exposed incompetent leaders and as responsible citizens, its up to us to choose in the next election the best people to lead us out of this mess. So far, only 14.9% o the Philippines' population has been vaccinated against Covid-19 as of writing. To achieve herd immunity, it's initially cited that 60 to 70 percent of the population should get the vaccine to help slow down, and eventually stop, infection. But because of the new mutated Covid-19 variants popping up (like the highly infectious Delta variant and a new Lambda variant currently being observed), Dr. Anthony Fauci, the USA's Chief Medical Advisor, believes that it may take close to 90 percent immunity to bring the virus to a halt. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=current+covid+19+vaccination+rate+philippines&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFi_KQ9cjyAhURL6YKHeMRC1kQBSgAegQIARAy&biw=1366&bih=643 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/24/health/herd-immunity-covid-coronavirus.html So, if you're eligible to be vaccinated, please believe in science and statistics. Go and get jabbed. A number of cities and municipalities are now opening their doors to non-residents, so there are now more options as to where to get the vaccine. When you get vaccinated, you're not only protecting yourself, you're also protecting other people who couldn't get the vaccine. So how was your covid19 vaccination experience? Were you happy at how your LGU rolled out your vaccination programs? Which brand and what side effects (if any) have you experienced? I'd love to hear your story so don't hesitate to share it in the comments. *Lead image from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* ***I Won't Abandon You Too*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 ***All The Time In The World Is Ours*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 ***Reviewing My Budol Finds*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 ***The Ghost Month Was My First Month*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 ***Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced ***That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b ***Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An Axie Team*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-august-buy-a-lampin-win-an-axie-team-393d0427 *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Please check out my amazing sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. If you like my blogs, please consider being my sponsor. :D* *As always, I'm very grateful for my sponsors and the people who read, leave comments, and upvote my articles. You inspire and encourage me to write. I appreciate you!*

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@melsiebelsie 9 September 2021

Happy birthday again @bmjc98 ! Appreciate the sponsorship renewal ❤️ more bch to come!

@melsiebelsie 7 September 2021

Reviewing My Budol Finds (August): Buy A Lampin, Win An Axie Team Hello pa-budol peeps! Are your online shopping carts ready for this month's 9.9 sale? If you're ready and you're only waiting for midnight to drop, don't forget that you can claim cashbacks from all the buying you'll do on 9.9. If you're not familiar with cashback apps, you can check my article **here****.** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced As for me, I haven't visited Shopee for quite awhile now thanks to noise.cash and read.cash. Woot! It's a cause for celebration because, before knowing about noise.cash and read.cash, I feel like I've been treating Shopee as a social media site that I always browse through whenever I feel bored. An expensive one. I've been so preoccupied with navigating around both noise and read that I almost forgot about Shopee. Good job, me! Since my first documentation of my online purchases last month, I'm glad to report that my online purchases were cut in more than half for the month of August. From 27 purchases down to 10! So thanks noise and read. You're a real money-saver. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 However, I'm still going to continue sharing and reviewing all the things we bought online last month. Our purchases still consist mostly of stuff for our baby, but there are a few things here that are not baby related that you might be interested in. The title might be clickbait-y, but know that my intention is to share info owkee? Just like last time, product links are attached to the photos themselves. And I am in no way affiliated nor getting paid to promote any of these products. Not baby stuff ***Gomo Sim*** https://shopee.ph/GOMO-SIM-with-30GB-No-Expiry-FREE-Delivery-i.295771595.5176310988 For those unfamiliar with the Gomo Sim, it's a sim card that's loaded with a default 30gb no expiry data that you can also convert to text or call credits if you need to. Getting this sim card is cheaper and more convenient than constantly worrying about your data/surfing promos expiring before you've done everything you need to do on the internet. I bought mine in June and I still have 26gb left already including the amount I've converted into text and call credits, plus the amount deducted for a raffle I joined lol. I only turn my mobile data on when I'm outside that's why I haven't used up a lot. Still, cheaper than those promos that you can only use for a few days. This one, we ordered for my very busy mother-in-law who gets messages from her clients through messenger even when she's at the market. ***Crop Tops*** https://shopee.ph/annexist.ph I noticed that cropped tops are very much in trend for the young adults now. That's why we got these tops as a birthday gift for my sister-in-law last month. These were priced much lower at the time. After opening the parcel, I was pleasantly surprised to see that these tops are really of good quality. Nice fabric and nice seams. 4/5 ***Yarns*** https://shopee.ph/Twisted-Polypropylene-Yarn-i.63855439.3391581835 I'm currently using this for a mesh bag that I'm trying to crochet as a gift. I've created mesh bags with cotton yarn before, but they always turn out so stretchy. I saw this kind of nylon yarn being recommended in crochet groups that's why I'm trying it now. It's very sturdy and very nice to look at. I posted about it in my noise cash channel when I started the project and I'll definitely give an update once the project's finished. https://noise.cash/post/m37w3n5h8rgrq Baby Stuff ***Baby Clothes*** https://shopee.ph/princessprincena https://shopee.ph/rileydane Got these for my daughter because the first one's on sale and the busha pants were a bargain. They're all very cute! The shop where I bought the ternos has an IG shop where you can browse through other designs. Not all designs are always on hand but they do post when new batches of children's clothes have become available. ***Soap and Lotion*** https://shopee.ph/johnsonandjohnson.ph Stocked up on soap and lotions on Shopee's August Paydale Sale haha. We're all good in this area for at least a month. ***Kinetic Sand*** https://shopee.ph/user/purchase/order/81581612484754?type=6 A friend suggested that I let my daughter play with sensory toys. So I found one on Shopee! Kinetic sand is a great sensory toy if you want your toddler to explore different textures. The only drawback is it's messy, making it hard to put away. Just make sure to lay a plastic sheet on the floor to catch the sand that would suddenly fly from the little shovel. The small inflatable pool is too low to catch everything. Look at Daddy and baby having fun exploring the sand. https://noise.cash/post/2vk3ngztmzjzx ***Potty trainer*** https://shopee.ph/WD-0244-45-Portable-Children-Toilet-Training-Potty-Seat-i.354395048.10811737603 Baby has now begun telling us when she needs to pee. She'll stay still, exclaim "Weh Weh!", then look down at her legs. She's still using cloth diapers that's why the Weh Wehs are mostly still caught by the cloth. We just let her sit on the potty even with the diaper on just so she could practice. We've only been successful at catching Weh Wehs that come during bath time. But hey, it's still progress! ***Foam Puzzle Mat*** https://shopee.ph/Babies-Life-Baby-Puzzle-mat-playing-area-60x60cm-4pcs-i.336647064.3181880217 We bought this to help protect my daughter from banging her head and body on the walls next to our bed. She's at that age where she thinks it's fun to just throw her body around thinking she won't get hurt. But we all know she will get hurt. So Daddy got to work and stuck these mats on the walls. She still might get hurt but at least not as bad as it's supposed to. ***Last but not the least, our modern lampin plus an entry for an Axie Team raffle*** https://www.facebook.com/107131871096916/posts/343748564101911/ Whimsy Filly, a business that sells affordable cloth diapers, recently announced a raffle. One purchase of their Bamboo Charcoal/Microfiber Night Time soaker (the thing that you place inside a cloth diaper shell to soak all the pee) will entitle you to an entry for this raffle where you'll get a chance to win an AXIE INFINITY TEAM. Not a scholarship, but a whole TEAM! One soaker is worth 70 pesos. By the way, this is not your ordinary *lampin.* Soakers like these can last up to 8hrs depending on the baby's output. Disclaimer: diapers should still be changed in 3-4hrs. Even if you don't win the raffle, you still have a *lampin* that's reusable and can help you save money because you no longer have to buy disposable diapers. Eco-friendly too! So, mommies out there, go jump at the chance! This month's budol review is shorter than last time. I've also noticed that, because we didn't have a lot of unnecessary purchases, I was happy with all the things that I bought. I'm glad I'm getting headway at my promise to lessen my online purchases. Maybe next month, I'll only have five to review hehe So, what has been your best purchase last August? What was the worst? Do you know anyone who uses cloth diapers for their babies? Will you join the raffle? Let me know what you think in the comments below. See you next time! *Lead image from Unsplash* *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* ***I Won't Abandon You Too*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 ***All The Time In The World Is Ours*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 ***The Ghost Month Was My First Month*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 ***That Time I Dreamt How A Pacquiao Fight Would End*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/that-time-i-dreamt-how-a-pacquiao-fight-would-end-4b97ba8b *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-d91a4ced#bad-link *Writing is getting easier and easier to do now. All thanks to my sponsors and to all the people who read and upvoted my articles. You all encourage me and I'm grateful for that!*

