Compared to the year before, 2010 was a vacation. As a matter of fact, it was.
I left my job in August and threw caution to the wind: sailed the azure coast, got hitched, lived in Paris with practically zero plans.
It was the year I let my instincts guide me. It was the year of irrationality. It was a year of letting go what weighed me down. It was a year of prematurely saying goodbye to the life that I loved. It was the year to test what I had learned from the ordeals of 2009: Keep calm and carry on. No matter the snafus, no matter the arguments, no matter the deadlines, no matter the emergencies - I kept calm and I carried on. (Most of the time.)
And now, it's time to look back.
January.
H took me to a surprise vacation in the Alps where I got to touch snow for the first time; and soon enough, snowboard and go on a sleigh ride. But the biggest surprise was when he took out this ring and asked me to marry him. A few days later it was decided that the wedding would be in Gigouzac in the summer.
February.
I started the legwork on my wedding wingdings and visa requirements as soon as possible. The invitations, the dress, the party gimmicks; I even scouted locations with my brother for the Pinoy-side renewal of vows planned for 2011. The road trip was a nice way to bond with my younger brother, eating mushroom burgers, getting lost and going to places that reminded us of our dad.
March.
The month of my last few shoots. The news ident brainstormed over breakfast at Sct. Borromeo a year ago (H was in the Philippines so he was in the meeting too, hee hee) was finally in post-prod.
We also shot a series of awards plugs for shows I handled. Another shoot was filmed at the edit room where I started my career in public affairs. It was also the first time I got to be at the receiving end of a news anchor's diva outburst; which made me respect her co-host even more - though I was a converted fan the first time I worked with him 4 years ago. At least he didn't need to be prepped to answer questions about his commitment to viewers. Maybe I was lucky, I had been in the presence of industry greats for ten years (and no, famous does not mean great) without being shouted at.
Some of the best friends I got from my first TV stint had moved on, as I have, from production assistants to editors, to writers, directors and producers - but some of them stretched their abilities further on to become TV personalities themselves. One of my last shoots involved them as talents in their own show, a nostalgic moment that felt like the closing of a ten-year cycle.
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| Not pregnant! |
All necessary papers and a birthday gift sent to Paris just in time for my April Fool's birthday. Consequently, the gears of the French marriage system whirred into action so I could get my visa requirements by June (for this we thank the mayor of Gigouzac unreservedly). In April, things had started to look up. I worked extra and was able to pay off the hospital loan which would have kept me in servitude for a year more, plus leftover money for my insurance. I was also able to pay for summer vacation in May.
May.
As a birthday treat, I took my brother to the Tears for Fears performance in Manila which was, in many ways, newsworthy. I met up with Abbie and Nerissa who got seats next to us. The woman behind me is the bitch who pulled my jacket to make me sit down. It's a TFF concert, lady, not the effing Royal Flemish Philharmonic. Bitch.
After a few weeks, H joined me for a weekend in Bohol.
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| Alone on Alona Beach |
In the short week that he was here he saw the house I grew up in, the people who love me, the world I was leaving for him. Pressure!
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