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The Menace Bulletin No. 1

Welcome to The Menace Bulletin! It’s where you’ll find a curated collection of little discoveries, interesting tidbits, and all sorts of odd curiosities.

First edition is on the house, but I’d probably reserve future ones for paid subscribers *finger heart*

THE GOODS

Cool people and things I stumbled upon.

Steal like an artist

Austin Kleon is one of my favourite artists and I’m happy to see that he has a new podcast guesting! He’s a treasure trove of knowledge about other artists and is just filled with creativity wisdom. I like how he can almost immediately pull up a quote relevant to the topic being discussed and cite his sources at the same time—his most popular book is Steal Like an Artist but he doesn’t neglect to credit the artists he’s “stealing” from. I appreciate that about him. Because what I can’t stand is when people bring up an insight or copy an idea but neglect or forget to mention where they got it from. It doesn’t give the opportunity for curious consumers to explore and dig deep into the source. Well, the worst thing is passing off an idea as their own and that’s just plain sleazy. Not cool.

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Free Posts Life Wellness

Mid-Year Check 2025

Bilis ng panahon. A lot of things happened. Winter turned into spring, tapos ngayon summer na. Met new people, wrote a lot, feelings were felt, tears were shed. There were joys and laughter too—which I badly badly needed. It’s hard to face the second half of the year without feeling a sense of fear. I just really hope our family can take a breather and wala munang mangyari na mabigat.

Each start of the year since 2021, I make a game plan for the upcoming year. I also set a theme. This year’s was:

Make maximum personal impact through simplified effort

This theme’s goal is to prevent myself from being overwhelmed and just gain more clarity. I just want to keep things simple as much as I can. Whether it’s my routine, my clothes, how I eat, or my hobbies. I intend to have more feelings of peace and less anxiety.

So far, the feelings of overwhelm I experienced this year is less than last year, so pakiramdam ko nagagawa ko naman unti-unti.

Now let’s revisit my 2025 goals:

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Q2 Recap

The last few months have been very difficult—it still is—and I continue to maneuver through this extremely tricky feeling called grief. I just want to say thank you to everyone who expressed their sympathies. Whether I managed to give a decent response or not, know that it made the heaviness a little bit bearable.

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Free Posts Hobbies

Rating My Hobbies

Our lola (I love you!) really made sure na bukod sa academics, marami din dapat kaming extra curricular activities. So bata pa lang ako, na-expose na ko sa iba-ibang hobbies. Kaya yung iba dito, inaral ko involuntarily pero nagustuhan ko rin nung huli. Yung iba naman, sinubukan ko talagang seryosohin as my career.

I will enumerate lahat ng hobbies na pinasok ko and try to rate them. Tapos sa huli, I will pick a top 3 and list kung ano pa yung ibang interesting hobbies na gusto kong i-try.

1. Singing

★★★★★

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Family Free Posts Life

Lulutang-Lutang

Nung nagsasalita ang mga kaibigan ng lola ko sa burol nya, nakakatuwang pakinggan yung kasiyahan na binigay nya sa ibang tao. Nakaka-proud na isa ako sa mga apo nya. Ang paulit-ulit na mga salita na nababanggit ay yung words na thoughtful at generous. Hindi ‘to yung basta mag-eenumerate ka lang ng positive words para may masabi lang. Yun na yun talaga ang character ng Mommy.

👵🏼👩🏻

Nung elementary ako, pag binibigyan nya ko ng pera pangmeryenda, pati kaibigan ko meron din. Kahit nasa ibang bansa na ko—may trabaho at may asawa na—one time nung umuwi ako, nagulat ako na may inaabot sya sakin na envelope. Sabi ko nyek, Mommy wag na. Ay sakin daw yun. Kasi hindi na raw ako nakakapag-Pasko at birthday sa Pilipinas kaya hindi na raw nya ko nareregaluhan. Basta hindi sya pumapayag na hindi ko tatanggapin. Nung binilang ko after, 20k! Sobrang dami pang example. Sya ang punong abala pagpapatahi ng costumes at gowns pag may activity ako sa school. Sya rin ang nag-udyok at nag-finance ng piano lessons ko. Isa sya sa number one na tumulong sa mga magulang ko para makapagtapos ako ng Nursing. Kahit yung pagaasikaso namin pagpunta ditong Canada, naka-assist pa rin sya.

Wala talaga kaming masabi. Sobra-sobra ang binigay nya sa aming lahat, na kahit anong attempt namin, hindi namin kayang matumbasan.