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@melsiebelsie 6 September 2021

That Time I Dreamt How a Pacquiao Fight Would End Scientists still aren't sure what the real purpose of dreaming is. However, they do have theories. According to this article, dreams may be there to help you process your emotions (like a therapist), to help you get ready for future threats (like with nightmares), to help your creative juices flow (song ideas, movie ideas, etc.), or to help you store memories better (more info in the linked article). https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/get-your-money-back-through-these-cashback-apps-b1d2f744 I'm not really sure what purpose this dream I'm going to share serves because all it has done is confuse me and make me question a few things about life. Does it feel like I'm exaggerating? Lol. I feel like I am. But anyway, on with the story. One night in 2009, I was watching a kind of pre-fight documentary for Manny Pacqiuao and Ricky Hatton's boxing match for the next day. I couldn't forget this because I remember just feeling so annoyed at Floyd Mayweather Sr., Hatton's trainer that time. He was just so arrogant not only in the documentary, but also in the past interviews they've done to promote this fight. I've never been a die-hard Pacquiao fan, nor a boxing fan (now that I'm an adult I just see boxing as a human version of *sabong*), but my teenage self couldn't help but feel excited and elated whenever a *Pinoy Pride* moment is about to happen. So, I went to sleep after watching the documentary. Yes, as I stated in the title of this article, I did dream that Pacquiao would win the fight. But, not only that, I dreamt **how** it would happen. Because it has been over a decade since this happened, I can no longer remember all the details of my dream. But I remember watching the fight as if I was there and hearing that it was already Round 2. Pacquiao threw a punch that landed on Hatton's head, then Hatton went limp and fell on the floor. Suddenly, as if I was gazing from the ceiling of the arena, I saw a bird's eye view of Hatton's body on the floor, spread-eagled and unconscious in the middle of the ring. Then I woke up. I thought it was just one of those times where I dream about whatever the last thing was that I watched on the TV. This happened to me a lot when I was a kid. Imagine watching *Magandang Hatinggabi* (a horror comedy movie in the late 90s) before going to sleep, then dreaming about it, but this time you're one of the cast. Anyway going back to the story, I told my family about my weird dream and no one had any thoughts about it. **Because it was just a dream**. Imagine my shock when the match was finally on and in the middle of Round 2, Manny Pacquiao knocked Ricky Hatton out with a heavy left-hook. https://www.presstelegram.com/2009/05/03/pac-man-lowers-boom-on-hatton-with-second-round-knockout/ My bird's eye view of Ricky Hatton from my dream flashed back in my mind. I just couldn't believe it! We could see on the TV that Hatton was on his back, unconscious. The way he was positioned looked almost the same as it was in my dream! https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/may/04/ricky-hatton-manny-pacquiao-retirement-boxing I wouldn't be as shocked as I was if the only detail I got from my dream was "Pacquiao knocked out Hatton". But no, I got "Pacquiao knocked out Hatton on Round 2" with a clear mental image to boot! If I was the betting type and I had gotten this dream a few days prior, I would have won a lot of money for sure. Researchers have offered a few possible explanations for why some 17.8% to 38% of people have experienced at least one precognitive dream. However, these explanations are based on dreams that "seem" to predict the future. Meaning there are just elements in the dreams that can be correlated to future events, which is very different from my experience because everything that I saw in my dream (except for the position of Hatton's arms) happened exactly in real life. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams/precognitive-dreams I wish I could tell you that I had more of these precognitive dreams, but I can't because I've only had this one in my lifetime so far. If I had more of these dreams, I might go on a tailspin and go crazy. Or I might consider being a fortune teller and make money out of it. I guess the universe was just giving me a little glimpse of the future so that I could tell people a weird anecdote when conversations get dull and the topic about dreams suddenly pop up. But, dream gods, I wouldn't mind if you show me numbers in my sleep. Preferably 6 digits between 1 to 58. Please show them to me as clearly as you did back in 2009. I'll jump on the chance right away this time. *Char!* Have you had any of these weird dreams before? Were they precognitive just like what I had? Do you believe that future events can be predicted through dreams? I'd love to know your stories so please share them in the comments! This is my second try at writing using one of @JonicaBradley 's writing prompts. When I read that the topic for this week is **DREAMS**, I immediately thought of this specific dream that I have never forgotten and probably never will. If you would like to join in, the rules are simple. Write anything on **Dreams** Write 100% **original** content Write at least **600** words to please Rusty Join and submit your stories to **PromptlyJonica** Tag @JonicaBradley https://read.cash/@JonicaBradley Have fun! See you in the next one! *Lead image is from Unsplashed.* *Here are other articles I wrote that made use of writing prompts/challenges. Please check them out if you have time :* ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories Of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* https://noise.cash/u/melsiebelsie *Also, please check out my sponsors below. They're very interesting people with very interesting articles. I would also love it if you consider being one of my sponsors too. :)* *Thank you for the support, sponsors and people who upvoted my articles! I truly appreciate you!*

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@melsiebelsie 6 September 2021

Uy geeerl, @LucyStephanie . Thank you for the sponsorship! I'll return the gesture pag dumami dami na bch ko Haha ❤️

@melsiebelsie 4 September 2021

Get Your Money Back Through These Cashback Apps 9.9 sales are upon us once more! If you're like me, I bet you have already added your prospects to your carts months ago and you're just waiting for the right timing (or the right discounts) to finally check them out. Also, if you're like me, I bet you've regretted some of your purchases in the past and vowed to be more careful with choosing the right items next time. I documented a few of those regrets in my article last month **"Reviewing My Budol Finds"** **.** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 To help lessen those regrets, did you know that there's a way to get a portion of your money back every time you shop online? Yes, there is! Two ways actually. And both of those ways are through apps that you can access through your phones. Here they are. *Cashback by Findshare on Gcash* Through ***Cashback by Findshare***, you can earn back up to 12% of your total purchase amount from over 150 local and international shops online. The best thing about this is your cashback will be deposited directly to your GCash account! This is very convenient if you're a frequent GCash user because you don't have to download a separate app to gain access to this feature. All you have to do is open your GCash app and search for the GLife icon. Once you've tapped on GLife, scroll down through Gcash's list of GLife partners and look for ***Cashback by Findshare***. It looks like this: You have to scroll quite aways, so I would suggest that you add ***Cashback by Findshare*** on your favorites list. Once you do that, it'll be easier to find because it will be placed at the top of the page. You will then see a list of merchants that ***Findshare*** supports. The usual ones, like Lazada and Shopee, are there. Other stores in the fashion, health, lifestyle, and travel categories are also available. When you tap on the store of your choice, you will see a page that indicates the percentage of cashback that you'll get. Each store is different so make sure that you check the details and read the Terms and Conditions indicated at the bottom. A number of coupons, promos, and vouchers will also be presented to you on this page. You will be redirected to the shop website/app once you tap on the "**Shop Now**" button. You can now go on with your shopping. Please note that once you're there, you cannot exit and go browse other sites. You would have to finish the whole transaction in one go, otherwise your purchase will not be recorded. Your transaction history will look like this once your purchase has been recorded: When will you receive your cashback? Actually, you won't know. Their FAQs state that cashbacks should reflect on your GCash wallet within 60 to 90 days. And it still depends on the merchant. So, unless there were returns/refunds, you just have to have faith that you'll receive your cashback as soon as the merchant has confirmed it. I've only started using GCash's *Cashback by Findshare* this year. And so far, out of 40 plus transactions,I've gotten back Php93. Patiently waiting for the rest, mamsers. *Shopback* ***Cashback by Findshare*** and ***Shopback*** are almost similar in a lot of ways. They both offer cash backs, promo codes, and vouchers. However, ***Shopback*** has its own application. But again, similar to ***Findshare***, you would have to open this application first before going through your online shopping. Looking at its other features, it looks like ***Shopback*** has more to offer. ***Shopback*** boasts of being able to give away up to 30% cashback from up to 500 local and international online merchants. You have your usual Shopee and Lazada available, plus a bunch of other stores and businesses that ***Findshare*** doesn't cover. Cashbacks aren't the only way to earn in this app. You can also earn a little bit more by answering surveys from Survey Wall, one of their partners. The money you get from answering these surveys, will then be added to your lifetime earnings, along with your cashbacks. Unlike with ***Findshare***, where you won't know when you'll get your cashback, ***Shopback*** shows you through your cashback activity when exactly your earnings will be available. However, you would have to accumulate at least Php 200 before you can withdraw. ***Shopback*** used to have lesser percentages of cashbacks before ***Findshare*** came in. That's why from all the online shopping I've done in the past 2 years, I've only collected Php 600, which I've withdrawn in three different ways as you can see in the screenshot. If you haven't signed up with ***Shopback*** yet, you can register here. https://app.shopback.com/fHDqUf3Bhjb My Preference Seeing how a lot has changed since I last shopped using ***Shopback***, I think I'm going to use it more over ***Findshare***. If I remember, ***Shopback*** used to offer a cashback of less than 3% for Shopee purchases. Now it's up to 15%! Plus, I like the feeling of certainty that Shopback gives when it comes to documenting your earnings. You'll definitely get what you'll get on the day they said you'll get it. Have you used either or both of these apps before? Which do you prefer? Do you know of other apps/websites that offer cashbacks? Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments. See you! *Lead image from* *Negative Space* *on* *Pexels**.* https://www.pexels.com/@negativespace *Screenshots are from yours truly. App logos searched through Google.* *If you have spare time, please check out my previous articles:* ***I Won't Abandon You Too*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-a864f947 ***All The Time In The World Is Ours*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 ***The Ghost Month Was My First Month*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/the-ghost-month-was-my-first-month-b50cf1e5 *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* *I'll never get tired of thanking my sponsors and the people who upvoted my previous articles. You encourage me to write more and I appreciate you all for that. :)*

