Thank you, 2007

For many years, I have tried to look back to the year that has been during New Year’s Eve. This year has been a time for many changes and discovery for me. My closest friends, my family, and Franco have been witnesses to these changes. I have not been blogging as often as I used to because there are other things to be done and the changes I'm pertaining to may not be so obvious in my posts. For the past two years, blogging has been a good way for me to think and reflect. At this very moment, I believe I need to do so again.

When I was around ten years old until I reached high school, I used to write daily in my diary and often focused on what happened for the day. My entries were mostly observations of people and events along with my interpretations of them. They weren’t addressed to anyone in particular. They were just for me and they served as preservation of some of my fondest memories. Maybe this is why I am filled with so much memory of my childhood and adolescence.

Recently, as a young adult, I don’t write as often and I forget more. I forget the little things and sometimes just remember the most striking ones, which aren’t necessarily the good things in life. There have been so many events that I sometimes don’t find the time to stop or to reflect anymore. But then on other days, I just stop and think too much. I tend to focus too much on the future -- thinking about what to do with my own career path and just worrying about future life in general. And because of too much thinking, I think I have forgotten to be grateful and appreciative of what I actually have. I have forgotten to enjoy the now.

And for the last day of the year, before all the busy and fun family gatherings begin once again, I’d like to write what I am grateful for. Franco kept on reminding me to think of the things that I am grateful for. I kept saying yes but ended up not doing it whole-heartedly. Now, I'll finally do it and put it into writing.

I’d like to do this as random as possible and just let the feeling of gratitude be on a roll.

I’m thankful for the wonderful and positive people I have met. They give refreshing insights, live inspiring lives, and send out positive vibes to the world. They are individuals who know who they are and are happily taking the little steps to their dreams.

I’m thankful for the travels that I made – near or far. They were opportunities for learning and for discovering more about the people I traveled with – friends, family, and great people on the road. I have learned so much from traveling and I promise to do more of this over and over again.

I’m thankful for losing things and being more alert in the real world. Better things did come my way afterwards but more importantly, intangible things presented themselves to me.

I’m thankful for my friends who share about their own passions and dreams. They are also the ones who listen to mine, whether they are simple or highly ambitious.

I’m thankful for the persons closest to me because they are the ones who accept me for who I am continuously becoming. I’m thankful because they are open and welcoming to changes. They have been with me through thick and thin. We rocked the boat during the roughest times and we'll be doing so for the next years to come.

I’m thankful for my family. Growing up with each one in my family (and each of their quirks) has turned me into a fun-loving, caring, creative, and more assertive individual. If this sounds like a weird combination, I think it’s because I came from a weird family. I always thought weird is good.

I’m thankful for my friends who may be living far away but always keep in touch through different means. Time and distance may have changed how we look and what we do but no matter how many changes there have been, we’re still the same friends who talk about and analyze our lives like high school girls.

I'm thankful for all the relationships that I am continuously gaining with different people -- my students and their parents, my co-teachers, my godsons and goddaughters (of whom I have 6!), new acquaintances, newfound friends, my zipping family who share the same love for poi, and all those I meet through writing and blogging.

I know that my gratitude list sounds vague to some of you but they have so much meaning for me. I have concrete memories for each one of them as I write them down. I’m sure everyone else has his/her reasons for being thankful. Right now, I think I have more than enough things and people to be grateful for.

Before this year ends, I'd like to share a simple photograph. I took this photo the day after Christmas, tweaking it a little with my magic tools. It's a portion of my vision board that I made in October for my Creativity Class. The image is actually a cut-out from a magazine that I got from my June travel. I feel that this image along with everything that I did to it is symbolic for everything that I wrote earlier.



Thank you, 2007.

I’m now ready to face tomorrow with a fresher outlook. And I wish everyone the same. :)

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! ☺

Busride

I grew up riding the schoolbus. Thanks to those mornings of reading books on the way to school, I think I understand how my poor eyesight came to be.

