I’m in this phase where all I write is my monthly recap. Promise I will post a lot this June ‘cos I’ve already written 5 posts. I’m just, ugh, exhausted and too lazy to boot up my PC and actually post them. Meanwhile, my most anticipated yet least prioritized makeover project has completely stalled. I hate myself when I just wanna laze around. True sign of aging, I guess!

Life Lately

• Busy first week. So yeah, I mentioned in my last recap that I was, in fact, very busy during the first week. To backtrack a little, we renovated our mezzanine area and turned it into a proper room so we could finally install AC. Yes, it is that global warming! Having AC really helps because the dry season was absolutely brutal. Though now we’re transitioning into the rainy season, so it’s been raining on and off lately (as of writing, the typhoon is already leaving and thankfully didn’t make landfall).
• All the sorting, the new things, and finally done. So yeah, once the reno was finished, chaos immediately ensued inside the house. I had to get rid of old furniture like my desk and chair, but thankfully the replacements arrived quickly so I could set everything up. Working in the living room on a makeshift table was rough, and I’m not really a laptop-only person. I need the whole setup! Even after donating what felt like five luggage-worth of clothes, we still have *SO* much stuff. So I ended up buying new storage boxes for our little corner walk-in closet situation. We also dismantled the custom cabinet unit we had there to improve airflow. What a tiring two weeks!
• I remembered just how great Attack on Titan is. I think I spent pretty much the entire month of May marathoning AoT and man, the assault on my feelings was affectionately raw. I felt genuinely emotional after finishing it. Experiencing the story while knowing everything that was coming made it feel completely different experience. The plot points were literally right there!!! Isayama really wrote that story with a burning pen. It was incredible! Not gonna lie, moving on from it has been hard. Right now I’m watching Hunter x Hunter (1999), but in between I also watched The Promised Neverland, Noblesse, and Kaijuu No. 8. Nothing hits quite the same. I actually have a raw post drafted from when I finished the series, so hopefully I can finally publish it this month!!
• Mother’s Day celeb. So yeah, it was a quiet and lovely Mother’s Day despite the ridiculously hot weather. We went to a Chinese restaurant that focused more on Sichuan dishes. I was really looking forward to ordering Mapo Tofu, but turns out I checked the wrong menu item haha! Oh well. Dinner was still really good. I left absolutely stuffed. The spice level wasn’t exactly my thing, but I still enjoyed it and was happy to celebrate.

June Agenda

• Another birthday round. We did a cute little photoshoot for our sole fur daughter because she’s turning 10! Yes, TEN! This June 3. And honestly, I can’t help but get emotional thinking about how old she’s gotten. Her little snout is turning white, she’s always sleepy nowadays, but she’s still on stranger-danger mode every single time! I get anxious thinking about her age, but mostly I’m just grateful she’s still here with us. I’ve never had a pet reach this age before, so I genuinely feel blessed. Of course, it’s also my almost-twin sib birthday (since we’re only 1 year and 8 months apart exactly) birthday  week too! Double celebration haha. Then there’s my dad’s anniv too, so it’s gonna be a busy one!
• Gotta post this on the blog! The posts I’ve been jotting down on my phone aren’t gonna publish themselves, so I really need to make time for them. You know how I can chatter endlessly when it’s about my faves. This anime marathon I’ve been on for the past three months has awakened my review-centric self from the 2010s all over again. With it, I’m kinda hoping to finally pick up the book. That one really good book to get me hooked again.
• Just praying for a not-so-harsh rainy season ahead. It’s been raining for the past two days now. The extreme heat has eased up a little, but I still worry about the super El Niño effects I’ve been hearing about. Just praying nothing major happens. The rainy season is already rough enough with strong typhoons coming and going, and all of this definitely isn’t helping. Just gotta prepare with what we have.

And that’s my May! Now praying June will be a good month too—less wet, less harsh. I still have faith in miracles. Let’s have a good June! 🌫️🫧🫶🏻🤍🌧️

I’m in this phase where all I write is my monthly recap. Promise I will post a lot this June ‘cos I’ve already written 5 posts. I’m just, ugh, exhausted and too lazy to boot up my PC and actually post them. Meanwhile, my most anticipated yet least prioritized makeover project has completely stalled. I hate myself when I just wanna laze around. True sign of aging, I guess!

