Looking Back

Also known as: The 2010 recap that I thought I wouldn’t be doing

I really wasn’t planning to do this, for reasons that I do not know because I was really feeling lazy. But my sentimentality reared its head and I felt the need to do a recap of how 2010 was, even if I thought it was quiet for the most part. Perhaps this is the wise part of me saying that I need to do this, or maybe because I don’t feel like reading so I do the next best thing: write.

Anyway. Like I said, 2010 was mostly quiet. This is relative to 2009, which totally beat me up as it ended, so I’m pretty sure my definition of quiet in 2010 is not the same as others. Nevertheless, I do consider 2010 as a good year, even if it isn’t really as busy as 2008.

So what exactly happened in 2010?

A word of warning: this is a very long entry.

January

• I started the year by attending my friend’s mom’s wake. :( I think I speak for all when I say wakes give you a chance to reevaluate your life and your relationships with other people. I never met my friend’s mom, but from the stories I hear from her, she seemed like an awesome woman. She’s doing a 365 days of Mom in her blog, so you may want to drop by and read about this woman who raised such a beautiful person.
• And to further emphasize how life really is in the world, I attended a surprise birthday party for my friend the next day. It was the first of many, many surprises for the year, and it was fun! Plus I realized how much I love Grimace the mascot, especially when he (she? it?) looks like this:

  

• I opened my book blog. Because books are awesome.
• Met up with my thesismates, aka “the three most important guys in my college life.” Haha I can’t believe I called them that. :))
• I got attacked by allergies…and then got sick for real. Then I had to go back on steroids.
• Watched Legion and it bothered me so much that I just had to write about it.
• My most favorite singer in the world, Dave Barnes, released a new single, God Gave Me You. I wouldn’t have included it here, but I love this song so much that I had to include it. :P
• Ended the month by having a team building/planning with some office folks in Baguio. It was the first time I went to Baguio again after 11 years. Fun times and I love, love, loooove the cold weather. Friendships, can we go to Baguio again before January ends?

February

• February always starts with thoughs on Valentine’s Day, and because of that, I wrote an article with some colleagues about being single on Valentine’s Day for our office newsletter. Seems like I’ll be checking back on that article again. ;)
• But I did have a Valentine’s resolution, anyway: be happy with being alone by myself. And I think I did pretty well with that over the rest of the year.
• I gave up buying books for Lent. Scratch that, I gave up bookstores on Lent. I didn’t go to a single bookstore for the entire 40+ days of Lent, and it was probably the most meaningful fasting I’ve ever did.
• Finally wrote my weight-loss story.
• I watched Rent with some friends. But that isn’t really the most remarkable thing that night. The real exciting thing (for me anyway) is I wore a dress! It was the first time I wore a dress in ages, and I felt very, very pretty. If there was ever one rewarding thing that happened after I lost weight, it’s getting to wear the clothes I used to avoid wearing. :)

  

• I joined my first 5k race, too! The Century Tuna Race was the first time I ran in a paid race, and the one that got me started in running. And it’s the only 5k race I joined because the next races I ran after were all 10k. Yeah, we’re crazy. But the highlight of the day was this:

  

• Backstreet Boys live in Manila. The fulfillment of my teenybopper dreams. Enough said. :)

March

March has always been my favorite month because it’s my birthday month. It’s also the start of summer, which I absolutely love despite the heat. For March, I decided to start a 30-day blogging challenge again after I failed to finish in September 2009 because of Ondoy. I called it the 30 days of Celebration. The challenge was fun, and yes, challenging, and I am planning on doing it again this year. The 30 day posts are kind of detailed already, but the highlights of March are:

• Paramore concert. The band was awesome, the concert was…okay. Sorry, I was nitpicking on my post. But I love Paramore and it was a very nice day to spend the day off. :D
• Birthday surprise! Of course I knew my friends were surprising me, but the question was how. They organized a surprise dinner at Chili’s right before we watched Avenue Q, and capped the night off with drinks at our house. :) My friends are awesome. :)
  
• I turned 24. See, I love birthdays. My 24th birthday was a blast, not only because of the surprise, but also for the long birthday celebration with family and friends, surprise cake and my goddaughter’s really cute gift. :)

April

• Lent. I had a very different Lent in 2010, and I think it’s because I stopped resisting and I just listened to what God. It was definitely a refreshing experience, and I am slowly realizing that I am liking Lent a little bit more than Christmas.
  
