What Makes Me Tick? My answers to "The Question Book". (Part 1 of Plenty)
A friend and I went to the Big Bad Wolf book sale 🐺📚 the other night and one of the books I picked up is The Question Book. As the title says, it's a book full of questions about different subjects with spaces for the reader to answer. The intention is for the reader to reflect on himself while answering the questions. For me, it's a way to get to know myself because I'm sure there'll be questions that I haven't actually asked myself yet. So it's a grown-up slumbook? 📔
Scribbling down ✍ my answers on the spaces provided on the pages of the book is kind of limiting how much I can say about each question. And instead of just answering the questions in my head and forget about it, which was what I was inclined to do ... I thought I'd write it down on this blog. In a few months or years, it'll be fun for me to read my answers and see if I'll have the same answer if I'm asked the same question by then.
As the book's rule stated, I shall answer with the first thing that comes to my mind to be as honest as possible. And "no answer is binding" because as I evolve, my thoughts will evolve too. What makes me happy now might not be it in a few weeks or months time.
There are over 600 questions in the book. So I'll be breaking it up into several blogs as I get around to answer them. This will still be a TL;DR kind of blog article anyway. You've been warned. 😅
So, let's see what this coconut that I call my brain 🤕 is going to answer right now ... Feb. 23, 2019 @ 7AM.
LAST YEAR (2018) : Think about the last 12 months of your life and answer the following questions.
"Who I am is always changing. Not because I am fake. But because I am always open to growth and transformation." - Unknown
Your book of the year :
Simon Sinek's "Leaders Eat Last". 📖
I needed some guidance when I accepted the job offer to become a General Manager last June 2018. I didn't know if I can really do it and do it well. I still don't know if I'm doing it well. But I have been trying to teach myself ever since. And "Leaders Eat Last" was one of the many books I read that has resonated with me the most and therefore helped me navigate this much heavier leadership role.
Your song of the year :
An oldie is still a goodie. 🎼 "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree. 🎶
Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry
You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day
A film that you saw :
A Korean-novela series called "Mr. Sunshine" on Netflix. Reminds me of my maternal grandma who I watch Chinese telenovela with as a kid. If she's still around, I'm sure she'd like this series too.
It's just heart-wrenching to watch 2 lovers being torn apart by circumstances and their selflessness. QQ 😢
Your item of clothing of the year :
The plain and boring nude colored bras. I have gone through the phase of the colorful and very feminine lace-laden La Sensa push-up bras. But my life was made a lot easier when I switched back to the ever-reliable goes-with-everything nude bras.
Very thin scarves. 🧣 Extremely useful for everyday use and even for travel. I use it as ...
My folks. 👴🏼🧓🏼 They have dedicated their lives to raising me and my sibs. 💛
The most annoying person :
People I took pity to and lend money to who just ran away with it. Another few thousand charged to experience. 💸 Like I said, at least I'm the one who can afford to lend money. Instead of being the one who has to scheme, scam and swindle people for money. Karma will take care of people like that. And she is an unforgiving b*tch. *insert thunderclap ⛈ and evil laugh 😈* ✌🏼😜
A person that you lost/left :
A manipulative, narcissistic "friend". 🤯 As I get older, I have less energy to spend on "friendships" that are draining or has a lot of drama. 🙄😪 True colors always show eventually. I tried to be patient and give the benefit of the doubt. But I just ran out of them. I'm not mad or anything like that. I just want to spend my energy on things that I need to work on for myself. 😅
A person who neglected you :
Nobody. When you don't expect, you won't feel neglected. 👍
A person you neglected :
Uuhhhmmm ... I'm not sure. Why have that expectation on me?!! QQ
I couldn't even remember to take my daily vitamins myself!
There's a reason why I don't have a cat or a dog ... or plants that need daily care. All I have are plants that only require once a week or once a few weeks of watering!
