2011 was (is), in a word, trippy for me. There were many lows and many highs. I took the several trips this year, a year I had dubbed as my Adventure Wow Philippines year. I took my first plane ride, got to help in publishing a book, threw myself off a platform into a gorge with nothing but metal clips and high tension wires to prevent me and a couple of good friends from dropping into a tree-filled ravine, changed jobs, got taken off the singles’ market, joined a publishing group, met a lot of new friends, and lost a few.
Let’s start at the beginning. 2011 sprung up and before anybody could say “Go!” started running as fast as it could. January was a month of plans. The Overlord, Rica and I planned to make a few more websites – we only got as far as purchasing the domains and setting the sites up (sorry guys!). Remi told me about a plan for a publishing company. I was obliged to join. I say ‘obliged’ since I was trapped in her car, while driving on NLEX for a three-day trip to Ilocos Sur, and the convo went like this:
Remi: Dude, balak naming magtayo ng publishing company.
Me: Talaga? Astig yun!
Remi: Oo, at kasali ka, wala ka nang magagawa. Saka kasali din si Rica. Buy 1, take 1 kayo di ba?
A few days after, we unofficially launched The Antithesis Collective.
February was spent juggling the day job, TAC tasks, and other things. Like writing. And yes, I took the Mabie True Friendship Test and passed by the skin of my nails. Also, I think I grew up a little, when Mabie hit me with the reality check bat engraved with “Nag-iiba na ang demographics natin.”
March marched past with me getting trampled underfoot with juggling everything. We were preparing for TAC’s official launch and the submissions were trickling in. I also took my first plane trip to Bacolod with the Overlord and Rica. As mentioned above, I leapt off a high Point A and ziplined to Point B screaming like a little girl and hanging on for dear life.
April rolled along and was downright insane from the get go. I went with some old friends to remote (electricity and semi-indoor-plumbing-less) Nagsasa, Zambales for some R&R. I learned a few stuff (Off Lotion doesn’t work on mosquitoes the size of wild carabao and leaning too far to just one side of the boat is more than enough to tip it over), took a few emo moments, and got a couple of epiphanies. April also saw TAC’s launch. It was fun, though little did we know that there was more coming our way. Also, I found a ninja Gummy Bear staring at me straight in the face and awesomeness ensued.
By May, I was running out of steam and decided that it was time to take a quick break, went north to Ilocos Sur again to put my feet up. (Also, Mabie’s comment about demographics came true with a mini-me coming up from Rica) June opened up with opportunities and breathtakingly sped by. (Breathtaking is used in the literal here, we were all out of breath and exhausted by the end of it and we knew it had just begun.
July and August came and went, and I prayed for more time, more energy, more patience, more money, and basically more of whatever Batman was willing to give me. I learned the true figurative meaning of “birth pains” – I’ll be honest, producing a book and eventually selling said book was like getting kicked in the ass by 150 poets for 150 years nonstop.
September saw the launch of TAC’s first book, and as I was glad I hadn’t dropped dead yet, I took a break. By October, I was done – with my day job. I was tired of keeping it just to pay the bills. I accepted an offer from another company, resigned, and was on my way. Oh, yeah and I turned 28.
November and December were pretty much chill and with all the running I’ve done the past months, a break was much deserved and much appreciated. (Actually, I’m backlogged with edits for TAC, sorry guys!)
Looking back, my 2011 was batshit insane. It had its lows, but it had awesome, awesome highs. Apir Batman, 2012 naman. We’re all up for more insanity with a new book, more trips, and more adventures. I can’t wait. As Remi would say, Bring it bitch!
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