Today’s Log #22 | Days Lately

February 13, 2025

6:00 AM

Woke up, shat, wrote on my digital journal about yesterday’s happenings, read a newsletter, saw vomit (probably Walnut’s) and cleaned that up, fed the kitties, and scooped their litter. This is my morning routine nowadays.

8:00 AM

I decided I’ll have the pork ribs from Costco. I can air-fry them from frozen, so it’s a quick prep. I still have some roasted veggies from yesterday that I can pair it with. Kaso ang dry. Wala akong sauce or dip. So I asked ChatGPT for suggestions and settled on an easy sauce using ingredients I already have: garlic butter soy sauce. I can pour it over the crispy ribs to give them a little bit of moisture.

I’m half-listening to Trevor Noah’s podcast while making the sauce. I think they’re talking about the loneliness epidemic.

9:00 AM

9:30 AM

I started prepping for my 10 AM French class. Today’s topic was smartphones and social media, mixed with grammar lessons on direct and indirect objects. When I first encountered this lesson a few years ago, it was so confusing which got me frustrated. But I felt happy after class because it finally felt like I had a good grasp of how to use it correctly.

There was also a question on phone usage, and our teacher was surprised by my numbers. “C’est trop, Gleniz !” Too much daw. According to my screen time stats, last week’s daily average was 6 hours. This week, I’m averaging at 5 hours a day, so medyo proud pa ko. Not good enough pa rin pala haha.

11:00 AM

I decided to do this post at around 1:30 PM habang nagbabasa ako, so nalimutan ko na kung anong nangyari after my class. Basta ang alam ko lang naligo ako which probably took me 20 minutes.

12:05 PM

Received a quick 10-minute call from my tito in Winnipeg. Nagpapahanap sila ng tickets kasi uuwi nga kami lahat this year. Pero tumawag sya para sabihin na nakapag-inquire na sila sa isang agency at kukunin na raw nila yun kahit medyo mahal. Para daw matapos na. Naka-VL sila today kaya pala tumatawag sila during work hours. It’s so interesting na kung kelan lumayo kami sa kanila, mas madalas kaming nagkakakwentuhan. Also, I still can’t believe they have a dog now.

12:55 PM

As much as I love reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, it’s a hard topic to digest. I just read about how chickens are slaughtered, transferred to a scalding tank, then gutted. Alive and kicking one minute, then packaged for sale in a matter of 10 minutes. I actually feel brave reading this book. Although it’s a gruesome image to think about, Michael Pollan has this talent for describing the scene in shockingly vivid, but elegant prose. Here he is talking about chicken guts:

The viscera were unexpectedly beautiful, glistening in a whole palette of slightly electric colors, from the steely blue striations of the heart muscle to the sleek milk chocolate liver to the dull mustard of the gallbladder.

I was excited and looking forward to read today because it’s also the first time that I’ll be using the dictionary I got last weekend. I love it! It made searching for words feel much more seamless instead of using my phone. It’s so funny how I’m so proud of this idea, when in the not-so-distant past, this was just the norm.

Anyway, searching for words in the dictionary brings out an unexpected pleasure because I’ve turned it into some sort of game. Extracting the meaning of a word using a dictionary adds a significant amount of extra seconds to get to the right page and locate the definition. What I untintentionally started doing was using those extra seconds to take a guess at the word’s meaning while I flip through the pages. Unfortunately, I haven’t been correct yet.

2:15 PM

I felt hungry and stopped reading. I think I’ve had enough of this book for today. Now I’m debating whether to cook or order food. I glanced out the window and it’s snowing a bit. I load the dishwasher while still contemplating between cooking and ordering.

Thirty minutes have passed. Now I have to act quick because I’m practicing this thing where I try to stop eating before 4 or 5PM.

3:10 PM

I settled on a buy 1 get 1 burrito (to justify the online purchase) with nacho chips. This should last me until tomorrow—maybe even the next morning. It will arrive in 20-ish minutes and I’ll probably scroll on TikTok until it arrives. May bagong ganap kaya sa Baldoni-Lively feud?

4 PM

Kenneth came down, and I don’t really know why—maybe just to check what I was doing. He took a bite of the nachos, liked it, and almost finished it before heading back upstairs to his office. I wasn’t really paying much attention to him because I’m watching this YT video about Ellen Adarna and Derek Ramsey while I eat. I’m not a fan of their careers, but I discovered from podcast guestings years before that they have a fun and crazy relationship, so I clicked on this new video to be entertained.

I’m done eating, and I’m itching to grab my phone and check TikTok, but I think I’ll write in my commonplace book first.

4:35 PM

Tapos na sa work si Kenneth at nasa baba na sya ulit, watching The Penguin, while I’m writing in my planner. Naisip kong itanong kung bakit sya bumaba kanina at sabi nya, “Wala lang.” It’s confirmed. He just wanted to check on me hihi. I gave him a hug.

Okay, I’ll stop this cheese fest.

4:45 PM

Bigla kong naalala na umaga na sa Pilipinas, at sinubukan kong tawagan ang Mama para kamustahin yung radiation therapy nya kahapon. May session ulit sya ngayon so sana umabot yung tawag ko.

Pagsagot ng Mama, napansin kong naka-lipstick sya, so mukang nagre-ready na silang umalis. Five minutes lang kami nakapagusap, pero mukang okay naman sya. Araw-araw silang babyahe ng 2.5 hours papunta sa medical center, and another 2.5 hours pabalik, for 18 days. Sabi ko, “16 days na langgg,” trying to be funny and encouraging at the same time. She got the humor and said that thankful pa rin daw sya, kasi yung iba raw nyang nakausap kahapon, 28 days nila kelangang magpabalik-balik. Sana lang daw ngayon mas mabilis na, kasi kahapon 11AM yung session nya, pero 2:30PM na sya natingnan.

5:25 PM

Time for TikTok! 15 minutes lang.

5:40 PM

Out of the 6 videos I was able to watch from my timed TikTok consumption, here are the things I found interesting:

• There’s a Legally Blonde prequel!!!
• There are more things not to like about Blake Lively
• I’ll continue buying The Ordinary serums

I thought about this before, but I think Blake Lively wanted to emulate what Reese Witherspoon is doing now with her production company.

6:55 PM

Just finished editing my ‘Join Me for French Class’ video. I love this one in particular because I think this is the class where I was able to speak longer than usual. I love this for my speaking skills. Even if they’re just simple sentences and I’m stumbling a bit, I’m so proud.

It’s almost 7PM and it’s time to watch our current series, The Big Bang Theory—kasi bandang 8PM aantukin na ko.

Good night!

I wanted to capture this day because this is how my days typically look like at this phase of my life. I wonder how they’ll change a few months from now.