And the subconscious (or is it conscious) reason why I don't have kids! 🙅🏻♀️ I loooove them. But I just don’t think I need to have my own. 😬
A bad argument :
It's probably one with myself. I'm my own biggest critic. And yes, I do talk to myself. A lot. Scared yet? 😝
Sometimes, my left brain just doesn't agree with my right brain. And they're so opinionated!
To be honest, I just can't remember any argument I had with anyone last year that was so bad that I still remember it now. 😬
Which of your friends did you see the most last year? :
Those that I work with. Duh ... 😛
Who inspired you? :
I seek inspiration from everywhere and everyone. Everybody around me does something better than me. So I seek for it and get inspired. It can be small things or big things.
Example:
Who did you inspire? :
Not sure who in particular I have inspired. I just do what I think is "right" in my book. Help whoever needs my help. Strive to be the best version of me. Not really caring if anyone else is watching or observing. If someone is, then hopefully, I inspire him/her. If not, then move along. 😁💃🏻
So, borrowing the words of Rihanna. All I care is to "Be a girl with a mind, a b*tch with an attitude and a lady with class." Everyone is free to do the same. 😉
Something that changed your life :
Not giving a f*ck. 😳 As I mature, I become more sure of what I like/want and what I don't like/want. My mind might change about what I like/want over time. But it's the certainty and confidence about it that I'm referring to. Since I'm getting more and more confident, I inevitably give less and less f*ck about what other people think. Now that is the truest sense of freedom. IMHO.
The best gift :
Togetherness - spend time and effort to be together. 👯 The best thing I can get and the best thing I can give. Whether it's with family, relatives or friends.
An expensive purchase :
My latest investment condo unit. The purchase was finalized only early last year Jan 6, 2018. But it was about 9 months in the making. I felt like I gave birth full term! 🤰🤣
The best holiday :
I traveled solo to Tokyo during Spring 2018. 🎎🏯I have done solo travel 3 times before but the last one was more than 7 years prior. So the trip to Tokyo was my way of getting my solo-traveler groove back. I get to realize once again about the benefits and the downsides of traveling alone. What are they? That's a separate blog post for later. *wrote a reminder to self*
The biggest disappointment :
I have the bad habit of negative visualizing everything. 🙇🏻♀️ Expecting the worse of everything. If something less than the worse happens, yeepee!
So with this kind of a coping/defensive mechanism 🤼♀️ in place, it's hard for me to be truly disappointed. I can't remember anything so disappointing that I still carry that baggage around months later while answering this question.
Did you earn more or less or the same in the previous 12 months? :
Thanks to the latest job offer to be a General Manager, I earned more. #blessed #ohshitcanidothis #hirapkumitangpera
A plan that you carried out :
The main plan is to be free of mortgage debt. How do I do it? Earn more, save more and pay it down more. 😅
So I accepted a higher paying job last June 2018.
And I finally leased out my income unit for some passive income.
Hopefully, I'll be debt-free sooner than later. 🤞
How often were you ill in the last year? :
Aside from the getting-old and not-being-healthy body pains here and there, I don't get physically sick much. It's more of a mind bug that I had. I had more anxieties and panic attacks. Some minor bouts of depression from time to time. But I chuck it all off as c'est la vie. That's life, suck it up! Nothing serious. Yey!
The question of the year :
Where should I travel to next year? Where should I take my manufacturers (mom and dad) to next? 🛩
Something you learned :
It's less of learning and more of confirmation instead because I see it in more and more people aside from myself. That we usually fall victim of circumstances that we created ourselves. And the lack of accountability for our own actions just makes it worse.
I have to realize that most times than not, I'm the one who got myself into this situation that I'm not liking now. As some smart-ass said ... "Every choice you make makes you."
Whenever I catch myself complaining or whining about something, I ask myself ... is there anything I can do about it?
If YES (which is most often), then what can I do? Can I "fix" it?
If YES (which again, is most often), then shut up and fix it! Damn it!
If NO, then push the eject button to extract myself out of the situation by hook or by crook.
If NO, then I'll chew a concrete pill and just accept it. It's my new reality. Boo-hoo ... get over it!