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@melsiebelsie 2 September 2021

The Ghost Month Was My First Month I see that it has been tradition for a number of writers here on read.cash to post updates about their goals every end of the month. Although I didn't have much monetary progress, I don't want to miss out on this trend so I'd like to give an update too. By the way, I'm writing this on my phone (which I'm not used to) so pardon me if my thoughts might not be as coherent as usual. From Noise... I was browsing through Facebook when I saw a post about this Twitter-like site that pays you every time you post. They call the website noise.cash and you get paid through bitcoin cash. The post was made by @ZehraSky (thanks siz) in one of the crochet groups that I'm in and she laid out instructions on how to make an account, how to earn, and how to cash out, complete with screenshots and proofs of payment. I don't know much about crypto but I'm familiar with bitcoin (which I thought was the same as bitcoin cash huhu). And after seeing her screenshots from her coins.ph account and doing just a little bit of research (I just googled noise.cash review) I registered and started making "noise" there. Although I wasn't sure at first if the earnings were legit, I started posting right away with the only purpose of sharing my crafts. I joined craft channels, mostly about crochet and posted photos of my previous projects. Waking up in the middle of the night, I saw I had notifications from coins.ph on my phone. When I saw that I received 1 peso and a few change on my bch wallet, I immediately sent my sisters a message and told them the good news that this site is legit! Now I have 263 subscribers, not as much as the others who started along with me, but still good progress. I now post about other stuff too. When I started I didn't do a lot of *chika* but now I'm getting more comfortable commenting on posts even from people I don't know. I also started a channel that focuses on fiber crafts. Since a lot of people from my fb crochet groups joined noise, almost all craft channels that I found are mostly about crochet. Aside from crochet, I loom knit too and I wasn't sure if I could post my other projects in those craft specific channels. That's why I made my own 😊. I'm planning on doing a raffle when my channel reaches 200 subscribers just to celebrate. Do you think that's a good idea? Or will I be put in noise jail? I got my sisters to sign up too. But that was before the affiliate program was introduced. Dang, I should've waited lol. Because I'm still kind of cautious of the things I'm posting on noise.cash, I haven't been posting a lot. There was also a time when I wasn't able to receive tips for three days I think. Still, earning 1k pesos just by using this social media site versus browsing through Facebook daily without getting paid, not bad at all right? To Read... This I also discovered from Zehrasky just by browsing through her posts. I used to write a lot in the past that's why I figured maybe I could practice my writing skills again on this platform while getting paid at the same time. I talked about my blogging past on my introductory post **"****I Won't Abandon You Too****"**. https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/i-wont-abandon-you-too-ec0b54d3 I was very lucky to get advice and encouragement from @Scotty17 and @Pichi28, my first two upvoters. Thank you so muuuuch! I really appreciate the warm welcome 😊. Browsing through articles as a read.cash noob, I landed on the pages of @bmjc98 and @Bloghound, who were so kind to offer me sponsorships. Both of them have always been kind and generous to the new ones, no wonder read and noise cash have been showering them with the bch that they deserve. I haven't been tracking my earnings here on read, and I don't know how hahahuhu (bitcoin.com is confusing for me), but I think I've earned just a little over a dollar this past month. I know, it's too little but I'm aware that it most probably was my fault. I've only published 7 articles in August. My publishing schedule must have been so inconsistent I think Rusty is still trying to make up his mind if he wants to visit me. Or maybe, he's not just interested in what I'm writing about huhu. Rusty, what can I do to make you love me? (credits to The Corrs) But with my meager earnings, I've already been going around upvoting and looking for people to sponsor. Is this a wise idea? Giving away things that I have only a few off? But these people deserve so muuuuch. Setting goals They say that August is kind of a bad month, because, according to Chinese superstition, it's the month where unkind spirits are out to play cruel tricks on the living. I'm not superstitious so I don't believe that I started here during a bad month. August brought me to both noise and read and that's already one reason to feel blessed. Besides, a bunch of writers here have had good reports for August and, while reading through those reports, I'm thinking of emulating their goal setting techniques. Time to make goooaaalssss First is to **write more**. My goal for next month is to publish one article at least every other day , which is going to be approximately 15 articles in a month. This can be challenging because of ze clingy bebe but I'll try my best. Next is to **feel more confident** with what I write. Sometimes my self-doubt becomes so crippling to the point where I'll just stop and do nothing. Very counter-productive right? So, when I finish an article, I'll try my best not to overthink it and just let everything be. Make more *chika* to **meet more virtual friends**. The few people I've met here are so smart and witty I'm having a good time exchanging comments with them in different articles. I'd love to get to know them better in the future. So basically I'll just enjoy writing and meeting people here. Who knows, Rusty might realize how awesome I am and he'll finally visit me. Wait, *parang nasobrahan sa confidence* haha. See you around! *My sisters* @mgrshgian *and* @Micontingsabit *are now in read.cash too! Yay!* *Lead image from Unsplash* *You might want to check out my previous articles:* ***All The Time In The World Is Ours*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/all-the-time-in-the-world-is-ours-poem-cfb04aa7 ***Reviewing My Budol Finds*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/reviewing-my-budol-finds-bb2dacf6 ***Getting Better At Speaking A Language*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 ***PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk With Friends*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e ***Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/our-un-tvshow-worthy-love-story-feb92911 ***OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals*** https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/opm-original-pinoy-musicals-14a90ef1 *Again, thank you to my sponsors and to all the people who upvoted my articles. I appreciate you!*

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@melsiebelsie 30 August 2021

