2011 recap

2011 was a difficult year for many people I know, myself included. I can’t exactly say my year was bad; all one has to do is look at Cagayan de Oro, or parts of Japan, or any war-torn country and know that I am not in the same vicinity as bad, and life is actually pretty good. But things happened this year that I’m not happy about, and I’m glad the year is over.

Like every end-of-year post, I’m limiting my list to 20 bullets. Here was my 2011:

1. Helped organize the second Manila Global Game Jam
2. Spoke at the Philippine Game Development Festival and two IGDA events
3. Taught Interactive Narrative at De La Salle University, a completely new subject that I got to make from scratch. I’m not entirely sure the kids learned anything. But it was fun!
4. Studied Level 1 conversational Japanese at Nihongo Foundation
5. Got very sick throughout the year, including (but not limited to): tonsilitis, laryngitis, asthma, high cholesterol (farewell, bacon. How I loved you), physical therapy for my chronic ankle sprain (only to sprain it again later), skin allergies, and a few more that are too upsetting to blog about. My expense tracker tells me I spent over P62,000 (USD$1415) on hospital tests and medicine. That’s real money
6. Since many of my illnesses happened during the first half of the year (when I was IGDA-ing, teaching, and studying at the same time), I decided to quit all my obligations outside of work. Cold turkey. Life is slower now. Quieter
7. Spent a lot of time in hospitals, and not just for myself — my dad was in the ICU; my aunt was in the ER; hell, even my boyfriend was in the ER while he was here. I used to be the mayor of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Asian Hospital on Foursquare, just to show you how often I was there
8. Showed my boyfriend around Manila (his first time here!). We basically just ate. And ate. And ate. We also toured Intramuros, which was nice, albeit highly theatrical
9. Watched The Radio Dept live. Oh my God
10. <Went to the States for two months. Got detained by Homeland Security. Sprained my ankle at the Outside Lands Music Festival. Saw Hearst Castle and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Did not get fat. Achievement!
11. Only got drunk twice (the Boomzap Manila conference, and Casual Connect Seattle). Am I getting too old for this shit? (Quick answer: No)
12. While in the States, my relationship went through tough times. Came home changed
13. Started writing daily again, thanks to a beautiful journal app called My Wonderful Days. I highly recommend it. Writers need to write daily. Keeps us sane
14. Finished a third casual adventure franchise (it comes out early next year!) and started a fourth. The freedom to create worlds and bring them to life is one of the best things I’ve experienced this year, and for that I am grateful to Boomzap and the insane amount of trust they’ve placed in me
15. Got hacked. Filed my first police case with the PNP Cyber-Crime division. They’re still investigating, but I don’t use Paypal anymore, or buy anything from Groupon or Metrodeal (the two sites I had used Paypal for)
16. Changed to a “life is too short” mindset, thanks to a schoolmate who suddenly passed away. Started to be more spontaneous and do what I’ve always wanted to do, instead of putting things off for the distant future
17. In the next three months, went to Bellarocca, a Pampanga 10-course food trip, and Kuala Lumpur<, all on short notice
18. Also bought an Xbox 360, which I’ve wanted for years, and an iPhone, which I kept insisting was a terrible idea until I actually had one. Now I’m kind of in love with it
19. Booked for Hong Kong, Boracay, and Singapore for 2012, with two more trips later in the year
20. In general, weeded out the bad things from my life (everything from stressful TV shows to assholes) and filled the void with things I enjoy (hanging out with a few real friends, yoga 3x a week, gigs, quiet time for myself). If there’s anything I learned in 2011, it’s that life is too short to do anything you don’t want to do. So go for it

Well, that wasn’t so bad. I’m really excited for 2012! No more looking back — just a lot of jumping forward.

I leave you with what is possibly the cutest New Year’s song ever made, by the cutest people ever born:

Happy 2012, everyone! 🙂

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My recap for 2010 is here.