Solo November

Thanks to my friend Jerick for letting me wax poetic about the highlight of my November.

Shameless sharing starts here.

wanted: spontaneous self

Ten days into my solo trip and I have nothing concrete planned. Pending ticket confirmation, no accommodation reserved, no response from adventure tour operator, no list of markets/restaurants/temples/museums to check out. Spontaneity come to me!

Sembreak Pasabog

I spoke too soon. In this post, I've said:

As for October, it may not compete with September in terms of travel-related happiness, but things are looking up (and I hope this translates to me going up my usual summer spot one degree north of the equator. My fingers are crossed!)
October is competing with September travel-wise: Last week, we had a lucky draw in the office and I won two return tickets to any Asian destination (well, to be accurate: secondary cities in Asia)! And the good news is that I am allowed to use the two return tickets to two different destinations. Hurrah! The only condition that comes with the prize: All tickets must be consumed by 31 December 2011. Travel euphoria! Then panic over visa issues. Then calculations.

It took me a few days before finally deciding where to go. I have requested for my first pair of tickets to be used up north, then one pair will be for Christmas. Thank you travel gods, you really love me this year!

Septembrrr

My OC tendencies wavered a bit this month. I don't have a bedside table anymore, hence no calendar to list down the must-dos, must-sees, must-meet for the month. My phone's calendar isn't much help either because I feel that must-do lists are better written down than typed.

Like August, I'm writing something based on what I dredged up from my memory. September's my Australian wanderlust month filled with: sand in my soles (sandboarding in Lancelin, Western Australia), melting snow on my ski boots (Mt Buller, Victoria), crispy winds damping my face (Fremantle), tasting bland coffee (that roadhouse in Cervantes), never-ending Nando's paella, freezing wind biting my skin (Melbourne airport at 4.50am, 6 degrees C). You get the picture. It was an amazing experience to get down beyond my usual sunshine spot one degree north of the equator.

The week after Aussie was filled with work and pigging out and staying at home enjoying my view. I don't know how many times I have had said that I looooove my citylights view up my new flat. I haven't fully appreciated the appeal of stunning views of the city skyline until I am perched atop my Pinnacle apartment and staring at it every single night. I'm even looking at the glittering Singapore CBD while typing this very sentence! I'm rubbing it in, I'm sorry. I should stop.

It feels as if September will always be equated with Australia. Nothing much exciting happened after that. My work is piling up, which is very good as I know I won't go unemployed anytime soon. I'm still in contact with my ex-colleagues, though sadly, I won't be there to witness the uber-fun Nerf Wars they have once in a few weeks (which I am aware of every single fight, thanks to Whatsapp). I ended the month with a dinner with ex-colleagues in Chinatown. In the pasty shop/cafe where I usually buy my blueberry crumble and banana bread when I feel very very stressed. What a coincidence.

As for October, it may not compete with September in terms of travel-related happiness, but things are looking up (and I hope this translates to going up my usual summer spot one degree north of the equator. My fingers are crossed!) Its first day comes with delicious offering: tinolang manok for lunch, Chinese lessons over McDo fries, a tall mug of Tiger at Tras St after Indian dinner, and a blueberry muffin at Tom n Toms. October will surely be a feast.

tiny slices of happiness

Wearing a rich green dress with moss green scarf and suddenly raining and realising I have a red umbrella which makes me a walking Christmas poinsettia specimen; green tea, freshly sliced watermelon, salad and wholemeal bread with cheese; finally finishing a poem I've been trying to tie the ends of since three days ago; writing groove at midnight; signing off a magazine and sending to print tomorrow; new travel plans involving a white sand beach in Backpacker Heaven; and oh, tomorrow is Friday. Yeah, happiness in its many colours and form, edible or otherwise.

down under

'Where are you from?' is not easy to answer anymore. During my recent trip to Aussie, different people have asked me that and though I am so sure of the answers at first, replies tend to be long.

David, from the backpackers' inn in Perth:
So where are you from?
We're from Manila, but we actually came from Singapore today.

Dev, a Cambodian IT professional based in France who were with us during the tour of Western Australia:
Where are you from?
I'm from Manila.
Is it different from Malaysia?
Yes, it's in the Philippines.
So after this you're flying to Manila?
No, we're heading off to Melbourne. But we don't actually came from Manila before the trip, we're based in Singapore now.

