Nine-One-Two Thousand and Seven

Another year has gone by, indeed.

What has gone on in my life since September 1, 2006?

Marian and Jhong rolled-off the project - September 2006 (or thereabouts, I forget the exact dates).
Went to Baguio (insert shivering smiley here) - October 2006.
Phine left the company - end of October 2006.
November 2006 - what happened here???
Went for my usual 2-week Christmas vacation - December 2006.
Tina left the company - end of December 2006.
Dence left the company - end of February 2007.
Went to Boracay (yahooo!!) - March 2007.
Liza left the company - mid-March 2007.
Went home for the Holy Week - April 2007.
Started with ASR7 (got on-loaned to a support/development team for 3 months) - April 2007.
Went home for the elections and had dental operation - May 2007.
June 2007 - went by in a blur due to work... this is soo sad... I have no life...
End of ASR7, went back to support team - July 2007.
Jeng left the company - end of July 2007.
August 2007 - also went by in a blur due to the insanity of that CIO MTV.. *cries*
Jiggz rolled-off the project - mid-August 2007.

I find it a bit telling that half of my entries above consisted of notes about people leaving the company. Of course, the fact that these people merited a note here means they weren't simple colleagues/work acquaintances. Maybe in 5 years or so, it won't quite grate on me to remember these dates. Maybe by then I'll just recall this year as that year the Web family officially got disbanded. I use the term "disbanded" a bit loosely here - but without going too much into the details, I know those who had "been there" will get it.

(Well, I never thought a little looking back would make me depressed, but now it has. Should have known better, really. I don't know why it still catches me by surprise when I should be used to it by now. I'm still a little raw, I guess. And this is going to go on for days yet, so just a fair warning to all if my blogging goes a little... dark from here on.)

I caught a little fever the day before my birthday - I know, I know, what else did I expect after a whole month of not sleeping well plus that last stretch last week... sometimes I really think I'm a sadist to myself (wait, so does that mean I'm my own masochist?... right, let's go back to safer territory). I can't help but feel a little touch of foreboding here. Sure, I laugh in the face of superstition (my own late grandmother must be turning in her grave right now) but I can't help but worry at the timing of these things, you know? From where I'm looking at it, it doesn't look much like a good sign. In fact, if I must go with my anito-worshiping ancestors, it's like a harbringer of, oh heavens, worse things to come. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!

Thankfully, it was gone by the time September 1 rolled around. So I went with some cousins of mine for dinner at our Uncle's place. It was a triple celebration - my birthday, my Uncle's birthday also on Sept 1, and my cousin's passing of the Nursing Board Exam. I... felt a little guilty when reminded that I have not been keeping in touch, and that my uncle has been looking for me for ages. Turns out I was his favorite back when I was a toddler and he was still a bachelor who hang out at our house every weekend. I think it's really true when even his wife told me I was all he would talk about back when she was still his girlfriend. *Awwww* I don't really remember much, truth to tell, but I think I remember a picture of him somewhere in my album. I'll check it again next time I come home. Also, I finally met in person my Grandma's sister (Uncle's mother) - whom I missed meeting before because I was always in absentia during reunions. I keep telling my parents to tell me about these things months, okay, weeks, in advance; apparently, they've taken this to mean texting me when it's over - "Hey, your Aunt So-and-So is in Manila airport right now on the way back to the States, see if you can drop by to see her" "Mooooooooooomm!!!" or "Hi kid, what's up? Your Aunts So-and-So and your cousins from Davao are here enjoying the sights and the beach. Your Kuya and his family is also here. We'll be staying over at Grandma's place tonight...". Way to go, Dad. Be sure to tape everything and send me a copy when it's over, huh?

It's just one of the sacrifices of living away from home, I guess. If you've never experienced this, you're lucky. Or unlucky, depending on your point of view, nyahahaha. It could be I've just been away for too long and thus miss these stuff. I might be saying another thing if I was home right now being barraged by an endless stream of guests. Or not. Okay, maybe if it was an endless stream of screaming children. Blegh, the thought.