My 2025 has been a whole lot of not doing much save for playing videogames mid-year. It's weird how the first half of the year started since I was thinking of a few things to do, but then for some strange reason I could feel a blockage in my overall flow of things...and I don't know why things went the way it did this year. I am taking it slow, and I am embracing the art of choosing to be more passive than aggressive. My progression has been quite slow in consequence. It took a turn during the last quarter when a couple of things got moving, and I ended up back on my feet even before I could really dive back into employment. This is where it gets weird, because what happened is exactly how my niece read my year ahead tarot, even if I had my reservations when she told me that I needed more rest this year even if I argued I already over-rested last year. I was thinking it wasn't possible since I had several projects prepped this year as those plans impasse 2024. Then out of nowhere several of them either didn't push through or got delayed until the end of this year. I'm still at awe with how coincidences and manifestations work in line with tarot since the interpretations are often guided by gut intuition and chance. Since life is a web of connections, from the metaphysical, spiritual, and out into the physical plane, it's one of those that makes life interesting beyond logic.
The cover photo pretty much sum up my 2025. I'm in deep water not quite sure what to do with a big zero coming my way. I felt vulnerable, yet alive. This year I felt a change in how I long to be at home whenever I go out for a long time. It's like I am being pulled in my room where I can just hibernate, but there are days when I long to absorb the energy of the people around me because I have drained myself out internally, hence I have to leave every now and then.
This is the year when a friend also officially requested to cut ties with me...well...with everyone in the group due to personal matters. It's a weird situation as I often cut ties without closure...I simply move on. But when a friend messaged me to tell me goodbye because she will be leaving social media, as well as all forms of communications with all our common friends, and I was given the task to explain her goodbye to the group, it kind of delegated me with a role of being the bringer of bad news. Telling friends of unfortunate situations other friends are in because they know how bluntly I can state an unmentionable fact. I have somehow gotten used to it, to be the one to tell people of an unfavorable news. One at the end of the year being, telling my carpenter the news that he had lost his home to a flash flood, and that he needed to go home. Growing older meant toughening up, learning to cut ties and moving on to the next chapter. This year I helped build the grave that I will someday be buried in, as well as a lot of our family members. A mere part of the process, in preparation of the inevitable.
This was the year I chose to be closer to the sea, more than the mountain this time. I don't know what happed. I guess my preference has changed, but then again...perhaps this is just a temporary respite from the high altitude. From my love of earth, I chose to be closer to the water this time. Most importantly, this was the year when majority of my friends are in agreement, early meet ups meant being home by 10pm. It's the best way to not lose sleep and feel sick the next few days.
Wow Moment: Catching the Masskara Street Dance competition this year again after skipping it for 15 years. I'm usually either away, or choose not to hassle myself with the crowd. This time though, it called to me so strongly that I jolted out of the house at 3pm to catch them performing on the street at San Sebastian. I managed to catch seven out of ten barangays, including the dancers who were declared as grand champions. I had to walk a few blocks from where I parked, trudge through the tight crowd in a sticky skin-to-skin situation, smelling sweat, with the paranoia of getting pick pocketed along the way, only to find a distant spot where I can stand high enough to see the smiling masks moving with this year's horrible soundtrack. I mostly saw the back of people's heads and hundreds of phones taking videos just like me. I listed to the crowd and heard a combination of Hiligaynon, Bisaya, Tagalog, and English conversing around me, and it filled the humid air with the energy of the audience. I missed that feeling, of being with a sea of strangers, celebrating the vibrant culture of Bacolod. Unfortunately my energy levels are no longer up to par with the younger, more excited tourists that I decided to transfer location even before the street dance competition ended. I guess I just needed to absorb the energy of the place...then got drained in the process. I'm such an introvert like that. At least I still managed to walk to Lacson's street party after, and stay in the area as late as 8pm.
