a week's worth of work per day

so i went back to work last tuesday. and it was like stepping into a quicksand by the beach. you though the water would be shallow, enough to cover your feet and let you splash around and have some fun. instead your feet sink deep, deep, deep and before you know it, you are flailing around awkwardly and with mounting panic.

to date, there are already fourteen projects on the list for 2010. i am now rushing through some proposals and my head is aching. in fact, i think i have some sinat :(

i am not yet badly stressed and i am doing my best to keep it that way. but the physical and mental exhaustion are, well, exhausting.

today i also received word that my little fish sideline is pushing through. and now i have to squeeze that in on top of the official work.

i'm going to get half of my office savings on the third week of november. the other half on december. i'm going to put them in my personal savings account, and then a chunk in my investment account. and some for shopping. maybe i will finally get that Macbook Air. or an iPhone. we'll see.

there's supposed to be a storm tonight but it does not feel stormy to me. just cold, cold, cold.

jacob was supposed to drop by but got trapped into a nap that turned into a full sleep. in any case, i believe i should get some sleep too. the sudden volume of work this week caught me by surprise and i'm still reeling. maybe that's why i have sinat and a really bad headache.

*sigh*

sick friday

let's see. it started with a tummy ache, then a constant feeling of nausea. bad headache. by early afternoon i had a slight fever. i had no appetite for food, for FB gaming, for doing anything. i just felt like tucking into bed, which i did. popped in a couple of DVDs : Away We Go and Sunshine Cleaning, both from Big Beach films and both quite good. Away We Go made me teary-eyed.

i got a call from work which i ignored but which got my tummy all painful and stressed out even worse. it took a while before i could regain a semblance of calm.

my iMac is ready for pick-up but i have to schedule it on monday instead, since i am unable to function well today.

i haven't eaten anything except a few sips of coffee, 3.5 pieces of plain crackers and a small bowl of noodle soup.

i have an all-stressed-out mode going on and it's a bothering discomfort.

tummy ache :(

i suspect the delivery food.

since early evening last night i've been feeling bloated and heavy on the tummy with a slight nausea.

it has persisted all through the night and until now, mingling with the feeling of hunger except that eating is the farthest thing from my mind because i feel nauseous. i think i may have to take some antacids or something :(

on a bright note, i finished yesterday the bulk of all the cleaning and fixing. i finished watching bleach until episode 235 so i'm pretty much updated.

jacob dropped by and we had a lazy nap afternoon. we ordered delivery and then i started feeling that uncomfortable tummy ache. i did my best to ignore it but now it is really uncomfortable and i'm feeling both hungry and full and bloated :(

i wish i had woken up early today. but i was restless all night because of the tummy ache and only got some semblance of sleep in the early morning. now i want to eat but maybe i should just have some plain soup. :( *sigh*

accomplished again

so i finally fixed my home theater corner.

got to cooking some steamed and fried pork-shrimp siomai. totemo oishii!

jacob requested for an egg salad sandwich for a late-night snack. now i want to make a bigger batch. will probably step out later to buy more mayo.

finally have a place to display my bleach figurine collection. ^__^

cleared a third of the clutter i have accumulated in a bag that has been sitting around for more than a month. will do the two-thirds today.

loaded my new photo printer with ink. will start printing pics later.

started on enhancing my vision wall, have unpacked all stickers.

finished Neil's Odd and the Frost Giants. will start on Ivy later by Julie Hearn.

started on my new volume of Bleach. loved episode 228!!!

was so happy that jacob dropped by yesterday.

paid my mobile phone bills and did necessary fund transfers for the rent at my parents' house.

internet was gone from midnight to 10am today. so most of my pumpkins withered. oh well.

now have three full bags of cleared clutter. i hope to add to those.

at home day

i got up at around 10am after a night's sleep of intermittent wakings due to really weird dream snippets.

i updated all the software of my iBook and the updates helped speed it up a bit. it's still slower than my iMac but it's no longer annoyingly slow.

i cleaned and fixed my home theater area. cleaned the kitchen. cleared more clutter.

i'm still clearing more clutter. i would like to reduce everything into what is truly meaningful and essential.

long errand days

let's see.

thursday last week was the first day of my recovery week. i had lunch with my parents, then finally made that trip to the warehouse store of Regalong Pambahay from which i got : stickers, a lamp, a decorative storage box and a nice handbag. i cleaned and fixed my place until midnight and was achy when i went to bed.

