2013 is over, yet all the things that happened that year feel like they happened yesterday. Those memories include the good stuff and those that frustrated me. But I guess one lesson that I took from that year is that I should learn to accept things that I have no control of as facts, and that I should instead deal with things that I can change for my benefit.
It was that year that I decided to try living life on my own for a change; it began when I sort of started living independently, staying in Sta. Ana. Some aspects of my daily routine changed while some habits stayed, but the sure thing is I became less frustrated. My internet connection is another issue, though.
And speaking of trying to own my life, I enrolled myself in a six-month life coaching session. To be honest, I was apprehensive to the thought, because my pride was huge enough to say that I could handle things on my own, but with the way I dealt with things back then, it obviously wasn't true. It took me a lot of resolve to finally decide that I would do it.
I started it just last December, and after a month, the changes started to appear. But let me first skip this part and recall some of my other life events last year.
All about connections
I hope to someday have more opportunities to meet them again and hopefully be able to have more hearty conversations with them in person, because to me, personally, chatting face-to-face always beat Facebook.
And of course, nothing beats the satisfaction you get when you reunite with friends you don't get to meet on a daily basis.
"I CAN DO IT!!!"
"If there's a will, then there's a way" really holds true.
2014: Challenge accepted
This year started with a little fanfare for me, and as I brought the positive stuff I learned from last year, I found myself ignoring most of the negativity that might otherwise make me feel bad and ruin my days. There are still times when I do feel bad, but unlike before, these episodes don't tend to last the whole day; sometimes, they end in amusing fashion.
Let me quote myself in a Facebook status update I posted to give an example.
"Let me tell you a story.
Some people are aware that I celebrated in advance last Saturday. I had hoped for it to be almost perfect, but I've already told what happened that day, so despite us having our fun, it left me with an ill feeling.
I tried to forget about it yesterday and went on to audition for a game show; that didn't turn out well either.
Then later that night, my parents were supposed to drive me back to my place as early as 8:30PM, but instead they chose to drive to the airport first, thus delaying my touchdown to 11PM instead. It didn't help that they kept on egging me to hurry up that night, so I wasn't able to bring the clothes I prepared to bring with me back to my place.
So basically, no matter how I tried to keep my weekend enjoyable, it was as if fate had its way to ruin things for me.
Then it was Monday, 12 'clock; one of my clocks rang to a certain tune that I don't recall choosing when I set the alarm up...
...the "happy birthday" tune.
That alone was enough to set me back to amusement."
It just goes to show that in life, you win some, you lose some, and things won't always go your way; but there are random good things you don't expect to happen that eventually force their way into your life to cheer you up and make you forget those problems that are in reality just annoyances.
Generally, I was able to start 2014 right. So far, mainly great things have happened to me. I got a raise, for one. As for the bad stuff, to be honest, I seem too fixated looking at the good things that I don't know if there's anything bad happening to me.
Reigniting an old fire
The day of the event came, and I expected the arena to be filled with wrestling fans, but I was mistaken. I guess those fans only know WWE.
While I was glad for those seated in bleachers when the organizers announced that they would move to the ringside seats to fill out the empty spaces there, I felt bad for myself because I paid a hefty amount for my seat; but that was readily replace by glee when they also announced that we VIP ticket holders would have a chance to meet the wrestlers upclose!
It's also worth noting that some proceeds of the ticket sales will be donated to survivors of typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, so not only I was able to watch the show and meet with the wrestlers, I also donated to charity!
Three birds in one stone.
Originally, I only wanted to go see the event because of TAJIRI-san, being that he once worked for the WWE. I don't have any clue who the rest of the wrestlers were, but at the end of the night, I had the sweetest time in the world to casually chat with them. Good thing I knew some Japanese and they knew some English. I even got acquainted to Syuri.
Yep, more connections made.
By the way, these pictures were already after the meet-and-greet, and I made those signs on-the-spot.
Wanting to be a millionaire
My goal that day: to meet Vic Sotto.
They were scheduled to record two special episodes that day; they were to tape for the celebrity couples edition of the show. I arrived late for the first taping, but enough about that; I'll move forward to the episode that included me.
Long story short, I was one of the three audience members picked by the celebrity couples to answer the question they weren't sure what to answer, and all three of us got the answer wrong. There went my chance to bag some dough.
At least, to my defense, I didn't say that I was sure of my answer; in fact, when "Bossing" asked me if I was sure about my answer, I said I was 100% sure that I'm NOT 100% sure.
Comedy gold.
And at the end of the taping, I was the ONLY lucky audience member who Bossing shook hands with (with the rest being the celebrity couple's companions).
Objective achieved!
And since I'm some sort of a spoiler, I'm posting this picture.