~* YEAR-END THINGIEMAJIG *~

I've been googling for a nice year-end survey to put on my blog coz I didn't want to re-do last year's year-ender post. That would be sooo last year (read ala Legally Blonde/Clueless gal). I think I may have the same answer to the questions and that would totally suck. That would mean I have not matured, improved, had any diversified interests or exciting new things that happened in my life.

So I'll do a mishmash of things here...

BEST THOUGHTS:

• Where did we ever get the idea that if we don't forgive people, they suffer? (from: Happiness in a Nutshell by Andrew Matthews)
• Happiness is a choice.
• Don't sweat the small stuff.
• He's just not that into me.

BURNING QUESTION OF THE MOMENT:

• What does the Eraserhead song "Spolarium" mean? I got into thinking what the song meant after seeing the Imago footage of the ultraelectromagneticjam on myx. "At bakit ba tumilapon ang spolarium dyan sa paligid mo?... At ngayon di pa rin alam kung ba't tayo nandito. Pwede bang itigil muna ang pag-ikot ng mundo?" I looove the song. I love the way Aia sang it. It's my LSS of the moment. {Superthanks Sis, for giving me the ultraelectromagnetic jam CD for Christmas!}

RESOLUTIONS I HOPEFULLY CAN KEEP:

• Exercise and put the Ab-Lounge my dad and I bought to good use. Must lose this marshmallow tummy!
• Divert my extra money to my savings account.
• Open a time deposit account.
• Buy only what I need and not what my impulse-buying mind wants. Umm. Okay, I am allowing myself to splurge once in a while especially if I am depressed and only a shopping spree can give me artificial bliss.
• Go to work on time.

BEST MOMENTS OF 2005:

• Our family trip at Subic around Holy Week. My Ocean Adventure whale encounter. My parasailing experience.
• Birthday celebration at 19East with my highschool friends
• When I got my Technomarine watch as a gift for our team's great 2004 performance/in lieu of our planning session in Malaysia that got cancelled due to cost-cutting directives.
• My cathartic SMS conversation during my b-day with The One Who Got Married

WORST MOMENTS OF 2005:

• unexpected bumpingS-into-someone at the friggin' terminal
• When I unleashed my inner-biatch with that *very* bitchy SMS I sent to someone during his -- of all days-- birthday.

BEST BUYS OF THE YEAR:

• CDs: Hale, SpongeCola's Palabas
• BOOK: He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt
• RAM, hard disk and DVD drive upgrade for my PC

WORST BUYS OF THE YEAR:

• CDs: Cueshe's Half Empty Half Full, Soapdish, Smooth Escapes by D'Sound

I REGRET... :

• liking Cueshe when they came out with "Stay". I thought they'd be a great band but the critics were right... they're cliches. And they keep getting jologized by the minute.
• saying "a-hole" in one of the text messages I sent
• not keeping in touch with some friends simply because I think I "outgrew" them

NEW THINGS I DID THIS YEAR:

• Grew my hair long. But damn I hate the longer time I need to spend on rinsing out conditioner and untangling/combing my hair after taking a bath.
• Went to a gig by myself. Went to Fete de la Musique alone coz of some screw up in my previous plans with friends who were supposed to go with me. But I'm so proud of myself that night! I survived being there by myself, just tripping out on the music and frantically taking pictures and videos of my fave bands. I stayed there til the end of the show with much satisfaction for having experienced such a great gig.
• Went retro with the CDs I bought: Pearl Jam's Ten, Stone Temple Pilots' Thank You, Nirvana's [black] best-of album. {Still hunting for Hole's old album with the songs Miss World, Violet, Asking For It...}

BEST GIGS I'VE BEEN TO THIS YEAR:

• Fete de la Musique at the Alternative Stage in front of Podium
• Ultraelectrimagnetic jam in UP Diliman
• Back to back SpongeCola-Sugarfree gig at Hard Rock
• Ad Congress opening day performance of Mig Ayesa

ANNOYING STUFF DURING THIS YEAR:

• How people become way too flashy and over-customize their Friendster profiles with crazy video plug-ins, flying pictures that swim left-to-right and uncool graphic webpage background. That's exactly why I hate logging in on MySpace. Too much trashy profiles.
• How MYMP used to be so nice to watch/listen to but their super duper over-saturation of the music scene/media (think: Nina's videos from the same friggin' Nina Live session) has rendered them totally ear-bleeding to listen to.
• How our cable operator re-shuffled the channels this Dec. AXN and Star World, Myx and MTV Phils. are not next to each other. It totally screwed up my auto-channel surfing skills. And they still don't have ETC. Gaaah.
• How Simple Plan has become way too whiny. Whine, whine whine... that's all they do in their songs. What a bunch of whiny emo guys.
• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. One word: ewww.

COMMENDABLE PEOPLE I DON'T PERSONALLY KNOW:

• Yael Yuzon - he strives to always keep in touch with the people in the SC egroups. He sounds smart. He exerts positive influence to SC's young fans by encouraging them to stay in school and study well. He bothers to ask one's name when having one's CD/poster signed.
• Xavier/Anna and the rest of the moderators of the Hale egroups - I swear, about 14,ooo+ subsscribers and say, half of them actively posting.... that's one helluva eyesore-inducing responsibility. One helluva controlled chaos ;-)
• Barbie Almalbis - she unashamedly proclaims her faith in her songs and her public image is just so squeaky-clean. When you meet her in person, you just get drawn to her. She is one of those few people who emanates such a positive aura. She is an inspiring person.

FIXATIONS OF THE YEAR:

• Since I got into the rock band phase... Yael Yuzon (SpongeCola), Boogie Romero (Dicta License), Champ Lui-Pio (Hale)
• Getting to as much band gigs as I can. I love seeing bands perform live.
• Buying OPM band CDs. Good thing they sell 'em at a cheaper price than foreign artists' CDs
• Shopping for BIGGER clothes since I gained a lot of weight. (I went from small to medium!)
• RockStar INXS - the music of JD, Marty, MiG, Jordis
• Shoe-shopping and shirt-shopping (esp. the sequined/sparkly beaded ones and the statement shirts... I recently got an "I ROCK MANILA" shirt from Bayo. The word "rock" had sparkly beads on it so it was hitting two birds with one stone!)

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO SAY I LOVE YOU TO BUT I CAN'T (VERBALLY):

• My family. I love you Dad, Mom, Sis and Dean!
• My highschool best friends. I love you Abbie, Tin, Charo, Mitzi, Ivy!
• Three other persons. Despite how things turned out to be. Yes, I know I'm crazy. What can I do? I'm a shmuck for romance.

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO THANK:

• God. I know you hear my whinings. Thank you for not being tired of watching over me. Thank you for protecting my family from harm and giving us life despite a couple of ailments. Thank you for the money that we are earning and the food on our table. Thank you for not taking away my family and friends from me.
• My family and friends. Because they keep me from feeling totally alone. Because of the unconditional love they give me.
• Our househelp. She's been with us since I was in high school. She can be counted on and can be trusted. She updates me with Big Brother stuff and other {showbiz} news. Despite the fact that she misses out on cleaning my room because she's too busy taking care of our five dogs among all other daily chores. Despite the fact that sometimes I run out of office attire to wear because she hasn't washed/ironed 'em yet.
• Those who comment a lot on my blog... Ivah and Yuki, you gals top the list :) To everyone who ever commented on my posts: Thanks for posting your thoughts/reactions/musings. I like the interaction:) As for the others, your silence is deafening :P