friday was battling it out in the mall. i got : a new dishrack, more storage solutions, new pots (a wok and a very small sauce pot) and a small frying pan, a transformer for my convection oven. more cleaning and clutter-clearing and re-arranging until midnight. really achy when i went to bed.

saturday was more cleaning and fixing in the morning. an exhausted nap in the early afternoon, and then off to practice at 4pm. night out with with the group, but jacob and i left early because jacob wasn't feeling well. we had cakes and coffee by ourselves before going home. jacob took meds and slept soundly.

sunday was supposed to be a continuation of the cleaning and clearing but i suddenly felt so achy and tired and lazy. jacob and i were supposed to run for some workout but ended up napping and watching Bleach. then we stepped out to buy DVDs and had dinner out. then more lazing about.

monday was serious errand day. i deposited money for my home loan, then opened a new savings account in a nearby convenient bank. supermarket shopping. then lunch at my parents' house. then my parents borrowed my car so i tagged along and had an impromptu shopping trip. i got : an apron, more storage solutions, a new rice cooker, lots of home improvement stuff from the hardware store including cleaning tools, a good bunch of second-hand magazines for my vision wall, the latest volume of Bleach.

tuesday was meeting up with my insurance agent. then an appointment with the dentist. i got new eyeglasses. took my iMac for repairs - it will need a new optical drive so i'm using my old iBook. i got a full body massage (FINALLY!!!). then brought my sis to Regalong Pambahay where she shopped happily while i got : matching magazine rack to my lamp, decorative storage boxes, decorative glass candle holders, more stickers, and ref magnets. i also got around to making a batch of blueberry cheesecake.

to my delight jacob dropped by around 10pm and so he was able to take home a tray of cheesecake. we watched Saint Seiya, The Doctors and Iron Chef America. had coffee and cheesecake.

tomorrow, or rather, today (it's 3AM!) i plan to just stay home and complete all the fixing. my to-do list include:
- finding a good recipe to try on my new and now operational convection oven
- reading the manual of and setting up my Canon Selphy photo printer
- working on my vision walls
- trying out new recipes
- organizing all the receipts and warranties and other important documentation
- pay my mobile phone bills online
- review and update my to-do list
- finish Neil Gaiman's book (Odd and the Frost Giant) - i'm about three quarters through, and start a new book
- clear more clutter
- clean and fix that water-damaged corner by the home theater set
- complete all decorations
- play Final Fantasy VII
- watch the latest episode of Supernatural
- organize photos

hmm that's about what i can think of at this point.

i shall resume farming now. maybe about another half hour and then i shall be off to bed. oyasumi.

accomplished

- bought and installed a water filtering system so i won't ever run out of drinking water
- bought and set up my baking oven rack
- reconfigured my closet to prevent constant clogging
- de-cluttered enough to fill a very big plastic bag
- bought starting seeds and pots for my kitchen herb garden
- cleaned up my iMac's hard drive to get it ready for repairs
- added stuff on my vision boards
- bought new baking stuff so i could try cupcakes with icing
- reconfigured my kitchen cabinets to maximize storage
- changed my aircon filter
- cleaned my range hood filters

waiting for the storms to pass

i've been barraged by storms, literally and figuratively, for the past couple of months.

i am looking forward to taking a long break. a calm forced into the midst of the mayhem.

right now i am seeking solace in the kitchen. simmering chicken-pork adobo with olives. waiting in line is an invented thai chicken soup. i have finished marinating pork chops in olive oil, salt and pepper.

i wish jacob were here. but we all have to watch our homes in case this new storm proves as tricky as the last one.

i can feel my selves scattered all over and i need to gather them. i need to start reading a book, start writing something, start a project.

i need to regain the lost momentum of my life when work got truly destructive the past two weeks or so.

resuscitated

finally got to see jacob today ^__^

my presentation is done. i got an applause, much to my surprise.

i have been on recovery leave since wednesday and sometimes it feels like i can't stop not going to work. i like being away from the office for a while. i like letting my brain breathe and not think too much.

so on the first day of my leave i just basically slept. i know i could never get back all those hours in all those weeks but it's nice to pretend. i also finally got around to going to the supermarket and now my kitchen is stocked again.

on the second day of my leave i started cleaning and clutter-clearing. and then i finally got to see jacob.

and now i think i can truly sleep peacefully. seeing jacob is like the final pump to the heart that gets a drowned person breathing again.

oyasumi, watashi no saiai.