For the first time in my entire life, I got scammed.

I thought I was smart enough not to be fooled, but here I am.

I was on Facebook, mindlessly viewing how my friends spent the last 24 hours. And in the middle of these stories, I came across a video ad. I didn't even bother to watch it but this fat, arthritic thumb accidentally tapped the link when what I was trying to do was swipe forward. Curse this high-speed internet and fast-processing phone, the Shein app opened before I can tap the back button (or maybe my fat, arthritic thumb was just painfully slow).

I have always talked about my shoes. Thought maybe I'd also talk about my feet. Haha. 

Ugh. 🙄 

And here's the thing: I don't like my feet because they're ugly. 

You could say they're a whole new level of hideous. Dry, cracked, calloused, wrinkly, and veiny. 

(Which does not make the topic any better.) 

No amount of moisturizer, color, pedicure, special beauty treatment, or maybe even plastic surgery will make my feet conventionally beautiful. 

I've tried most of it all.

Sitting behind the computer screen all day can be pretty exhausting. But believe me when I say that sprucing up your boring workspace is important for your mental health and your productivity too.

I find it truly amazing how something so small and simple as the color of Post-it note can have a big impact on your mood. So I've rounded up things that are cute and may be impractical but with one look, can make your stressful day a bit bearable.

A few days ago, I decided to cast my votes for the barangay elections. It shames me to admit this, but this is actually my first time to participate at the barangay level. 

So the first ignorant thing I said when the ballot was given to me was, "Ay, isulat diay (Oh, so we're writing it down)."

I settled into one of the seats and proceeded to write all eight names. And oh boy, did my hand feel sore after that. Then I gave my votes one last look before dropping the ballot in the box. 

I cringed at what I saw.

I remember the time Dr. Martens opened its doors here in Davao (yes, it's about those goddamned shoes again). I first laid my eyes on the 8-eye 1460 cherry red boots. It looked so badass that it made me believe in love at first sight. But priced at around Php 9k, it would be a cold day in hell before I would be willing to pay that much for something I would not use regularly.

Five years and a devastating news later, hell froze and I finally got my very first Docs. It is not my dream cherry reds but it is badass enough to make me fall in love with the brand even more. And it was such a challenge to stop at one pair.

So I had another. 

And another. 

All in less than a year. 

It's a terrible addiction.

It's the first day of October and the first thing I read on my Facebook news feed today is my friend's call to ignore messages coming from her account. Apparently, she was hacked and the said hacker had been asking money from anyone on her friends list.

This is not the first time I've heard of this. It's not a surprise that people would do things unimaginable just for money. 

But anyway. 

Two of my friends have had their photos used by imposters to scam people on Facebook just recently. 

Friend #1 learned about her imposter when it tried to sell baby stuff on Facebook and her friend from another city saw the listing. The imposter's fake profile was reported and taken down before anyone could fall prey. 

As for Friend #2, it was already too late when she found out about it. She was getting virtually sucker-punched by angry and frustrated victims after realizing they had been duped into sending their hard-earned money for nothing. Her face was posted on different groups, labeled with the most demeaning words while the real perp got away with it.

Well, that's scary.

This is not the first time I've heard of it. It happens all the time and it could happen to anyone—especially us, ordinary people whose faces are not easily recognizable by a lot of people.

But you know what scares me more?

I still remember the last time I drew something. It was Valentine's Day four years ago when, like any other Valentine's, Jan and I had nothing better to do. It was a year before the pandemic but staying home was already a much better choice that day.

So Jan challenged me to draw something and I did.