OPM: Original Pinoy Musicals I hope it's not too late to participate in @LucyStephanie 's **Philippine History Month Challenge**! In celebration of Philippine History Month, this challenge was made to feature things about the Philippines' past that we can be proud of. Being a fan of movies, music, and theater, I chose to talk about a few (and the only) Filipino musicals I have watched. Filipinos are traditionally musical people. This is evident in a number of musical displays (such as singing and dancing), that are constantly performed by indigenous peoples in the past (and present), along with story telling, during cultural traditions and important events like baptisms, courtship, marriage, and even death. https://aboutphilippines.org/files/History-of-Philippine-theatre.pdf From these traditional rituals to our current forms of theater heavily influenced by Western colonization, we can't deny that Philippine theater itself has its own rich history. http://theaterfansmanila.com/7-types-of-theater-in-the-philippines/ https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2021/02/01/the-bontoc-igorot-kalinga-and-ifugao-people/ Filipinos have a lot of appreciation for the performing arts. And, because of the internet, a growing number of budding theater enthusiasts are now being made aware of musical shows. A lot of these musicals have playlists available on Spotify. Some have also been made into movies, like *Les Miserable, West Side Story*, and (weirdly) *Cats*. Also, who could forget Lin Manuel-Miranda's *Hamilton*. In this article, I'd like to share that Filipinos are also capable of creating quality original musical theater shows. We just don't have a lot of access to them mainly because tickets are very expensive huhu. But if you get a chance to watch these three shows that I'm featuring, I assure you that you won't get disappointed. *Rack of Aegis* Debuted by PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association) in 2014, *Rak of Aegis* (a pun based on another musical show *Rock of Ages*) is a story about a young lady named Aileen, who dreams of being an online singing sensation whilst living in a town that is submerged under floodwater. The music used in this musical are all from the band *Aegis* with hit songs like *Basang-basa Sa Ulan* and *Halik*. This was the first ever show we watched at PETA, and it only happened because of an impulse buy. I saw an ad that said discounted tickets are available and, because J (then-bf now husband) and I haven't seen a *bonggang* production before, jumped at the chance. Although, the discounted tickets were still quite expensive, we didn't regret going because we really enjoyed the show. We were astonished at how well the cast sang the songs. Everyone who grew up listening to Aegis knows how hard it is to sing an Aegis song. Of course! They're good because they're all professionals. Aside from that, the cast has excellent comedic timing. They even had audience interactions during the show. Part of the performance was asking member of the audience to drink *tubig baha* from a plastic bottle*.* It looked like floodwater but I bet it tasted like iced tea lol. The set was also amazing. I wonder how often they had to change the "floodwater". With that much water, how much do they have to pay for their bill? Although *Rak of Aegis* was marketed primarily as a comedic musical, there are a number of scenes in this show that would force you to draw parallels with situations that impoverished Filipinos have been experiencing. Glorification of Filipino resilience? Check. Politicians taking advantage of a desperate situations to further advance their political career? Check. People wishing to go viral in the internet to get to the quickest route to fame? Check. This show was made not only to entertain, but also to help viewers empathize with people on the lower income bracket. *Rak of Aegis* , definitely is very entertaining to watch. No wonder PETA keeps on bringing this show back making it the longest-running Filipino musical. *Care Divas* I'm not sure where I got the money to watch another PETA show, but yeah, J and I watched another one a few months after *Rak of Aegis.* This time the show has a bittersweet plot with all original music. *Care Divas* is a story about five gay OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) working as caregivers in Israel in the morning and performing as glamorous drag queens by night. Most parts of the show were very fun to watch because of the humorous dialogues. But as the stories behind each character were revealed, we couldn't help but feel a mix of sadness and pity. The scene before the end of the first act was particularly very emotional I almost cried. PETA has always made sure that their shows cover socio-economic issues and this show is no different. It's genius how they managed to stitch together LGBTQ+ issues with OFW issues in the story. Highly-recommended! *Ang Huling El Bimbo* Did I mention that tickets for theater shows are expensive? Especially for this one since it was being shown at a very fancy place. But I enjoyed watching it with my best friends so what the heck. *Ang Huling El Bimbo* tells the story of four college students whose friendship was tested (or destroyed I might say) because of a tragedy. A jukebox musical like *Rak of Aegis, Ang Huling El Bimbo* features songs by the very popular 90's band *Eraserheads.* If you know your Eraserheads discography, the titular song *Ang Huling El Bimbo* starts out beautifully with lyrics happily reminiscing about a certain person. The song eventually sings a darker tune when it's revealed that the person they're singing about has died tragically. The whole musical was patterned after this song but with more triggering topics like rape, depression, drug use, etc. Getting into it, we didn't realize the plot would go that deep and that heavy. We appreciated how each *Eraserheads* song fit the scenarios they were put in very well. The firs act (this is where you'll find all the happiness in the story) became kind of a concert at times because the audience couldn't help but sing along. My best friends and I did too! My friends and I had a great night. We played *Eraserheads* songs on the drive to the restaurant after the show and to the drive home because we were so hungover from the experience. If I were to rate this musical using Kuya Tonipet's words in his show PopTalk, I would definitely say POP NA POP! The pandemic has certainly put a halt to theater productions because of restrictions placed for mass gatherings. However, thanks to technology, production houses found a way to deliver these musicals to our smaller screens. *Ang Huling El Bimbo* was made available on YouTube for FREE (but for a limited time) in the beginning of the pandemic. PETA streamed *Care Divas* in the latter part of 2020 as part of their digital festival, *K.E.-POP: Kalinangan Ensemble-Performers Overcoming a Pandemic,* along with other productions*.* And *Rak of Aegis* had their latest season streamed online just this August. Have you watched any of these Filipino musicals? What do you think? Do you know of other Filipino musicals that we should watch? Please don't hesitate to share your experiences in the comments. *Lead image is from Unsplashed. Photos about featured plays were taken by yours truly (obviously because most are selfies). Source/s for other photos are linked to the picture/s themselves.* *Articles that made use of Writing Prompts/Challenges:* *Getting Better At Speaking A Language* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/getting-better-at-speaking-a-language-70404888 *PWES: My Memories Of Getting Drunk With Friends* https://read.cash/@melsiebelsie/pwes-my-memories-of-getting-drunk-with-friends-bd0a2b5e *Let's make noise at* *noise.cash**!* https://noise.cash/u/melsiebelsie *Thank you, as always, to my sponsors and to anyone who has upvoted any of my articles! I appreciate you!*

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@melsiebelsie 27 August 2021

Our Un-TVshow-worthy Love Story Before I got married, one of my best friends told me that he'd nominate my and then-bf's love story to be shown in "***Wagas***", one of the shows he worked for when he was still here in the Philippines. It was a TV program that featured stories about real life couples overcoming their relationship's up and downs. I always just laugh his suggestion off because I know our story wouldn't pass the media's watchability test. If shown in a storyline graph, TV show-worthy love stories would look like this: Ours is more like this: Love stories shown on TV shows would usually go like this: girl and boy's meet cute girl and boy become a couple something bad happens (fighting, cheating, death, or other extreme cases) problem/s get resolved, which makes the relationship stronger than ever. Thus, making it a story about a *wagas na pag-ibig* (pure/true love) Ours is still a story of a *wagas na pag-*ibig, and my love for my husband is 100% *wagas*. It's just that our relationship is so uneventful you would have to tweak the story a lot to make it marketable to a TV audience. Not a meet cute. More like, "I'm here. Oh...you're there." My husband (who we'll call J in this article) and I have known each other since we were in Grade 3. We only became somewhat friendly to each other in our last two years of High School because of CAT. If you've never heard of that, you must have only been a baby or a fetus during that time. At the start of our Senior year, there was a new girl in my class that J wanted to get to know. He wanted to have a picture of her but he was too shy to ask. Because I was very willing to be a match maker, I asked for her picture and gave it to him. Mobile phones with cameras weren't a thing back then, so when I say picture, I'm talking about printed ones on glossy paper. After that, I didn't get to interact much with him again. Except for the times I've gone to their classroom to bully another close male friend into buying me food from the canteen. One time, I was about to demand my friend for the same thing again when J offered to buy me food. I said okay and thought nothing of it. We got to know each other better with the advent of unlitexting promos haha. He was still a bit shy in person so we would talk more when we're in the comfort of our homes, making the most of the unlimited texting promo we signed up for until it expires. A few nights before Christmas, we were outside on our CAT uniforms, singing Christmas carols for funds, when J asked if *pwede ba siyang manligaw*. Me being a *pabebe* girl during that time didn't give him a direct answer on the spot. I told him "yes" through text. My adult self is cringing while typing this down. However, I wasn't that much of a *pabebe* after all because we officially became a couple mid-January, on the day of the Sto. Niño festival, after another CAT activity. A few conservative eyebrows were raised because our courtship didn't even last a month. But friends who know us very well were very happy for us. We like each other very much and I didn't see any point in prolonging his agony. Uneventful but stable In the remaining months of High School, he would wait for me at the entrance of our school before classes start. I was late most of the time so I would just tell him to get in when the bell rings. He would also accompany me home. We'd get off at the *kanto* of our subdivision and walk. Walking kind of became our thing. Although we could take a trike all the way to my house, we would always walk. We got into different schools. He would still try to visit me sometimes and we'd take a considerable amount of time walking around the campus while talking about our day/s. Sometimes, we'd buy snacks at kiosks along the way. Then he'll take me home and we'd still walk. On nights when we would both get tired of waiting for jeeps or shuttles to take us home, he would say sorry for not knowing how to drive and/or not having his own car. I would always say it's okay. At least commuting takes longer and we could spend more time together lol. He supported my decision to take a leave of absence from school and work because of our family's financial problems. He also supported me when I came back to school as a working student. When we both graduated and got jobs, we would go on dates, splurge on food, and go on a few trips out of town. We would also encourage each other's hobbies. His was collecting film cameras and Gundam robots. Mine was books and crochet. We also would have lazy days where we'll just spend time together doing separate things, or doing nothing. We'll watch TV or a movie. He'll play games on his phone while I crochet or read a book. We'll just be satisfied with each other's presence and then we'll call it a day. Of course we would have arguments and petty disagreements, but neither of us could stand being angry at the other, so we would always apologize. I could be prideful sometimes but never with J. This plateau-like story line would go on for 12 years before we got married. And we didn't mind. We were already set even in the beginning with the fact that we're going to end up together for a long time. So, there's no use in shaking things up just to add drama. And that's why... ...our love story couldn't be featured on a TV show. It's just going to be too boring to watch. However, I agree with what Eleanor's step mom in Never Have I Ever said, ***"You know what's hot? Stability."*** By the way, that show is great. But if you want craziness, our life-after-having-a-kid story has plenty of that. Are there people here who have boring love stories just like ours? Do you think your love story could be *Wagas*-worthy? Let's talk about it in the comments, yes? **─────────────⊱⁜⊰─────────────** *I was already very sleepy when I urged myself to finish this article. I guess mental persuasion trumped my after-laundry body aches. I'm kind of happy I got to finish writing this. I've got a few topics lined up in my drafts and I hope you join me in wishing that I get better and faster at writing hehe* *Don't forget to check out my sponsors! Their articles are very interesting and their dedication in writing will inspire you to write more. Also, thanks to those who generously upvoted my previous articles!*

@melsiebelsie 25 August 2021

Thrilled to get a notification that my articles have reached 101 views! Baby steps right? Now what to write about....