But aside from acquiring poor eyesight, I learned so many lessons by just being a bus rider. Imagine, 11 years of my life have been spent riding the schoolbus where I quietly observed the real world and interacted with other students from different grade levels. I have witnessed bullying (yes even in all-girls school, bullying occurs). I have witnessed road accidents. I have witnessed floods and getting our giant bus go past those floods. I've watched my very artistic friend, Jamie Borja, make all her creations while the bus moved, in awe how she kept her strokes precise despite our being in a moving bus. I've experienced finding friends who I have kept all these years. Most of us still live in the same neighborhood while one already moved away. But still, when we see each other, our being "busmates" still connect us. A schoolbus is like a whole new different school. I can actually write an entire book of busride anecdotes if I wanted to. ;-)

I haven't ridden a bus for so long except for field trips in college or that adventure trip we had in Cebu. And to think I used to ride the bus five times a week for 11 straight years. Busrides and I are tightly-knit. Somehow, we just jive.

The following photos were taken from my most recent busride. They're not the usual "clear, colorful, and crisp" images that I like. They are actually sort of pale and I LOVE them.

I think their being blurred is part of their charm. ;-)
We were waiting for our turn to enter the hangar of a local airline. And I was with the most active kids you could imagine. We were in constant motion inside a parked bus.





I'm with these kids five times a week. But today, we're all resting to get ready for tomorrow's Christmas play. We'll be needing that line -- "break a leg!"

Updates to follow next week.

Thanks for the pics, Laosher Lita. :)

So many...

So many things can happen in a day. And so much more in a month.

Yesterday, I went to see my throat doctor and learned that I have an infection in my pharynx. I was asked "not to engage in any form of athletics for a week". So here I am at home, finishing other things that do not require my heart to pump faster. I am now currently under medication and under observation. I asked if I could still teach. My doctor said yes but using loud voices aren't allowed. I wonder if I was able to emphasize that I teach kids in the morning. So now after having a 3-hour class which included loads of singing and dancing, I think I have been BAD to my pharynx (and larynx too!)

I finished two things while "healing" myself. It felt good printing them out and seeing where my life is heading in a few months' time. As always, I don't like jinxing things so I'll just tell you everything when my efforts have bloomed into something soon.

~ o ~

Last month, one of my dear grandmothers passed away. She's the sister of my lolo who used to pamper us with gifts when we were kids. I remember her talking to us over the phone and asking us what we wanted. Whenever she visited, we'd have our very own picnic in front of our house and she'd order "pisa" (pizza) for everyone. During my gradeschool years, she used to send Trapper Keepers and Lisa Franks to all her grandchildren. And she had A LOT of them. She loved shopping so much but not for herself. Her being a shopaholic was directed to all her nephews, nieces, and tons of grandchildren. Oh, especially the grandchildren.

During my 18th birthday, which was a costume party, she attended as Cory Aquino with her short locks and yellow outfit, probably finding humor in having to share the same surname. I love the fact that my lola also wore a costume and enjoyed the night with the rest of the younger people. I remember her and my other dear lola saying that the "emcees" that night were incredible. I explained that they were two of my very good friends and that I wrote their scripts. haha.

During her wake, one of my titas showed me a copy of my high school grad photo that I sent my lola a long time ago. She kept it with her passport all these years. Imagine that. It never occurred to me that she kept it that safe until that night. I read the dedication I made at the back, awed at how "young" my penmanship was. I laughed at how I used to write ellipses like this one... at the end of most of my sentences.

At the end of my dedication for her, I was thanking her for specific gifts, making memories rush back to me that night. I was teary-eyed. It was time. We love you, Lola Jit. And thank you. :)

~ o ~
As I said, so many things can happen in a month. Let's just say that I've been to several ups and downs with a whole bunch of learning. The most unforgettable line for me -- Changes aren't necessarily good or bad. I just have to face them.

Oh yes, I am definitely growing up.