2008: The Year that Was

2008 was a year of trials for me, even for my sister. Since she and I are both Leos, and we've experienced pretty much the same fate for 2008, I am definitely more inclined to believe in astrology more than the average person does.

QUARTER 1: My sister and I both had serious illnesses. I had pneumonia, and she had dengue fever. Even with that health setback, a major event for the year also happened in the same quarter - our mom arrived for a visit from the States for the first time in 5 years. Q1 of 2008 is definitely bookmarked in my mind. Oh, I forgot to mention that I resigned from my job of almost 3 years?

QUARTER 2: ...was tiring as hell. I applied to several jobs but nothing happened, until the last month of the quarter, that is. I thought that this was the job of my dreams, but...well, wait until my Q3 review. Work during my first month was still fun, but I was slowly (but surely!) disillusioned. I got to travel to Bicol, cross a large body of water via a bangka and brave a storm while nursing a fever. Woohooy. It was also during this quarter that my sister became busy as hell reviewing for her NCLEX. She had to rent a place somewhere in Manila for easier access to the review school.

QUARTER 3: Ah, this was the problematic quarter. The new job wasn't turning out as well as I had hoped, plus I was sick most of the time (as in I'd have at least one absence per week). My sister flunked her NCLEX, so obviously she was depressed for the rest of the quarter. A very NEGA quarter, indeed.

QUARTER 4: ...was a definite mix of fortunes. I was retrenched, which was painful, but I was more or less financially set for a couple of months (that was in October). I actually saw that situation as a blessing since we were in a financial bind at the time, so the instant moolah was a very welcome surprise. My sister, well, she had already started reviewing again, since our timelines for her retake is by February of 2009. But I decided to give her a break when I lost my job, since she carried the other half of the burden of keeping us sane. :) It was also in this quarter when I almost went back to my previous employer. I think it's a good thing that that didn't push through. The last month of the quarter, well, I've had to keep our finances in check. It has already been 3 months without income after all.

Here comes 2009. My Chinese friend told me that my birth year. the Year of the Sheep, will have the worst fortune this year. My lucky year is 2011. That's two years away! What am I going to do until then?

Like I told my bear friends, I am going to claim 2009 as MY year. I will do my best to make sure that this year will be better than 2008.