0058B: Stories As We Wait For The End
That would sorta make an interesting story title or something. Or not - perhaps it's a tad too much like a Filipino movie.
Anyway, it's the last day of the year. While tomorrow is pretty much just another day when you get down to it in terms of another solar rotation, the passing of another 24 hours, we've all conditioned ourselves to treat this particular crossing as something very significant since it's beyond the calendar borders we've defined for ourselves. It's as good a time as any to look back at all that has happened.
In terms of work, it's been an interesting year. While I'm still Product Training Manager at the same company I started at more than five years ago and I didn't get a pay increase just yet, it's still an achievement in itself that I've made it this far and this long at my very first company. While some could argue that lasting long means very little in the grander scheme of things, it's still an achievement on certain levels. This year saw the growth of my team, the promotion tracks laid for three of my more senior staff and a lot of movement into new roles and areas of discipline. This was also the year that we finally got to have our own building instead of renting out of the RCBC Plaza. Small joys.
This year saw me finally going back to the US after pretty much 20 years of being away. Sure, it was a work assignment that didn't give me many opportunities to travel to places I actually wanted to see and do things I really wanted to do, I still got my fair share of memorable experiences. I got to do the whole Hollywood thing and watched a ton of movies in different theaters. I enjoyed having US food again (and thus gaining weight like any other American) and watching US TV shows live. I spent most of my time in Los Angeles but also got to visit our new site in Lubbock, Texas. It may not have been much of a tourist spot, but at least I can say that I actually went there, for what it's worth.
I got to reconnect with family in LA and found out my Star Wars fan of a uncle is now a member of the Silversun Pickups, which is a pretty good band making its way up the charts and hopefully major success one day. My (grand) Aunt treated me to a showing of the LA production of Wicked and that's certainly an experience that I'll never forget for the rest of my life.
I hit up West Hollywood for what it was worth and went up and down the street to see the various bars and clubs, buy essential supplies from the sex shops there and of course partied like there was no tomorrow at Rage, one of the best clubs in WeHo. While I also realized that most of my fun at clubs actually stems from my friends and not just the bar, the music or the abundance of hot, gorgeous men, I still had a decent amount of fun. It was certainly an experience but I wish Brian |kitchengod| and the likes of Ryan, John, Perry and Jeyson |kukuripupu| had been there with me to share in the fun.
This was the year I got both a laptop and a majorly expensive camera and lost both in a burglary at Matilda. As sad as that event was, it also helped us to finally get out of Pasay and move into a much better place. Now we have Vella and she is simply darling and a great venue for entertaining guests.
This was a year of new friends gained and some retained and other still strangely lost. This was a year when I didn't get to see Jeyson the whole time due to his exile to Bataan but also a year I made the trek to see my high school classmates for Christmas. It was a year when my sister Mina didn't visit as much and thus I also didn't go home to visit my family as much either. There are all things that need to be better handled next year for sure - it's the responsible thing to do.
2008 was as good as any other year or perhaps better, depending on how you evaluate things in the end. One can only hope that 2009 proves to be even better, something that can only happen through our own effort, determination and hard work.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
grimlock88) wrote,
accomplished
