From the monthly archives: December 2007
I just finished baking my New Year’s cake, a Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake (will post about this once I know how it tastes — crossing my fingers now!), and earlier, I just cooked another batch of Chocolate Revel Bars, so now I feel like I’m so full of flour and sugar. How’s about that for spending the last year of 2007?
The other day I met up with Diana, an old elementary schoolmate who moved to Canada back in high school. It was supposed to be a reunion of sorts, but as usual, as with my “gimmick jinx”, no one else made it. Except for Happy, who I was with during the afternoon after a failed movie thing (Pfft, goodbye P140 because of Enteng Kabisote 4!), and we ended up eating, walking around Eastwood, listening to Regine Velasquez sing and sitting in Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf until my brother arrived.
It was a nice day, actually, even if I was hoping for a bigger crowd. It was nice talking to old friends and current friends and having everyone get along. During the course of the night (and after), however, I got thinking with something Diana said: “You haven’t changed.”
No, it wasn’t said in a deregatory way. What she meant was, I haven’t change since the last time we saw each other…which was six years ago. I find comfort in the fact that I am still the same person I was (okay, a bit more mature than before), but as for other things…I guess I am still the same. As we were accompanying Happy while she shopped, I realized that the way I look is more or less the same as the way I used to look, way back in high school (sans the braces, of course), and the way I dress is still the same way I used to dress. My hair is still wavy, I did not grow taller, and I guess I am fatter than I was before. If we used to know each other and then we lost contact and we saw each other again, you won’t have any trouble recognizing me because I look the same.
Not that it’s not bad. I am comfortable with the way I look, and I like myself (but yes, I could lose a few pounds and all). But everyone I know and used to know, everyone around me has changed even some bit as they went through some defining moments in their lives. While I…was still stuck wherever I am.
Like I said, it’s not bad. But maybe it’s time I do something to change myself, you know? Physically. I won’t be doing it for other people, not to attract guys or because I feel insecure with anyone, but because I want to do it for myself. You know, do something new with the way I look. Get my hair straightened again, finally lose some weight, get out of the shirt+jeans+sneakers outfit. Maybe even wear a bit of make-up (gasp!). Be a girl, for a change, you know? There’s nothing wrong with that, right?
So God help me, I will try to be more…er, fashionable this year. I will start fitting clothes I never thought I’d fit before, start exercising seriously (so I won’t have to wear a corsets when I wear some…fit clothes), and start paying a bit of attention with the way I look…even just a bit. And yes, shopping! I told myself that starting next year, I’ll be buying myself a top/pants/skirt/shoes every month next year, and I must buy myself a dress by my birthday. I know I’m not the kind of girl who turns heads with her beauty, but that does not mean I can’t be presentable, right? ;) As with what I said a few days back, 2008 is the year of Big, Fun and Scary Stuff, the year where I try new things for myself. And this is new. So…bring it on!
Less than six hours before we say goodbye to 2007! Have a safe New Year’s Eve, everyone! :) See you on 2008!
And before you say anything about my title, no, I don’t mean my last working day ever here. What I mean is, it’s the last working day for 2007! For us, at least.
Ah, what was I doing last year? I was worried and all about the upcoming year, and it’s mostly because of work. Hah. I’m that neurotic. Well, I’m still a bit neurotic in that sense, but I am definitely doing so much better this year than last year. :)
This week has been package week for me at work. My gift for Grace arrived yesterday, as well as a late birthday gift to Happy from me and Tuesday, and earlier today, I got my Moleskine Asia order, which contains my 2008 planner, 2 blank notebooks that I plan to use somewhere (journals, yay!), and my gifts to Tuesday and Bea. I was so giddy when I received my packages — even if I spent on all of them — just because. I miss receiving letters from snail mail. The only letters I received for the past year were bills. Hah. I now know the feeling.
Maybe next year I can invest in snail mail stuff. Hmmm.
