2008 in retrospect December 31, 2008

I did this last year at my old blogdrive account, so I thought I’d make a yearly thing. Here is my whole year summarized in 40 questions.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Plan an out of town trip for me, my bf, my sister and husband. I did the research on where we could go, I’m looking forward to our next trip this summer!

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t make resolutions, they never made sense to me because I’d either forget about it or ignore it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 
yes, my sister gave birth to their 3rd baby, my nephew Jaden! We finally have a boy in the family!

Jaden Christoffer

4. Did anyone close to you die?
None, thank God.

5. What countries did you visit?
Once again, I didn’t go anywhere this year but I’m hoping to go to Singapore by March next year, then I’ll be planning for a trip to Hongkong and Macau by December!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A savings account.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
December 15, 2008. I can’t say why because it’s very private. =)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
No lates, no absences, no delayed submissions!!!

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn’t try to enrol in my MA classes, or be more active in trying to form my lifegroup, I’lll be making changes this year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope, just the occasional fever and colds, and really, really bad dysmenorrhea

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new laptop!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
hmmmm…. that’s a little tough to answer right now.

13. Whose behaviour appalled you and made you depressed?
Some people from church

14. Where did most of your money go?
hay…food as usual, and paying for my laptop.

15 What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The trip to Anawangin and Capones Island.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
CS Lewis Song

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? sadder
ii. thinner or fatter? thinner…crap.
iii. richer or poorer? hmmmm…the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish I’d saved more money

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Procrastinate!

20. How will you be welcoming the New Year?
The usual, we’ll be at my mom’s side of the place, my cousins will set up the place so we’d have a live band and we’ll sing our hearts out until the countdown. But this year, I’m going to Y’s place at Bulacan before going to Pampanga! I’m excited! But nervous at the same time…

 
22. Did you fall in love in 2007?

I fell in love with Wicked the musical!!!

23. How many one-night stands?
None!

24. What was your favourite TV program?
 Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, Pushing Daisies!

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
Chasing Daylight

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Idina Menzel, I heart her!!

28. What did you want and get?
To buy a camera,have a laptop, enjoy my job and be happy

29. What did you want and not get?
lose weight.

30. Favorite film of this year?
hmmm….i honestly can’t think of one right now…

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I went with Y to Greenhills, we ate at Pasto, he bought me an EDGE card for my DS, he got me a CD and a card. We had the midweek service where I was prayed for by my dad!!

32. What is one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

being able to accomplish the goals I set for myself, and yes that includes losing weight…

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
anything that makes me comfortable

34. What kept you sane?
Y

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp

36. Who is your real-person crush?
duh?

37. What political issue stirred you the most?
Since it’s the latest, this one.

38. Who did you miss?
the most important persons in my life were always a phone call away

38. Who was the best new person you met?
never met them in person, but I’ve beenreading some good blogs lately.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
If I change, everything else changes,

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
‘Cause my comfort would prefer for me to be numb, and avoid the impending birth of who I was born to become. – CS Lewis Song, Brooke Fraser

*****AND LASTLY!!!
1) GOALS/DREAMS FOR THE NEW YEAR:
I decided not to answer this since I’ll be making my a separate blog post for this one.

Vacation blues December 27, 2008

It’s Day 5 of  my 2 week long Christmas vacation (I don’t count weekends because I don’t really have work during those days), and I have been the most unproductive person I know! I had all these plans of the things I would do during my vacation, but so far, I’ve done nothing! What is wrong with me? Have I been so tired these past months that I just decided to rest?

Ho ho ho! December 25, 2008

Christmas is here! I finally got the gift I’ve been wanting for the past 2 years! Okay, so it wasn’y a gift to me really, but since my dad bought it, I’ve been the one hinting for more than a year now that we buy one, I thought I could stake my claim to it right now!!! Weeee! Look! Look!

 

Me and "my" Nikon

I still can’t post the hundreds of pictures I’ve been taking because I’m still learning to use Adobe Lightroom for post processing them. But I will soon! Happy Christmas everyone!

