The first month of the year is almost over, and I haven't done my monthly recap of 2006 :p A year ago, other than the year-end survey, I did
this, mostly for myself so I could see how much had happened in just twelve months. Let's see if last year was just as
real, messy, beautiful, and twisted.
JANUARY Possibly the worst month of my year. It was great at first. During the second week, I took over Swing for a little over a week while Niña was gone. I did a fashion shoot, my first food review, and my first product shoot with Rikky, the in-house photographer. I was having a blast despite ending the day super stressed and dead tired. However, it all went downhill from there. At the end of the month, I handed in my resignation letter, which was effective end of February. That one particular day, I felt all sorts of emotions coursing through me, rushing in and out of my system. I cried buckets while talking with Niña over the phone, who was unfortunately at a shoot that time. Smoking never felt so great. Yosi breaks were my escape. The entire month was absolutely ironic. At the beginning of the year, I kept on saying, "For some weird reason, I feel that this is gonna be a good year." But come month's end, I felt like I was just about to eat those words.
FEBRUARY I took an indefinite blog leave. Writing on my blog has always been my escape from the real world. I've always enjoyed letting all my thoughts out, however so mundane. But after what happened, I was just so speechless. And I didn't want to say something I'd regret. So I just opted for silence, and sort of retreated from it all. Even at work, actually. I'd sit on my desk, borrow an officemate's headphones, crank up the volume, and drown myself in house music while working. Yosi breaks, both with smoking and non-smoking buddies, were definitely my most cherished moments :)
MARCH In a word: FREEDOM. Finally, the emotional roller coaster ride has ended. Well, at least one of my rides. Like some people, I've had a love-hate relationship with my job. After a year and eight and a half months, that has come to an end. I'm back on my feet, with a decision to make. Should I try out this freelance thing that I'm enjoying, despite the erratic projects and the seeming instability? Should I try out for the
big fish and see if I've got what it takes, what they need? Or should I start from scratch and go for a career related to
what I took up in college? Before the month ended, despite all the mental acrobatics, I decided to have
one night all to myself and two of my best girls, Chik and Nins :)
APRIL Mid-month, I made my decision and went with choice number two :) Prior to our annual family beach trip, I was faced with another decision. Should I go for a somewhat higher position in a different company? Or should I start from below, doing something somewhat different, but with a chance of moving up, especially after having my foot in the door? I went with the latter, but not without the dreaded waiting period. Good things come to those who wait though, because after roasting myself under the Batangas sun, I got an offer :) AND! Us three house girls got reunited again, this time for
Kaskade ;) I was enjoying the rest of my vacation, because I was about to start work soon. I'm so lucky to have gotten a two-month break :D
MAY I'm back to being an Ortigas girl! Still getting the hang of my new job. I've never really done web before. But I'm learning, I'm learning :) I got to hook up with
my best girls for dinner and
one of the best editorial teams I've worked with :) Career highlight of the month: We've just launched
ShopCrazy! Yay!
JUNE My roller coaster probably took the most gut-wrenching turns this month. Okay, that sounded so morbid. But seriously. A LOT happened. And yes, I'd rather not talk about them here. Let's just say that I've finally made up my mind and stuck to my decisions. I
FINALLY got off that ride! Side note to my yosi bud, Nins: Still wanna make me
batok? Hehehe ;) I got to hang out with my college friends THRICE in one week! Mommy Len got married on the 26th, Tono had his birthday dinner on the 28th, and Gel had her welcome-back-home dinner on the 30th :)
JULY I've been crazy, crazy, crazy busy that I only got TWO blog posts this month! Sad. Well, for my blog at least. But I was happy :)
AUGUST Career highlight #2: We finally re-launched
Female Network :) I made quite a comprehensive
two-month late mid-year assessment so I guess that post can pretty much speak for this month, and the months before. One of my really good friends, Pnut, got married this month :) And another good friend,
Felix, was
one of the 100 Candy Cuties! Which reminds me, he still owes me... Coffee? :)
SEPTEMBER One of the best months of the year, with one of the most life-changing moments. I FINALLY QUIT SMOKING :) It wasn't really by choice at first, because I got sick and had to really stop smoking, which I thought was going to be for just a few days...a week at the most. But then more than a week after, I guess I decided to just continue with the habit of not smoking. And I guess it worked, because I haven't smoked a stick since, not even a puff :) I had the chance to quit earlier in the year, around January when I got sick for two weeks in December. But the first thing I did when I hung out with my friends from my old office was, yes, go down to smoke :P
OCTOBER Quite an interesting start to my month. But I chose not to let it bug me longer than it should :) Celebrate is this month's theme! My sister, Chec, just celebrated her 22nd birthday; my Dad's company, Filmex, won the coveted Production House of the Year award; someone gave me my first pair of Havaianas (Hehehe); and Candy Cutie Felix is at it again!
NOVEMBER The year's about to end, and everything just keeps getting better! :) We had a mini vacation to celebrate his birthday. Though we were crazy busy before and after, even if we only took TWO DAYS off work, everything was just worth it :D And then the day after his birthday, he received good news, which was topped a week after by even better news! On the other hand, I was preparing myself for something big. Which would also make my birthday month :) And finally, finally,
Happy Feet! By end of the month though, we had to say goodbye to a dear officemate, Corinne. But I'm sure—or rather, I KNOW—she's doing much better now :) Hurray for everyone who's moving up!
DECEMBER One of the best months! :) The first weekend was spent with my house party girls, Nins and Chik. And for the first time, with our boys! Hahaha! It has always been just us three, but the new company was very much welcome, of course :) Too bad someone had an incident and had to leave early :P The weekend after that, I finally got to meet his family :) And then I had Christmas lunch with them on the 24th. It just felt so good to be somewhat part of his family, as well as having him part of mine :) And to top that all off, I had
my first out of town trip EVER! We went to the beach for my birthday, and completely enjoyed ourselves the entire time :) And of course, my early birthday and Christmas gifts. My baby gave me the cutest pair of sneaks, which I pointed out earlier :P But I wasn't hinting at all,
ha? Swear :) And then I got another gift. I still say it's not official, because I haven't signed any papers yet. But come mid-February, I'll be transferring to the Editorial department, and I'll be handling one of Summit's new magazines :) Heehee, still vague? I don't wanna jinx everything. I think that nothing is really a hundred percent sure without the papers to back them up. So I'd rather not write anything on my blog yet :)
Aaah, quite a year. I wasn't wrong when I said that I felt it was going to be a great year for me. And it was, it really was! The year that just passed was even greater than I expected. The ups most definitely outweighed the downs. And save for a few things, I wouldn't have things any other way :)
I know this year will be great. Even greater! But I also know that it'll be full of challenges, most definitely. Not only career-wise, but in the relationship arena as well. But I know we'll do just fine. We just have to take things a step at a time. Right, babe? :)