Anyway, a bit earlier today, while fixing my stuff, I was holding my new planner and the Moleskine I won a few months ago, when I was hit by my OC-ness. I tore the two pages I have written in in the said notebook, then opened one of the plain Moleskines I ordered and told myself this would be my journal for 2008. Why change from the other even if they’re both Moleskines? Can’t tell, I was sworn to secrecy. :D But anyway, I’m now using this other plain pocket Moleskine…So now I have two identical-looking notebooks all ready for 2008.
Suddenly I’m excited. :) I remember last year I was so apprehensive at the incoming year; this year, I’m psyched. I’ve always made predictions at the start of every year since 2004. Not the fortune-telling kind, but the a general feeling of how the year will go. Like, 2004 was the year of “many happenings” and 2005 was the quiet year, and 2006 was the year of promises and 2007 was the difficult year. What about 2008?
I think 2008 will be…different. I believe it will be definitely better than 2007. In what ways, only God knows. If 2007 was the year of Great Adventures, I think 2008 will be the year of Big, Fun and Scary Stuff (thanks to the NaNoWriMo people for this term :) ). Come to think of it, I think that term is very similar to Great Adventure. ^^;
But yes…2008 is going to be the year for it. :) The year of Big, Fun and Scary Stuff. I don’t know what 2008 holds, but I’ve got several things to put in my list of Big, Fun and Scary Stuff to conquer this year. :) Like, lose weight (seriously), drive (seriously), bake something new other then my revel bars (and maybe get myself an Ove glove to prevent burns), and go to Sydney. :D Woooh. And that’s just the start! Exciting!
What about you? What do you think 2008 holds for you? :)
And Christmas is now over, it’s just five more days until 2007 comes to a close. As with a lot of bloggers around the Net right now, I’ll also be making a list of my own best posts of 2007. Vain much, I know. :P By best, I mean those that contain a lot of meat in them, the ones that gives fond (or sometimes not) memories. Let’s see if I can remember what some cryptic entries meant. ;)
Warning: this is an insanely long entry.
January
- Never Take Friendship Personal (January 15, 2007) – this post was an angry post. I was annoyed at some people from my previous work who I thought were my friends, but then they stopped including me in their breakfast/lunch plans…in fact, they stopped talking to me altogether, and I had no idea why. Things loosened up around March when one of them was resigning. It hurt a lot.
- Passions (January 18, 2007) – this post is the start of my doubting if I was in the right job. Note that I was only four months into the job then. I wondered about quitting, and the entire thought of loving your job.
- On Crushes (January 26, 2007) – Just because this entry is so…hee! Boys are brothers, not prospects!
- Parteeh Hangover (January 28, 2007) – Because this is the most link-loving post I’ve ever done. :)
February
- MUfHH: Are you ready to be offered? (February 6, 2007) – One of my early meaty reflections, about trusting God and letting go. Reading this reminds me of how deep Oswald Chambers’ reflections can be. And how deep I can reflect.
- For My Love (February 14, 2007) – My “mandatory” Valentine’s post. I love how positive this sounded. :D Haha.
March
- Hurt (March 4, 2007) – Reading this entry still gives me an ache in the heart. :( Written after totally eventful night which I really do not want to happen again.
- Cryptic Entry # 2: Why? (March 13, 2007) – Ah, I guess I can divulge the reason for this one. :) I wrote this after hearing from a friend that my low exam results in the pre-employment exam in the company where I currently work now did not make me qualify for the next step. How sad. But look where I am now. :)
- The Great Adventure (March 18, 2007) – The obligatory (post-)birthday post, where I psych myself up for my 21st year.
- Cryptic Entry # 3: I Want Out (March 23, 2007) – This is where I cracked from all the dislike I had for my previous job, because it seemed like people could not bear to give even the smallest of encouragement to their colleagues. Hay.
- Skimming the Surface (March 29, 2007) – This is where I elaborated on why I wanted out. I just re-read the entry and was surprised at how emotional, broken and angry it sounded. Wow.