And now I realised the British accent I tend to have in Singapore evaporates in foreign land. And winter clothes can mask my Southeast Asian origins:

The Australian shop assistant at the ski equipment rental place at the foot of Mt Buller:
Can you please pull your pants a little higher to it doesn't go into the ski boots?
(after pulling my pants up)
Oh, you're legs are tan, you've been travelling around, yeah?
(in my mind: I'm tan! I'm Southeast Asian!)

American lady outside the cafe near the toboggan area at Mt Buller:
(after hearing me speak to the shopkeeper)
Where are you from?
I'm from the Philippines.
How come you have an American accent?
Really?
Yeah, you have an American accent.
I normally speak like that.

Ski instructor
(after hearing me explain why I slid in the slopes during the lesson)
You from Australia?
Nope, I'm from Manila.
Really?
Yeah, why?
Your English is fanstastic. You sound Australian to me.
(those head-to-foot winter clothes hid my tan and suddenly, I can be mistaken for an Aussie!?)

august rush

And in the spirit of organic unity, the month flew and sped by and if I would sum it up without taking a glimpse of my bedside calendar or my phone, August comprises Aussie Visa, travel plans and lots of guidebooks, bookings here and there, waffles promo on Tuesdays, waiting for the green dot on Facebook beside your name, left-behind messages, being broke and travel-giddy, moving into a new flat, no pork diet due to Muslim landlords, city lights and morning sunshine courtesy of floor-to-ceiling windows, Night Festival and the cute saxophonist and the Volvo blinking installation, Horrible Bosses company outing with my lovely bosses, haircut and why I'm not ready for a Basha-ish style excuse, leaving Spottiswoode Park, Chinatown lunches and pig-out weekends, bills and obligations and all the hopes of awesomeness for 2011, okay gotta go

Ode to Mamay*

Half of this was written on 11 August 2010, and only a year later have I decided to publish it.


I'm fighting my tears while writing this. I had already shed a lot of tears since you passed away two years ago, and if you see me now, I bet you would tell me to stop crying for it would do me no good. I know I'm not doing myself a favour by writing this,really. I'm inflicting too much pain by doing so, but I don't care. Maybe, crying once in a while is healthy.Well. Maybe, I'm fooling myself.


Mamay, I just want to thank you for everything.

Thank you for teaching me, albeit indirectly, to be imaginative. Since Tatay is your only son, he got yours and Nanay's storytelling abilities. Nanay's stories are truthful; your stories sound fabricated. Nanay used to tell me stories about World War II, about the gory details of the Japanese occupation and how and why his father was beheaded. When I was a kid, I believed yours and Nanay's stories completely, especially your story about an aswang na baboy you saw with your naked eye. You also told me a story of General Miguel Malvar that seemed implausible: you asked me why Miguel Malvar was the last soldier who surrendered to the colonisers, and I told you that maybe Malvar must be really brave. You said he was not brave. You mentioned that your uncle had told you that General Miguel Malvar had anting-anting and he could teleport to the US while the war was raging in the Philippines. I told you it was impossible. You gave me your signature wide-eyed look, the one you do when you are excited (Mamay has Chinito features, that's why he tends to open his eyes a bit bigger when's he's narrating something really unbelievable), and said: Pano magiging imposible yun? Nung giyera, nawawala daw siya, tapos bigla siyang magpapakita tapos may dala siyang mansanas. Eh saan naman may puno ng mansanas sa Batangas noon? I still don't know whether this is true. Maybe anting-anting really existed before. I don't know. Your story about Malvar is too precious for me that I do not want to consult historical records that might confirm or crush your story.

Thank you for your genes. I got the tall genes from you, though you disagree with me on this. You told me I was tall because you threw me up in the air when the clock hit 12am on New Year's Eve when I was a kid. 'Hindi sa lahi yon, hinagis kasi kita noong Bagong Taon kaya ka tumangkad. Nakakatangkad 'yon'. I asked you if you also threw my siblings up in the air when they were kids. Oo, lalo na si Elsie (the tallest among us). Every holiday season, this topic would pop out and it has become a tradition at home every New Year's Eve to 'throw' the youngest kid up in the air. When you told Ate Mhee that you would like to 'throw' Marga on January 1 a few years ago, Marga was sleeping. And I clearly remember that around January in 2009, we had a conversation about this and you told me 'Tingnan mo si Marga, ang liit, kasi hindi ko inihagis yan kasi ayaw ni Emely. Si EJ, mukhang matangkad, kasi mana kay Elsie. And you reminded me again that you indeed threw Ate Elsie up. Ang kulit mo pagdating sa mga ganitong bagay and I believe I got my stubbornness from you.

