So precious holiday season in 2015 was spent in the office instead of at home. It's okay, as a family we hardly travel together and we see each other every weekends except when I have out-of-town trips. I see it as some sort of distraction to keep me from missing the Light too much. It was the first Christmas, first New Year that she was not with us.
Yesterday browsing through photos in my external HD, I found not a few pictures of her. And luckily she was, for the most part, my subject when I first got hold of my Sony camera in 2011. It's comforting to know that I have saved the videos which still make me laugh because of the silly things she does when on cam, knowing I am behind the camera.
Makes me thankful that at the very least these gadgets are attainable by ordinary people like me. In the 90s only the rich can afford camcorders.
Good news is that I finally was able to tick off five items on my holiday to-do list:
1. Write an article for an online newspaper about the ugly side of the holiday season. I focused more on the huge amount of trash and on illegal street vendors who block pedestrian pathways. The 24th and the 25th were days I finally took courage to bring my camera and do fieldwork in the metro, something I would always shy away from for fear of having my cam stolen.
2. Send photos of artifacts requested by an ex-professor. I have sent the same zipped file for her countless times before. I hope this is the last time. Digging through my files just eats up time for me thanks to my unfocused mind and my tendency to reminisce while looking up photos and videos.
3. Complete tasks for a new project.
4. Finish checking the articles for our little project which ended last November. It's a one-girl team doing all the checking of more than 700 articles!
5. Complete registrations to events. Fingers crossed with hopeful heart.
Now only a few more left:
1. Work on blog backlogs. But sometimes I question myself if it's still relevant. On the other hand, for memories' sake, I'll still do it.
-SG (with focus on my first day spent at Palau Ubin)
-South Korea
-Oriental Mindoro (done with the excavation part, will write about mapping)
-Cavinti falls + visita iglesia part 2 in Laguna
-Laguna part 1 continuation
-farm visit in Sta. Maria, Laguna (my 2015 weekends seem to be spent mostly either in Pangasinan or in Laguna).
-HK wetland park (this I really have to write about)
-Pangasinan part 1
-MX (Teotihuacan, National Museum of Anthropology, Vasconcelos Library)
-Theaters (Rak of Aegis, Mga Buhay na Apoy, Haring Lear)
-Movies (Oro Plata Mata, Stand By Me, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, +plane movies during my MX trip)
2. Transfer my Math noted to index cards. The materials are ready but I just found it hard to sneak this into my schedule.
3. Finish the books I started to read in 2015. Too many to mention. Classic drifter here, yo!
4. Work on my academic papers for publication based on my drafts. At least I was able to present these already. Worked in reverse of what happened in 2014 when I first had my full paper for presentation.
5. Finish the series I started from 2014. (Not really a priority... But I'm itching to share my thoughts on some cool anime series I stumbled upon.)
6. Play music. This I do occasionally to calm my overactive mind.
So there. I'm sure I will have another busy year this year. Bring it on, 2016!