My decade in review (2011–2020)
Ten years ago, I posted about the highlights of my life in 2000–2009. I'm doing it again just for kicks... actually, because it's always nice to reflect and realise how much has happened since. Plus, I was inspired after watching the 20th-anniversary video of Google:
Here we go...
2011. For reasons long forgotten, I ended up in the USA around Thanksgiving rather than Christmas. I visited Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with family. I attended one of the best training courses at work: "Enhancing Global Rice Leadership", whose lessons I'm still applying to this day. One of the things I had to learn was pitching ideas. Specifically, I was tasked with convincing visitors to donate. Jollibee CEO Tony Tan Caktiong's reaction to my pitch blew me away... it's still a highlight for me, ten years on.
2012. Lola Estay passed away this year. My research direction took a turn towards sensory evaluation; hence, IRRI's management decided to send me to an exposure trip to see best practices in the industry, in government, and in academia. I think that Management saw an opportunity in expanding the institute's capacity in sensory evaluation after getting good reviews after visits of high-profile people; a notable visitor was Jeffrey Sachs because a 15-min tour became an hour-long one (the directors and Dr Sachs forgot the time limit... and immensely enjoyed discussions over cups of rice).
2013. I joined a competition called Rice Survivor, through which I learned, first-hand, what the challenges of farming are. This was the year when the strongest typhoon ever recorded in history, Haiyan, made landfall in highly populated regions (Tacloban was pummelled). Aside from this, I also dabbled in culinary arts because I got tired of eating fast food and I started making inroads into relating my research work with the restaurant industry.
2014. I proved how much of a klutz I was when I injured my foot while walking; that, despite taking on a new sport, wakeboarding. Despite the week-old injury, I headed to Thailand (my first trip there) for the International Rice Congress sans crutches and wearing high-heeled shoes. As my postdoc fellowship wound to a close, I started teaching at the Ateneo de Manila University, where I had the privilege to impart the relevance of biotechnology to society. It's the first time I drove the ~600 km route from Laguna to Ilocos Norte without a substitute driver. But the travel bug also brought me to Singapore and to Hong Kong.
2015. I had a bit of exposure with media this year, with appearances in Curiosity Got the Chef and a press briefing with Senator Kiko Pangilinan. It's also the first time I was in continental Europe, with a trip to Switzerland for the Nestle Conference. I fractured my wrist, thanks to snowboarding in South Korea. But the highlight of my year has to be finally seeing a dream come true: I earned the title "Scientist" ten years after I promised my mom that I'd become one.
2016. The year started with an epic trip across the Pacific Ocean. I shouldn't have been surprised that this year had a lot of travelling in store for me. I visited Japan twice in one year! The first opportunity was in spring when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was as good a time as any to visit Hogwarts. The second time was as a delegate to Science Agora, a conference where leading scientists and members of society could discuss openly how science and technology can benefit people. It's the first time I met an astronaut and realised that being in Japan's science community could be compared to stepping into a science fiction novel. I also visited India for the first time, where I immensely enjoyed bird-watching, food, and history in Hyderabad. I also witnessed, firsthand, the short-term effects of India's demonetisation that year. In terms of politics, it's a year of surprise wins for Rodrigo Duterte, Donald Trump, and Brexit.
2017. It's a whirlwind year of travel for me: USA, Denmark, India, Thailand, Togo, Benin. It the first time I stepped foot into Africa and I felt that the French I learned in class was still not enough when I was surrounded by Francophones. When I was studying in Sydney, I particularly enjoyed eating scoops of Royal Copenhagen ice cream. So when I arrived in Copenhagen, I made sure that I tried the ice cream that was made in Copenhagen. Denmark was also where I experienced being with SDG Talents in UNLEASH. That was 10 days of innovations generation that taught me the importance of profitability in creating sustainable efforts towards accomplishing the SDGs. India was one big gastronomic adventure that saw me whetting my palate with the best food from New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, and Kolkata. Of course, I just had to visit Taj Mahal, India's treasured landmark. But it's not just international travel... I also conquered Marcos Highway en route to Baguio and was almost successful in driving from Calamba to Baguio and back again within a day.
