SHAN Xmas party

This is a late post since the party was held last December 10, 2005 at Loqui's bar. It's nice to see old classmates. We all came from this obscure little school in Novaliches and I guess we were the last batch to be under the best batch of teachers in the school. Lucky us. We turned out to be, well, accomplished in our respective fields.
A REUNITED BARKADA. L to R: Moises and Amanda, Sam (Emmylou's biba daughter), Laudel, Cor and Michelle. Seated: Annie and me. Moi and Amands came from Qatar and was wed here in PI last Dec 17. Isn't Sam cute? But she can be a wreck sometimes. She's my inaanak.
My closest friend during grade 6, Astaire, who now lives in NJ. She just visited PI for her beauty regimen and yes, to visit friends. Az, see you in NJ ulit! Let's pig out again in Minado!
L to R: Michelle (fresh from Australia, single, mapera...hehe), Laudel (who topped all her board exams--yes, she took both nursing and PT boards and placed in the top 5 on both boards) and me (unattached, barely passed the boards, no money to boot, but honestly, I don't care...hehehe).
L to R: Me, Dr. Emmylou delos Santos, Mazie Almontero and Astaire Villanueva. In a rare photograph. I haven't seen these gals for 11 years. Emmylou, Mazie and I have been classmates since grade 4 until 3rd year highschool. Mazie until senior year. We use to go to each other's houses as "gimmick". We were not allowed then to go to the nearest mall in our area, which is, ehem, SM North EDSA. But we had great, clean fun during high school. I guess that's where all the repression came from. Har har.

I miss singing

It's Christmas time and I miss the choir. Since 2nd year high school, I was with our parish choir and then I got busy with UP Med Choir during med school. Now I am unaffiliated and I really miss singing, especially during this Christmas season. It's my 2nd out-of-a-choir year after spending 18 years of Christmas in a choir. That includes the endless carolling nights, gigs and parties. I guess anyone could understand my anxiety.

At least I had some larynx action when I was in New York last year. I sang with the choir in the Philippine Consulate for simbang gabi. Most of them are members of the DLSU and I must say, they are really good. One of the members of the choir is a broadway chorus girl. She invited me to audition for their choir at St. Malachy the Actor Church. They were mostly broadway performers and this one is a pinoy. Golf claps. Anyway, now I am swamped with work and I could not find time for virtually anything. I have an article due two days ago and I've been pounding on the keyboard for the last 2 hours. Haay.

Last night I went to my first simbang gabi for the season. I told myself that it would be nice to check on my old parish choir again. They are the 4th generation of our parish choir and somehow I know most of them. I spent 4-5 years as choirmaster and somehow these kids are part of my ancient group. I was the choir master for the youth choir and these kids who used to be 9 and 10 year olds are now in college. Now I feel REALLY old.

I felt really, really old when I noticed this: There was no organist in the choir. Glen, my younger--albeit 20x better--protege wasn't there and I am sure that the orchestration was his style. I was surprised that the accompanying music was from a iPOD Nano! I saw it when one of sopranos lifted it to change the accompaniment. Whoa! I was really amazed with the technology at present and the ingenuity of the younger generation to use it. I thought MedChoir was technologically advanced for using NoteWorthy to study music pieces. We used to transcribe pieces via NoteWorthy and posting it in our egroups, where any member can download it. The piece can be played as a whole or in separate parts. I can isolate my part (I am a bass 2) so i can SERIOUSLY study it. Well, playing the choir accompaniment with an iPOD was waaay too cool for me. I guess that's the best use of technology I have came across this year.

Swamped with work

I haven't been posting for the longest time, sorry about that. I just learned that I have a lot of readers of my blog. Wow, man, that's great. It inspired me to write a lot more. As of now, I have a dec 20 deadline of an ICON article, which, I haven't started. My editor was giving me THE EYE last night at the ICON christmas party, so I better sit down--soon--and give it a whack. But before everthing else...blog maintenance day.

