I have now turned on my Out-Of-Office message once again (I did so too earlier this month) and couldn’t believe that it’s already Christmas in three days!
I have finished my remaining
tasks before the weekend so I thought I should blog as I haven’t written
anything here since September. Not that I miss it, I really don’t. But I
thought I should just write something for the very few of you who still occasionally
checks this site.
So, whatever happened to me
since?
Nothing much happened in October.
At least not anything worth mentioning.
I had my second tattoo last
November. It’s smaller than my previous tattoo and I had it behind my right
ear. It’s a single rose wreath and it’s done by the same artist who made my
orange cat tattoo.
It’s strange that this teeny tattoo, which is just in black and white ink, was more painful than my first one. I now believe that tattoo placement matters when one is considering what is most and least painful. Nevertheless, I was such a trouper. My pain threshold can embarrass an average man’s.
The thing though is that the artist was an hour late for my appointment, and I was forced to wait outside their condominium unit. Now, this is nothing like the posh condominiums in Makati where there are nice lobbies and waiting areas (Don’t believe me? Check the reviews) so I instead waited helplessly along the dark corridor of the floor sweating and all. I think I caught something because only a day after that I had one of the worst, lingering cough ever.
I never had the common cold, I
just started feeling tired and weak all of a sudden then followed by debilitating body pains. The kind that would make
you question your entire existence. I had low-grade fever next, but nothing
that a regular paracetamol couldn’t relieve. After that was the worse cough ever that it’s
almost like the cough I had when I had COVID, only that this is much more
progressive and much more a pain in the you-know-where.
By the next weekend, I forced my body so we could watch E.A.T. live at the TV5 Media Center (I booked it, so I had to be present). This was our second time because we were there on kuya’s birthday last October. It was more fun this time because so much has happened and my younger brother Chito even won 5,000 pesos on the studio audience raffle.
The next week was my birthday week, but I’m still feeling under the weather. I was hacking like crazy, almost struggling for breath, that by the eve of my birthday on December 5, I decided to get myself checked.
I wasn't really in a hurry, so I took a jeepney ride instead of my usual taxi (or Grab) ride to Makati. The jeepney was quite crowded and I sat beside two men. I was carrying my tiny backpack, which I usually wear on my front for easy access and so that it'll be safe from pickpockets.
I got off the jeepney later on and passed by the drugstore to buy a bottled water. When I opened my bag, that’s when I discovered that my wallet and iPhone were BOTH GONE!
I realized too late that the man beside me was in cahoots with three others. No wonder they all got off almost at the same time (two got off first, then when the jeepney turned towards the highway, the other two followed).
I feel like keeling over upon realizing that. I don’t have money left in my bag as everything—even my loose change, are inside my wallet. All my credit cards, ATM cards and IDs are gone, including all my money which I plan to spend the next day to treat my family and friends on my birthday.
While so distressed, I snapped out of it and hailed another taxi to go back home because I had to call my bank to block my credit cards and ATM cards. I was crying inside the taxi because this is the first time something like this has ever happened to me and the fact that it happened on the day before my birthday was an even bigger blow.
When I got home, I asked my younger brother to pay for the taxi outside while I called my bank’s hotline. It’s a good thing that emergencies like this are being prioritized and routed to a line with almost no queue, that I was able to block everything in a matter of 5-10 minutes. I also called my service provider’s hotline to deactivate my SIM card and bank apps on my phone.
I feel bad for all the pictures and videos that were saved on my iPhone. I don’t have an iCloud account, so all of those are lost forever. I feel so bad about losing the phone itself because it was a high-ticket purchase and I have no plans of buying something as expensive again.
That night, I got a notification that my iPhone was at an address in Baclaran, Parañaque.
F*ck that.
Since all my cash were gone and my other funds frozen, my kuya felt really bad for me that he offered to lend me money so at least I could still celebrate my birthday as planned. I declined. Honestly, I’m not in the mood to celebrate all things considered. I’m just down and out. I mean, who wouldn’t?
I tried to think back on what went wrong and what I did differently. I usually don’t take out my wallet and iPhone while inside the jeepney, but this time I did both. I opened my bag and afterwards placed both on top, instead of at the bottom of my bag which is what I’d normally do. I thought that since I’m wearing the backpack on my front, and hugging it even, my things are safe inside. Now that I think of it, there was really that opportunity for the men to single me out because of it.
I kid you not, I didn’t feel anything apart from the guy squeezing himself on the seat beside me. I can tell that they are seasoned hustlers because the pickpocket even managed to close the zipper of my bag that is why I didn't suspect anything.
My birthday was spent queueing at Globe to have my SIM card replaced. I even had to submit an affidavit for this and it’s good that my younger brother took care of it as he has friends in City Hall. Kuya insisted on giving me cash and I didn’t turn it down anymore because I realized I needed it to run errands that day.
When I got home, my family were all waiting for me. Kuya bought me a cake and my cousin gave me pancit. I even have a church friend who sent me some cash through kuya (to my surprise) upon seeing my IG story mentioning it. I mean, she didn’t have to, but she did. And I am thankful for her kind gesture.
Kuya had no problem lending me his spare phone (my Huawei phone was already given to my mom when I had my iPhone), but of course, I preferred having my own phone for personal reasons. Accompanied by my brother, nephews and cousin Chi, I bought a midrange Samsung phone on installment.
I’m back to my Android era.
While this incident sent me to a financial ruin that I would feel for months, somehow I handled this bad luck better than anyone would. It didn’t take me so long to realize that even with such tremendous loss, I still have a lot of things to be thankful for. For one thing, I wasn’t hurt—as it’s not uncommon that foiled pickpockets resort to stabbing or hurting the victim out of panic. I was able to get over it rather quickly for I am reminded that things happen for a reason. This might be a costly mistake for me, but lessons are learned.
We had our office holiday party on the 10th which was held at the SMX Convention Center. The last time we had it in this venue was in 2019, pre-pandemic.
I still have a bad cough, so I didn’t bother dressing up to the nines. I just wore an all-black cotton dress and my favorite pair of sneakers. When you’re my age, it’s already comfort over style. Besides, I’m not about to pit myself against younger, prettier colleagues. I’m just there to see familiar faces (most I have not seen since the lockdown), for the food and the raffle.
Three days before Christmas, I’m still nursing my chronic cough. That is, even if I was prescribed a strong antibiotic two weeks ago. While it eased a little, I’m still suffering from this nagging cough. Another doctor suggested I just hydrate, and didn’t prescribe me anything else.
COVID cases are once again on the rise, that we have another family casualty because of it. I don’t think what I have is COVID though, but more probably bronchitis considering I have no other symptoms.
It would be a lot better Christmas if I feel better. I hope to have that as my Christmas miracle for this year.
