2014.

The amazing view from Whistler’s Peak to Peak Gondola. Soo high up in the sky!

It’s now 2015. Wow… Somehow I have an unshakable feeling that this year will be very different for me. I’m both excited and a little nervous, but definitely more excited. Throughout the years, I’ve learned it’s healthier and lighter to my heart to be optimistic about the future and people in general. This year I’ve grown as a young adult and learned more about myself than I have ever before. Living alone and learning to be independent gave me a lot of personal time and space to think about who I really want to be: the values I want to hold and the beliefs I want to keep. I choose to be happy and contented. I have and made real friends, went places, learned about other cultures and witnessed beautiful things I never thought I’d have the opportunity to. I can’t ask for more. God is really really good, and in my life I am blessed to say I have no regrets thus far.

Watching eagles and birds flying freely in their natural environment.

I wish for every young adult to find the same peace as I do now. Nowadays identity crisis seems to be a common experience for people my age. The media is so strong about what they want you to believe in, to make you think you should be this and that, to want and need these and those, to look like him or her, but what do you really want to be? If you were to look outside of yourself for a day, would you be happy about who you’ve become? Maybe on the inside you’d actually want to make a difference by helping others, being extra good to your friends, learning to appreciate even the smallest things, or becoming sweeter and more comfortable with your family. We all wish to become better versions of ourselves. That’s why there’s such a thing as New Year’s Resolutions. But why can’t people just choose to become better every moment they realize they should? Just try and try again, make mistakes, learn from them, be careful next time, and apologize when due no matter the excuses your pride makes.

I’m only human. I make mistakes, but I have only one life to live so I’m going to shamelessly live it to the fullest. Do what I want to do as long as I don’t intentionally hurt people, share beautiful things, make people laugh, let petty offences slide, brush off other people’s unconstructive negativity, and forgive others easily. There’s a saying that always stuck to me since I was a teenager. It went something like this: “You are who you define yourself to be.” If someone keeps saying he’s a loser, he will end up being one and will probably live a “sad” life. Quotations are there because he’s not really living a sad life, he just makes it up to be. On the other hand, if someone believes so strongly that he will succeed in life, he eventually will because that mindset will exhaust everything it takes to get there.

Anyway, I’ll stop here. It’s getting to be more of a reflective post than my annual blog post! Haha. Ok Anne, here were your goals set last year:

1. Graduate from BCIT with honors (if there is such a thing? if not, I’ll settle for just good grades)
– Hmm… Why did I write this? I’m still graduating in June of 2015 not 2014, but I’m marking it as accomplished because I got 2 scholarship awards last month (The BCIT Faculty and Staff Association Scholarship & The BCIT International Student Award)! My teacher said I got the highest GPA in the School of Business so I’m pretty stoked. Surprised and really happy! It truly doesn’t seem like a lot of effort when you study what you’re interested in.

2. Get a job here that I’ll actually enjoy! Wishful thinking… But *OPTIMISM*..!
– Nope. No job yet. Not even legally allowed to work here.

3. Become stronger physically by developing a habit for exercise.
– Wow finally. I feel like this has been a goal for sooo long. Hahaha. I now do pilates every week! I found it’s easier to make a habit by actually scheduling it on the calendar.

4. Continue to eat healthy.
– I won’t mark this off coz I want to keep doing it, and I actually feel like I can still do better.

5. Learn how to cook better, and make raw vegetarian food.
– In all honesty, my cooking is still bland 🙁 Need more practice.

6. Take more photos and learn how to make videos.
– I kinda take more photos than last year… Definitely a slight improvement. Editing and uploading them weren’t consistent in the middle of the year, but at the end I caught up. I need to blog more though. I learned how to make videos in class but I never ended up making one for myself! So moving this again to next year’s goals.

7. Write more so that I can learn how to express myself better.
– FAILED. SO BAD. I need to write mooooooore blog poooosts. The struggle for clarity in my speech is real.

8. Concentrate on developing the fruits of the Spirit.
– Need to work on this more. 🙁 sigh. Thankful that the Love of Jesus overflows and I can keep on going.

9. Read more books and watch more documentaries.
– I haven’t read as much books or watched as much documentaries in 2014. The last documentary I watched was “Hungry for Change” which I highly recommend!! The last book I read was “How to Pay Less and Keep More For Yourself: The Essential Consumer Guide to Canadian Banking and Investing” by Rob Carrick, recommended by a wise friend.

Count: 2/9. Not impressed with myself at all. LOL. Let it be a lesson though, don’t take yourself too too seriously. I’m still pretty happy with all the general improvement. XD

 Things I want to accomplish in 2015:
– Get a good job that will make me want to wake up early from Mon-Fri.
– Get a BC driver’s license (commuting wastes so much time huhu)
– Live by myself or with another female housemate in an apartment, preferably in Burnaby or close to my future workplace.
– Do the splits (hahaha! This was a small goal I made at the end of 2013. It’s much harder than I thought…)
– Learn how to cook better, and consistently make raw vegetarian food. This will be merged with ‘Continue to eat healthy’.
– Take more photos and actually make videos.
– Write more so that I can learn how to express myself better. Hopefully after school I’ll have more time to blog. I really wanna make more helpful blog posts if not creative ones.
– Concentrate on developing the fruits of the Spirit.
– Read more books and watch more documentaries.
– Save enough money for a good investment, and regularly save at least 20% of my salary.
– Continue to exercise regularly.

Things that happened in 2014:
– Traveled solo to and from Vancouver and Seattle by train (Amtrak Cascades) and bus (BoltBus). I felt like I was going on an adventure!

Spent a great Christmas with old friends in Washington.

– Went to Whistler to snowboard with Honger friends.

I’m the only Filipino-Chinese girl who can’t speak Cantonese tagging along lol.
I owe one of the best couples in the world, Christina and Ryan, for most of my awesome experiences here in Canada!!

– Created my first hybrid mobile app using Intel XDK. Programmed by me and designed by Christina Chan.

– Invited to speak to the students of St. Theresa’s College (STC), Cebu about my passion for storytelling in photography.

– Completed my first year of studies in Digital Design and Development at BCIT. One year more to go!

– Learned how to create visual special FX (told you I learned how to make videos :P)

– won prizes from a contest by Study in BC 🙂
– visited my dad’s hometown in Dipolog since who knows how long. For my cousins who are reading this, I owe you this album I’m so sorry for the late upload!!

– visited my hometown in Cebu for 3 months. Made warm memories with family and my boyfriend, and played lotssss of boardgames with my close friends! 🙂

Cheers to 2015, looking forward to all the goodness and experiences ahead!!

Happy New Year everyone!