Life Lately

• Busy first week. So yeah, I mentioned in my last recap that I was, in fact, very busy during the first week. To backtrack a little, we renovated our mezzanine area and turned it into a proper room so we could finally install AC. Yes, it is that global warming! Having AC really helps because the dry season was absolutely brutal. Though now we’re transitioning into the rainy season, so it’s been raining on and off lately (as of writing, the typhoon is already leaving and thankfully didn’t make landfall).
• All the sorting, the new things, and finally done. So yeah, once the reno was finished, chaos immediately ensued inside the house. I had to get rid of old furniture like my desk and chair, but thankfully the replacements arrived quickly so I could set everything up. Working in the living room on a makeshift table was rough, and I’m not really a laptop-only person. I need the whole setup! Even after donating what felt like five luggage-worth of clothes, we still have *SO* much stuff. So I ended up buying new storage boxes for our little corner walk-in closet situation. We also dismantled the custom cabinet unit we had there to improve airflow. What a tiring two weeks!
• I remembered just how great Attack on Titan is. I think I spent pretty much the entire month of May marathoning AoT and man, the assault on my feelings was affectionately raw. I felt genuinely emotional after finishing it. Experiencing the story while knowing everything that was coming made it feel completely different experience. The plot points were literally right there!!! Isayama really wrote that story with a burning pen. It was incredible! Not gonna lie, moving on from it has been hard. Right now I’m watching Hunter x Hunter (1999), but in between I also watched The Promised Neverland, Noblesse, and Kaijuu No. 8. Nothing hits quite the same. I actually have a raw post drafted from when I finished the series, so hopefully I can finally publish it this month!!
• Mother’s Day celeb. So yeah, it was a quiet and lovely Mother’s Day despite the ridiculously hot weather. We went to a Chinese restaurant that focused more on Sichuan dishes. I was really looking forward to ordering Mapo Tofu, but turns out I checked the wrong menu item haha! Oh well. Dinner was still really good. I left absolutely stuffed. The spice level wasn’t exactly my thing, but I still enjoyed it and was happy to celebrate.

June Agenda

• Another birthday round. We did a cute little photoshoot for our sole fur daughter because she’s turning 10! Yes, TEN! This June 3. And honestly, I can’t help but get emotional thinking about how old she’s gotten. Her little snout is turning white, she’s always sleepy nowadays, but she’s still on stranger-danger mode every single time! I get anxious thinking about her age, but mostly I’m just grateful she’s still here with us. I’ve never had a pet reach this age before, so I genuinely feel blessed. Of course, it’s also my almost-twin sib birthday (since we’re only 1 year and 8 months apart exactly) birthday  week too! Double celebration haha. Then there’s my dad’s anniv too, so it’s gonna be a busy one!
• Gotta post this on the blog! The posts I’ve been jotting down on my phone aren’t gonna publish themselves, so I really need to make time for them. You know how I can chatter endlessly when it’s about my faves. This anime marathon I’ve been on for the past three months has awakened my review-centric self from the 2010s all over again. With it, I’m kinda hoping to finally pick up the book. That one really good book to get me hooked again.
• Just praying for a not-so-harsh rainy season ahead. It’s been raining for the past two days now. The extreme heat has eased up a little, but I still worry about the super El Niño effects I’ve been hearing about. Just praying nothing major happens. The rainy season is already rough enough with strong typhoons coming and going, and all of this definitely isn’t helping. Just gotta prepare with what we have.

And that’s my May! Now praying June will be a good month too—less wet, less harsh. I still have faith in miracles. Let’s have a good June! 🌫️🫧🫶🏻🤍🌧️

I have so many series of tweets on my public account that it feels like my thoughts are fragmented and redundant. Adding more noise to an already noisy crowd, especially with the recent news of bato being taken down. Then there is one company taking credit for the downfall, arrogantly warning that more sites will follow.