New life-skills unlocked :
I stumbled upon this quote on Instagram.
The most dangerous phrase in the language is "we've always done it this way." 😑 - Grace Hopper
The ability to think outside the box is one thing. But it's also the courage to actually challenge the convention. It's not just the thinking, it's also the doing. Once this "skill" is unlocked, a lot of impossible becomes possible.
There can't be just one way to achieve something. One way to cook an egg. One way to get from point A to point B. One way to dress. One way to solve a math problem. One way to live a life.
I do respect the law, the rules, the "right" way. Because I understand the reasons why it became THE way and what it's trying to achieve. So I tend to uphold it and follow it without thinking much about it. But it can't be the ONLY way! Remember, burning witches and slavery were legal once. Question ubiquity! There has got to be a BETTER way!
This is a "skill" that I am yet to master as I still catch myself falling into "the box" a lot of times. But I am glad that I have practiced it enough with successful results to know that I have the ability to wield this "tool" anytime I need to.
Breaking out of the mold is never easy. Once broken, becoming and living as an outlier is no walk in the park either. 😅 Hopefully, with more practice, it will eventually become a mindset for me. And I'll be more comfortable being ... not as an outlier ... but being the authentic me. 🧘🏻♀️ Whatever that may be. Then whatever limitations or boundaries I'm still boxing myself in, will be peeled away, one by one. Easier said than done. But it'll be done. 💪🏼
Something you forgot :
I already forgot what I forgot last 2018. 🤣 In general, I forget a lot of things! That's why I'm an avid note taker.
By the way, I'm also spending the time and effort to write my thoughts down right now because I have a feeling that I might have dementia or something similar eventually. Or am I just losing my mind? In any case, if it happens, at least I have these blogs to read to get to know myself again. If not, then it's a good writing exercise. 📝 😁
A political event that moved you :
Not sure if it's just a Baader-Meinhof thing for me but I've observed 2 things ... girl power and the need for political change.
Girl Power - It got "started" by the #metoo movement of women speaking out about sexual abuse. Then I noticed that movie/tv awards are being won by more and more women. 👩🏻💼 Then in the US political scene, more and more women are being voted into office. More and more women are working together and supporting each other to drive a common cause ... publicly and proudly. 👭👯♀️ It's an "in" thing now. It's a "trend"! And more men have voiced their support of women too. It seems to me like we're re-educating the world (men and women alike) on the real value and power of women after centuries of being the "lesser class", the "weaker gender". A much bigger "women powerment movement" 💪🏼💕has kicked-off again for the nth time in human history since it seems to be an endless battle for gender equality. I just hope it can be sustained this time. Equality is all that I am hoping for. Not dominance. And for all genders ... men, women and all those in between.
Political Change - The palpable clamor of the masses for political change has resulted in unexpected people being voted into office. Locally, it's obvious with Duterte 👊🏼 winning the PH presidency which came from the left field. Then, of course, there's the unthinkable win of Trump for the US presidency. And more and more similar wins by underdog-from-left-field have been happening around the world in recent years pre and post-Duterte/Trump.
A combo of these 2 social movements and the one that made an impression on me is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (then 28) 🙋🏻♀️ winning over a veteran male politician in the congressional primary in NYC. Her being young millennial and a woman is one thing, her non-political background of being a blue-collar waitress 💁🏻♀️ prior to jumping into the political battlefield is another. People just want someone with the best intentions for the greater good to win and take action.
The party of the year :
There is such a thing like a 2-persons party, right? Party is a mindset, right? Then the "party" I had with my cousin who I haven't seen in about 13 years when he came to visit me was one for my books. It was a chill "party" where we ate a lot, walked a lot, talked a lot, reminisced a lot and enjoyed the Taal view a lot.
And since I got recruited back by the previous company I worked for, it was great to join their Christmas Party again which has always been an overnight stay at a beach resort. And for 2018, this was the view from our room ...
I have never been the one who likes the typical loud and wild parties. I've always been a 100-year-old woman that way.