Thank you for teaching me how to live a simple and frugal life. You were against malling, saying that you'd rather stay at home and watch TV because money should not be wasted by buying things that are not necessary.

Thank you for telling me that it is important to watch the news to know what's happening. I admire you for religiously watching TV Patrol every single night. When I was still studying in QC, I would go home every weekend and one of the usual questions you would ask me was: 'Nakita mo ba ung balita noong isang araw...' and I would always admire you for remembering the 5Ws and 1H of the news you've heard.

Thank you for believing in me and my capacity for an independent life. When Kuya, Nanay and Ate Mhee were reluctant about me living abroad alone, you were one of the first who encouraged me to do so, you told me that it's a good decision to go out of the country. I followed your advice and two months after coming to Singapore in 2009, I took a flight to see you - and I found you smiling, inside a coffin. :(

We miss you Mamay, and wherever you are right now, I hope you're happy.


*Mamay = Batangueno term for Lolo

June, July and wishes for the rest of Awesome 2011

June was made up of bowling sessions, movies and deadlines. My overdue 'newbie lunch' in the company was also finally arranged, which left me a hundred dollars poorer (but it was worth it, yummy Japanese lunch!). On the 5th, I woke up really really early and braved the rain to get my Exit Clearance from the Philippine Embassy (it does not help that the Embassy was located in a remote corner of Tanglin, inaccessible by bus or MRT). I had another turista experience at the Flyer, thanks to the free tickets from our office party. Dearest friends Jerick and Weisa also came to SG -- for different reasons but in the same week -- and we had a mini reunion and crazy conversations about Immigration officers and EnviSci days.

This month was also filled with anticipation for my one week break from work, and from everything else. As I have had only two days to transfer from my second job to the third, my break last June was one of the longest I had in the past year. It was what I had hoped for: a week of rest, staying at home, bonding with my parents and siblings; Filipino food trips; Batangas-Laguna-Alabang road trip with 'All the Single Ladies"/Maginhawa Girls; and LOL moments (thanks to the tale of the Nando's sauce) plus epic Chinese Checkers game with Thedd, Weisa, Jerick and Reuben (now known as Well-Regarded Friends, coined by Jerick).

As for July, it was full of promises, particularly of travel, of a love life (some friends would say 'finally Nelly') - two things I hope I would do more of and have, respectively, this year. You see, the travel part is pretty much settled as of this writing: my tickets for my September trip are booked, annual leave applied, Tourist Visa approved, accommodation settled and the only thing left is to pack my bags and fly. I can't say the same for the other thing. He has been around since the early part of the year and left for Manila in the middle of the month. Everything is uncertain: if he's coming back and when, if the Immigration Officers will be nice to him (we all know how notorious they are in Manila), if I'm willing to wait, if everything will turn out the way we hope it would be. As a friend commented: pa-suspense ang set-up nyo. So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. Like what I normally say: abangan na lang natin ang susunod na kabanata.

***
I would like to record everything awesome for 2011. I have tried blogging about what happens each month so I would read this next year and notice -- remember, actually --that I've done all this and that. I have never been entirely honest, though. Zeroing in on the awesome events masks the real things, especially the homesickness aspect. Believe me when I say that a part of me gets depressed every Friday night when I have to go home straight from the office. Those days when friends are either staying late at work, sick, meeting up with other friends or rushing to meet up with their girlfriend/boyfriend, whichever is applicable. Boo. I'm getting emotional already. Blame the love-life-cut-short for this drama. Wahaha. I'm off to face August, my guide books and the rest of Awesome 2011. And since today is the National Day, here's to hoping that this is another promising year for all us (insert clangs of Tiger beer mugs!).

Definitely May-be

A month full of uncertainties, shame and fear. Bad things come from the feedback form, as what I've said here. But for the sake of being happy in the future (when I gotta to read this and remember what I did in May 2011), I'll just put the perspective on the positive.

