What a year

2014.

Just like any other, I'd be giving my year a reflection and a review. It's inevitable to write this one, especially that this year might just be the most memorable one for me. No kidding.

What have you given me, dear 2014! You are such a door. If ever you are anything, you must be what I call everything. From a pseudo- and one-time theater career, to a glimpse to an office job, to spearheading really big projects, to "lawsuit" cases, to an almost-kind or whatever relationship, etc etc, you are quite kind to me. (That was a sarcastic and genuine remark)

You are such a darling. Looking back, I know that I haven't experienced anything this huge in my life before. And to think that all these things belonged in a year. I mean. Wonderful, ain't it. It's like I could ask "What would happen next year? Everything already happened in 2014." or something like that. But I know what exactly you are. You are such an appetizer for a grander trail of courses. I gotcha right, didn't I?

If I'm gonna do this by month, surely this will be long. But... oh well, let me just write my year summary.

The entrance of the year was great. Just like any other, I must say. My most memorable adventure from this month was our Clark Nature Park adventure where I slid along the longest zipline of my life (I don't actually know what verb is supposed to be used here) Okay. I won't just go on narrating stuff, I'll be inserting some reflections and dramatic stuff too. I like the zipline one because it was the first time I felt like flying! For real. At first (as always), I was so afraid I wanted to detach myself from the safety harnesses (?), but I went on and tried it, I knew I wouldn't miss it, I just always needed the dramatic clincher. Oh well, what a joy it was! I felt like flying. In the middle of my "flight", I spread my wings and closed my eyes, and well, for a few seconds, I had a glimpse of the life of the birds. It was truly wonderful that I can still feel the breeze battling against my widespread arms. Now I'm sure I'm gonna try one like it again.

For the month of love, well, this was a whirlwind kind of month for me. I really don't know how to describe this one because my memory says that I was very emotional this time of the year but I already forgot what it felt like. A lot of things happened this month (I say as I look back at my 2014 datebook), but what I can highlight from my February this year is the time I played a role in a mini-Valentine presentation in our college, presented by our arts and culture department. It was a mini-musical which tackled the concept of the traditional harana (serenade) in the country and it was my first time to do something like that! It was really amazing, because as small as the play/musical was, it was still in my bucket list to perform in that kind of setup and it was really fun!

March was good. Just like any other last-month-of-the-sem experiences, it was one great ride. Yep. As usual, I think. I guess what I like best from it though was when I attended the Passion Manila concert with my best friend. It was a worship night and it was my first time (too much first time's, eh?) to attend a huge worship gathering and it was so good to the heart, that I was able to see the fame of the great God. How wonderful was it!!

Talk about vacation? Yep, since UP went on some grand academic calendar shift, we had 4 months of vacation before the classes started. And all I can say is that April is one awesome month of adventures, dates, escapades and stuff. But, oh well, what's most memorable is when I started my internship at this month. And hmm. That was an experience.

May was a month of rest. Not much happened here.

June was kind of a jumpstarter for the following months. Movement-wise. My most memorable activity from this month was our week-long campus missions, where we looked for people who can pioneer campus movements in their schools, and it was fun. It was faith-stretching as we shared the Gospel in fastfoods, we sneaked into campuses to share to their students, and we waited for people to respond. What an adventure that was. And a great one it is.

If I would be asked what my most memorable month of the year is, no doubt and no thinking twice, I'd say it is the month of July. Words and music were lovely, especially if it is from you to me, I'd rewind and reread the days when it's you I was with.

August was a lot of things to me. First, it was truly encouraging and very very challenging to be entrusted to spearhead a project for the movement. It was a digital outreach to be attended by students, and for me, it was not just faith-stretching, but it also caused me to grow more in my faith and in my leadership. I cannot say that the event was good enough but I can say that it was successful with regards to the hearts of the people involved. It caused me to be stirred emotionally and yet I was able to see more of God's goodness and faithfulness.

Latter part of August: Did you hear that? Shattered and turned into pieces. Should July have never happened? I want you distant. I want you apart. I want back my heart.

Challenge you say? Alright, this (September) may be our face-the-giants month as our campus movement struggled with um an almost-lawsuit kind of case. I won't elaborate on what happened, but all I can say is that through this all, God's faithfulness prevails and truly His upper right hand lifts up His beloved children.

October is the month of my birthday and it was awesome as I've had three surprises! Thanks lots to my lovely friends. It felt wonderful to celebrate my 20th. Really. I mean, I saw how great God is and how wonderful the people around me are. But I must say that my October highlight was the fireworks festival in Clark! Was it awesome? Define awesome. All I remember was my friends and I were dancing like crazy under fireworks-lit skies and music was all around us and slices of pizza and kids dancing with us and it was great really. One of the happiest nights of my life! How wonderful is this world. Tell me more of its beauty because if I'm only twenty and I'm experiencing this much already and this is not yet half of it, hey, this is such a wonderful life.

November: My face is tear-stained, yours says all-memories-cleared

November was my busiest month ever. I've never been this organized and conscientious with my academics work but hey, how lovely art thou Novy, how plenty are the zits you gave me, oh these strands of white hair in my head how many, you are such a beauty. But still, I'm thankful because I loved the busyness and I loved the feeling of being preoccupied. Meant a lot to me.

December is just happening as I'm writing this. I don't know. I'm praying that the year ends well. I have great hopes on that. I mean this has been a great one! I've never been closer to God in my life than I am right now, and I've never written with so much blood in my poems. This year really meant a lot to me. Another thing I'd want to applaud this year for is that I've never felt so matured in my life than I am right now, and I felt like it's not just this false and idealistic feeling of being a grownup but it's really something different. I've never felt so in control and I've never felt wiser. I know I've got my heart really crazy and raging this year, but no matter what happened, it was all a fair and decent ride.

Cheers 2014! Thank you.