The Promise to Do Better
I started 2013 by being wacky and I wish that by the end of the year, I still have this silliness in me. People are supposed to change consistently, right, but I don’t want this part of me to change. I do hope that whatever shit I get myself into this year, I’d still manage to smile and laugh at the end of the day. I am pretty sure that this year’ll be one roller coaster ride, but I have always loved roller coasters so I’m pretty excited! (I know, I don’t make sense sometimes.)
I have thought of coming up with another comprehensive list of plans and goals for this year, but I did that for 2012 and look what little it helped. Then I thought of not doing another one, because heck, I’d probably end up not doing a single thing from the list! But then here I am, trying to come up with another because really, I cannot sit still without knowing that I have some things to accomplish for this year. I always rely on lists, making one the first thing I do for everything. It’s not like I religiously follow them, but there’s just something so fulfilling about crossing out an item.
You know, there’s at least something that I vowed last year that tried to do until the very end, and that’s to go out of my comfort zone! And to live recklessly! I didn’t take giant steps but I took human steps, okay. I also don’t know what that means, but at least it’s not just baby steps. Heh. But there are some things that I did last year that 2011 Jane wouldn’t have done. That’s why at the end of 2012, I was happy. And I still am, of course.
As usual, I do not have a new year’s resolution because I know I’ll never be able to faithfully do it anyway. But there are some things I want to try and some things I know I should do.
The Bests of Last Year
2012 was a lot of things, but most of all, it was awesome.
I barely crossed out anything on my to-do list for last year, but I still can’t help but feel that on 2012, I experienced more amazing things than ever. I can never rate my year or to quantify it’s awesomeness, but I can tell you that I never felt this thankful, this blessed before.
My online accounts have been sending a review of my 2012 but it barely captured what I’d been up to. Oh, I’m still in my old job, I’m still a fangirl, still a simpleton. But I can at least say that I have changed in some ways, in good ways. Tons of eye-openers have happened this year and tons of misfortunes. Sometimes I still wish I can change them but I can’t, so I take them for what it is and try to find a good in what happened. And it’s never easy to be optimistic when my instinct tells me to shut down everybody and wallow in self-pity. So this has been quite an amazing year, because I am surrounded by amazing people who remind me that there are still a gazillion reasons to be happy.
This year, I did (and didn’t do) a lot of things. So let’s start with the pretty obvious.
Last year, I fangirl(ed).
After n years, I finally know that I am back in the fandom. I didn’t do a lot of fangirl-ing back in college because working for a community newspaper and writing my thesis ate too much of my time. I slowly crawled my way back into the KPOP fandom after college, and finally, I arrived. (I swear I didn’t intend to make that sound so dramatic. Heh.) I think it was when I attended CASSPH’s 9G last February that made me want to return to being a rabid fan. And I did.
This year, I got into so many fandoms and made some of my fangirl dreams come true! This year, I seriously felt numerous times that I’m the luckiest fangirl ever. Thank you very much.
March, I saw HwangBo at the airport and watched a shooting of Muhan Girls. April, I visited the land of Kdramas and cried to my heart’s content. May, I got to see Ian Somehalder at MoA even though I’m a bigger Paul Wesley fan. June, I went to HongKong and fulfilled my dreams of seeing ChangMin TVXQ in person! I also got to see CNBLUE that time, and bunch of other artists. But it’s TVXQ and CNBLUE that are the most important ones, okay. October, Big Bang had a concert in the country and of course I was there! And I realize I haven’t properly blogged about it yet. November, Lee MinHo held a fan meeting and a meet and greet, and I was at both events. I got to shake hands with him, too! I also chased him at the airport and touched his back but I swear I’m not a perv.
I did tons of fangirl-ing in front of my laptop, too. A year after I watched YongSeo‘s stint on We Got Married, I’m still a very heavy shipper of the two. This year, I also became an avid fan of Running Man and I still don’t know which one’s my favorite cast. It’s a close match among KwangSoo, Gary and JaeSuk. Halp. I can’t decide. I am also in love with Bang SungJoon through his drama Shut Up: Flower Boy Band a.k.a. my favorite drama for the year 2012 and maybe my favorite drama since ever.