Your quote of the year :
"Be patient with your plans. Be grateful for your opportunities. Stay awake, pay attention. Escape. Commit. Keep moving. Keep asking. Raise a glass for the wins, raise a glass for the losses. The good news is, you are strong enough to get knocked down and then try again." - Unknown
Your word for the year :
Ahhh ... language is a living organism. Add the technology into the mix, you get a language that is evolving in light speed. All these new-ish abbreviations like ...
Something that surprised you :
The job offer from the CEO/Owner of the company I left 3 years ago certainly came as a surprise. 😲
The most difficult decision you had to make :
Whether I should take the job offer or not knowing that I will have to make many unpopular choices to do the job. 😰
Something you regret doing :
Choosing not to answer their calls because I'm doing something else "more urgent". And sometimes when I answer, I did it snappily. 🥺
Buying all the stuff I end up not really liking or needing. 😕 I regret being wasteful of my hard earned money. #mariekondowontbehappy
Although I can't remember to whom I have caused pain with my words and actions, I regret them. 😔 For the major offenses, I have already apologized to. But it's the minor ones that I brushed off with being righteous and defensive and now cannot remember that I am regretting for.
As the book's rule stated, I shall answer with the first thing that comes to my mind to be as honest as possible. And "no answer is binding" because as I evolve, my thoughts will evolve too. What makes me happy now might not be it in a few weeks or months time.
There are over 600 questions in the book. So I'll be breaking it up into several blogs as I get around to answer them. This will still be a TL;DR kind of blog article anyway. You've been warned. 😅
So, let's see what this coconut that I call my brain 🤕 is going to answer right now ... Feb. 23, 2019 @ 7AM.
LAST YEAR (2018) : Think about the last 12 months of your life and answer the following questions.
"Who I am is always changing. Not because I am fake. But because I am always open to growth and transformation." - Unknown
Your book of the year :
Simon Sinek's "Leaders Eat Last". 📖
I needed some guidance when I accepted the job offer to become a General Manager last June 2018. I didn't know if I can really do it and do it well. I still don't know if I'm doing it well. But I have been trying to teach myself ever since. And "Leaders Eat Last" was one of the many books I read that has resonated with me the most and therefore helped me navigate this much heavier leadership role.
Your song of the year :
An oldie is still a goodie. 🎼 "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree. 🎶
Listen as your day unfolds
Challenge what the future holds
Try and keep your head up to the sky
Lovers, they may cause you tears
Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted
Don't be ashamed to cry
You gotta be
You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold
You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard
You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm
You gotta stay together
All I know, all I know, love will save the day
A film that you saw :
A Korean-novela series called "Mr. Sunshine" on Netflix. Reminds me of my maternal grandma who I watch Chinese telenovela with as a kid. If she's still around, I'm sure she'd like this series too.
It's just heart-wrenching to watch 2 lovers being torn apart by circumstances and their selflessness. QQ 😢
Your item of clothing of the year :
The plain and boring nude colored bras. I have gone through the phase of the colorful and very feminine lace-laden La Sensa push-up bras. But my life was made a lot easier when I switched back to the ever-reliable goes-with-everything nude bras.
Very thin scarves. 🧣 Extremely useful for everyday use and even for travel. I use it as ...
- hair tie; 👱🏼♀️
- shade from the sun; ☂☀️
- windbreaker to avoid chills; ❄️
- cover my face when the wind blows sand in the beach or desert; 🌵
- cover my legs if I happen to sit with an already short skirt; 👗
- make-shift bag after McGyvering it into one; 🛍
- beach cover-up and towel; 🏖
My folks. 👴🏼🧓🏼 They have dedicated their lives to raising me and my sibs. 💛
The most annoying person :
People I took pity to and lend money to who just ran away with it. Another few thousand charged to experience. 💸 Like I said, at least I'm the one who can afford to lend money. Instead of being the one who has to scheme, scam and swindle people for money. Karma will take care of people like that. And she is an unforgiving b*tch. *insert thunderclap ⛈ and evil laugh 😈* ✌🏼😜
A person that you lost/left :
A manipulative, narcissistic "friend". 🤯 As I get older, I have less energy to spend on "friendships" that are draining or has a lot of drama. 🙄😪 True colors always show eventually. I tried to be patient and give the benefit of the doubt. But I just ran out of them. I'm not mad or anything like that. I just want to spend my energy on things that I need to work on for myself. 😅
A person who neglected you :
Nobody. When you don't expect, you won't feel neglected. 👍
A person you neglected :
Uuhhhmmm ... I'm not sure. Why have that expectation on me?!! QQ
I couldn't even remember to take my daily vitamins myself!