Heart Pumping: Driving through the streets of Bacolod after Typhoon Tino, a Signal #4 cyclone that ravaged the entire Visayas, with typhoon's eye passing by our city at 200kph. It's my first time to experience a devastating typhoon while in Bacolod. As I sat in my room watching the gust of wind passing in front of our gate, sloshing the trees, swooping leaves, crackling metal roofs being torn, random debris falling in our front yard, entire cluster of branches flying off our neighbor's trees and crashing on our roof, there is a combination of awe and fear that settled in me. I'm glad there was no lightning strikes this time, just a whole lot of angry wind being unleashed by Tino. I would at times sit on our porch to feel the wind more and find thrill at how fierce mother nature is. I had no intentions of leaving the house until one of the carpenters went to the house to inform me that four glass panels shattered in the office that I was renovating. The professionalism in me immediately made me decide that as soon as the weather improved I was going to have to visit the site. The typhoon started to gain momentum by 7am, reaching full power at 11am all the way to 3pm, by 4pm I was on the road. It was like experiencing Typhoon Odette in Cebu all over again, only this time I was the one driving, avoiding random obstacles that blocked the road. There were so many fallen trees and branches in the area I had to pass through in order to reach the office building, like a post-apocalyptic scene, where almost everywhere was closed while a few private vehicles slowly went around, no public transportation was seen. I was still in the car when I saw large shards of glass scattered on the street, its perimeter reached as far as 20 meters from its origin. That's when it sunk in, how powerful Typhoon Tino was.
Unexpected: Needing to extract my 3rd wisdom tooth because it's causing the molar beside it to decay. With it, needing to switch my toothpaste to Sensodyne because I also started having sensitive teeth! A big WTF is going on? When the dentist told me that I wasn't getting a simple dental filling, but that he needed to extract my upper left wisdom tooth, wait for my gums to heal after two weeks then get the dental filling on the tooth beside it, I shrunk in the dental chair as the scenes of needing surgical procedures for my other two wisdom teeth came flashing back. I was imagining not only several painful injection on my gums, but how my now dentist's father needed to slice my gums open, break my teeth with a hammer, extract the broken teeth one by one, before stitching back my gums to close it. That was horrible! And it happened twice! Thankfully the wisdom tooth wasn't impacted this time, so I got away with just three gum injections then him pulling out my tooth after he wiggled it loose with some tool.
Most Annoying: Having to deal with little to no water pressure at home for several months this year. Our pump and water tank is not enough to solve this on a daily basis. As a result I would have to stay up late, between 10pm-12mn in order to take a bath and store some water for the following day. I needed to wait for 30mins to fill a bucket outside the house and carry it in my room. The inability to flush the toilet, clean the bathroom, or freely wash my hands and dishes annoys me for days at a time.
Scariest: When I heard a non-existent thing call out my name in a creepy whispery disembodied voice. It was one of the few instances that I got scared in my own home. It was around 11pm at home and my parents has retired for the night, leaving me the last person awake. It's my thing to wait for my parents to turn off the lights and close the door to their room before heading out to get some late-evening supplies from the kitchen to my room. They're usually asleep by 10pm. On this particular night, I went out to get my water bottle from the fridge, and instead of going straight to my room, I stopped in the middle of our living room to drink a couple of gulps straight from the bottle. As I stood there taking in air after a mouthful, I suddenly heard my name being called, "Loooooooveee." A whiff of airy voice that sounded that of an exhausted woman called out in a typical horror movie-like way from behind the freezer at the same time I felt it echo right next to my left ear. I walked to check if anyone was there--although of course I knew there was none. I felt the chill ran up my spine and up the end of the hairs on my arms that I stood still for a second trying to make sense of it before striding off to my room and locking the door. I slept with the light on that night. I hate it when I could hear them, it leaves an impression that they have the ability to annoy you.
Heartbreaking: Becoming lactose intolerant this year has been one of the most shocking moments of my life. I can chug down half a liter of milk easily the last years and it would not bother me. Now, half a cup of milk and I wouldn't be able to make it in half an hour without being punished. This is a life-changing moment...or moments as I have repeatedly denied it, but every time I had been proven wrong...and it has altered so much of my life choices, from needing to give up 85% of every cafe menu out there to being very careful of screwing up my choices in a public setting. I've come to realize that alternative milk drinks can never be a replacement for udder-sourced milk because my life has never been the same again. Cursed ageing!!! It took me several months of gut rest and taking in probiotics, plus trial and error of what brands works and doesn't that I've learned to drink milk only when I'm at home or about to go home. So far, anything that works, works for me. By the end of the year, I was able to slowly introduce dairy in my diet, but only with very select brands.
