30-Day Writing Challenge (DAY 23) Where Was I 10 Years Ago?

 Welcome to Day 23! I also changed the topic for today because the challenge says to talk about a family member I dislike which is kind of meh. I love whoever's left of my family tree lol so we will talk about my life ten years ago!

I have no clue what I was doing 10 years ago so I have asked Facebook for help and I realized just how much I share on my social media. So shall we take a trip down memory lane?

Back to 2014

I'm 19 years old and currently in my last year in College!

4th year student at Universidad de Manila. 

Hanging out with my friends while struggling to keep our grades up! Boy was it magic. I literally bragged this on my Facebook lol

Ranting on socmed about school like....

Even then, money is already a problem lol

Hanging out by the hallways while waiting for the next class.

Goofing inside the class 

Attending school events. This was my circle of friends in college. From left there's Alvin, me, Aya whom I still meet from time to time, Bebi, Ynah, Armin and Laida. 

We frequented Tram Way Buffet and Love Desserts splurging our week's allowances. SORRY MOM! 

We would often get our lunches at SM Manila which was the neighboring mall. We'd buy 1-piece of chicken from KFC and would request an extra plate just for gravy! It was all fun and games until one of my friends, Laida (the fourth one to my left) got a job at KFC and told us how troublesome it was to clean up a plate full of gravy!  

Mang Inasal was dope!

Also in Carinderias

We would go hang out at each other's houses for projects and thesis purposes.

Would do some research outside the campus too.

Tried going out to the bar for some occasion (with my mom's permission ofc!)

I welcomed my 20s here at Cowboy Grill lol

Then I learned to skip classes just so I could play League of Legends with friends! Never improved always the "binubuhat" lol whoever my teammate was for the day knew they were doomed yet they still wanted me to play (whose fault was it now ugh) but it was a phase I'll never forget coz I never got to skip class to play online computer games with friends before. Until this we all had so much fun!

Another thing I wanna share is this day when a kind stranger gave me and my friend's burgers from Mcdo. We were all in our uniforms and took a break from going door to door to companies handing out our CVs' for our OJT application. It was lunchtime and we were at Mcdo. Some friends of mine would bring extra rice from their homes to share with the rest of the gang. It became a routine. Then all of a sudden, a lady came over to us and handed us a paper bag with burgers on it. She said it was from a man whom she pointed at from afar. He seemed to be a man in his late 50s and was a foreigner.

 We were too shocked by this kind gesture, and we thanked him from we sat. We were too embarrassed to get closer lol. Whoever that man was, I still thank you, Sir. We were just a couple of stressed & tired college students and that made our day. 

Moving on to the actual OJT, I had it at Ever Gotesco Mall in Recto. I was in the Operations - answering calls, attending tenants' queries, filing, and also in charge of mall events 

Three of us got in but I was the only one assigned to the mall while Bebi and Laida were in the main office. Honestly, my stay there was bittersweet, I got a taste of what it felt like to work in the corporate world and I hated it to my core! The people at the main office were so mean and bossy all the time. That's why even though I was assigned to a different department and was alone, I was still happy because my coworkers there were easy to work with. 

and since I was also at the mall's office, I got to meet Alden Richards, this was before AlDub became popular. He was there for an event. 

2014

I was at the peak of my fan girl life. This is like the most Swiftie year for me. 

1989 was just released and I would put the lyrics on my status EVERY CHANCE I GET. I've always known Taylor was a brilliant lyricist ever since.

And this was the last time she had her concert here., the Red Tour.

 

I was also digging One Direction, especially Harry Styles. And if you ask me if I was once a Haylor shipper, you bet your sweet ass I was!

I had a customized shirt just for this dude!

It was so out of hand...

I was also into Kpop, and this year's fave group was BTOB's SungJae

amd also DJ.. this was also the year I was given by a friend his 6ft standee lol

Lastly, my obsession with shoujo manga continued..

Another great thing that happened this year.... is none other than this blog. Who would've thought that even after 10 years, we would still be here?

and I reached a milestone that same year.

this is how it used to look like

it looks like shit lol

On Valentine's Day, my friends gave me chocolate and roses. Because even then, I was already misfortunate in love and was the only single in the group. oh, my luck!

I even said these...

An old friend of mine, Jeankei, and I would often watch football games held at Emperador Stadium in McKinley Hill. She used to have a huge crush on one of the players there. A Korean guy whose name I forgot. But I was so supportive since I was also into K-pop at that time. She was noticed a couple of times but it didn't flourish into something serious. 

I was active in my cardio too! I would often do some jogging around SM San Lazaro every morning. It became a routine. I'd wake up at 4:30 am. Oftentimes, with my mom and dad, it became our thing at some point but had to stop due to a foot injury. I already thought I was "big" back then, but now looking at this pic, I was really not !!! yet people made me feel bad about myself! 

Anyway, my main inspiration for doing exercise was Lee Hi. She was only starting her career back then and she was also considered "plus size" before her debut. She looks so cute and normal to me but she also inspired me to lose weight. "If she can do it, so can I" was the thought in my head as I reached my 4th lap.

my friends and I tried going to a gym too.

we never want back lol

Normal socmed rants agaaainnn..

and also ofc love problems

(in my the tumblr girl era)

This is how insecure I got that I found this "motivating", let me correct myself. Starving one's self will never make you healthy. I feel bad for the old me that she used to think this was okay. :( I've found peace with my weight. No matter what size I am in right now or in the future, I will accept it lovingly. 

2014 was also a good year for me and my family! My sister started working so life was better for us financially. We would go out and eat every occasion.

and if we're feeling a bit fancy, we'd go to MoA!

My sister would also take me out on dates, usually to our go-to Japanese restaurant.

Random posts again... I drew on eggs lol my whole fam was shookdt !

and on one random day, my brother and I built a fort!!! I missed youuu, Willie Boy!

and also got to have a selfie with my mommaaa! she cute right??

2014 was also the year I got chosen to meet my inspiration to blog. Without her, this blog would be nonexistent. She's none other than Kail Ocampo, the woman behind The Rainbowholic Blog. I remember that to be able to be chosen, you've had to write her about your dreams and I couldn't stop writing about my admiration for Japan so that's how I got in. 

I still follow her on all her social media! I'm glad that she's still thriving in Japan. :)

The rest are some old selfies that made me go, "damn ang ganda ko dyan!" pls excuse the ggss-ness I just wanna relive the moment. Man I was just 19!

This whole blog took me a day to finish, half of it for writing and the other half was just me reminiscing about the good times. I realized no matter how big my problems were, none of them would ever compare to the ones I have right now. Sure I have adult money and I can buy whatever I want to but I miss being young and carefree. No bills, responsibilities, or obligations. My life was much simpler! And my hair was soo healthy and thick! Had I known that wouldn't last, I would've stopped with the bleaching sooner. I was much active on social media judging by the number of facebook posts I shared. I'm not like that anymore, but without those posts, I wouldn't be able to share as much today. So thank you, self. 

10 years is such a long year, it's a decade! I don't talk to some of the people I was within the photos. Some became acquaintances. Some had passed. I wonder if we can revisit this topic 10 years from now too? Who knows.

xoxo

Grasya