2009...

As I look at the calendar, I realize it's now almost the third day of December, and I wonder where November has gone... in fact, where all of 2009 has gone. But the truth is that so much has happened this year in my personal life that it just seems to have gone fast because my head has been really stuck in constantly revolving waters. This year, particularly the second half, has been full of ups and downs. Full of happy moments coupled with moments of sadness and anger. Full of epiphanies and disillusions. Full of hope and despair. Many big plans that came to nothing. Promises unfulfilled. I have really learned and appreciated the truth in the cliché of the thin line between love and hate. All these extremes have contributed for my physical, mental, and emotional health to deteriorate significantly. But at the same time, I feel that all these events have made me grow as a person. Never in such a short period have I learned so many lessons, a lot of them about myself. I made some great new friendships, reconnected with old friends, and discovered new passions in life. I have discovered some facets of my persona that I never knew, and in some ways, through moments of joy and pain that I had to endure, I had to reinvent myself to carry on. I had to reevaluate many things I thought I believed about my own goals in life and about who I am. Some of the hard times I went through helped me fall back in love with myself. Because of these things, I'm glad and thankful that everything happened the way they did at the times that they did, even if some of the outcomes were not very pleasant for me, because the combination of events and their timings contributed to shaping the learning experience. It has been an eventful year - perhaps the most important thus far in my relatively short life, where I face the first significant crossroads. In the moments of uncertainty that I will certainly have to confront, I believe that the lessons learned this year, many of them the hard way, will help me make the best decisions. In a way, it feels like 2009 is the year where I was reborn as I emerge from a shell I have been hiding in.

I want to take this opportunity to thank every one of you who have helped me learn, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and even all those who have at some point, intentionally or unintentionally, hurt me or disappointed me, because at the end it has helped to shape my perceptions of my internal and external conscience. Thank you, new friends and old friends, and also thank you to even those who aren't such good friends - at least that would show I'm not a suck up and friends with everyone. In short, the year 2009 has been really fucked up, in almost every aspect, but mostly in a good way. This pretty much synthesizes it. I cannot thank you enough, everyone.

Now I only hope that in 2010 the lessons learned this year really seep in while also being able to recover my health. More importantly, I also hope that I can keep on learning about life. That is the most important... Never stop learning.