I’m surprised and pleased when I realized that no matter what I find myself dedicating my “at a glance” post for this blog at this time of the year. And each time I’m (constantly) reminded that my year can be depicted by several photographs, it may look cheerful, boring, crazy, well, anything… but at the end of the day, it looks colorful, challenging and fulfilling to me. I will forever be thankful to the One up there for the blessings being sent to me in different ways (even the challenges are counted as blessings)!

Thanks to all the readers who continue to visit for varied reasons including the non-bloggers who try to keep in touch/ catch up with me from a distance through this blog and to those who occasionally land here to gather information (I hope I did help). May we all be happier , more fruitful and try to be better in so many ways in 2012!

It’s (the year of) 2011 as most of us generally refer to it, but it would add value to someone like me who lives in the Gulf to know that 2011 is otherwise known as 1432 years or Year 1432.

I can’t believe the irregularity of my recent postings and that I needed to have a guest blogger last week. Thanks to my kyoooot kittycat! I hope that I would be able to write more frequently as I excitedly recall my pending tasks in terms of blogging.  But as we say, the  spirit is willing, but Witsandnuts is hungry for sleep…eeek, the flesh is weak! Did you know that there was that rare moment that I was blogging in my dreams, in fast paced scenarios, along with my other dreams that I am tied up with plenty of tasks? Being haunted in our dreams, scary isn’t it? But don’t worry, that rarely happens. There were days that I woke up feeling like I didn’t sleep at all because I’m so exhausted in the dreamland. On a happy note, there were days that I felt so rested even if I got only 3 to 4 hours of sleep. Sounds familiar, eh?

What’s keeping me (more) busy?

The need to push more to learn Arabic

I mentioned over a year ago that I was enrolled (sponsored) to the Arabic business course – first level. But due to the alignment of priorities and schedule itself, I decided not to take the advanced level. And maybe because of the anyway-I’m surviving-and-the-people-around-me-speak-good-English-and-documents-can-be-translated attitude.  Although inside my head, I always plan to devour my self-study materials. But that does not happen. It’s like that treadmill inside your apartment shouting “Hey! Am I just a decor here?” and you always defer its utilization… until it’s full of dust.

And one day I woke up telling myself, “I need to be two steps ahead”. So I’m now trying to catch up with the lost time. Although being eloquent in Arabic is not a must in my current function at work, I opine that I must prepare and do something more than the required for the sort of global competitiveness (naks!). But first, I had to be convinced that I am doing this for my self-satisfaction more than anything else. Though if I can be totally honest, when I’m ultra struggling and I want to give up, I tell myself “matulog na nga lang ako” (I better invest on sleep). Heeehee. And you know what? That’s the signal that we should keep going!

Learning Arabic is really challenging. Especially if it’s the business Arabic that you’re aiming for. The spoken one is easier to appreciate and has several channels, but I guess I’m pushing myself to the limits that my main goal is to become articulate in reading business documents in Arabic. That means that I’m boldly thinking to have the competency level of the professional translators (I even bought a business Arabic dictionary). Yaiks, as I am writing this I realized that masyadong mataas ang pangarap ko (I’m boastful that I’m aiming too high)! That’s 10 times harder. Although there are translators/resources, it feels good to be self-sufficient to a certain extent.

Speaking of Ramadan, here’s the Arabic scribble shown on the first photo. I set the edit in Instagram (yes, I’m currently hooked to this app as you probably noticed in my recent posts) in black and white to emphasize the emboss. The scribble reads as “Ramadan Kareem” or Happy Ramadan.

And what about this one? That’s my full name. I can write a little now. Looks artistic eh? To those who are going to attempt to decipher, take note that reading is from right to left.

But I must remember that I need to enhance my reading more than the writing skills (naks, skills daw)! Speaking of reading, I was struggling to read a document earlier where it took me ages to understand the correlation of August 3, 2011 with the insert 1432 (all written in Arabic). In the end, I finally gathered that 1432 refers to the number of Islamic year (from the date Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Madinat and established Islam).

Foster parents for Winello

Since we will be traveling, we started interviewing lovely people who are applying to be the foster parents of our kittycat, Winello. We didn’t expect that the response would be overwhelming with the help of Feline Friends of Abu Dhabi.

It’s good that our curtains are strong and not that sensitive, he’s now a little explorer.

