I woke up to the incessant blowing of horns earlier this morning. I realized that they were coming from the torotots of the neighborhood kids. Either they were very happy with their toys or they can't wait for the clock to strike 12.

The Christmas and New Year holidays in Davao City may not be that festive as the previous years, ever since Digong banned all fireworks (even the kind that doesn't have a loud bang) in the city. So the Davaoenos made it exciting in many way-- torotots, loud music, an even louder banging of anything that creates sound, and enthusiastic chit-chats from the grandpa down to the grandchild. At least there are less casualties since nobody gets hit by firecrackers anymore (i always hated the watusi!) and we don't have to ruin our eardrums from the Super-Lolos.

It's still festive in some ways. My sister, Mao, made sure that everything looked Christmas-y. The Christmas lights are on, there are Christmas stockings strewn all over the place (but they're empty LOL), the tablecloth has this boughs of holly designs, and christmas decors were placed on the staircase and kitchen.

We headed to the mall earlier to get some last minute shopping for food and, by golly, it sure looked like everyone was doing the same thing. Even the bakeries were filled with people frantic to buy cakes and pastries. My favorite bakery ran out of moist chocolate cake so we decided to go to the Goldilocks branch in Damosa. They had limited cakes left too but I was able to buy chocolate mousse.

Woohoo! A few hours left and it's 2009! Already, our neighbors are preparing for their annual neighborhood party and stereos are spewing different songs everywhere. (I say "they" because we don't really mingle with most of our neighbors).

 

(Quote: How does a rabbit who jumps in a hole, plummeting into chaos, come out unchanged?)

2008... A year of lessons, realizations, disappointments, elation, success, heartaches, growth, pain, joy, laughter, love, surprises and more... I jumped... and I came out wiser than last year (and hopefully more mature). I shall carry these lessons in my heart. 2009 will show me a different road to travel and the lessons of the past will show me the way to more changes.

(Since this will be my last blog for 2008, I might as well write a long entry.)

Although a lot of people has touched me in some ways, I would like to show my gratitude to several special people who made an impact to my year.

First, my colleagues in QA. They have showed me that even when there is dirty politics in the office, I don't need to involve myself on that. We may hear a lot of negative things about people in the office and some of these individuals have tried to sway us into thinking as how they think but we remained steadfast. We are a strong team and we don't have attitude problems (except the chronic lateness, is that considered an attitude problem?). Seriously, I really believe in our quote "Beauty with a purpose". We are beautiful inside not because of our job, but on how we handle our job. You have also made me realize that I am not a patient person but you later on taught me to be one. You showed me sincerity and genuine concern (which is hard to find in today's workplace) and I really appreciate that. Some of us have fallen several times (not on a literal sense) but we were able to handle it with grace and finesse. That's the real beauty of our team. We had our shortcomings, no doubt about that, but we were always prepared to own up to our mistakes and make up for it in surprising ways. We have teamwork and communication to back it up. We have brains, beauty, and our Sun phones. So again, thank you.

Panda. You showed me that I could love again and taught me that a heart never lies dormant for too long. I appreciate the little things that you did for me and I am ever grateful for the actions that took a great deal of effort for you to do. You made me laugh again and you showed me that I still know how to cry for love. Yours was the most painful experience yet and until now I wallow on the droplets of remembrance. You made sure that I forgot every bitter experience I had in the past and you replaced it with your own... But you also made sure that you occupied every space in my heart... to the point that every breathe I had to take was filled with a wisp of you. Even now, I still can't figure out if you were sincere in your love. Or maybe you found out that there's no permanence in what you felt for me. Or did you just decide to give up while you were packing your bags before? I hide these thoughts because I know that you don't like confrontations when it's thrown back at you. Despite everything, though, I continue to love you with more intensity. Even when I know that it's not being reciprocated. Remember the times that you told me to wait? I made a promise to myself that I would. You have already broken me. No person will be able to touch my heart again. Thank you for the season of love. I was never vocal about my feelings and now it's too late to tell you how I feel so I'm writing it here.
(Mes amours durent en tout temps...)

I apologize for the bad grammar on my last paragraph. It was hard for me to concentrate as my mind was filled with a jumble of emotions.

 

Happy New Year!!!

Thank you, 2008...

 

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Photo of "torotot" is from the blog of dennisvillegas.

whew. i can just guess what happened to the panda situation. ;-) life must go on te. hope 2009 will be better for all of us. my 2008 also sucked! hahaha.