From the yearly archives: 2008
Okay, so it turns out I have enough time to do one more post, and I guess it’s more appropriate to do this now before the year actually ends and then make a post on the new goals tomorrow.
To be honest, I didn’t feel like doing this because I know most of the goals here are miserable failures. However, I realized that I won’t be able to be at peace with this year and my 2009 goals if I don’t close this one, so, regardless of the results, here’s the assessment of my 2008 goals, posted January 1, 2008.
- Go to Sydney for World Youth Day 2008. – I don’t want to call this a miserable failure, because even if I didn’t get to go to WYD 2008, I still learned a lot from the experience of preparing for this. I did come thisclose, so that’s good enough I guess. Australia will still be there (although no WYD), and I have more than enough time to prepare for WYD 2011 in Madrid. :D Here’s to hoping my WYD dream comes true.
- And speaking of traveling…visit at least two other places in the Philippines. – I didn’t get to visit new places, but I did get to go on outings: Subic (Hot Air Balloon Festival), Laiya, Batangas (company outing), Laguna (team pool party) and Cebu.
- Drive on my own. Naaaah. I drove a bit during January, and all the driving I did after was to bring the car out of the garage. *headdesk*
- Lose at least 20 lbs and/or 3 inches. Naaaah on this too. I think I managed to stay within what I currently weigh/my current pant size, so that’s something. I will try better next year.
- Learn how to jumprope. Again, naaaah. I have a jumprope, but after six jumps, I need to stop because I was out of breath! I think the length of my rope is making it hard for me. :| Practice practice!
- Finish my 2006 NaNoWriMo novel. I made a start on version 2, but I stopped. I have an outline waiting, but the 2008 novel got me more interested. ^^;
- Establish the PinoyWrimo community and bring attendance to events to at least 20 people. This is probably the goal that really surpassed its expectations. There was 100% increase in attendance in almost all events. The Kick-Off was surprisingly well-attended, as well as one of the write-ins, and we had two TGIO’s which was attended by most of the active people. I love my Wrimos. :)
- Read at least 50 books in one year, and review at least half of it. I might reach up to 46 this year (see list of books here), but it’s okay. It’s probably the most I read in a year. I finished my review goal though (will post a list soon).
- Reward myself with new clothes/shoes every month. I think I only managed to do this like…five out of 12 months?
- Revive Godchicks. Still nothing on the website. Limbo.
- Start my own blog hosting/hosting business. I started something, but it was more for students who know me. Heh. I still want to host people, but maybe I need a better plan for this. (Oh and if you need hosting, yes, do email me because I am hosting).
- Bake any one of the following: apple pie, double-layered cake or cheesecake. I have conquered the cheesecake! Next year I’m going to do both the double layer cake and apple pie (not necessarily mixed together ;) ), especially now that we have 9″ spring form pans now. :D Which reminds me, I owe my boys and a girl a cheesecake when we get back to work.
- Try/learn something new. This is so general! But the main new thing I could think of for 2008 was IBM Club and all the activities, joining the Townhall committee for work, buying my own camera with my own card, watch musicals, traveling with my own money…there’s so many! This is definitely the year of new things. :)
- Give time for Gawad Kalinga. I…didn’t get to do this either. :( I did get involved in other charities come the end of the year. I want to do more though.
- Renew my prayer time and grow in my faith. I honestly feel like I didn’t get to do this either. I’m happy I got to confess again, but I know my prayer time is still not as regular as it was before, and I know there’s so much more room to grow. This is why I’m going back to basics in 2009, because I feel like with all my busyness in doing everything that I want to try and trying to be extraordinary, I think I may have lost my way somewhere. So I can’t really measure this one, but I just know there’s still more refining to do.
- Document everything. Well, I didn’t get to document everything, but I think I managed to take more photos of events this year than last year’s. :) Maybe this year I can start doing a photo essay or something like that.
