Breathe

 It's Friday and for the first time in a long line of Fridays, I just don't want to do anything today. 

For the past few months, Friday was panic day as I'll be cramming to finish so many tasks during the day. Most of what I do is dependent on other units and considering the urgency, some of them might be postponing some of the deliverables until the next week. So I would bug them during the day to ensure they submit my requirements. 

I woke up with no electricity earlier because of a lightning strike on one of the posts inside our village. Fortunately, it was restored a couple of hours later. However, I started developing hives from I don't know what. I haven't taken any anti-allergy yet but will do so inawhile. I try not to take the strong stuff as I don't like the groggy feeling afterwards.  

I haven't done my morning walks for 4 days now. I can't understand where the laziness is coming from. I just want to sleep and sleep. I just want to relax nowadays but I can't afford to let my guard down. Surprises often happen in my line of work so I have to be on my toes when such incidents occur. 

Anyway, happy Friday to all of us! This would probably be by most relaxing weekend in a long long while. 

It's Over. It's Done.

Our audit is officially over. I could breathe a sigh of relief. I just want to take a deep breath and let it all out. I can't believe I survived it. 

It's my first time coordinating everything maybe that's why it was so harrowing. All the worrying and lack of sleep paid off though as I've been getting compliments from my peers. 

I definitely learned a lot from this. There's also so many things to do and we'll surely get there. 

For now, I'm hoping to get my first restful sleep in months. 

Unsettled

I'm feeling unsettled the past few weeks. I'm not sure where I want to go or what I want to do. The stress that I went through recently was an eye-opener and gave me a new perspective on things.

One thing's for sure, WFH is not good for stress management. It gives you a feeling of loneliness that is usually not present when you're physically working with peers. Before, whenever I'm stressed, I would just walk it off or go to an officemate's cubicle and shoot the breeze. Nowadays, I just have to give a big sigh and bear it. Definitely not healthy.

I can't wait for this thing to be over. 

The Months That Were

Up to now, I'm amazed how I was able to survive the stress for the past 4-5 months. It's hard to talk about it due to confidentiality reasons but for most of those months, I felt like I carried such a great burden. I had to make people comply and get the reports that are being requested by the auditing body. There were days that I just wanted to quit but I held on and guided everyone up to the best of my abilities. 

And I think we did well. Surprisingly well considering that it was my first major audit and half of the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I survived by asking around and getting around my shyness with people. If I needed something, I just reached out to the person in charge regardless of the person's rank.

I received a lot of compliments and thanks for a job well done. What made it meaningful was it did not come only from my supervisor but from my peers as well and which added to my sense of accomplishment. Previously, I felt like it was my ex-boss that only believed in me. Sadly, he encouraged me while he was in another company but it felt great. It only had to take one person to believe in me and I just handled the rest. He has always told me that I could do it.

I really do miss my old boss. I'm not saying that I do not like my new boss. She's just as awesome. But nothing would replace the working relationship I had with my previous boss. I just wish we'll have a chance to work together again. 

Fishieeeessss!!!!

I love fishing.

Amazing fact for someone whose experience of catching fish is buying them at the grocery. I never caught a fish in my life and that's not because of lack of attempts. I last tried to do this almost 14 years ago at El Nido. Everyone around me were catching fish while I did not have even a nibble.

Let me expound on that further though.

Maybe it's not fishing that I love but the visceral images of catching fish and preparing them for a meal--yes, including the part of cleaning and chopping them out.

In our younger days, my siblings and I would spend summers over at our grandparents at Tanauan. Since the house was just a stone throw's away from the market, my aunts would go to the palengke to buy fresh meat and seafood almost daily. I would tag along either to bug them to buy ampaw or the latest Aliwan or Funny comics (Abangan!). Of course, that would mean going into the wet market.

It was an interesting but not unwelcome experience when we would buy dalag or hito. The vendor would kill the fish in front of us and the blood won't faze me (ok, I guess it's no wonder that I can stand watching OCN shows).

So to end this long post, here's a channel that I became interested in lately. Prior to this, the fishing channel that I regularly follow was Deer Meat for Dinner (don't ask how that became a fishing channel). This one just popped in my suggested feed and not only is the host a cutie, but the sea life that he catches and how he eviscerates them caught my fancy (that's it. I must be a shark in my previous life seeing how much I love seeing fish. Oh wait, I think "whale" is more applicable). :)

My Sunday

 

Food Delivery became an essential service in the past year. But nothing beats newly cooked/prepared food and drinks.

After going out for groceries, hubby and I had brunch and lunch. Brunch was this Korean hotdog from Gorae. I was able to order previously from them but the dogs were cold when they arrived. But this one was newly cooked and I now understand the fuss. The breading was crispy and complemented the oh so melty mozarella cheese. The hotdog was good too.

For lunch, we had Mary Grace and the stall of Koomi was in front of the resto. I was curious as I kept on seeing it in Grab so I bought us a couple. I got Mango Graham yogurt while hubby got Ube. It was so decadent but their ad said that it's yogurt so guilt free.

Our local parks also opened so we were able to take out the boys for much needed air. We chose a secluded park so we were the only ones in the playground. It took a promise of McD's fries to get Bennet to leave (and a car ride too). 

At the end of the day, my step count reached 16000+! Good thing as I consumed so much calories! 

I was unused to the physical activity that I was asleep by 9PM (with the help of my Deep Relief oil).

Stressed Again

I don't know when this will end. And when I thought that the past months were bad, it got worse the past few weeks. I appreciate it when I see messages of encouragement and support but it got really bad today. Am no longer sure if I can manage this. I really need to pray hard. Hopefully, they will be done by the end of the month. I really really hope so. 

Please pray for me.