Musings

Truths

“With him I’m not even wondering about signs. Which might be the best sign of all.”

“So you didn’t get everything you wanted… I guess nobody does.”

How did you manage to stay together for 65 years? The woman replied, “we were born in a time when if something is broken we would fix it, not throw it away.”

A most surprising 2011 (4 of 4)

The year 2011 was all about reconnecting with old friends, appreciating what I have in life and being surprised by the amazing returns I was getting just by living life. To put it simply: in 2011, I got lucky.

It was all about welcoming unexpected turns, chance encounters and meaningful reunions. This year, I got to reconnect with old loves – whether people, places or even events.

After months or even years of not seeing them, I got to reunite with my high school barkada. I made time to catch up with my other friends, revisit UP, rediscover my love for Mindanao and once again watch Mraz live in Manila.

What made 2011 a most wonderful surprise is that I didn’t need to look far. Everything was laid out in front of me. I simply had to reach out and reach out, I did. Of course, I met a lot of new friends and made a lot of new experiences too – which made the year all the more interesting.

As the minutes leading to 2012 dwindle down, I couldn’t help but wonder what’s in store for me this coming new year. I’m crossing my fingers that it’s going to be another great year and I hope you’ll have one too.

Happy New Year!

A most surprising 2011 (3 of 4)

The second half of the year definitely came by so fast. Both work and play kept me busy.

• I had the rare chance to step inside the Malacañang Palace. I also had the opportunity to travel to far-flung places in Mindanao (such as Cotabato, Butuan and Compostela Valley) I wouldn’t have been to if not for my line of work.

Crazy workmates make for fun playmates

• I got the privilege to chat with Ms. Rina Jimenez-David whose column I’ve been following since high school. Aside from work-related matters, we talked about how worthwhile and fun it was to watch Zombadings! That very same week, her column about the indie movie came out.

Fangirl mode over Rina Jimenez-David

• In 2011, I got to write for a medical journal, a real-estate magazine and by the start of the second half of the year – Meg Magazine. (Thanks, Klara!) I think the more rewarding part was helping a good friend make her dream come true: seeing Chubbs’ work in print! :)

Meg June 2011

Meg August 2011

• Of course, Joel and I made the most of our first couple of months together. I wasn’t really up for it but he managed to make me attend a CURSOR event again after quite some time. Glad to be able to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

With my constant date

Attended the CURSOR party at Techno Wave in Morato

Watched Ely Buendia and the Diamond Dogs in Saguijo

Partied with the SWI girls at Republiq and Opus

Hung out with 77 kids at Hamby's condo for her despedida

Had our first out of town trip together at Boracay

Along with the good memories are sad ones. A dear friend and former co-worked passed away. We were of the same age. It was heartbreaking to see someone so bubbly and vibrant leave us behind – but we know she’s in a better place now where she is surrounded by the birthday boys.

I miss your laughter, Jaline.

Thinking through midway 2011

While I was searching through my stuff for my year-end rundown, I ended up with a lot of quotes. I guess I was mulling over things over and over. Apparently, my sanity depended largely on the arts, literature, pop culture and media.

The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.
- Banksy

Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
- Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke

It’s only right that you should play the way you feel it but listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness – like a heartbeat – drives you mad in the stillness of remembering what you had and what you lost…
- Dreams, Fleetwood Mac

Now our lives are changing fast… Hope that something pure can last…
- We Used to Wait, Arcade Fire

Zoe: Alright, what do you have to say for yourself?
Ted: I don’t know. Sometimes, things fall apart to make way for better things.
– How I Met Your Mother S6 E23

I know I’m not gonna settle ‘til I find what I’m looking for… Something different, something more, some sort of counter intuitive love… Meaning I don’t know what I want. I only know what I don’t what.
– Vicky in Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona

Love? Be it man. Be it woman. It must be a wave you want to glide in on, give your body to it, give your laugh to it, give, when the gravelly sand takes you, your tears to the land. To love another is something like prayer and can’t be planned, you just fall into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief.
– from Admonitions to a Special Person by Anne Sexton

A most surprising 2011 (2 of 4)

Years of gushing over Rogue made me such a fangirl. I didn’t want to admit it but the first half of the year managed to expose that silly fangirl side which I’ve been trying to hide. One day, when Mark Nicdao tweeted he was at M Cafe, I tweeted back saying I would meet him there and have my book signed. I hurriedly left my work desk, got my copy of Vantage at the condo and walked briskly to M Cafe. (To add to my surprise, I also spotted Myrza Sison there!)

Mark laughed because he thought my going there was just a joke. I didn’t have much to say as I was nervous. I was simply glad to have my book signed by Mark Nicdao himself.

Signed copy of Mark Nicdao's Vantage

At the start of the second quarter of 2011, I already made a pact with myself about the changes that were to be made. However, due to circumstances, I ended up leaving work earlier than expected. My crazy work friends were sad to see me go but happy with the new challenge I was about to embark on.

In truth, I was sort of lost. I didn’t really have a fixed direction. (Can you say quarter-life crisis?) At that moment, I wanted to take on freelancing – just to try my hand at something so unfixed and irregular while I still had the opportunity and the luxury to do so. As I was getting prepped up for freelance work (which was mostly online-based), an opportunity came along. I’m glad I took it. I bid Makati farewell (it became my bedroom), and I said hello to Ortigas after spending most of my working life in Makati.

It was not for naught. In fact, by making such decision, I was following the words of John Gabriel Pelias, the 19-year-old UP summa cum laude who graduated that summer: ”You graduated not from any university but from a university named after the nation. Use your talents to contribute to the country.” ♥

It was a surprise to find out my new set of workmates were just as crazy – or even more crazy than I already am.

"Weird si Drakulita. She belongs here." -Aubrey Friginal

With my new work came a lot of fun adventures. I was sent off early on to Mindanao – to Butuan and Cotabato where I learned a lot about my new job and more particularly, I heard first-hand the many problems our fellow Filipinos are encountering on a day-to-day basis.

I also got to learn more about myself in the process. Apparently, someone could be a sharpshooter with a little more practice and a lot of patience.

Bullseye!

Summer, all in all, was lovely. Along with change came a lot of pretty things and a door of opportunities despite the many things that got lost and commitments that were broken. I fell in love with the Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light, Jeisa’s Anthropologie Summer 2011 campaign, Crazy Stupid Love‘s trailer and you.

Everyone, including myself, had been caught by surprise.