2018 Year-End Review

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What did you do that you’d never done before/what happened to you for the first time this year?

  • Read a book a week for 8 weeks
  • Go to Coachella!!!
  • Worked for two startups simultaneously
  • Get FCKED by immigration (oh JK that’s happened already, just in different ways)
  • Work in a BIG company (startup gal lyf!)
  • Climb (& get lost in) Point Reyes
  • Go on 5 dates in one weekend (never again…)Cut my own hair (never again…)
  • Go Kart racing (with the LI engineering team!)
  • Went to Masungi

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  • Auditioned for a salsa class (that I was extremely underqualified to try out for)
  • Danced bachata, gone to a bachata/salsa social
  • Fly back home for just a weekend
  • Ride a Ford Go Bike (or ride any bike in the city)
  • Gone to 4 Holiday parties in the US!
  • Go to to Bay to Breakers
  • Try Barry’s Bootcamp (died but loved it)
  • Rented out my first apartment and did that whole apartment hunt shebang
  • Dance on a float during pride
  • Travelled with the Founding Four <3 Love my cousins so much.YOLO tripped (immediately booked a trip to NY when I found out I got a job)
  • Watched two broadways in a week (Waitress & Book of Mormon. So worth it!)
  • Hosted for Thanksgiving. We made a pretty kickass turkey
  • Do 30+ mock interviews (urgh)
  • Try a heels dance class
  • Go to a very interesting party in which I was the only straight person and the only woman (that night with Alex, Phil & Jeffrey). Good experience. Taught me a good deal.
  • Get into not 1 but 2 conferences FO FREE (thanks, AWIP & WIP!)
  • See a man masturbating on the street… #folsomstreetfair
  • Watch a concert at Berkeley Greek Theater (Phoenix)
  • Rollerbladed in a church 🙂
  • Made a card game!!! Better versions of it coming out in 2019 (stay tuned)
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  • Hmm.. had 3 close friends pass 🙁 Definitely not a great part of the year.
  • …much more I may be missing out on but it’s ok!

What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018?

  • A stable & committal dance troupe to dance with
  • More systemized exercise routine baked into my day-to-day. In general, more systemized week-to-week routine! So more routine 🙂
  • Follow through & consistency with the ideas that I start. Ideally get this fun project out in the wild + work on a side project that I can somewhat earn an income or credibility from + work on a side project that fulfills my personal mission.

What date(s) will remain etched upon your memory?

  • Nov 22! Heh

What were your biggest achievements of the year?

  • Getting my dream PM job at LinkedIn, by far.
  • Having a company make a video (involving their CEO) to tell me how much they wanted me to be a part of their family!
  • Writing a blog post about my job hunt difficulties and having 10+ women in product reach out to me about how inspired they were!

What did you feel passionately about?

  • Product product product, again. I’ll say the exact thing I said last year: I think I really found where my career heart lies (at least for the next couple years).

What was the best thing you bought?

  • My green Holiday pantsuit. 50% off from Express, worn 7 times this Holiday season for different crowds & occasions! Got so many compliments heh <3
  • Pikachu costume! $10 off Amazon, worn 3 times, also so many compliments, plus a pun to remember.
  • My black boots 😀

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Where did most of your money go?

  • RENT. Freakin’ rent in the Bay. But also Lyfts/Ubers.

What did you get really really really excited about?

  • Finally finally finally getting a job at LinkedIn
  • GOING HOME AFTER FINALLY RECEIVING MY VISA CARD

What songs will always remind you of 2018?

  • If I really had to choose: Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones. For a good amount of time, was the one song stuck in my head, and I honestly don’t know why (badumpts)

Compared to this time last year are you happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?

  • HAPPIER – Funny, if you asked me about 3 months ago, I’d say sadder. But since then, I got an amazing job to propel my career, my visa card came in meaning less anxiety in deportation & started an awesome relationship with the best guy ever. Now, I’m on a plane, heading back to my favorite place in the world. Life is good and I can’t complain.
  • THINNER – Indeed. Definitely still not at the ideal place (lots of self-esteem body thoughts embedded in that sentence haha). But glad to say that I’ve got a good chunk of muscle in me & checked off my goal weight for the year.
  • RICHER – Again, if asked 3 months ago, completely different answer. But, yes, cashflow-wise, I’m at a pretty good state. Probably the best state in my life ever (ideally for now!)

