HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

❤  May this Year of the Black Water Dragon bring more bishounens into my life.  ❤

* * *  H A P P Y    2 0 1 2 !  * * *

Before saying it becomes passé, let me greet everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

(coin art.. w00t!)

I don't plan on making a long entry about my new year's resolutions, plans, etc... I've done those before and well, nothing really happened. XD But my theme for this year would be "Out with the old, and In with the New" as I am praying for new and exciting changes in my life.

First of all of course is to change my planner...

Owning a planner is very important for me cos I love to make little notes/doodles, and it helps me keep track of many aspects of my life. I picked the oak-colored Starbucks planner to be my trusted partner for 2012. It's smaller than last year's planner and though I don't really like the lay-out that much, but I think we will make many many sweet memories together for this year. This is my third SB planner in a row, and perhaps, my last. My boyfriend and I decided that we will start saving up some moolah and hence will stop buying luxurious items such as these (we will buy Moleskine planners instead!!!). Cholo and I also plan to stop being impulsive spenders, to be more disciplined, and SRSLY lose some weight. We have big visions for our not-so-distant future, and we really need to keep our focus and tighten our pockets to achieve our goals.

After ranting about the importance of money, ironically, the next major change in my life right now is that I've resigned from my job effective the first day of this year for reasons that I don't want to expound anymore. Suffice it to say that I just wanted to get out of my comfort zone and move on with my life. I know it's a bit foolish to leave behind a stable, relatively good-paying job, especially with both my parents jobless right now. But I have given it a lot of thought, discussed it with a lot of significant people, and most importantly, prayed about it. So I'm seeing this as a leap of faith, as an act of complete surrender and dependence on God's greater plan for me. I do not know what the future holds, but I know my God holds my future. Yes, I am very much afraid, but I am really looking forward to see what doors of opportunities will open and what exciting experiences await me for this year.

Since I'll be (hopefully) having a lot of free time in my hands for the first couple of weeks of 2012, I really want to make good use of this chance to organize my life, my priorities and... my room! I have hoarded lots of stuffs last year like books, mangas, DVDs, etc and I really need to stop doing that cos I don't really have the space to hold them and the time to use them. After the tragedy of super tyyphoon Sendong, of which our apartment was also not spared (we were flooded till knee level!), we have come to realize that in just one snap, everything material could easily be taken away from you. And I know this is quite silly cos my hoards have no eternal value, but still, if I can, I want to really make good use of them. So I have set some realistic(?) challenges for myself and hopefully I will be able to do them this year;

• Read and study the Bible twice everyday
• Finish the entire Bible twice this year
• Blog at least once or twice a week
• Make at least 30 new artworks
• Read at least 30 books
• Watch at least 30 drama/TV series
• Watch at least 60 anime series
• Read at least 100 mangas
• Watch at least 300 movies

I know the above list is quite ridiculous and shows only the irrational, materialistic side of me, but setting such quota may be able to help me make better use of my time. I want to stop wasting my energy and time on staring blankly at social network sites, or playing insignificant games, and be more productive. Of course if there are more important things to do for my spiritual or career growth, my family and friends and real-life matters, these would naturally take precedence. But I don't want to waste any more time and energy doing useless things that will not make me a better individual. I hope this will indeed be a more fruitful year.

As Joel Osteen said in his bestselling book, "I've made up my mind to not waste any more days. I'm celebrating each as a gift from God." Here's wishing all of us a great year of celebration ahead.

PLANNING AHEAD

I recently said GOODBYE to my 2010 planner...


 ...and said HELLO to my new 2011 planner...


...both given by my most wonderful boyfriend who got coffee-drunk completing all those Starbucks stickers.♥♥♥

The 2010 planner really proved to be so useful to me, and it was well used and abused as I've filled up the pages with my random scribblings, schedules, plans, lists, budgets, and just about anything else that I could possibly think of. I just love making lists and taking random notes!

I also plan to do the same for my new planner, except that I still haven't had much time to write on it. It's been quite a crazy week at work, what's with the gadzillions of patients rushing in daily to be examined and admitted. Not to mention that the new wing of our hospital will soon open and we will be adding about 40 more beds plus an Intensive Care Unit to our workload. Lately, we've really noticed the rapid expansion and growth of our hospital, and I just don't know how to cope with all these stressful changes (resign, maybe? XD). Like, it's been more than a week since I got here, but I only got to open my laptop tonight. I was initially planning to play Egg Breaker in Facebook everyday, but never got the chance to do so until tonight (and saw that I friggin' lost all of my bonus hammers! :c).

Well anyway, I initially planned to blog about my 2011 goals but actually realized that I really didn't prepare for it. The list will more or less look like 2009's LIST anyway:

• Moisturize daily. 
• Clean room. 
• Draw more. 
• Blog often. 
• Study. 
• Lose weight. 
• Save money. 
• Download diet. 
• Mature in my Christian faith. 

Plus in addition I plan to finish the Bible in a year (thanks to our bible guide), finish our A-Z drawing challenge, finish my stacks of books/mangas, finish my animes/dramas (or most of it anyway), and just generally learn and accomplish a lot of stuffs. And, God willing, know where my life's headed for -- since it's pretty much as messed up as this blog entry. >___<


May 2011 be a great year for all of us. And yah, I know: the key word is DISCIPLINE. 

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

I was blessed when the cashier at National Bookstore SM gave me this. She asked me what my faith was, and when I told her I was a Christian, she encouraged me to get more of these pamphlets to give to my friends. This is a one year Bible-reading guide. My boyfriend and I failed at reading the Bible last year, and as part of our "vow of discipline" for 2011, we aim to finish it this time around. We didn't know how to go about it, but thank God for this guide which He timely brought to my hands. Now we have no excuse not to finish the Bible this year! I'm so excited. :)

It was just supposed to be something we planned to do as a couple, but God impressed upon me that I need to share this little blessing I have, cos I know it can and will become something very big that will move the hearts of many. I didn't know how else to share this except to give copies of the pamphlet to my friends. But this morning when I woke up, I felt that somehow God whispered the words into my ears and told me to upload it in Facebook. I think it can reach more people that way. I hope and pray that it will.

So I posted this in Facebook, and I'm posting it here again in my blog with the hopes that more and more people will be able to see this, and like me, aim to read the entire Bible this year. I also pray that this will develop in us the attitude for daily devotions and improve our relationship with and knowledge of our Father. Let's start the new year right with God as our main focus, and let us always keep Him as Master and Keeper of our lives.

(12 large images up ahead so I'd better insert a jump break here)