My Awesome year of 2011

Wrapping up My 2011

I consider this year as a year of many beginnings. I finally was able to join the work force, so it was the start of being independent - financially. I was part of the Samsung Electro-Mechanics Philippines Corporation family as their Wastewater Engineer starting January 3 to September 30 2011, that's almost 9 months of enjoying my Chemical Engineering profession in a multi-national company. During those times - I was able to try a lot of things I haven't for my past 23 years of existence.

one of the many night outs I had with office mates...

joining team dinners where I was the only girl...

being part of the fire brigade and first aid competition

attending a lot of business seminars...

learning a lot of things - not just technical but also about work ethics...

saying goodbye to people who touched my life even in a short span of time...

As I mentioned, this was a start of being financially independent, I was able to live on my own for almost 5 months - I rented a place along Pedro Gil. Although I still went home from time to time because I can't do my laundry and I got home sick, I can say still that I pay my own bills. I was also able to buy stuffs that I want and need. Sadly, I was really not able to save anything yet from my salary.

2011 was also the start of deeper friendship with my college girl friends. This year we got to spend more time together for out of town trips and chilling out. Most of the time it was me, Popples and Ave because Iris was too busy with work but she still managed to join us whenever she can.

watched my first Pyro Olympics on top of Ecom Tower courtesy of Iris Siy (her work perks)

my first super club experience (VIP treatment c/o Popples' friend)

We tried laser tagging at greenhills! :)

Food markets at night were very popular so we hang out at Mercato Central at BGC

We went to Subic to chill last August

My Second bar experience -Izumi

After resigning from work, we enjoyed the beach of Laiya

My third and best bar experience - Attica (11-11-11 madness)

2011 was a year of acquaintances. I had got to know a lot of people from work and from friends of friends. Some just come and go while others became close friends. I just hope that the friendship established will continue to grow as we get to know each other more.

2011 made our family bond stronger. Trials came along but we still manage to stand strong as one family. We support each other on every obstacle that we encountered.

We manage to get through because of Him -Calleruega trip

My grandparents together with their grown up granchildren...

Though Angkong wasn't with us anymore, we gotta stay strong - Luk Foo Cantonese Restaurant

Christmas at Summit Ridge Tagaytay

When it comes to the matters of the heart, 2011 was a year of happiness and pain. I thought there was really something special between the two of us, but I guess things were different after all. During those times that I had spent with him, I felt very happy, contented and secured, but things change in just a blink of an eye. I found myself in deep pain after almost 4 years of staying single and not entertaining anyone in particular. It's nobody's fault, maybe I just misinterpreted his gestures, maybe all along what he could just offer is pure friendship. That is why it is very wrong to assume.

They say you cannot have it all, although my heart was in pain, I manage to find a job during the last quarter. This job that I currently have is something extra-ordinary because I will get the opportunity to travel. I consider this as a fresh start. I hope that I could grow more as a person with this change.

Global Water Engineering PE family

To summarize everything, my 2011 was really awesome. My life was complete with the right combination of sweetness and spices. I am very thankful to God Almighty for always being there for me and my family. For making me strong in times I felt weak, for making me happy in times of loneliness, for ensuring I will remember to be humble it times everyone is saying that I should be proud.

I am also grateful to family and friends who manage to be with me not just when I am happy but also during those times that I felt very low. Thank you for being true and saying things without sugar coating.

I now welcome 2012 with open arms. :) Happy New Year everyone!

Ode to My Grandfather

Ode to My Grandfather

His love to his children

will never be forgotten

He tried to be the greatest father

so everybody might have their happy ever after

A man with pure heart and soul

that tried to reach all his life's goal

A person who always extend a helping hand

in everybody's heart he lands.

He held me high to see the sky

and patiently taught me how to fly

He pushed me to be the best

and to do good in every test

My dear angkong you'll definitely be missed

but we know you are now at peace

We love you with all our heart

Wherever you are we hope you have a great start

Free your heart

(image source: www.weheartit.com)

There will come a point where one will realize it's time to let go and move on because you have nothing to begin with. You thought you have something special with someone but truthfully it might just be one sided, it's not mutual. You kept on telling yourself for the longest time that there's something special, but in reality there's none.

Realizing that you gotta move forward is a fresh start. From time to time, you will still feel the pain and the questions behind your mind will still bother you, but you gotta stay strong with your decision to start a new life-without him/her.

You're fine without that someone to begin with so I guarantee that you'll be ok if that someone will be not part of you anymore. It will take a lot of courage and faith that you can do this, but believe me in time you'll eventually be fine, just like you once had been.

There is always a master plan for all of us. In God's time, we will find that someone who will truly love us for who we are and accept all our flaws in life. That someone will receive us as a package deal equipped with everything we have and has a "no return, no exchange" policy.

For the meantime let's just take one step at a time to mend our fragile heart so that when we meet "the one" we are ready to love and be loved again.

All I want for Christmas

I could feel the Christmas breeze already so I guess it's time to make my wish list.

What are the chances that my closest friends will read this blog entry? I honestly don't know but I hope they could stumble upon this so they can have an idea what I really want for the Holidays haha :)

So first on my list is this hoodie from Nike. I could probably use this a lot! I just love sporty looks. Maybe I'm a medium or a large? haha.

I want this chuck taylor sneaker so badly. I'am a size 7 :)

To complete the sporty get-up is this Jansport Bag that will be useful for stuffing all my things.