Christmas season has been great for me. During the first week of December, I had no work. I ran out of hospitals to moonlight to. Thinking of our boracay trip this December, I was pretty anxious where to get the money for the trip. Our projected budget is a 5-digit amount and at that time, I could barely make it to a 4. Haha. That's how poor I can get. But God was really good to me. But before everything else, I went to charity free clinic at the start of the month. I guess that made the knocking on heaven's door. And God heard my plea: I need a job. 5 days after, I was given a set of duties in a hospital in Sta Rosa.

Yeah, I know. It's a good 200km distance from home but the trip was really worth it. The money is good and the duty is not that toxic. I am the only resident in the hospital and I take care of all ER patients. I admit patients when needed. Its also a trauma center so I am forced to unearth my buried-six-feet-under-the-ground surgical skills. So far the most wretched thing I did was to attempt to place a chest tube in a DOA (dead on arrival) patient. This patient had 8 stab wounds: 3 in the chest, 3 in the abdomen and 2 defense wounds on the arm. In the course of resuscitation, I acted on impulse and inserted a chest tube on the side where his injuries are. All throughout, the patient had no blood pressure and no heart rate. I figured a chest tube will help him out. But when I inserted the tube, there was minimal output...well, too scant to cause sudden death. And then I realized that the stab injury to the sternum most probably have caused a hemopericardium (blood in the heart sac) or more seriously, a ruptured heart. At point, I can't do anything. I just have to surrender him to God's hands.

Well for a few minutes, I was deep in thought if I really did everything to save this patient. But, I guess 8 stab wounds will really kill you.

So, that's my latest heroic effort so far. Well, heroic ATTEMPT. As for my other jobs, I was given a slot in OsMun as an OB resident, which is actually better than pediatrics because there's two of us per duty. Pedia residency in that hospital can kill, man. I lost 5 pounds in a week after going on duty twice.

Aside from duties, I am still contributing to ICON magazine. Then, I have a job interview tomorrow at CMPMedica for a writing project. Our wedding coordinating business is doing good also. We have a lot of wedding projects next year. Three major ones to be exact. And I am still waiting for a confirmation from a friend.

Regarding my US application, I still want to try to apply for another tourist visa. I need to take the Step 3 exam because the shit is non-refundable. I can extend it, though. If I fail in my second attempt, there's still scramble on March. If everything goes to trash after that, I'll probably do my residency here and attempt to do fellowship in the States.

For all concerned, I do feel good. Happy, but still incomplete. You know what I mean. It's great if I have someone as I go through this life. *big sigh*

Happy holidays everyone!

It's hard to make money

My last duty in Ospital ng Muntinlupa was just pure hell. When I arrived on that Saturday morning, the PICU has one patient and the nursery had its usual fill of intubated babies. It LOOKs benign at that vantage point. The nursery is quite full so I phoned the ER doctors to stop admitting preterm mothers because I don't have the space for them. I don't want to raise my voice to another E.R. doctor who keeps on admitting preterm babies even though the nursery is in code blue. I hope they know what code blue means. It means no more friggin' SPACE! Its better to keep those babies INSIDE their mother's womb until they find a place where there's an available incubator. So better send them out. It's advent anyway. Well, I am not saying to give birth in a manger. Their babies will not survive in a regular nursery, what do you expect in a bed of hay?

Surprisingly, two private patients are giving birth to two preterms. TWO??! So, I conferred with my consultants regarding the lack of incubators in the nursery. The only option for us is to maximize management in the current situation. You know, PGH style. Well, the first one arrested after a few minutes. He/she had multiple congenital anomalies including an ambiguous genitalia and a huge abdominal mass. The other one was okay. I am glad that it was still eary and the consultants were there to help me out.

So by the half of my shift, I admitted 3 in the wards and caught 5 babies in the nursery. That time I was DONE. I was dead tired writing all those notes and checking up on the rest of my patients. But NO! After a few hours, I was admitted with 2 more patients and 3 more catches in the nursery. I was a bit evil because if its a term pregnancy, I just let the nurses to catch the baby. I just write the order and make sure that the baby is fine.

My first three admissions were simple cases of acute gastroenteritis. Fine. Fill me up with AGE patients. That's easy. Hydrate and send stool samples. Well, I have to tailor my management according to the degree of dehydration then WALAH...discharge. But later that evening, the ER told me that I have a case of sepsis (infection in the blood)and she will be admitted in the wards. When I examined the patient, she doesn't look septic. She looks septic AND toxic. Neck stiffness, spontaneous bleeding all over, rapid breathing, tense fontanelles. I immediately transferred her to the ICU. Upon questioning the mother, the baby was born at home and did not have any vitamin K injection. There was bleeding in her umbilical stump and spontaneous bruising. The moral lesson for today: Make sure your baby has vitamin K after birth. I left her intubated because her pupils (the black dot in your eyes) were unequal. Its a sign of brain hemorrhage. Poor baby.

By 2AM, I was dead. I couldn't keep my eyelids open. What's worse with this duty is that I chose to wear this black leather shoes. It's nothing expensive, local brand even but it's sleek and trendy. I have nothing else to wear with my black slacks. After a while, it was giving me hell. I did not have any other shoes to fit my outfit so I stuck with this one. Beauty before duty, my friend.

I woke up at 6 the next day, did the rest of my paper work, made the usual morning rounds and prepared my endorsement sheet. That wretched endorsement sheet!! They changed it!! Now we have a clear book with multi-colored tabs and index card in it where I should write my patient's cases in individual index cards and sort it by location. It gets worse: I have to write in pencil. So I have to lug around a pencil, a ballpen (for writing chart orders) and a rubber eraser. I absolutely hate it!! It's cute, yes, but its a FUCKING WASTE OF TIME!

On my 25th hour in the hospital I was done. I have to get clearance from the nurses in order to get my pay, so I did that. When I went down to the cashier's window, the line was 5 persons long!! Ugh. So I have to stand up for another 20 minutes in my el cheapo black shoes. Waah. After I got my 1,575...I marched back to the call room, turned the aircon on full and passed out.

Do you think I should start applying for a call center by now?

MON is evil

Posting some nonsense in my blog is not really a habit of mine. But, today I went to this site called googlism and entered my name. It gave surprisingly interesting results, read on:

mon is in outburst
mon is all here
mon is still slowly
mon is impossible to eat
mon is no 1
mon is a general
mon is a mon
mon is still slowly brightening
mon is a very red object"
mon is supplied so normally the a1 & a2 input signal is displayed as a left and right deflection on the respective meters
mon is completely self contained in 3u rack mount
mon is a stand
mon is a beautiful white triple star
mon is available in the following formats
mon is how
mon is a truly delightful place to visit
mon is one of those bands helping the music scene in the northwest become a phenomenon
mon is circular
mon is one of the most representative and committed avant
mon is still celebrated in upper and middle burma with animal dances and rowdyism
mon is a small island just south of zealand
mon is probably "soak up the sunshine
mon is not running so that it detects devices
mon is a 0
mon is an asymptotic giant branch star nearing the end of its life as thermonuclear fusion engine
mon is varying while the other stars are not varying
mon is the main entrance to the imperial city
mon is a real
mon is on the fourth floor of the
mon is a wireless radio frequency
mon is bad and why to hate it
mon is as edible as a stone
mon is rooted in old
mon is an irregular
mon is an instant charmer
mon is possibly brighter than previously but the earlier ha peak has vanished and replaced by a broad band of lesser peaks
mon is a commercially available data acquisition system specifically designed for use on wind turbines for practical engineering applications
mon is not a tonal language but makes use of different registers
mon is fantastic
mon is determined in a single cylinder engine similar to the ron engine with a few changes that make operating conditions more severe
mon is the perfect gift for anyone
mon is a truncated word which is shortened from mwatch meaning no or not
mon is a is a lightweight system monitor that measures cpu
mon is an adjunct faculty member at cuny she is chair of the national association of social workers
mon is within easy reach of all parts of britain and ireland
mon is also considered a port of entry with customs and immigration clearance on sight
mon is running
mon is so stupid
mon is in the comments box and what level it is on your game
mon is both traditional and modern fighting arts
mon is sendmail
mon is a passive isdn s
mon is picky about grammar
mon is wizards of the coast's latest entry into the crowded collectible card game market
mon is selling the feel
mon is a stereo buss which follows the selected routing and appears at the l&r outputs of mon1 and mon2 via the channel buttons on the monitor module
mon is a ti junkie
mon is monday
mon is at 900 rpm
mon is a good album and singles like the title track
mon is their
mon is fine
mon is a dos tiny imitation
mon is not
mon is primarily designed to allow easy hookup between a computer and a 6811 board
mon is the same thing for southern hemisphere
mon is evil
mon is a separable banach space

