Reflections and Favorites of 2018

2018 has finally ended and I thoroughly believe it was a rough year for everybody. Mentally, physically, financially… It just felt of a slow tumble downhill. However there has been some favorite things I’ve eaten, products I’ve used and places I’ve been.

In January I started my online course with the International TEFL Academy. It was a stressful three months of balancing my course, my day job and trying to have some sort of life away from textbooks and computer screens. I celebrated by travelling down to Portland to celebrate my belated birthday and run the Hop Hop Half-Marathon along the Columbia River in Portland. Which I finished, but not without some injury which I am still trying to recover from today. Since then I started running less and started weight training more. It was a mental struggle to accept the fact the I may weigh more, but my clothes fit better.

I spent the next couple of months stressing about finding a school or program to finish my practicum for the TEFL certificate. Finally in May I was able to observe some classes at Cascadia College before co-teaching with TW in July. I went to a pride parade up in Bellingham (see video) to support the local gay/lesbian/trans community and my friend’s daughter/son (daughter by identifies with boys more). August came around and so did the 1 year Anniversary of my father’s death. It was a pretty somber month. Near the end of the month, I started my EPIK application process and unknowingly added more stress and anxiety the last couple of months.

My aunties and cousins from the Philippines arrived, one set at the beginning of August and another in September. Now my mom’s house is filled with the max of beings. October & November became a blur of paperwork, running around town mailing documents and working on almost 2 books a week at my publishing company. And then there was December, the month of waiting.

So it was barely exciting. I spent a lot of my time escaping reality by reading Harry Potter fanfiction. A lot; some good, some bad, some that just really need to be their own book to physically hold and some that really should have never uploaded. So Fanfiction.com is one of my favorite things I discovered in 2018. Best place to read short or long stories about some of your favorite books, tv show or characters. I’ll going to write a post about some of my favorite HP Fanfiction I’ve read and re-read soon.

Along with that, here are my favorites from 2018:

Skincare / Bodycare: