Favored

Phew. Okay. 

Currently writing this from a place of immense gratitude and appreciation (which can mainly be traced back to the recent 13th month pay high, I mean, come on). Kidding aside, the past year had been nothing but my life becoming a testimony of God's goodness and favor. 

I think I can speak for everyone when I say every year is defined mainly by the last month. December really sets the tone of what you remember the year was like. Ok, maybe not for everyone but for not-a-long-term-memory-bank girlies like me. That being said, I thought this year (my December) was gonna go downhill. It was unfair that I called December the (almost) worst month of the year because of two (2) specific inconveniences. One relating to work and one relating to a big online faulty purchase that I had to go through a hole of a needle to return. Considering how the past 11 months had been to me and my family, I really thought, "God, really? On my birth month?", which was of course, a very distasteful thing to say. I remember praying about them and just Mark 11:24-ing my way out of it. And as I can expect, He came through. The very next day, the dreaded return application got approved and my work thing got resolved. And I was like, ok you dramatic panicky a$$ b-, you take back what you said. 

To my surprise, it was only the beginning of what was going to be my best month of the year. We were going to Asia Artists Award (AAA), a show we have been watching as K-pop consumers. That alone was a blessing to my sister and I. But when I checked the ticketing site, our seats got upgraded to lower box seats. We had a fun birthday. I finished my work tasks on time. I went under wisdom teeth surgery which ended up not so painful, pre and post op. We went to Disney On Ice, twice. My family and I had a good time going and enjoying Seaside. I received and gave gifts. 

Also, hey. Remember when I had written 7 bucketlist items for 2023? Well... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

To be fair, I think I ticked off two and half-ticked another 2. Not so bad, eh?

No, but really. It is bad HAHAHA. Becuse the procrastinator me already knew it's already December and I have yet to reread the bucketlist but I was like...nah. HAHAHAHA. Okay, I'm sorry. Time flies by so fast. I'll try to do better this 2024. But diving into it...

Gels' 2023 Bucketlist

 ☒ Make my own pizza, all from scratch. 

I knew I had to make time for this but I was always putting it off and then, *acts suprised* it was already December!! *decrease in happy tone* and I have neither a sapling or a pot to begin with.

☐ Enter law school. 

Consider this half-ticked lol I almost forgot about this! AAAAAAAA!

 

This year, I have managed to take an LSAT!!!!! And passed it!!!! 

I remember I have an extensive schedule laid out in Excel plotting what time I have to go to work then how many hours I have to review for this certain part of the exam and so on and so forth. On said Excel, on the far right, are my law idols (Marshal, Elle, Annalise Keating, oh wow, what icons). I reviewed for over a month and managed to snag a slot for interview!! But COVID struck our family (more on that later) and I wanted to have my interview rescheduled but it was not possible, saying I should just try my luck next year. To be fair, I was not gonna push through going to law school, at least last year, anyway. I wanted to build up my savings first and I only applied to take the LSAT for me to know the process. And I did!! And it was fun! More fun than I thought it would go! Anxiety-inducing? Yes. But it was fun!! Looking back now, I remember more of the fun than the anxiety. So that's a win! 

If I were to be asked if I will still go to law school (which I get asked, here and there hahaha)... to be honest, I'm just 30% sure about it right now. But when my sister and I talked about it, I told her it's one thing I'll always think about and will be a big "what if..." thing for me if I end up not pursuing it. 

I really passed an LSAT. Won't you look at that. Thank you, Lord!

☒ Fly a kite.

I had a chance to do this! We went to Tagaytay. I saw a kite they sell. There was this green plain. But did I do it? Of course. I had to do the classic Gieline move of chickening out and just thinking, meh, maybe next time, and poof! Time has gone by! The knob is polished, yes, but did I opened it? OH GOD, GIELINE, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!!@

☑ Save up for #BTS2025. 