What's a ti junkie?? I love this best: Mon is an instant charmer/is not. Mon is evil. Where the hell did that come from? (Hell, I guess.) Anyway, I kept smiling the whole time I was reading it. The whole thing is good description of my character, indirectly in some parts. It's like going to a manghuhula. Ha ha. Try it guys :-) Let's see if you're evil as well.

Crying over spilled milk

Sad thoughts this morning: If ever you were given the power to do your life all over again, what do you want to change?

I woke up with this question inside my head. Only persons who are unsatisfied about their life have these thoughts in their head, right? Is this an expression of my depressed ego? Is this what I long for at this moment? Quite an impossible and unrealistic thing to yearn for.

I woke up wishing I could've done a lot better in my MLE exams. I hope I just went to that expensive KAPLAN review because so far, this US venture costs way beyond my expectations. Thrice more than what it costs me to go to that KAPLAN review and do better in the exams. If I have done better in my exams, I won't have any problem in getting into a program and I could've started last July just like my friends. Then I wouldn't have to bitch around because of visa problems and additional expenses. And better yet, I won't feel discouraged and depressed and frustrated all at the same time.

And I don't need to wake up with sad thoughts inside my head.

Such a waste of a beautiful friday morning.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Sunset in Boracay

102_0670
Originally uploaded by monstermd.

I took this during my last day in Boracay. I was surprised that it came out really pretty. Can't wait to go back to the island.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I started out reading this novel as soon as I got back to my room. I've been dozing off again, day in and day out. I tried to free myself with any concerns for the moment and I want to start fresh tomorrow.

I thought it was a hard read. Something like Hundred Years of Solitude. But it is an insightful chronicle of a doctor with two women in his life. I only got as far as page 21 on my first day and I haven't read that much yet, so I cannot disclose the story any further.

What amuses me is how the author keeps striking me on the right places. He started with the discussion between lightness and heaviness. The heavy weight in our shoulder weighs us down and drives us closer to earth. Lightness, on the other hand, makes us free of weight and allows us to move freely and to dance in the air. So, which one is better? And I had to grin, look up and say "Oo nga naman". Adversities make us human. Without it, we're just a feather in the wind, a spectator in life. And then, there's this point when the lead was thinking if he would follow his love (Tereza) in Switzerland. He ponders that "If a man keeps on thinking of leaving his home, he is truly unhappy" and he wants to follow Tereza realizng: "We only have one life to live. We do everything once and we do it with our whole heart. There is no rehearsal in real life." Within the 21 pages of bound paper, I started to like Milan Kundera.

Sorry, if I started out this blog with a book review. And then posting a picture of Boracay on top. Sometimes, I can be a REAL scatter brain. Well, yeah, most of the time.

