2023: A year of firsts

2023 has ended and I realized I've never really done any year-end highlights post. This year has been really fun for me and even though it's not my most productive at all, I had a lot of new experiences which I never really expected to do this year.

The year started quite scary for us since Mew got hospitalized due to Feline Panleukopenia (feline parvo) and some other positive tests he had. The doctor gave him a 10-20% chance of survival and so it was the first time I had a death scare for a pet. I even had to cancel celebrating my birthday for this because I also had to be careful not to spread the virus around since my friends also have cats.

He's very strong as he survived that. He's so tiny here and he slept with us on the bed but now he only sleeps on our feet and is quite an asshole lol.

In February, I went to attend the biggest art fair in the country, Art Fair Philippines, as I have been invited as a VIP. I guess I'm getting that VIP emails every year now since I was a speaker back in 2021. :P

I also joined the exhibit in the CryptoArtPH booth, which I really appreciated them inviting me and installing the work for me since I couldn't come to Manila before the ingress. It's my first time attending as an exhibitor (in irl exhibit of the Art Fair) and it was really fun.

My work is the one on the left btw. The right one is by another artist (forgot the name).

This one is my first time exhibiting in an NFT gallery (Galerie IHAM) in Paris, France. My work has been shown together with some of my favorite artists and it was so nice to see my art being exhibited there. Like usual, I haven't been to any of the venues in Europe but I can only imagine the excitement the moment I can finally attend. :D

April is definitely something special.

Also, I just wear the ring in my middle finger cos it needs resizing and at the same time I feel weird wearing it someplace else. It just doesn't feel 'balanced' you know? lol.

May is when we went back to Thailand for another visit. It was my first time going to a snow park and experienced a -15°C (as they advertised lol). It was also my first time trying edible gummies since they just became legal there. I was very curious how it would affect me and I didn't really like it since it made my heart pound so fast and I wasn't "relaxed" at all. :P

I had attended my first pride parade in Bangkok and it felt really liberating and fun. In my country it's quite scary to do so since there are a lot of religious cunts who will preach during the parade and will verbally harrass you so it's not really safe lol.

This was also the first time I discovered The Rock Pub in Bangkok that plays a lot of the songs I really like. It made me listen to my favorite songs again after years of not doing so (for whatever reason) so it was really liberating for my soul as well.

I got my very first PC in July. I honestly don't know why I didn't do this earlier and bought laptops instead haha but it was the time I realized a laptop is nothing compared to a PC. A 4090 GPU in a PC will never be the same as a 4090 in laptop and I was stupid to believe they can be at the same level. LOL.

This also marks the start of me going back to playing games which I enjoyed greatly during my childhood days. :D

I started a gaming channel in August! And... with a camera!!!

This was "revolutionary" for me haha since I consider myself a very camera-video shy person. I was so insecure and conscious of how my voice sounds like since people around me would make fun of it or would point that it sounds like a kid so I never really enjoyed seeing or hearing myself on video. But of course it's 2023 and time to stop caring about that so I did conquer that insecurity! :D

This month marks the 1 month of taking isotretinoin for my acne and was really stoked by the immediate results it had for me. My skin became soft and started clearing up, and I'm happy to say it is my first time that an actual medicine really worked well for my acne haha. The prescription creams I had before this did good as well but not as good as this one so I am really happy for the results. I'm still taking them but just 3x a week compared to when I had to take them twice a day.

This was my first time ordering a medium-sized pants (27-29) since I gained a lot of weight since mid-2022. I always order the XS or S ones but even so, they were never right for me. They were always big for my waist so when I gained weight, I just had to remove the adjustment stitches I did so I didn't have to order bigger sized ones. Once my skinny jeans started becoming small for me, I just ordered a new one. :D

Also my first time taking macro glitters I guess. :P

In November I just had my first metal concert for my most favorite band Bring Me The Horizon in Bangkok, Thailand. I'm quite uncomfortable with huge crowds so I never went to any concerts before but Thai crowd just feels very safe for me. This was our second Thailand travel for the year and we just came back for this concert haha. It was really fun and the band was so great live.

This month was also the time I went back to therapy after maybe 6 years... thanks to the rock bands I came across this year, it motivated me to seek help for myself.

Lastly, this month has been really transformative for me. It's my first time making dedicated journals and bullet journaling and it heals my inner child since I really enjoyed doing scrapbookings and stuff when I was younger. I also had my very first photo printer which I can use to print all the photos and art and everything for my journal and I love it so much maybe I will need a new ink soon lol.

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I had new discoveries, experiences, and a lot of healing for this year which is really memorable for me. I am ready for 2024 and am excited for whatever it is to come.