@melsiebelsie 24 August 2021

PWES: My Memories of Getting Drunk with Friends More than a week ago, I commented on @Pichi28 's **Chill Drinkin' a SunRise on a Sundown** about how I miss drinking. The colors of the drinks posted on her article reminded me of the random drinks my friends would try to concoct whenever we had drinking "sessions". Then, as if by design, I began seeing articles about experiences (good and bad) that authors here in read.cash have had when they were under the influence. I first saw @bmjc98 's **Good Girl Gone Bad: My Drunken Days Compilation** , which redirected me to @Eybyoung 's **I Got Tipsy But Never Drunk** ,to @Yen 's **The Drunk Lady I Had Become** , and to @OfficialGamboaLikeUs , who started this challenge, and her article **When I Was Drunk (Re-edit: Additional Story)**. And because these stories were shared by women, I thought I'd unabashedly share my alcohol laden (and yes, drunken) experiences too. https://read.cash/@Pichi28/chill-drinkin-a-sunrise-on-a-sundown-4f263871 https://read.cash/@bmjc98/good-girl-gone-bad-my-drunken-days-compilation-bd7d31d6 https://read.cash/@Eybyoung/i-got-tipsy-but-never-drunk-7328ca01 https://read.cash/@Yen/the-drunk-lady-i-had-become-fde7889e https://read.cash/@OfficialGamboaLikeUs/when-i-was-drunk-re-edit-additional-story-33a3baf5 Luckily, this was my worst Of all the times I've gone out drinking before, luckily, the only bad experiences I've had were the ones with me ending up vomiting a lot, a couple of times where I fell asleep during the commute home and missed my stop, and the one time where I tripped on a sidewalk after getting off a jeep. I remember staring at the pavement for a few seconds before pushing my body up and thinking that people who saw what happened might think I was weird for not immediately standing up. I woke up the next day with big bloody scratches on my knee on top of a big bulging bruise. PWES, the origins I've never been black out drunk before. But if I ever decide on going all out drinking, I would only do that in the presence of friends who are in this group we created and called **PWES**, an acronym for ***Pamorningan WeekEnd Sessionistas***. I know, it sounds corny, but we all thought the name was hilarious when we coined it. We fondly call the group "*Pamorningan*", but, due to our current age and adulting status, our drinking sessions have not lasted until morning for quite a long time now. Also...pandemic. Anyway, I trust these people so much I've relied on them numerous times to help me get home safely. The group was formed on my then boyfriend's (now husband) 21st birthday. We invited a bunch of our High School friends, even the ones we weren't very close with before, to celebrate. There was an abundance of food and drinks because then-bf's mom just started a catering business and some classmates from her TESDA food and beverages course were practicing their bar tending skills on a bar that they set up at the party. We had so much fun trying out different drinks while reminiscing stories and experiences we had in Grade School and High School until the early hours of morning. We enjoyed each other's company so much we started having drinking sessions almost every weekend. Hence, the name of the group lol. School, work, family, and life in general was very stressful for me during that time I would always look forward to the weekend so I could drink with my guys. Most of the time, we'd go to the house of any one from the group who's willing to subject his/her family to our drunken laughs and banter. We were never aggressive or violent when we're drunk that's why our families would just let us be with just the occasional shushing when the noise gets too much. Since a few of us in our friend group were on their way to being chef boys, we never had problems with food. We would sometimes go grocery shopping before a drinking session just so we could get supplies for a *pulutan* recipe we saw on the internet, such as the "**cheesy bacon potato bomb**". Sometimes, we'll just make an upgraded version of Lucky Me's *pancit canton* or of any left over that's available. We would also go crazy on the cocktails. Vodka mixed with rum, juice, soda, and Gatorade. Thinking about the ingredients already makes me want to vomit. And that for sure happens when you've had too much of this concoction. If any of us felt a little rich on a weekend, usually during payday, we would go drinking at a bar. We usually go to Cubao X and find a spot at Fred's. It's a very chill spot that has the cheapest beer in the area with a good music playlist. We would sometimes see artsy celebrities there drinking. We saw Pepe Smith there once. I almost waited for him outside the CR to ask for picture, but I wanted to remain cool so we didn't approach him. We also sometimes go to Eastwood, but not a lot because food and drinks there are too expensive. *Gusto namin makarami parati haha* Weekends became too much, but still, not enough Eventually we got tired of drinking every weekend. So our drinking sessions started slowly dwindling down to only special occasions like fiestas and birthdays. Sometimes we'd still feel the thirst for alcohol even if there were no special occasions, so we would just create a reason to celebrate. One of us leaves a job, we schedule a drinking session. One of us gets a job, we drink and celebrate. One of us starts his tattoo artist career, a bunch of us gets tattooed by him on the same day. And afterwards....drinks! Our favorite band/s gets included in the Pulp Summer Slam lineup, we drink during the concert. And of course, there's the yearly Christmas/New Year's Party with more food and drinks. Plus a free black and white tattoo with the design of our choice from our tattoo artist friend. Amazing right??? Sometimes, we would also rent a *videoke*. We would surprisingly sound really good when we get drunk. Alcohol explorers Our taste in alcohol also changed over time. We never went back to mixing cocktails. Beer became our go-to alcohol but we would still sometimes explore. There was one time when we drank Chardonnay and Red wine after having *pancit*. We felt very sophisticated albeit the food choice. The alcoholic effects were still the same because I suddenly found myself getting my hula hoop out and helping my friends pretend to hula hoop while recording on musical.ly (which everyone now knows as Tiktok). https://youtu.be/wL7Cl9BRjkI I would also never forget the day we first tried absinthe. We didn't do a fancy mix with it, but maybe we should have. Each one of us took one shot glass full and it was VERY PAINFUL. Every breath after taking the shot felt like fire burning in your nose and throat. And then, there's lambanog. Not the fancy flavored ones you can buy in supermarkets. Ours we got from one of our friend's neighbor that sells lambanog by the liter. You can bring your own plastic container if you want to. They're eco-friendly like that, I guess. One minute, you're enjoying the *siomai* you bought for pulutan. Next thing you know, that *siomai* is already on the floor along with the rice you ate it with. 10/10 will not recommend. Tito and Tita time As years went on, our sessions would become fewer and fewer, and would end earlier and earlier. Most of the time, not everyone in the group would even be around. That's why I was very happy when everyone showed up on then-bf's birthday celebration. I didn't suspect anything until I got out of the CR and noticed that then-bf's family was outside with our friends and a Silent Sanctuary song was being played in the background. It turns out that the reason that Pamorningan was complete that night was because then-bf was proposing! I was shocked but of course I said yes haha. What I thought was just a drinking session turned out to be the most memorable drinking session that we've had. After the wedding (our *Pamorningan* peeps were of course part of the entourage), we still tried to schedule drinking sessions with the group. One night, we had a very *tita* night because I insisted that we all do a 10-step Korean skin care routine. From oil cleansing to sheet masks, we did it all, while drinking. The guys were surprisingly thankful because of how smooth and supple their face felt the next day. The last few sessions we had a year before the pandemic started I didn't get to drink because of my pregnancy. But, because we've now matured, we still had a great time. Also they were busy grilling our DIY samgyupsal so not a lot of drinking happened. We were also saying goodbye to a couple of dear friends going abroad to study. They both graduated this year! This would have been another good cause for celebration if only we're all in close proximity to each other. Back to the NOW Since I chose to breastfeed, I haven't had alcohol for number of years now. I don't go looking for it. I surely miss it. But what I miss most are the people who we were with when we were consuming it. **PWES** turned 10 this year. Although most of us in the group have already had our Covid-19 vaccines, we're all trying to be responsible people so we're putting off scheduling drinking sessions. One of us (a friend whose father died because of the long term effects of Covid-19 on his respiratory system) even suggested that we include our parents in a drinking/celebratory session after the pandemic passes. He said that we've known each other for a long time and we've all been through a lot these couple of years, it's just fitting that we grow closer together by introducing our parents to each other. What a great idea. At least, something to look forward to in the future. We sure picked the right people to be drinking buddies with. **─────────────⊱⁜⊰─────────────** *This topic was fun to write about. It still took me a few hours but, still, smoother sailing than the previous ones. I'll try scouring the read community for more writing challenges so could post more content. Please check out the articles I linked in the article! They were all very interesting to read. Also, don't forget to browse through my sponsors' profiles. They're awesome!*