My boracay duty wasn't as "exciting" as before. No trauma, no deliveries, no conduction to Kalibo on a dark stormy night (the last one ALMOST happened to me, it wasn't stormy that time). But, I was so delighted to see one of the babies I helped delivered during my last duties. Tada! That's Heather right there. 5 months old right now. I didn't ask permission from mommy if I could blog her but I guess it wouldn't hurt. She is just so cute! Can't stop raving about her. Ha ha. Although the island was packed with celebrities for Halloween, I didn't see a single one. I was stuck in the clinic and somehow hoping one would come to see us for a consult. Well, only wish that they would consult for minor injuries such as sunburn or nic-nic bites. Nothing serious. I am not that evil.

Leaving boracay was not as hard as it was before. I was craving for company. Girlie was more than fine but I was stuck with a freaking closet case all the time. Geez. Now, I appreciate all the friends I have. Even the straight ones. Especially the ones who appreciate, tolerate and accept who I am. At first it was okay, but it was a freaking disaster afterwards. Honestly, I didn't expect a clash of ego at the end. He was driving me out of his closet and locked himself in, alone in a self-adoring moment with himself. What a fucking loser. And as I've said to my friend Kit: I don't hang out with losers.

Anyway, I am glad to be back. Can't wait for the Madonna Album launch party on Friday.

I'm off to Boracay...again!

I'll soon be leaving for boracay for a 10-day stint of playing God. Haha. That's not the best way to put it but I guess that's the CLOSEST way. Meanwhile, I have to do a lot of stuff before I leave. I'm done with the online part already and the rest I have to do is to go to the bank and pay for my visa application.

SHOOT...I hate that part. You could've guessed by now that I'm not giving up. Everyone in my family wants me to do it again. In my part, I guess its the best way to earn my investment. Now, I understand why people don't want to go to medical school.

December is a hodge-podge of events for me. A couple of friends are coming over for Christmas. My aunt is also arriving from California for 10 days. That, will definitely fill up my date book. We have three weddings to attend and two of those will need to be arranged. Jeff and Pia will be coming home for Christmas, too. I guess that will be a LOT of psychotherapy for me. I wanted to talk to Pia about everything that has happened to me. I know a psychiatrist will be most helpful. Ha ha.

Finally, I completed my list of application at ERAS. All I have to do is to cross my fingers for interview invitation. I should cross even my toes for that wretched caonsul interview for a visa. I don't want my $625 go to waste!! Dang, I was in the mood to study for that exam pa naman. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Well, let me handle it one thing at a time...

Reinventing myself

I woke up this morning and I realize I have to pick up my life. It's been two weeks now when I decided to stop moving. I have to do something, make decisions and return back to a functional existence. This past week was a blur of badminton games, thai massages, gym work-out and karaoke parties. I was drowning all my memories of the past week, the money I lost and the events I missed. Mark called me yesterday and it was a refreshing conversation, so to speak. I was planning to talk to someone in the medical community for the longest time, but I am still avoiding the tedious task of relating my sad story for the 100th time.

Oh well...

DANG! I woke up at 11 in the morning again today and it's really a shame to find yourself in dreamland while the rest of the world is scurrying in their everyday lives. It seems that I don't have a life at all. Well, this became my life: blogging. It's therapeutic, in the very sense of the world. Clears up my mind and set me up for the things I have to do today. I just hope I accomplish something.

I guess the best thing for me to do right now is to reinvent myself. Set up new paths, do what I am set out to do and explore all options I have for this wretched career. Now, I understand why Americans hate medical school. It's not for the lazy. I, on the other hand, borders on being lazy and industrious, can hop on either side, depending what suits me. Right now, obviously, I am in the lazy bitch part.

Actually, give me a laptop, an mp3 player and a gym membership and I'll be happy to work day in and day out. Too bad, my mp3 player broke and now, I am still in square one. No career and no music drains out the life in me. And yup, I have no flow. A lot to gripe for, I know and I am struggling to keep myself on my toes. I still have faith that something good will come my way, all I can do is wait and write about it for the meantime.

