Welcoming Year 2017
Again, it’s been a year. Although a bit late, here I am writing my annual write-up report here in my blog. Actually, this is just the second fulfillment for this. Neither did I ever mention that this will be on annual basis, but I think it will be a nice thing to have it posted here.
What happened for the last year, 2016? Many new things, challenges and experiences — all of these sum up to one thing. Learning. Last night, I watched the 2002 Spiderman movie featuring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. The movie is somewhat throw back for most of people, as it is already 2017 when I am writing this post. Let me be honest with you, I am not able to watch all the series of Spiderman until now. Yes, even if I did wanted to be Spiderman. Oh come on Raz, you are trying to be someone whom you didn’t full know of! Haha. But hey, I wanted to be Spiderman when Andrew Garfield portrayed the role in Amazing Spiderman. (Hope you had already bitten my bait here, haha.) Unfortunately, this rebooted series didn’t end up that well. Marvel decided that Spiderman should join the other Marvel superheroes. They decided that Spiderman should be “more sociable” this time. They decided that Spiderman should not be Raz anymore! What? Hmmm.
Anyway, let’s go back to the Spiderman movie I am telling you awhile ago. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, when Peter is a bit overwhelmed with his new capabilities, his uncle Ben slash guardian reminded him about something. Ben told Peter that “a great power comes with a great responsibility.” Peter just ignored it and refuse to understand and take his uncle’s advise. Peter felt that he can handle things on his own without any help. That’s how I reflected about it. Despite of the new things I gained and learnt, I still need the guidance on how to use or make it work properly. This comes in a broad range: from what I do at work up to the financial aspects of my life. All these things are relatively new to me. Perhaps, I am like a beginner that needs a training on how to use a new machine.
That’s how 2016 showed its face to me.
Like I did last year, I’ll create a timeline for what I did in 2016.
January. Since December 2015 has been a really busy month for me (us), I decided to relocate and live nearer to work. For the past three months, I am living with my aunt, cousin and niece since their house is nearer to my work. However, this “nearer” thing couldn’t anymore suffice. I need to be “more nearer”. That is one of huge steps in my life. I am used in living with my parents or relatives throughout my life. I never experience that “home sickness” being experience by college students living in a boarding house. For this very first month of the year, I finally decided to move out of my relative’s house and move in to an apartment to live with my coworkers. Fortunately, it started well. I am not culture shocked. I did not became home sick. That’s because I felt that I am a friend and part of the family. Despite being fortunate for this great decision, I became unfortunate one weekend when I got home. It is night time when I got bitten by an unknown snake in our backyard. Due to this, I am hospitalized for two days. Gladly, it is not serious. It turned out that the snake is non venomous one. The anti tetanus injection is good enough. But hey, it hurts.
February. I finally fulfilled one of my dreams. That is to travel. The first travel destination I had on the plate is the mountains of Bataan. No, I did not go for mountain climbing. I am not yet ready for that. I (We) did go on a farm resort located on top of the mountains. Sinagtala Farm Resort is new, undergoing discovery and improvement when I and my newly found travel buddy went there. Ohmy. This travel destination is very challenging! I tried to ride a non-typical mountain bike. When I say non-typical, it is because the bike floats in the air! Haha. Oh yes, include the hanging and wiggling bridge that makes my heart veins get loose.
March. I faced my childhood fears. It is to go to Enchanted Kingdom. No, that is not a typo. It is really indeed my fear when I am in grade school. I can remember the time when my parents ask me many times if I really don’t want to join the field trip. I repeatedly said No. That is also the time when “bus bombing” is flying in the news. I had the fear that the bus we are going to use for the school trip will also have a bomb on it. Haha. And I am thinking also for the expenses my parents will provide that time. However, let’s go back to 2016. I definitely enjoyed this trip here with my travel buddy.
April. This is the month wherein I am regularized at my work. Hurrah. 6 months celebration. Well, I didn’t celebrate for it anyway. Despite having a tight work schedule, making me to get at work as early as 4am and get to bed late (also include working full hours during the Holy Week), we came to Baguio for a weekend vacation together with my relatives. This is a multiple birthday celebration since many of us is celebrating our birthday in the month of April and May. That’s why we are in Baguio until the Labor Day of May 1.
