Dispatches by Adrian Conoza

The last time I have written for this blog is back in 2020, early during the lockdown, and I even at that time I have lost the appetite to sustain the posts. There were a lot of things that happened since then that could have prompted me to return to this blog, but it took five years of a career as a Special Features Writer, then Assistant Editor, then Editor, to bring me back to this blog; and I'm not even sure I can return with another blog post afterwards. For this post, I share my thoughts about those five years at work, which I'm still amazed I had the patience to endure . I wrote all that I could reflect about those five years. I feel that even those aren't enough. But to anybody who's reading this, thank you for your time. — Akalain mo 'yon? That's what I say to myself in every work anniversary so far. But this time, I think I shouldn't stop with that question. It was five years ago when I started writing for a living, typing in front of a computer a...

One of my many realizations from this pandemic, and the most striking among them, is that I am indeed growing up, and I need a personal space. In other words, there's a pressing need for me to have my own place to stay. I'll make it more straightforward: Soon I'll be needing to move out, and that won't likely be when I finally tie the knot with someone.  While I've been getting along more with my parents during this quarantine, I cannot deny my realization that the house seems to be too big for three people. What once was a good place for five people and several dogs has grown out, intending to be a place just suitable for a couple in the near future.  Really, I has been just fine for me staying in my hometown even if I work in the metropolis and commute for some hours going there and back. It saves money, and also some worries about food, internet connection, and even missing cable television. I even enjoy riding on a point-to-point bus from doing some coverage in ...

In my first Dispatch from Home, I wrote that ' Quarantine Necessitates Routin e '. So far, as I wrestled with the adjustments and inconveniences in the past months, I was able to get into a routine, which could be simplified into starting up, breakfast, doing work/or anything I got interested to do (after watching reruns of Game KNB? on Jeepney TV), lunch, continuing my work/recereation, dinner, watching Shark Tank on Techstorm and a vlog on YouTube, then folding up to rest. Each day has been passing by quickly enough, and this makes me realize that I should really be making most of my time. One of the best way for me to do this, I concluded, is to have an early wake up. I've managed to fix my wake up from a very late 8 or 9 to a decent 7 or 7:30. But my dream wake up is 6:00. I could wake up at 6, but GETTING UP is so hard to do often. Why 6? For one thing, my parents are rarely awake at those times. I find it great to be an early bird. But more primarily, so that I coul...

There are a few notes on the desktop screen, among them a quote from Queen Elizabeth's message on this crisis. I really find it comforting. A lot of headlines these past few weeks: Wimbledon cancelled. UAAP 83 cancelled. Testing expanded to the vulnerable in the population. Increasing number in recoveries and deaths. And more recoveries as of this writing! Boris Johnson admitted to ICU. And finally recovering! But the most saddening news for me so far, the Enhanced Community Quarantine extended. Why the most saddening if for the betterment of our community? That and more are what I have reflected on in the most recent weeks of the now-extended quarantine. More groceries Just a week after I bought groceries for the family and some medications for my mother, I was once again given the task to buy prescribed meds and do the groceries that I think would be enough for the supposedly last two weeks of the quarantine. Of course, learning from my previous trip to ...