Random thoughts on a Monday.
How's everyone been doing? The last two weeks have been pretty crazy here in Manila. Schools have been suspended, a lot of offices have implemented work from home, malls are closed; so pretty much only the essentials like groceries, drug stores, and banks remain open. Restaurants are trying to survive by offering take-outs and deliveries, and even fast-food chains like Jollibee have started selling frozen items just to get by. It's good for consumers though, makes it easier to stock up and prepare food at home. I've heard of people being in groceries for eight hours just because the lines are so long, it's just terrible. We're lucky that some services like Angkas, FoodPanda, LalaMove, and GrabFood are open to deliver our needs and cater to our cravings.
The government doesn't seem all that prepared to handle what's happening. In fact, it's doesn't feel like they've done shit. People have been volunteering and raising funds to help frontliners, asking friends and family for donations. Fashion designers have taken it upon themselves to sew PPEs to donate to hospitals. Some are making DIY face shields. Some are preparing food on the daily to help nourish the doctors and nurses and all the medical staff working hard day and night just to make sure that no one else dies from this virus. Even artists have gotten creative by starting #ArtForMedPH where they give free illustrations in exchange for donations to their chosen drives.
I don't know what's the point of this post, I just wanted to write something since it's been weeks since I haven't gotten out of the house. But honestly, I'm not complaining. I'm lucky to be living with my in-laws and to be able to have food on the table everyday, to afford to "Netflix and Chill" and turn on the air-conditioning whenever I feel like it's getting too hot at home.
Others are not as lucky. A lot of Filipinos are suffering because they survive on their daily wage and the fact that there's no work means there's no food for them to give to their family. A lot of them are relying now on donations. And people are happy to give. But it's not going to last forever. So the government better start doing something soon. Or else, it's going to be chaos. People might one day resort to looting or stealing, I mean, they have no choice. They need to eat.
Anyway, I thought I'd share some of the things I've been doing to keep me busy at home. The first week of quarantine, I wasn't at all in the mood to do anything. I pretty much watched random shows like The Circle and Love is Blind on Netflix and home makeovers on YouTube. The second week, I was more determined to do other things. I've started working out. I've been reading a lot more (I was even able to read a book I bought from the first Big Bad Wolf Book Sale years ago). I made it a point to start baking again (it was a flop, but still, I did it haha) and I hope to do it a lot more in the near future. Cooking is still on my list, but ingredients are hard to come by at the moment. This week's main project though is to finalize wedding photos that will go into our album. We've been married for almost 11 months and I don't know why I'm only doing this now. Haha. But yeah, that's the goal. I've also been helping friends out with sourcing supplies for PPEs and helping raise funds and spreading the word. I'll link a couple of them here in case you guys want to help out too.
There's a lot more on social media. I know we all want to help, but not everyone has the financial capacity to do so. Just so you know, sharing these initiatives is already a big help on its own, so if you can't donate, go and share them instead. I've also started updating my Carousell account with items I want to sell - proceeds of which will go to various donation drives, so if you want to check it out, here's the link. Currently selling brand new makeup items, some earrings from @wearmnl, my well-loved Canon 50mm, and an old Canon 20D. There's a Tory Burch Espadrille on there but I'm only selling it for my mom - that's the only exception, every other sale will be donated.
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P.S. Also revamping the blog soon. Don't forget to like and follow me on Facebook and Instagram! ;)