If you wish to see more photos/ know more of the (my self-proclaimed) most charming cat in Abu Dhabi, please do visit his kittyblog titled Winello the Cat.

Screening foster parents is challenging and fun. Since they are all deserving, the decision making can get really tough. I wish we can say yes to everyone! Although there’s the occasional (normal) hesitation that the kittycat or the foster parent might get too attached to the other and it would be heartbreaking to kiss goodbye when we return and the other possibilities. At the end of the day, the process feels like we are taking the diligence and skepticism which parents have for a child when selecting a guardian/ meeting a possible partner in life. Only if it’s possible and feasible to take him to all the planned travels.

Paper work, paper work, paper work

No matter how exciting it is to travel, the planning may require paper work more than what’s expected. It just so happened that our passports were due for renewal (and luckily we allotted ample time for possible delay) and not to mention the other formalities. We are also sponsoring the visit of my aunt (finally we were able to convince her) and the added documentation from Immigration Office of the Philippines makes you say ‘what for?’.

(The slipper is one of the prizes I won from Photo Cache’s blog anniversary giveway.)

Celebrations!

On a happy note, the momentous celebrations with family and friends are the reasons that need no reservation to get really, really busy — cooking, eating, laughing and more! That’s the part that never fails to make me realize that life is wonderful.

Last Sunday was extra special because I turned a year older and happier. I didn’t expect that I’d enjoy (this much) the process of growing old (minus the weight gain, ugh!) because I still feel invincible. It’s wonderful when one gets accustomed to dealing with things on a per state of mind basis.

And here’s to say cheers to the winners of my blog anniversary and birthday giveaway. The judges, whom included myself, had a difficult time selecting the winners. Let’s congratulate Lauren and Yellow Bells! I will be sending the Photobook Philippines’ vouchers to the respective emails you used in leaving the comment. Many thanks to those who participated. It’s always a pleasure to know more about my readers.

Most of you will say no.

Or your boss probably came across your blog or actually follows it but he or she doesn’t tell you.

And what about my boss? He does! I still can’t believe how it happened. Anyway, I was overwhelmed, uncomfortable, flattered, panicking rolled into one when I learned about it. My first reaction inside my head was “oh no, I need to review all the posts in my archives, I need to edit, I need to delete this and that, I need to write my succeeding posts in Filipino, I need to do this, I need to do that!” But in the end, I realized that I don’t need to change anything. The thought of deleting any post, even my crazy phase of addiction with vampires and wolves and my boohoooos, absolutely pained me. I have my surprising and imperfect side and I’m proud of it.

When I started blogging, I didn’t have a particular reader in my mind. I was just enjoying talking in this space and I still do. Simple mechanics: enjoy the process, be credible, unwind, be myself, and again — enjoy it. Hence, to do a major edit would be a mistake because that would be no fun anymore. So unreal. To be found out will always be a probability. And I guess I’m just so lucky that I have not written anything that will make me say once my blog is found out that “oh no, I’m dead!” I remember mentioning in one of my posts that I try not to blog when I’m at my highest high or lowest low.

I think it’s understandably awkward at the moment. But I chose to be “me”, so hey boss (yes, I’m talking to you hahahaha),  I have another name, i.e. witsandnuts, I love my job (ehem!), I was a hardcore Twilight fanatic, I love taking photos of food, I love to eat (as if it’s not obvious!), when I do my reports I sometimes pysche myself that I’m drafting a blog entry and it really helps, and I love so many things!!!

While I still feel uneasy at the moment, like someone’s policing me, and who knows there are more out there hahahaha, I am happy to be me.

I’ve started reading Errornomics, one of the previous birthday presents I got. It talks about why we make mistakes and what we can do to avoid them. It’s an enjoyable read and although I’m still 200+ pages to the end, I’ve already exclaimed “Aha!” plenty of times. Since I’m still miles away to making a book review, I just want to share the specific learning points that I’ve “tested” or realized.

As we look for things, we don’t always see.

This morning, we were in Lulu Hypermarket to do the weekly groceries. We intentionally went in during the peak hour to test one theory. Apparently, handedness is the best predictor of a person’s directional preference. Hence, most people who are right handed, like me, tend to look at the right when searching for the shortest lines for people at stores, banks, and the like. At the supermarket today, as we were about to pay, I checked the queues at the left first. Really short!

(A card sent by one of my Iggy sisters; I liked that this Papemelroti card depicts a lot about the colorful life in the Philippines. I miss riding the tricyle but not the craziness and unpredictability of situations like hold ups.)

