Monday, December 31, 2012

The 2012 Year-in-review: Top 12 of 2012

The last day of the year is the same day when all networks air their yearend special Whether it's a local news channel, or an international news agency, there is no shortage of programs that count down the top events of 2012.

In keeping with that theme, my last post for 2012 is a look at the 12 events this year which I will always remember and be grateful for. Unlike the big and grandiose events that news outlets usually report on, my 12 events are small in scale, but big in impact. So, here they are in chronological order:

1. Complete New Year - The first day of 2012 was a complete day because our family members from abroad came home. On our side, Biboy and family came to Manila, so the 5 siblings in the Regalado-Morales clan were home. On Dad's side, Tita Evelyn came home from Barcelona, at Titos Orestes and Hector flew in from Bicol. So, after a long, long time, the Murillo-Morales siblings were complete.


2. Travel first class - This year, I had my first travel to HKG with my entire Feature and Technical Writing class! It was stressful because I had to watch over a group of gregarious girls, but it was fun since it was educational in more ways than one.

3. Church duty - During the school's baccalaureate mass for batch 2012, I was asked to be an acolyte. Despite being out of the acolyte circles for decades, I took on the task. It turned out that I was going to be an acolyte for Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle! (Who's now Cardinal, by the way.)

4. Back to School - After a long time, I participated in an international learning conference which was hosted by RNTC from The Netherlands. It was fun being a student again after a long time.


5. Back to Japan! - After 4 years, I said "Konnichiwa" to Japan once again. Mark and I spent 2 weeks in Tokyo, which is the longest I've stayed in the big city. During those 14 days, we were able to accomplish a lot of things, both new and familiar. We tried out new restaurants, made new friends, heard mass at a new church, met up with old friends, and finally went to an onsen! Sugoi!


5. Life begins - This was the year when a lot of my friends marked the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. Needless to say, fun, fabulous and frou-frou celebrations were in order.



7. Back to my regular programming - After a few years out of the local advertising industry, I went back to agency work!

8. Back to bowling - One of the things that the new office made me do was to play bowling! And it turns out that I'm still good at it. I ranked number 4 out of more than 50 players!

9. Museum hopping - This year, I was able to go around a number of museums - more than I ever did in one year. From the old National Museum in Manila, to the new Mind Museum in Taguig, it was fun to immerse myself in different exhibits after a long time.

10. Teaching a new subject - I used to produce a lot of Audio-Visual Presentations in my former jobs. So, when Chally asked me to teach AVP, I took on the job with much gusto. It was definitely a great decision as my students came up with so many good productions in one semester.

11. By design - Last November, Ate Bullet had their family portraits taken and I was on-hand to help in the layout and styling. Before the photo session ended, the photographer asked the two of us to pose like a "designer and muse." After photo came out, some of my friends in HKG and SG thought that this was my new career! One of them even sent me a lengthy email saying that if only she knew that my new career path was in design, she would've asked me to fly to New York and make her wedding gown. Alas, the "designer" photo was just conceptual, and I couldn't make her wedding gown even if I wanted to. (I'll take that free trip to New York, though. Harhar.)


Then again, I did do a couple of design jobs this year. These include designing accessories for Mona and her sisters-in-law, and designing a dress for Ate Bullet, which she also wore for that shoot.

12. Christmas missions accomplished - This year was also the year when I was able to do a lot of the Christmas-related activities that I set out to accomplish. This included sending out Christmas cards early, buy and wrap gifts (most of it, at least) a week before Christmas, celebrate Christmas with family, celebrate Christmas with Mark in Manila, spend time with our friends from both sides, and just savor the spirit of the season. This 2012, Christmas was truly, truly Merry!

Like most countdown shows, I'll end by saying that I'm very grateful for all the wonderful events, experiences and people that shaped 2012. And I'm looking forward to the even more wonderful events, experiences and people that will arrive in the new year.

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