2018. I call this my year of overhauls. It's the year I migrated to the USA, after years of visiting the country every year either to attend conferences or to go on vacation. I moved out of my comfort zone in food science and I have taken the opportunity to grow in data science (I enrolled in a six-month boot camp on data analytics and visualisation at UC Berkeley). I've experienced what it's like to be in the gig economy and to be in an industry that's all about the experience economy (Museum of Ice Cream). Lola Bats, Ninong Romy, and Ate Lita passed away this year. But we also welcomed the eldest of the next generation of my family, Gabriel. I thought that 2018 was a year of big changes; but as the year approached its final days, I had the biggest change yet: Val and I got married in a private ceremony in Benin. A pivotal year indeed.
2019. Just when I thought I won't be seeing airports because I had major life upheavals last year, I ended up having bite-sized trips to Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I started doing a consulting gig, which I hope will grow into a legit entrepreneurial endeavour. All that during the year's first three quarters. If I thought that the year was moving at a snail's pace, Val and I got another blessing: we're having a baby!
2020. What a turbulent year this was! It opened with widespread fires, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, and storms. Just when I thought that the most tragic thing to happen to a celebrity this year was Kobe Bryant's death, a coronavirus pandemic just proved me wrong. COVID-19 is testing government public health and safety infrastructures globally, as well as the capacity of the World Health Organisation (which has always been my dream company to work at, along with the CDC) in responding to this crisis... while also dealing with Lassa and Ebola fever epidemics in Africa. The San Francisco Bay Area issued a shelter-in-place directive in March, in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Although it appeared that California did a good job in containing the epidemic in the early months, it has become the state with the most number of cases by July or August. By December, Los Angeles County hospitals were filled to the brim with patients needing intensive care; this, just before the vaccines become available in the USA. But here's the silver lining: I gave birth to a healthy baby boy during the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Bay Area!
2011. For reasons long forgotten, I ended up in the USA around Thanksgiving rather than Christmas. I visited Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with family. I attended one of the best training courses at work: "Enhancing Global Rice Leadership", whose lessons I'm still applying to this day. One of the things I had to learn was pitching ideas. Specifically, I was tasked with convincing visitors to donate. Jollibee CEO Tony Tan Caktiong's reaction to my pitch blew me away... it's still a highlight for me, ten years on.
2012. Lola Estay passed away this year. My research direction took a turn towards sensory evaluation; hence, IRRI's management decided to send me to an exposure trip to see best practices in the industry, in government, and in academia. I think that Management saw an opportunity in expanding the institute's capacity in sensory evaluation after getting good reviews after visits of high-profile people; a notable visitor was Jeffrey Sachs because a 15-min tour became an hour-long one (the directors and Dr Sachs forgot the time limit... and immensely enjoyed discussions over cups of rice).
2013. I joined a competition called Rice Survivor, through which I learned, first-hand, what the challenges of farming are. This was the year when the strongest typhoon ever recorded in history, Haiyan, made landfall in highly populated regions (Tacloban was pummelled). Aside from this, I also dabbled in culinary arts because I got tired of eating fast food and I started making inroads into relating my research work with the restaurant industry.
2014. I proved how much of a klutz I was when I injured my foot while walking; that, despite taking on a new sport, wakeboarding. Despite the week-old injury, I headed to Thailand (my first trip there) for the International Rice Congress sans crutches and wearing high-heeled shoes. As my postdoc fellowship wound to a close, I started teaching at the Ateneo de Manila University, where I had the privilege to impart the relevance of biotechnology to society. It's the first time I drove the ~600 km route from Laguna to Ilocos Norte without a substitute driver. But the travel bug also brought me to Singapore and to Hong Kong.
