season ender

it's 40 minutes before midnight until the last day of the year. i can't sleep. ideas flow over my mind. i have to write. so i stood up from my bed. sat in the dining table and started to type. i came up with this random list of the 2008 highlights of my life. some were happy while some are sad. some made me reminisce the past. so no further ado, here it goes...

--> back to writing

i loved to write. i only discovered this hobby and/or skill when i was already in college. i was required to do it all from feature writing, sports writing, formal essays, ethical views, film critiques, scriptwriting, copy ads, press releases to movie reviews and more. i liked every single of it. i had no idea why i took communication arts. i had zero concept of advertising, pr or integrated marketing communications. all i knew was that i can be a broadcaster with that course because that's always the impression. i just liked english back in high school over other subjects. i didn't like to compute complicated formulas or theories or knowing if juan's brother is twice as old as pablo's older brother jose. so i took the course. i enjoyed my junior and senior year because i noticed i nailed essay exams rather than those boring objective types. the pressure to comprehend a difficult complex question and answer in a most simple way was fun for me. 

enlightenment struck me when my philosophy professor who requires a weekly paper that serves as a take home exam commented. the book was "fundamentals of ethics" and had a summary questionnaires at the last part. every end of the questions were to give real life situations of the given philosophy or topic. that was really a good training to think deep. so this philo prof after he checks the papers, he calls the students one-by-one to give back the piece of literature for a private reading of the scores. one day, he called me and while handing my paper he said, "i like the way you write" and i said "thank you, sir." i was surprised because we were not chums in the first place and he never called me during class for recitations while almost all from the class were. all along i thought he's the prof who would not know my name if i see him in the corridors. but my scores from him were good. from then on he was my favorite. fine it's biased but he was the first person to commend me on that. and that was absolutely nirvana. 

a year ago, i was supposedly going to be a writer for a fashion magazine after my first year stint from media. i passed the writing test and fashion knowledge test. it was not easy. the questions were like, "what's the latest trend?" / "what did gucci presented this year?" / "what can you say about marc jacob's fashion?" / "describe supermodel petra nemcova in three words." etcetera. good thing i was up-to-date. the interview with the editor-in-chief was stressful. he really knows fashion and i can't make things up. i was on my way to signing the contract but compensation is important to me as well. at that time, i can't afford to have that job. i can't ask for financial help from my parents anymore. i have to stand up on my own and they don't also tolerate such. it was my dream to be a fashion writer but reality sinked in. though i didn't regret it, i learned a lot from experiences this year. we'll never know maybe i'll still do my dream. 

thanks to my sense & style writer friends, nicole and mark 

for hooking me up :) 

--> back to childhood

for the past month i'm doing things i did in my younger days. i went back to hongkong with mom, my first time there was 12 years ago. a lot has changed, the people and the place. we went to disneyland and see the characters live. and then my favorite holiday--opening gifts during christmas. and then the ultimate, for the past 2 days i was marathon-ing my once favorite anime, sailor moon. 

the tour group in hongkong disneyland

inside the cable car with mom

going up the mountain

in the avenue of stars

usagi and mamuro

--> on love and friendships

i gained real friends and user-friends as well. i had a really good friend until alcohol messed up. we can't be the way we were. i regret that. i learned how to control my emotions and think rationally at all times. i got the lamest excuses from the few men i dated. it's a learning experience.

--> on career

i got what i wanted and then completely moved on. 

--> the winner takes it all

of course, how could i forget my grand prize raffle item from tv5 launch event last july 24, 2008 at smx convention center. i went there harassed from work not knowing i'll win my beloved macbook air. the lovely simone cheng of hbo was the host and called my name. i screamed and all of my friends did. i was the envy of the whole populace that night to the point that people were congratulating me til the next event, the next day. it was crazy. it was the best and successful event for 2008 in media. they even had the group 'lifehouse' perform before their concert in araneta. i love it soo much. thank you tv5!!!

mitch, beck, la winner, yule, lalaine, rhonna, jay-p

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come o ye 2009, bring me good fortune, love, health and luck.