And so there it is. I don’t know how to assess it, really, since these things are mostly subjective, but I guess this just means 2008 was truly an eventful year. It would’ve been stellar if I managed to do everything, but then…what challenge would that leave for next year?
And yes, I will definitely do this again for 2009. Are you with me? :)
Even after spending up to midnight yesterday cleaning up this site, setting up Wordplay (for 2009!) and my brother’s website, I woke up almost in time today, off by an hour on my alarm. Heh, snooze buttons are evil, I tell you! But at least I don’t feel like my day is going to be wasted. :) I hope I can keep this up for the next year.
It turns out I won’t be spending New Year at home but at the condo, where we’ll be able to watch fireworks and such at the rooftop. This means I can go to the gym tomorrow morning (yeeees I’m turning over a new leaf — start early!), but it also means the midnight introspection and long prayer/journal times that I do literally at the start of the new year (as in 12 midnight) won’t be done in the privacy of my bedroom. But it’s okay. That only means I have to get creative.
Honestly, I feel kind of bad because I did not get to finish everything I listed here. I might be able to cross out two more from the list there…but the others will just have to be finished by next year, or at least, before I go back to work on Monday. And speaking of which…I still don’t feel like going back to work on Monday. Who’s with me? But, like everyone always say at the end of vacations: time to face reality. Then again, not yet. ;)
I’m rambling, I know. I may not be able to post again until tomorrow, where the year officially ends in 9 (at least in my timezone that is), and a new year and month will be added in my archives down there…so let me share the last reflection from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest. I hardly read this one this year, but I always liked the reading for the last year. No matter how blah and apprehensive I feel about the upcoming year because of all its challenges, somehow this brings me comfort because of the truth it carries. So I leave you with this reflection as the last hours of 2008 tick by (did I say that right?).
YESTERDAY
December 31
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers“You shall not go out with haste…for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 52:12)
Security from Yesterday. “…God requires an account of what is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow. “…the Lord will go before you…” This is a gracious revelation — that God will send His forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were not our “rear guard.” And God’s hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today. “You shall not go out with haste…” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, forgetful delight, nor with the quickness of impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things for us. It is true tha we have lost opportunities that will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past res, but let it rest in the sweet embrace of Christ.
Leave the broken, irreversible past in His hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.
Goodbye soon, 2008. Hello, 2009. I hope I’m ready for you. :)
I figured I won’t be able to reach my goal of reading 50 books in 2008 as I’m still at books # 45, 46 and 47 (This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, Fast Food Fiction edited by Noelle de Jesus and Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado respectively), but I figured I should be able to reach my resolution to review 25 books. I removed my progress counter from the previous layout already, but if my count was right, I think I’ve reviewed 20 books already, including the last three ones I reviewed (The Thirteenth Tale, City of Bones and Privileged).
Anyway, the next reviews will be on the local books I picked up late this year. I started reading some local chick lit for research on my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel, and I ended up buying and reading more than I originally planned to. It was…entertaining. It’s interesting to read some local chick lit, and I’m glad there are some, but I wish they’re longer. Reading really thin books makes me feel like I’m not reading anything at all. But then again, who knows about the market here?
Here are the books I’ve lined up for review for this post:
- No Boyfriend Since Birth by Claire Betita
- The Hagette by Katrina Ramos Atienza
- Every Girl’s Guide to Heartache by Marla Miniano
- Vince’s Life by Vince Teves
- Every Girl’s Guide to Boys by Marla Miniano
- Vince’s Life The Next Chapter: Getting Over Andrea by Vince Teves
- Odd Girl Out by Anna Ishikawa
Since they’re all relatively short novels, I thought I’d bunch them up in one post. :) Before anything else, please note that the contents of this post are purely based on my opinion. My opinion is bound to be different than others’, so no offense to anyone. :)
Again, as with tradition, here’s another year-end survey that I’ve been answering since 2003. Well, at least I think I answered it every year since then. Here’s the survey last year, and here are my answers for this year. :D Oh, and I can’t remember where I got this, so just feel free to grab. Here we go!
