5 favorites + 5 goals = cheers 2010, helloooo 2011!

5 favorite things about 2010:
1.  my first (of hopefully many) trip to the philippines!
2.  my first 1/2 marathon
3.  enrolling back into school for my second bachelors
4.  eating less meat & being much more conscience about where my food comes from
5.  writing more letters to out-of-touch friends

5 goals for 2011:
1.  HUSTLE, HUSTLE, HUSTLE!!  i need money for books, for a 2012 trip to the philippines & for savings.  any wedding that pops up, i will work it.  unless it conflicts w/goal #3
2.  complete another 1/2 marathon
3.  get straight A's
4.  pack my lunch more often
5.  ride my bike more =)

my brain is already hurting from school.  registering for classes has always been a pain and having no priority again is like a welcome-back-beeyatch-slap in the face b/c i have very low priority.  however, in the words of spongebob: I'M READY, I'M READY, I'M READY!  haha, you know it's time to get back to school when you're quoting spongebob.  i'm coming with a half renewed attitude towards school and half "i know myself better than that".  i always feel very motivated and ready to learn in the beginning of each semester but am always burnt out by the end.  i'm hoping this time around it really will be different.  i will need lots of coffee for this..

a pilipina american in the philippines.

with the year anniversary of my trip to the philippines quickly approaching, i thought i'd remember and reflect .  the first week, i hated it.  i ddin't understand why anyone would go there to vacation.  and not because it wasn't beautiful but because it was gorgeous...

but it was so heart breaking to see babies, kids, families living in shanty shitty living conditions.  i honestly thought i was prepared for what i was going to see, especially being from the bay area where homelessness, hunger, and poverty is unfortunately not a strange concept.  i was an asian american minor for gods sake!  i know what colonization and a corrupt government means to the philippines.  but rivers filled with garbage, so much so that you couldnt see the water underneath was very strange and impossible not to stare at while you drive by.  i was on the beach of boracay (the biggest tourist destination in the philippines) crying to my dad asking why anyone would come here for pleasure.  he told me that he hoped i understood now why his father, my grandfather, worked so hard to get out.  i did.  the warmth of family members who might as well have been strangers was unbelievable and i had to hold back tears saying goodbye to them at the airport.  its no secret that i've been a hater of the united states but i am so thankful to have grown up here and all it's opportunity.  but it's definitely a must to visit the country/countries of your parents, grandparents, ancestors & gain a little perspective, especially as americans.