A toast for the New Year!

In about 9 hours' time, we welcome Year 2007. As many people already know, 2006 has been quite of a rouch patch for me, having to deal with finishing school with good grades (Theology!!!), almost accepting a job offer and tying myself up for 2 years, figuring out my life's direction, seeing my dream of getting to England and catching my first football match... and seeing that dream get crushed, changing plans every so often- from wanting to do an MSc (in the UK), to go to law school, to med school, to CS, then finally to MA, finally settling in with a plan, preparing to get the visa, getting shit scared about getting denied, doing the interview and finally, inching and being so much closer to finally fulfilling at least part of the plan.

While the most memorable of moments for some people are those in high school or college, or grade school even, mine just has got to be the moments when I finally got out of school. For the past 16 years or so of my life, it's been nothing but an almost dull and lifeless work of art. But I'm finally breaking away, just as Kelly Clarkson sings. This is what I consider the turning point of my life. A new opportunity, a new year, even a new life perhaps. Whether this point onwards would be as good as I how I make it sound to be, I'd still have to find out. It could take another 5-10 years before I can make another blog entry of this sort, before I can say whether this 'exciting' new facet is really as exciting as I think it is at this very moment or not.

Apparently, it's difficult to tell. In fact, there's no other way we can tell except by living life. Living it as it unfolds right before our eyes, my eyes. Will I find good fortune? I don't know. It certainly sounds lovely; almost everyone just dreams of a good fortune. It's living the American Dream for some, it's digging gold some place else for others. I belong to the latter, refusing to follow the bandwagon of people migrating to the States. My newly found love for sport, for football just fuels that refusal to follow so much more. At one point or another, if not in England, I'd at least settle in a footballing country. In one of my previous blog entries, I said I don't really have to settle in England, that as long as I satisfy my intense craving for a live football match once or twice a year, I'd be good. Perhaps when I said that, I was partly convinced I'd be living in the States a couple of years from now. But then again, I don't know. One, again I'm not so sure I'd want to migrate there. Two, there's just too much of the sport going on in my mind. Finally and most importantly, we don't know how things would go for me. I, would, just, have, to, wait.

For now, here's to hoping that everyone gets a blast (and I don't mind bloody, exploded hands) welcoming the new year, that 2007 serves a lot of promise, that we all succeed in our endeavors, that there be less politicking and insensitivity, that hope keeps Filipinos alive no matter how much adversity they meet, that there be more opportunities for more people- and that these people make wise moves towards those opportunities, that they prioritize life, success and well-being over the mundane things, and finally, that all things that people do, think, and say, would make sense. Instead of giving each of us some bits of rubbish.

As for my short-term toast- here's to hoping that I get a roomie at least half as passionate as I am with football, that I get an internship at WB or IMF, and that what I'll be doing for the next 3-4 months would be exciting enough for me to ignore the freezing blows of winter.

Now that would be a blast.