Superbianca.com has been my model for this idea. In my former blog, I awarded my family and friends. Here are my People of the Year for 2011:

♥ Riz from chasingdreams.net

(Long overdue)

Ms. Cathy Guballa-Babao’s Sunday Star article — or was it her blog? — introduced me to guitarchic.net, the domain of that awesome twenty-something who helped redesign nancydrewandme.blogspot.com. I don’t know what sheer force prompted me to try Blogger again and commit to serious blogging right after I read about her; I just found myself succumbing to the lure of leaving Multiply’s noob-friendly environment and going all out there in the big, big blogging world.

There I was experimenting, unwittingly linking guitarchic up to my blog, and suddenly I was reading a reply from her on my site saying one day you’ll become the writer you want to be. Back then, the confidence I had in my writing was like a droplet of water in days of drought – sobrang kulang (extremely lacking). But those words, men, those words! They fell like rain on me.

Aside from God’s word and plans for me, and my parents’ and friends’ support and confidence in me, it was Riz’ words that I’ve held on through several phases in my life as a writer: a casual blogger, a web/SEO-centric writer, and now an editor.

Well, as I went on lurking in her blog, I started sharing it to a friend and would-be fellow pseudo-stalker. We were like, “Oh, have you read Riz’ new post yet?” First name basis — pak! She became a household name, and an inspiration when our wills were waning and our faith, flickering. We felt sad when she switched domains, because we didn’t have the SEO skills to find her at that time.

When she’s already chasingdreams.net, earlier this year she was talking about her then-current trip to New York, and so I subconsciously registered that Riz’ location was, well, New York. I also knew how she looked, so I actually freaked out when I saw her in one of our church’s hosted conferences in that month when I thought she was in New York!

Actual conversation (at the risk of sounding like total fangirls):

Me: (Friend’s name here), I think I saw Riz! Here. Diba she’s in New York?! (Isn’t she in New York?!)
Fellow lurker-friend: Asan, asan? (Where, where?)

And then Riz and I passed by each other in the venue’s restroom; she was coming out, I was going in.

And then I saw her again after the Planetshakers concert after our church’s event.

And the rest is history (I believe Ate Hazel already filled you in with the rest of the story for me?).

Sooo… thank you, Riz, for chasing God’s dreams for your life throughout the years. You’ve been making a difference in my life since that day I talked about ^. I mean, even my career path now has somehow been influenced by you. You deserve a chapter in my autobiography, hehe.

The People of the Year blog shall be continued in the next days…

Credit for the photos goes to WeHearIt.com