Most importantly, I can prouldy say once again that I am a Cassiopeia. I was quite inactive over the past few years, but this year, I am a Cassie through and through. I have already accepted that TVXQ today is just YunHo and ChangMin. I am a fan of the old DBSK but no hoping and wishing can bring the five together unless the five make the conscious choice to drop everything, to forget about contracts and responsibilities and dreams and goals, just to be together. And I know that’s not the easiest thing in the world. I know they can’t easily be 5 again. So now, I’ll support TVXQ. I’ll support YunHo and ChangMin and just back them up with whatever they wish to do in the future. 🙂
I also watched 9 Korean dramas and 56 Asian movies. Uhm, I seriously didn’t think I watched that many movies! Hehe. Anyway, I didn’t bother counting the non-Asian thing I watched hrhr.
But you know what’s amazing about all this fangirl-ing? I made so many fangirl friends and converted a couple of friends into fangirls! So I don’t just get kilig out of all these craziness, I also get friendship, and that’s more than I could wish for. [Read more…]
December Loot
December is the month of big spendings and depleted savings.
December has always been the most stressful month, since in this month, you have to wrap up a year’s worth of work, do some Christmas shopping, and worry about dance rehearsals for your company’s party. So just like any normal girl, I turn to food and shopping when stress becomes a bit too much. Good thing December also means trips to cheap shopping places such as Divisoria and St. Francis’s Square! My two favorite places right because everything’s just cheap and you can haggle to your heart’s content.
So, below are my shopping finds. When I laid it down like that, I realized that I did shop too much. Then I console myself by thinking that all of it would amount to one dress from a signature brand. Then I no longer feel guilty. [Read more…]
A Very Merry Christmas
After all the stressful shopping and sleepless nights due to wrapping gifts, Christmas had come and gone, and I can confidently say that it may be the best Christmas I had. But it’s quite hard to say which Christmas is the best, since how do you even rank such thing? Every year, my family seems to be getting smaller since someone’s always moving to Italy. But still, Christmas was amazing for way too many reasons.
Last Christmas, we didn’t get to attend Misa de Gallo so we decided to attend the mass first thing in the morning. But since tons and tons of children (and adults) went to our house to ask for aguinaldo, we couldn’t leave. Christmas morning was spent on giving gifts (and receiving as well!) instead. It was still pretty fun.
When we managed to escape the visitors, my family went straight to Isdaan in Calauan. We’re too late for any mass, anyway, so we might as well fill ourselves with good food. But as expected, Isdaan was packed, and we had to wait for quite a while to be seated. But it was all worth it because the Crispy Pata was excellent omg. We also watched the show and roamed around the place. It’s a pretty popular destination lately, and I can see why. The food’s good and there are tons of attractions, too. I’m glad that we got to bring my grandparents there!
It was almost 4PM when we finished lunch, so yes, we stayed there for quite a long while. Since we’re late for the 4PM and still too early for the 5:30PM mass, my family went to SM to have our yearly family portrait taken. Thus, we’re all wearing red!
And to cap off a perfect day, we went to church. It’s been quite a while since I last attended mass on Christmas day itself, since we used to go to church on Christmas Eve. But it’s a nice change since the church wasn’t crowded and you could really focus. After all, Christmas isn’t just about presents and being with you family. We should never forget who should be the real focus of that day. 🙂 After all, it’s all because of Him that so many good things in life are made possible.
And Christmas won’t be complete without having dinner with the entire clan! It has always been like that. Though families would spend the day apart, we’d all go to one house and close Christmas by having dinner together. We even got to have a video call from our family in Italy. It just occurred to me that half of the family’s over there already. It’s all for the better, but it still feels a bit sad that they’re miles and miles away. But it doesn’t matter, because sometimes, it feels as if nothing changed.
So overall, it was a pretty amazing Christmas. God is an amazing God. He has given me way too many blessings, and I often wonder what I did to deserve them all. But I should probably stop questioning why I’m so blessed and start thinking of ways to turn these blessings into something that could be of use to others as well. And you know what, I actually this has been my best year so far. So many good things have happened, and it’s all up to me to make my 2013 better. I have an amazing family, amazing set of friends, amazing boyfriend, and I really couldn’t ask for more. And it’s all thanks to Him! 🙂
P.S. And for the first time, Alex spent Christmas Eve with us and it was nice. Like really nice. And it’s really one of the reasons why it was such an amazing Christmas. That is all. I hope you guys had a pretty splendid time, too!
Happy holidays!