The year 2011 has been a taxing year - emotionally, financially, and psychologically - on both professional and personal aspects.

Earlier this year, the universe saw it fit to take away, not one, but two, of my dearest friends, both of them younger than me, in a span of less than a couple of months. WHAT. THE. FUCK.

And when the year was about to close, I just learned that my friend's dad also died. That's another fuck given. Dammit.

There were also a lot of professional situations that I wouldn't want to be in, but I am, nonetheless. And it only proved to be something that defined who I am: someone who fixes things.

The homefront wasn't all peachy either. Ailments that almost ended up being confined in the hospital was the norm. Breaking the bank was almost always a consequence. Thankfully, it was all just that: ALMOST. Still, it was a nerve-wracking close call.

Petty issues should've been diffused or even prevented if only the right words were said. However, it weren't. And what was once petty was made worse. Pride had a lot to do with it, though. Yep. I'm blaming one of the seven deadly sins.

The weather's all fucked up and unstable with the colder season finishing earlier than usual (mid-February, I think) and the warmer season was interrupted regularly by tropical storms. Not complaining about the tropical storms, since it IS a tropical country. The flash flooding in major cities and various other areas were quite a different story, though. Ondoy (or Ketsana), the storm that hit Metro Manila last 2009, did not repeat itself, but unfortunately, Mindanao experienced the same thing just this December, no thanks to Sendong, which compared to Ondoy, was lightweight. However, the drainage system and topography of the area made Sendong as equally as, if not more, destructive as Ondoy. So yeah, fuck you, universe.

On a somewhat ligher note, there were some good things that happened this year. The deaths of my friends were opportunities for me and my other friends to see each other, catch up, or reacquaint with one another. Not the best situation to do so, but I'll take what I can get. It was also then that I realized how much I missed them.

The third Banana Gangbang Rock Festival also happened. It was pretty much the highlight of my year. That, and me finally being able to get my grubby hands on an iOS device, the iPod Touch.

There were a lot of situations that made me think of calling it quits, throwing in the towel, whatever. However, I always remembered that these situations are what people would call an opportunity to overcome the challenge of an obstacle hindering me from getting what I desired. Yep. That's a lot of fluff right there. Strunk and White, if they could, would yell at me "OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS!" So to rephrase that statement: I remembered these situations are opportunities for me to overcome challenges.

If it's broke, fix it.

Happy New Year, mofos.