2018 Recap. In Pictures.

We're already a month into 2019.  But let me still present my (very late) recap of 2018.

Mayon

Let's start with the biggest, closest happening in my POV at the beginning of the year: Mayon Volcano regularly erupting for weeks.

At one time, it supposedly produced the silhouettes... 

...of Magayon and Pangaronon, the tragic lovers at the center of "The Legend of Mayon Volcano."

Meanwhile, there were scattered activities in the Ring of Fire -- obviously related to Mayon's state.

This would turn out to be a hit of deadlier natural disasters to come in this area (more on this later).

Also, I made a meme during this time that somewhat went moderately viral (also, a local fan page also stole it from me and became more popular. Lol).

Speaking of which...

Memes & Fads

These are the things that became well-known in the Internet in 2018 for being remarkable, fun, hilarious, interesting, terrible, stupid, clever, or whatever other reason.

Tide pod challenge.

He got the million likes, and got to name his son Goku.

Condom snorting challenge. Ugh.

Steven Crowder's "Change My Mind" segment becomes a meme.

FBI man.

"Karma's a bitch."

American Chopper meme.

"You're road."

"Mekeni mekeni dugdug doremi." 

Yanny vs. Laurel

"Advance ako mag-isip."

Kiki challenge.

"Pano mo nasabi?"

Cesar Montano's birthday greeting with naked woman in the background.

Halik memes.

Surprised Pikachu memes.

PikaPool.

Fortnite.

These two regularly committing faux pas, but were ultimately axed. 

Joaquin Montes a.k.a. "Bugbog o dignidad" Bully

The domination of this Chinese app.

"Mga bobo!"

Finally got to taste this again after two decades!

Science, Technology, & New Discoveries

A pair of Australian swimmers became the first people to be rescued in the ocean by a drone.

Chinese scientists cloned first monkeys.

Super blue blood moon.

Elon Musk sent a car into space.

Oldest letter in a bottle found.

The death of the last male white rhino.

Tripura chief minster claimed that ancient India invented the Internet.

The world's first penis and scrotum transplant.

Supermassive black hole seen eating a star for the first ime.

First ever colored x-ray of a human.

The demise of the Kepler Space Telescope .

Filipino invented flying car drone.

Oumuamua.

Chinese scientist claimed he's the first one to ever alter the genes of twin babies.

Business, Economy, & Money

Poorly thought out new designs for Philippine coins.

Facebook suffered the biggest single day wipeout in US history.

Thanks for the memories.

Grab acquires Uber in South East Asia.

Toys R Us closed their stores in the US and UK.

Historic P1.18 billion lotto jackpot.

Angkas' motorcycle ambulance.

Politics

Dengvaxia controversy.

Julius Malema grabbed land from white South Africans to give to blacks. 

Russian double agent for UK and daughter were poisoned in Salisbury, England. 

Count Dankula taught his dog to Nazi salute as joke; got convicted for hate crime.

For the first time, Gambia switched from glass marble voting to paper ballots.

Mark Zuckerberg got called to the Senate after Cambridge Analytica leak.

US, UK, and France attacked Syria's chemical facilities.

Kim Jong-un crosses NoKor-SoKor border for historic peace talks. 

Supreme Court ousted Ma. Lourdes Serrano as Chief Justice.

PH-Kuwait diplomatic rift ended with a MOA.

Tommy Robinson was arrested and tried for covering Huddersfield grooming gang trial.

SCOTUS ruled in favor of  Christian baker who refused to make a gay wedding cake.

Kim Jong-un met with President Trump.

Inquirer folded to Tito Sotto's demand to withdraw its Pepsi Paloma articles.

WWE Superstar Kane became mayor.

Shocker: GMA became Speaker of the House.

Radical leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the Dems' new rising star.

EU's copyright directive.

US southern border migrant crisis.

Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election.

Christian missionary was killed by "world's most isolated tribe" in an attempt to share the Gospel to them.

Yellow vests protests in France.

The return of the Balangiga Bells.

Alfie Evans' demise at the hands of UK health care system.

Total Depravity

Because we are fallen human beings in a fallen world.

Parkland Florida shooting.

French supermarket siege.

Crazy Youtube shooter Nasim Sabz.

Toronto van ramming.

Bill Cosby found guilty of sexual assault.

Santa Fe school shooting.

Ireland legalized abortion -- and rejoiced about it.

An Atlanta sex-trafficking ring victimized hundreds of children.  Thankfully, it was broken up and its victims rescued by Operation Safe Summer.  This should have been bigger news than what the media made of it.

Pittsburgh synagogue massacre.

A biological man was allowed to join the Miss Universe pageant.

11-year-old drag kid was made to dance for tips.  Should have been considered child abuse, instead the Left celebrated it.

Natural Disasters, Accidents, & Tragedies

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 blown engine killed a passenger who was partially pulled through the window...

...thankfully, its pilot was former Navy pilot Tammie Jo Schults, who had the cool head to conduct a successful emergency landing, preventing further casualties.

The eruption of Guatemala's Fuego  was deemed "like Pompeii."

A Thai boys' soccer team and their coach were trapped in a cave for days due to flooding.  The were all eventually rescued but at the cost of one diver's life.

Devastating flash floods in Japan.

Laos dam collapse.

Indonesian resort island 6.9 magnitude quake.

Fire in Brazil's national museum.

Typhoon Ompong.

Naga, Cebu landslide.

7.5 magnitude quake and tsunami in Indonesia. 

Lion Air Flight 610 crash.

Usman triggered floods and landslides in Bicol.

Notable Deaths

Celebrities -- both those I did care for and those I was apathetic about -- whom I consider "important", and whose deaths, I thought, were worth mentioning.

Bruno Sammartino.

Dolores O'Riordan

Billy Graham

Stephen Hawking

Isao Takahata.

Bento the Keyboard Cat.

R. Lee Ermey.

Hal Greer.

Verne Troyer.

Margot Kidder.

Vader.

Koko.

Steve Ditko.

Jon Schnepp.

Grandmaster Sexay.

Koffi Annan.

Burt Reynolds.

Tex Winter.

Rico J. Puno

John McCain.

Nonong de Andres.

Stan Lee

Stephen Hillenburg.

George H.W. Bush.

Sports

Dubs won back-to-back titles -- their third in four years.

Philippines' national team, the Azkals, qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time.

The first ever women's Royal Rumble...

...in which Ronday Rousey made his WWE debut afterwards.

Combined Korean hockey team during the Winter Olympics.

The debut of the new NBA All-Star format.  No more East vs. West.

Evgenia Medvedeva just got silver in the figure skating competition in the Winter Olympics.

Kobe and Shaq had a heart-to-heart.

Eagles beat the Patriots for the Super Bowl championship.

Randy Orton became USA Champion for the first time in his career.

Daniel Bryan was cleared for in-ring competition.

Arike Ogunbowale hit gamewinners in back-to-back games to win the NCAA championship for Notre Dame.

Rousey beat HHH up.

NBA 2k got its league, complete with a draft.

Braun Strowman won the first ever 50-man Greatest Royal Rumble.

Gilas unfortunately had a brawl with Australia during the World Cup qualifiers.

Manny Pacquiao TKO'ed Lucas Matthysse for the title.

France won the FIFA World Cup.

10-year-old Fil-Am beat Michael Phelp's 100-meter butterfly record.

Rousey won Raw's Women's Championship.

Serena Williams' meltdown overshadowed Naomi Osaka's historic win.

Pinoy Ronildo Palmera bagged medals in the Nomad Games.

WWE had the first pay-per-view made solely up of women's matches.

D-Rose dropped 50 points, kicking off his "renaissance" season.

Klay Thompson broke his Splash Brother Steph Curry's record for most treys in a game.

Golden State Warriors' road to another title became easier with the shocking addition of DeMarcus Cousins.

The dawn of the Luka Doncic era.

Showbiz, Entertainment, & Pop Culture

Momoland fever!

MCU's 10th anniversary.

KZ Tandingan made a splash in China's Singer 2018.

Pugad Baboy moved to the Philippine Star.

Kobe won an Oscar.

Lord Dakkon.

John Cena and Nikki Bella split.

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan split.

The Simpsons overtook Gunsmoke as the longest running scripted show in TV history. 

PewDiePie and Marzia got engaged.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.

Jon Snow and Ygritte got married in real life.

Bruce Willis was given a roast.

Bon Jovi got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Insomniac's Spider-Man game is so good that I downloaded and watched a 9-hour playthrough of it.

Miss Japan cosplayed as Sailor Moon for Miss Universe's national costume competition.

But the star of Miss Universe is, of course...

Catriona Gray

It seemed poetic that the year that kicked off with a fiery Mayon mesmerizing everyone with spectacular lava shows was capped off with a girl on fire mesmerizing everyone with her spectacular lava walk.

Her gown  was actually inspired by Mayon Volcano.

After showcasing her slow mo turn, her win was all but certain.

And thus, she became the fourth Filipina to win the crown.