PLACES:
1) Place you hung out the most in this year:
Office, brother’s condo, home, Eastwood and Robinson’s Galleria.
2) Favorite new place you discovered:
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf! Their tea lattes are amazing, and it’s the perfect writer-ly hangout.
3) Places you went on dates:
Erm, if it’s just a normal friendly group date thing, mostly CBTL and Starbucks. As for the serious, romantic date — nah. Still nothing. :P
4) Favorite vacation spot for the year:
Cebu! I would definitely go back, if only for La Merea and Da Vinci’s Pizza.
5) Places you made out in (or more) this year:
Same answer: none.
Here we go, finally a new layout for RefineMe.org before 2008 ends. Now I can cross this off my to-do list. I feel quite fulfilled making this layout since I wanted something simple and easy (and probably something that would last until I feel like making a new layout again). Plus this theme will be carrying my theme for next year, just as the past one carried my 2008 theme. See a pattern? :)
Now if only I can code this fast for my other projects. *headdesk*
I still have a lot of tweaking to do for this layout, I’m sure. I’m waiting for Browsershots to give me the screenshots of my site in browsers, specifically in Windows, since I feel like the colors might turn out different when it’s viewed there. Do me a favor, please? If you’re viewing my site in Windows or any other OS other than Mac, will you please tell me if it looks fine? Thanks. :) Oh and if you find a bug or anything that doesn’t look okay, please let me know as well so I can do something about it.
Again, as I make another layout, I realize how much I suck with CSS. I mean, yeah, I know how to make layouts and manipulate it, but it’s not like I really know them, like in the way I should, seeing as I give myself a high rating with my CSS skills. I can’t remember the proper usage of a tag unless it’s the basic ones, and it takes me ages to figure out why one thing is wrong — like why my blockquotes aren’t showing in italics. Argh. This just means I have to practice more, yes? Gimme time, gimme time.
Well, at least that’s one thing off my to-do list. I still have a lot, and it’s only two days left in 2008. Gah. Must. Stop. Procrastinating! The discovery of putting ebooks in my iPod keeps me distracted a lot. Bah. T_T
Anyway, I still have to update the content of this site, so pardon the obsolete content on some pages. I can’t promise that they’ll be updated before Thursday, but I will update them soon! :)
Rating: 
Yale graduate Megan Smith has big plans for a career in journalism and even bigger debt: $75,000 in college loans. She grabs a job at a trashy tabloid, gets fired (small wonder: nothing can make her care which celebrity just got a nose job), and then gets an offer she just can’t refuse.
Seventeen-year-old identical twins Rose and Sage Baker are Palm Beach heiresses best known for their massive fortunes and penchant for flashing the paparazzi. Their grandmother offers to pay off Megan’s loans if she can tutor the girls and get them into Duke. But the twins aren’t about to bend their celebutante schedules to learn algebra. Megan quickly discovers that she has to know her Pucci from her Prada to reach these students. If she can look the part, maybe — just maybe — she can teach them something. What Megan could never imagine is what the whole experience was about to teach her…
So I wanted this book because I watch the TV show based on this one. It’s really more out of curiosity that I asked for this last Christmas, so I kind of had low expectations on this one.
Let me just say: it is so different from the TV show. Let me list it down (and I’ll try not to write as many spoilers as I can):
- Megan. Megan in the TV show is more uptight and more self-righteous than Megan in the book. She’s still smart, yes, but the Megan in the book seemed to care more for her money first than for the girls, whereas the TV show Megan took her responsibility seriously immediately (whoa, so many -ly’s!). I’m not so sure which Megan I like better though (and frankly, she gets on my nerves a lot of times).
- Rose and Sage. The Rose on TV seems kinder, and the Sage on TV is less wild. The twins in the book were a bit out of control from the start. And honestly, I felt like I didn’t see them that much in the book — not to many things about their school or their progress, except in the end.