When it comes to piracy, my stance has always been “do what you have to do.” Some people are not made of money. In an ideal world, we pay for what we consume. That is the right thing to do. But in capitalist reality, that is not remotely realistic. An ordinary person on a normal salary has to be strategic about where their money goes. As awful as it sounds, capitalism brought this. This is a systemic effect of it.

Some will say, oh, so you choose to be moral when it is convenient? Unfortunately, life is too hard to deal with everything strictly by the book. When the system itself is disadvantageous to ordinary people, you choose your battles, and sometimes that battle is your money’s worth. Literacy, in any form, should not be reserved only for the wealthy and able.

I sincerely think that if the system remains the same, nothing will change. I have seen the internet landscape from before popular social media even existed, and free digital content has always remained accessible. Webtoons in particular started as a low-effort narrative format, short entertainment for web engines, before becoming what they are today. But the current business model is just too steep for ordinary people.

Yeah, and that’s another issue I genuinely find frustrating: they churn many near-identical series, and then they just call it a day. I don’t think the quality justifies the pricing model. Since they were made as quick entertainment, the plot suffers and is too simple for audiences to care about or literally get invested in. If they want us to pay the same way I pay for manga or anime (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), they need to step up. But that’s another conversation for another day.

In comparison, I pay around 800 PHP for an annual premium account on Bilibili, which gives me access to their entire anime catalog—it’s A LOT! That same amount gets me, what? maybe eight or nine episodes of a webtoon, which can be deleted or expire without notice. That is an unbearably steep price for something you can’t even truly own. Music piracy also has decreased significantly because piracy is no longer the default way people access music. They built a system that works. Unless something similar is built for webtoons, it just a hydra situation. You cut one head off and more grow back.

To be clear, I am not against creatives getting paid. They do deserve it. 100%!  In fact, in the bigger picture, creators are often the ones at a disadvantage, trapped in predatory industry practices where compensation works against them. But again, you choose your battles, and not a lot of people have disposable income. I feel like I keep yapping about all this just to rationalize reading for free, and when it comes down to it, yes, it is wrong. Of course it is wrong! But that does not make these reasons invalid, because they are all still true. There are bigger issues here than counting lost sales from readers who were never going to be customers in the first place.

But really, who knows how far these cease-and-desist actions will go. But in my humble opinion, this is a knee-jerk reaction. It is a temporary solution that does not do anything at scale or create lasting change. This cycle will never end unless something real is actually addressed.

Is it that time again to welcome a new season and try some new anime? Honestly, I’ve been watching a lot of anime these past two months—mostly rewatching—to keep myself from doomscrolling into brain rot. So here we are, trying a bunch of new shows for this spring season. I think I had a pretty successful watch list last season.

I went into a lot of these blind. I saw a title trending on twitter and thought, why not? No deep reason, just vibes. Old me would probably stick to one series, but I ended up trying seven this time. Hopefully I can actually finish them all.

• Akane-banashi – Kinda influenced by my sister, but I think I’d enjoy it anyway if it’s in the same vein as Hikaru no Go or Chihayafuru. It’s about rakugo, which I know absolutely nothing about, so I’m just letting it play (no pun intended and hoping I pick things up as I go. I really want to learn through watching instead of my usual habit of googling everything beforehand. So far, so good.
• Daemons of the Shadow Realm – I thought this was going to be high fantasy or historical, but it turned out to be modern fantasy, with a town shrouded in magic. It’s like an Amish town, but fantasy coexisting with the modern world. I like the characters so far, though the MC kind of looks like a cousin of Ed and Al—probably because I just finished rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and my eyes are still in that mode. Still, I’m enjoying it and looking forward to more episodes.
• Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! – This one is really fun. The art style surprised me. It reminds me of old ’90s anime, which I grew up with, so I’m very familiar. It’s lighthearted and funny, more comedic pining than hopeless yearning, which I appreciate. The two episodes I’ve seen so far definitely delivered.
• Kill Blue – I read the manga before but ended up dropping it. Watching the anime feels okay. I kinda know what’s coming, so I’m keeping my expectations neutral for now.
• Liar Game – I remember being obsessed with the manga over a decade ago. I even wrote a review of it back then. The anime itself isn’t anything special, but the story still hooks me. Since it’s been so long, my memory is pretty hazy, so that episode 2 ending actually shocked me again.
• Marriagetoxin – This kept popping up on my timeline, so I figured, why not. I thought it was about a married assassin couple like Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but it’s actually about a poison specialist and a girl who acts as his matchmaker. It’s fun and has some action, but I’m not completely sold yet. Still, a decent start.
• Witch Hat Atelier – The anime is gorgeous, no doubt about that, but something feels lacking. The tragedy with her mother happened way too fast and felt underwhelming in execution. Like, she froze and that was it. It didn’t hit emotionally the way Ed and Al losing their mom did. It also feels like she moved on too quickly for something that just happened. I’m not fully connecting with the MC, Coco, either. There’s something about her that feels a bit artificial—crafted? Her enthusiasm for magic doesn’t quite feel genuine to me. The art is definitely the saving grace for now, but I’m not fully sold on the plot yet. Hoping my opinion changes as the story progresses.

