May 16, 2025

I didn't really plan much today, honestly. Today was supposed to be just a normal day in the office and, for the most part, it did turn out that way. Nothing else was noteworthy in the morning aside from the Angkas rider being too talkative and it wasn't a good time or place for me to talk, but I eventually got to the office just fine. We had late lunch out, but it was good since we went to Marugame Udon and I ordered a lot of sides. My coworkers even teased me for it because I always expensive food for lunch. I had to hurry back for my meeting at 1 p.m., though, so I wasn't able to finish my entire curry. I just had it for take-out and rushed back, and bid farewell to my coworkers. I attended my meeting just fine and things were all well and good. I completed my tasks for the day after that and just chilled around the office for the remaining period. During my free time, I went outside to SM Makati to finally buy a Google Pixel 9. I've been wanting to buy a Google Pixel for the Material Design 3/Material You and to generally use it as an inspiration, because my current website's design language is Material Design 3. I bought it solely because of that and it was a hassle buying it. I was also underwhelmed by the fact that it's expensive but only has 128 GB of storage. I had to withdraw around 39,000 in cash and it seriously made me feel a little ill and nauseous withdrawing that much money, even though 100% of my money will be going to me. I still felt massively guilty for it. But regardless, I was able to buy the phone at GameXtreme and they were able to give me a freebie for it. While setting up the phone, the guy was so impressed by my Samsung pocket Wi-Fi and they say that they've never even seen a pocket Wi-Fi with a full touchscreen, like on a phone. I told them that they could buy it and that it's 5G, and they were seriously impressed. But after that, I got a clear case and screen protector for the phone, and the lady selling was also impressed because it's her first time seeing a Google Pixel, and that it looks so expensive. After that whole ordeal, I didn't do much aside from setting up my phone and booking a ride home. I also ordered Taylor Swift's Lover album, which initially seemed sketchy because it's from FB Marketplace, but I still had put my faith in it because I only paid for the shipping fee thus far. When I got home, I prepared my Xiaomi device from 2023 to be shipped off to Naomi because I promised her that I'd give her that phone when I got a Pixel. Personally, I didn't like it that much anyway and it had a tie to someone because she won that phone as a raffle prize during our 2023 Dice Christmas party. I'm still glad that I'm giving Naomi a modern Android phone that's actually Android 15, the latest version at this time. I also got that Lover album booked and handling both deliveries were a pain to deal with, especially with the Lover album because the rider is too scared to get scammed and initially didn't ship the item. Despite that looming anxiety for having both packages stolen, I'm actually glad that both items were delivered as they are and Naomi enjoyed her new phone. I was mostly thankful and glad that I have a Google Pixel now and it's so comfortable to hold in the hand compared to my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I loved using the Google Pixel and I eventually received the Lover album, I even paid 100 Pesos to the driver as a tip. I got to post Lover to my IG Story and even told Ane about it, which was nice. All in all, today was a really good day and I'm glad I got a brand new phone again.