Before this year ends, let me share with you some of the highlights that happened to me this year:

PERSONAL

• Adopted a dog named Toby, a golden retriever
• First time after a long time spending our Christmas and New Year’s eve with my dad, who works abroad for several years
• First time setting up a (minimalist) Christmas tree
• Spent half of the year adopting kittens from our neighbors, but my mom decided to give them away
• Felt short on my savings goals for this year; chose to double up my savings next year while saving some for my travel funds
• Collected 5 and 10 peso coins as part of my yearly savings, which summed up more than 10,000 pesos
• Bought a new refrigerator and an oven
• Surprised someone with flowers
• Customized my credit card’s design from BPI
• Lost my earphones and Bluetooth mouse several times this year because I keep on leaving my things after my classes back in the computer lab
• Spent most of my free time cooking pasta (both red and white sauce) and deliver them to my school for a taste test
• Played my violin during my student’s last exam during the 1^st term of the school year
• First time attended a church service in Church of God – Silang
• Attended COG Dasma’s Worship 101 for the entire month of July; brushed up my violin skills trained by my church mate who works for the Worship Department
• Decided to go for a short hair look most of the months of this year; too lazy to grow my hair long (just like in College days)
• Spent some time with my newfound friends and students for this school year and seeing lots of potential from them
• Spent the whole day in my friends’ house preparing and cooking meals
• Joined a ministry (Creatives Team) in our church; my church mates and I handle the content and website updates for cogphilippines.com
• Gave up using a Windows Phone, bought and started using an Android phone (and never regret it)
• Voted last May election
• Donated blood twice this year (January 31 and November 30)
• Spent my birthday back home early; wasn’t able to celebrate with my friends because of schedule conflicts and personal reasons
• Stayed single for the entire year

DEV

• Developed the newest WeBenilde website
• Created a Code section from my website dedicated to programming questions, tips and trick, and knowledge base
• Created personal site for Denise Ayson and Teri Bernardo
• Bought a personal web hosting subscription in Bluehost
• Upgraded RAM to my dev machine
• Learned how to create newsletter and email templates using ASP.NET
• Fiddled with APIs of MailChimp, Google Maps
• Trained TNM associates and discuss CDS concerns last November 5
• First time attended a client meeting from Mandaluyong last September
• Installed and deployed kiosk machines for Fly Ace last March during their recipe promotion/campaign
• Maintained my Stack Overflow account with 2933 reputation points and 125 badges
• Maintained and improved Themes & Motifs website for the entire year; Received 650,000+ page views, 116k+ new and returning users, 180k+ sessions for the whole year; Collected sign-ups of 500+ wedding suppliers, 6500+ soon-to-weds, 2100+ guests and writers, and generated 8000+ online tickets for wedding conferences
• Developed and maintained the Labor of Love website
• Developed The Dessert Kitchen Philippines website
• Go-live website for Landlite Philippines
• Maintained content for Mr. Choi Kitchen website
• Skipped the annual AngelHack Manila hackathon event
• Presented and discussed eCommerce during a wedding suppliers meeting organized by Themes & Motifs last February 19

ACADEME

• Set a milestone on my teaching career in Benilde: 5 years!
• Received a perfect attendance award for the entire school year 2015-2016
• Received consecutive outstanding and very satisfactory STAR ratings for the entire school year
• First time to panel 20+ groups only for a term!
• First time I planned a costume party during my students’ presentation last October.
• Participated in an exhibit during the 4^th DLSU Innovation and Technology Fair last November 24
• Held a web development seminar / hands-on last October 5
• Attended a curriculum development with my fellow IS faculty last October 8 in Hotel Benilde.
• First time handled capstone groups for ISPROJ1 this school year, and surprisingly liked the idea of checking technical documentations.
• Conducted my first open forum for students who are currently taking up capstone courses last May 7; treated my students some pizza afterward
• Participated in a not-so-secret school project as a mentor for app development
• Attended a curriculum development with IS, CA, and GDD faculty last August 5 in Cintai Corito’s Garden
• First time handled ISPROG (C#) series for consecutive terms.
• First time to use the SDA theater (and its equipment) while recording my team’s semi-final entry for Imagine Cup 2016 last April 20
• Competed and won as the National Winner for Imagine Cup 2016 Philippines last April 15 (This has to be my most outstanding achievement for this year.)
• Handled ID 114 and 115 students as their academic adviser
• Handled Web Development (WB-DEV1, WB-DEV2, ISPROG3, WEBDEVT), basic (ISPROG1), Database Application Development (ISPROG2), and IS Advanced Programming (ISPROG3) classes for the school year

