Hi.
Wow. It's been a long while. I just finished reading all my old blogs from years ago. It made me realize just how much I missed writing my thoughts and feelings. It also made me realize just how much I have changed since then, and how much I grew up and how much growing up I still have yet to do. My last blog post was just after my first trip to New York back in 2013. Here I am, 5 years later, and a lot has happened since then.
Reading my old blogs has inspired me to start writing again. We'll see how long this will last.
Let's start again, yeah? Let me start by updating you about my life.
Back in 2013, I was still in the middle of nursing school. Well, I have graduated since then. On December 13, 2014, I graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. To celebrate, my entire family, including a close friend of mine and other relatives, went to the Philippines to celebrate. It was the first time in 10 years that the entire family went on a vacation together to the Philippines. It was a whole family reunion! Probably marks one of the most fun and memorable trips to the Philippines ever! One of the most memorable parts of that trip was letting go and getting drunk and wasted on the front porch of a beach side resort with my cousins, brother, and uncle. We finished an entire gallon of cheap whiskey from Costco, taking turns doing shots. We were loud. Laughing. Thoughts and feelings were said. We were up for hours into the night after a long day of travel and activities from 4:00 AM in Manila to Subic. The entire resort was pitch black, except the light from our front porch. Then just imagine waking up the next morning, hungover, and trying to get onto a boat to do island hopping. Fun times. My parents also had their silver wedding (25 years). They renewed their vows at the backyard of my aunt's house. Their close friend who's a priest, the same person who led their wedding 25 years ago, did the ceremony. It was a luau themed celebration. It was not only my parents' wedding anniversary, but also a huge family reunion. Each family did a performance. Of course, my cousins, friend, and I did a dance, and not only did we dance it once, but we were asked to do an encore! During that trip, we also took a side trip to Beijing, China. I climbed the Great Wall of China. There is a famous Chinese saying, "You are not a real hero until you've climbed the Great Wall of China." Well, I am now a real hero.
Fast forward a little bit, I took the dreaded NCLEX on April 1, 2015, on April Fool's Day, and I discovered that I passed the exam and became a Registered Nurse in California on April 4, 2015. I remember waking up at about 4:30 AM, checking the Board of Registered Nursing website to find my name on there with the title "REGISTERED NURSE" next to it. I remember taking a screenshot of it and sending it to my entire family whilst tears in my eyes.
10 days later, I landed a nursing job in the city of Hemet. My first job ever! A place where I go to work with anxiety everyday, but also a place where I feel I have grown and where I built relationships and discovered a lot about myself. I still work there to this day.
December 7, 2015, a new member of the family was born. My baby cousin.
Then in April of 2016, to celebrate my 25th birthday and all that I have accomplished in the last year, I went on my first solo trip with a travel company, Contiki, to Italy. A trip where I made friends from all over the world. One of the most memorable moments of that trip was on my actual birthday. It was a Wednesday. We were scheduled to go to the Vatican. My ultimate goal was to go there and make a wish at the most famous Catholic churches in the world. Little did I know, I was going to see the pope too! He comes out every Wednesday. It was an emotional moment. I'll share about it in a future post perhaps.
Later that same year, I got a new job, but it did not turn out very well, so I went back to my old job in Hemet. Which made me sad because I really wanted to move on with my career, but at the same time, after much tears and thinking, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. I made friends. Friendships that I hope will last a long time, and I believe it will. As much as that place gives me so much of an emotional rollercoaster, I love the people I work with there.
Anyway, because I left my other job, I went on a solo trip to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit my brother, who by the way, joined the navy while he was still in college and who graduated from college in 2015 with a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics. I needed a week to get away from my life for a little bit and focus on myself and planning for my future career. Afterwards, I also flew to the Philippines in April 2017 during Holy Week. I was only there for 10 days to experience Holy Week in the Philippines for the first time. I also did something crazy with one of my best friends. On Easter day, we hiked all the way up to Mount Pinatubo's volcanic crater. We literally hiked through different terrains. We were covered in dust and soaked in our sweat and rain. But the feeling of accomplishment when you reach the top and you see that beautiful view is like no other feeling in the world!
Later that same year, at the end of October and early November 2017, I went on a solo trip to Greece. It was one of the most relaxing 11 days because I got to do whatever I wanted. It was an experience I'll never forget, and most likely an experience I'll do again. Greeks are so nice and very hospitable. They reminded me a lot of the Filipino culture. I also pretty much ate my way through Greece. Greeks love to eat!
Oh! The Digbyholics. The people I so often talked about here. They're still around. We've all grown up too. We still see Marie and her family once in a while too. In fact, we kind of had a mini reunion recently, in which we also realized we've all been friends for 10 years.
Now, here we are in 2018. I recently finished my applications for my Master's to nurse practitioner programs in 3 different schools. I am now anxiously waiting for results. It's funny. I started this blog while I was in college waiting to be accepted into the nursing program. Now, here I am 5 years later, waiting to be accepted into a nurse practitioner program and anxiously waiting for what is in store for my future.
I'm not as anxious as I was then, though. I have grown up to know that no matter what the results are, life moves on and the only thing I can do is keep moving forward. I have learned to accept that life doesn't always happen the way you plan it to be.
I hope to keep this whole blogging thing up again. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, feelings, and things I love again. As a reminder, if I write anything that may offend you, I apologize in advance.
In the end, I just hope you find a little love and hope in your life with the things I will write and share with you here.
xo, J