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@melsiebelsie 22 August 2021

Getting Better at Speaking a Language Learning a language is like learning how to ride a bike. You’ll feel awful and embarrassed in the beginning because you’re not used to doing it. But with enough practice and persistence, you’ll definitely get better at it. I used to be an oral communication instructor at an English training center and those were the lines I would start each batch of classes with. This reassures my students that it’s never too late to get better at something. If you’re having a hard time expressing yourself in English (or in any new language), here are a few things I have observed from personal experience that helped me get a better grasp of learning this language. **Start Young** I know, I said at the beginning of this article that it’s never too late to learn so this tip might sound contradictory haha. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE, however, it is ideal that you start early. Children absorb information quicker than adults because their brains are still rapidly forming new neural connections and pathways, hence making it easier for them to learn new things. Start speaking to them in whatever language you want them to learn early, just so they would realize at an early age that this could be their norm and adapt accordingly. https://tessais.org/children-learn-languages-faster-adults/ I could also say the same about learning how to express love and affection. I love giving my daughter hugs and kisses. When she was very little, I'd kiss her cheeks every time I pick her up. I would kiss her on her forehead and encase her in my arms whenever I breastfeed her (which was all the time). I don't know, but there's just something about babies' smell and cuteness that makes me want to just give them affection. My daughter is now a toddler. She would sometimes just grab my face with both hands and give me a kiss. There would also be times when she would just run to us and hug our legs tightly, for no reason, as if we haven't seen each other in days. It surprised me the first few times. But not so much anymore because I realized that even if I don't force her to reciprocate those gestures to me (or to other members of our family) her young mind learned the language of physical affection just through observation. So, if you have children, make sure that whatever you show or teach them is something you’d want to be retained in their brain for the rest of their life.  Also, if you're an adult trying to learn or get better at using a new language, start as soon as you can. And keep practicing! Surround Yourself with the Language For some reason, there are people here in the Philippines who correlate good English communication skills with being in the upper class. That was never true in my case. I grew up in a family that's considered in the lower-middle class status, but my sisters and I managed to be good at expressing ourselves in English. I believe that the reason for this is we've had plenty of exposure and practice. We watch a lot of English shows, listened to a lot of English songs, read a lot of English books. We didn't always speak English at home, but my father would joke with us in English (sometimes carabao English), and this made us more comfortable speaking the language. Imitate Most of the words I learned how to pronounce I imitated from songs, movies, and TV shows. If I can't get the sound right, I would look at the actor's or the singer's lips and mimic how they open their mouths. That would almost always do the trick. However, I didn't know back then that English has numerous dialects. So sometimes I would get confused which pronunciations I should use. Should it be EITHER with a long e, or either with the long i? Is ROUTE really pronounced as "root" or is it "rawt"? Which one's the right one? It took me quite a while to recognize that the pronunciations that I get confused about are all correct. So, now, I don't burden burden myself as much with pronunciation worries anymore. As long as the dictionary says it's right, then it's right. Speaking of the dictionary... It's so easy to check the dictionary now compared to the pre-internet and smart phone days. Merriam-Webster has a website that is constantly being updated and is free to download on smartphones. If you get confused with definitions, pronunciation, or grammar, this is one of the best tools that you can use to help you. Another thing that I imitate from other people is their use of words. If I'm watching a show, listening to podcasts, or just talking to someone, and I hear certain words that I know I've never used before, I'd take a mental note to look for that word in the dictionary. Check the definition and usage, and then try to use it in my own sentence just to check if it would sound okay when I use it in certain situations. Imitation for learning purposes is okay of course. Just make sure that the material/person you're mimicking from is correct. Practice Malcolm Gladwell, a journalist and author, wrote in his book "Outliers" that, based on a 1993 study, mastery of a certain skill comes after practicing for a total of 10,000 hours. Although this statement has already been debunked, the psychologist who replicated the 1993 study and debunked it states that deliberate practice would still almost undoubtedly improve a skill. https://www.businessinsider.com/malcolm-gladwell-anders-ericsson-10000-hour-rule-isnt-replicating-2019-8 We had to take foreign language classes in College and German is what I chose. I passed the subject but after the classes have finished my German language knowledge just disappeared. I wasn't able to speak German that much because there weren't any chance to. German movies and other media weren't very accessible back then (except for the occasional Ramstein Du Hast Mich on NU Rock 107) so I also did not have a lot of exposure. I still know how to count and pronounce certain words in German but, because I didn't/don't practice, I can't converse in German anymore. Unlike with my English skills, which I have practiced almost my whole life. I'm trying to get my German back with the help of Duolingo. I need help managing my time first haha. So, go on and practice, practice, practice! Speak the language you want to learn with anybody you know who's willing to practice with you. The more you practice, the more a skill becomes muscle memory. The less effort you have to exert in the future. If practice doesn't make the skill perfect, at least it makes it better. Don't Stop Learning I consider English as one of the fastest evolving languages in the world. A number of words get added in the dictionary every year. From words borrowed from other languages to literally made up words like "selfie" (added in 2013). A number of definitions also get added to already existing words (did you know that the word "terrific" originally meant "terrifying"). Sentence structures that were considered ungrammatical can suddenly become grammatical just because people keep on deliberately making these mistakes. So, try to keep yourself updated. You won't have any excuse now because the internet has made everything easy to look up. Plus, it's fun to go down the internet rabbit hole and find out how a lot of languages are similar in certain ways. **─────────────⊱⁜⊰─────────────** Yes, English might be considered as the Philippines’ second language but a lot of Filipinos still feel insecure whenever they try to express themselves in English. Mostly because they're afraid of being judged. I’m no language expert myself, and I know my English isn’t always perfect, but for me the purpose of learning a language is being able to be understood. So, I hope the tips I listed above could help you get better at whatever language you're trying to learn. Worked for me so far! lol **─────────────⊱⁜⊰─────────────** *This is my first ever entry for* @JonicaBradley *'s writing prompt. Tagging* @TengoLoTodo *as well for this article about LANGUAGE.* *Writing took me longer this time because of the impostor syndrome hanging at the back of my head saying that what I'm writing isn't relevant enough. Maybe I'll start heeding my advice in the article above and practice writing more so my impostor syndrome won't have time to catch up on me.* *Thank you again to* @bmjc98 *and* @Bloghound *for being my sponsors! Please check out their profiles and their awesome content.*

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@melsiebelsie 16 August 2021

Thank you @bmjc98 and @Bloghound for being my sponsors! I really appreciate the support. ❤️

