2006: The year that was…

Time sure flies fast. It’s like after a blink of an eye, 2006 comes to an end. So as I bid 2006 goodbye, here are some of my realizations and “whateverations”…

While I was writing this, I kept on jumping for songs to play (I need some music to set the mood). So here’s my playlist:

Collide (Howie Day)
Bad Day (Daniel Powter)
Half-Life (Duncan Sheik)
At the Beginning (Richard Marx + Donna Lewis)
Another Day (Mojofly)
Tulog Na (Sugarfree)
Nothing’s gonna stop us (Starship)

ENJOY!

2006 was a year of Transition

It all began back in February 06. After a very huge fight with my mother, I decided to take some time off from my Munte home and joined my orgmate and her friends in an apartment at Makati. I wanted to be alone for a while… I wanted to break free from pressures at home. So there, after a very dramatic letter to my mom, I took off.

I absolutely enjoyed my “LB” lifestyle in Makati. I love the freedom that it offers, including the countless gimiks with zero guilt.

Then, last June, I accepted the offer from another FUJITSU subsidiary. I bid farewell to my teammates at PNB and transferred to another project. At first excitement was there, not to mention the first ever trip to Japan. But well, later on, I began to miss some things – programming under pressure, having a seriously scary (but sometimes funny) boss, and well, the perks of working with a team (it’s the delivery/dinner moments, coffee breaks…). I may sound a little shallow, but I miss those little things because as of the moment, I feel so alone.

Another transition: though I love the new office at the Fort, it is not anymore convenient to live in Makati since the travel time is almost the same as that in Munte. Anyway, no matter how many work related changes happen, (I have to edit that popular cliché a bit) Work goes on.

2006 was a year of the Travels

Yez! My 2nd international flight – Japan!

A few weeks after my Japan trip, thanks to Cebu Pacific’s cheap offers, my “firsts” trips to Pinas’s popular destinations happened – Cheap (as in tipid) trips to Boracay and Cebu.

I hope for more travels to come…

2006 was a year of Gastos (Spending)!

The first half of the year exposed me to a lot of gastos. Even though I traveled using the cheapest options possible, the expenses still linger up to now. Loan here, loan there… swipe here swipe there that’s why…

2006 was a year of uhhmmm… BEER?

Before, I can go to gimmicks without drinking. And I would still enjoy it. But now, gimmicks are incomplete without alcohol. Now I learned how to control alcohol. You know, I can drink lots of bottles without getting drunk… that’s an understatement, hahaha. I never liked beer. I really hate the taste. But I learned, it’s not the taste that you’d truly enjoy, it’s the company you’re with. If you enjoy the company, you would enjoy beer. So there, I began to enjoy beer in my gimmicks.

2006 was a year of SELF-GAIN

Some new things that I learned:

Nihongo. I am so grateful for this. I took this one as an opportunity for me to learn a 3rd language. Although I really wanted to learn French (still part of the European Dream), Nihongo is very close to my work. And it is for free! So why not take the chance? I actually took the level 4 exam with barely less than 150 hours of classes. I am not expecting to pass. But I really hope to pass.

J2EE. I was very afraid to go farther. I only wanted to program. But now, as my former teammate would say, “fear of the unknown” is coming and will continue to come, so I need to learn new stuff. In my last project, I learned more of the business side, and of course, Java became my favorite programming language. Now, with the help of my new PM, I began to read, implement and learn new J2EE things. It was so overwhelming. Google became my bestfriend (next to PEP, hehehe…). I have bonding moments with Wikipedia. JavaRanch, the serverside, and oracle became my allies. Well, I wouldn’t say that I know everything. But I definitely learned so much of the technical side.

Make Up Make Up and lots of makeup! It wasn’t that easy to master that perfect makeup for me. Up to now, I’m still struggling to learn makeup techniques. But at least I got to learn the basics.

And lastly, the most important of all (for me). I learned to play the GUITAR! At first I thought it was too late for me to learn this stuff. But I also thought, what late?? Im still young, I can still learn a hell lot of things. It was very exciting. Inspired by Imago’s Aia, Mojofly’s Lougee/Kitchie (before) and by my rakista friend and office mate Mich, I bought a guitar before Christmas and swore to learn it before the end of the year. Then on Christmas Vacation (my first ever Xmas Vacation since I worked), kinarir ko ang pag gigitara (made guitar my career!). I never went out. When I wake up, it’s my guitar, after I eat, after I watch a movie, before I sleep, whole day long for almost a week, my guitar became my boyfriend. My brothers taught me some strumming techniques, and some common chords. The first ever song that I sang and played was “Hawak Kamay”. Aside from the easy chords, it was the fad at that time. Now, I can sing and play my fave feel good songs, and of course, songs from my fave bands… I still haven’t memorized the chord chart yet. It will take some time for now. But learning is a continuous process I say.

What I love about playing the guitar, it relaxes me. I tend to forget my problems for a little while. It’s a great form of expression. Maybe in a couple of months I can put melody in some of my compositions (my poems hidden somewhere in my closet, as you know, I was “feeling poetic” before)… I truly enjoy playing donjon (my guitar’s name. Sorry, naming is also a girl thing). I look forward everyday on coming home from the office to play the guitar, most especially if I have new chords to learn.

Badminton. I forgot this in my 1st posting. Not yet an expert. But so looking forward to learn it.

2006: Dreams slowly getting fulfilled

1. My dream of having my FHM pictures taken was finally fulfilled. I’m very sorry I still got no time to post them here. I’m planning to make a collage. But obviously, got no time to do it. Future Self said: Please don’t post!! Pleasee!!

2. I became a model. For the first time in my life, I became a model for a Fujitsu Brochure!! 🙄

MY FAVORITE AND HATEST CHAPTER: Lovelife.

I am thinking of not including this topic but well, my romantic side always overshadows my rational side. I want to go to a fortune teller. Although I don’t really believe those stuff, I wanted to have at least some imaginary hope that I would find my match this coming year. Nothing special began in 2006. Just that, I applied my skills again on letting go and handling rejection. But it never made me an expert. Though there are a LOT of exceptions, it still hurts and there would still always be pain especially when you see the ones you thought just went away.

FAMILY

We’re still intact somehow. But yeah, we can still feel the sadness. There’s just the 5 of us now. But we celebrated the Christmas and New Year only four since my brother had to work (in a call center). It’s sad because, he wasn’t supposed to be working, since it should be his Christmas vacation (if he’s a student). But… financial reasons.

During New Year’s eve, I didn’t sleep. I just spent the whole night to morning playing my guitar alone. After some strumming practice, I finally got to play the easiest song (accdg to mich, since it was the first song that she was able to play – D A G A). I always play in front of the mirror (just to check if my projection is OK, couldn’t help it). This time, it was the huge mirror over the big table in the sala. Then while playing the intro, I realized that I was playing in front of my dad’s pic. I suddenly felt the urge of crying. The song I was playing was Line to Heaven. I missed my dad. That state of “incompleteness”… I felt it terribly that time.

MOVING FORWARD…

Now, wounds have healed. I am going back to my home. I am trying to make my family relationship healthy. I still have countless “pissed off” moments with my kuya (since he’s always nagging me about my gastos – what pisses me off is that he is always right). He’s really good in finances I would say. And he really is always not in favor of everything that I do, including my guitar playing (it would make my hand uglier daw). Keber! Whatever!!! But… I finally missed my home. So I’ll go back wholeheartedly.

Anyway, a toast…

For my 2006 adventures…

For the thousand lessons learned…

For more songs to play…

For the year ahead…

and for everything else…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

By the way, it’s my year this year! I hope I’ll get lucky!