My 2012, In Summary

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Looking back, I realize how this year have changed who I am, how I think, and basically how I live. And in just a short span of time, I find myself surprised with all dynamism that happened, self-induced or not.

First of all, I started the previous year as a student who was trying to balance academics and extra-curricular activities. I was the President of the college choir, Secretary of all the student organizations in the college, a writer and the website editor of our college paper, and a deputy commissioner for the Comelec. Of which the first had taken most of my time since I we joined a competition and placed fourth. Here's the video:

And if you think that's hectic enough, come February I did have a part-time job by helping my professor in his thesis for his graduate studies. I attended class in the afternoon while I go to Tondo every other morning to collect sputum from tuberculosis patients. It all paid of when he graduated Magna Cum Laude, and when I was literally paid.

Attended Aliwan Festival last January at CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard with some bloggers.

Artwork hosted a t-shift design contest. I know I really sucked at doing traditional art but tried to give it a shot anyway. Here's my entry (which lost, btw):

March came and all those positions I held were already passed on to the next batch of officers in our college. You still feel that same pang when you realize that your term is already over and was able to do only as much. I lived in hope for the next officers to take care of the organizations as I did. At the same time I felt a tinge of sadness knowing that I could've been the one to implement all these great ideas. I graduated by the end of March. Since then I was no longer a student.

But classes didn't stop after graduation. That's probably the reason why the people during our graduation weren't too emotional. We have the board exams to prepare for and we almost had review classes everyday for the next two months. Those months passed by quickly and then on July, we took the board exams at some shady public school.

The two months of review was followed by two months of waiting after we finished the test. While I was waiting for the results, decided to get myself a job.

I first applied for a call center post at Teleperformance in MOA. Still, to this day, I don't really know why I didn't get the job. They told me that I failed the online exams that consisted of only a typing test (which I know I aced) and answering some questions that you can find over the internet. And the best part is, you can use the internet during the test. So I applied in Convergys instead the following week and in just a day, I was hired and profiled as a technical support representative for arguably the no.1 internet and cable provider in the US. I quickly learned everything there is to know in the call center industry while I struggled in the product itself and other technicalities. I studied and troubleshot phones, TVs and their cables, and computers plus all the operating systems (Windows 8, I still hate you!). To this day I know I still don't know a lot about my work but I think I'm heading to the right direction having placed first, in terms of stats, in our team this December.

The money I got from my work allowed me to move our from my tita's house in Manila and live independently in an apartment. It feels different when you are already paying everything for yourself. Your buying powers increased, as well as your consciousness of the price hikes of commodities and everything. I became what I call: A Mamamayang Pilipino.

Sometime during October, the Nursing Licensure Examination results were out. I passed, got a good score, and the letters R.N. can already be legally placed after my name.





In celebration of this feat and my sister's debut, our family went to Hong Kong that month.

When a typhoon hit Manila during the mid-year, I took part in the relief operations in GMA Kapuso Foundation.

I adopted a kitten from a Russian friend two months after I started working. I name her Arie but when I brought her home to Pampanga, since the owner of the place where I stay in isn't too fond of cats, she was called them most un-generic name of a cat, Muning.

My friend, Jac, also gave me two hamsters, of which one gave birth to four. The other hamster died when I gave it to my brother and another one escaped. Now I have four hamsters! :)

Was also able to visit Puerto Galera this year with my team mates. The peace I found in this place is unforgettable. :)

I also decided to take up Medicine this year so I took the National Medical Admission Test and got a good score that would hopefully increase my chances of getting into the two schools I'm aiming for: UST or PLM.

But this year wasn't only about achievements and licenses. It's also about love and friendship. I got to meet a lot of great people in the call center industry. I got exposed to the real world where I met friendly cross-dressers, intelligent drug addicts, and tattooed moms. I believe I became more sociable. I don't know if it's a good thing or not but I now spoke more than I wrote or read. I also got to meet someone special (insert love story here. Wag babatiin baka di matuloy).

After I finished reading my textbooks for licensure and admission exams, I also got to spend some time doing leisure reading which made be feel fulfilled. Hopefully I can do a lot more reading this coming year.

At the end of the day, 2012 gave me a lot of room for growth and fulfillment. It really was a good year.  Looking forward to more challenges and surprises this 2013!