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 1st 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 4th 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 92nd 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 5th 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.
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