Worst: It's having to go through another financial crisis after several years of being able to stay on a sustainable income. The annoying thing about being unable to find the aggressive enthusiasm of earing more than the previous years is irritating. It's forcing me to make responsible life choices and it's the worst part of adulting. It's like going through the financial struggles during the pandemic, only this time with an already depleted savings account. Hence, the only new place I've been to this year is Panglao.
Funniest: The scene that plays out in my head whenever I think of a really funny situation is more of an irony as it happened from someone's tragedy. This was during our Boracay trip, and we were on our way home from that long Bora weekend. Backstory is, my friend cornered me into using my car as service for her office's supposed team-building-turned-group-trip to Boracay. So we drove all the way from Bacolod to Caticlan and back for this trip. And since my car is being used and I'm lazy at doing very long drives, I drove the car on from the port just until our first stop where my friend took over the driving. We were somewhere in Capiz when we veered to the topic of aswangs as that's the lore of Capiz, known to be a place of aswangs. As we passed by a small settlement, I saw a pool of blood on the road. I grabbed my friend's hand and exclaimed, "Jen! There's blood! There's blood on the road!" In a panic, my friend hit the breaks, stopping the car in the middle of the road. "Jen, the blood! The blood!" I couldn't form a proper sentence in a frenzy at how quickly things took a turn. "Where? Where's the blood?" She scanned the road without moving the car until she could spot the blood I was talking about. All the bystanders were staring at us on the side of the road, until a man passed in front of us holding windshield shards with bloodstains, "Is that the blood?" she quipped. I squeezed her hand frustrated, "Jen, move! The blood!" Then in what seemed like a while, our friend sitting at the back screamed, "Jen, you stopped the car exactly where the blood is!" Yes, the reason why she could not find the blood we were telling her is because she parked in the middle of the crash scene, allowing enough time for wheel to drench in whoever blood that was. It took four passengers to tell the driver to move the car because we were all sitting above the site of the accident. We couldn't help but laugh at the slowness of our friend and how the entire interaction between us happened. We kept teasing her on how badly she handled the situation that I required her to wash off my car to rid of any bloodstain her break stunt had resulted to. It was a major blooper moment in a supposed grim situation.
Un-luckiest Moment: Getting sick with flu and cough many times this year. I have noticed that my immune system hasn't been its best lately. Every time I get too tired I tend to fall with a flu that usually takes at least two weeks to heal, the phlegm especially. It's irritating when you have to cancel other plans by putting off meeting with people because of a virus. I've noticed how weak I've gotten since contacting covid and aged past the calendar. On the most part, it's those times when I lack sleep and get stuck in a car or a situation with a sick person that I often contact the air they're breathing and get sick in the process.
Stupidest: Needing to deal with our rescue dog named Batik because of her tiger-like fur pattern. She's this noisy thing that doesn't let anyone touch her but is just wanting not to be alone and licks people's feet. As an aspin or Bisaya as we call in our dialect, she was born under our other house from the stray dog that we got from the farm. My brother feeds Batik's mother but then the dog would not allow anyone to domesticate her, so she freely goes in and out of our house...and tend to leave her litter with us. She has basically given us 14 puppies through the years that we have to give away to friends all the time. After our Japanese spitz died last year, I wanted to give my golden retriever another companion...and so here comes Batik. It took five months and several attempts for my brother to take her and bring her to our other house because she ran away for a while...then returned after several days of getting lost. Now, she's back as this anxious puppy who eats a lot, bullies my 3-year-old retriever, scatter trash around the house, and screams at the world at her disposal...talk about being struck with an angsty teenager. It took several months before she allowed us to pet her, but one scurries away at any sudden movement. She likes to lick our feet and heel after she licks her butt that I scold her not to stick her tongue on my skin! She also runs out the gate when we open it, refuses to return before we close it, then barks nonstop and scratches the gate in demand to let her in a few minutes after.
