Valentine’s Day was right around the corner, and I had a specific mission in mind. While Jessa’s Valentine’s gift was on the list for tomorrow, today was about someone else—Jessa’s dad. He’s a guy who loves music but hasn’t had a guitar in years. Jessa and I have talked about buying him one so many times, but in the chaos of daily life, we just kept forgetting. Not today. Today, I was heading to Moalboal to finally make it happen.
Before we even got to the gifts, we had a bit of a "full house" in the car. It was Sunday, and we were joined by our nephew, Cyrus. We were originally planning a "boys' day out" for Monday, but the kids were clamoring for the playground and some burgers, so we pivoted and made it a family Sunday instead.
I’ve also been on a bit of a mission to "turn my clock around." For the last few weeks, I’ve been buried in work, redesigning some websites and building four new ones. I usually work late at night when there’s less traffic on the sites to minimize the impact on users, but it has completely wrecked my sleep schedule. Add to that a two-and-a-half-week bout of illness that I'm finally shaking off, and I’m a bit of a zombie. My goal today was to stay awake until midnight to get back to a normal 7:00 AM wake-up call tomorrow.
Now, a quick PSA for those watching the footage: Liam was sitting in the front passenger seat in his baby seat. Before anyone panics, it is perfectly safe in this specific car because we have no passenger-side airbags. Our car is a 2009 model—fifteen years old and counting! It’s not the prettiest thing on the road, but it’s reliable. We’re planning to get a pickup truck eventually for the practicality of living in the Philippines, but for now, this old car is doing just fine.
After the kids had their fun at "Kidland" and a quick stop at McDonald's (where I managed to stay "healthy" by not eating), we headed over to Jessa’s parents' house. I’d picked up two big bottles of Red Horse beer for Jessa’s dad and a San Mig Light for myself.
The reveal was great. Jessa’s dad was so surprised when he opened the package to find a proper guitar. I even had to help him through the layers of wrapping—I definitely didn't wrap it myself, or it wouldn't have looked half as professional! Seeing him hold a guitar again after all these years was fantastic. He immediately started checking it out, and I’ve already ordered him a shoulder strap and an electronic tuner to make things even easier for him. I’ll take a night of guitar and beer over loud karaoke any day of the week!
We also got a quick update on Jessa’s brother, who’s now working for the local government and has a decent computer setup—though I had to give him a little grief about my RTX and Core i7 being just a bit better than his GTX and i5! It’s great to see him earning money from YouTube and Facebook and helping out the family.
I wrapped up the day back in my new office, which is almost finished. It’s got a great view and a balcony that I absolutely love. With the big work projects winding down and Jessa’s dad happy, I’m ready to get back to a regular video schedule.
See you in the next one!
