The Lucky Raisins

Last night, i felt like having raisins.

And before we knew it, karen's got back scratches...

The dinner plates got smashed...

The bookshelf got ripped off the wall...

It was an uneventful night at first. One minute, i was just getting up to get raisins to eat while reading, from my shelf and walking over to Lisha's drawers to get her scissors to open the packet. There was a creaking sound and before we knew it, BOOM! the bookshelf just came crashing down, with heavy books and all. (Too bad I didn't get to take a picture of it. )

Karen, who was sitting nearest the sink and under the bookshelf only missed getting squashed by a few inches (A few seconds earlier, I had been standing under it, looking for my box of raisins)! She got scratches from some of the books falling on her back. She wasn't seriously hurt, but, if we had moved the table a little closer to the sink (like we usually do), something really serious would have happened...like irreversible spinal cord injury or severe head trauma perhaps? Those were heavy books...one is enough to knock you out, seriously.

I'm trying not to think that it was an ominous sign...it was probably just a freak accident and we were lucky to have escaped getting seriously hurt.

The landlady would have no right to take away our deposits for the damage...the bookshelf was shabbily done, after all, nailed to the wall using 8 cement nails and cement. Geesh.

What the wall looked like after we moved the shelf out.

Lost...almost.

i have this friend i've known for years. he is quite successful, and is saying that he will be marrying his girlfriend of seven years. I reckon one of his secrets in getting to where he was at right now was because he was very...practical. For lack of a better word, that's what i would describe how he doesn't let emotions get in the way of what he wants. What he wants, he works hard at and gets result.

That seems like a pretty sound way of doing things...one cannot afford to let one's emotions rule one's actions or let them get the better of him or her. i only have two months left before "the big one", i shouldn't let my troubles and worries get the better of me.

As far as i can see, it's going to be hard getting everything together...but i will try. I can't let all the pressure, the hurt, the disappointments, and all that negative energy get to me. I just wish life were more fair.

The school work and the studying i can handle, it's all the other outside stuff that i don't have control of that are troubling me. I'm finding it hard to focus without a much needed resolution. Be kind.

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Speaking of my friend, he told me that his gf was someone he had had a crush on when he was younger, and then they somehow ended up together (although I'm pretty sure he had had a hand in the whole thing, knowing him, haha). Those relationships are the best, when two people genuinely like each other (read: crazy about each other), and have many things in common. Everything always works when both parties want it to, really. If only one does, then, it's totally not going to work.

Life is not always fair in the love department.

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I feel generally down today. Sorry. I kept thinking about how i used to be so lighthearted and positive, but these past few days, I've felt off.

I needed to get away, so i went off to the local mall by myself, just wandering around while waiting for my order to get done. Uncertainty and impatience, annoyance and disappointment are roiling inside me now, and I can't seem to find any relief. I want to get away from everyone i know for a few days and not have to think about anything or anyone that will make me feel sorry for myself.

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The only highlight of my day was when i got to sit in at the UST board review classes for the day. The instructors were intelligent and polished and had great powerpoints...very high standard. It reminded me of why I was attracted to be in Medicine when i was younger...i loved the high standard, the prestige, the importance and the precision of the field. :-)

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I almost got lost, after i decided to walk home after the cab queue was full... i almost took a wrong turn and would have ended up in a seedy dead-end with who knows what. But, since I was a good girl, I think Providence decided that it wasn't my time, and that I wasn't going to be harmed in anyway.

I found the way home...

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We have an exam tomorrow. I better get home. (We have Rosary Time at 8PM).

"Manila, My Manila"

I'm in Manila! :-)

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After all was said and done, after all the charts and hospital requirements were filled and carried out, I was finally able to pack all my bags and come here to do what I was meant to...and that was study/review. I got here the other day, with bags of books and clothes and Pop in tow, walking down the long long airport halls at the NAIA, where, i got two of my bags off the carousel...but no guard, or personnel checked it at the gates. Sayang, i could have taken the Louis Vuitton and nobody would have been the wiser.

Seriously, now, didn't they have people who checked if whether the bags you'rebringing out the terminal really were yours?

Tsk Tsk..

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The first thing that greeted me after walking out the airport was a blast of hot, dry air and ouchy heat. Good thing my cousins Gerard and Hershey were there to pick us up, i didn't want to be carrying around heavy bags in this heat.

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My place is just a walk from UST, which i really like. The dorm is ok, and i'm staying with my classmates from school, and they're good peeps. A drawback is that, no one in my dorm speaks Cebuano, so i'm trying to repolish my old Hiligaynon-speaking "skillz".

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It gets hot in the room at dawn (we turn the airconditioner on at night), and that's when i usually get up to read. My roommates study until about 2 AM, while i drift off to sleep, and then at around 3 AM, i'm the one who's up and about. :-p

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The review place I go to was recommended to me by a resident from Silliman and I go there with a lot of my classmates as well. The place is fully-packed. The approach is direct and focuses on the must-knows, while giving us direction on what to focus on during the boards. There's an exam on Thursday, where we will be graded according to how well we do on the exams...with a class ranking to boot. Which is why this entry is going to be short.

