Piece of Me (July)

I Like: that there will be changes happening in the next few months...it'll be a time for regrowth, discovery, and maybe even new trepidations. I look at it from the point of view of someone who has not much to lose...and a whole lot to gain.

I like silence, and the fact that it helps people think. Songs playing in the background brings memories and distracts people from finishing their tasks.

I like that my cousin put up her router here in the living room, so while we do the vigil, we can still write about things...well, at least for me, anyway. I'm blogging again, after a long hiatus. So many things have happened in the past two weeks, I just didn't have the time to just sit down and say what I feel.

I was working on the 10th of July, at the hospital when my cousin Chris called me up on the phone to tell me (in such a serious tone) that Lolo had indeed died a few minutes before. It was six in the morning, and upon checking the phone, I somehow realized that maybe it was going to be bad news. When I left last Friday, he was  in the ICU and weaker, but I thought he was still going to be around when I got home from work.

The last time I saw my grandfather, it was 8 in the morning, and I was telling him that I had to go early 'cause I had to catch the bus to work...he smiled and waved goodbye. "I'll see you Sunday, ok?" I said while leaving.

It turns out, that was the last time I'd ever see him alive. Chris told me that he had died quietly, no fuss, no rough CPR. It was just as well...

I lost a patient that morning too...and I cried for both. I couldn't help it. It was an intense sadness, a profound loss that I could understand was crippling if i didn't deal with it. Talking it out with a friend helped. I didn't need to be comforted, it was more of a feeling to share, a need to sort out how i felt...and to remember my grandfather. I didn't have any family around that time (work does that)...the tears would come later.

(I liked having that friend around, even if it was an incidental thing.)

I don't like: Having to say goodbye.

I want you to know: That I might need to take a tab of Valium in a few hours to stay calm (and keep some handy for Lola.)

I plan: to sing my solo as best as my emotions would allow.

I want to say to someone special: Life just won't be the same without you, Lolo. We'll miss you.

Piece of Me (June)

In the tradition of the monthly Q and A game, which is "Piece of Me", I have decided to hand in my "two cents worth" a bit earlier than I usually would. SO here we are, in this game, which was started by the Tooth Fairy, who is pretty much still on hiatus..

I like: Hanging out at my grandparents occasionally, watching Glee (and I especially loved what Vocal Adrenaline did to Bohemian Rhapsody), surprise trips, happy weddings, short dresses, calligraphy pens, Adam's Manual of Neurology, singing in the shower. Oh, and the quirkiness of this line

                         "Want to put my tender heart in a blender. watch it spin 'round in a beautiful oblivion.
                                         Rendezvous, then I'm through with you."

I don't like: the tedium of the commute. the loss of hours. boredom. helplessness. and complacency. Oh, and insistent folks, who stick with quack remedies. Oh, and lack, lack and lack. :-( And, death on my watch.

I plan: to prioritize more. :-) and forget about the "last-minute madness". learn how to whistle "Bohemian Rhapsody", finish the textbooks, pass the papers.

I want you to know: that I was just bored? :-p Oh, and that I'm never doing mush anymore. :-)

I want to say to someone special:  Preorder for me, please. :-p Oh, and vivs, A.M.? Seeya!
                                                                                                              
                                                                                                          

Piece of Me: May

This is a monthly game started by Toothfairy. It's usually a game to tell about yourself, which is usually done at the start of the month...but I kept putting it off. It's a cross-sectional view of sorts, of life, so without further ado,

I like:  All things D (i.e. D., my fuzzy rat,who i sleep with at night. Dorian Gray, Doritos, Denouements, Difficult words, Dill pickles,  etc. :-p).

I don't like:  getting sick. embarrassing myself. :-p

I want you to know:  that there will be a little less melodrama this month. :-)

I've planned:  to get a Blackberry.

I want to say to someone special:  Hi... :-)

...So short, so not me.

A Piece of Me (For April)

I Like:
 > Spontaneous, surprise adventures, like the one my best friend Ivy called me up for yesterday afternoon...

IVY and the Sulfur pools. (She's a geologist, and she did a pretty good job of explaining how these sulfur pools came to be.)