Some days December 15, 2008

I’d like to lie down on a grassy field, roll over and over, and smile at the sun.

Some days… December 10, 2008

… I just want to curl up in my bed and sleep. Without thinking of what my lesson for that day will be, or the paperworks I have to finish. 

Today is one of those days.

i carry your heart by ee cummings December 9, 2008

One of my favorite poems of all time.

For Y. 

 

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

The morning felt like night December 8, 2008

The morning felt like night by aupoleiana

My favorite scene from the latest Grey’s Anatomy episode! December 6, 2008

These two are the reason I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy again! I love it when he says “I think you’re beautiful.”! Cristina has always been my favorite character in the series,well aside from Bailey, and I love how she’s growing in the show. Yay for Owen and Cristina!

 

Am I still daring to dream? December 6, 2008

I was reading my old blog at Blogdrive, and I chanced upon this entry. I wrote it about 3 years ago, and 3 years later, I’m wondering if I still feel the same way. Oh, I know more than anything that God is still the number one supporter of all my dreams, but the question for me is whether I am still the dreamer that I was 3 years ago. 

I honestly can’t answer that, I don’t have one. I’m still trying to figure out what’s been happening to my life for the past 2 years. On one hand, I have a job I love, relationships I am proud of, but on the other hand, part of me, maybe the bigger part, is still completely not satisfied. I feel like there’s more that I need to do , despite the fact that I am pushing myself harder than ever before, I feel like it’s not enough, or maybe I’m, just doing the wrong thing, or I’m letting myself do too much that I’m not able to focus on the significant ones. 

Throughout history we have heard of amazing feats that man has accomplished. During the 16th century, it was inconceivable that man would ever soar in the sky like a bird. And yet now, we have men in outer space.

All these historic events started from one thing: a dream. From Einstein, the Wright brothers, and all the other great men who dared to defy the odds and forever change the way we live. The quest for their goal started from something as simple as a dream.

And as the world watched as history unfolded, unbeknownst to the throngs of men on earth, an applause can be heard from heaven. For God is rejoicing.

Now the question…

 

Why is God rejoicing?

 

Because that’s His nature! That’s what He does,that’s what he always does when we dare to dream, when we see things in our mind that the wordl ahs not yet seen. He wrote the book on making the impossible possible!

 

Need examples? Let’s check the book.

• The sun is not supposed to stop at midday and stand still for an army to defreat it’s enemy…but don’t tell that to Joshua
• Teenage shepherds are not suppose to battle 9 foot giants ( and cut off his head)..but don’t tell that to David.
• 5 loaves and two fish are not supposed to feed a crowd of five thousand ( and take note, that’s only the men!)…but don’t tell that to the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus.

And these are just some of the stories, there’s the donkey who talked to a man, the widow and his family who lived on a jar of oil..and so many more!

You see, since the beginning of time God has been waiting for us to dare to dream. There is pure delight in Him when we stretch our faith and hope for things that are new. Did He not send fire from Heaven when Elijah prayed at the altar on Mount Carmel? Did he not divide the Red Sea for the Israelites to be free from the slavery they suffered from?

And that very same God is still waiting today! HIs heart races, His pulse quickens, His excitement cannot be contained when His children think of conquering the impossible.

He’s waiting for you.

He’s waiting for you to defy the standards set by your mind, throw caution to the wind, dive into the deep. DARE TO DREAM!

 

For when you do, God smiles from Heaven and starts to dream with you.

Learning December 4, 2008

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
B. F. Skinner 

I wonder if, after graduating from school, my students would know that it is rude to talk when someone is speaking in front, or to show respect for authority, or  not be tempted by the things of this world.

When I think about it now, I don’t care if my students can’t construct grammatically perfect sentences, or if they can’t compare the sonnets of Shakespeare and Jonson, or be confident and prepared enough to go against the greatest debaters of the country. 

If they learn how to show respect to other people regardless of age, race or social status, if they learn to put God first more than anything, then I would feel like I have done my job.