Tag: ritual

Song of the Moment CIII: Richard Sanderson’s “Reality”

Last Monday, while I was doing my Monday ritual at Satchmi, I heard this dreamy Beatles-like song. Because I was drained from all the writing/planning, and seeking temporary calm, I had to stop writing, stop drinking my favorite affogato, and then hear the lyrics.

Then, these words pull at my heartstrings because they remind me of a new friend:

Met you by surprise
I didn’t realize
That my life would change
Forever

At that moment, I had to pull out my phone, open the Shazam app, and place my phone near the cafe’s speaker like I was force-cloning a phone ala John Reese of Person of Interest.

After further research, I finally learned the title, the artist, and where the song was featured. It’s “Reality” by Richard Sanderson (which was composed by Vladimir Cosma for the 1980 French teenage romantic comedy film La Boum). Thanks to modern technology and to my favorite cafe for playing the song, I found a new favorite love song, a theme song about my new friend, and my Song of the Moment.

Richard Sanderson’s “Reality”.

This deserves a special Listen post, but for now, let me listen to it on repeat and just dream.

See you in the next post.

Ω

A part of 14 Days of The Deranged Writer (2025).

Header image: Dzenina Lukac of Pexels. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

10-Minute Warning CXC

What can I share in under ten minutes?

Firstly, I have been drinking (and enjoying) more hot tea than ever before. Maybe it’s because I enjoyed The Angel’s Cup (hot honey/citron/ginger tea) for a few weeks while I was sick. From liking both cold and hot/warm beverages to sticking with just cold drinks, now my mind and tongue are open again to drinking hot/warm drinks. Lovely. I just need to remind myself whenever I drink a hot/warm drink: sip it slowly and not chug it quickly like a madman.

What were the other teas I drank recently? Aside from The Angel’s Cup almost every day, I drank sencha green tea at a Japanese restaurant owned by one of our business clients last Thursday. When I learned that the restaurant serves sencha green tea, my preferred type of tea and the preferred drink of Harold Finch (a main character from my favorite show, Person of Interest, and one of my favorite characters of all time), I had to order one. I was the only one who drank hot tea that night, while the rest of my family had cold softdrinks and lemon iced tea. As for today, I also drank green tea while having a puto bumbong near the chapel.

I truly enjoy sipping on it and letting the tea warm my throat, stomach, and heart. I will definitely add it to my daily ritual moving forward. Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon: sweet.

I want to talk more about last Thursday because it was my Mother’s birthday, but my ten minutes are up. See you in the next post… and that will be tomorrow!

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Header image: Luke Oslizlo of Unsplash. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

10-Minute Warning CLXXXIX

Hi, Diary. What can I type in under ten minutes?

After a whirlwind set of days filled with Foo Fighters euphoria, wandering around Singapore in a short period of time, returning to Manila, and then returning to my normal routine, my body’s truly waving the white flag. My muscles are still a bit sore, and my throat hurts. (In the first few days of having throat pain after the Foo Fighters show at the Singapore Grand Prix, I sounded like Lemmy from Motörhead.) And today, I’ve been coughing. Perhaps you can say that now I’m a flu fighter. And I’m fighting the flu with Bioflu, some hot honey/citron/ginger tea, and lots of rest.

But then my Father ordered me to finish some paperwork this afternoon. He’s also my boss, so I can’t say no to that. At least the paperwork is easy though. I’ve done them before anyway. It’s like muscle memory.

Speaking of muscles, my arms are in more pain than usual. Fuck. Even if I have more things to say and my ten minutes are still not up, I need more rest.

And that’s my update for today. See you in the next post. (And I hope I feel better when that happens.)

Ω

Header image: Anna Shvets of Pexels. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.