Get to know the area and see for yourself why the interest is so hot. Do your research so you can make the best investment. Good luck! ✨

• Getting sick, and not knowing if it was the virus or just the seasonal flu. 😷 Yes, I did get sick this month, but just for a few days. First I felt tired, then I had a runny nose, and a cough. Most of the household were also not feeling well. Good thing we had a stock of medicines. After a few days, I felt better. Sometimes I still have an itchy throat, that's why we stocked up on ginger and turmeric brew, honey, and Strepsils.

• Being called a "Buddhist" by my brother. He mentioned it in passing, and somehow it struck me in an amusing way. Well, I have a large Himalayan salt lamp in my room, and I always wear stone bracelets because for me they bring good luck and invite positive energy. I think what really solidified this impression was when I lit some sandalwood and walked around the house during the new year. The whole family was complete at that time and it was the first time for them to see me do it. I have been doing that ritual since NY 2020 and I do believe in this cleansing practice. Wait 'til they hear that I do card readings (via Clow Cards!) and that I believe in angels and reincarnation. They'll really see me as this weirdo in the family. 😅

• Experiencing failures. I can't elaborate further, but this experience made me feel discouraged. But yet again, I allowed myself to reevaluate and I transformed this energy into a positive one, by feeling motivated to become a better person. And that's what I did! I believe I have learned a lot from that experience, and I will continue this learning process until I improve and become better. ✨💪

• Receiving the biggest prize in an event. I felt so happy and blessed, during that time, and I guess the Universe just returned back that same energy. Thank you. 🙏

• Being seen by one of my favorite artists. This was something unexpected, and most would think this is something shallow... but this really made me happy. THE Jacob Collier viewed my IG story!!! 😍😍😍
  
  
  
  
  It was a post wherein I also tagged TwoSet Violin, requesting them to do a collab. Maybe he (or his PR team) just accidentally pressed something, but I'm still happy his account appeared in my viewers list. This really made up my day. 😁

• Having a not-sober romance movie night. 🍷It was a one-of-a-kind experience that I needed to mention that in this month's log. It was a Friday night, and I just wanted to celebrate the weekend. I still had some of the red wine that I bought for New Year's (I'm the only one drinking it anyway LOL) so I poured all the remaining contents in my favorite cup, and started watching "Notting Hill." And wow, the feels hit differently because I was not sober. I got so hooked with this warm fuzzy feeling that I watched "Pride and Prejudice" next. And again, I was intensely moved by the film. Maybe it was because of the wine, but I really enjoyed watching those two movies back-to-back. Now I have started to read the Jane Austen novel so as to have more of my Mr. Darcy moments. 😘

• My parents received their boosters. 🙏✨
• We had our kick-off meeting with this event I'm leading. It was so nice to virtually meet and talk with people online. I'm very excited with the culmination of this event next month!
• I went through an intense Toastmasters pocket meeting, as practice for the Table Topics contest. I won the club level last month and so the club helped me, and the other contestants in other categories, to prepare for the contest. It was such a fierce session (even more stressful than the contest itself looking back LOL) because I was thrown three questions, and they all gave me constructive criticisms. Well all of that paid off (including my friend Mai's training session) because guess what... 
• I won first place again in the Table Topics contest, Area level! Woohoo! Initially I had mixed emotions because I was already happy with my journey and learnings thus far. I was the first contestant that went in, and after my speech, I knew in myself that I did my best and I felt satisfied with my performance. I was able to hear the other contestants'' speeches, and I learned a lot from listening to them. After our category finished for that session, I felt tired but satisfied all the same. So during the announcement of the winners, when I heard that I placed first, I felt thankful, but at the same time dreadful, because I would be undergoing another round of stress, on a new level because now we are going up the District level this time! However, I very well know that this is a great learning opportunity, and I am just all for going out of my comfort zone and improving and growing, so let's do this! Go for the gold! 🎖️
• I was able to participate in this month's Piano Jam over at the piano subreddit! It's so nice to be back playing and creating music. After completing my submission, I went straight to learning another piece called Through the Kaleidoscope by Steven Cravis. I'm aiming to finish that next month! 🎹

• BDJ Planner. I bought the "Everything is Possible" planner last year and of course I have started filling the pages when the year changed. And wow, I didn't know I needed one. The planner is working very well for me, especially since I'm really into daily to-do lists. Before, using my blank journal, I would manually write the month and day pages regularly to be able to plot my tasks. This time, I got to save a lot of effort because the days are all already laid out in the planner! All I had to do was write my tasks for the day! I can now even plot tasks as far as March unlike before because I needed to plot the pages from scratch. I'm so happy I'm experiencing the efficiency of having a planner! I'm afraid this has become an indispensable part of my life. 🥰
  
  On top of that, the writing exercises in this specific BDJ planner helped me evaluate the previous year and also guided me in plotting my goals for the year. The process complemented well with the goal-setting activity that I was already doing through this blog.

• I can accomplish great things if I really focus on it. Everything is possible!
• Enjoy the process. 🙂
• “It’s never what you are, but what you do.”
• To have a more effective goal setting, it's more effective to aim for a tangible output, and the skills that you want to learn will just be part of creating that output. (I'll be able to fully integrate this concept with my goals next quarter).
• Breathe before speaking (applicable in more situations than I thought). 😉