The Year That Was 2011

While others are busy making resolutions this time, well, I thought of why not do a Year In Review? And since this will be a start of a series for many a year to come, you can take it as a year-ender or something like the kind you see on TV. Only, there aren’t many highlights. Thanks to my husband who did not even attempt to take me anywhere.

I don't need to chronicle the events of 2011 in detail since most of the major ones are listed in the archives. You know, those little boxes with caption down below that says “You Might Also Like”. Instead I'm going to reflect a bit on how those events affected me.



I would like to believe that I am better with words, than with numbers. And so, reading and writing has always been a huge part of me. I remember getting addicted to comics when I was eight. And that’s when my parents taught that some good spanking would served me well. I likewise started young scribbling words to complete a story. And these unpublished stories are what my children look up to every night. They have now become the giants, and fairies, and princesses in my own fairy-tales.

Unfortunately, since I seemed to have a natural gift for writing pretty well, I took the skill for granted and never pushed myself to become better. I think this had to do with my most hated emotion and the one that I seem to be constantly battling: fear. I was afraid to find out that "pretty well" was the best that I could do. I was afraid that, while I might be a star in the Little League, that I could never compete in the Majors. I'd done too much stagnating for many years though, and it was time to either face the truth if I stop making excuses and write like I've always wanted to do. For whatever reason, I chose to blog as a means to figure out if my writing was totally skipabble, forgetabble, or not.

It was about this time last year that I took blogging a bit more serious. Although some of my posts can barely pass for school essays, and my stories weren’t funny and exciting like others, in any case they were honest and sincere. To fully appreciate what is it for me to bare myself open, you would have to know how impossible it is for me to talk about Missing Father and Senior Moment, let alone personal fears and insecurity in If I Have No Fear and Does She. My apology for babbling and emoting.

2011 also saw the dawn of my new vocation, well, this time in teaching. I was tasked to talk in the church every third Sunday and not a quitter, I hate averting challenges. So I faced it head on but there are days that my uncertainties storm my head like giant hails. It made me completely mental as told in Quo Vadis, but fortunately things turned out in ways that I could have never imagined. Sorry for not making sense here, I’ll probably discuss this in future posts.

What I'm getting to in a much longer route than I had anticipated was that this blog has made the difference for me this year. On a writing level, it helped me to maintain a better--though still not brilliant--writing schedule. It's also given me some confidence that my writing might not be completely crappy given the positive feedback that I've received about it. I am so grateful to entertain you people.

On a personal level, I am thankful for the friends I did not know a year ago. Andy of Jec and the Beans Talk and Dai Ling and just recently Sagittarian. And to people I have forever, my BFF, my support system, my friends for life, Margj of Between You and Me and Dio of Sense and Sensibility. Thanks for all your comments. They made me feel I am not blogging for myself alone. They, and all of you dear readers, are a blessing that I never, ever saw coming.

So here we are, one more trip around the sun, one of several billion before and several billion to come. I pray that everyone will have a blast in this 2012. If anything, this New Year is a reminder of the fact that somehow despite of the many mistakes we’ve had; we are really doing just fine.