Slow. Painful. Tiring. That's what a day in the life of an ox is like. It's pushed to strain itself in arduous labor with little reward: a gratifying graze and a cool puddle of mud. I can say, and I'm sure you'll agree, that 2009 has been a year in the life of an ox for all of us.

We have toiled through 2009 wearily and while blessings of travel, gadgets, money, love and friendship have showered upon me through difficult 365 days of my life, it has not been as lucky for others. Employees laid off, countless natural calamities, deaths by hands of people and of nature. If you are still alive, keep tirelessly waiting and striving. There is still hope. Know that no matter how big a storm, it will always pass and it has. 2009 has passed, 2010 is here. Look for the golden lining in the clouds when the sun is setting and keep going until the dawn breaks because it will and it will be beautiful. I've got a feeling that 2010 will be a good year for everybody.

To make it start as a good year, I'd like to share the happiness I've gone through 2009 because I believe that "Happiness when shared, is not divided." And then some more stuff I'd like to do this year.

• 2009 is the year I discovered Facebook and Twitter. LOL. These two have become an important part of my life in connecting with friends and other people across the globe and learning new stuff, especially on Twitter where I follow web posts about technical and soft skills in web development. Learned tons of stuff. For this year, I will read more of these online than web comics. *grin*
• I got to travel out of the country. First time. Loved getting exposed to new people, technology, sights, food and places in San Francisco for WWDC 2009 and got to meet my sister and my nephews in Topeka, KS. For 2010, it is financially impossible to travel to the USA so instead of aiming to travel this year, I will save up to travel in 2011 instead.
• I was able to meet 6 times with Amanda this year. Lots of Amanda days. Got to go new places with her, too. For 2010, we both picture us going to Bantayan, Bohol, Camotes, Palawan and other heavenly beaches in the archipelago that our meager pockets can afford. =)
• I acquired a Nikon D40 which I used to take visual proof of the previous 2 blessings. For 2010, I aim to have a Nikon D90 or an equivalent that's cheap. I don't really mind getting a second hand camera as long as it works. Can't wait to take more photos this year. I have even repartitioned my hard disks to add more space to the drive that holds all my photos. The 2010 folder is so ready to be filled.
• Finished my personal site where I post photos I got from blessing 4. For 2010, I want to improve the usability and flow of the site and make the proper subsections specifically the houseline studio subsection for all the photos.
• Speaking of personal site, I also want to start the Life in Code series of posts in 2010. You will see more nerd stuff soon. Reality is a function that does not return a boolean value but a float from 0.0 to 1.0 (http://www.geekherocomic.com/2008/09/27/reality/)
• Finished 2 books this year: Paulo Coelho's Like a Flowing River and Leoncini's Death by Meeting. Why is this a big thing? The last time I read a book for the sake of reading (and not as an academic requirement) was back in high school, Wizard of Earthsea by LeGuin. That was like 48 years ago! Just kidding. Just 6. ;) For 2010, I aim to own and finish at least 4 books, one of them would be Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses.
• For 2010, I also want to be more involved with what's happening in the country. One way would be to vote wisely in the upcoming 2010 presidential elections. Another way would be being less passive in government issues. I have a plan but I'm not sure yet if it'll work which will get people from the government and the country more involved into solving problems online. I aim to get this system up and running in 2010. If not, just the finalization of the plan.

Will Short, a crossword editor for New York Times, said "We have a natural compulsion to fill empty spaces." 2009 has been like a crossword puzzle for me. Empty spaces have been filled with answers but some are still missing. And even though some words or answers fit, they may not be the best answer and will make answering other parts of the puzzle difficult with incorrect clues. I hope to answer 2010 with more words and more correctly, if not completely.

Have a great year ahead and I hope that you get to finish your 2010 puzzle. Wish me luck as my Tiger year unfolds for me. :)

Update 2010/01/04:
Oops. The year of the Tiger doesn't start until February. Who cares? I like calling it the year of the Tiger. rawr. Anyway, I also wanted to add another thing to achieve for 2010: to write at least 4 poems and 1 should be in pure Bisaya. Let's just say I need to sharpen the creative pencil once in a while.

As for the Bisaya part, I want to write something in return for the place I grew up in. This island, this language. Lahi ra jud nga magstorya ka sa imong kaugalingon pinulongan ug ang akong lenggwahe kay Bisaya. Sige lang ta ug Ininggles, dili ko ginahan mawala ang atong kaugalingon nga "programming language". Higugmaa ang imohang tinubuang yagaw sama sa imong pagpangga sa Inggles.

Update 2010/01/07:
I also want to give back to the programming community on the web. Without them, without the articles and discussions they have posted, I could not be as good as I think I am today. As a specific goal, I wish to contribute at least 1 patch to any issue in Drupal or modules.

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