PAGPAG

The above video is a short but fascinating four minute documentary on “pagpag“, leftover and discarded food, which is then scavenged, often cooked again, and then eaten. The practice was borne out of necessity, as some areas of the Philippines suffer from extreme poverty. Interestingly, some people have been able to carve out a basic living from selling pagpag. Not surprisingly, health officials highly discourage the preparation and consumption of pagpag. Having said that, I am somewhat curious how fast and badly I would get sick if I attempted to eat some pagpag. Given that my body has not encountered anything like this, I’m guessing I would vomit or get diarrhea within five minutes of my first bite.

INVESTING

I bought my very first exchange traded fund (ETF) last week. I am terrible at investing, so it’s taken me quite some time to dip into ETF territory. The ETF I bought deals with Canadian banks. Instead of buying shares in a particular bank, this ETF diversifies by having shares of all the major banks. I feel like if banks are gonna rip people off with fees, I should at least get in on that action. The fund has a dividend but there has been some volatility in its performance since 2017, having gone up and down like a yo-yo. I’m hoping it smooths out over the long-term and the regular dividends make this a good fund for income. Only time will tell if I made a smart choice with this one.

MORTGAGE RENEWAL

It dawned on me last week that I have to renew my mortgage in about six months. I’ve done the mortgage renewal once before and I am definitely going to use a mortgage broker again to find me the best mortgage for the next one.

Renewing a mortgage is one of these things you have to do because you’re an adult but it’s obviously very important. While it maybe a hassle, one of my motivations of getting this done is that I may get a better rate and save some money.

TOOTH

I had a filling put in one of my top right molars earlier this month and then just this weekend, I had another filling placed in one of top left molars. It’s not a pleasant thing to have two fillings done in a span of two weeks.

Before this latest procedure started, the dentist asked me a great question. She wanted to know if I often got food stuck in the area where she was about to work in. I excitedly said yes. The top left part of my teeth is a trap for food, especially meat. Whatever had gone on in that area, resulted in a large gap that allowed food to get into a space between two teeth but made it very difficult for the food to get out without flossing. I would sometimes come home from a dinner and immediately go floss out the area. I was often shocked at the amount of meat I was able to floss out of that space, just huge chunks of meat stuck right up in then. It was all very unfortunate.

So back to the dentist asking me about my food storage area between my teeth. She said that because she was putting in a filling in that area, she had the opportunity to reshape one of the teeth and close off that gap, preventing food from getting stuck up in there. She warned me it might not be perfect but it could be better than before.

The whole procedure went smoothly and quickly but I couldn’t tell if this filling had significantly changed the way I could eat going forward. I had to wait several hours for the freezing to wear off and then I had to go to dinner with my family for Lunar New Year. At dinner, I ate all sorts of delicious meats, some with a stringy texture that easily would have been stuck in my old teeth configuration. After dinner, I realized nothing had gotten stuck up there. It was such a relief to not have to pick at my teeth, trying to pluck half a steak from that gap.

This new filling was a minor life-changer!

GASSY

Near the end of this evening, I was afflicted with some bad gas. I don’t feel the need to poop. It’s just a continuous stream of passing wind. It also smells worse than usual. I’m not sure I should wait longer to see if I need to poop or if I should just go to bed. Now I’m afraid I might shart.

WEEKEND

Thank the maker it’s Friday and the weekend is almost here. Lyft and Uber got approved to operate in the greater Vancouver area today. That was probably the best news I heard all week. I downloaded the Lyft app and got it all setup. It might be just hearsay but the rumour is Lyft is slightly ahead of Uber in being ready to deploy their drivers in Vancouver. If all goes well, people could be using Lyft in Vancouver in a matter of months.

DEHYDRATED

Whatever I had for dinner tonight, it did not sit well with me. I had three instances of watery poops this evening at home. I am very glad I was at home when I was struck by this malady. The first instance came upon me quite quickly and there was little time before things became urgent.

I feel much better now but the evening’s events have left me feeling a bit dehydrated and thirsty. I believe several glasses of hot water are in order. Alright, thanks for reading about me pooping tonight.

NORMAL

After last week’s deep freeze, it was a normal weekend in the greater Vancouver area. There was rain and the temperatures were well above freezing, almost in the double-digits. While not great weather, at least it was familiar to most people in the city. I think a lot of people would settle for grey and rainy rather than snow and bone-chilling cold.

The whole week will be a typical Vancouver winter week, more rain and temperatures near 10 degrees Celsius. I don’t mind at all.

TIRED

Between my lingering cold, the freezing weather, the snow, and the amount of work I have, it’s been a long week. It’s not even over yet! There’s still Friday to go! Time used to fly by but it seems like this month had just dragged on forever.

I’m going to bed now.