routine – The Diary of The Deranged Writer

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.)

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

Song of the Moment XCV: Nine Inch Nails’ “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”

I admit that Daft Punk’s “Around the World” (a previous Song of the Moment) is still on my rotation this week. I mean, come on, it’s one of my favorite electronic dance songs. But this week, I also decided to listen more to the pioneers of industrial rock, Nine Inch Nails. I started my binge-listening with the essential playlist curated by Spotify.

After listening to half of the playlist, the song that stuck with me is “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” (a single from the Nine Inch Nails studio album With Teeth). I remembered listening to it multiple times in 2019 (one of the darkest times in my life), but it’s only recently that I truly understand the song’s lyrics on the dark side of monotonous routine and blind conformity. (Well, that’s my interpretation anyway.)

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same
The chorus of Nine Inch Nails’ “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”

I’m a guy who loves listening to various music genres, so listening to “Every Day Is Exactly the Same” is a darkly refreshing break from the upbeat Daft Punk classic “Around the World”. That’s why it’s my Song of the Moment.

Nine Inch Nail’s “Every Day Is Exactly the Same”.

Now I’m going to try a different affogato tonight. See you in the next post.

Header image: Clock image by Phantom Reader of Pixabay. Edited in Adobe Photoshop 2025.

Updated on September 4, 2025.

XXXVI: The Nocturnal’s Struggle of Waking Up Early / Notes to Self XVI

If you have been following The Diary lately, you should know that I’ve been making gradual changes in my life. One of those changes is waking up early for work—ideally at 8:00am. I did just that on most workdays after ToyCon 2025, and there were times I even woke up at 6:00am. (That’s a feat for a nocturnal person like me, and even my family is shocked by the fact that I woke up before they did.)

Now it’s beyond the middle of August 2025, and I admit that I haven’t really been waking up as early as 8am lately… and that’s fine.

(Buckle up because this is going to be a long post.)