Regretful: The restaurant choices I made in Panglao. They were pretty to look at in photos, both plating and interior, but there was no dish I found delicious. They were bland and confused as to how they made the fusion dishes. I can say I did not enjoy my meals in Panglao, save for my buffet breakfasts at Modala and that Korean place we accidentally ate at on my birthday. That's like two meals out of the twelve meals I had in Panglao. I cannot remember any memorable meal I had in our Bohol trip back in 2005...it took me 20 years to give it a second chance, only to confirm that I'm not a fan of their local taste. The only saving grace was following my gut feeling of eating Korean food in a Korean owned restaurant because majority of the tourist influx are from Korea. My advice? Eat Korean food in Pangalo because those aesthetically Instagramable cafes lacks what matters most, tasty food.
Another regretful thing I did was choosing to delay the upgrade of my laptop's RAM and Storage when I bought it, that by the time I was ready the prices has skyrocketed up to 80-100% due to those damn AI that I paid double the amount I would otherwise have spent on something else than delayed gratification.
Coolest: Attending the Himbon: 39th Negros Trade Fair in SM Aura, and seeing the products sell out. It feels great to see the high quality products that the island can produce, from food to furniture. There is a level of craftmanship and quality that the trade fair presents as the clienteles are mostly on the upscale market. I always hear stories from my cousin who joins the fair annually, how sellers always struggle to supply the demands of the market, often selling out even before the fair ends.
Heart Warming: Seeing my fellow countrymen march during the September 21 Trillion Peso March. There was a super typhoon Nando was passing through that day. I was discouraged by my mother about going out to join the rally because of safety and health concerns. But I could feel the call deep within me, and I was so restless as the clock ticked closer to 1pm with a feeling of helplessness. It was a horrible feeling to try and think of logic why I didn't need to go the march, because logic and a calling heart are completely different when it comes to the reality of the situation. In the end, I waited for my parents to retire in their rooms for a siesta so I could sneak out to be at the plaza. I had to walk and the ride the jeepney because taking the car would alarm them, but that made the journey felt more amazing. I arrived a little late as the rain had poured and the people has dispersed, but then there were those who stayed. It hits different when you do something that's so much bigger than yourself, and it was in that moment, wet in the rain, wearing a plain white shirt, that my heart felt right, to be standing there with the rest of the Filipinos in protest of an unjust government.
Proudest Moment: Purchasing a gaming laptop without financial aid from my parents. This will be my third laptop, the first one was in college that lasted 7 years until it got stolen at the office, the second one is on it's 9th year still working but Windows decided to no longer support the system which is why the software had been testing my patience...plus I could no longer download new games because of the outdated software. Now this is my third ASUS laptop since it has proven its value over the years, and I've been enjoying using it with games. I feel proud in a sense because I know it's a major purchase that costs so much, and will be utilized for many years. I'm still on the road to ROI it.
Cutest: Tako puppies! 6 of them squishable things! I didn't it would be possible that he'd have this many puppies on the first litter of a young aspin that my brother gave us, but they did ended up having 7, but 1 died upon birth. Still, the pups are a combination of black and golden colors. Not what I was expecting at all. It's my first time to witness a live birth of a pup because I was just observing the little ones crawling
Most Fun: It's the random days when I get to play a good amount of videogames that I enjoy playing. It's more of the cozy games than RPGs I'm into these days. I still prefer the cutesy pixel art or cartoon-style graphics than the realistic ones as it's both nostalgic and lighter on the laptop's system. I still enjoy casual gaming, and it's something I know will keep me company even in my later years. I mainly play on Steam now, and gone are the days when I pirate games as I've come to understand the value in creating something for long periods of time.
