2012 in words and pics

An unexamined life, Socrates says, is not worth living. Hence, it has always been a tradition for newspaper, TV, magazine and other media organizations to run a list of what have been, for reminiscing, reflecting, perhaps wishing sake, that the incoming year will be better than the outgoing. My 2012 has been memorable, groundbreaking, rollercoaster-ish.

My friends, classmates and I savor the last few months of being carefree students last January and February before claiming our togas and graduation rites. Who says it’s easy to juggle things when your plate is full: academics, extracurricular, thesis, and love life for some. 

After four years, eight semesters, and a number of weekends spent for school projects and assignments, the most rewarding day for senior students has finally come on the last day of March. Wearing our togas and tassels, we stride on the aisle (some, towing their parents) towards the stage to claim our right to enter the “real world.” 

Come summer, April-May, some have taken their time off to travel, try new things, and bum around. But in essence, it’s job-hunting that spelled crucial, excruciating, and exciting at the same time. The two months of supposedly summer break served as a platform for finding our souls, wants, voices, and paths. Some have stayed on their first jobs, many still somber from being a bummer, while others constantly ‘job hop.’ Welcome to the real world, it is!

My real employment (I have been hopping and choosing back then hehe) simultaneously started on the opening of new school year. Reminiscing though I was still in my college days, I faced a tough yet stirring five-month stint last June to November in a publishing company as an Editorial Assistant, which developed, honed, and improved my editing skills, where I learned that every day is two words! I would also never forget the friendship and camaraderie I made with my officemates. 

I’d like to think that the biggest Christmas gift I received so far came last December (3, to be exact) when I got what I’ve always wanted— to be a writer in a national newspaper. And I’m loving it. My current (and hopefully, my last) employment turns my table full circle. I’ve been used to writing fast yet fastidious news reporting that I find it amusing, challenging, and rousing to write soft news. Life is a constant learning indeed, as I am seemingly taking a new course: features writing 101.  

put it on #instagram

I know you’re hungry, wait, this will only take five minutes. There, with perfect timing, lighting, and framing our cheap halo-halo meal looks like a five-star hotel best seller.

Tag it with a witty caption and hashtags, #foodtrip #halohalo, save and tweet. Finally we can go eat.

After munching, let’s go sightseeing.

Click click click goes your #android #iphone or #galaxySIII

Again, put a funny tagline and sprinkle it with #nothingtodo #thisislife #lunchatEastwood. Tadah! You have a post worthy of likes and RTs.

 Wait for a minute or so, Instagram followers will eventually like your photos. Like, like, like!

Oh, you can also share it on your #Facebook #Twitter and #whathaveyou accounts.

You’ve become preoccupied with sharing (or subtle showing off?) that you forgot to savor the moment. 

waddup?

The past days have gone too fast (and furious) that the only way I can update my blog is to load it with pictures of what have been:

Lonely Boy is GG:

I have been an avid fan of Gossip Girl but I was still surprised that GG was Dan Humphrey! I thought it was Doroda.

Paskuhan 2012

Who says that the world would cease to exist last 21^st? Hell no! I had an unadulterated fun with my girls: catching up, cam whoring, and eating, and did I just say catching up? Apparently, we haven’t seen one another for the last eight months (at least for some) and we missed one another. Aww. Too bad, we’re incomplete though! 

Work blast:

I am very happy with how my career is going right now because I get to be paid to do what I love. The last two weeks was bent with workload, legwork, voice transcription and what have you, but I’m loving it to pieces. (I was already published twice, to think that I’ve just started. Hihi).

Merry Christmas!

I am wishing people from all over the globe a merry Christmas, although I know some are in pain, suffering, and trials (think of the people in Cagayan Valley and Sandy Hook), we will keep up! To 2013 and beyond! 

(from google)

awkward

She entered the room, dressed to impress, because, hey she was assigned in the Lifestyle department of a prominent newspaper in the country. It was barely nine in the morning, writers, editors and staffers are not yet around.     

Until one photographer, a renowned artist, came to her side, made small talk and shared that they share the same alma mater and were member of the same university publication. It was a gleam of relief, to think that the aspiring writer was timid and unconfident. But the photographer was dressed down in t-shirt, sneakers and in almost tattered jeans. She looked down to herself and felt unwelcomed.

Embarrassed by her superfluous get up, she decided to take off her neon necklaces.

“So that I feel I belong,” she thought to herself.

She was shy, well she has always been. She was insecure, not confident with her writing style and if she can pull off the demands of a journalist on call 24/7. She has weak a body, petite frame that could still pass as a high school student. Hence her mother has always been doubtful if she can make it through the day, more so become a journalist/writer/editor someday. Her emotional sensibilities, in addition, are not stable—she cries more often than a normal person requires and easily takes pity on herself. 

Barely a year after graduation, although she bagged a Latin award, she was not that ready yet, to face the real world. Sometimes, she feels the urge to enroll for her Masteral or another degree just so she could go to school again.  The thoughts of school, assignment, classmates comfort her.

She just sat there, timid, staring, hearing chatters of names she could barely remember.  It felt like forever, but it was just three hours ago after the famous photographer talked to her.

Then there she was, her editor, clad with clothes she bought on the way to the office. She looked smart (she is anyway), stood confident, and possessed vitality—characteristics opposite of the newbie.

Then the unthinkable happened, out of boredom, she stormed inside the room of her editor to ask for some assignment, the nerve to do that! Right there and then, in a snap, her wish was granted in an instant—a hotel coverage that would take place two hours after their meeting.

“This is it!” she thought. 

Sadly, however, her article was not published the next day after.  

“It’s okay,” she said to comfort herself. Of course it was okay but it could have been better if her first assignment was printed. At least, she knew what it feels like to cover a PR story. At least, there were some memories and experiences she learned before the day ended, and it were the words of her very mentor:

Always think outside the box.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Never be shy to ask questions and interview people.                                                                                                                      Make a draft even before the event happened.                                                                                                                                                     Everything will come easy if you know the elements of your story.

She could definitely have done better. She knew that, at least she has her second day (and other days, months and years) to prove herself and hone whatever skill she thought she possessed.