- Lily. This is like, the most different one ever. Lily in the TV show is obnoxious and wild and she doesn’t have a good job. In the book, however, Lily is the nice sister, so nice that Megan kind of dislikes her but has no reason to, and she’s a well-known actress and model.
- Megan’s family. Megan had a very dysfunctional family in the TV show, while this one…it’s almost normal.
- Will. Will in the book is rich, and is close friends with the twins, but in the TV show they’re not. I find the Will in the TV show more charming though. (Brian Hallisay! ♥ )
- Charlie. There’s no charming best friend Charlie in the novel! Instead, there’s Charma, who I didn’t really notice until she said something. Er. The loss of Charlie is saddening. I like Charlie, the best friend who’s always been there and always been in love with Megan.
- Laurel. Laurel was still as intimidating, but I kind of felt that she was younger in the novel than on TV.
- Marco. I think he’s the only consistent guy from the TV show and the novel.
- Megan is not from Palm Beach but is originally from somewhere else (I can’t remember where exactly, but I’m sure it’s not vegas), so there’s not much family stuff in the novel.
- Megan has another boyfriend at the start of the novel, who is rich, and whose parents don’t approve of her.
It’s not really disappointing as I think that the TV show and the novel are quite different and it shouldn’t really be followed that way. It’s not really a “clean” book as there’s sex and a lot of cussing and mean tricks done to Megan as well as a lot of lies, but it’s quite entertaining. Nothing too spectacular, but if you’re curious about the TV show, then you’d probably enjoy this one too.
I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now, save for 2006 (see 2007 survey here), so there’s just no way I would not do it this year. It’s fun looking back. Let me see if I can come up with coherent answers this time around. :)
What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I’ve bought my own camera with my credit card, write in my journal consistently for the first four months of the year, try to watch a hot air balloon festival without any balloons, turn one year at work, watch Lifehouse live, go on an out of town trip with a friend with my own money, go tree-planting, bake a blueberry cheesecake, attend WordCamp, organize activities for 1000+ people, be in the office for more than 12 hours, have a kick-off party for NaNoWriMo…and I know there’s more but I don’t know if they’re monumental enough to write down here. But wow, that’s many.
Oh, and I didn’t necessarily do this, but my IBM Club friends made a Valentine’s wish come true: I got serenaded. Haha. Thanks. :D
Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I think I did better this year as compared to last, but I definitely missed the supposedly easier ones that require a bit more commitment. Bah. Will post another post on that. And I will make new ones again, as always. :)
Did anyone close to you give birth?
A lot of my officemates gave birth, but the most notable one is my team lead’s wife, who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who is now my goddaughter. :)
Now that Christmas has come and gone, it’s time for all those year-end memes to come out and be posted to help reflect on the past year. :) This particular one was started last year, and it was really fun, so I thought I’d do it again. Here we go!
Instructions:
Take the first sentence (or two) from the first entry of each month and post it here. That’s your year in review.
- January
And…here we go. New year, new layout, new philosophy. Yeah. HAPPY 2008, EVERYONE! - February
So today I start mid shift. - March
Yesterday consisted of: Sleeping in late, playing Heroes for a while in the morning, dressing up, Jomar & Clarisse’s wedding (Congratulations!), seeing old friends who I haven’t seen since the Switchfoot in Manila event, seeing my Sociology professor in the wedding who I haven’t seen in five years and turns out to be Jomar’s friend (Small world!), becoming an impromptu tech person to help out with the video presentation for the pre-reception event, resting all night to recuperate from all of the past weeks’ activities. - April
I have one confession to make: I love summer. - May
It’s way past May 1 already, but…belated Happy Labor Day! - June
A lot has been happening in my life lately, most especially at work. - July
So…it’s been another year. :) Today, I celebrate my first year in my current company. - August
This is a post-dated entry just because I might not be able to post tomorrow. :) - September
I’ll be all cliche and say this: wake me up when September ends? Please? - October
It’s the first two days of October and I’m nursing a runny nose and a just-healed sore throat, but I’m starting to get my bearings again after such a busy month. - November
So it’s finally November, and weirdly enough, when 12 midnight rolls in, I did not feel like writing at all. - December
Today I filed my first sick leave in the span of one and a half years.