To not get me bored during flights for work are the books of Francis Kong (I already have 2 of his books "Duh" and "The Early Bird Catches The Worm"

I wish to have this wallet from Mango to put my moolah $$$

To be always on time means I need this watch from Tomato

Lastly, to be in touch of my feminine side, I would gladly want to receive this dress from Bayo. I'm just a Small to Medium size for this shop.

So I guess making this wish list made me happy but it will make me happier if I receive even just one of these items on Christmas. haha :)

Confusions

image source: www.weheartit.com

Just when everything in my life seems to be in order, something unexpected happened. That something made me question my "plan".

Why now? Now that I kinda figure out what I already want. I would like to take this situation as a test if what I want now is really what I want. Confusing isn't it? At the back of my mind, I have this two columns comparing the pros and cons of the present plan and the possibility of the "new situation".

I wish it's that easy but sadly when it comes to the matters of the heart, it will never be easy. Everything is just complicated. Maybe I am not confused, because I really know right from the start that it's still Plan A. I just need assurance that Plan A will work. On the other hand, Plan B complicates things because it keeps on giving me a lot of reasons to go with it compared to Plan A that is just waiting for me to choose it.

I am praying that Plan A will finally give me tons of reasons to assure me that everything will go well if I stick with it because we never know if Plan B's persuasion can give me a clearer picture of a better future.

On Friends

(image source: www.weheartit.com)

In our journey of life, we will meet a whole bunch of people, some are easy to get along while others might be a total opposite of us. What matter is, from those bunch you will have a few who'll stick with you no matter where life takes you.

Honestly, finding those few is not as easy as ABC. Certain situations will test who are worth keeping and who are just so so. Those people that we had built intimate connections will stay in our hearts forever. Distance is never a hindrance because you know it in your heart that your relationship is more to that. The memories you had shared through thick and thin were priceless.

Way back in elementary and high school, I was so used to have friends around me already but I have this gals who I considered as my closest friends. Up until now, we communicate from time to time. Even though we don't hang around that much, just a simple text or chat message can instantly connect us.

with Nani, Che, Jana and Len

College life wouldn't be that awesome if I hadn't meet my girl friends there. We had each other's back always. We had been through a lot, and I mean it a lot from heartbreaks, to failed subjects to childish acts, so on and so forth.

with ave, popples and iris

The two pictures I had shown are the sets of barkada I had, but I have this long list of persons I considered genuine and can be called true friends. My point is people are tested along the way. They may not necessarily be the goody goody friend who'll agree with you at everything but he or she might be the one who can say nasty things about you upfront. Yes, he or she might hurt you but she's just being true and real, no pretenses.

A true friend is someone who'll never leave you hanging. He or she is someone who is silently hurting if you're hurting. One who can laugh with you real hard even if there's nothing funny. A real friend is someone who, despite the distance, will stick around no matter what happens.

Finding real friends is being at peace. It is God's gift. Just be careful not to lose those gifts. Life just keeps on getting better especially knowing you have friends that can walk with you through your journey.

Justice and Equality

Funny how the outcome of the board of governor’s election of our village turned out last october 9 2011. The very common expression one might hear is that “We were massacred”. Why is that so? Before answering that, let me walk you through what happened prior the election proper.

The event started at four in the afternood in the function room of our clubhouse. What was really interesting were the points raised by some homeowners regarding the frequency of meetings that the members were allowed to join. Clarification on annual meeting was also a concern. Members were basically asking for TRANSPARENCY, they wanted to be AWARE on what was happening, they wanted to be INFORMED on the progress and changes that our village undergoes and lastly, they wanted to be INVOLVED on the projects or concerns of our village- after all, we are one community.

Sadly and nerve-crackingly, it is not the way peoples in charge of running our community sees it. They cannot even give concrete and precise answers to the inquiries. All one can hear was “You can call a special meeting to discuss your concerns, and let’s talk about it in a different time”. The arguments turned out to be circular since the people in charge were trying to deflect the questions.

My vision for a person who leads a small community like ours is someone who’ll listen to his/her people even if the concern raised is small, he/she still will not take it for granted. A true leader understands his/her people, treats them equally, listens to their concerns and respects them. A leader is someone who is honest, credible and has integrity.

After all questions were raised and no precise answers were given, the election pushed through. There was already hear say that prior election, the winners were already decided. Why? Because the “Proxy Votes” were already counted in. Come on, please do justice with the so called proxy votes. It is just a subtle way of “pandaraya” . What do you get from that? It’s such a shame for someone to win like that. At the end of the day, those people are the true losers.

To give a clearer picture, the proxy votes assigned to our president was 67 counts. That 67 counts was allotted to her choice of candidates. The second highest proxy votes was 33, same thing is applied, the person who was assigned to that 33 votes will automatically have 33 counts of votes to the canditates of his choice. Losing is normal but losing by cheating is a different story. I ask for justice. I believe we are all intellectual people here who can see clearly what had happened during the election- monopoly.

Writing this was triggered by the question of how will the ‘elected leaders” be able to see and treat things equally. After all that happened during the election, how can they assure us that they will be able to lead us in a fair and right manner? Respect is not given, it is earned.

Suggestions were brought up that we need at least 28 signatures to ammend the by-laws and the possibility of eliminating proxy votes on the next election. I am asking each one of you to help me gather those 28 signatures. This is a small step each of us can do to start change in our village.

The true winners are those who took the clear and honest path towards the end. I salute those people.