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.

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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!).