May started with waffles, Sentosa, Vivo City and lots of chika with Allen, Janina and Vivi. May 2 was spent at Jurong Swimming Complex in the morning, with the girls Melai, Melanie, Lorraine, Ate Jet and Ate Cecille. Forty minutes and one across-the-country-MRT ride later, I found myself in East Coast Park with Cre8-ers for some cycling.

The weekend after, I went to see my cousin Gloren for some Filipino food feast, videoke and birthday wishes for her son Ichigo. Went all the way to Punggol on an early Sunday morning for another first birthday bash, this time with my colleague Sri's son and hurried home for another videoke session, kwentuhan and another Filipino food feast as it was Kuya Andy's birthday.

Nothing much happened in May after these, but the lessons brought about by the feedback form will remain with me. I shall not be complacent with my skills, and in knowing this and in recognising my weaknesses, I know May has given me the boneshaker I needed in my professional standing. Way to go. Thank you, May.

Another round of aimless thoughts

The language of Facebook diminishes our concept of friends. Of what is considered like-able and not. Blurring the private and the public. It exposes us to our friends, real or otherwise, and for some, it exposes them to their siblings and parents. It becomes an extension of the interactions in the real world, or compensates for lack of it. Though I admire how it connects long lost friends and aids long distance relationships, I wonder how deep the connection is. And how true it could be. Sometimes, it's easy to like something even if you don't mean to. It's easy to tag people in photos, even if it is too irrelevant to them (they're not even there at times). Facebook has become routine, and whether it's good or bad is up to how you see it.

Social networks are good, but we need to let them be just an extension of, not alternative to, the interactions we have in real life. Go out, meet friends. Have a beer or two, some coffee afterwards. Experience, hear, the sounds of HAHAHA and see for yourself how funny an LOL could be. Like a person based not on how witty he can be based on his presence in his Wall, but on how he talks and mingle and socialise in person. (Yes, I understand that some people are socially awkward, but does being cyber literate compensate for it?) Go out there watch a movie, catch a bus going to the beach. Hit the bookstores, eat in the market. Avoid the temptation of logging in into FB places. Drop your camera on the way out of the house. Log out of Facebook and experience the world beyond the Zuckerberg connection. As Tokio Hotel sings it: see the world behind your wall.

April Firsts

This month started off with shisha at Arab Street and ended with a free stay at the Gallery Hotel. Awesome, isn't it?

Except from the vodka vs milk tea moral and digestive dilemma, April went smoothly as expected. For the first time, I tried steamboat in SG! I had two steamboat dinners this month: first one was with Lorena, Melai and Tim and the second one with Thedd. Lots of last minute pigging out around Civic District with (again) Lorena, Melai, Tim and Polo: satisfying our Aston's steak cravings in Suntec and raiding Makansutra at 12 midnight -- complete with walkathon from our house to Esplanade and back.

Career-wise, work is getting better as I am already a confeeeermed regular employee!

Another first: cross-country train ride. I have finally reached Johor Bahru and though they say there are lots of cheaper goods in Malaysia, our sole aim was to have dinner there. We went to Nando's in City Square Mall, because the cheapo in us think that Nando's in SG is overpriced.

Our kiteflying plans pushed through, with KS calling me a diva. That's a first, too. Nobody calls me a diva before. Ever. Alan, Joann, Xanth, Emily, Percy, KS and I went all the way to Buangkok to fly kites at 10am on April 22, but due to waiting time and breakfast, we started kiteflying at 11am. Our kites weren't stable until around 12pm and the weather was too hot for me. So I borrowed Joann's umbrella and stood in the middle of the field holding it while all of them struggled to let their kites fly. We quit after a while and had lunch at NEX Serangoon, with all the jokes about durian and What's next? This is NEX! conversations. We then played Kinect and it was so fun, even though we didn't manage to record any decent scores. After rounds of trying to dance along some unfamiliar beats, we decided to quit Kinect and had round 2 of kiteflying at Marina Barrage.

An addition to the Singapore Turista Experience: I have finally visited Jurong Bird Park. Thanks to Ate Hazel for the free tickets, the looong MRT ride to Jurong East was worth it.

This month also saw me buying less books and more dresses, more outdoors, less Chinese lessons, more green tea and more Han's blueberry crumble. I'm getting more brown from all those outdoorsy activities but I'm less concerned about my skin lately, which is bad.