There's a reason why I don't have a cat or a dog ... or plants that need daily care. All I have are plants that only require once a week or once a few weeks of watering!
And the subconscious (or is it conscious) reason why I don't have kids! 🙅🏻♀️ I loooove them. But I just don’t think I need to have my own. 😬
A bad argument :
It's probably one with myself. I'm my own biggest critic. And yes, I do talk to myself. A lot. Scared yet? 😝
Sometimes, my left brain just doesn't agree with my right brain. And they're so opinionated!
To be honest, I just can't remember any argument I had with anyone last year that was so bad that I still remember it now. 😬
Which of your friends did you see the most last year? :
Those that I work with. Duh ... 😛
Who inspired you? :
I seek inspiration from everywhere and everyone. Everybody around me does something better than me. So I seek for it and get inspired. It can be small things or big things.
Example:
- I know people who have older and/or sick parents that they take care of financially, physically and lovingly.
- I know people who are saints with extra long patience and very nice to the point of frustrating the evil impatient me.
- I know fabulously amazing women who are juggling several roles of a woman every single day. As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, budget officer of the family, friend, employee, manager, etc.
- I know people who work very hard to provide for their families (immediate or extended) without any questions or complaints.
Who did you inspire? :
Not sure who in particular I have inspired. I just do what I think is "right" in my book. Help whoever needs my help. Strive to be the best version of me. Not really caring if anyone else is watching or observing. If someone is, then hopefully, I inspire him/her. If not, then move along. 😁💃🏻
So, borrowing the words of Rihanna. All I care is to "Be a girl with a mind, a b*tch with an attitude and a lady with class." Everyone is free to do the same. 😉
Something that changed your life :
Not giving a f*ck. 😳 As I mature, I become more sure of what I like/want and what I don't like/want. My mind might change about what I like/want over time. But it's the certainty and confidence about it that I'm referring to. Since I'm getting more and more confident, I inevitably give less and less f*ck about what other people think. Now that is the truest sense of freedom. IMHO.
The best gift :
Togetherness - spend time and effort to be together. 👯 The best thing I can get and the best thing I can give. Whether it's with family, relatives or friends.
An expensive purchase :
My latest investment condo unit. The purchase was finalized only early last year Jan 6, 2018. But it was about 9 months in the making. I felt like I gave birth full term! 🤰🤣
The best holiday :
I traveled solo to Tokyo during Spring 2018. 🎎🏯I have done solo travel 3 times before but the last one was more than 7 years prior. So the trip to Tokyo was my way of getting my solo-traveler groove back. I get to realize once again about the benefits and the downsides of traveling alone. What are they? That's a separate blog post for later. *wrote a reminder to self*
The biggest disappointment :
I have the bad habit of negative visualizing everything. 🙇🏻♀️ Expecting the worse of everything. If something less than the worse happens, yeepee!
So with this kind of a coping/defensive mechanism 🤼♀️ in place, it's hard for me to be truly disappointed. I can't remember anything so disappointing that I still carry that baggage around months later while answering this question.
Did you earn more or less or the same in the previous 12 months? :
Thanks to the latest job offer to be a General Manager, I earned more. #blessed #ohshitcanidothis #hirapkumitangpera
A plan that you carried out :
The main plan is to be free of mortgage debt. How do I do it? Earn more, save more and pay it down more. 😅
So I accepted a higher paying job last June 2018.
