My space

Last weekend, I woke up from a very nice, restful sleep and read a reply on a tweet I posted a few days ago. It was me talking to myself (which is what I usually do in Twitter anyways) and saying that I don’t find feminine features in a man attractive. I actually said so after having a conversation with a friend about preferences and it kinda stuck in my head long enough for me to tweet about it.

That morning I saw this reply to that harmless tweet:

Since he used the acronym IMO on me, it would only be fair me to say that personally as well, I don’t appreciate this reply and it did hit a nerve. Call me touchy but I don’t think we should normalize calling out people on their own post, on their own space and more so when talking about one’s preference.

Point me to that rule that I should not be talking about my preferences online. Especially when I did not post this as a reply to another person’s post for him to conveniently preach that I shouldn’t be volunteering this information. 

Firstly, it didn’t have any antagonistic intent. It was not meant to insult the group of people I was describing. If some people find that tweet insensitive then that is overreaching. I usually say things not with the objective to appease or upset people. How they take it is their problem, but since this is Twitter, I say people should just chill. This is nothing but a void. You take what you like, ignore what you don’t. Jeez, if I get offended by every little thing I see online then I shouldn’t be on it. I see a lot of things there everyday that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I don’t call each and every people out.

What’s weird is that while I know this person, we are not following each other on Twitter. How he ended up on my Twitter profile and then singled-out this tweet baffles me. I also find it funny how he used the word “logic” when what I said does not require logic because I certainly was not giving a statement that is true for everyone else. As what I said to him in reply, if I read a tweet stating dislike on a feature I have—I will not be bothered by it all. 

And I wonder, if I said something he agrees to, will he call me out on behalf of the other people who might feel bad about what I said? I don’t think so. 

But let me say that he was right at one thing: It is my space. Quit telling people to stop posting something you don’t necessarily agree with especially when you can simply ignore, mute, unfollow or unfriend. 

My December so far

It’s just nine days till Christmas and my body is already on “Holiday mode”. This is the time when I wish I could just spend the days leading to Christmas lounging around and just taking it easy, but I already had a week-long leave earlier in the month.

I was out of office for a total of 10 days (that’s with the leaves and the weekend) from December 2-12— the longest I’ve ever been this year. I don’t actually have any plans for those days, just wanting to escape the added stress of work even for the meantime. As I’ve been saying, this year, especially the latter part of it, was brutal because of my mommy’s several health scares.

I don’t have that many get-togethers to talk about either. On the eve of my birthday, my team had our little meet-up at a restaurant in Ayala Malls Circuit, coinciding the company’s Holiday Party that is also happening on the event grounds. 

I enjoyed our team get-together more than the company party. It’s so nice seeing everyone outside MS Teams and just having a nice chat over pizza, salad and pasta. And boy, did we have a lot of it!

We had our exchange gift after a very filling lunch

PRST - Projects Morning girls. It’s so nice not to talk shop for once.

Birthday song and cheers from the whole team for me.

A gratuitous groufie with the team because we’d probably not see each other in months after this

After our lunch we all went to Globe Circuit Event Grounds where the Holiday party is being held. It was just a short walk from the mall but a bit difficult for me because I was carrying a big bag of gifts and was wearing a girly pair of sandals on a grassy lot.

We had to register to get inside and I was handed out this ticket and a candy cane.

Actually I just went there to register so I could be included in the raffle but really had no plans to stay. Not when there’s too many people and not enough tables and chairs for everyone. We also have to visit each stalls to get food and snacks but I wasn’t hungry at that point. 

I looked for kuya and his friend Albert and we all left together within 15-20 minutes of me being there. Call me KJ but I’m just not that comfortable around large crowds anymore. Crowd anxiety, y’all!

Too crowded

The next day was my 46^th  birthday, just went out for some Starbucks brunch while waiting for the 12nn mass at Greenbelt Chapel. It was particularly quiet—just me replying to birthday messages. I went home after the mass and spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping. 

On the 7th, with nothing to do feeling bored at home, I went to see “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” after a month of its release. That only goes to show that after “Avengers Endgame”, I’m not that big on MCU anymore. The movies that were released after 2019 didn’t give me the same thrill of the movies of Phases One to Three. No wonder, the movies and series released after were all belly flops—at least in comparison to the earlier MCU films. But I’ll save this discussion for another post.

On the 9th, Friday, I had a buffet lunch with the family and a friend and then went straight to check-in at Holiday Inn & Suites for a two-night stay because that’s how the kids wanted to celebrate my birthday. Yes, pala-desisyon sila.

I get asked many times why, when I’m always at the mall every weekend, I still choose Holiday Inn & Suites - Glorietta for my staycation. For that, ask my nephews because they will choose it over the bigger rooms of Holiday Inn - Manila Galleria or other hotels for that matter. I guess we feel right at home there. If we want to get something, we can simply go out to the mall that we’re all familiar with. The kids knew Glorietta like the back of their hands. It’s also easier for mommy to go home (she insists on going home and not stay for the night) or get things we forgot at home that we needed for our stay. 

Room 620 for this stay

My bros goofing around

Not blowing 46 candles inside the room as it might trigger the sprinklers. LOL.

Cousin Chi was there and brought me a cake.

We checked-in at 2PM of Friday and checked-out by 1PM of Sunday. It was short but it was okay. At least I got to spend some birthday downtime. For a moment we have escaped the infernal December heat (which is weird because the weather should be nippy by now). Sure I’m still baby-sitting my two nephews most of the time but I had much-needed rest and relaxation still. I’m not gonna complain.

Hello, December `22

And just like that, it’s already December. In a few days I’ll be blowing candles again.

Last week I had a self-photoshoot at Stills Studio in Makati. I don’t know why it was something that I wanted to do a few days before my birthday, but I went on with it even while nursing a bad headache and came out enjoying every minute of it. 

I’m well-aware that some people are secretly sneering at this thing which they think is nothing but a middle-aged woman’s unnecessary expression of vanity, but that’s one of the reasons why I did it. It’s a statement on how I stopped giving a D at what other people think. As long as I have the support of my family who all thought it was a good idea—those who have something to say about it can zip it. 

My motivation was simple — I’m not getting any younger, so while I can strike a pose then I guess there’s nothing to it, as that `90s Madonna song goes. 

One day you’ll just wake up and the younglings are no longer calling you “ate” but “tita”. You’ll see lines in your face that weren’t there before. One day you’ll wake up old. It will hit you ominously that age has crept in. There will always be that palpable ache. How you look now, won’t be the look you’ll have forever. 

So while I still can smile on the camera, please indulge me.

As always, I took good pictures and had bad ones too. Some of the shots emphasized my set of eyebags (that sort of reminded me of the Goodyear blimp), or that constant photobomber that is my double chin, or that not-so-yummy muffin top that magically appears when I’m seated. 

But it also captured my winningest smile and my deep set of big eyes—both my saving grace for not being as pretty as most girls. It’s also the two things I want people to remember me by, even after many more birthdays I hope.

So, hello, December. Let’s all pray that this will be the most wonderful month of my rather stressful year.