April started with Apple-flavoured shisha after chicken murtabak in Arab Street and ended with $10 steak lunch at Hooters. Yes, April was foodiliciously awesome and I loved it.

On track for Awesome 2011!

Revenge of the Feedback Form

We had two errors in our publication in the past two weeks. Ugh. I was partly to blame, I know and I don't deny it. Excuses may come in the form of too much work, too busy or how about, too stupid not to notice? Nah, excuses are for losers. How errors like that can slip without me, us, noticing them, is -- nah, I won't even go there. Of course, my perfectionist side is grilling me on how I was sooo blind to let those errors slip. My humane side is telling me to let go, don't sweat the small stuff because only a small 000.030% of the whole world care anyway (yes, I was that bad at math and statistics). Just do your job better. But heck, I am too scared to go to work on Wednesday and I have a phobia on meetings now.

Skip the milk tea, take the vodka

I haven't written anything about Awesome April. Yeah, it was awesome, except for one day when I refused to drink vodka and beer in a friend's house -- I came to their flat with my bubble milk tea and said that I cannot 'drink' unless I finished that tea (which would take forever because of the pearls). After several Wow Magic Sing moments, my landlady's high school stories with her Kris Aquino-ish lasing laugh and successful refusals to shots of Absolut, we have decided to go home and I almost fainted inside the lift.

The milk tea terribly upset my stomach. I had a blackout. My friends said there was no trace of blood in my face. I had a horrible pain in my abdomen accompanied by cold sweat, and my vision slowly turned into black. I was still able to hear what all of them were saying, I asked Melai to usher me to the toilet. Yes, after minutes of LBM (how I managed to lock the toilet's door is beyond me), my vision turned to normal, I felt cold sweat dripping from my temples and I heard my landlady asking me if I was okay.

There were some gurgling noises in my stomach that night and I woke up at 3am feeling extremely hungry. Yes, I skipped milk tea for a week and I am never coming back to that artsy tea place.

Awesome April, Yeah?

As predicted in an earlier post, March was marvelous. Because of my trip to Bali, I've been below the equator for the first time in my life! That's a geographical milestone. :) Though I wasn't able to go to Pasir Ris Park for the whole month and wasn't serious in my Mandarin lessons because of other preoccupations, March had a lot of new things to cover for that. As for the "new experience" I've mentioned before, it was a blast! But I couldn't talk about it until June when the results come out.

As for April, I hope it's as exciting as March. Deadlines and bylines are part of my job and I am so excited for the new magazine we'll be releasing this month. My friends and I promised to return to Buangkok for some kiteflying. Some food trips are being planned. There's no scheduled out of SG trip until May or June, so I plan to revisit my favourite local places. And meet up with friends who have been so engrossed in their jobs lately. April must be awesome!

Ewwwwww

I found this saved in my phone, written sometime ago at 12:52 am. I won't explain any further. (Funny what late nights and too much green tea in my system can do.)


On some random days, I hope for you to come. Not religiously, just a thought of course. Yes, you cross my mind.

I have a vague idea of you. Maybe you're tall, bilingual, bespectacled because I had imagined you're the library type. I know you'll buy me Chocolat & Spice muffins and iced milk tea with pearls. We'll go backpack hunting in Shaw Towers, you'll send me off at Changi Airport, take me cycling to Pasir Ris Park or simply be there with me during my frequent trips to Chinatown. I know you'll wonder why I would choose bus rides over Singapore's efficient MRT system. You would tell me off as I drink too much coffee and too much green tea and you would prevent me from eating too much fries because it's oily. I hope you'll accompany me on long bus rides to Sagada and wait for me for dinners because I'll probably be late at times when I need to sign off magazines. I'm easy to please, really, just don't ask me to eat durian and we'll be fine. I hope you'll understand that I still like Amazing Race and Survivor and American Idol after all these years. And even though I have a huge crush on Henry Golding, please don't be insecure.

I hope you are waiting for me, too. I don't know what your expectations are, I may not meet them. I may surpass them at some point, but I'll just be me. No pretensions, no living up to the standards set by your ex-girlfriend/s or the ideal you have in your head. We'll argue about my erratic work schedules, travel itineraries, correct pronunciation of words, geography-related details, NBA championship trivias and other frivolous stuff. I will be a brat at times, you'll value sports and drinks over me at some point but that's fine. You'll drag me to football stadiums, I'll ask you to come with me to F21 and no matter how we hate these things we'll do it. For each other.