HEALTH

• Monitored my daily water intake using an Android app
• Maintained my “dad bod” weight for the entire year (170-175 pounds)
• Started the first few months participating in Herbalife’s 10-day program
• Failed to attain my personal goal of 155 pounds (because of stress eating and lack of exercise)
• Quit eating pizza and bacon
• Quiz eating chocolates at the end of the year
• Reduced my sleeping time to 4-6 hours

TRAVEL

• Went to an impromptu trip in Tagaytay last July 6;
• Went to Ilocos Sur last February 25-27 during our school’s annual teambuilding

EVENTS

• Celebrated our annual Limpin family reunion at San Simon, Mexico, Pampanga yesterday (December 30); spent the afternoon with my distant cousins and other relatives
• Attended our church’s Christmas cantata last December 24
• Attended my brother’s wedding last December 20; chosen as the best man for the first time
• Attended IS and CA Christmas party last December 10
• First time attended the Benilde’s Faculty Association Christmas party and won from a raffle (minor prize)
• Celebrated Edmar’s birthday last November 29 in Taft, Manila
• Celebrated my grandmother’s 92^nd birthday last November 20 in Romulo Café
• Attended Benilde’s Service Awards last November 7 in ARG Theater; for the first time since the last time, I participated in a photoshoot and seeing my awkward smile.
• Attended my school’s graduation last October 29 at PICC
• Went to Chinatown with my friends and ate in a local restaurant last October 8
• Participated in our school’s annual retreat in Balay Indang last September 30 till October 1
• Went to Yakimix and Mall of Asia for a fellowship with my church mates last September 24
• Celebrated my godchild’s birthday last September 4 in Malinao
• Went to Tagaytay for some bulalo, together with my fellow creatives team, last July 16 for a fellowship
• Attended Indie Manila’s #RoomForSquares event last June 10; saw some of my favorite indie bands and artists: Clara Benin, SUD, Jensen and The Flips and Espasouls
• Ate late dinner with my friends last June 3 in Binondo during a promo
• Ate dinner with my best friend last May 27 in Ayala during rush-hour traffic of the metro
• Watched performances from Banna Harbera, SUD, and other music production students last May 27 during Ad Astra’s Perspective event
• Celebrated mother’s day last May 8 in Alabang Town Center.
• Attended a church service with my friends last May 1 at Church of God – Makati; ate lunch in Makati afterward
• Watched Jensen and Clara Benin’s performance last April 29 during Radio Republic PH’s #SexySummerSesh event
• Went to Little Tokyo first time but decided to eat late dinner back in Aguirre St. last April 26 with my friends
• Watched performances of Agsunta, One Click Straight, Clara Benin, and other local artists during Music Business Week’s #Shuffle event last April 6 in SDA
• Attended COG Dasma’s Easter Sunday dance musicale last March 27
• Attended Themes & Motifs’ Wedding Expo Philippines last March 20
• First time attending Clara Benin’s gig in Saguijo last March 18; met her together with her sister Sarah (awkwardly)
• Celebrated Thea’s birthday last February 14 in Caloocan
• Spent late dinner with my best friend Alyzza last February 12 in Gateway Mall
• Went to Maginhawa for a food trip with my sister last January 31
• Spent a late Christmas celebration with my friends last January 29 in Las Pinas

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Had 2600+ Facebook friends – mostly my students and colleagues at work
• Posted 22.3k tweets and maintained Twitter followers to 1000+
• “Re-organized” my Instagram feed by deleting 300+ photos; Used Inkwell filter to all my posts for consistency; Increased followers to 700+
• Started my #onesecondaday for my monthly post on Instagram
• Became more active in Snapchat and Swarm
• Doubled my Foursquare check-ins to 6200+ check-ins, 51 mayorships, along with 64(out of 100) stickers
• Connected to 1,100+ LinkedIn accounts; Maintained 70+ endorsements for NET, C#, Web Development, and Microsoft SQL Server skills

LEISURE / ENTERTAINMENT

• Spent more time buying accessories (and gadgets) online than going to a retail store
• Re-visited an old anime series – Hunter x Hunter
• Re-visited one of my favorite American series – The 70’s Show
• Watched Saving Sally with my parents and sister last December 26
• Bought and received Yellowcard merch – their latest and last album and some of their personalized design t-shirts
• Bought VIP tickets for Yellowcard’s last tour next year! #stoked
• Watched X-Men: Apocalypse in the cinema last May 22
• Watched Captain America: Civil War during the Labor Day
• Watched The 5^th Wave with my mom and sister last January 24

It wasn’t a great year as much as I expected, but I’m still thankful for all the people who made it happen.

Thank you for reading.