Time to select the best of the best of the year! I’m so happy to finally announce all of this and I won’t lie, it was hard to choose because of the sheer amount of media I consumed this past year. But it’s a job that needed to be done, and voilà, here it is! I’m so excited for new reads and new anime next year!

Best Couple? 💕 (Another addition to my endless one-true-pairing list)
— Seori & Yujeong from The Summer You Came

Best Art? 🎨 (So gorgeous, so pretty it hurts!)
— Relationship Principle. Even though I think the ML is kinda a douche for being so dodgy about why he ghosted her, he’s just too pleasing to the eyes 😩 haha! Still really wanna know why!!

Best Plot Twist? 😱 (Made me drop everything and throw shoes in shock!)
— Farewell ’Cause WTF was that?! I’m pretty sure they weren’t right?? I couldn’t even continue it!

Best Villain? 😈 (The villain I love to hate!)
— None, unfortunately. I guess the MCs were just that good this year… or the villains were too one-dimensional for my taste.

Best Character Growth? 🌱 (That glow-up you didn’t expect!)
— The black dragon Akelans from Black Chains.  I was not giving him a pass for all the awful things he did to the heroine, but he really earned his keep. Watching him slowly redeem himself was so satisfying.

Most Unputdownable? 📖✨ (The “one more chapter/ep” situation until it’s 2:00 AM and my eyebags are screaming!)
— The Grand Duke of the North! Yes, it’s your usual rofan webtoon, but it was so charming that I genuinely found myself scrolling endlessly.

Best Romantic Confession? 💌 (Made me scream into my pillow and slam my fists with “FINALLY!”)
— Happy Twogether!  Okay, it’s not exactly a confession but I loved how naturally handsy they were with each other. Nothing awkward at all! The finger playing, the cozy latching onto each other, gaaah, just pure warmth, like a cup of hot chocolate ☕💞

Best Kiss? 😘 (That smooch I’ve been waiting for ages!)
— Sein & Dowon from Bad Dream. I actually had a hard time picking because of how many smutty series I read 😅 but this one wins. Given their circumstances, especially Sein’s, where her life was literally at stake and being able to let go meant something huge.

Best Male Lead? 🌟 (The swoon-worthy guy who has everything!)
— Duke Diello from I’m an Extra Who Is Trying to Run Away from the Obsessive Male Lead Biases aside, I just love his character design. I liked how he was understandably doubtful at first, then went from aloof to secretly obsessed. And the way he’s constantly working against their divorce! Chef’s kiss.

Best Female Lead? 👑 (Girl’s girl, rooting for you and wishing you the best in life!)
— Anrie Wenthworth from The Duke’s Wife Obsession. I know girls like her are a dime a dozen in rofan now, but I’m still a sucker for motivated, goal-oriented FLs, especially transmigrators who actually use their knowledge. Also, I love it when the ML falls first (plot twist: he knows the setting too!). One of my fave reads this year.

Best Ending? 🎬✨ (The kind that leaves you smiling, giddy, or emotionally wrecked but in a good way!)
— It’s a toss-up between Unfair Love Affair and Usefulness of a Childhood Friend
For Unfair Love Affair, I love when the top is the one harboring all the feelings. He might seem elusive to others, but he’s just so deeply in love and it makes me giddy. And for Usefulness of a Childhood Friend, I’m weak for friends-to-lovers. This one goes from friends-with-benefits to absolutely awesome lovers, and I adored every second.