Other notable entries here are the “What happened when I was ___” in preparation for the birthday. :)
In connection to yesterday’s post…here’s another song that I shall leave you guys with as Christmas Eve turns into Christmas Day. :) Much thanks to Gab for recommending this song (as I have it in Triskal for the longest time but never really took the time to listen to it)! :)
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I Celebrate the Day
Relient KWith this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know
How much You’ve touched my life because
Here is where You’re finding me
In the exact same place as New Year’s Eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We’re less than half as close as I wanna beAnd the first time that You opened Your eyes
Did you realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did you know that it would change this world forever
And the first time that You opened your eyes
Did you realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world foreverAnd so this Christmas I’ll compare
The things I’ve felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me hereTo look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me
And the hope that
That You give
That You were born so I might really live
To look back
And think that
This baby would one day save me…And I
I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day
Pray for You to save my life
Pray for You to save my life
Pray for You to save my life
Happy birthday, dear Jesus! ♥ Merry Christmas to everyone! Have a blessed time with your loved ones. :)
A year ago, my friend Chris sent me a Christmas email with a challenge, and we had a pretty interesting conversation about it. Then I told him I’d blog about it that year, but I never did, so here’s the one year overdue entry about what we talked about.
Interestingly, when we talk about the Christmas story, it usually ends with Jesus lying down on the manger, with the shepherds visiting him and then followed by the three wise men. After that, the Christmas story is “finished”, and we hardly even talk about why He came. What’s the real reason why He was born that night, to those parents, on that place? Why the angels sang and why the shepherds came and why the three wise men came to visit and bring him gifts. Yes, sure, they did all that because Jesus is God’s son, but again, why did Jesus come down here in the first place?
The answers to those questions do not really come until the Lenten season, where the real reason of God becoming man becomes clear (supposedly). It’s nice to remember those things during Easter, yes, and I remember saying that Easter is where the juicier story really is. Because that’s where the entire salvation history is shown, where God’s forgiveness can be really seen, and His power is demonstrated in its fullness.
Then I remember my usual greeting every Christmas: may we always remember the reason for the season. Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, but why? What is so special about it, besides Him being the son of God? What is the real reason, anyway?
Chris’ email challenged me to remember that the story of Christmas does not end where we always end the story during Christmas. In fact, the Christmas story is just the start. Christmas is where God’s sacrifice started, by His sending His only son to a world laden with sin, to save the people who barely acknowledge Him. Unlike other people who are born to this earth to live, Jesus was born to die. For you. For me. For us.
Christmas is the start of His journey to save us, Jesus’ journey to the Cross. This where God gave us a concrete and human sign of His love. That is where the Christmas season gets its beauty, its magic.
This Christmas, let us remember and keep in our hearts the REAL reason for the season. :)
I leave you with a song that I finally made sense of during the email exchange with my friend. :) Enjoy and have a blessed Christmas Eve. :)
I was meaning to clean my room today, but I’m not in the mood to do so just yet. I will later, promise. Or at least, I will get started on it by finally removing the clothes I haven’t been wearing already (not my style or they don’t fit anymore). But before that, I had this sudden burst of nostalgia and I decided to pull out my old magazines and got this particular one out:
Ganns! Rick! JM! Trish! Remember this? :)
LIVEtheLIFE magazine is Ganns’ brainchild. It’s a magazine for Filipino youth, which, according to the tag line, is Relevant reading for the lifestyle with a purpose. Simply speaking, it’s a Christian glossy magazine. I remember all the meetings we used to have for this, as well as the email trails and even the launch we had (but I did not get to attend to) at Shepherd’s Voice in Greenbelt. I remember the photo shoots, the planning and the ideas thrown around. I even had grand dreams of us having an office eventually, where we’d be having brainstorming sessions and studio photo shoots and whatnot.
What’s really special about this issue (besides it being the first and only issue) is that this is my first time to be published in a magazine, not only as a writer but as a…er, model.
Yes dear friends, I was once a magazine model. :P
This is the second year-end survey that I have been doing since 2003, except for 2004, which I probably missed because of me being in Saipan. I’d post the answers in the previous years just for kicks, but some of them are kind of too long. Heh. 2006 answers can be found here. :)
What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Get myself a truck bed liner. Haha, no, just kidding. Resign from my old job. Join a sportsfest team (Bowling!). Go boxing. Watch Switchfoot. Go to Singapore and Naga. Become a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo. Buy a MacBook and actually paying for it with my own money. Pay for my website hosting with my own money (after three years!).
Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Agh. Maybe only 2? I did not make proper resolutions this year for some reason. I can’t even remember them now. As for next year…I will probably make some, but they’ll most probably be similar with the previous ones.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin’s wife gave birth, as well as my nephew’s wife. Haven’t seen the babies though. I saw my nephew’s baby (my…grand-niece? :-o) yesterday.
Did anyone close to you die?
Like I mentioned in the first survey, Erwin passed away last year but I only found out about him early this year. :(
What countries did you visit?
Singapore!
What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Better prayer life (once again), more confidence in my driving, possibly even higher salary (heh), and more willpower to actually lose weight. Heh. Better time management skills and more assertiveness. Oh, and a 250GB external hard disk drive for Aslan.
For the first time since I started my not-so-new job, I’ve never been so happy it’s the weekend. This week has been the same fun, but there’s been so much work and I’ve got too little sleep much thanks to the Misa de Gallo/Simbang Gabi, so everything feels like I have too little time to work on it. So let me breathe a sigh of relief that the weekend is here, and I’ve got a four-day weekend to look forward to. Then another four day weekend next week, but let’s not go to that yet. :)
I’m supposed to make a list of things that happened in 2007 that is worth mentioning but I’m too tired to think. I found this old survey from my LiveJournal though. As with everyone else in the blog world doing their 2007 recollections, here’s my second one (the first one being this). The last time I filled this survey out was back in 2003. To make things more interesting, I’ll keep my 2003 answers (in italics) in the survey so we could all laugh at how I see things 4 years ago. :P (Oh and some names are censored to protect their privacy…and prevent me from being embarrassed :)) )
One of the reasons I became a Mac convert was because of their Get A Mac ads which my teammate made me watch one day at work. I have to admit these commercials were very funny (and very smug), and I think the actor who plays the Mac is cute. :> Well he is! I guess it’s part of their advertising campaign, to make the Mac look good (which they really do) and make the PC look entirely boring by making them do only computations (which is not entirely true). Their commercials also make fun of Windows Vista a lot (heh), and continue to stress the point that Macs can run both Mac OS X and XP and Vista better than PCs do. I can’t answer that because I haven’t put XP in Aslan yet, but it seems as if they run just fine. I do feel sorry for PC in their ads (especially because I work for a PC company), but still, their commercials never fail to bring a smile or a laugh.
This year’s Christmas commercial is just as funny. If we’re friends in Yahoo! Messenger or gTalk, you might have seen my status: He sees you when you’re in sleep mode. This is where I got that line:
Hee hee! =)) It’s pretty desperate, but I just find it funny. :) But I still like using a PC (but I love using a Mac), especially since Guilo, my office PC is doing a superb job (so far). :D
Happy Holidays from Aslan!
I’ve been meaning to post more the past week in preparation for Christmas, but work has been killing my time. And to think it’s almost time for the long weekend. Nope, all of our clients are rushing to get their websites ready for 2008, and we just have to comply because…that’s what we get paid for. I hardly have time to write anything at all.
But as much as work can be a lot tiring, one thing’s got me all energized and all that: Christmas! Even if I am not yet done with my Christmas shopping (I keep on forgetting to check this place out for a gift for the parents, and the items I ordered are still not here), even if traffic is horrible, and even if the it’s so cold outside that it’s not funny anymore, Christmas never fails to cheer me up. :) There’s just something about this season that makes me giddy inside — perhaps it’s because it’s His birthday? Yeah, most probably!
And if there’s anyone who knows how to celebrate Christmas, it’s us, Filipinos. I remember spending Christmas with my family in Guam. It was fun because I was with my family, but it was sad because nothing is going on. Imagine — my brother and I were lying down on our beds at 9:00pm Christmas Eve! Ack. I knew then that nothing beats a Filipino Christmas. :)
Aileen started this list of why she thinks Christmas is best spent in the country, and here’s my own list of why a Filipino Christmas is the best Christmas:
Instructions: Just share a warm, fuzzy Pinoy Christmas story or anecdote or photo or whatever it is you love about Christmas (as a Filipino). Link to this blog post so I can share your story in my compilation. Copy and paste the instructions (this paragraph) and then leave a comment so I can check out your post.