And I finally leased out my income unit for some passive income.
Hopefully, I'll be debt-free sooner than later. 🤞
How often were you ill in the last year? :
Aside from the getting-old and not-being-healthy body pains here and there, I don't get physically sick much. It's more of a mind bug that I had. I had more anxieties and panic attacks. Some minor bouts of depression from time to time. But I chuck it all off as c'est la vie. That's life, suck it up! Nothing serious. Yey!
The question of the year :
Where should I travel to next year? Where should I take my manufacturers (mom and dad) to next? 🛩
Something you learned :
It's less of learning and more of confirmation instead because I see it in more and more people aside from myself. That we usually fall victim of circumstances that we created ourselves. And the lack of accountability for our own actions just makes it worse.
I have to realize that most times than not, I'm the one who got myself into this situation that I'm not liking now. As some smart-ass said ... "Every choice you make makes you."
Whenever I catch myself complaining or whining about something, I ask myself ... is there anything I can do about it?
If YES (which is most often), then what can I do? Can I "fix" it?
If YES (which again, is most often), then shut up and fix it! Damn it!
If NO, then push the eject button to extract myself out of the situation by hook or by crook.
If NO, then I'll chew a concrete pill and just accept it. It's my new reality. Boo-hoo ... get over it!
New life-skills unlocked :
I stumbled upon this quote on Instagram.
The most dangerous phrase in the language is "we've always done it this way." 😑 - Grace Hopper
The ability to think outside the box is one thing. But it's also the courage to actually challenge the convention. It's not just the thinking, it's also the doing. Once this "skill" is unlocked, a lot of impossible becomes possible.
There can't be just one way to achieve something. One way to cook an egg. One way to get from point A to point B. One way to dress. One way to solve a math problem. One way to live a life.
I do respect the law, the rules, the "right" way. Because I understand the reasons why it became THE way and what it's trying to achieve. So I tend to uphold it and follow it without thinking much about it. But it can't be the ONLY way! Remember, burning witches and slavery were legal once. Question ubiquity! There has got to be a BETTER way!
This is a "skill" that I am yet to master as I still catch myself falling into "the box" a lot of times. But I am glad that I have practiced it enough with successful results to know that I have the ability to wield this "tool" anytime I need to.
Breaking out of the mold is never easy. Once broken, becoming and living as an outlier is no walk in the park either. 😅 Hopefully, with more practice, it will eventually become a mindset for me. And I'll be more comfortable being ... not as an outlier ... but being the authentic me. 🧘🏻♀️ Whatever that may be. Then whatever limitations or boundaries I'm still boxing myself in, will be peeled away, one by one. Easier said than done. But it'll be done. 💪🏼
Something you forgot :
I already forgot what I forgot last 2018. 🤣 In general, I forget a lot of things! That's why I'm an avid note taker.
By the way, I'm also spending the time and effort to write my thoughts down right now because I have a feeling that I might have dementia or something similar eventually. Or am I just losing my mind? In any case, if it happens, at least I have these blogs to read to get to know myself again. If not, then it's a good writing exercise. 📝 😁
A political event that moved you :
Not sure if it's just a Baader-Meinhof thing for me but I've observed 2 things ... girl power and the need for political change.
Girl Power - It got "started" by the #metoo movement of women speaking out about sexual abuse. Then I noticed that movie/tv awards are being won by more and more women. 👩🏻💼 Then in the US political scene, more and more women are being voted into office. More and more women are working together and supporting each other to drive a common cause ... publicly and proudly. 👭👯♀️ It's an "in" thing now. It's a "trend"! And more men have voiced their support of women too. It seems to me like we're re-educating the world (men and women alike) on the real value and power of women after centuries of being the "lesser class", the "weaker gender". A much bigger "women powerment movement" 💪🏼💕has kicked-off again for the nth time in human history since it seems to be an endless battle for gender equality. I just hope it can be sustained this time. Equality is all that I am hoping for. Not dominance. And for all genders ... men, women and all those in between.