Anime: Best of the Best 🎌🔥

Favorite Character? 💖 My ride-or-die fictional fam that I root for so hard!)
— Katsuki Bakugou! One of my all-time faves. The amount of development he had, especially in the explosive episodes, kept me on my toes. I was glued to the screen the entire time. So proud of my son 🥹💥

Best Animation? ✨🎥 (So many “absolute cinema” moments!)
— Boku no Hero Academia: Season 8
Studio Bones gave everything for the final fights, and it shows. The detail, the care, yeah, absolute cinema, like I said. A well-deserved treatment for an amazing series finale.

Best Opening Song? 🎵🎶(The banger that lived on loop!)
— “HUGs” by Paledusk from Gachiakuta
I’m giving it points for creativity, but honestly… none of the openings really spoke to me this year 😔

Best Shoujo? 🌸
— I didn’t watch any (no, not considering shounen romance!), so I’m gonna pass this category. Next year, hopefully, I’ve seen some promising ones!

Best Shounen/Seinen? ⚔️💥
— Boku no Hero Academia: Season 8
I mean, surely, I already rave about it so much!

Anime I’m Looking Forward to in 2026! 🔮🎉

Jigokuraku Season 2, Jujutsu Kaisen:, Shimetsu Kaiyuu – Zenpen, Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Champignon no Majo, Liar Game, Tongari Boushi no Atelier

Second (and last) part of my China (Shanghai) Travel Diaries. As I mentioned before, we had two important requirements, and one of them was a major theme park! It wouldn’t be a stretch to call it the main reason, ’cause my family loves them rides! And I must report that it was an enjoyable and memorable trip to Disneyland. (I know, I know, it’s a “paved paradise to put up a parking lot” situation, but sometimes we just need to have fun in an artificial fantasy land!)

My family and I really enjoyed our time there. We went ahead and rented cars (yes, two, ’cause we’re a family of nine!) and let me tell you, the Chinese are very keen on time. Some of my family members were five minutes late, and the drivers politely asked us not to be like that again. It was a bit embarrassing, but he was a pleasant man. During the whole car ride, our driver was, let’s just say, chatty and very fun. He even turned on the massage function of the seat and played some music (even though it was basically old Chinese pop).

We actually rented the cars just to take us there, so we still didn’t know how we’d get back to our hotel. When we mentioned it, he volunteered to pick us up again, and we were happy to oblige. We’re so grateful to him because he also arranged the other car for us. Like I said, the Chinese people we encountered were generally nice. I had good interactions with them.

We went on a day with perfect weather, 18°, slightly windy but with the sun shining brightly. It was a long walk from the parking lot to the actual entrance. I’m not sure if it was peak season or not, but the lines moved fast. Also, take note, you must bring your passport. Your passport is your ticket to Disneyland Shanghai. No QR code needed, just present your passport and they’ll scan it. Isn’t that amazing?

And just like HK Disneyland, I couldn’t stop gushing about how pretty the garden was. It’s hella larger than HK too. The main street was so wide. Actually, all the pavements were wide. I didn’t bump into anyone. I liked that there were lots of benches too, especially since this time our mom came with us. She didn’t try any rides outside of the boat ride and the castle, but she was happy just being with her children and all her grandchildren.

Also, the rides are spacious and extravagant. Because I’m prone to dizziness and have a fear of heights, I tend to avoid anything rollercoaster-y, but I tried my best to go on anything I felt comfortable with. My favorite ride was, hands down, Pirates of the Caribbean. I loved the feeling of drifting through the currents, and all the effects made it feel like we were roaring among the waves.

Unfortunately, I mistook Zootopia for something dizzy-inducing, but my fam said it was so cute and interactive. I wish I had ridden it. Then we went to calmer rides like the boat ride and Alice in Wonderland maze. I enjoyed Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, and Dumbo (thanks to my little nephew’s insistence after I passed up the chance to ride TRON). TRON was the biggest ride there. I didn’t even try, ’cause that’s not for me. My sister, though, lost her glasses on that ride and had to continue our trip squinting the whole time. I had to buy her a new pair as a birthday gift when we got home.