Not that I want to test another theory, but I noticed that in some documentaries and investigative series men and women witnesses give separate strengths in their accounts of the story. But Errornomics suggests that in case of hold-ups/snatching event, it is better to have a man as a witness (ugh, I am a woman). Allegedly, women tend to notice the appearance and actions of the woman whose purse was being snatched while men pay more attention to the thief, hence, they are more accurate regarding the details about the thief.

The book mentioned other interesting examples of “looked but did not see” errors (and that’s just one chapter). It’s a good start to rekindle my affair with the books. It’s been a long time. And I want to find out the relevant symbolisms of those peeled bananas on the book cover,

You probably should pay extra attention to this post. LOL.

As my blog is turning another year old in less than three months from now, I remember that I still owe you responses to some of the questions you asked in this post. For those who are new here, I held a blog anniversary and birthday giveaway last year and each commenter-participant got to ask one question as part of the “game’. And I promised to give a response to the three winners. Well, I really did. Anyway, as I’m planning to hold another giveaway this July, I sort of reviewed what you wanted to happen last year and I absolutely felt the “clamor” for me to share more.

I started this blog without any reader in mind. (You can locate that statement on this blog’s sidebar.) But we don’t really know what’s going to happen next, right? So, it evolved and all that. But I remain non-descriptive and almost privy about some aspects, especially of my personal life. One of the things that I really appreciate about blogging is that the authors behind each post can possibly accept each other for who they are. And as blog owners, we decide how much information we are going to share. And because I really hear your clamor, I’ve decided to put this sort of question and answer (based on the items you asked last year) and decided to group them as follows:

The question was: A suntok sa buwan possibility,what is the first thing/question you are going to ask me if we ever get to meet in person?

BECAUSE I LOVE TO EAT

Q: What was your first meal in UAE? (from Kate of It’s All About the Meow)

A: Chicken and cajun fries from Popeye’s. But on my second day in the UAE, I had my first arabic meal from Mugg and Bean. From the menu, it read as “arabian plate”. It was delicious but being a newbie to “real” arabic food that time, I hardly managed to finish half of it.

Q: Saan tayo kakain? That’s because we’ll bond over a good meal, my treat! (from Toni of Wifely Steps, one of the winners)

A: Anywhere! Any restaurant where Timmy (Toni’s son) can join us. (Note: In December 2008, Toni and I had few minutes meet up in her office in Makati. I will always remember her as a Twilight sister!)

Q: Where do you want to eat? So that we can continue talking at the restaurant. Haha! (from Rachel of My Soulful Thoughts)

A: I noticed that your family frequents Nuvali, can you take me to your favourite restaurant there? Another option is to go to Paseo de Santa Rosa. I miss the crispy dinuguan from Kanin Club!

Q: Vanilla or chocolate? (from Glenda of Oodles of Goodles)

A: Chocolate!

Q: Saan tayo kakain? (from Caryn of Sari saring Kulay, one of the winners)

A: If by chance we do meet in Japan, let’s eat at that same restaurant where Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray (remember him from Ghostbusters?) ate when they were having a sort of lovers quarrel in the film Lost in Translation. But if we’re in the Philippines, let’s grab a bite anywhere near Ayala Museum so you can show me afterwards your contributions in their showcase inside the museum. Or if we get to meet in the UAE, let’s have a hearty meal at home.

AND THE PEOPLE I KNOW EVEN BEFORE WITSANDNUTS.COM WAS BORN ALSO ASKED,

Q: Pwedeng pa submit ng resume bwahahaha. (from upto6only)

A: Sure!

Q: Where are we gonna eat first? hehehehe (from rea, my cousin)

A: Sa Jollibee!

Q: I emailed you a question before.. If you just didn’t receive it that’s why it’s unanswered, it’s the same question I would want to ask you. Otherwise, it’s “How are you? Really.” And I hope the setting is as cozy as when we had our last long talk at RCBC Plaza, remember? Then, am gonna hug yah real tight!!! I really really missed you, my friend. I’m happy when you’re happy. (from shelshi, a good friend)

A: (My response was captured in the postcard that I sent her and here’s the gist) I’m not forgetting that email but I wasn’t just ready to give you an answer — for a long time, heehee. I’m happy and I miss you, too. I hope to see you soon. (Note: We were supposed to meet last December, but it didn’t happen. We’ll keep trying.)

