For the third year in a row, my birthday fell on a rainy day. It’s the middle of the monsoon season and there are, as I write this, three tropical storms barreling across the Pacific towards Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines one after another.

It didn’t stop us from going all the way out to Metro Manila to celebrate. First stop was the Gundam Base Pop Up Store in Shangri-La Plaza. We had higher expectations but we weren’t disappointed neither. It was the closest we could get to visiting Japan to experience the Gundam Base and the kids were delighted by the many Gunpla on display.

Next stop was at the IMAX theater to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. COVID kept me away from the movie house and I promised that when I do return, it would be to see a Christopher Nolan film. So after almost seven years, I did and while opinions are split, I thoroughly enjoyed Nolan’s take on the classic epic. It’s not the definitive nor the best one, but it’s something that anyone could see and still walk away with the feeling that they’d been on an adventure. I’ll leave the rest to the critics and scholars to argue about.

Overall, it was a great day. Looking back, I’m more than satisfied that we are in a much better place now. There are much more options or paths available for us to achieve our goals. Surely there storms and bad weather will never go away, but we are now more than capable to see things through and come out in a much better shape.

So cheers to a year and four decades!