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Family Free Posts Life

Sa Pelikula Lang Yun

Few days ago, may tinatapos akong post about something na medyo fun and light—kasi nga puro malulungkot lang yung nangyayari at ayokong yun na lang lagi ang topic ko. Pero ngayong wala na ang Mommy, pano ko pa yun matatapos? Kelan na kaya ulit ako makakapagsulat about something fun and light?

Hindi naman ako minu-minutong umiiyak. Kaya ko pa rin namang ngumiti at matawa. Kaya ko pang manood ng TV at maintindihan yung pinapanood ko. May mga times na wala akong ganang kumain, pero kumakain pa rin ako nonetheless. In short, kaya kong maging normal sa paningin ng ibang tao. Pero pagkatapos ng few seconds/minutes of distraction, ang Mommy agad ang sumusulpot sa isip ko. Mararamdaman ko ulit yung bigat. Actually, hindi naman sya nawawala. May mga bagay o tao lang na nagpapagaan nung bigat.

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Family Free Posts Happy Things Life Motherland

Happy Things #26 | Let the Light In

In dark moments, it’s important to welcome every bit of light that makes its way in.

ILY Mommy

More than two weeks na ang Mommy (lola sa Mama’s side) sa ospital. There were bad days, and not-so-bad days. Yung ibang kamaganak namin, ang madalas na tanong sa Mommy ay, “Uuwi na tayo?” kahit super unknown pa naman kung kelan talaga makakauwi ang Mommy. Feeling ko nakukulitan na ang Mommy kasi paulit-ulit na uuwi raw pero hindi naman nangyayare. Hindi nya pa kayang magsalita, pero sa mga times na nasa mood sya or may energy syang mag-respond, tumatango lang sya or umiiling. And if we’re lucky, she smiles 🥹

Tagal nyang nakapisil sa kamay ko 🤍
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Free Posts Happy Things Secrets

“Ang Lalandi Nyo!”

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Super kinilig ako nung dumating si Kenneth from his 3-week vacation. Pagbigyan nyo na ko dahil minsan lang kami ganito. Kasama ko pagsundo sa airport yung isa naming couple friend (thanks for volunteering sa pagsundo kay Kenneth!) Nung tinanong nila ko ng, “Excited ka na?” Nagpakipot pa ko. Sabi ko sa mga pasalubong ni Kenneth ako excited. Pagdating namin sa airport, nakita ko na sya agad. Pagsakay ni Kenneth sa sasakyan, kausap ko si Kosh tapos si Kenneth nakanguso na. Eh parang nahiya naman ako na kinakausap pa ko tapos bigla kaming sweet-sweetan sa harap nya. Ilang seconds lang naman tapos pinansin ko na rin si Kenneth. Sabi ko, “Hiii.” tapos sabi nya, “Hiiii.” Tapos parang tinawanan kami nung dalwa. Gusto ko syang i-hug pero ewan ko bakit ba ko nahihiya dun sa dalwa haha.

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March Recap

Out of sorts ako ngayong month na ‘to. Kung ano-anong iniisip ko. Magbabakasyon kasi si Kenneth sa Pilipinas, and although I’m excited for him kasi this is the first time na uuwi sya since nag-move kami dito sa Canada 7 years ago, I will be lying kung sasabihin kong 100% excitement yung nararamdaman ko. I’m just overall worried. Plus first time kong magsosolo sa bahay at hindi ko alam kung anong i-eexpect. Sobrang maiinip ba ko? Magiging mabait ba si Kenneth? Baka may mag-break in dito sa bahay! Kenneth will be gone for 3 weeks and being alone here—especially in this new city—is a foreign concept to me.

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Bakit Hindi US?

From the drafts (2 years ago):

After ng oathtaking namin kahapon, may mga naisip lang akong kwento. Nung kaka-migrate pa lang namin dito sa Canada, na-wirdohan ako dun sa reaction nung isang certain friend na nasa Pilipinas. Bakit daw Canada. Bakit daw hindi US? Huh. Una, hindi ba ang normal reaction sa mga ganung sitwasyon ay, “Congrats!” or “Happy for you!” Pangalwa, coming from someone na nagbalak makapuntang Canada pero hindi naging successful, bakit may judgment? Sa isip ko, diba ikaw hindi ka nga naging okay pa-Canada tapos ita-try mo kong i-shame or ma-feel bad sa choice namin? Tsaka bakit kelangan kong i-defend yung choice namin? Weird. Minsan talaga may ma-eencounter kang mga tanong na sa sobrang unexpected, di mo alam ang isasagot. And this was coming from a super duper close friend (well, ex super duper close friend) kaya na-caught off guard ako.

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