A Thousand Thoughts (And Not The Time To Explain): 2007’s Most Memorable: A New Year’s Eve Post

It was in October, I think, when I ranted to Mabelle about how 2007 wasn’t turning out to be the amazing year I had hoped it would. It just wasn’t churning out as much memorable moments and fun surprises as the previous year had (granted that 2006 was especially loads of fun, and a very tough year to follow).

Now that 2007 is winding down though, and as I look back at the year that was, I realize that it hadn’t been all that bad – it might have even managed to surpass the previous year, although to compare the two is really not the intention of this post. Instead, I write this amidst fireworks and car horns and with a scared and stressed Beaumont hiding under my desk to remember the year that was, and to thank all the people who made it an amazing year. Cheers you guys, and here’s to a fabulous 2008!

MY FAVORITE MOMENTS OF 2007

The End of My IMC Residency With the Other Fifth Years

The end of college and the end of school…forever! It freaked me out slightly but the happiness and excitement I felt took over the fear almost immediately. “What now?” was the million dollar question in our heads but not before the “For now, we party! Vacation baby!” thought bubble that loomed over our heads over the first part of summer. And what a summer it was!

Cebu Graduation Trip

What a summer it was indeed! For our graduation trip The Crammers (Tiff, Rissee, Jen, and Bert) + Kinns opted not to go to the esteemed party shores of Boracay as most students who graduate do because…well, because we’re just dorks that way, and instead we decided on a relaxing, adventure-filled, nature-tripping vacation in Cebu and Bohol. And what a vacation it was. We had such a wonderful time in Cebu City and in Bantayan Island, and we owe a lot of it to Kinns who was an amazing host. And while my trip was cut short and I wasn’t able to go with them to Bohol, the Cebu trip was more than enough celebration for the end of school. Here’s to another trip in ’08 you guys!

Getting into the Management Trainee Program

This was the reason why I wasn’t able to go to Bohol with the Crammers – a day after my flight from Cebu to Manila, I had a case study and a group simulation for the J&J Management Trainee program. It was an intense three days that was hauntingly like my IMC senior and graduate years (which I thought I had completely left in the past…not!). Fortunately, I got accepted into the program! I would never forget Rissee’s phone call from Bohol right after I sent them the message that I had gotten in. I answered the call to hear Rissee, Tiff, and Jen screaming their congratulations and support…and I super loved them for it!

The MT program also greatly shaped how my life turned out this year. I got to meet a group of wonderful people in my fellow MTs – Ayi, J-anne, Jon, Nill – and became closer to Arthur, a fellow UA&P-IMC survivor, seatmate and fellow marketing trainee. The program has been extremely challenging and intense, and a lot of the growing up that I had to do this year was because of it. But from my very first day of work as an MT I can say that I was never not thankful that I had been accepted into the program, however tough it was sometimes.

Through the MT program I also got to meet a group of amazing and brilliant people, also known as the J&J Marketing Department. A special shout-out goes to the BAD team, particularly my bosses who have been such cool and wonderful mentors. I know I gave you a lot of pain this year and I really am sorry, but I hope I didn’t disappoint!

Graduation!

My classmates and I officially graduated in July and the ceremony was pretty memorable. I thank my family for making it so memorable – we should stay in hotels more often. I also thank my other friends, Carmeli, Mazie and Aldous who came to watch us march and receive our fake diplomas on stage!

Trips, Trips, Trips

My spur of the moment Galera trip with Edell. Literally last minute. What a cool weekend that was. Till next time dude!

My Corregidor trip with Mabelle…that almost never happened, but thankfully did! I had a blast Mabz – who knew learning about history could be considered a vacation? Told you I was a dork. Hehe. CDO and Palawan in ’08, here we come!

The Marketing Teambuilding at Club Paradise, Palawan. The island was amazing, the food was great, the activities immensely fun. It was a blast!

Macau! My first trip outside of the country, and it came back-to-back with the Palawan trip. I got to wear “winter” clothing, try a slot machine and meet a bunch of new people. A definite highlight of the year. But I look forward to our SEA trip next year, friends!

Fall Out Boy, Beyonce and The Bloomfields

I took Kyle on his first ever concert, and though our seats were near-nosebleed, it was great catching FOB live. One night and one more time, thanks for the memories!

Scoring free tickets to Beyonce on the day of my regularization was awesome too! Thanks Carlo for the tickets! Spice Girls and JT next year please!

Sure they play “old” music, but watching The Bloomfields perform never gets old. And this year my friend Nadine got to interview them, and Mazie and I got to tag along with her! Thanks Nadez, you super rock!

Parties, parties, parties (Tiffy’s surprise going-away party, High School Stereotypes Party, J&J Corporate Christmas Party, Marketing Christmas Party)

Tiffy’s going away party. TIFF! You are terribly missed. I hope you had fun at that surprise party we threw for you. I also remember that dinner we had at Amici which was the last time I saw you before you left. Come visit us soon! Or better yet, let’s push through with our SEA trip next year okay!

My High School Stereotypes party. Thanks Carlo for lending us your place and thanks QuaPeeps for making it such an awesome party! Granted I can’t remember the latter part of it and the name of some of the guests. Haha. But super thanks for making my 22^nd birthday a blast…nearly a month after. Hehe.

The J&J Corporate Christmas Party and the 80’s Marketing Christmas Party. Both were a blast – and unlike my birthday party, we didn’t need alcohol to have a good time! Oh, the after parties were fun too – but for those, the alcohol played an integral part. Arthur, Nill, and Jon, I have three letters for you: WWW. Cheers and until next time!

And now, looking forward to 2008. I can’t predict the future, but here are some things that I hope will take place in the coming year:

- My second MT stint (please pray I pass my revalida!)

- A trip to Coron, Palawan with Mabelle (we are SO going on that Coron Island tour dude!)

- A trip to CDO with my college friends

- A trip to Boracay with Missy

- A trip to SEA with The Crammers and Sam!

- More parties, more drinking (I personally don’t think there was enough of it this year)!

And as far as a 2008 plan (as opposed to resolutions)…in 2008 I plan to…

…learn better time management

…learn how to clean the house (including the bathroom!)

…lose weight (who doesn’t?)

…write more