That's my best friend and her sister, and her sister's friends (all new med school graduates), doing a jump shot at the Pulang Bato, Valencia sulfur site. :-p

Twin Falls, Valencia, Oriental Negros. Iron oxide leaches onto the rocks , coloring them red. It looks pretty fab. :-)

See what I mean, when I say red rocks? It's not slippery even, like algae. It's just a coating, a dusting of red on the rocks.

Dinner with Ivy's family. :-)

> My easter sunday outing in Lake Balanan (in Siaton, Oriental Negros)  today!

The  Balanan Girl. haha. :-p Anyway, Balanan is a mountain lake  about an hour (felt like more) away from Dumaguete City. It was a spur of the moment trip out there that my cousin Greggy suggested for Easter Sunday.

Kayaking. April 4,2010. Balanan has many water stuff to do...we went kayaking too, my cousins and I (including Tita Joy) at about 12noon (immediately after we got there.) I'm not much of a "rower" and my nephew CioCio complained that I'd only paddle in short bursts daw. :-p I feel sore now, admittedly.)

L

Lake Balanan and tourists. :-p that's me and my cousin Smongkie (not her real name, but what I like to call her anyway, and Tita Joy (but I don't call her that, I call her Jocie Baby).

Ciocio and Smongkie at the Lead. The kayaks usually fit only two people, but since I was in a "Tri-Yak", i sat in the middle and didn't have to paddle, which was why I was able to take pictures while we were in the middle of the lake (it was a big risk, actually, one false move and it'd have been byebye to my beloved Canon forever...but luckily, that wasn't the case.:-)) My called me a dead weight, by the way, 'cause I didn't paddle. lol

L

Lake Balanan, Siaton, Oriental Negros. April 2010. Its nice and serene, really. You should come visit. :-p

> also, I like studying/reading my medical books. 

> Rocky road ice cream.

> Parker pens.

> Wearing dresses.

> Delivering babies. 

> Having to say no.

> Thinking about someone.

> Hanging out with my cousins.

> That i was almost in a bad car accident yesterday, but was lucky enough that it didn't happen.

Wheel-less wonder. April 3,2010. This is a perfectly normal van, with no wheel seen. :-p Well, yesterday afternoon, instead of taking the bus, I decided to just rough it and ride on of those "V-hire" vans. (They're small, and get cramped because operators tend to stuff it with as many people it can accommodate.) So anyway, we were about 40 minutes into the trip, and I was starting to doze off, when suddenly, we all hear a sound, and the van starts getting into a weird angle. And then there is this burnt crude oil-ish smell...and then the driver stops us and shakes his head.

Renegade. Now, if that looks like the renegade wheel, then it probably is. :-p The wheel had popped out of the...thing. (I don't know what it's called, ok! :-p) and ended up like this...

Yes, it ended up that far away... (I actually had to cross to the other side of the road to take this.) Anyway, it was very lucky that the driver wasn't going fast (they usually drive really fast) 'cause if he were, i think I would have been telling you about my sixth unfortunate accident in a moving vehicle, if i had lived to tell the tale. But that's really exaggerating. (As my uncle keeps saying, "If it's your time, then it's YOUR time...") :-)

Well, for the driver, it's another thing to pay for. My heart goes out to the man. 

Thanks Mister, whoever you are. :-)

I DON'T LIKE:

> feeling as if I have to please everybody.

> Mothers who don't care to have prenatal check-ups.

> eating liver dishes. 

> fried eggs or oily food that I usually get served for breakfast when I'm on duty.

> not being as physically strong (or limber, haha) as I was when I was younger. 

> Being told by the hairdresser that I'll look "beautiful" if I get my hair rebonded (like everyone else? No thanks. I like curly hair fine.)

I WANT YOU TO KNOW:

> that the best way to forget is to stay away.

> that in infertility testing, both husband and wife have to be tested.

> that I need to know how to lose 5 lbs in two weeks.

> that I don't want to be taken for granted.

> that depression is very very common in the geriatric population.

> that I miss Psych lectures, and if it were only an hour away (or 3), I'd go check it out.

> I've started studying for a big test.
> And that I love what I do. :-)

I'VE PLANNED:

> to be in Boracay on April 22! Iloilo/Boracay, here I come! :-) :-) < I'm going with the DOLE nurses from the hospital. :-)

I WANT TO SAY TO SOMEONE SPECIAL:

> Congratulations to "my little sister" Loreen, Weng, Loti and Ding, and Ann (Annex Blue!) for graduating. I hope 4 years of med school wasn't tough on your knees. haha :-)

> Thanks Vivz!

