Wow. Another year just ended. Seemed like it just breezed by. 2012 was a bit difficult for me, but I will not dwell on that. As I mentioned on Twitter, it was not that bad at all. Here’s a look back at the year that was – some personal stuff, events, achievements, songs, personalities and characters that shaped my 2012.
Family, Friends, and Personal. It was a roller coaster of emotions. Friendships has been tested but some remained strong, patience and determination were put on the line, we lost our Lolo just last month and almost lost an uncle after an operation; there’s a lot of gray skies throughout the year. But still we managed to endure all of it, made it through, moved on, and continued with life. Here’s to hoping for improved relationships, and better health for every family member.

Travel. I didn’t get to explore that much last year, yes that’s sad. But a notable trip was with longtime friends Dema, Chyrene, my inaanak Kurt, Sherron, and with my twin brothers in Ilocos Sur. We also went to Vigan. I also spent a summer in Subic with officemates last April, in Pampanga for Hot Air Balloon festival, in Tarlac and Cavite for a climb (photos of which I will post in a separate category haha) No out of the country for me, boohoo. Here’s to hoping that will change this year. Fingers crossed.


Akyat-Bagal Gang. That’s the name of my mountaineering group haha! We didn’t get to climb that much last year, but at least we had two. We first conquered Mt. Marami in Maragondon, Cavite – a difficult but very rewarding climb. We also joined the Freedom Climb, as usual, this time at Mt. Damas in Tarlac where I got injured but it’s all good. Here’s to hoping for more mountains to climb. Or should I say, for our schedules to meet the demands for our need to hike anew.


Weddings and Babies. No, not my wedding and baby. Not just yet. I am talking about weddings and babies of my longtime college friends Dhang and Niña, my dear officemate Rachel. Two of them gave me two more inaanaks last year! Here’s to hoping for their happy and strong married life, and for more babies!


Work It! Around mid-August, I believe, me and my remaining batch mates/teammates were transferred to a different team because our team leader resigned. At first I was not that positive about it, especially that the team is a performing team. But it turned out they were nice bunch of people, and they all love to eat! Haha! There has been some issues, but we’ll just shrugging it off as it is not good for the team and to feed ourselves with negative stuff. Here’s to more fun and more food, Tyrians!


FraP-ed! Allow me to indulge myself. It all started out when THE Francine Prieto visited the RX booth for The Morning Rush, and the rest they say is history. She became friends to some Rushers, even followed some, including me!
We would sometimes visit her at WOW FM where she works as a DJ, and we even surprised her on her birthday. She’s really nice, down to earth, walang ere ‘pag kasama, and fun to be with (parang slumbook lang haha). I’m glad she became a part of my 2012


Concerts and Shows. I only got to watch three shows last year – Lifehouse, Aiza Seguerra’s Bente Singko anniversary concert, and James Morrison’s The Awakening tour. I was also able to meet and greet The Fray, although I didn’t get to watch their concert. Here’s to hoping for more this year. Right now I am excited for The Script’s #3 tour, we already got “almost” front row tickets! Yay!


KDDs In Concert! Speaking of concerts, my group KDD (Kadodo) and I had one haha! Dru invited us to perform for their company Christmas party, and we did five songs. It was such an experience – from forming the set of songs (naks), to the rehearsals, to the actual performance. That was the first time I performed for a company party, and the first time I got paid for singing haha! So thanks to Dru and Norsy. Here’s to more concerts this year!

Cinemalaya. No Spanish and French film festival for me, but instead I made sure to support our local films. Much thanks to Cinemalaya, and for holding screenings at TriNoma, I got to watch 8 films. The ones I liked the most were Ang Nawawala, Bwakaw (Philippines’ official entry to the Oscars), Kamera Obskura, Mga Mumunting Lihim and Santa Niña. My mom, my brother and I also watched Six Degrees of Separation by Lilia Cuntapay and enjoyed it. Here’s to more quality Filipino films this year!


Boob(s) Tube. 2012 was the year I went back to watching “old” reality TV shows like American Idol, The Amazing Race, and Survivor. Well of course because Survivor was shot here in the Philippines, and because of Jessica Sanchez haha! I also followed The Voice and Modern Family again, and got hooked with Game Of Thrones! I already have A Song of Ice and Fire book set to read this year! Here’s to more boobs, I mean boob tube mania!

Music and Me. I had quite a number of artists on repeat in my iPod the entire year, but the few notable ones were Carrie Underwood’s Blown Away (of course hehe), The Script’s #3, James Morrison’s The Awakening, Ed Sheeran’s +, and Karmin’s song Brokenhearted. Yes, Oppa Gangnam Style and Call Me Maybe are not in the list.



Pagbasa ang Pag-asa. I saw that slogan somewhere in the QC area. Which reminds me, I need to read more this year. Good thing a friend of mine gave me a set of Game of Thrones book, all five of them. Last year I only got to read three books – Ian McEwan’s Atonement, which I really liked; John Grisham’s Street Lawyer, which could actually pass for a movie adaptation; and of course The Best of Chico, Delamar, and Gino’s The Morning Rush Top 10 Book 2 (where four of my entries made it hehe)

Online Fad. As expected, I spent most of my time online last year. Be it on Twitter, Facebook, or playing games. Yes, I went back to playing games again because of Chico Garcia’s raves about DragonVale haha! And since I am on Twitter most of the time, here are some Twitter conversations I would like to share and look back to – when Jeffrey Hidalgo RT’d my video singing Can This Be Love, when Kara David replied to one of my tweets, and when Mike Skupin of Survivor RT’d, favorited, and one time tweeted me!

RUSHERS! And more of them in the coming years, I believe. Last year, I ended my year end post about them and I think it’s just fitting to do the same this year. As what I posted on our TMR group, they have been a big part of my 2012 – from the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Pampanga, Enchanted Kingdom EB, Yahoo OMG awards, Gandang Gabi Vice taping, book signings, and countless EBs, be it planned or unplanned. They’re like my second family; I even talk to them (online) much more than my family here at home haha! Here’s to more happy years with the Rushers, Chico, Delamar and Gino!




Looking back, it was not bad. At all. I’ll just probably need to decide on something big so I can have an equally big 2013. I am really praying hard for that to happen. Thank you to everyone who became part of my 2012! It was an amazing journey, I’d like to say. Time to leave all the negativity behind, and be positive and create more happy, meaningful and beautiful memories this year. This will be my year, and I am claiming it. Even if it means I’d get bitten by the water snake, then so be it. I can feel that this would be a great year for me. Until then!