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I'm planning on going online just once a week. :-p

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My roommates are reviewing at UST, wherethey get plenty of handouts and a lot of contact time with their teachers. I heard that the UST tuition fee for Medicine is a whopping Php 100,000. How true is that? (It's well worth it, though, because their teachers happen to be really good.)

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UST has eye-candy galore...according to my roommates. lol

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I have many people i want to see while i'm here...but i'm probably going to do that later. :-)

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I'm doing Pathology right now.So many details to think about.

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How are you, M.F.?

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I find it useful to stick post-its on the walls, and read stuff while i'm wandering around...Diolz put up a "freedom wall" with lots of notes on it, and it's really useful, especially when you're reviewing the Biochem concepts...repetition makes things stick more.

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I'm taking each day as it comes, getting as much work done as possible. I don't want to be pressured into anything.

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Studying is pretty serious...it's either, it's pin-drop quiet in the room....or, there is an occasional discussion about a question posed, or, there is more deafening silence. :-p

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Theres this list that's going around with my classmates and I...it's a list of board review notes and handouts. We just text a center number and the day after, we get the books we ordered. At the drop of a hat. lol, it's pretty amazing, really.

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Oh, oh, do look up Susan Boyle up in Youtube.com...she blew me away with "I dreamed a dream" and "Memory", I cried a little in both. She sang it in such a beautiful, melancholy and powerful way, that i couldn't help but tear up a little.

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Seeya...i'm off to the house.

:-)

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P.s. I had my hair curled...but it came out wrong. lol. i'm taming it down with mousse, and I never thought i'd be asking advice on how to maintain curly hair. i've never had curly hair.

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Pathology...then Legal Medicine. Then maybe i can have a say (legally) in the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili brouhaha.

Rapid Fire

(a.k.a. My thoughts on the Miss Earth 2009 Interview Portion)

They had a fast-paced interview portion at the Miss Philippines Earth pageant last night, which proved to be quite interesting. The host no longer had to be the one to do the asking (slower pace). One contestant would pick another's name from a bowl and then come up front when her turn to be asked came. The contestant she picked would be coming up later and asking her a question point blank.

 

:-p It initially had the tones of "Catfight!" written on it, from the way some of the contestants would saunter up front to ask questions, with matching hair flip and an "I-dare-you-to-answer" attitude.

 

From time to time, I would look up from my work and make little comments…(which happened to entertain my mother), unable to keep from doing so. It was a fun interview to watch, I have to say…some were confident, some were, well, reminiscent of a deer caught in the headlights, unable to get their thoughts across. Others were just too confident (I had one in mind, but I'd rather not say who she is, 'cause she didn't win anything anyway, so why bother.:-p)

 

I especially liked Sandra Seifert's answer to the Big Question. When asked what she would change about herself if she won the pageant, she answered very confidently (and I'm paraphrasing here) that she would need to be more aware of the issues, as well as encourage other people to be more aware of the environment so we can all figure out what we can do to help save it.

 

Aside from the fact that she was very articulate, I had to agree with what she said, it is essential for anyone who was "going into the Environmental battle" to know about the enemy and what the options were. That was how anyone with an advocacy was going to effect any change. Knowing the enemy is already winning half the war. (I'm paraphrasing again. J)

 

I think she'll go far. J

P.S. Also, and another thing I have to add, I couldn't help but notice how self-conscious Nikki Gil seemed last night. She didn't seem like she was into the "regular" onstage banter started by her co-host Billy Crawford. I reckon if somebody like Billy Crawford would compliment on your outfit and call you something related to being "ravishing" or "radiant", it would be better appreciated to say "Thank you." Instead of "OH, c'mon…".

Hehe…. But maybe I am biased, I did have a crush on Billy Crawford before and all. So don't mind me.

 

 

From the Wake.

Flowers from Auntie Scarlett's wake. 

Her funeral is on Monday.

Requiscat en pace.

Going down the Mile

Arrggghh..!

 I’ve been working at my hospital charts for hours now and I’m not even halfway through.

 (*sigh*)

 If only I had done these earlier, like, maybe in the last couple of months… they have piled up considerably, and as a result, I may have to set my schedule for board review further away.  The latest that I will get everything ready will probably be the 20^th…that’s counting the time I have to go back to my old school in Iloilo to get my records so I can take the board exam.

 I wish I had somebody to worry about these things for me… or better yet, I wish I had somebody tell me how silly it was of me to keep putting the work off.

 My old classmates in facebook have talked about how they were already cleared and were well on their way to start the review…EM even had a massage and was speeding on his way after he got cleared (Yes, I do read status postings in facebook.. :-p ).