• Planned a surprise party for my friend, Pau. :) Stressful, but very successful.
• My so-called 10k run. It was planned, it backfired miserably. Never ever be late for a 10k run (or any race for that matter), especially if you have no idea where to park!
• Went on so many movie dates and shopping dates with friends.
• Puerto Galera for the first time, and while I had fun there, I wasn’t really proud of how I was so moody while I was planning the trip. I’m sorry friends, for being so moody and snapping at all of you. :(
• Ended the month very…emotional. Must be the hormones. And the fear of rains. :/

May

• My best friend left for an exchange program to the UK for three months. Missed him terribly.
• I voted for the first time.
• My other best girl friend left for Dubai to look for a job. Missed her terribly, too.
• With all the people leaving, I was kind of emo for the rest of the month. So many introspection, thoughts and well, sort of depressing entries followed after. It’s so classic of me. :))
• I started writing book reviews for The POC. Best. Writing. Gig. Ever. :)
• Ended the month with a high note, though: my first real 10k run!

June

I think I started freaking out so much about the rains come June. All the June entries in the old blog contained…well, freak outs for the rain. That’s what the flood did to me, friends. Not good.

July

• My mom left for Saipan this month, but before that, we watched Legally Blonde the Musical. It was nice, but you know what the real highlight of the night was? When my brother and I screamed at the top of our lungs as we played Silent Hill on his PSP during traffic. :P
• Basyang scared me senseless.
• But God was faithful, as always.
• My brother and I discovered the joys of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. :)
• Got asthma again because of Ben and Jerry’s. :/
• I met some of my favorite people in 2010, my Goodreads family! :)
• Best movie of the month was Inception, hands down, for its brain implosion effects.

August

• Started August with another 10k race, where I beat my personal record. :)
• I started attending some special leadership meetings at work, which helped inspire me from my near burn out.
• Starbucks Dark Roast Coffee Jelly. Ahhhh.
• My mom arrived, and I got my Kindle! :)
• Comicons and Book Launches. Bookstore hopping. And Chocolate Fire. So much fun, surrounded by the people I like the most. :)

September

• I think September was a bit busy because I hardly blogged. Well, I know I wrote a lot of reviews, so I wasn’t blogging on the personal level. :P
• Visited Cebu for food trip after two years. :P Love the place, and I will definitely be back for Brian’s Ribs in Casa Verde!
• Filipino Book Bloggers Meet-Up and a whole lot of books bought. Again.
• Ondoysary! Where I looked back and saw how much God has been blessing us before, during and after Ondoy.

October

• My brother got married. :)
  And my awesome friends were there to celebrate with me and my family:
  
• Adidas King of the Road 2010. My third 10k. Not my best race, though.
• Started packing up to move to the apartment, because house renovations were starting the next month.

November

• NaNoWriMo 2010. It was easier being a Municipal Liaison because I had someone to help me as co-ML. It was kind of the hardest novel I had to write, though, because I wasn’t into it. It was fantasy, yes, but it was the first time I pantsed a novel. Plus, we were in the middle of moving to the apartment and you know what I realized then? We have a ton of stuff. So many stuff, it’s crazyyyy.
• I think I wrote one of my best pep talks, though. :P
• Got sick again. :/
• But in the end, I still won NaNoWriMo 2010. It was my suckiest draft and I don’t think it will ever ever see the light of day, but I’m glad I soldiered on. My Wrimos were awesome, as always.:)

December

• Now I really,hardly blogged during December.
• NaNoWriMo TGIO party was in order, and it was fun, again. :)
• Team Christmas Pool Party was also fun, and revealing and relaxing.
• Goodreads Christmas Party! The first time I actually got the books I really want for Christmas!
• My thesismate’s wedding, where I caught the bouquet. I didn’t write about this, right? Oh well, I did catch the bouquet and it was…shocking. Haha I don’t know what this tells me for my coming year. :P
• A sort of quiet Christmas.
• Post Christmas dinner with friends and +1s. Epic night. Loved the company, loved the drinks, loved the talks. We must do this again.
• And an equally quiet New Year’s Eve.

Well that was a very long entry. See, 2010 was quiet, and very different in its own way. I really think 2010 was God’s way of telling me to take a break, to recharge myself, because 2011 will be epic. Then again, it would really depend on what I mean by epic because if you look at it, every year is really epic. Did that make sense?

And this entry is already long enough. If you read all the way here, you deserve a cookie. :P

I should get ready to meet my friends now. :) Have a great Sunday, everyone!