I know, I know: This post is 11 days late. There's no excuse for it, except I've enjoyed the holiday season so much that I didn't have time to sit down and collect whatever thoughts I have to a composed blog post. When it was over, the avalanche of back-to-normalness was also kind of overbearing for me, despite it really being just this week.
Well, that hopefully explains the absence, now let's get on to the meat of this post, shall we?
2008 for me started on a high note, then came very low points, and ended well. Those who've been following my life definitely would be able to deduce that the high note is really the exhilaration of moving to the US. I've always set my sights on the land of milk and honey for the longest time, and having the opportunity to actually live here is something I'm unwilling to trade for anything. Not that I didn't love my country, the Philippines—it's been my adoptive country for so long and it deserves my unending gratitude. I guess for me it's really a decision I had to do for myself, because I've long known I'm meant for greater things. And grass being greener on the other side, this was it.
I was in a high when we stepped foot in Philadelphia airport—this time as people who wouldn't be on the same airport after a month. The snow, the chill, and the early morning sunlight was all precursor to a fresh life, something I was ready to immerse myself into. For the first time I saw relatives, family members I haven't seen in ages, some I never even saw at all until we went here.
One particular moment that I savor with gusto is our trip to Florida to visit Walt Disney World. Believe me when I say it's been 13 years since we were last there. (Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is a different story, however.) The place really is as magical as everyone made them out to be.
But things started to go downhill after coming back. The reality of having to look for a job set in—and the fact that 2008 wasn't exactly a shining year for employment. Just as I started polishing my résumé, news of layoffs started pouring on TV much to everyone's chagrin, the country that has enjoyed years of flush living slowly had to reevaluate their spending habits, and really, life just started to become tough for many. I was caught in the midst of it all, an earnest editor and multimedia artist from a third-world country trying to establish his life in a country that became alien to him for so many years. Weeks of fruitless job searching became months, and as the months progressed, life became difficult for me. I've had to constantly dip into my savings just to be able to afford whatever necessities my job-hunting—and really, living—had to entail.
While this was happening, I was battling homesickness. While it's true that I was quite the loner in the Philippines—preferred to keep only small company, and stuck with them with a passion—to suddenly be in a country where there's no one that you can call your friend, is something I do not wish on anyone to go through. Because it's hard.
This continued during the summer months of June all the way to August. It was the worst summer of my life (didn't help that it was, you know, freaking hot—yeah, I'm intolerant of the heat that way). The extended period of unemployment, I can deal with. I had my family as support system throughout the months I wasn't bringing in money; but it's the lack of peers that got to me. It's a known fact that we are social creatures, and that we actively seek out like-minded people who we can—dare I say it in young people lingo—hang out with.
I am proud, however, that despite the thousands of miles separating us, me and Diana, my close confidante and friend of many years, have never been stronger than we are now. This helped me remain sane and have stopped those nights when I'd just give up and head home. She is, and continues to be my rock.
Regardless, I remain unable to just call her just meet up for dinner and drink on a whim. Frustrated with this thought, and trying to stem what might've been the beginning of a minor depression (OK, too strong a word, but it's close to it), I decided to look around. I contacted the guys I play World of Warcraft with, see if anyone's in the area I can hang out with (no luck); I talked to friends of friends, and tried to extend acquaintances from there (no luck); until, just on the verge of giving up, I posted an ad online. Insanity? No, but desperate? Absolutely.
On other news, things were looking up, jobhunting-wise. (Well, kind of.) I interviewed and got an entry-level Junior Editor position at a small New York City-based magazine. My crowning achievement is the fact that it gave me entry to the magazine industry here. (You have no idea how much I was jumping around when I saw the copy of the issue with my name on the masthead.) Now, I'm building my reputation, establishing a network of contacts, and really slowly but surely making my way toward taking a slice of the opportunities available in the industry.
Unfortunately, another roadblock came: This time the crumbling of print media, due in large part to the looming recession that America—and eventually, the rest of the world—faced. Companies went on hiring freezes, some publications closed, and aspiring editors are forced to seek alternative means of earning their incomes while they wait the craziness to pass. I had to really cross my fingers the publication I was in doesn't close, and that my dreams of establishing my name would come to a screeching halt.
The magazine still stands up to now, which gives me a sigh of relief.
However, it remains that I'm not earning enough to be able to actually help me transition to the way of life here, so I continued to look for one-time, part-time, or contractual gigs. Again, this happened in the midst of the bloodbath that the economy faced. So again, for several more months, I was passing my résumés around with fevered enthusiasm (though even the most optimistic of optimists felt the blues in some degree because prospects just continued to dwindle) to deaf ears.
I didn't bother remember the things that happened in the months leading up to the holiday season, because it was really disappointments after disappointments. There were several highlights: My awesome brothers turning a year older full of life and in the best of health; I met Bill, who really was my first friend here—my bro!—and because of him, I'm spending a couple of days a week in the company of the bestest group of people a guy could ever have; and I guess because of all the madness, I learned how to eat my humble pie—and I emerged the much wiser man.
November was when things slowly picked up, leading to a good close to the year. I was able to get a job working as trainer for Apple, my editor at the magazine started talks with me about a full-time opportunity in the near future, and things in general really started falling in place, whereas it was nothing but chaos weeks before.
Now I'm here, year 2009. Whatever mess came about during 2008 I have already let go. I'm writing this with much higher hopes for a brighter future, a much better year (which I think will really happen), and a much fuller life. To be an optimist is to understand—and find what's good in something—even if the general mood points on the contrary. And this is the attitude I'm carrying with me—and I hope you will, too—as you start your own journey in search of great adventures.
Happy New Year!
Image from www.firebirdents.co.uk
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