2011 Year-Ender Report

This is my 281st and the last post in this blog for this year. It's 27 posts shy of 2010 but if we include my other posts here, here and here and another in an undisclosed kind of private blog, I could say that I have been quite on a roll this year. Before I jot down the highlights and low lights of this blog, allow me to thank you all my dear readers for constantly visiting and reading my posts. Thank you to those who have subscribed and to those who have left thoughtful comments. I will not be motivated to write as regularly as possible if not because of all of you. I hope that this coming year you would still be there to accompany me in my journey, my life.

I started the year all too positive of what 2011 would bring to me. I changed the layout of my blog and I roamed Manila with my friend, Eddene. We were fixtures of Saturday and Sunday markets in the metro and malls and parks too. We were just so full of energy. February rolled in but it wasn't as eventful as I had expected it to be. I felt like I was in a one-sided relationship at that time and I just had to learn how to let go. This wasn't a painful thing to go through though because I kinda knew that it would end this way. Maybe it was all wrong at the very start and to forget about the sinking feeling, I just burrowed myself in doing the best I can at work. Oh yes, 8-hour shifts stretched to 10 until I reached even 12-hour workday sometimes. It was a little toxic but I managed to carry on like that for months.

March was when my parents and my sister visited me here in Manila. I was not able to blog any of our activities here but I sure did enjoy our time spent as a family. The last time I saw them was October of last year. What I liked most was my mom cooked some meals in my apartment. It was also the time when I bought a new fridge because the old one has been wonky and so small for my groceries. April came and went like a blur and all I could remember were attending the Samsung TV launch and the days when my BB conked out on me. The last one was the most memorable as I was told by Globe that they have to send my BB to Singapore for repair and it would take at most 2 months for it to get repaired. I was beyond disbelief (If you are a BB user and your phone will be taken away from you for that long is unimaginable). Yes, I am exaggerating a bit but that is exactly how I felt. Worst is Globe did not have a loaner phone that I can use. I had no other choice but to apply for another plan with that thought of giving the phone and line to my sister when I finally get my BB back.

My Boracay trip did not push through in May so all the planning I did just went to waste. It's okay though because the money I saved went to the out of the country trips that I had later in the year. June came and I was a little disappointed because I had to work on my birthday. Everything was quelled when I was given a surprise party by my coworkers led by the supervisors that reported to me. I got teary-eyed. I felt loved. Hehe! I also came out with my 30 before 30 list. I only have more than 5 months left and I am not even half-way through my list but of course I still have time, 5 months is still 150 days. I am crossing my fingers now that I won't be as busy and devote some of my time to my list. Wish me loads of luck!

I was only able to travel out of Manila in July. That was when I decided that I should smell the roses and leave work behind for a little bit. I travelled to Coron with some officemates and a friend from Denmark. It was all our first time to visit the island in Palawan and everyone had an awesome time. I did develop a little rash from the hiking and swimming and rubbing against the life vest on my arm but it went away after a couple of days. There's nothing a rash cream and powder can't heal. August was spent planning my first trip to Hong Kong and Macau with Olive. I was still kind of scared that time because of the hostage crisis that happened to Hong Kong nationals here in the Philippines but we braved it. I have written quite a few articles about the trip which took place in September.

I went home to see my family and help out for the last minute preparations for my sister's wedding in October. She married her long-time boyfriend and it was a lovely wedding attended by their friends from work, church and school as well as families of both parties. I was the maid-of-honor of course. At first, I was hesitant to attend because I had foreseen that I will be the subject of interrogation as to why I am not married yet and all that. Then again I still attended and told myself that it's better that I am still single because if I am already married then I will be called matron-of-honor. That is worse I think. I'm too young to be a matron. Haha!




Kidding aside, November saw me and Olive in Malaysia and Singapore. We had loads of fun as usual except for some setback with the hotel that we booked online but nevertheless we made the most out of our opportunity to travel. I also quit my job and reported to a new office the week after I got back from my vacation. I haven't written that much articles about this trip because I took too many pictures and I was just too lazy to watermark them. I have posted a couple but I still have lots of articles waiting in my drafts folder. I will try to find time to publish these travel stories this month (hopefully before I fly back to Singapore next month). I was also able to meet Mika Hakkinen on the first week of November (loads of thanks to Johnnie Walker's Step Into The Circuit campaign).

Last month, I thought will just be spent adjusting to my new work environment. Then Nuffnang gave me the opportunity to travel back to Malaysia (all expenses paid including the travel tax and terminal fees, airfare of course and accommodation at Marriott Putrajaya) to meet 500 other bloggers from all over the Asia Pacific and Australia for the 2nd Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards. It was an awesome chance I consider it the cherry on top to my awesome 2011. The experience gave me a chance to get to know other bloggers, be on a tour bus with them and motivated me to be more diligent in blogging and keeping you all posted.

The past year came by and almost went unnoticed. I am grateful to have started this blog as I had a way to document the things that happened in my life. I thank you all for visiting my blog even when I talk about nonsense things sometimes. Let's all hope for a better 2012 and exert every effort we can to learn from the previous year's mistakes and misses.