@melsiebelsie 14 August 2021

Reviewing My Budol Finds Nabudol ba kayo ng 8.8 sale? Me? I can safely tag myself (and my wallet) safe from this madness...for now. For some reason, I didn't feel the urgency to check out some of things I have in my online shopping cart, which has hundreds of items and is never empty (see screenshot below). I think my exploration of noise.cash and read.cash in the past few days distracted me from checking my online shopping apps and buying stuff I didn't need. So thanks noise.cash and read.cash! You truly are a blessing. Adding things to my online shopping cart/s sort of became a hobby that started when I gave birth to my daughter. I was in bed most of the time, recovering from having a CS delivery while pushing to exclusively breastfeed my baby, when I realized that we still didn't have enough baby things. So I would just add baby stuff in my cart, ask my husband if we could afford it, then proceed to finalizing my purchase and wait for the orders to be delivered. Mind you, we're not rich. Exclusively breastfeeding and using cloth diapers instead of disposable ones really helped save extra money. Money which then we could use to buy not only things that we need, but also thinks that we want. I wouldn't say that I'm an online shopping addict, but I definitely feel pleasure every time a product I ordered online arrives. More satisfaction if the quality of the item I received exceeded my expectations. I didn't participate in the 8.8 sale, but it doesn't mean that I'll be safe from online shopping for the rest of this month. We have already bought a number of things in the beginning of August even before the 8.8 sale, so I'm hoping that spending-wise we should be good. To stop myself from browsing through the items on my cart and looking for things to check out, I decided to just document my online purchases from the previous month. This will be the first time that I'm going to stop and list down what I've spent on online shopping for one month and I'd like to think that the money I spent was spent mostly on necessities. I hope I'm right. With this list, I'll also provide descriptions and a review of the products that I bought. I'll also include the product links for the readers who might be persuaded to add these things to their cart for the next sale in line haha. Disclaimer: I'm not sponsored by these shops in any way. If you find something you like, just click/tap on the image of the product and will automatically redirect you to the shop/product link. **────────────────────────────⊱⁜⊰────────────────────────────** Baby Stuff https://shopee.ph/Organic-Baby-Wipes-80's-Pack-of-6-with-CAP-i.94106147.1644330382 This has been my go-to wipes for almost a year now. We were using an expensive brand of saline wipes for the first few months of our baby's life. And while that brand was nice, has lots of extra moisture that makes it easier to wipe poop off of my baby's skin (and in my skin too lol), the wipes themselves look like they will not disintegrate in the next 5 years. So I went looking for other brands. I did find eco-friendly ones, most of them boasting about using pure water solution. However, they turn out to be so dry that when you pull one wipe out, you get 10 sheets instead. So when I saw video on Facebook about an experiment testing the biodegradability of a few wet wipes brands by burying them under soil for a few months, I took note of which brand disintegrated the earliest. It was **Organic Baby Wipes**. It's biodegradable and has the right amount of moisture that I prefer. It's also made from natural plant extracts, like Aloe Vera and chamomile, that are gentle to the skin. And just like with other baby wipe brands, this brand does not contain parabens, alcohol, chlorine, or any harsh chemicals. It smells nice, too! ***Toothbrush and Toothpaste*** https://shopee.ph/Nature-to-Nurture-Wheat-Straw-Ultra-fine-Bristle-Toothbrush-0-6-yrs-old-i.38167274.3958422763 The first baby toothbrush that we bought from **Nature to Nurture** was one that has bamboo charcoal bristles. I ended up traumatizing my daughter with our brushing routine for quite a while because those bristles turned out to be too harsh on her gums. I'm glad that they now have brushes with ultra fine bristles. She now enjoys brushing her teeth so much that she always insists on holding the toothbrush herself. As for the toothpaste, my daughter loves the taste haha. 50ml lasted us quite awhile since only a smear is required for toddlers under 2 (or maybe 3. I don't remember). ***Baby Shampoo*** https://shopee.ph/BabyCare-Plus-Blue-200g-ml-i.38813444.1404735993 I love the smell of our current baby Shampoo **Baby Care Plus**. My daughter inherited her dad's overly productive sweat glands, so every time we get back from our little walk (we're lucky to be living in a spacious neighborhood where we don't bump into people when we do our walks), her body, especially her hair, would already be covered with sticky sweat. Usually, kids who sweat that much would be *amoy araw.* But because of the shampoo, her head would still smell like powder. The Shopee store ran out of the variant that we're currently using, so I just opted for the blue one. I haven't tried this variant yet as we're still finishing our current bottle, but I'm 90% positive that this product would have the same effect as the other variant. ***Mosquito Patch*** https://shopee.ph/Bite-Block-Naturals-Insect-Repellent-Citronella-Patches-12s-i.293320183.7245971398 We've been using **Bite Block** insect repellent patches for quite a while now. I say WE because my mother would ask me to save the rest of the sheet where the patches are from. Each pack has 12 patches separated into two sheets. The extra spaces beside the patches also have a fragrant citronella smell on them, so my mother would cut them out into small pieces and stick them on her legs. She says it really wards mosquitos off of her when she works on hers sewing machine. Yes, it does work! ***Baby Lotion*** https://shopee.ph/Johnson's-Bedtime-Lotion-100ml-i.29990515.2263719202 The description in the bottle says that **Johnson's Bedtime Lotion** has been clinically proven to help comfort baby before sleep. I don't know about that but I can assure you that this is one of Johnson's best smelling products. ***Tongue Cleaner*** https://shopee.ph/2X-Tongue-cleaner-plastic-scraper-Tounge-oral-mouth-hygiene-Dental-Care-10-OFF-i.104586860.9931220558 Because *dede* is life for my daughter, she always has milk residue on her tongue. Brushing doesn't seem to get it all off that's why I got this online. Although this was listed as a baby/toddler product, I haven't been able to use it on my daughter because the scraper thingy is still too big to fit in her mouth. Good thing the toothbrush we purchased from Nature to Nurture has a tongue cleaner at the back of the brush head itself. For those who have bought and used this, does this work? ***Sunflower Oil*** https://shopee.ph/Human-Nature-Sunflower-Beauty-Oil-i.33677428.470292616 I know, this is a beauty product. Why am I listing this under baby stuff? Mommies in cloth diapering Facebook groups swear by its effectiveness in lightening dark spots. Since cloth diapers are kind of bulkier compared to disposable diapers, there would be a lot of friction in the groin area for babies who can already walk. And, as we all know, too much and constant friction on skin would cause that area to darken a little bit. So I would smear small amounts of **Human Nature Sunflower Oil** on my baby's groin and inner thigh area every nappy change to help lessen the friction that would cause these skin areas to darken. I would also put a dab of this oil on insect bite scars. This did help remove those dark spots gradually. By the way, this is also a great make up remover! ***Baby Clothes*** https://shopee.ph/ED-shop-COTTON-Infant-bodysuit-bodysuits-Sleep-and-Play-frogsuit(sold-by-1)-anti-Mosquitoes-i.36248246.673668822 https://shopee.ph/yazeedsonlineshop https://shopee.ph/PERSONAL-PRELOVED-CLOTHES-FOR-LITTLE-GIRLS-I-KIDS-WEAR-i.142531719.8418177475 https://shopee.ph/Preloved-Clothes-Batch-7-Girls-(0-10-Y-O)-i.357618072.5179851049 We're very grateful to have friends and relatives who have given us baby clothes. A few of my cousins, who also have daughters, have given us clothes that their children have outgrown. Some of these clothes look almost brand new. They would say that most of the outfits were worn only for a few times because babies grow so fast. Babies do grow really fast! My daughter is now outgrowing those lovely hand-me-downs that's why I'm now frantically looking for clothes that would last her until she turns three lol. The frog suits I specifically looked for. The others, Shopee suggested. It's sometimes scary how Shopee knows me well. https://shopee.ph/cham.bilog?categoryId=100633&itemId=10120527367 This one I bought from a work at home mom who primarily sells cloth diapers. She announced on her Facebook page that if you get at least one product from her Shopee store, you're entitled to one other product from her brand and it would only cost 5 pesos. Yas! I chose one dress and then checked out the 5 peso product, which later on turned out to be training pants that's originally priced for 160 pesos. Good deal! ***Bath Toy*** https://shopee.ph/Baby-toys-water-toys-bath-toys-Cute-little-animal-shape-i.49776354.7947742319 This one I bought only because I had less than 50 pesos left on my Shopeepay account and a few free shipping/discount vouchers that were about to expire. Although not a necessity, I would still consider this a good buy because it's cheap and my daughter loves playing with it. ***Raincoat*** https://shopee.ph/Children-Cartoon-Rain-Coat-Kids-Rain-Wear-Cute-Baby-Funny-Waterproof-Rain-Coat-Children-Raincoat-Kindergarten-Boy-Girl-Baby-Raincoat-Primary-School-Kids-Waterproof-plus-Size-Thick-Rain-Poncho-10-Years-i.466551012.5693257730 The heavy rains a few weeks ago really put a damper on our walking routine. So my husband told me to browse around Xhopee and get our daughter a raincoat. He wanted to let her experience the rain without getting wet that much. However, shipping took way too long that by the time this raincoat was delivered, it wasn't raining that much anymore. ***Coloring Flash