BUT OF COURSE, YES!

Q: Wits, hindi suntok sa buwan na magmeet tayo. Perhaps I’ll be asking you then, “Pwede moko sama sa UAE for a vacation?” he he! What else diba? (from KG of Bahay ni Kumareng Grace, one of the winners).

A: Oo naman! (KG and I met through bloghopping and when she posted one group photo with her family, I noticed a pretty and familiar face. Her sister and I were former officemates pala! Small world, eh?)

Q: Ikaw ba si jo? LOL! (from PM of Prinsesa’s Anatomy)

A: Oo! (PM was my baby in the online kris kringle held last year and I was the baby of her sister. The Princess Leia and R2-D2 figures from Star Wars were from the latter.)

Q: I’d probably ask you if this meeting will merit a blog post hahaha! (from The Nomadic Pinoy)

A: Yes!

IMPRESSIONS and GROWING COMMUNITY

Q: In your opinion, who makes a better Mr. Darcy: Matthew Macfadyen (from the 2005 movie) or Colin Firth (from the BBC miniseries)? (from J of The Girl With A Curl)

A: With due respect to Colin Firth who was very good in The King’s Speech, Matthey Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy was much, much better! (In latter part of 2008 until 2009, I hosted a reading schedule for those who wished to read Jane Austen’s novels.)

Q: What do you think of me? (from Kayni of Kayni’s Corner Cafe)

A: I think and feel that you’re a passionate and intelligent person. That although I haven’t met you yet, we’re going to get along well in real life based on what I perceive as your likes and dislikes. And I’m happy that we’re now sisters through Miss Iggy.

Q: Kamusta, kabayan? (from Jeff Arigo, a reader from Abu Dhabi)

A: Okay naman, kabayan! (In the UAE, most of the Filipinos call each other “kabayan”. On my first week here, I was really uncomfortable with syllabicating the term. It felt like we were referring to former Vice-President of the Philippines and now back to being a news anchor Noli de Castro’s “Magandang gabi, bayan” line and he, the kabayan himself. Now the use of the term is already a hard habit to break.)

Q: This is also a “suntok sa buwan” question: would you like to be a Miss Iggy correspondent, our first in the Middle East? (from fortuitous faery of Writings on the Wall)

A: Yes! (And I happened to be the 9th sister in the Sisterhood of Traveling Igorotas. We’re not necessarily true-blooded Igorotas, but our dolls are. Please follow our adventures in this link.)

CURIOUS (Plenty of related questions about this!)

Q: Bakit di ka nagpapakita ng mukhaaaaaaaaa? (from maan of The Gray Spots of Life)

A: I already did! Not just once, but many times. Hahaha.

Q: I’m looking forward to your posts with pictures of you. But I think you are the shy type. the first thing/question I am going to ask you if we ever get to meet in person (this is quite personal) is are you married or single? =) (from yummybite of Rubbish Ramblings)

A: Married.

And I’m anticipating follow-up questions, so here it is. I already have my little (she’s actually already a grown-up and appeared on few posts) bundle of joy. And we are all in the UAE. But just as it is, I might stick to my being non-descriptive approach of blogging after this post. Would that be fine?

Q: Personal question I’d like to ask when i meet you: May boyfriend ka ba? Seems like i have not read this in any of your posts.(from Sheng of Anything Goes)

A: Please refer to the response above.

Q: Hmmm….so who’s the lucky guy? (from Nebz of Isla De Nebz)

A: Someone I met from college.

Q: Nakailang BFs ka na? (from redlan of Redlan’s Book of Life)

A: One.

Q: Pwedeng magpa-picture? (Gaya dun sa ft) with matching autograph. It would be a memorable remembrance from you. (from redlan of Redlan’s Book of Life)

A: Oo naman.

Q: Kelan ka magsusulat at magshare ng iyong love story? (from Eds of Love and Life)

A: Hi Eds! That, I can’t tell.

THANKS FOR THE KIND WORDS

Q: Where did you learn to write so well?” hehehe (from Daphne of My Little Moments)

A: I do, really? (*blushes*) Seriously, I don’t know.  But I guess it’s a mixture of being adventurous in sharing my thoughts whether it’s unpopular or not + the editorial experiences in high school and college (although I considered those as purely extra curricular activities just to keep the balance life of being a student) + the love for reading (I guess that when you love to read it follows that you’d want to dissect thoughts and reason out; but when you have no audience at that minute you find yourself writing down your random babbling instead) + just plain love for writing.