One thing I am ALWAYS gonna prioritize is my happiness!!! And what is happiness? Happiness is concert tickets!!! I am not gonna elaborate on the why's and the how much's. I'm just gonna say thank you, kuripot self!!! Keep saving!

 ☑ Open an online shop.

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 I did it! I did it!!! I couldn't have done it without the support of my mains- God, my mom, my sister, and my other loved ones. Yay!!! I did it!!!

When I wrote about this last year, I didn't know what I was gonna sell at that point. By right now, I'm so happy that I get to sell stuff that is connected to my passion. I'm hoping to get to be of service to more people this year and offer more stuff that can help them! And make them happy!! AAAAAAAAAAAA thank You, Lord!!

☐ Grow closer to God.

It's a mournful event to have lost my cell group this year. But personally, my faith has never wavered. But what is faith without putting it into praise really?

☒ Practice 20/20/20. 

 Oh, my sweets. I simply just don't have the time. :(  I managed to learn a little bit of FSL tho. But it can't stick to my memory if I am not practicing it on the daily, which I was not. :(

☐ Write and post AUs and lyric translations.

Another half-ticked item. HAHAHAHAHA! I did post an AU, once. I don't really want to talk about it. HAHAHAHA! Besides, the account I posted it from got suspended so I'm just gonna pull a "Darn, it never got a chance to take off ://" HAHAHAHAHAHA! No but really, I don't want to talk about it HAHAHAHAHA! Maybe AU's are not for me. Onto the latter part, I guess?  Pls?

 N E waaaays. Let bygones be bygones, You are forgiven, 2023 Gieline. You are also applauded. By me. 2024 Gieline. You did what you can and for that, I am proud. Of me. By me. For me.

What a year that was! Besides the obvious provided by the attached photo above, my favorite moments of 2023 in timeline order were: taking the LSAT (my GCalendar and GSheets against the world), enjoying my short-lived well-missed curtain bangs (?), opening my online shop (BIG YAY!!), watching BTS Yet to Come in cinema!!, cooking my breakfast after shifts when I had the time and energy, making product TikToks when I had the time and energy, securing tickets and getting to use them, driving to Giealine to Pampanga to take her boards, getting to plan her surprises, seeing her succeed, then accompanying her to oath-taking (wow, what a journey!), facing my fears on selling what was then subpar ticket holders and getting my first review about it then thinking "ay jusko pag eto bad review hindi na ko magtitinda ulit" before opening the review HAHAHAHA but hey, look at you naaaaaw giirllllL!!, buying my first pair of original converse and THAT pink barbie platform heels, always indulging in colored drinks with my colorful straws and tiny umbrellas, starting lockwood & co (ep. 2 and ep. 4 ARE HISTORY TO ME!!!), our DRT trip (i can still smell the air) and our happy swimming time, camping-like cottage-core life and kainan, and kubo talks, Eto Na sleep over na kung magsayawan akala ko highschool tas hihingalin naman, getting my dream phone spontaneously!!!! (as in just passed by the store and asked, meron po ba kayong purple na S23? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!), Art in Island with bro (the gala that started it all, the spideys, the other galas, everything!!), rewatching Star Wars and reliving my love for it that caused me to watch the entire thing in timeline order (took me almost 4 months!), then Giealine getting me a The Love Hypothesis copy and started yet another journey of reading and gala-ing related to reading HAHAHAH, that being said, our BGC trip, my first Tagaytay trip of the year with evictees and discovering that beautiful BEAUTIFUL restaurant Bag of Beans, our Azure staycation and watching Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and casting my London Boy #1 hahahah hello, Callum Turner, me realizing there's a lot of displaced and misplaced commas in this paragraph but idc bc the girls that get it, get it, securing my first dollar purchase hahahah HELLO ADAM DRIVER ROLLING STONE DEC 2019 ISSUE i'm such a sucker for magazines i couldn't help it, my second Tagaytay trip with the fam and going to Bag of Beans again wearing a dress it deserves, seeing NIKI and her performing TAKE A CHANCE WITH ME OMG I GOT TO HEAR IT LIVE, our Hamilton experience!!!, our cousin days (watching Elemental and Yjares Hella Halloween), watching Eras Tour in cinemas twice!! and getting to dress the part, making friendship bracelets and receiving, Eto Na's bataan trip (kumpleto kami OMG), securing tickets to Ed Sheeran!!, getting to dress up as Princess Leia in Hoth for Halloween (OMG I DID THAT), seeing Ballad with the spideys and Kuya Reigne, seeing Mr. Kayang Magpailaw ng 50 na Baranggay, getting Christmas gifts for the fam, getting that fire fountain something done for us on our Birthday and the band that played HBD song for us hahaha, seeign a lot of our Kpop idols on AAA (HELLO GENTO FUMA kumain ka na ba you will always have a place on my heart) (also hello the rest of &team, yuma special mention, tbz, skz, le serra, nwjns, kentaro, who else??), getting my wisdom teeth extraction done, getting a v masarap "santa doesn't know you like i do" christmas cake, and taking the fam to see Disney On Ice!!! Wow, What a year wrap. Wow. Thank You Lord for your goodness and favor!