2015. I had a bit of exposure with media this year, with appearances in Curiosity Got the Chef and a press briefing with Senator Kiko Pangilinan. It's also the first time I was in continental Europe, with a trip to Switzerland for the Nestle Conference. I fractured my wrist, thanks to snowboarding in South Korea. But the highlight of my year has to be finally seeing a dream come true: I earned the title "Scientist" ten years after I promised my mom that I'd become one.
2016. The year started with an epic trip across the Pacific Ocean. I shouldn't have been surprised that this year had a lot of travelling in store for me. I visited Japan twice in one year! The first opportunity was in spring when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was as good a time as any to visit Hogwarts. The second time was as a delegate to Science Agora, a conference where leading scientists and members of society could discuss openly how science and technology can benefit people. It's the first time I met an astronaut and realised that being in Japan's science community could be compared to stepping into a science fiction novel. I also visited India for the first time, where I immensely enjoyed bird-watching, food, and history in Hyderabad. I also witnessed, firsthand, the short-term effects of India's demonetisation that year. In terms of politics, it's a year of surprise wins for Rodrigo Duterte, Donald Trump, and Brexit.
2017. It's a whirlwind year of travel for me: USA, Denmark, India, Thailand, Togo, Benin. It the first time I stepped foot into Africa and I felt that the French I learned in class was still not enough when I was surrounded by Francophones. When I was studying in Sydney, I particularly enjoyed eating scoops of Royal Copenhagen ice cream. So when I arrived in Copenhagen, I made sure that I tried the ice cream that was made in Copenhagen. Denmark was also where I experienced being with SDG Talents in UNLEASH. That was 10 days of innovations generation that taught me the importance of profitability in creating sustainable efforts towards accomplishing the SDGs. India was one big gastronomic adventure that saw me whetting my palate with the best food from New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, and Kolkata. Of course, I just had to visit Taj Mahal, India's treasured landmark. But it's not just international travel... I also conquered Marcos Highway en route to Baguio and was almost successful in driving from Calamba to Baguio and back again within a day.
2018. I call this my year of overhauls. It's the year I migrated to the USA, after years of visiting the country every year either to attend conferences or to go on vacation. I moved out of my comfort zone in food science and I have taken the opportunity to grow in data science (I enrolled in a six-month boot camp on data analytics and visualisation at UC Berkeley). I've experienced what it's like to be in the gig economy and to be in an industry that's all about the experience economy (Museum of Ice Cream). Lola Bats, Ninong Romy, and Ate Lita passed away this year. But we also welcomed the eldest of the next generation of my family, Gabriel. I thought that 2018 was a year of big changes; but as the year approached its final days, I had the biggest change yet: Val and I got married in a private ceremony in Benin. A pivotal year indeed.
2019. Just when I thought I won't be seeing airports because I had major life upheavals last year, I ended up having bite-sized trips to Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I started doing a consulting gig, which I hope will grow into a legit entrepreneurial endeavour. All that during the year's first three quarters. If I thought that the year was moving at a snail's pace, Val and I got another blessing: we're having a baby!
2020. What a turbulent year this was! It opened with widespread fires, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, and storms. Just when I thought that the most tragic thing to happen to a celebrity this year was Kobe Bryant's death, a coronavirus pandemic just proved me wrong. COVID-19 is testing government public health and safety infrastructures globally, as well as the capacity of the World Health Organisation (which has always been my dream company to work at, along with the CDC) in responding to this crisis... while also dealing with Lassa and Ebola fever epidemics in Africa. The San Francisco Bay Area issued a shelter-in-place directive in March, in an effort to contain the spread of the disease. Although it appeared that California did a good job in containing the epidemic in the early months, it has become the state with the most number of cases by July or August. By December, Los Angeles County hospitals were filled to the brim with patients needing intensive care; this, just before the vaccines become available in the USA. But here's the silver lining: I gave birth to a healthy baby boy during the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Bay Area!
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