2012

Wow, long time no see huh blog? I've been meaning to make a post since last week and I've been meaning to get back into the ~*~blogging groove~*~ through a return post about my beloved thesis, but I've been getting some hiccups with video uploading (yes my thesis post will have a video innit, wow right?) on Youtube lately so my ~*~comeback post~*~ keeps on getting postponed. I didn't want to prolong my blogging hiatus any further so I just set aside my thesis post for now until I figure out what the hell it is I've been doing wrong with my video exporting. (On Youtube it takes me 45837495 hours to upload a minute-long video and when it's finally processing, it won't actually process. And when I export the file from iMovie into an mp4 file the quality is just NO. Will someone please tell me what I've been doing wrong because this has been driving me up the wall for over a week now.)

Well, anyway, here is my belated recap of 2012. I couldn't do this before 2012 ended because of #THESISIT, but I thought it needed to happen because a lot of things happened in 2012. (Then again,  lots of things happen every year.)

January
• Started the year really bad. According to my planner, I had a bad breakdown on January 5. Only the 5th day of the year and already things were looking bleak. I took that as a sign.
• My planner also says "WEEK OF DEPRESSION </3" on the last week of January. Apparently the first month of 2012 was rather horrible for me. (I'm pretty sure a lot of it was because of Illust. -__-)

February
• Made the official move from my LJ to this blog. (For the record, my LJ's pretty defunct now, especially since my old image host is dead so my LJ has no visuals at all now. R.I.P. crayoneyeliner)

March
• Had my junior year retreat with AD2.
• Met some special people who became part of a very important chapter in my year!
• One of my grannies passed away. R.I.P. Nana.
• Finished junior year!

April
• Caved and got a PS3! Mostly because of Alice: Madness Returns, but ended up getting Final Fantasy XIII instead. NO REGRETS WOOP!
• Watched my first ever concert (with a meet and greet even) thanks to Jam! Taking Back Sunday totes popped my concert cherry y'all.
• Cut my hair short for the first time in years.
• Started my internship at Stylebible.ph
• Went to Boracay for the first time since... 1998?

May
• Started the month still in Bora.
• Ended my internship at Stylebible.
• Turned 20!
• Went to Batangas after so long.

June
• FINISHED A FINAL FANTASY GAME FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE AND THERE WAS SO MUCH DRAMU INVOLVED LOL ILU FFXIII
• Started my final year of college. Ultimately, the start of #THESISIT.

July
• Made some goodbyes. (I make it sound so dramatic wow.)
• Started documenting the first of three gigs for MaryMoon and Tonight We Sleep!

August
• Habagat a.k.a. The Week That Got Suspended a.k.a. The week Alex and I kept on spazzing our Kingdom Hearts feels a.k.a. KINGDOM KOKORO (This was all written in my planner.)

September
• Senior year retreat with 4AD3. Last retreat for school ever.
• Pleasant surprise visit from my mom!
• Got featured in both Meg September 2012 and Chalk September 2012! Thanks again Elisa and Andrea!

October
• End of first semester a.k.a. temporary freedom!
• KH Day with Reku and Ted!
• Traveled to another country (Hong Kong) for the first time in my life.

November
• Still in Hong Kong.
• Shot my first shoot for #THESISIT. (Ikr so late right? Most of my sem break was spent in HK so I started shooting pretty late.)
• Shot for Young Star! And then got published for the first time ever.
• Had one of the worst thesis-induced meltdowns thus far.

December
• Got to document a wedding for the first time ever! WITH PAY!!! (For the record, I think I did really poorly. U__U)
• Shot for Young Star again and got published!
• (Partially) Dyed my hair blue/turquoise.
• Shot the rest of my #THESISIT content.
• The world didn't end but a new world opened up to me: I GOT A BRILLIANT CAMERA UPGRADE HUHUHU THANK YOU PARENTS :(((((( (This pressured me even more to pass thesis and graduate on time.)
• My very old tripod finally died on me so I had to get a new one.

I would put visuals per month but not all months have quality documentation (July to September especially; those months in my planner are pretty empty) so it wouldn't be consistent. To sum it all up, 2012 was a lot of opportunities for me, especially as a photographer. I mean I got published for the first time -- in the newspaper, no less -- documented my first wedding, and even got commissioned to cover gigs which was SO MUCH FUN because I was a frequent gig-attender in high school. A lot of shoots took place too, but those were mostly for thesis. (Ultimately, my thesis is actually great portfolio content.) While I might've started 2012 kind of bad, I ended it on a very, very high note! (Thesis stress aside, at least.)

I also met a lot of people this year. As if the first Young Star shoot wasn't enough of an opportunity to make new friends, I also encountered several people in the fashion and photography industries thanks to my internship. I GOT TO SEE A KERMIT TESORO SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE FINALLY! I made new friends, really. 2012 was filled to the brim with blessings, and looking back I'm still at awe with everything that has happened. (Thank You Lord! U da best \m/)

I ALSO GAINED A LOT OF WEIGHT IN 2012 THANKS STRESS-EATING THANKS THESIS UGH.

At the end of 2012 I also realized just how much of a paranoid and nervous person I am. I mean I've always said that I get paranoid a lot, but I never really, truly labeled myself as a paranoid person until the end of the year. I also know I've always been a worry-wart, but I never called myself a nervous/anxious person until 2012. Somehow I feel like #THESISIT played a big role in these labels.

For 2013 though, I once again started the year a little wobbly, but only because of #THESISIT. There was catching up to endorsement week, and even shooting Kevin again because I had to scrap our first shoot. Come February was of course D-Day a.k.a. Defense which was one of the most nerve-wracking days in my life. (I will extensively discuss this in my #THESISIT post but in any case: I passed!)

I don't know where the universe will take me this year. (Loljk, I know at least that I'll be in HK again in May.) I now know for sure (WAIT INA DON'T FORGET YOU STILL HAFTA PASS YOUR MINORS OKAY!!!) that I'll be graduating and will be entering the real world and become a member of the Unemployed Club (hopefully not for too long.) I'm going to be internationally legal this year. For this year I've considered studying again, but I've also considered interning again. Who knows.

Thanks God and thanks everyone in my life for a wonderful, magical 2012. I know we're well into 2013 already (I mean c'mon February's ending next week) but I hope it's not THAT late to wish you all a blessed (rest of the) year ahead! I haven't made any resolutions yet because thesis consumed me, but I'll be working on a list soon enough.

2013 excites me now. (I say 'now' because everything in the near future had the terror of thesis looming over it.) I'm so excited for everyone's lives, and of course for mine. Welcome to 2013, Ina.