There were other rides too like Roaring Rapids and (forgot the name), which of course I declined to try.

The food was delish! Again, like I suggested in my other Shanghai post, skip GCash and install Alipay instead. We ate at a restaurant near the TRON area, and the burger was humongous! And really tasty too. I got the vegetarian one, and they didn’t skimp on the ingredients. The drinks were tall!

What I loved most, though, were the staff. They were genuinely friendly and warm. I appreciated this, especially since in HK Disneyland, the staff sometimes felt a bit distant. I’ve been to major theme parks around Asia like Universal Studios in Singapore and Japan as well as Legoland Malaysia. My general consensus? Shanghai staff were friendly. Well, USJ is like top-tier, no contest, but I would say the staff here were also very accommodating and kind.

We didn’t get to watch the fireworks and light show in the end because we promised to meet up at 9:30 p.m. sharp so the car could pick us up. And even though we missed it, I think we made the most of our time and enjoyed a lot of rides. Thankfully, the longest wait I had was just 40 minutes. The lines were long but moved fast, so it didn’t feel like forever.

I know people say you need two days, but I think our one day was pretty productive. We got to ride most of them, skipping the ones that are already in HK.

Overall, I had a happy experience. Between HK and Shanghai, I’d say I pretty much enjoyed Shanghai better. If the opportunity comes again, I’ll definitely visit again!

I recently read about “zero posting,” the idea that because social media is so oversaturated and we’re constantly bombarded with content from “professionals” (aka people who make a living out of it), ordinary people feel less enthusiastic or motivated to post online. I remember the early days of social media, growing up with it from almost nothing to what it is now. Back then, it felt okay to be your authentic self. Sharing mundane stuff actually looked nice for once. It was different from what we saw on TV and in ads, and it felt like normal people could share things freely.

Then the content creator and influencer era took over, and ordinary people started feeling like outsiders looking in. It felt like most of us didn’t belong anymore. At some point, I also felt like I couldn’t keep up, especially with apps focused on photos and videos.

I don’t have TikTok (shocker, very geriatric/boomer behavior), but it just doesn’t appeal to me. I do have Instagram, and reels can be a fascinating brain-rot way to waste time, but I think I’m more into word-based platforms like Twitter and Reddit. Anyway, I digress, but my point is that I’m also feeling this “zero posting” thing, at least on Instagram.

I deactivated my “Mitchii” IG account. I still update my personal, real-life account because it’s just for friends and family, and that’s less than 20 people. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I just don’t like people—well, not people people, but lots of people snooping around. Even this blog is heavily regulated. I didn’t announce my domain change anywhere except maybe on Twitter, and even that platform feels more like a wall I shout at. It’s just me speaking into the void, zero audience, and honestly, that fits my vibe more.

I stopped caring about numbers. I follow people I like and don’t care if they follow back. Numbers don’t feel like a reason to keep an account anymore.

But honestly, the algorithm ruined everything for me. Social media has become one giant wall of ads. It’s become less about people. In the 2010s, Instagram was a place where you could share your favorite drink with a heavily filtered photo, and that was okay and fun. Looking back, it feels sweet to see something so simple that many of us had in common. Once social media started turning into ads heavy, commercially produced content platforms, it felt less connected. I feel that shift most days. Social media is now like TV used to be—crafted for entertainment, built for commercialism. Unattainable. It’s exhausting.

Maybe people just like the quietness of being offline now. I’m not entirely against social media, but I just don’t want to post intimate details of my life. Then again, I never really posted intimate things from the start. Grew up with “be careful of the internet” era. The internet is scary to me—more so now. I stopped posting photos publicly (my real-life instagram is still there, but very private).

My blog is more of a word-vomit space for thoughts I want to share. People don’t like reading anyway, so keeping this blog as my own outlet feels like a good compromise. Younger people might think blogging is now super retro (or if they know about it at all), but this blog is basically my diary, so here I am. This is my vibe, a place I can solo-d hard.

I may not be completely zero-posting (not yet), but I totally understand the appeal—and the why.