Saying
Good Bye to 2013!
Since
today is New Year’s Day, instead of writing about Angels Part II, I am going to
write on how I spent my last hours of 2013 and give a brief review of the
highlights of 2013 that affected me.
Yesterday, I still had to go to work and attend a few
meetings related to some issues that I think were a bit heavy for New Year's Eve. The upside to the brain-wrenching meetings was my boss, who
called for the meeting felt obligated to approve my request to leave early. I
had scheduled a New Year’s Eve fun time with my church family, who invited me to
join them for a hike up Mount Hollywood.
I had gone with them to many Saturday afternoon hikes before, but this
time the objective was to watch the last sunset of 2013. A chance to make a memory of the last
day of 2013 on top of the Hill where you can see panoramic view of Hollywood,
Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles.
There were five adults, three teenagers, an 18 months baby, and a little
doggy that was friendly with human, but a little edgy toward fellow
doggies. The baby’s Mom said she
was adopted from animal shelter and he must have had some traumatic experience with
other dogs before, so that probably made her react to fellow dogs that way.
We started walking at about three o’clock;
the hike was over two and a half miles up the hill including walking from
Griffith Park side street where we parked. We got there about half past four, so we had about 20 minutes
on top of the mountain before the sunset.
Since I am a person who likes to exercise regularly, the hike was a
breeze. In fact last month I came
to the Griffith Park for a photo shoot session, which I intended for a
promotion of healthful living on my blog to celebrate a key milestone for this
year. My motto and message to any
one regardless of age or weigh is “Never Give Up!” as shown on my active wear
from Lorna Jane of Australia.
The sunset view on the mountain was
spectacular on this beautiful last day of 2013. At the top of the Mount, I also saw and greeted Councilman Tom
Labonge of LA Council District 4, whose motto was: “Let's continue to enjoy and love the great City of Los
Angeles”. Look like he actually
enjoyed the hike up the hill as well, as I saw him taking “selfie” picture with
the view of the surrounding city as the backdrop of his picture.
Highlights of My 2013
There were a couple of heart breaking and disappointing
experiences that lingered on from 2012, but I was able to get over them timely,
otherwise, overall 2013 was a very good year.
These are the highlights that affected me and my goals for the year:
1.
Health-Another year with good health except for a couple of blurbs, when
I ate something that I might be allergic to, causing me to have severe stomach
cramps. I didn’t get to use my
accrued sick leave allotment for the year 2013, which means I will be paid
excess sick leave beyond 800 hours that I have accumulated over the years. This
is a bonus for being healthy on top of the good feelings and other benefits
from having good health like youthfulness, productivity, good brain
functioning, and lengthening of your life span for a quality living.
2. Learning about Health Insurance-This year, as the
implementation of Affordable Health Act is affecting individuals and families
with low and moderate income, I had to go through the maze of Medicare on top
of changing health insurance carrier.
Since I had rarely been sick, I had no concept about the benefits of
health insurance until the food allergy incidence. So actually this is a
blessing in disguise.
3. Investment: In November, Dow average crossed
16,000 for the first time. Even though it is relative, and you have to look
long term to see where you'll end, I have enjoyed the ride up in my investment
portfolio in the 401K. The Dow
ended at 16,576 on the last day of 2013, and investor sentiment seems to be on
the upside. The housing market is more
active again and there is gain in the value of home like mine that had been
upside down since I purchased right at the end of the housing bubble.
4. Debt deduction and restructuring: 2013:
I was able to eliminate non-mortgage debts, and reduce drawing on savings that
I needed to do back in 2012 when there was mandatory furlough at work. Another major breakthrough was after
many attempts over the past years, I was able to re-finance at a low interest
rate and better terms. After the
housing bust, my property value, like many all over the country, had become
upside down during America’s longest recession since the Big Depression in
1920’s. I was able to take
advantage of Obama’s HARP Mortgage Relief program just in time before the
threat of Federal shut down and debt ceiling issues. This is major break-through and bright spot for my
2013.
5. Blogging: I started blogging at
Thanksgiving for the first time.
My objective is to share stories that may benefits people who seek to
understand the life journey of faith of a person with multi-cultural background
and careers. In the process of
blogging, I hope to give hope to people who want self-development, and
leadership training. I also want
to build up an audience that will be interested in my use of the right brain in
conjunction with my regular use of the logical left side of the brain. The reception of my blog has been
positive and I am very excited to continue doing it in 2014!
Hello 2014!!
For 2014, I will continue with exercise, but will make sure I go to bed early. I will also continue with my goal to develop the right side of my brain and be creative, I have a reminder that I got from the internet~"20 Ways to Be Creative". Unforetunately, the source of this reminder is not know.
I hope that
you will, overcome whatever obstacles you might have, have peace, love, joy,
health, and prosperity in the year 2014 and beyond. Always remember to “Never Give Up” even though it seems
impossible!!!
Happy New Year every one!!
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