Cards*** https://shopee.ph/BYJ-Doodle-Flash-Card-Early-Educational-Cards-Pinyin-Fruits-Alphabets-Chinese-Character-Numbers-i.294434151.5857425966?position=5 This one is more like a Tiktok *budol*. When it comes to shopping for baby stuff, my husband gets easily convinced by products shown on his social media feed. Once, he saw an ad for a bubble maker that looked like a gattling gun. He immediately bought it even though we already had a bubble gun. Both baby and daddy really enjoyed playing with that gattling gun bubble maker. Same with these flash cards. These aren't your ordinary educational cards. Here, you can pretend to color in the pictures just by putting water in the brush pen (see photo below). When the water dries, the picture goes back to white and you can pretend to color it again with your brush. Amazing, right? Husband was so amazed by the video he almost bought all the sets available. My daughter already knows how to hold a pen and pretend to write. This one's perfect for her because this time she can pretend to color. ***Basketball set*** https://shopee.ph/HCH-Basketball-for-kid-baby-boy-SPORTS-i.24522964.864348961?position=0 My daughter loves playing with our neighbor's basketball. She would pick up the ball, try to bounce it to other people, then squeal with delight when they catch it. Seeing her happy that way always makes my day. So regardless if it's a sport for boys, I'd still let my daughter play basketball as long as she wants. Besides, girls play basketball too. Laundry/Cleaning stuff ***Stain removing detergent*** https://shopee.ph/MrBundles-Oxy-Wash-Versatile-Stain-Cleaner-1-Kg-i.156190181.9544621020 I use Mr. Bundles' Oxy Wash liquid detergent for my daughter's cloth diapers. Sometimes there would be stains that are hard to remove, like stains from the zinc oxide cream that I would use for my daughter's rashes. I was glad to find out that Mr. Bundles released this product so I didn't have to buy from a different shop. I only use little amounts on the diapers because it said in the instructions that the detergent can be quite strong. And it works! Electronics (or Electronics related) ***HDMI cable*** https://shopee.ph/Vention-HDMI-Cable-4K-1080P-HDMI-Cable-Adapter-For-TV-LCD-i.167042665.2678689651 We use this for the old TV in our room. We would extend the screen of our laptop onto this non-smart TV using the HDMI cable so we could watch Netflix on a bigger screen. We're actually saving for a casting device that we could use with this TV, but devices like that are expensive. This works so this will do for now. ***Nova 3i phone case and pop socket*** https://shopee.ph/rain1.ph The buttons for the volume and power on my old phone case suddenly disappeared so I had to buy a new one. I also ordered a Cardcaptor Sakura designed pop socket because it's cute and the big phones are hard to hold onto without these pop sockets. I know, Nova 3i might be already outdated for some but my phone is still working fine. I'll use it until it decides to die on me on its own. By the way, I had to put a bit of glue on the design of the pop socket so it won't peel off. Docked one star off the review because of that. ***P30 phone case*** https://shopee.ph/Double-sided-Curved-Screen-High-definition-Explosion-proof-Glass-Tempered-Phone-Case-Is-Suitable-for-Huawei-P30-P40-Pro-Mate-20-30-Pro-Mate-20RS-Huawei-Honor-30-Pro-Nova7-Pro's-Magnetic-Frame-Installation-Single-Anti-drop-Mobile-Phone-Case-i.408333507.5484742397 Not worth it. First off, the sound it makes when this case hits the floor doesn't sound like it could protect your phone. And the glass that's supposed to cover your phone screen would only frustrate you. There's just too much delay in the screen response because of the glass. My husband always plays mobile games on his phone so delays in screen response really is a big no-no. I'm not a gamer, but even I would get frustrated if my phone screen would not respond as quickly as I know it should. ***Charger cord*** https://shopee.ph/Sgalas-5A-Cabel-For-Oppo-Vooc-Charger-Cable-Cord-Super-Flash-Fast-Charge-Micro-Android-Data-Usb-Cable-i.237648461.3478747279 I just had to buy a new one. The old one just couldn't stay stuck in my phone while it's charging. Mommy & Daddy Things ***Underwear*** https://shopee.ph/jksshop It has been quite some time since we bought new underwear for ourselves lol. But if you're going to buy underwear from Shopee, please check the reviews. A lot of these listings mention brand names and would give you the illusion of being able to pick and choose which brand/s you like, but their products would all be the same mid to low quality products you could also find in street vendors along Divisoria. I'm not saying that these are unusable. I'm just saying that their quality is not at par with the ones being sold by official shops of the brands their touting to have. The fabric is thinner than expected. Although the size in the tags are right, you'll definitely feel that they're not all the same when you wear them. The stitches are not that sturdy. My husband accidentally caught his foot in the fabric while he was trying to wear the briefs. The stitches connecting the garter and the fabric broke and unraveled. Now this underwear has a hole the length of his hand. But we shouldn't expect more if the price is cheap right? We still use them, but we'll be definitely buying directly from official online shops next time. ***Raincoat*** This we bought so we could *terno* up with baby when we play in the rain. But, again, we haven't been able to use it because it doesn't rain as much anymore. For Hobbies ***Crochet Hook Set*** https://shopee.ph/6-Size-Gold-Crochet-Hooks-for-DIY-i.312999713.6555945452 Of all my purchases this month, this one gave me the greatest satisfaction. Branded crochet hooks are really expensive. I'm talking about thousands of pesos per hook (hello Furls!). I know the the price might sound insane, but just like with any craft, higher priced tools provide more ease in use. So when I saw that this Indonesian craft store is having a flash deal for this **Tulip** double ended hook set, I immediately jumped at the chance. This set can go up to 500 pesos locally (still reasonably priced). Good thing I still have free shipping vouchers and Shopee coins whch brought the price down to 193 pesos. What a steal! I couldn't help but brag about this on my crochet channels at noise.cash. I got to finally use it when I started a made to order baby outfit, and wooo, the glide is soooo smooooth. My hands didn't need to exert a lot of effort anymore. I'm so happy knowing that they would no longer hurt that much if I decide to crochet for long periods of time. I would easily recommend this to those looking for branded crochet hooks. Of course, there are better options (like the Tulip Etimo sets), but if you're on a tight budget, this will already do the trick. ***Big A** Tunisian Crochet Hook*** https://shopee.ph/6-Size-Gold-Crochet-Hooks-for-DIY-i.312999713.6555945452 This I would tag as an unnecessary purchase. Someone posted this for sale in one of the Facebook crochet groups that I'm in. The biggest size that a Tunisian crochet hook set would have is 8mm. So when I saw this one, I knew I had to have it. I don't have any need for it (yet), but, again, I gotta have it. So here I am, with a big a** tunisian hook, not knowing what to do with it (yet). ***Yarn*** https://shopee.ph/5ply-milk-cotton-yarn-50-grams-Part-3-i.271323940.9950558694 This is now my go-to milk cotton yarn shop. I was thinking of making a sweater for a relative's birthday, but I wasn't sure how many skeins I should get. I tried looking at posts from crochet Facebook groups (they're a really big help), and I think I saw one where they said they used up to 1000 grams of milk cotton yarn. That's a lot. Thinking that knitting might require less yarn, I only bought 500 grams from a store that had the lowest priced milk cotton yarn that I could find locally. This store is so reliable that if you place your orders early in the day, they'll have it picked up right away and it gets delivered on your doorstep the next day! ***Hair Tie*** https://shopee.ph/Kily.PH-Hair-Rubber-Bands-Ponytail-Accessories-16A0008-i.25587666.5938539571 I bought this so I could practice making crocheted scrunchies. Crocheted fashion items suddenly became in vogue right now that even luxury brands like Prada and Gucci are coming up with crochet collections. Crocheting is my favorite hobby ever, so I'd like to jump at the chance at making money with this hobby while the trend is still hot haha. And I'm going to start with scrunchies. **────────────────────────────⊱⁜⊰────────────────────────────** So this is the end of my online shopping rundown for the month of July. If you noticed, the bulk of our haul are baby stuff because when you become a parent, the well-being of your child comes first. And my husband has the least number of purchases, always lol. I know some of the reviews sound like justifications of why I bought something I didn't need to buy. However, I'd like to think I was honest with the reviews I provided for each product. And listing down all these purchases made me realize that OMG we did spend a lot of money on online shopping last month. Now I'm actually concerned. Now that Lazada's and Shopee's payday sales are looming around the corner, I know I couldn't stop myself from buying stuff online. But at least now I've had the realization that we have already spent so much and it's time to cut back. I'd like to make this online shopping documentation a monthly series to make myself accountable lol. I will try to cut back on my online shopping, so don't be surprised if the next article about this topic will have fewer reviews for fewer items haha. See you next time! **────────────────────────────⊱⁜⊰────────────────────────────** *This article took me a week to write. Mommy duties would only give me free time in the very early hours of the morning. But, even then, baby would still wake up and demand for my presence. Phew! That's why, I'm so proud to have finished this. Having a sponsor really pushed me to not give up and try to continue writing. So, thank you* @bmjc98 *for being my first ever sponsor! I'll stick it out and try my best to write more.*

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