At my day job, I get to write a lot of technical reports and it’s amazing that  blogging helps me in a way. There would be times I’d be too overwhelmed to finalize something but when I apply the approach ” yes, you can do that, it’s like drafting a blog post!”. But for blogging per se, I think that I still have a lot of flaws in my writing, but most of the time I don’t care about it. I opine that while it helps that a writer is articulate, in certain occasions some writers are considered better because of their imperfect writing. Being too polished is not good in some cases, in my opinion. While I try to improve through baby steps, I don’t really put too much pressure on myself. At the end of the day, I just enjoy the entire process of writing a blog post (from drafting to hitting the publish button, reading your thoughts, learning that readers/google searchers from different sides of the globe benefit from the information shared in this humble space).

Q: I’m not sure if you have blogged about this already, but I’ll probably ask you: how does it feel like to maintain a blog that’s being followed and read religiously? No seriously, I’ll ask your real name. (from Doc Gelo of Beyond Toxicity)

A: Thanks for the kind words, Doc Gelo. While I’m not really statistics conscious, getting a share of readership is really a bonus. That makes me happy, of course. It’s not being competitive but when a reader returns to my blog periodically, for whatever reason he or she has, I view it as if a friend is getting in touch and saying hi even if he or she doesn’t leave a comment. That’s why naturally my “tone” when I write is like I’m speaking to a friend, most of the time. And of course, the sense of accountability for the information I share also kicks in. Especially for those who accidentally land in witsandnuts.com through searches (which is actually the major source of readership, who would have thought?!).

As for my real name, I believe you finally knew about it when I blogged about my guest blogging for the Singapore’s community page. I find it funny though when people who really know me call me “wits” or “witsandnuts” and the people I haven’t really met yet call me “Jo”. But either way, it’s wonderful because I have a name. LOL.  :)

And….?

Finally, no more questions! Hahahaha. For additional and follow-up questions, please wait for the next giveaway which might have the same mechanics after 5 years. Of course, I’m kidding. But seriously, I think that this was a fun yet very difficult post!

Have a great day and after this, we’re back to regular programming.

The foundation day celebrations held by Filipino schools in Abu Dhabi don’t fail to make me feel at home, reminisce about my student life, and intertwined stories of being young – both the ups and downs that shaped me. Here are some of my favorites among the photos I took during the weekend. Looking at these was like a trip down memory lane. I saw myself, my friends, crushes (ahem), teachers, farewells and new beginnings.

I know that not all of us would like to remember our student life due to certain chapters. For once, I even thought that mine was a little boring because I was grade conscious. But when I look back now, there are more than a hundred reasons to make me smile. With all the traces of yesteryears and as I started to mirror the young people’s faces, I felt that I had a balanced life.

For most of us who spend more time in the workplace, whether we like it or not, the best thing that should happen is to sustain our excitement in going to the office or attending to work-related stuff. Think of motivating factor + a reasonable boss, eh? I’m glad that although life at workplace can be really crazy at times, my boss is easy to deal with.

What about the monster bosses? We all probably encountered in the past dementors in the form of immediate superiors and/or colleagues. But we just had to accept it that they are like that and we had no choice but to pray for them (really works!) and infect them with positivity (and bitching on the side, kidding!). I recount someone’s horror stories of putting dirt in a colleague’s coffee and other gross and ghostly means of revenge. Ah, let’s all try to be nice.  Here’s something interesting, (my favorite) Google has started ”Project Oxygen” which aims to devise something far more important to the future of the company, not the search algorithm, but to build better bosses. The 8-point plan in simple terms revolves here:

“You don’t actually need to change who the person is,” he says. “What it means is, if I’m a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure I have some time for them and to be consistent. And that’s more important than doing the rest of the stuff.”

I think that goes for the rest of our relationships.

{Photo source}

Do you remember how our grandparents, parents and other people whom we look up to told us that one of the measures of one’s character is how he behaves during the most difficult times? And as we grow and become more accountable, we often hear that the strength of a nation or an institution is best tested in the most trying times.