Wildest: It's snorkeling without a lifejacket and fins on for the first time in Panglao. It was the deepest water I swam in unaccompanied by anything or anyone. The current was good, which made it possible for me to go rouge. It was a liberating feeling to just let go of everything and just follow the fishes. I overcame my fear of drowning and took time to be present in that moment. Celebrating my birthday in such a way that my guests and I enjoyed...at least I know I did...made it memorable. It was the first time I convinced a friend to go snorkeling, and it's good to know that I pushed someone into something that I like.
Most Challenging: Making do of the situation after the devastation that Typhoon Tino left. There was zero electricity and water for a few days. What I hate about it is the lack of water, more than not having electricity. This meant controlling my urge to use the toilet, so I had to not drink too much water and be very careful that I don't ingest anything that might upset my stomach until things have gotten better. Too much rain causes our drain to backflow, and I hate cleaning anything disgusting, especially involving biological waste. No water also meant giving up a proper shower...thankfully I have learned how to clean myself using just five liters of water or less during the drought months last year. This also meant I had to use water I kept for months in case of an emergency like this...and it ending up growing moss, this meant doing the mineral water technique of using store-bought water as the final wash on your whole body to avoid getting itchy on unnecessary skin related issues from bathing in unclean water. I also had to drive around a bit to charge my cellphone and nightlamp with my car battery just to get by. The annoying part was every night when I had to deal with my fear of sleeping in a pitch black room because it was so dark the first night that I kept waking up thinking that I might see some shadow or something right beside me...which was the irking part, waking up when I didn't necessarily want to. The loss of phone signal and wifi was bearable, but the need to get updates from people affected and looking at the situation of the island was challenging. The experience wasn't horrible for me personally as compared to those people whose houses were destroyed along with everything else...it was simply challenging to need to go back to the basics against my will. It took 6 days before the power was restored.
Magical Moment: It was a series of moments right after Typhoon Tino ravaged the country. I guess it's a butterfly effect, wherein it started with a thought, a motivation of wanting to help those whose lives have been affected by the onslaught. An act of kindness, a small curious glance, an inquiry, all can result into making a difference. I started with buying candles to be given out, just 20 of them to be distributed to a few families in the community because I know it'll take time before electricity is restored. At least a flicker of light can alleviate the darkness momentarily. I was told that the candle I handed was the only thing they held onto at night for a week. We gave them our old clothes, those that are no longer worn but decent enough. Then I bought 15 water jugs because I heard from another the difficulty he went through finding water to take home without a proper container. Then I got home thinking what else to do a friend from Manila asked if how the situation was, and I told them the truth, that thing were not okay when the system is failing and the world in at an upheaval. My friends offered cash donations, amounting to a sum that I knew I could truly ease the burdens for some of them. I bought pots and pans and pales and cleaning supplies and canned goods and rice and whatnots. Why? Because when I gave them cash with the intent that they buy nails and roof to fix their homes, they chose to use the money to buy food...it was essential, more than the shelter. So I bought stuff they can cook with instead, things they can use to wash their clothes, things that if they have will make it easier yet they choose to forgo because their tummies were rumbling. They said they ate sardines 3x a day since that's all they were offered. I bought a different kind of canned goods, anything but fish. During one of my shopping spree to buy their supplies, an old lady next to the cashier inquired about the detergent I was buying, I told her it was cheap, Php44 for 450g. Then she asked about the pots and pans and pale, and after some exchange she thanked me for the idea as she too was buying stuff to be donated to the victims of the typhoon. I few hours after I bought the items, I was messaged by a business partner that he had deposited into my bank account as reimbursement our rental deposit, cash that I thought I would no longer receive. It's a little tiring to do public service, but the act of philanthropy is good for the soul. I asked my brother to donate, he said the only thing he's donating are refrigerator magnets and old Tupperware that our mom hordes. I was annoyed and wished him karma for his ignorance. Two days later he found out he missed his flight when he arrived at the airport, wasting him the money he was so attached to, which is his weakness. I felt redeemed and told him he deserved his misfortune. I pushed on with the mission, knowing that I'm doing is paying it forward for all the blessings that I have been granted the past few weeks.