Meanwhile, dear reader, send me a happy thought to remind that all's not lost in this world.

Basking in Solitude

Guess what? I am still in Manila. It's been a week and a day since the tragic event. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post what happened here but I would better not.

Since then, I kept myself in the confines of my room. Blogging, writing emails, reading books, watching films. Living THE LIFE. I just don't want to face real life for the moment. Not yet. Now that I'm in career limbo, I can do what I want to do. Later, I'll be playing badminton with my newly stringed racket. I miss my baby. It has been 2 months and 5 games without him. I thought I would say goodbye to badminton for good, not to expect I'll be back on the court in 5 days.

For those concerned, no, I am not depressed. I don't feel remorseful at all. Although I have lots of things to look forward to on that last trip (like seeing Joseph and Jeff again), I still have a lot to thankful for. I can't wait till Christmas! And I am not giving up without a fight. I'll clear my name for all intents and purposes. I was never mean. I never broke the law. I am good to my patients. I've generated three lifetimes worth of karma by doing charity work. But I guess my cards does not believe in karma at all.

Finally, I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude. It took me a hundred moments to finish that one. I already started reading it 5 months ago but I have to put it down for a much lighter piece of literature. It isn't as tedious as Umberto Eco but it's not The Devil Wears Prada quality either. I like the way magical realism was used in the story. It wasn't as grandiose and sporadic as it was in Like Water For Chocolate. The subtlety and execution of a magical tale, told in a plain, almost real tone, makes it a wonderful piece of work. I certainly deserves the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Now, I have to break my solitude. I like the last line from the book: races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth. I completely agree.

Angels in America

I just watched Angels in America (the HBO movie). Depressing shit, man. The script is profound, although insightful. I just hate to hear the republican/democrat bullshit from them. I just don't give a damn about that. I could imagine the play. I would categorize it to the same trashbin where the play "Death in the Form of a Rose" should really be dumped in. I don't understand these playrights: they present life in its most abstract form. Telling a profound tale to the uninitiated. Most of the time I don't have a freaking clue of what they are talking about. I mean, dude, let's not complicate life. Just say what you want in simple terms, and can you please skip the glum? The film has a shroud of gloom all around it and a dab of sarcastic humor. Makes me regret the lost hours I spent in front of the TV.

The main point of this story is that a straight friend let me borrow this copy of Angels in America. He's the typical butch of a guy: athletic, plays basketball and tennis, hollers when drunk, etc. He's married to his wonderful wife and has a nice kid. Aww, ok...he's cute...which makes everything a big deal. Anyway, I am just so proud of him for finishing the movie. There are some homoerotic scenes and a lot of lip action in this one, not to mention EVERYTHING is too gay to be taken seriously. The plot, the characters, the dialogue seems to jot out from a pink brain with a feathered pen...and I never thought a straight man like him is willing to devote his time to this piece of junk. He didn't like it THAT much but hell, I can give him a standing ovation for such an achievement. No pun intended there.

Bottomline: I'm proud of my friends. Straight or otherwise. I'm glad I didn't have to make friends with assholes and imbeciles who think that the pride march is a sign of the apocalypse. I'm glad that they give me the emotional and moral support I always need (thanks to my luck). Better yet, I don't need to ask them for that. They just give it away and let me consume it right from their very hands.

I wanted to go to America to invest. Invest in a financially secure future through a secure, stable job. It hurts to realize that I'm a 28-year old doctor here in our country without a car (well, scrap it, i don't drive anyway), a bank account and a stable job. I wanted to go where the big bucks are but still I find myself in same spot. It drives me mad that every step in pursuing that "investment venture" leads to frustration and a battered ego.

But, as the Spamalot song goes: Always look at the bright side of life. I haven't succeeded in doing that investment yet, but I do have a lot of emotional investment going around here. Good investments. Instant reward. I have my friends.

I need no Angels in America, cause I've got it all here.