- Like Aileen, the first one in my list is Simbang Gabi. Althought we did have Simbang Gabi when I spent Christmas in Saipan, it’s filled mostly with Filipinos who live there, so it’s definitely a Filipino tradition. I’ve completed the novena about…four times, I think, and hopefully I complete this year’s. :) One of my favorite times of attending Simbang Gabi was during my junior and senior year in college, where DLSU hosts the first two masses inside the campus since it usually falls on the last days of finals. I remember waking up really early in the dorm, getting dressed (no need for shower yet because it was cold!) and then heading to the ampitheater for the mass. LSPO then serves breakfast for everyone — hot chocolate/coffee, pandesal, puto bumbong. Yum. :9
- Caroling. One of the things I wished I did when I was a kid was going Christmas caroling around the village. Since I was the youngest and a girl, plus all my friends are also girls, we couldn’t go far from our street. My brother, however, has lots of Christmas caroling adventures: being chased by dogs, setting some fireworks to some houses who do not give, and of course, earning cash. I remember we used to make the bottle cap (tansan) tambourines. This year, no one’s doing any Christmas caroling at our house; I have a feeling it’s because of Batman, the angry dog. :))
- Food! Nothing beats Pinoy Noche Buena. :D Although here at home, our Noche Buena is smaller than our Media Noche (did I spell this right?). Noche Buena at our house for the past five years or so usually consists of KFC Bucket Meal, pizza/pasta, Coke and ice cream. For the past year, though, I’ve insisted on having cake. Why? Well Christmas is His birthday, and it’s just right to have cake! :)
- Kris Kringle/Exchange Gifts. I’ve had my share of bad gifts received during exchange gifts, but I love this tradition. There’s the secrecy that is never really followed, plus the thrill of receiving gifts from your “mommy.” It would have been more fun if the people would really cooperate. I remember one time during high school, my “daddy” did not buy me a gift at all. My teacher demanded he give me something…so he gave me P150, since that was the worth of the gift. T__T But even so, I like doing this. I like buying presents for people be it something really hard to find or cheap, like wholesale flowers. :) That and the thrill of trying to get what your baby likes without him knowing you’re his mommy and knowing that he liked your gift after — just priceless.
- Christmas shopping. As much as I love receiving presents, buying presents is more than fun! I love getting stuff for the people I love and seeing their faces once they open the gift and it’s something they really like. :D
- The Christmas decorations. I love how Filipinos go overboard (in a nice way) with the Christmas decorations. Dark streets glow with life during Christmas because houses are all ablaze with lights. Glum corners become bright and lovely because of all the shiny decorations. I loved hanging out in DLSU’s ampitheater back in college during Christmas because it was just so pretty. :) There’s also the wacky decorations, like this dancing Santa that starts dancing whenever someone goes near it back in my old office, and most especially the Belen. :) There’s this really funky Belen at the office right now that I love seeing everytime I pass by that area. I’ll take a photo of that to show you guys how cute it is. :)
- Sending and receiving all the Christmas text messages. Haha, I remember reserving a specific folder for Christmas greetings in my phone and writing them all down after! Then there’s also the telltale network lag, where networks get congested because of all the text messages being sent. :D
- All those Christmas specials on TV. Couch potato alert. I love watching all those cheesy Christmas specials on TV every year, especially the Pinoy shows. They never fail to show the importance of family, of giving and most especially, the real Reason for the season. These shows give me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over. :)
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Eeeh, writing this post has made me even more excited! :) Too bad my dad won’t be here for Christmas (but he will be for New Year!), but it’s okay. This Christmas is bound to be memorable — after all, 2007 has grown to be quite a memorable year!
How about you? What’s the best thing you like about Christmas in the country? Or if you’re not Filipino, what’s your favorite thing about Christmas, wherever you are?
