Travel notes, food finds, and everyday stories.
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here. The past couple of weeks have been busy in that particular way that leaves no room for sitting down and actually gathering my thoughts. I’ve missed it, even as I let this space go quiet. But today isn’t just any day. Tonight we fly to...
I used to think adulthood would announce itself. A mortgage, maybe. A wedding. Some milestone with a date on it. Instead it showed up quietly, in the small print of my calendar, in the invitations I started saying no to. That’s the first sign, honestly. Time started to feel fast, and a little frightening....
Travel Date: August 13, 2026 I checked into Conrad Manila at 3:46 in the afternoon, and instead of unpacking, I went straight to the mall next door. My first trail run is coming up, in Vietnam, and I still didn’t have half of what I needed. Running shorts, a hat, swimming shorts for after....
A couple of days ago, I wrote about claiming a replacement for my Shokz OpenMove that wouldn’t turn on, and how surprisingly smooth the process was once I got in touch with Shokz’s customer relations team through their Lazada store. Today, the replacement arrived. I can’t be happier. If there’s one takeaway from this...
I returned Cyrus to his previous owner today. I’d grown attached to him, more than I expected to, and that’s what makes this hard to write about. Sona, my older cat, never came around to him. Since March, I’ve been trying — slow introductions, separate spaces, all the things you’re supposed to do to...
A friend texted me on a Saturday morning, the kind of message that reads casual but isn’t really: “If only I didn’t need the money, I wouldn’t work on a Saturday.” I knew what she meant. I was working too. Here’s what I told her back. It’s better to work a Saturday for a...
It had been raining for weeks. Not the dramatic kind of rain that makes for a good story, just the relentless, gray, no-end-in-sight kind that keeps you off the road. So when the sun finally showed up a day or two ago, I grabbed my Shokz OpenMove and pressed the power button, ready for...
Somewhere in the last few years, without deciding to, I stopped being a texter. I’ll type out a message, look at it, and instead of hitting send, I’ll just call. It’s faster, I tell myself. It’s more honest. It’s done in three minutes instead of stretched out over forty. I didn’t used to be...
I buy my snacks at the grocery store now, not the concession stand. It’s a small thing, but it’s the first sign that this has become a routine rather than an outing — you don’t optimize for cost and convenience on a special occasion. You do it when something has become ordinary. Ordinary in...
When I was a kid, one of the best parts of going to Dagupan was knowing we’d stop by Pedritos. I’d get excited the moment I knew we were headed that way, because it meant I was getting a pineapple twist. Soft, chewy bread wrapped around a pineapple jam filling that was sweet with...