02492: Lockdown Indulgences


Sariwon Woo Samgyup

Metro Manila Community Quarantine - Day 134

This month we've renewed an old habit of indulging with Sariwon during the weekend. Before lockdown, we'd eat there in person at least once a week admittedly because we love the food, we adore the service, and our "usual" order is a pretty good deal, especially for someone on keto like me. Initially, we had to pick up orders at the restaurant since they weren't on Foodpanda, but that changed and we now order every week. It's not quite the same as eating at the restaurant since the food isn't cooked fresh and we obviously don't get unlimited side dishes anymore. But it's nice to still be able to support them and enjoy something different apart from the usual staples we cook for ourselves. 

They also re-opened for dine-in customers mid-month, but we haven't worked up the nerve to consider eating out. It was around the time a new cluster of cases was discovered at a construction site and that spiked the Fort Bonifacio case numbers. Things have settled down since then, but it's not easy to shake off that apprehension despite how low the number of active cases Taguig is supposed to have these days. 

Tobie tried ordering some keto-friendly avocado ice cream for me as another treat. The avocado flavor was pretty strong but it definitely felt like a healthy option since they weren't too heavy-handed with the artificial sweeteners to really push the ice cream experience. Not sure if I'd strongly recommended it, but it was certainly a nice change of pace.

As previously mentioned, we've also acquired a few new board games over the course of the quarantine, which is kinda weird but still welcome. I only say it's weird since new games just remind me how much I miss our big game nights and playing with friends. But at least it provides more options for me and Tobie to enjoy in the meantime. We spent Saturday night trying out all of our new Marvel Legendary expansions to see what new rules they had brought into play and it made for an interesting evening. Tobie's continued efforts to scour the secondhand board game listings are kind of fascinating when he does manage to identify a particular find and it gets delivered to our condo. 

I've still managed to secure a few Transformers over the lockdown period, all through other sellers and delivery services. We've joked about trying to visit Greenhills to make the old rounds, but I really don't feel comfortable venturing out for leisure purposes. That seems to defeat the purpose of being in quarantine in the first place. So we've limited our excursions to essential travel as much as possible 

There are a good number of other little things that we do throughout the days of quarantine to help the time go by a little quicker and to help manage our overall stress. I'd love to say that things have been perfectly fine, but we've both had our shares of highs and lows during this lockdown and I'm grateful that we have one another to rely on for strength and support. 

This past week was a little bad for me, and I can't even pinpoint a specific logical reason why I was in a bit of a funk. I remained productive in terms of work and I'd still get chores done, but on the whole, I just felt really emotionally or mentally heavy for most of the week. Didn't quite have the motivation to play board games with Tobie during our free hours and I'd just be content to watch blah content on YouTube or Netflix. I'm finally feeling better now, at least in comparison to the days prior. I hope that means this week will be a little more balanced for me.

I hate feeling off. I hate not knowing why I'm feeling off. I can only rationalize that it's more than likely due to the long-running stress that this quarantine has brought upon all of us affecting me in different ways at seemingly random times. It could be the usual birthday blues we all get when that time is near but compounded by the quarantine. Maybe I just miss friends and despite my generally introverted nature, the months of separation are getting to me and maybe I miss or even need in-person socializing to balance things out in my head. There are so many possible explanations but they can't all be right or maybe they are to varying degrees or I don't know.

But whatever it is, we just move forward and try to get past things as best we can. We recognize when things aren't going quite right and we take steps to either address them or at least find a way to live with the challenges and continue moving forward. 

And above all, know when it's time to ask for help. We're entering our 20th week of quarantine today. The best way to get through this, despite the physical distancing, is with the help of others. This is especially true for our loved ones and those in our closer social circles. 


Comments