My travels were a bit spaced out this year (and maybe why my boss told me to go on ‘more vacations’ — please increase my salary so I can do this without guilt), but glad to hit some local sights:
- Palawan twice this year: one for work but I’m counting it haha; went back to San Vicente, and finally went around Puerto Princesa (after going back and forth in other parts of Palawan for more than a decade)
- La Union with college friends with lots of random discussions ala slumbook levels
- Dumaguete and Siquijor – been meaning to go to Apo Island for the longest time. Timing wasn’t the best (read: supertyphoon on the same day) but still had a great time and saw some turtles. Also happy to be in Siquijor again (and yet haven’t hit all the spots!) though had some stomach issues. Buti na lang nice yung resort namin hehe
- Bacolod - got to go in November (land trip from Dumaguete) and December (Christmas holidays); finally updated with new coffee haunts and expected food overload
One also cannot deny another perk of regular employment which is the medical benefit. Had some weird occasional pain since late 2024 (I think it’s UK holiday withdrawal haha), and finally got diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis. Good to find answers, but also a reminder to myself that I have to make better health choices especially that now we’re at the unholy stage of perimenopause.
What makes me proud of this year is that I FINALLY made an investment on my tech set up and tackled most of my video backlog. I’m down to my last two video projects (yay!) then hopefully figure out what else can I work on with the tools I have. After much (2 years +) delay I also have to start with sprucing up my flat — wish me luck!
2026 is a bit daunting for me as I’m in a mild, weird mid-life crisis of sorts — I’ll only accept mild since I had a full-fledged quarter life crisis harhar. I’m coming to grips with the fact that now is the best (comfortable) window for me to really do some serious long term “future-proofing” and build the foundation for a happy and comfortable retirement. The last quarter of 2025 was characterized by scrambled thoughts of what do I really want to do, in tandem with occasional strange emotional states which I mostly blame to hormonal imbalance and medication. Admittedly these thoughts are not yet fully unscrambled — was hoping to use the holidays for this but was overcome but family festivities — but I’m optimistic that I am more emotionally and mentally prepared to map out what the vision is (my life vision has been evolving so… *shrug*) and the approach to have some clarity and not feel as directionless.
With all these said, I’ll follow the lead of my five-year-old niece, who happily blurted out “I’m grateful unprompted (not from directly opening a gift, etc) and out of blue on Christmas morning last week. I wish to be constantly reminded of the blessings that I have and to pass it on (Rat people will be unlucky daw in the next two years, so have to step up on the good deeds lolz). May 2026 be a year of opportunity, clarity, and blessedness for all of us.
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