Currently: May 2021 — fangirl, interrupted

May 31

May 31 Currently: May 2021

The month of May is usually summer in Manila and also the month of both my mom’s birthday and my parent’s wedding anniversary (38 years!). So it’s a bit weird to not be able to go home and celebrate this with them. My parents usually go up to Baguio for their anniversary, but clearly, they’re not going anywhere this year (and I’m glad we didn’t have to convince them of this). So though we’re now a year plus into the pandemic, here’s to the tiny milestone along the way that somehow show the passing of time in meaningful ways.

Featured

Exploring the Gallop Extension with Cynch and Chris (not pictured)

No goodbyes, just see you laters with Joy

Celebrating Erica’s birthday — aka the last time you can invite 5 people over to your place, the evening before Phase 2 Heightened Alert

My cap of 2 visitors per day is well spent with Pamy and Eddy as I force feed them 3 Hallmark movies back to back to back

Malini’s second birthday in semi-lockdown and this time, she’s not in Singapore so that makes more sense.

For a 15 minute procedure, they sure rolled out the bells and whistles.

Celebrating Mom’s 60th birthday and our parents 38’th wedding anniversary.

Loving

Somehow being able to celebrate with my mom on her 60th birthday. My mom has never been one for big celebrations. My dad, on the other hand, asked for a surprise birthday for his 60th. How to celebrate this milestone for my mom when we’re all so far away? Luckily, there’s Google Meets, food delivery, a Canva of messages from her kids and some Kahoot games (which I won, by the way) and a crazy drawing game care of Pietro. When people ask how long our calls last — minimum 4 hours — it' still surprises me how we fill the time, and yet we do.
Reaching the Number One Ranking of the Diamond League on Duolingo. Guys, I know this is silly, but I got thrown into one of the competitive leagues. The ones where the top users had like 6,000+ XP. Not fun and not easy. Luckily, I have gems for days and was able to just really level up as much as I could. Thanks to my elementary German course for helping me reach this milestone. The next/last badge for me to win is completing every course up to Level 2. It’s a bit hard for Spanish but i’m really going to dedicate myself to this now. One. More. Badge.
More family and friends getting vaccinated. It looks like those below 39 years old (and non-Singaporean at that) will only get to start registering for a vaccine come July, but that’s ok. Knowing that all my siblings in the US are vaccinated has been such a relief. My dad has completed both his doses, and my mom has had her first jab. Our family’s helpers (truly like aunties to us) get theirs in August. It’s still some way off, but just knowing it’s coming and that some of us are protected somehow, really feels so good.

Working On

Getting through this heightened alert Phase 2 regression we’ve gone through. I know that we’ve gone through a circuit break before and we can do it again, but I admit I went into an anxiety spiral when rumors of tightening restrictions were going around. I ended up writing out lists of things I could do to calm myself down which only made me more anxious. I need to work on this more. Still, PM Lee was so lovely and reassuring on his announcement of how the country would handle the pandemic. It’s so lovely to have extreme competence and amazing efficiency. Now if only I were as efficient in managing my anxiety.
Reading up and listening to different relationship styles. Though I’ve known about ethical non-monogamy for some time now, educating myself further on it is an eye-opening experience. I’ve always considered myself open-minded but my still very traditional brain hasn’t ever really been exposed to anything that isn’t monogamy. I’ve got a way to go on my reading, but I’m definitely open to suggestions if anyone’s read anything that they found useful!

Anticipating

I’ve had eczema for possibly my whole life now, but it’s traveled to regions it’s never been before. So even if my dermatologist said it would be forever maintenance, I thought why not seek an OB-GYNE as well. Yes, TMI, eczema! The OB recommended a biopsy and a procedure. My biopsy results should come out in a day or two and though I’m trying not to be anxious or stressed about it, I’ve never been admitted to a hospital for anything so it’s still a pretty big deal (or I hope it isn’t, to be honest). Fingers crossed it all turns out ok, please? I need all the good vibes now. Thank you in advanced.