I don't know where you are right now. Maybe we've met, maybe we'll cross paths in the future. I may be in Singapore or probably travelling. You may be in your hometown, or also travelling. We can go around the world but in the grand scheme of things and with the help of six degrees of separation, we'll end up with each other. And this is the most important.

I hope to meet you soon.

The Nerd and World Domination

I know I'm meant for the corporate world when a friend told me that she feels she can conquer the world when she wears sports attire and I feel the same way when I wear a dress and pumps during editorial/copywriting meetings or brainstorming sessions in the boardroom.

Fine, I'm a corporate being. But I already stopped being a slave.
Journalism welcomed me back with open arms, lots of deadlines and bylines.

Awesome 2011 indeed.

It's gonna be Mar(ch)velous!

Feeding my wanderlust spirit, more cycling in the East, Mandarin words for everyday use, late birthday gift to self, a new experience that I am soooo excited about, deadlines transforming into bylines and a series of surprises ---this month is going to be marvelous :D

Everything About You is Grey

Alternatively titled Murakami Guy Reincarnation.

We first met on the day when I finally got my Employment Pass, ah pure irony. There I was really glad with my renewed employment status while you were so worried about finding a job. We met inside this cafe, first table to the right from the left entrance door (it is small, that's why I can clearly remember the layout). I saw my friend G and you were with him. We talked about job prospects and pass applications. We talked about our similar fate as far as EPECs are concerned, we even applied around the same time. And rejected in the same manner! I am too forgetful of names, I just remembered you wore grey then. You said you need to send more applications and both you and G left in the middle of my lunch.

A week after that, G and I attended a birthday gathering somewhere South. It was raining so heavily that day. Birthday dinner under the downpour was impossible. Grey clouds enveloped the island. We arrived a day before our reservation in the resort. Everything was in the wrong place! But good thing the rain stopped for an hour, we managed to eat dinner and decided to pack up by 9pm. I learned that G volunteered to stay in the kampung that night so the reservation will not be wasted and he said he's inviting some friends along. Next thing I knew, I heard you say 'Uy, andito ka rin!' We talked like we were close friends, chatted about my work, your applications, the beach and some other trivial stuff. Our group left after a few minutes, we exchange our byes and I brave the rain to return to the city while you stay in the badly lit kampung hut under the downpour.

Everything about you is grey, because up to now, I still don't know your name.

Check

As I've told a friend the other day, I already stopped being bitter about things, about bad luck, about how crazy my life has been lately. The pessimism, loneliness, dread and uncertainty of 2010 are now gone. The last quarter of 2010 has been rough for me and I will talk about it, as I've said, when I'm ready.

It's time to face the year and make the most out of it. This is not my attempt at New Year's Resolutions, because resolutions are only good in January and they expire in the middle of the year. This is me urging (or reminding) myself to do these things in 2011. Since I will be in a new company next month, I know I would be very busy, so better plan early. I promise to stop the next time excuse. I promise to leave my scared self behind. I promise to follow Roam magazine's mantra: Just Go.

I want 2011 to be awesome and here's my must-do list:

1. Travel to three countries in Asia (preferably Indonesia, Thailand and China) and go back to Sagada.

2. Stop my corporate detour and find my way back to journalism.

3. Celebrate my birthday with a pint of Ben & Jerry's plus a big pack of potato chips without worrying about how unhealthy this combo is.

4. Study Mandarin regularly and by the end of the year, I should be able to converse fluently with someone who doesn't speak a word of English.

5. Drink more green tea and less coffee.

6. Wake up early on weekends and go on food trips in Singapore. Go to Church every Sunday.

7. Call home often. Send random SMS to old friends, keep in touch with them.

8. Volunteer. It doesn't matter where and how, just do it.

9. Save, save, save. For my 2012 Big Travel Plan and for my future.

10. Fall in love.
But this is actually beyond my control (Universe, are you listening?)

11. Celebrate Fiesta, Christmas Eve and New Year's Day at home in Batangas! :D



I will post a status report on December 31, 2011 and I should not be disappointed.
To those who are willing to help me accomplish this list, thank you for your support in advance.

C'mon. Let's do this!