March 1, 2021

happy almost-niversary, *CQ!

Manila, 1 March—I hope you guys are checking on your bread expiry dates because once upon a time, when we still lived together, my sister and I had to do a loooot of sandwiches because we forgot that March 1 came right after Feb 28 most times lmao.

So yeah. Happy almost-niversary, quarantine-mates! Yep, almost a year since the first incarnation of this community quarantine was imposed, and what have we? Oh wait, 525,600 doses1.

There are flyers going around about our barangay’s COVID vaccination rollout. To be fair to Makati Mayor Abby Binay, I am confident that she is clear-eyed and able to deploy these vaccines, which she previously said would even cover non-Makati residents who are working for businesses in the area2. However, the Mayor has said that she will leave it up to Makatizens to decide re: which vaccine to take. At the moment, Makati has opened its online pre-registration3 facility for those who wish to avail themselves of Sinovac’s vaccine4.

I asked our building frontliners what they thought about it. After all, they were on the priority list. Opinion is mixed—some of them had their doubts. One of our guards who was sure about wanting to have the vaccine, wasn’t so sure if he was allowed to get it, because he had hypertension. One kasambahay said she really wanted to get one because she wanted to go home to her sick mother in the province.

Personally, I believe in the importance of these vaccines, but I’m still a bit lost as to how to actually get myself and C vaccinated. At the moment, we’re more inclined to join our company’s vaccine rollout, as I think it’s more trustworthy and reliable, should anything go sideways.

That said, I’m definitely wary about the national government’s irrational push for the Chinese-manufactured vaccine. In fact, I have been wary about the national government’s entire COVID-19 response, which has been marred by wrong priorities and horrible comms, since Day 0.

One year hence: What Quarantine-driven niche are you in right now?

Anyway.

So it’s been almost 365 days—which quarantine hobby are you obsessed with at the moment?

In the year that passed, I have grown into being a big fan of watching esports tournaments (when is MPL coming back from the war!), Attack on Titan, K-pop workout playlists on YouTube Premium and Kim Taehyung’s face (most especially Taehyung’s face).

I am currently getting into Critical Role5 and wondering if there are similar local initiatives that I can watch6. We skipped gardening and dalgona entirely, but we were in Animal Crossing for quite some time, and C is currently into mechanical keyboards7. I have not figured TikTok out, which is not a surprise, and have all but stopped updating Instagram for the lack of anything interesting to post.

Obviously, I’m in this newsletter hobbyist niche, which is also not a surprise for a talkative recluse lmao. And of course, we’re in Lazada/Shopee online shopping hell—because really, who isn’t?

That said, wherever you are, I hope you are well. Burnout, I feel, will be a persisting challenge—a semi-permanent state, sort of, that I hope we will always have the strength to overcome whenever we need to. Let’s all hang in there.

I want to live long enough to see these motherfuckers have their eventual comeuppance. And if there’s anything I learned from all our mid-90s telenovelas, it’s that nothing sustains better than the thirst for revenge haha.

Some Internet finds worth highlighting

• There’s a million-plus-word story that’s holding AO3’s community hostage. via Vox.

• Stars, influencers got paid to boost Duterte propaganda, fake news. via Rappler.

• This hilarious honest government ad about what’s happening between Facebook and Australian news is *chef’s kiss*

Thank you for making it this far. Hope you had a restful weekend!

XO,

K

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