Life can be ecstatic, exciting and extraordinary... if you make it to be.



DECEMBER RECAP ET AL


To say that my December was hectic is an understatement. Between work deliverables, the holiday parties, travels, my calendar was booked to the brim. But all in all December was a good month.

Highlights :

Boracay trip with the family : my sister and her family, my brother who just recently got married, my mom, and 2 nephews. It was an eclectic crew but since it was the first time to go there for all of them, they all had a great time. As for me, I dream of the white powdery beach all the time. Boracay is like a mistress - not someone you want to stay with the rest of your life, but you crave for from time to time ;)


I went home to Cebu for Christmas, and it started with the usual family drama but ended greatly since my sister Ann (who is now a resident and a citizen of Taiwan) surprised us with a post-Christmas visit. We got to iron out some business issues, and hopefully some other family matter, but the best part was the bonding moments that because of our physical distance, have come few and far between. My sisters and I are just a few years apart, and we were literally each other's barkada in our early years because our parents refused to let us out of the house. Of course we fought and all that stuff, but we are each other's best friends, and I love them with everything that I got. Ann had organized a high school reunion, and Yen and I went there to support her as well. Haha. It was good to see old schoolmates, one of them the brother of my puppy love. Ahem! hehe. 

New year was spent here with my Ate's and their families. It was a white party and we had fun and laughed hard at the kids' antics. This year is also special since my Ate who has been working in Canada for the past year now, also came home post Christmas.

2009 started with a bang. Great expectations for everything in my life, in spite of the gloomy outlook coming from the Great Depression. However, I'm still excited for everything that this year has to offer.


Lowlight:

In a slightly less happy news, another reunion is upcoming. R was scheduled to come home end of January, but is instead coming home 2 weeks earlier because his aunt/foster mom passed away :( I had been sleepless since the news because all I want is to be at his side right now, and just be there for him in this very sad and difficult time. During the years I worked abroad, my fear was always that something would happen to any of my family members and I was too far and helpless to be there for them. So I really understand how he is feeling at the moment. 

Anyways, I'm going on a unplanned trip to Cebu to be with him, and that of course means I have to double time and ensure I cover things at work. It's a specially bad time to go off at this time because we are launching a new system and my new team next month, but I'm lucky to have a flexible and considerate boss.

Meanwhile, I'm canceling my upcoming trip with R to Boracay on Valentines. Cebu Pacific refunds takes 10 years pa naman. Hmp!

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A NEW BEGINNING


Whew. It's been a while. And a lot has happened, I don't even know where to start. All I know is, there's no looking back, and neither do I want to. The best thing is, there's no reason to. What more can I ask? :)

So, here's what happened the last couple of weeks....

... I flew to Cebu for a 1 week vacation. And it's always fun to go back. Went to the beach in this lovely yet surprisingly affordable resort (pictures to follow as soon as I get digitally organized once again :)). Spent lots of quality time with the fam. Boy, my niece is growing up so fast and she's becoming quite a handful. I bought her a walker because she loves to "run" around. We celebrated the grand opening and blessing of the 2nd branch of the family's school business. So, if you have kids, do check out Bright Minds in Action Learning Village (Liloan Branch). Enrolment now ongoing for pre-school to grade 4. Leave a note if you want to know the contact details :) I discovered new restos - Oh Georg! and Big Mao. Yum!! Of course, I could not pass by Cebu without eating AA's bbq and baked scallops (the best, I tell ya) and Sunburst Fried Chicken. Waah, I'm getting quite hungry now. Needless to say, I gained a lot of weight while I was out of work for about 2 weeks. Thankfully, I lost around 5 lbs already since I started work again last Monday.

... Which is a good segue to the 2nd highlight, which is, I started work in my new company. So far, so good. Actually, I'm super loving it already. I love the way the cubicles are designed -- enough to give everyone privacy, but the walls are low enough so people can just talk directly to everyone else. I have an almost-window seat (hehe), and I love having a view. And speaking of views - most of the big conference rooms have nice views as well. It's so conducive to meet in a bright room, while you can see life happening below you... My teammates are great. We've been bonding really well during the last week. They welcome the new faces because they started with a team of 4 locals and 2 expats only. And now we've grown into this diverse team (multicultural, multigender, multibackgrounds). I've found a couple of yosi buddies, though all 3 of us are trying to quit :) I also found a boxing buddy. And speaking of boxing, the gym is a mere 10min walk away, instead of 45min drive away. I've been introduced to some players and I guess because it's a start-up, wala pang nag aangas. The environment is still very light. I still have to get used to speaking in English all the time. "Hello, who just joined?". Hahaha! Speaking of environment, I spotted a couple of cuties. Unfortunately, the 1st one is a negative - ring on ring finger alert (and baby pic wallpaper). Hahaha! I still don't know anything about the 2nd cutie, but I bumped into him twice (the 1st one, quite literally, ;)). As my seatmate pointed out, this is a male-dominated workplace, so, the more chances of getting cute boy alerts. hahah! On my 2nd day at work, I still didn't get my badge, so I had no access to everywhere. So this gentlemen had to run to the other door to badge in, and all his other cards fell pa in the process. Kakatuwa lang :) I also like the 10peso ice cream in belgian cone at Mini-stop across the street. The team indulged last Friday - TGIF and all :) We had an eventful week (start-ups and ramp down, and me having to catch up in this whole new world) and a tiring week, I was asleep mostly by 9PM everyday. It's not a perfect world, of course. There's the paid parking (pero covered naman), the traffic (mornings are an easy 20min drive but the evenings are really bad) and the food is expensive (we have the same caterer as the old company, deja vu! hahaha)... But right now, none of those matter. I just know that this is where I wanna be right now (so I have to do well!)...

I miss some of the friends from the old blue.. Specially my lunchmate, my old housemates/neighbors... But, for everything we decide to do, there's always a price to pay.

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HAPPY EASTER!


Look who's back with an energized body, rested soul, sun-kissed skin and a bittersweet longing from being home again, but wanting to go back to where home used to be?

How she wishes she could bottle sunrises or live in a place where the beach is a 10-min ride away... How she misses those early morning walks in the beach, or soaking in the sea while the sun is coming up.

And wouldn't you know it, the girl who used to love sunsets, is now exhilirated over sunrises! Could it be that she has finally left that sadness? Didn't the little prince say one loves the sunset when one is so sad? Certainly, there was no more pain nor longing when her ex-husband reminded her on what would have been their first wedding anniversary.

All she wants is to move on.. Maybe move back to that familiar place where everything is within reach -- family, friends, sunrises, beaches, other places to go.. and more importantly, herself.
So she keeps moving forward, until she finds herself in that place again, where she'll be able to watch sunrises by the beach, anytime she wants...

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OFF I GO


Tomorrow, I'll be off to the sunshiny city of Cebu.. To the beaches I go.. Bantayan Island, I miss you so.. And oh the delicious lechon.. Larsian's barbeque and puso... Ngohiong... Balbacua..

Baby, sama ka? hehehe.. Will be back soon. :)

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