Political Change - The palpable clamor of the masses for political change has resulted in unexpected people being voted into office. Locally, it's obvious with Duterte 👊🏼 winning the PH presidency which came from the left field. Then, of course, there's the unthinkable win of Trump for the US presidency. And more and more similar wins by underdog-from-left-field have been happening around the world in recent years pre and post-Duterte/Trump.
A combo of these 2 social movements and the one that made an impression on me is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (then 28) 🙋🏻♀️ winning over a veteran male politician in the congressional primary in NYC. Her being young millennial and a woman is one thing, her non-political background of being a blue-collar waitress 💁🏻♀️ prior to jumping into the political battlefield is another. People just want someone with the best intentions for the greater good to win and take action.
The party of the year :
There is such a thing like a 2-persons party, right? Party is a mindset, right? Then the "party" I had with my cousin who I haven't seen in about 13 years when he came to visit me was one for my books. It was a chill "party" where we ate a lot, walked a lot, talked a lot, reminisced a lot and enjoyed the Taal view a lot.
And since I got recruited back by the previous company I worked for, it was great to join their Christmas Party again which has always been an overnight stay at a beach resort. And for 2018, this was the view from our room ...
I have never been the one who likes the typical loud and wild parties. I've always been a 100-year-old woman that way.
Your quote of the year :
"Be patient with your plans. Be grateful for your opportunities. Stay awake, pay attention. Escape. Commit. Keep moving. Keep asking. Raise a glass for the wins, raise a glass for the losses. The good news is, you are strong enough to get knocked down and then try again." - Unknown
Your word for the year :
Ahhh ... language is a living organism. Add the technology into the mix, you get a language that is evolving in light speed. All these new-ish abbreviations like ...
- IMHO - in my humble opinion
- IMNSHO - in my not so humble opinion
- NSFW - not safe for work
- QQ - crying
- CWOT - complete waste of time
- TL;DR - too long; didn't read
- JSYN - just so you know
- FOMO - fear of missing out
- ICYMI - in case you missed it
- RBTL - read between the lines
- E123 - easy as 1 2 3
- BUMP - bring up my post
Something that surprised you :
The job offer from the CEO/Owner of the company I left 3 years ago certainly came as a surprise. 😲
The most difficult decision you had to make :
Whether I should take the job offer or not knowing that I will have to make many unpopular choices to do the job. 😰
Something you regret doing :
Choosing not to answer their calls because I'm doing something else "more urgent". And sometimes when I answer, I did it snappily. 🥺
Buying all the stuff I end up not really liking or needing. 😕 I regret being wasteful of my hard earned money. #mariekondowontbehappy
Although I can't remember to whom I have caused pain with my words and actions, I regret them. 😔 For the major offenses, I have already apologized to. But it's the minor ones that I brushed off with being righteous and defensive and now cannot remember that I am regretting for.
“There are no regrets in life, only lessons.” - I can’t remember the smart ass who said that. 😜
Something you regret not doing :
Not talking to the locals of places I travel to more. 🗣🤝 Just being a tourist checking off the must-see and must-do list. ✔️ Focusing too much on my "eat-inerary" and therefore always rushing to the next must-eat place on my checklist. I should learn to be a more mindful and immersive traveler next time.
Was this (2018) your best year so far? Why? :
Sure! My life so far has kept getting better and better year by year. So yeah, 2018 was a good one. Here's to hoping 2019 proves to be even better! 🙌
Something you regret not doing :
Not talking to the locals of places I travel to more. 🗣🤝 Just being a tourist checking off the must-see and must-do list. ✔️ Focusing too much on my "eat-inerary" and therefore always rushing to the next must-eat place on my checklist. I should learn to be a more mindful and immersive traveler next time.
Was this (2018) your best year so far? Why? :
Sure! My life so far has kept getting better and better year by year. So yeah, 2018 was a good one. Here's to hoping 2019 proves to be even better! 🙌
Comments