Okay.

This is not something that a lot of people can relate to. But in case you are wondering, this is how I got by those raging pregnancy hormones during the isolation. I've heard a few kids play this but from what I know, this game kept A LOT OF PEOPLE (mostly adults) from spiraling downward during the pandemic. It is truly a life saver.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the most expensive game I have ever bought ($60 + Nintendo Switch Online membership worth Php350/year). But with the number of hours I have played, you can tell that it is absolutely WORTH IT. If I didn't have children and a business to attend to, I would have probably spent more than 5,000 hours with it.

I was asked to do a speech after my name was announced. I don't exactly have an affinity for speaking, let alone an impromptu one. Usually, the words I compose in my head are not the same words that come out of my mouth. I only wanted to be grateful but instead, I uttered:

"I wrote my entry without the intention to win."

And that was only half the truth.

You see, when I decided to join the blogging competition, I would be a hypocrite if I say I didn't want to win. I wrote my piece with the Php30,000 prize money on my mind. Well, that's almost half of Rhett's tuition fee balance. Who wouldn't want that?

So I started brainstorming for topics only to be confronted by the fact that I do not have a story to tell. I do know I have the writing prowess, pero hindi ko talaga kayang tapatan ang kwento ng iba. My story pales in comparison with others. Yes, it was a mistake to read other entries before starting with mine. But I wrote anyway because I wanted to challenge myself to write something inspiring out of the ordinary. The last time I did this, my article inadvertently went viral. Sort of. Not that I'm trying to do the same thing. 

It took me at least twenty revisions and a hundred self doubts before I published my entry. And truthfully, by the time I submitted my piece a day before the deadline, I had no intention of winning. What I just wanted to do was share what I feel and make a difference—to myself at least.

The last time I joined this competition, there were 70+ entries and I did not make it to the top 20. I thought of the same thing when I learned there were 108 blog entries this season. Being part of the top 40 was good enough. And while I only hoped to win from any of the raffle draws during the virtual awarding (unfortunately, there wasn't any), I unexpectedly bagged 5th place.

I thought that my blogger duties were put on halt (if it is still not obvious, I haven't been Instagramming and blogging as regularly as I would have). For the past few days, all I did was literally eat and sleep the whole day, and Google about these aBsOLutEly HeLPfuL tHinGs iN LiFe like duck cannibalism, snake poop, and galloping crocodiles in between.

I have been declining design job opportunities and writing gigs because this pregnancy is getting more and more difficult I am simply lazy. But I wouldn't say I am lazy all the time. I make myself useful by giving the husband a pat on the back for being the hardworking man that he is because he needs more motivation to work harder now that I don't have job (and I got items on my cart waiting to be checked out). Haha. But I guess, it's also worth mentioning that I am not the whiny and demanding pregnant wife every husband is terrified about. Or to put it simply, I try not to be a burden to him even though this has got to be my life right now:

Just when I thought I'm already done with video games, I find myself attacked by this:

I started blogging more than a decade ago but it was only in 2015 when I started to up the ante. I wrote a lot of helpful, inspiring, and relatable posts. I focused on evergreen content. And it definitely paid off. I was able to earn, rake in a few sponsorship, get invited to exclusive events, enjoy premium services at no cost, receive PR kits and blogger mails, eat food I cannot afford, enjoy all-expense paid trips, stay in 5-star hotels for free, won awards, and more!

If zombies were to chase me, I only have a 300-meter chance to run for my life. Anything farther than that does not guarantee my survival.

Because I hate to admit this, I AM NO LONGER FIT AS I WAS BEFORE.

How do you survive a zombie apocalypse?

I'm not sure whether I should start my intro with a defensive speech as to why I got 39 new books (not including the children's book I got for Rhett) in less than two months or should I just accept my fate that I always get defeated in a battle against impulsive book buying.

Supportive. As always ♥

Here’s the thing, when you are in front of a million new books priced at 50-90% off, there's no way you could ever resist that. Not me. And it's not all the time you can get big book sales like this, that's why you have take advantage of it.  Meaning, you can’t just go barging in a book sale and NOT buy a book… because that’s just stupid. And besides, I don't really have anything to spend my money on.

Today is 11.11. Every online and physical store is on a HUUUUGE sale. Tempting, yes. But I wasn't really psyched about it because:

1. I'm broke. And even if I had the money,
2. The internet has been fucked up since Thursday.

So instead of wasting precious bandwidth, loading websites that will only make me a thousand more poorer, I'll blog about last month's National Book Store's Book Binge Bazaar book haul instead.

Even though I go gaga over Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, or Linkin Park, it has never been a secret how much I love boy bands.

I guess you can blame that to the curtain haircuts made famous by Nick Carter back in the 90s. That pretty boy look definitely won too many hearts. But more than the pretty face, they got the phenomenal stage presence, smooth dance moves, cheesy songs, and the voice that definitely made teen girls fall head over heels. And I guess, I have not outgrown that stage until this very day.

I was 12 when I fell in love with these guys. I used to watch them every day on MTV. And even though I claim to be a huge boy band fan, I've never seen one group performed live.

I remember during my freshman year in high school, I saw a batch of seniors who were standing in neat rows under the heat of the sun. They looked cool in their combat boots and fatigue, except, they were more like puppies to me than soldiers. They're pretty good at obeying commands. Sit, roll over, drop and play dead, or whatever the commanding officer tells them to. I watched them every Friday and told myself I've already been potty-trained since 2, I don't need new tricks, and I'm never going to be a trained pup. And the only way to elude the comedy and horror of Preparatory Military Training (PMT) is to be part of a varsity team.

I’m not claiming to be an interesting person but new and seemingly interesting things happened lately. Plus, I need more entries for this blog, so here goes.