2016

Every year since 2007, I post a review on Multiply about the year that passed and rate that year with stars--5 stars being the best. Sadly, Multiply closed down, and along with its closure went my reviews for 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Those reviews are forever lost but I have continued that tradition here for 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

My 27th birthday was mostly spent in quiet reflection.

HIGHS:

1. Lawyered. 2016 was scary for its potential to be really good or be really bad. Fortunately for me, 2016 took the really good route. Up to now, I can't find the appropriate way to describe how passing the Bar felt. To say that it was indescribable is even an understatement. It was that good a feeling.

Signing the Roll of Attorneys. #ontothenext

2. Got a job that mattered. The work we do is tiring and demanding (of time, effort and brain cells) but I've always believed in working with a purpose: To contribute to the greater good. I'm fortunate to do something I like and get paid while doing it.

Hail to the Chief!

Because of work, I went around the Philippines in the past year. I reached cities I haven't been to before (Legaspi, Bacolod, General Santos, Tuguegarao and Puerto Princesa to name a few) and revisited those that I have (Tacloban and Cebu). I had a chance to visit my grandmother in Western Samar as well.

PPUR Tour with co-workers

3. Went shoe crazy. I have always been obsessed with shoes (sneakers to be more precise) but I didn't have the moolah to be a legit one, then. So I waited for the right time.

My babies. *heart eyes*

4. Went basketball crazy--ier. FIBA came to Manila last July for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, and I was fortunate to have a friend willing to spend a considerable amount of her monthly salary for a lower box ticket. It was my first time to watch Gilas Pilipinas play in an official FIBA tournament, live. The boys lost but they fought valiantly, as always, and made the country proud. Next up: China for the FIBA World Cup in 2019 and Tokyo for the Olympics in 2020.

#LabanPilipinas

PS: On a slightly related note, Rain or Shine, my favorite PBA team, got a championship this year as well. I was watching live when Paul Lee made that game-winning, series-turning shot in Game 2 of the Finals against Alaska.

5. (Slowly) got rid of a nasty law school-acquired habit: speed reading.

My 2016 (Incomplete) Book Haul.

6. There were less Neutral Nights this year (I hate adulting) but I'm glad we were there for each other in the most important of times.

I also opened myself to the possibility of gaining more trustworthy (albeit unlikely) friends.

JARIP babies

First Floorers sans Avram, Sam and Toff

And I invested more in family. We spent all major holidays together this year and (except for my youngest brother's birthday which coincided with a work trip to Palawan) all our birthdays together.

Family first. Always.

7. Wrote my first multi-chapter fanfiction. I started it in January, hoping to finish it by the end of that month but adulting got in the way and I was only able to finish Chapter 5 by March. I'm restarting on it this mini-holiday break, and I hope to finish it before 2017 ends.

8. Drowned, metaphorically. The entire year I metaphorically dipped my feet in the water to get a feel of how water felt between my toes, because I have not been near a body of water in a long time. But on the last month of the year, I convinced myself to finally jump in. Anticlimactically, I nearly drowned. To be honest, I expected to drown (since I didn't know how to swim) but there are necessary mistakes that one has to make to grow. And this was one of them. I needed to feel how water can both give and end life. This setback made me realize that all things are an end and a beginning, and the difference lies in how one chooses to view it, experience it and learn from it. I hope that my experience with drowning will help me keep myself afloat the next time I jump in.


LOWS:

1. Lost my phone. Again. This was the first thing worth P20K-and-above I bought using my own money from my first salary after the Bar Exams. Losing my first ever phone from my first ever job, in 2014, have prepared me for this moment. All I needed was one power cry (hahaha!), and I was over it.

2. Failed to revive blogging. I have blogged less and less in the past two years. I attribute that to not having patience and time to experience things (watch new TV shows or movies and read books) and write about them. So I try to, at very least, maintain this annual tradition.


VERDICT: FOUR AND A HALF STARS | No "low" could make 2016 a three-star year like 2011, 2013 and 2015 were. Passing the Bar Exams, on its own, made this year worthy of four stars. The half star I attribute to all the good things that happened this year--listed or not. Despite the metaphorical drowning, I can genuinely say that ever since I started this rating-my-year thing, I've never had as good a year as I did in 2016.

2016 was a year of trying new things in my personal and work life. I encountered triumphs and defeats in both. In times that I was close to giving up and losing hope, I found comfort in listening to the song, Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It by Stars.

There's been a lot of talk of love
But that don't amount to nothing
You can evoke the stars above
But that doesn't make it something

And the only way to last
And the only way to live it
Is to hold on when you get love,
And let go when you give it... give it.

I know it's true, please don't think I do
Nothing that you say or do will make you love me
Forget the song, things will go on
I keep seeing you from the dark with you above me

Take the weakest thing in you
And then beat the bastards with it
And always hold on when you get love,
So you can let go when you give it.

Forget the song, things will go on.

THE FUTURE: For the past three years, I have focused on the career aspect of my Happiness Timeline. With my next goal (joining the Bench) being a mere dot on the horizon (as I have to wait for four more years, minimum, to be eligible to try), I plan to focus more on the non-career aspect. More traveling, more reading and more shoe-hoarding. And more swimming, too, I guess.