It seems a lot stressful than last year’s, don’t you think? Which only means this was a stressful year. Hah. I hope 2009 changes things. :)
Now off to finish the templates I’m working on.
Rating:
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered in strange tattoos and brandishing bizaare weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get her Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…
If there’s any book that kind of haunted me and called out to me when I first saw it, it’s this one. I spotted this one at National Bookstore last weekend and it took me a long time wondering if I should buy this or just watch Bolt. Guess what won.
I’m no stranger to Cassandra Clare’s work, as I used to read her Harry Potter fanfiction. I thought she wrote well, sounding almost like the real thing that sometimes, while reading the actual books, I recall something she wrote and wonder what book it was a part of. (Oh, and yes I know that her works had a lot of controversies tied to them)
I’m not really sure what made me pick this book up, but I’m glad I did. I’m not much for fantasy books, and heaven knows what would happen if I try to write any fantasy. This however, actually made me think of some possible ideas. I realized, while reading this book, that if ever I will write fantasy, I’ll probably do urban fantasy, just like City of Bones.
The story is simple enough: 15-year-old Clary sees three kids killing someone, who turns out to be three Shadowhunters, a group of people who are half-human, half-angel and hunts for demons. Then Clary’s mother gets abducted, Clary gets attacked, and the three Shadowhunters wonder what’s up with her and why she can see those things.
I’m stopping there to prevent any spoilers, but it’s really a start of long adventures — from parties to vampires to werewolves and angels and such. The book held my interest, and although I found Jace a tad too annoying and a bit cliched for an anti-hero, I liked his chemistry with Clary and with the other characters. I liked how the story turned out, despite the numerous gray areas that sometimes I don’t know what’s happening and who’s telling the truth already. The world that Clare painted was a vivid and believable one, despite the fantasy elements. The ending, although not much of a cliffhanger, left me wanting more.
I have to admit that I’m going to be careful about this trilogy this time, and not jump in and say I love it and then end up disliking it very much in the end (er, Twilight?). But so far, I like this book, and I’m definitely picking up the next two books once their paperback versions are out.
It’s Christmas Eve and I’m finally on vacation, but I still have some things to do which I don’t really know how to do. Er. Anyway, I hope I still have some time later, after this entry.
Yesterday afternoon, after knowing that I don’t have to go to work today, I headed out to Sugarhouse in Eastwood to get some cake for Christmas. Ever since 2006, I’ve always tried to have some cake during Christmas. Not because it’s a noche buena tradition (our noche buena tradition ever since year 2000 was a KFC bucket meal. We cook more during media noche), but because Christmas is not just gift-giving or eating, but a birthday. We are celebrating Christmas because of Jesus’ birthday, after all.
Everyone’s celebrating for Christmas, but I often wonder if people knew why we are celebrating. I always say “Remember the reason for the season” every year, but I know most of the time I’m excited about receiving and giving gifts to other people. I know He likes the idea of sharing and blessing us all during this time of the year, but I also think He deserves more than the limited attention I give Him during the nine consecutive masses of Simbang Gabi and the Christmas mass, right?
So this year, we have another cake. :) As we had for the past two years. :)
I’m still thinking of what Christmas entry I would be writing for tonight, and I was really planning to have a Christmas story to at least jumpstart my 2009 resolution of more writing. I managed to write a short piece which ended up a bit romantic, and I don’t even know if it’s appropriate. Anyway, I’m still sharing it to everyone just because. It’s not edited, so pardon any mistakes. My prose is still awkward even after NaNoWriMo, ergh.
To those who knew about my NaNo 2008 novel, you’d find some of the characters here familiar. Slight spoilers on how everyone would end up after story ends, but then again, I haven’t even finished the novel yet, so things can still change.
Have a blessed Christmas Eve everyone! Enjoy! :)
