Life Lately: 2022 recap

Happy 2023!! 🥳 I've been so bad in keeping up with this blog this year thanks to Booktok taking up my life .This did get randomly redesigned when I realized that I was tired of making the yellow accent color work (It wasn't working for a long time now, really).

• January 05 2022. HBD Chicken. Not a puppy any more 😭. 
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• January 18 2022. FullyBooked Affiliate. On this random day, Fully Booked emailed me if I am interested to be an affiliate. This is one of my major firsts as a bookworm content creator 🙊🙈. Immediately started working on a link tree on this website to be able to link stuff (and make my website more useful). I am glad I am getting opportunities from this hobby I love but I also later learned it's hard to make people click the link in my bio 🛒.  Reflected that I don't want to be one of those annoying content creators with full intent on making money from clicks. AKA the affiliate thing is not doing great, the links are always there though. (Today, anyone can be an affiliate just apply on their website or something 💸)
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• March 03-08 2022. HBD Gwe. Boracay. My last vacation before getting back to the real world.
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• April 9 2022. Manalakaran Tamu rally for #LeniKiko2022. The most uncomfortable I've been in a while (considering we also had Chicken with us) but it's worth it! This day will be marked in history and I am glad to tell the story then. This campaign had a big impact on me, even changing the books I want to immediately read. I never imagined I'd ever pick up a book tackling cultish language or even The Conjugal Dictatorship, the infamous martial law nonfiction. It was soul crushing when Leni and Kiko lost but the fight is not over. Not yet. 🥀 
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• April 19 2022. Employed at USER SG. The end of my 6 month professional work break. After a week long breakdown from being rejected (again) by my dream company, I am finally back up the career ladder. I do wish I negotiated my salary with what I really deserve, or even just ask for the correct job title (I got too scared no company will ever want me because of my 6 month unemployment by choice oops 👻). We'll get there soon enough. 
• May 2022. AJ got promoted to Senior Infrastructure Engineer at Xendit at 24 years old!!!! This performance was based on the past 6 months AJ was rocking it at work. Which was also a time in our lives that AJ does most (all) house chores and financially supports me because he was the one who encouraged me to take a break. I am so proud. 🥺🎉
• July 23-26 2022. Boracay with extended family. I know I hate traveling in big groups but this was really fun. Specially the water activities only peer pressure can make me try 💪🏼. It was so funny how we downplayed how much they hurt and when we were already there after the first activity, we want nothing more but to back out 😰. Fun fact: AJ stayed in the hotel the whole trip because he was sick 😅 
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• July 11 2022. HBD AJ. Oliva's Resort. The one day the whole year I feel so old because I am a year older than him 👵🏼.
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• July 22-August 08 2022. Bali. AJ's Company Trip. As usual I decided to join last minute and everyone clearly saw how I had the most fun. I should probably write a separate blog for this trip. We both fell in love here so much that we'll be going back early 2023 ✈️.
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• September 10 2022. Tattoo day with Mariel. Bestie, the most conservative person I ever met (yes IDK why we're bestest friends), randomly messaged me that she's ready to get a tattoo. She also found a female tattoo artist. Game changer! It was so fun to spend a girls day. 💅🏼
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• September 26 2022. Dental Braces. Again. When AJ had a toothache, our dentist and bestie decided to check up my teeth too (in preparation for something else we're planning for next year). Turns out I need braces. ASAP. 💸💸💸. AJ got his braces back again 1 week after mine because #FOMO.
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• October 20-22 2022. Manila double date that ended in Covid. The most fun we had in a while but it ended in regrets. We didn't check beforehand that the place we stayed at was a quarantine hotel 🥴. Now that explained why we were all so tired to roam around Pinto Art Museum on our last day. I think it's still considered mild somehow but I was down for a long time moving from one symptom to the next (extreme sore throat -> fever -> cold -> cough). 🤧🤒
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• November 17-19. Escala Tagaytay for late anniversary get away. So glad Escala and Agoda were kind enough to let us resched our stay as we were still recovering from covid on November 3. We decided to make it a full lazy staycation instead of going out to try what's new in Tagaytay.
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• November 23 2022. Featured in a Blog. Next to the biggest names in #booktokph. Read here. I know I am not a big name in the community (the others has 5 to 6 digit followers) because 1.) I cringe at myself at the tiny-est of things and 2.) I have very bad social anxiety, so this was unexpected. Thank you Lea for including me! 
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• November 23 2022. Reached my goodreads goal 100/100. 100th book was the wrong book (misogynistic) but a win is a win, I'll take it! This is my first year with a goal (that everyone can see in goodreads) and it worked. My competitiveness was constantly at the back of my mind. Will aim lower for 2023 though because I noticed I was only picking up short reads by October.
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• December 07 2022. Meet Boom. Chicken's daughter! Get it? #boomchicken. She is very courageous and never holds herself back despite being tiny and brittle, such a big contrast to Chicken second guessing everything (like me).  
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• December 2022. Digital Reading Journal. For some reason I am very productive with side projects in December. Tried to check a free headless CMS on a random day and found Strapi. Tried a simple POC for fun. Ended up doing the whole app. Release and separate blog soon!  I attempted a physical reading journal this year but I stopped updating it by May and moved the list of titles and ratings in this website. A fully public and digital one with reviews seems perfect for 2023.
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To think, I almost didn't do a wrap up this year because it didn't feel like I did a lot. 😅 This year was mostly building relationships and travelling and reading and that's all I can hope again for the next years to come. Glad to have something to look back to and hopefully not find this cringe then 🙏🏼.