The Last Day of 2009.

Wow. What a year 2009 has been. There has been too much loss of talent, a lot of misery in this year, as compared to what my 2008 has been. But nevertheless, I don't want to dwell on the negative parts, I'll just go through to the positive ones on this wrap-up post.

TRAVEL:
The year 2009 was the year I loved to travel. My eyes were literally opened in 2008 and in 2009, I realized that there are much more opportunities out there. The world is literally HUGE and I want to discovery every nook and cranny of it whenever I can.

I travelled to:
- Hong Kong
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Davao City, Philippines.
- trekked up Mt Pinatubo, Philippines
- and as usual, went up to Tagaytay, Philippines twice this year as its only around 2 hours away from my place.

More about my 2010 plans in the first post of 2010.

2009 was also the year I discovered that time is SHORT. Your seconds could not be given back to you if you've spent it, so make every moment count. There's no time to lose!!


BOOKS/READING:
So, I went back to reading. I was a prodigal daughter and would only read 1-2 books between 2002-2008. I was that lazy, and giving myself a whole lot of crappy excuses on why I would not read.
But with my new prospect in life that it's short and even time spent on traffic should be utilized, I went back to reading. And I realized... I loved it! I love being transported back into a new world, where my imagination would be working on overtime, and... learning new words and places as well.

To date, my list of places to go to has broadened because of reading.... my TBR pile has been growing, and I've gotten in touch with lots of book bloggers out there. I've learned more about new authors, and not just the mainstream ones. I've learned how to voice out my thoughts in the world more effectively through this blog, and well, I think I'm making my mark as well. Bit by bit.

I've finished 24 books this year. That's an average of 2 per month. Not bad compared to my previous stat of 1-2 per year. I am working on my reading. I'm constantly finding more time to read, to peruse the bookstores, to put into context what I'm reading and put lessons learned in my brain, things that I could use as I go about living my life. It's fun. It's lovely. It's brilliant.

Books finished this year [partial list]:
http://rubylovesadventure.blogspot.com/2009/01/2009-book-quantity-challenge.html

I've also taken reading to a different level. And what do I mean a different level?

Well, I joined the Fully Booked Book Geek - Dan Brown edition. To which I placed second [it was a tie for second!] but I didn't get to win the bacon. I totally spazzed [sp?] out on the last two challenge questions even though I bloody knew them! Anyway, kudos to the winner but I got a free book for joining the challenge in return.

I've also joined Dewey's 24-hour Readathon. It was my first time to join such an event, and it was fun reading and interacting with fellow readathoners and bloggers! I didn't watch any telly shows for a full day and instead concentrated on books! How cool was that?

I joined a book club. It's called Flips Flipping Pages and I've joined in two sessions. Quite nice fun!

I went to an author signing. It's the first time I've ever met an author up-close and got my booked signed. It was such a high, sort of meeting a celebrity but a much more down-to-earth celebrity!

CONCERTS:
2009 was also the year where I learned that some of the best things in life are free. I got to go to different events and concerts for free. But then, I wouldn't normally just ask for free stuff. They just fall whenever they are and I wouldn't bother anyone to get free stuff. They're a perk, not a necessity. I'm happy that my friends think of me whenever they get extra concert tickets... and I'm lucky enough that I have friends that are willing to share with me their experiences as we watch these bands/artists.

Concerts I've been to:
- Fall Out Boy [Feb 2009]
- Secondhand Serenade [March 2009]
- Red Jumpsuit Apparatus [March 2009]
- The Saturdays [August 2009]
- Akon [forgot when]
- Raygun [November 2009]
- Katy Perry [November 2009]
- Lenka [December 2009]

TELLY/MOVIES:
I've watched a whole lot more telly shows and movies this year. I watched the following:
- True Blood Season 2
- The Tudors Season 3 [ULTIMATE FAVE -- this explained my love for historical fiction]
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl [LOVED this as well... bought the books too]
- Merlin [LOOOOOVE this too]
- Gossip Girl Season 2
- Bones Season 1-4
- Criminal Minds season 3-4
- The Vampire Diaries
- The Beautiful Life [or two episodes of it]
- Lipstick Jungle

Is it just me or do the British telly shows do so much better on my taste rather than the American ones?

I loved Hugh Dancy as well in Confessions of a Shopaholic. I will always be a fan. And watched a whole load of movies as well, that I would not enumerate in this post.

Overall, 2009 was good, but not great. I am hoping 2010 will be better so watch out for my opening post/the goal list on January 1st.

Have a nice New Year's ahead! Here's to all of us looking forward to a bigger, better year/decade!