I know, I know; posts like this are a cliche. But I have different things to tell you.
GOODBYE, 2015
Let me start with the common things:
2015 has been a heck of a roller-coaster ride, but I am thankful for taking that ride! It's the year where:
I went to Bohol with just one companion, no adult supervision, made my own itinerary, and spent my own money on miscellaneous (my parents still funded my airfare and accommodation because I was still a student that time).
I finished my thesis study on my own! Researched, written, and defended it alone. All those sleepless nights and hours spent on the library was worth it! I didn't get best thesis award or anything prestigious, but I am still damn proud for accomplishing it all alone.
I graduated with Latin Honors in the University of the Philippines. It's still not sinking in, but it's a big deal because I wasn't expecting graduating with Latin Honors! Graduating on time alone is a great achievement, so graduating as a Cum Laude was a greater surprise. I wasn't really pressuring myself to graduate top of my class; I was just focusing on doing my best all the time.
I have finally been with my cousin, Colleen, who moved to Canada! After 7 long years, we have finally spent more than a month together. She stayed at my house most the time, and we went out almost every day making up all the lost time since she moved. We talk over Viber or e-mail or Facebook from time to time, but there were still things that I discovered about her. Like how she's a health conscious person now, and how hardworking she became.
I got a job! Okay, even while I was still in college, I have freelance jobs. I continued a freelance writing job while Colleen was here and shortly after she returned to Canada, started an online ESL tutoring job, and worked as the Operations Manager for ONLY MNL, all around the same time. But eventually, due to connection issues, I pursued harder to find an office job, which I did a month after Colleen left :) I am so thankful for the job I got because it's unconventional - I am the E-Commerce Manager of a retail/distributor company which sells branded watches. It's handling an online store and related to fashion - two of the things I (think) am good at!
I (FINALLY) learned how to drive! I'm already 21, so I really wanted to learn before I get too old and too busy to do so. It was my goal since I was 18, and I was finally able to do it :) After Colleen left, my dad enrolled me to driving school. After that, I started on my office job. On my first two months, dad was driving me to work (he's sweet like that, okay?). But last month, he already gave me the wheel so I can practice driving and get used to it. I feel like it's a big achievement given that the car I drive is manual transmission. Plus, I'll be the one to amortize it once dad buys his own car. :) Sure, it will burn a huge chunk of my salary, but at least I got to pay off my own car and not just rely on my parents to pay for it. It's a step closer to financial independence ;)
I met new friends, strengthened important relationships, and found out the different types of friends I have. I think it's important that not every relationship you have is the same. I love that I have work friends that I can hang out with, low-maintenance friends who are always there for you even if you don't talk every day, friends who are like family, and a combination of these.
Reflecting back, I love all of it. I am happy for what 2015 has turned out to be. Honestly, there are regrets. I regret not being more active back in college - if I were, then I might have more friends and more opportunities than I do now. I regret not choosing a better and more challenging topic or working harder on it - if I did, I might have won best thesis. But after graduating, I got a new set of paths to choose from. Right now, I don't know if I chose the best path, but I am happy where I stand.
If you haven't noticed yet, all of my memories listed here are quite common. Using the term in one of the latest book I read, Paper Towns, these are paper achievements for a paper girl. Everyone experienced the same thing - college, graduating, driving, getting a job. Everything was planned. Everything was paper. But just like Q (the male protagonist of the story), I liked the pattern. It's like a safe story line where if I fail, there's a lot of people who know what to say and how to help me handle the situation because everyone has been through it.
Hello, 2016
This 2016, I want the paper girl to be real.
Seriously though, I don't know (yet) how to make everything real.
I want to take more risks. This 2016, I think what would define my year is my career. You know, being a fresh grad and all. I love my job, but I want to do something more. I am following one of my favorite professors advice back in college: get a job, learn from it, then quit. Okay, the "then quit" part was my edit. The original was "then build a business". That's a possibility, and it's one of my top choices on what to do in the future. But there are more options.
Bottom line is, I want to be different from the common grass. It may not be this year, though, because I still want to experience the paperness of everything. I want to build roots on my job, on this society-given pattern, then break free. Because to truly be different, I must know first what's the deal with being ordinary.
New Year's Resolution? I think it is to be more active online. I recall years back that my resolution was to be more present in the real world than the online world, but things have changed. Owning a baking blog, working in an online start-up business, and handling online accounts in my day job, it pretty much tells that my life is online now. And honestly, I think I express myself better here. Who knows, this online thing might be the thing that makes me a real person.
☀
