I cannot stress enough how lucky I am.

I’ve lived a relatively privileged life. I was born to a middle class family in the Philippines and studied in a private Catholic school, and to be honest, I’ve been lucky to have the opportunities I’ve had over the years.

I am lucky to have gotten my first job, to have gotten that first break, considering my lack of a degree.

A year ago today I landed here, at the start of spring – wide-eyed and excited. It’ll be a grand adventure, I thought to myself. Luck brought me here, with a measure of my own skills I have to admit, but luck had a large part to play.

It’s all a chain, from one lucky break to the next; my part in it of course was to take advantage of those opportunities.

It’s spring once more, and it has been an adventure. The things I’m doing have been challenging and tough, and there are times I am suprised that I have front row seats to the internal workings of the massive machine called AWS.

And I hadn’t imagined that I’d be here, working in another country. I would have never imagined, 20 years ago in high school, what I’d be doing now. And honestly, I wouldn’t even begin to dream of where I’d be 20 years hence – and that’s fine by me.

Here’s to more luck, and more of this adventure.

Previously: Hilaw/Unripe