I read this inspiring post today from one of my new found blogs in the UAE, authored by somebody who used to live in Japan for 10 years. For me, these are the more striking ones among the tweets from Japan in the midst of the catastrophic quake as shared by Grace of Sandier Pastures:

On goodness of Japanese people. This earthquake has reminded me that Japanese goodness that had recently become harder and harder to see still exists. Today I see no crime or looting; I am reminded once again of the good Japanese spirit of helping one another, of propriety, and of gentleness. I had recently begun to regard my modern countrymen as cold people … but this earthquake has revived and given back to all of us the spirit of “kizuna” (bond, trust, sharing, the human connection). I am very touched. I am brought to tears. (http://twitter.com/VietL/status/46376383592677376)

In the middle of all the shaking and swaying. We’ve all been trained to immediately open the doors and establish an escape route when there is an earthquake. In the middle of the quake while the building was shaking crazily and things falling everywhere, a man made his way to the entrance and held it open. Honestly, the chandelier could have crashed down any minute … that was a brave man! (http://twitter.com/gj_neko26/statuses/46394706481004544)

How foreigners saw the reaction of the Japanese people. At a supermarket where everything was scattered everywhere over the floors, shoppers were helping pick them up and putting them back neatly on the shelves before quietly moving into line to wait to pay for them. On the totally jam-packed first train after the quake, an elderly man gave up his seat for a pregnant woman. Foreigners have told me they are amazed witnessing sights like these. I do believe they actually saw what they said they saw. Japan is truly amazing. (http://twitter.com/kiritansu/status/46335057689980928)

Calmness. The words of BBC’s reports are so moving they make me cry. They were praising us with words of admiration! “One of the worst earthquakes in recorded history has hit the world’s most well-prepared, well-trained nations. The strength of its government and its people are put to the test. While there have been casualties, in no other country could the government and the people have worked together in such an accurate and coordinated way in the face of such tragedy. The Japanese people have shown their cultural ability to remain calm in the face of adversity.” (http://twitter.com/bozzo1985/status/46228470614855681)

Discipline. Japanese people don’t shove I’m looking at Yurakucho station from above. I see people standing in line, not pushing or shoving to get onto the Yamanote Line (probably the busiest line in central Tokyo), even at a time like this! (http://twitter.com/HASUNA_Natsuko/status/46331839136276480)

Cars were moving at the rate of maybe one every green light, but everyone was letting each other go first with a warm look and a smile. At a complicated intersection, the traffic was at a complete standstill for 5 minutes, but I listened for 10 minutes and didn’t hear a single beep or honk except for an occasional one thanking someone for giving way. It was a terrifying day, but scenes like this warmed me and made me love my country even more. (http://twitter.com/micakom/status/46264887281848320)

Yakuzas turned good. Japan is a wonderful nation! Both the government and the people, everyone is helping one another today. There are truck drivers helping evacuees move. I even heard that the “yakuza” (gangsters, organized crime groups) are helping to direct traffic in the Tohoku region! There have been many recent developments that have made me lose my sense of pride in my country, but not anymore. Japan is an amazing place! I’m just simply touched. Go Japan! (http://twitter.com/tksksks/statuses/46403815397801984)

How inspiring when a group or a person shines even better during the most difficult situations. At the end of the day, it’s never too late to be good.

While receiving an email from YOURSELF is strange, how weirder it could get when you hardly remember what made you write it. This one got in yesterday:

The following is an e-mail from the past, sent through FutureMe.org
It was composed on Monday, January 4, 2010, to be sent on Tuesday, January 4, 2011:
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

Dear FutureMe,

I am too stressed out right now due non-work stuff. I am trying to look like unaffected, but really the situation is eating me. To think that the year has just started.

I am still hopeful for a better 2010. Maybe this is just an extraordinary beginning of the year. And that the best is yet to come.

I’ll be found again,
witsandnuts

It took time for me to remember what actually was the situation a year ago. My email to myself sounded like the end of the world was near. I don’t maintain a physical diary and probably I just needed to let it out that minute because I couldn’t bear it just by myself but didn’t want opinion from anyone that I headed to FutureMe.org (i.e. you get to write letter to the future). I think I’ve written more than a couple of emails, the problem is I don’t remember anymore when I should receive them. I surmise that one will come after 5 years. In a way, hearing from my old self now excites me. I liked the (recurring) realization that the above email blessed me — I didn’t know that I was so scared about 2010, that the year didn’t start smoothly… but when I recollect, my 2010 concluded grandly and was actually one of my best years. In general, while a good start is ideal, we don’t give much weight how it kicked off, but how it finished.