Now, 2022 is already a month in, but it feels like the clock has frozen – thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The world has dealt with two variants, the B16172 Delta and B11529 Omicron strains, which are more infectious than the initial strains that emerged from China. It has also seen a so-called “new normal” with vaccine passports and negative test results being a pre-requisite for most things.
As for me, I’m pretty much stuck at home that it’s akin to serving a life term under house arrest – with the occasional furlough. Apart from the occasional morning exercise and 8-hour work from home shift, this blog has been pretty much my main interest.
I can’t leave the house as Dad is afraid of contracting COVID due to his age and comorbidity. Even my two days off (Sunday and Monday) get taken away when he has another “project” in mind. Given my current situation, evenings are the only time I can allocate for myself.
With that said, let’s proceed with the recap of 2021, the first of two parts.
Q1 2021
I started off January 2021 with a recap of the prior year. While I still stayed at home, I occasionally had the chance to leave the house to run some errands. The three of us drove down south to Paseo Outlets in Laguna at the end of the month.
I worked on a post about the Denny’s branch at Eastwood Mall and how it has adapted to the new normal as the only food-related post for the month. I also worked on a triptych about leftovers at home that I reworked into entirely new dishes.
No blog-related activity for me during the entire month of February 2021, as I took it as a rest period. I also made use of that period to write several posts in advance – which I all published the following month. Three triptych entries (No. 49, No. 50, and No. 51) and a non-food post about three PlayStation 1 games that left a mark on me were the products of that advanced writing.
Q2 2021
I began April 2021 by recapping the past quarter, zeroing in on what I have been up to at the blog and in real life. Same with February of that year, May 2021 served as a rest period and a short writing break. I managed to draft three posts in preparation for the next month.
June 2021 coincided with restrictions in Manila being loosened and re-imposed once more due to the Delta variant’s spread. I managed to sneak in two food-related posts (Cyma Greek Taverna and Tendon Kohaku) during that period, plus a travel post from a decade prior. The travel post featured Singapore during my Mom’s 2011 work-related trip there.
Q3 2021
For July 2021, I recapped the second quarter and churned out two triptych entries (No. 52 and No. 53). I was unable to focus on my blog that time as we as a family were facing a critical time. It would all come to a denouement the following month.
Mom’s death in August 2021 served as a highlight of that month. We were busy wrapping things up during that time as it corresponded with Manila’s stringent lockdown. No new posts from my end, but I published the eulogy I delivered during the last night of her wake. I also got my first COVID-19 vaccine dose some weeks after we laid her to rest. September 2021 meanwhile saw two entries reach the finish line – a This or That post and a triptych post (No. 54).
Q4 2021
The last quarter of the year kicked off in October 2021, with me recapping the events of the past three months. I also snuck in a non-food post about three unconventional blogging tips. People often forget the simple things in the course of their blogging journey, and I intended that post to serve as a wake-up call.
Three months after Mom’s passing, I managed to get back on the blogging groove. My birthday month – November 2021 – saw five posts reach the finish line. A food review, another This or That post, a recipe entry, and a two-parter for my birthday meal (Part 1 and Part 2) made the lineup. Three triptych posts (No. 55, No. 56, and No. 57) rang in December 2021, with an errand run a month earlier published on Christmas day rounding out the year.
I’ll hit the brakes here for the first part of this entry. Tune in for Part 2, where I look at the blog stats for 2021 and compare it to those from the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Until the next post, keep it here on The Monching’s Guide!
(AUTHOR’S NOTE: The featured image for this post came from Olya Kobruseva on the free stock image site Pexels.)
The Monching's Guide 
I hear you on the feeling of house arrest. Although restrictions have relaxed considerably in Singapore, our household is still careful and we don’t socialize much. Still waiting & hoping …
Same here; we’re still waiting if in-person classes and work will resume here in the Philippines. From the looks of it, Philippine officials are looking to make Manila quarantine-free by mid-2022.
Light at the end of the tunnel! Meanwhile, stay safe & well.