Awe-Inspiring: It's witnessing a couple of my friends and relatives tie the knot this year. I'm always happily amazed when people decide to get married...it's such a big life-changing moment that it makes me feel that they become proper adults after committing to a life of togetherness. I'm not inspired to marry anyone still at this point in my life, and continue to wonder why people younger than me want to get married, by that I mean people under 35.
Best Feeling: That moment when I parted with a friend in Dumaguete so I could travel to Panglao on my own. It's been years since I've traveled solo, and it's the most liberating feeling to be out on my own, headed to a destination I have never been. I've been to Bohol 20 years ago, but we didn't go to Panglao island back then. There's a sense of excitement to be out on my own, because in the silence of that anticipation I feel nothing but being present in that moment. This lasted only a few hours though as friends decided to accompany me in my supposed alone adventure.
OMG Moment: That moment I fell off the tricycle on our way to the Bar Ops at Jaro. It was so weird because I could feel it coming before it happened, but I blocked off my gut feeling many times until the accident. This made me realize that I should not ignore whenever I feel like there's a disturbance in head coming from gut. Before getting on the tricycle I had a feeling that I should be riding right behind the driver, but I took the backseat instead, and true enough I flung out of my seat because of a road hump that the driver did not see. My butt fell off the seat as my feet dragged on the road as I clung on to the handle bar screaming at the driver to stop because my left sandal fell off. I thought my lower back to my butt had scratches and bruises, but thankfully not a drop of blood spilled, just a couple of skin-deep scratches on my foot. The experience made me reconsider how I should listen when I could feel my subconsciousness tries to warn me of an impending danger.
Most Rewarding: Learning how to make a proper inasal, from formulating the recipe, to grilling and storage, it has taught me that it's a difficult dish to perfect. It took me around 18 recipe attempts in a span of three months before I was able to make a version that I can say is delicious enough to rival other stalls in Bacolod. And the recipe isn't even fool-proof as I don't know the science besides the quantifiable ingredients. It's not just the marinade that makes a good inasal, it's the whole process from preparation to grilling that make it different from one inasal to another.
Best Discovery: Learning how to render images using AI. It's a little ironic since I graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts, was an artist by profession for many years, and by blood I still take pride in doing art pieces from scratch...but there is so much practicality in describing a thing and get instantaneous results. Although there are instances that limits the result because of my refusal to pay any premium for AI since it's technically a interpretation of uploaded material stolen by an "un-sue-able" entity, plus my failure to get my point across in the language of an artificial intelligence. At the end of the day, as someone who runs a business who does all the marketing and product development, it saves me so much time and energy to use this technology instead of my own unperfected skill. The thing is, I am both an artist and a business owner, making me see both sides of the coin as an artist and a client...sometimes it's just easier to choose the lazy way to get the same point across. Plus, this AI thing has scratched my itch for certain fanarts that is otherwise impossible to achieve unless made by the official company, like CGI-looking works that are posted in threads by normal fans. I've embraced using ChatGPT for creating captions on my ads as well, but other than that, I still prefer to write on a notebook my thoughts, unfiltered and possibly full of red or green underlines had I typed it in MS Word. I use Notepad FYI for typing articles. Less distraction.
Favorite 2025 Drink: Tsokolate-eh at Agatona 1927 Museum Cafe; Cereal Killer at ODD Cafe;
Favorite 2025 Food: Hamburger...I've craved for it many times this year. A craving that took a while to be satisfied because of the lack of quality choices here in Bacolod. There's two places that could satisfy my craving, my favorite being Charlie's and Burger With No Name (which unfortunately closed down by this year's third quarter). Although I do tend to crave that streetside burger I had as a child from Keru Burger, but it's no longer around for many years now. I've also craved for a lot of French fries and okoy this year. The fries that made me happy was from Sprout Burger, the okoy from Lola's...but it's not the best, I simply couldn't find a good one in Bacolod. A good alternative I have for okoy is the vegetable kakiage since it's just as crispy with no iron taste due to the absence of meat. Inasal also renewed its significant role in my life after seriously learning how to make it.