As of writing this, I am now contemplating whether to write a 2024 bucketlist I will ignore but you know what, I am gonna write one! Just because.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting...

Gels' 2024 Bucketlist 

This year, I'm gonna write some things that are so easy I will achieve them all hahaha! Jk. Or am I?

On a completely related note, as of writing this, we just went to Divine Mercy with the fam earlier. There, I chose three color-coded candles to light for 2024. And thou shall be my guide in formulating my 2024 bucketlist/goals. The three color-coded candles were green (for family), red (for strength), and yellow (for business). Without further ado, here are my bucketlist/goal items!

☐ Take my fam to Dampa and Vikings.

We were supposed to go to Vikings as a whole fam but ugh! Schedules were not lining up for us so for this year, my goal is to take them to Vikings! A simple, not so simple, one but I know it's something we will all happily bond over as food-enjoyers. As to Dampa, I promised my mom this so I'm putting it here so I can remember hahahaha

☐  Fly a kite.

Yes. I'm still on this. What about it?

 ☐ Continue saving up for #BTS2025. Hopefully in Korea.

Nag-save up ako for SVT 2023 pero nagalaw ko WAHAHAH but this is one pool I can never EVER galaw. Over my d3ad body!! Damn, my blog is really a TMI pool, huh. It's MY blog, duh. 

☐ Write lyric translations and actually POST them.

Ok, maybe AU's aren't for me but I owe it to myself to shoot my shot on lyric translations hahahaha. Come o, girl!! You have them! Post it!! 

☐ Achieve a *-digit savings.

YIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I think I can say, with God's provision, I'm half-way there. So here's to the other half!!!

☐ Expand our online shop.

I/We have couple more ideas in mind, product-wise. I hope this is the year they will come to fruition. But there is no try. Do!! 

and finally...

☐ Experience my first international travel

"Write easy things" then proceeds to write this HASHDHFFH. No, but really. Come on, girl! You can do anything if you put your mind to it!! Manifesting!!! I want to expound on this but I don't wanna jinx it and overshare so I'm just gonna leave it at this. :D Lord, tayo na 'to! HEHEHEHE  

OK. 

Now that that is done.

May God provide me with the will and strength to get them done, and if not, His guidance to where I belong while I am not doing anything to tick them off hahaha.

Lord, thank You for Your divine provision and guidance for the year 2023. Sana po ay di ka manawa huhu. May our lives be living testimonies of your favor to the people who loves You. Thank You thank You po! 

Belated Happy New Year, friends!! May your year be as awesome as Fuma's performance on AAA, both xSB19 stage and the teamies stage (phew i really witnessed these live)!