The McVie Show Season 4

Now that I’m back working in Makati, I noticed I’ve been subtly shifting my routines to accommodate this change. Makati’s not just a venue, it’s a state of mind. Naks.

For instance, lunch is now almost always with Leigh. Of course it helps a lot that Leigh and I work in the same agency. And lunch time means looking for new alternative eating places—and lots of shopping. I actually don’t mind the latter. Even when I worked in Makati before I always accompanied my female officemates whenever they shopped; my role is usually to keep them from overspending and from tiring themselves by carrying their shopping bags.

When I started working in Quezon City, lunchtime meant taking the train to Megamall or Shangri-la Mall and roaming around. I was trying to replicate my Makati routines in Ortigas. But that got tiring after a while. So I used my lunch break to catch up on my reading instead.

Today I still want to continue maximizing my downtime by pursuing more mentally stimulating pursuits than looking at the latest gadgets and fashion on display. However there really are more windows to shop in Makati than in the Quezon Avenue area, so maybe reading will be done when I get home instead.

Also I think my going to F will become more deliberate and planned unlike before. Working five minutes away from F meant it was very easy for me to go there whenever I felt like it; just like that, at a drop of a hat I can go to F and drop my hat—and clothes—off. But now that I’m coming from Makati, I have to factor in the traffic and, more importantly, the time. I cannot stay too late in F because I need to wake up early the next day to avoid the daily bumper-to-bumper traffic.