Best Thing I Ate: That avocado I bought at the side of the road at Pontivedra that was so flawless I didn't share the entire kilo with anyone and ate it on its own; The red lady papaya my dad bought that was so lusciously fragrant it was like eating a sweet juicy red-orange floral fruit from the gods; Tuna Kinilaw from Nooma; Native lechon manok from Jr. Rawit's; Beef Shawarma from a stall at Salcedo Weekend Market;
Favorite 2025 Dessert: Uji Matcha soft serve from Tsujiri; Peach Danish from Bait Lehem House of Bread; Mixed Berries Danish from Gorda;
Favorite 2025 Restaurant: Mu Shu at The Row
Unforgettable Meal: The lunch I had in Makati made me realize how much I miss non-Bacolod flavors. I had a beautiful beef shawarma by some central Asian expats at Salcedo Weekend Market, as well as that luscious peach Danish that I regret not getting two because it was sold out by the time I returned. Then that Cereal Killer at ODD Cafe paired with a cinnamon donut was a perfect ending to a wonderful meal, including lazy walks in between.
Worst thing I Ate: Spicy Wonton at Modern Shang; Smoke Paprika Ribs at Mosa; Cornsilog at Caliente Cafe Bacolod; Native coffee that tasted like a sock from a street vendor in Oriarte, La Carlota; Cool Aid Pickled Cucumber at Buri Road;
Favorite 2025 Hang Out: Mu Shu The Row; PUNO at Lola's; Dunkin at Triangle Plaza;
Favorite 2025 Songs: Multo by Cup of Joe; Free from Demon Hunters; Golden from Demon Hunters; Saan? by Maki; Dilaw by Maki
Favorite 2025 Movie/Show: Dish by Waitrose podcast on YouTube; Trent the Traveler on YouTube; KPop Demon Hunters
Favorite 2025 People: Hannah Ricketts is this British content creator who features restaurants and hotels around London, an absolutely amusing watch. Another is Hershey Neri from the podcast Chicks2Go because not only is she hilarious but she has this selfless way of thinking, just a sincere way of looking at the world that's not very common in humans. One of this was her reply to the question of their "Ako lang ba?" episode that every time an ambulance would pass she would say a little prayer that whoever is in that ambulance will be ok and that their family may be helped financially for that emergency.
Will Be Most Missed in 2025: Drinking milk without fear of getting an immediate metabolic reaction.
Achievement Unlocked this 2025:
1. Upgrade my laptop.
2. Relearning how to maximize with a minimum budget per month.
3. Create wedding invitations from concept to assembling the final product.
4. Learn to do clay pottery.
5. Do freelance work again with a corporate employer after over 8 years in hiatus.
6. Go snorkeling in Panglao, Bohol.
7. Dive in over 5-meter deep water without any guide or lifejacket.
8. Go on a solo trip from Dumaguete to Bohol.
9. Ride a horse on the beach without the guide holding the horse.
10. Learning to being in the present moment most of the time.
11. Go on a solo trip around Iloilo.
12. Attend the national rally on the street, marching against corruption.
13. Number got drawn out at a raffle draw at a wedding. You don't understand how unlucky I am when it comes to raffles.
14. Choosing the tiles and helping in the construction of our family's and my future grave. More of a columbary since it only fits urns, 14.
15. Survive another calamity caused by Typhoon Tino last November 4.
16. Get back into RPG gaming.
17. Spearhead a donation drive for those affected by Typhoon Tino.
18. Witness the birth of Tako's puppies.
19. Take care of puppies from birth until weaning.
First Time Places I Went to this 2025:
Pangalo. I didn't travel much this year...
2025 Realization:
"What's right depends on who you ask."
2025 Quotes:
"You're gonna beat your head against the wall anyway in showbusiness, pick a spot in the wall that you might love." -Phil Rosenthal
"The more specific you get, not just in writing but in everything in life, the more specific you are in cooking, the more universal it becomes. The more people you hit because we all deal with specificity" -Phil Rosenthal
"There are many stories as there are story tellers." -Sandman
