We booked really early for our Christmas trip to the Philippines and got dirt-cheap economy flights. We also got I thought - well, I did anyway- plenty of time to prepare for it. But having the time you think you have is vastly different from having the actually energy and will power to use it wisely.

Well, I wouldn't say I have not used my time wisely, but rather, things take a different direction than you intended- and that’s okay.

We’re suddenly at the tail end of October and looking back, I can say that I’m mostly happy. But let me start with ticking off the things I wanted to do but wasn’t able to do:

1. Organise a balikbayan box for more of my shoes and clothes. I also wanted to have had included in the box, gifts for family. Shipping to New Zealand is expensive, and the few companies that ship boxes to the Philippines have short time-frames which I couldn’t meet as I wasn’t convinced that the gifts I wanted, were really suitable. The box would have to wait for next year as I still need to off-load my stuff, most of which have not even been worn.

2. Work out because with only one checked luggage, the only clothes I wanted to pack are shorts and singlets. And I need to look good in them. But then a scan showed that I had an asymptomatic torn shoulder, so I couldn’t really go all out in the gym. I tried focusing on just my legs and then realised my thighs wouldn’t fit into my pants. We never win the body-improvement game, regardless of what social media wants you to believe.

3. Finish some major work-stuff. Not even using AI could make things faster- ironically, one of my work projects is on AI.

But there’s a whole bunch of good stuff that I’ve been able to tick off:

1. Finalise Christmas gifts for everyone

2. Pre-ordered our favourite Christmas cake and ham (to have when I get back).

3. Finalised my work-project schedule for 1st quarter 2026

4. Finished 12 books.

5. Organised my desk

6. Organised an art piece (it’s not done yet, but confident I will finish it).

7. Had my sister-in-law buy new towels and to make sure to pre-order two cakes for Noche Buena; Black-Forest cake and Sans Rival from Red Ribbon.

8. Convinced my mother to have a whole Lechon for Noche Buena (my cholesterol is uhm, perfect).

9. Organised catch-ups with the only friends I want to see (you know who you are!).

10. Did a test packing of my single luggage (ugh, can’t really get more shoes in).