May. My birth month. It is planned that I am joining my grandmother to celebrate her birthday with me. However, it didn’t pushed through because of circumstances. For my birthday, I took what they called a birthday leave to extend my vacation for another day, celebrating with my parents at home. I am touched to have a birthday cake this time. So, in return I bought my mother some JCo donuts and a simple gift for mother’s day. Getting back to the office next day, after giving my “pasalubongs”from Baguio, a cake having my name on it is again up on my front, saying a happy birthday. 🙂
June. Great blessings came for the month of June. This is also the month wherein I started planning my travel goals for 2017. Some adjustments were made to our work shift/schedule, making me to wake up 1 hr earlier than usual. Well, that’s fine. I can be a morning person. A morning bird catches the worm! Having that said, I am able to catch the worm, an additional workload. I started training for new parameters and planned transfer to a new department.
July. Another adventure to face. It is the water of the oceans. I had the fear of being in a large water body like this, because I might get drowned. I don’t know how to swim! Well, I am able to ride a boat and enjoy the ride. This is also the first time I can clearly remember that I saw the clear water of the ocean and be at a shoreline of a beach, walk on a literal sea bed, hold a star fish, and many others. This is my father’s birth month. So, I never forgot to thank him for everything he did for me. I got my very first credit card during July too.
August. Like I said on the first part, great power comes with a great responsibility. Having a greater spending power using my card, I faced a huge amount of credit card bill this time, on top of the regular monthly electric bill and mobile phone bill/budget I am squeezing out of my salary. I also got a hard time budgeting since salaries I am receiving is already budgeted one to two months prior on receiving it.
September. I am indeed overwhelmed using a credit card. So, I slowed down and also planned for the expenses wherein I am using it. Anyway, I am able to pay all my due balances ahead of due date. That’s still good. This is my mom’s birth month, so I made it sure that I have a gift for her. Also, I finally made it to have a bank account opened to start saving for the future.
October. Another (childhood) dream fulfilled. It is to leave on a tree house. A plus here, is it sits adjacent to a lake. Woah, is this what they say: Hitting two birds with one stone? This became my 4th travel destination for this year. Since list of places I and my travel buddy is starting to grow, we decided to create a new blog. The new blog is dedicated as an online archive and diary for all the places we visited.
November. This part of the year is exciting and fulfilling. I am again able to explore the country, with not only one province but two! We went to Vigan, a UNESCO Heritage Site then to Baguio, known as the City of Pines. I’d been to Baguio last summer but I am not able to fully enjoy the trip. So, I came back but now with my travel buddy. Isn’t that great? Vigan and Baguio made it to number 5 and 6 of the places I’d been for 2016. I started struggling here regarding with my finances, but I am able to cope up with some help of my friend. Actually, I deposited a greater amount in a new bank on this month, greater on what I did last September. It sounds magical, but hey, it actually happened. Thanks for the extra income and blessings coming in! Although the amount is not huge, it is well enough considering that I am fulfilling many things the whole time.
December. It’s gift time! For this year’s December, I did my best to have a gift for all the persons I value and love as my sign of gratitude for all the sacrifices they did for me. Although these gifts are simple, I know that they did appreciate it and they are happy for what I gave. Christmas has been great and I am really thankful for all the blessings I am showered with for the whole 2016. Right after Christmas, we started the “Phase 1” of our house project as my gift to my parents and to myself as well. This is one of my plans even before I started working. To renovate our house. I never see it coming this early but with the great help of my father, we are able to cut cost on labor as he did most of the work. The project’s phase 1 ended up only partially fulfilled. But it’s good to see that right after New Year of 2017, our house looks different. I am looking forward to finish Phase 1 by February, as it is the original date I planned for the project. My mom is excited that’s why we did it ahead of the planned date. And yes, before I forgot. Subic made it to number 7 of the places we visited. We had our company overnight Christmas party by the beach. Pitching a tent to sleep at, waking up with a great mood because of a great scenery of the waters and mountains of Zambales.
Woah! That’s indeed a better year for me. Although there are few hiccups, I am able to recover and place the things I started in their right position and order. I did have a few backlog for December (financially) but everything is already cleared as of this writing.
Thank you for everyone who made my 2016 colorful and meaningful. Hmmm, oh the snake that welcomed me last year, thank you also for being non-venomous. For this year, travel plans are already laid out. I and my travel buddy am planning to visit at least 3 major destinations around the Philippines as my/our main adventure goal. Also, I started working out on a gym. I need to build my body too, primarily to gain weight. For a better me? Cheers! 😀