PGI A: Working on his admissions sheet. PGI B: Resting her head on a small fraction of her workload. (Records Section, SUMC, May 2009)

 I’m not the only one who’s dealing with this…a majority of us PGI’s have had to “reschedule” because of all this chart work. Some got lucky, they had the heavy rotations (i.e. Medicine, Surgery) earlier in the year, which left them a lot of free time during the “lighter rotations” (a.k.a., less “toxic”) rotations later to do their paperwork. (They’re about half-done, I think.)

 In my hospital, the Interns (that’s us) do the paperwork (i.e. history, PE, discharge summaries, etc), and the rest, if not finished, is set aside until you can do them at a later day.

 Unfortunately for me, that “later day” is, well, now.

 LOL.  I used the phrase, “My past is coming back to haunt me, Ma…” earlier, when I was joking with my Ma.

 I had to take out my trusty old electric typewriter,which I got when I was in high school, out so I didn’t have to feel as tired.  My right hand could only write so much… Also, because of the sheer  volume of paper work we had to finish, my handwriting had become so illegibly impossible! (And very slow, which has made the typewriter a boon.:-p)

 

Ma volunteered to help, saying that she’d do the ones where she’d just have to copy stuff and not have to summarize anything. So, I had to teach her where to find this and that, where the final diagnosis was placed, etc. After a few charts on her own, she was able to go ahead and do her work by herself, asking only occasional questions, and deciphering “undecipherable” handwriting.  She had trouble reading mine, honestly speaking. :-p

 So, wish me luck, y’all and here’s hoping I can get everything done by the 15^th of May so I can hitch a ride on the “Cadiz Carpool” to Boracay…where I’ll be getting off at Iloilo City, of course.

 You know what, for some reason some time ago, I was envying the guys and gals who had “significant others” who pitched in and did their chart work with (and for) them…I didn’t have mine who would get down and dirty with the chart work with me. 

But then again, I thought, who needs a boyfriend when you’ve got a Ma who’s willing to go down the mile of charts (literally!) with you?  Di ba? Di ba? 

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Happy Mother’s Day, Meme! :-D 

Thanks for always being there...

Scarlett Singco

We'll miss you. :-( 

Hitman Vs. Pacman, Dumaguete Style

The people, both young and old alike were milling around prior to the main event.

I'm almost back row center. The place was filled to the rafters.

Hundreds of Motorbikes parked outside the Sports Complex just goes to show that 1. Manny has many fans, and 2. Dumaguete City is the motorbike capital of the Philippines. :-p

Pop, Uncle Dick and I went to see the Manny Pacquiao Vs. Ricky Hatton game last sunday at the Macias Sports Complex yesterday. (There was another restaurant that offered an Eat-all-you-can buffet with the game, but then there was no beating the energy of the crowd at the Sports Complex, so we went here instead.)

Like i've always been saying over and over, even from the start of the game, Ricky Hatton didn't look like he had a chance... I mean, from the semi-kookie (but nonetheless flashy and innovative outfit) to the rocker theme music, he also had that look of fear in his eyes...and I'm not saying this because I'm Filipino and I'm a big Manny fan, it was almost palpable.

Manny's game was solid (and I'm speaking from the perspective of a Boxing layperson), but Hatton looked like he was just pulling punches for the heck of it.

LOL, there was this guy sitting next to me, who was giving his little comments too. At the start of round 1, when Hatton was somewhat still aggressive, he kept saying,""Mejo kuyaw-kuyaw pa ni..." (Roughly translated: It's still not a sure thing that Manny's going to win.."). I just nodded, of course...freedom of speech is everyone's right, after all. hehe

During the second round, when Manny was proving to be the stronger player, he completely flipped sides and then declared that Hatton was not going to stand a chance, because unlike Manny who had around a hundred sparring partners, he was only practicing with gym equipment, and he only trained for a shorter period of time...AND his coach wasn't consistent.

(haha...yeah, whatever, Man.)


Needless to say, it's another feather for our Filipino cap, and Manny's coming back home a hero. (Thanks, Manny. :-))

p.s. I hope Ricky Hatton didn't suffer too much damage...that last left hook was nasty. Pop said that he was going to get around 42 Million bucks for his troubles, though.

Did you guys get to watch the game too?

Wedding Fan

(Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo, wed April 28,2009)

(I'm a closet romantic, and am a big fan of dream weddings. I especially love it when I see the bride and groom enjoy themselves during the ceremony and reception. it's always a good sign. Although i admit i'm not a huge fan of showbiz weddings, this one sure was refreshing in that you see a bride and grooom who were obviously in love with each other, and that they had the good sense not to let other people's opinions matter on how their wedding should go about.

Like I said, i'm a closet romantic. Next thing you'll know, i'll be gushing about my own wedding plans...someday. haha. )

Joakim Noah

Now this is a good reason why the NBA is so addictive. Superhuman feats like these fuel passion. LOL...i just might be a new NBA convert yet.

(I saw this game at Erni's when the whole PGI group was in Siquijor yesterday for the traditional outing. It was super-fun. Can't wait to share pics!)