My New Year's Resolutions

When we were young, my cousins (mom's side) and I used to make resolutions for the new year. We would promise ourselves that we would become "better people". Of course, we had to be quite specific. For example, "I will not be pikon anymore." is a perfectly acceptable, admirable, and challenging resolution. And, one could normally keep that for a couple hours, if not, only for a few minutes into the new year.. especially if one had cousins like mine (you know who you are!)! The major source of tension among the cousins was always squeeling about our crushes or losing in card games (pekwa, monkey-monkey). That was a big deal back then and, more than enough reason, for us to get into a bout of pikunan. =) Note. Pikunan means "taking the piss" and to get "pikon" means to lose one's cool.

I stopped making resolutions for many years! 2008 is different though. I feel like making myself some promises... which I hope I could keep.

1. (Always) Be grateful.
2. (Always) Be appreciative.
3. (Always) Smile. Laugh easily. My Grade 4 adviser Ms Ignacio used to call me the one with the "glowing face" for always smiling. Would you rather have smile or frown lines?
4. (Always) Forgive easily.

That's it. Most will agree that awareness is the first step to achieving a goal. Setting new year's resolutions reminds us that we have to keep on trying!

I wish my cousins Junjun, Cybel, Kareena, Geri, James, and Lan and my sisters Ria and Tessa (this is the "first generation" of cousins of "pikunan" fame) a very Happy New Year!