> Thanks Tita Clarie!

> Happy Birthday Farah-noid! :-)

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Piece of Me is a monthly game. Feel free to join in. Check out details at the ToothFairy's Blog.

Ok, good night!

:-p

~ S.

Piece of Me (for March)

I like... 

•       Mutya Buena's cover of "Fast Car"
•       Anthony Burgess' essay on "The Novel"
•        That I'm getting paid by the end of this week (yey!)
•       That I have my mother to rant (in three languages)to about anything at all, including stuff that bothers/annoys/irritates me 
•       singing "Defying Gravity" from Glee/Wicked
•       Casey James. :-) (With his angel lips and hot guitar skillz.)
•       Freedom.
•       The feeling of being in-charge of my destiny.
•       working out. Even for just 30 minutes at a time.
•        Medscape.com :-p
•        push-up bras, and bright-colored bathing suits.

I don't like:

•       being disappointed 
•            missing someone (definitely NOT the ex.) and not being able to do anything about it. 
•            unrequited love (but hey,in a certain way,it makes for good writing) .
•            waking up late in the mornings.
•           if patients in labor come in in the middle of the night and tell that they haven't had any     prenatal check-ups anywhere and not realize the risk 
•            talking about a painful episode in the past, because it just makes me annoyed and angry,   quite surprisingly, and because it is a waste of time and energy now that I think of it. I'd like to start fresh, please.
•         being a fool, intentional or not.
•         Rachel Bilson's character in Jumper ( so annoying.)
•         the fact that I even care about the above item. haha. :-p

I want you to know:

•        that we should all vote wisely in the coming elections, and not be swayed by political propaganda. Making the right choice comes with knowing all your options, and I do mean Know, as in know and be informed and not just dwell on hearsay. 

I've planned...

• to work out more often
• to lessen carbs :-D
• upgrade my CPU and printer
• learn to drive a car
• to get braces...? 
• take better pictures
• be more patient (although this isn't exactly a plan...:-p)
• come up with a better budget
• take my cousins out to dinner next week.
• ...and to just be a better person, over-all.

To someone special:

 To Pettie and Bermoy, my ex-housemates (and classmates in Med school, in Iloilo), who just got engaged..."Congratulations, here's a toast to M.F.E.O.!!" :-D

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Props to the ToothFairy, for coming up with this monthly game, Piece of Me. :-)

Piece of Me (February)

      I like:  

1. Black tea with honey...

2. That it's my father's (on the 22nd), and grandfather's (on the 12th)birthdays this month...

3. That I'll be getting my overtime paycheck this week...

4. That work is getting to be more challenging...that I am more patient (i think)...

5. McDonald's Hash browns and...

6. having friends/family who I can talk to about anything (you know who you are.), anytime.

     I don't like: 

1. Sometimes  being mistaken as a student/or as a nurse because I'm young-ish looking (I get called 'Day a lot by some patients if I don't introduce myself as a doctor first) that I lose credibility because I look a lot younger than my other colleagues, which is flattering sometimes, but not when someone starts second-guessing/questioning my chart orders just because someone else who was my senior did things differently (which has happened twice). In my most annoyed times, I am tempted to bring out a journal article and go, "Hey, I'm not playing here, take a look for yourself." 

2.  My naivete sometimes.

3. Unintentionally acting stupid/making a fool out of myself in front of boys I like. Argh! at my age! :-p

4. some memories of "left-handed Aquarians".

5. not being out for a while.

I want you to know:  That I will be working my hospital paperwork earlier, and will not let it go stale...like I did in senior year of Medicine. haha. Oh, and that I am ok with Valentines's Day being a Sunday.

I've planned: To try (and then perfect) 3 new dishes that I  learned about from 2 of the nurses I work with at the hospital, because they made it sound so easy. haha. AND to go with the nurses to Boracay this April for a vacay! Oh, and read the paper daily, even if it's an online version lang.

I want to say to someone special:  Happy Birthday, hash brown ...person dude.! :-)

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I'm a little late, but that was my Piece of Me entry for Toothfairy's community entry game. :-) Clicky here, for details. Have a good week, everybody!

~ S.