What do you wish you’d done more of?

  • Grown in a consistent hobby. In 2019, I definitely want to stick to one hobby for weeks on time, track my growth in that realm and then check in every quarter if it’s something I want to continue for the next.
  • Educated myself more during my free time – through books, podcasts, articles. There was a lot of idle time spent just doing nothing (as an onset of anxiety and stress from the job hunt so I’ll excuse myself. But 2019, no excuses).
  • Travel! More this 2019 though, I’m sure, especially because now I’m not trapped in the freakin’ US.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

  • SPEND. A little too much on certain things. Getting a well-paying job switched my mindset around money, but I’d really like to keep my minimalist habits & frugal ways.
  • FEEL IMPOSTOR SYNDROME. I need to stop thinking I don’t deserve to be in the place I’m at and start owning it! Dorm Room Fund girls will very helpful and instrumental in helping me realize this need to own it and I hope to continue to live by that.

Did you fall in love in 2018?

  • 😮

Do you hate anyone new?

  • Nope, same old people.

What were the best books/movies you read/watched?

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  • Books: Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime (hands down; best of 2018) & Sapiens. All my list of books are on here!
  • Movies: Black Panther. I, Tonya. Bohemian Rhapsody. A Quiet Place. Incredibles 2. Crazy Rich Asians.

What did you want and get?

  • DREAM PM JOB AT LINKEDIN. I am so grateful and happy to have landed a role in such a product-focused & amazing company.
  • DORM ROOM FUND FEMALE FOUNDER TRACK. What a great, inspiring set of young women bound to do amazing things in the future.

What did you not want and get?

  • Three friends passed at the start of the year because of suicide, was interrogated for 2 hours because of some allegations against some people in my company, anxiety around my visa, family & friend problems that aren’t directed at me but affect me emotionally. While the big job thing happened, 2018 was honestly a really shitty year and I’m glad to be done with it.

What did you do on your birthday?

  • Back2back2back meetings, ate Trader Joe’s on my rooftop, got a free drink at Local Edition, chilled w/ my man at his place.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

  • NOT having to go through the visa and OPT stress.
    • But actually taking that back because if it weren’t for all that pain, nabbing my job at LI wouldn’t have been as satisfying or fulfilling.
  • Not having to witness my friends pass (& do so from afar and all alone) would have been great.

What/who kept you sane?

  • Dad, Haens, Nick, Paul, Third, Jacky L., PH in SF barkada, Mikel, Cel, Joanne, Laura, the hope/prospect of receiving a job and having a story worth telling

Who do you miss?

  • My dad, my sister & my brother! My mom too, of course, but I saw her more recently so less so. My older half sisters as well!
  • ALYSSA – that girl’s been so busy this year we haven’t actually caught up in months.
  • 231A Pine

Who were the best new people you met?

  • Nick :), Third, Monica (my manager!), Jacky L. (technically haven’t met but online counts)

What new thing/lesson did you learn?

  • Life’s short. Live it.
  • Expectation is the root of all evil. Going Buddhist because of Sapiens! But really, expectations, this abstruse, relative standard we subscribe our lives to, keeps us wanting more more more & it gets so tiring!! Got to live without expectations eating my brains. I need a little more Buddhism in my life.
  • Take all forms of media with a grain of salt. Lesson from being inside a startup as this startup was gaining a lot of (bad) publicity. So much of what we see is screened by “PR” or an interpretation of someone’s opinion & not the true case of what’s really happening.

What/who do you feel most grateful for?

  • Who? Family family family & a close set of friends I also consider family.
  • What? A strong end to a shitty year. Cannot complain.

What title would you give this year?

  • The Phoenix Year (c) JR Aldiosa
    • T’was honestly a SHITTY year I am not going to lie. Had 3 friends pass due to suicide & had to go through that alone. Got affected by ongoing sexual harrassment investigations within my company. Got fcked by immigration. Going through some morally confusing situations. Have some family disputes & drama that makes me really sad. But at the end, things tied up with a new job, relationship, housing, etc. The phoenix rising from the ashes. Hoping loose ends continue to get knotted in 2019!