Boredom

Have you ever had this feeling that you don't have energy to do the things you NEED to do but you tend to do things that you WANT to do? Well, that's what I'm feeling now.

Out of quintessential boredom, I googled my name. Well, a lot of sites come out. Hell, there's a lot of places in the US which bears my name. Thanks to my mom, I have an american name, a very Filipino middle name and a Spanish surname. I wonder what got into her. So, as I was saying, there was a lot of gibberish sites that sprung up. Actually, I was just checking if this blog will appear in the search results. It does not. When I googled Monster's Ink, it led me to this. A book by Diana Bennett. I think its about a monster and his ink. Totally uncool. I don't like the cover of the book. And I bet it's just totally shitty. I didn't get this blog title from her, FYI.

I went to the infamous UK-UK store today. Guess what? I bought a U2 down jacket for 140 pesos ($3) and a Baleno all weather military green jacket for the same price. Talk about bargain, man. Which is good. Because I'm running low in cash. I have to budget everything I buy, otherwise, I won't be having any money in my pocket to the States. I bought several shirts too. Now, I can kiss shopping goodbye:

Goodbye, 6th Ave. As if I shop here. Well, H&M. Cool merchandise.
Goodbye, Michigan Ave. Promise I will ONLY look at the iPOD store. Nowhere else.
Goodbye, The Grove. I was so tempted to buy a pair of Lucky jeans the last time.
Goodbye, Las Palmas Mall. I discovered how overpriced Hollister is. God, a pair of jeans for $150. The shirts costs $60. Dude, I know a place in Cubao that sells 350 pesos for a shirt.

But, I cannot promise not to shop in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. I can't believe their discounts in that place...

God, I wish I don't have to worry about money.

Back to work, Mon. You lazy bitch.

Four days to go

I'm flying to Chicago in four days. Four days! I haven't' packed yet. I don't even know what to pack. My clothes are not yet washed because the washing lady comes every Saturday. I'm scared to bring a bootleg copy of my reviewers but I don't want to leave without one.

I need to shop. I promised my aunt to buy her some nice things for her house. I helped her decorate her house the last time I was there. We painted the walls and upholstered her furniture. It was fun hunting for an ottoman for her living room. We even went to the Fashion District in LA to hunt for pillow covers and upholstering cloth. I told her that there are better furniture in the Philippines and it costs way cheaper than what you get here. She, thus, made me promise to buy her some cute stuff for her home. All of a sudden, I became them Felicia. Wonder when will I become Kyan Douglas. He's a big hit.

Honestly, I'm not as excited in this trip as was before. I'm pretty much worried about my application and the whole matching loopalooza. I'm doing this wretched thing again!!! I hope it works this time. And if not, I'll make sure to get a job somewhere. Gawd. I'm neck deep in dollar debt. I don't even have my own bank account. My career is going practically nowhere. And to top it all off, I'm neck deep in dollar debt. Dollars, man. Well, I'm a bit excited with the wedding. It would be nice to sing with the tour group again. And will get to see my classmates. And Joseph! Gosh, I wonder how he looks like. I hope he didn't gain that much weight. And Jeff too! I wonder how these girls look like. Another thing to be excited about: Chicago. After reading the book about the Columbian exposition, I'm deeply interested in the city. This time I will do the river tour and perhaps go to the artsy-fartsy tour. I haven't seen the Navy Pier, either. Hey, I'm going to St. Louis too. I haven't seen much of this city except when we drove down last year for Mardi Gras. And I'm gonna see Eva again!! Geez, I guess there's a lot to look forward to.

Tita Marie would want to bring me to Las Vegas this time. We might drive to the North also to visit Janelle in Cedar Creek and to have a nice wine tasting time in Napa Valley. Whoa. But I have to constantly remind myself that I need to study for the Step 3 exam. I don't want to fail. It's a horrendous feeling.

I don't have a Personal Statement yet for Pediatrics and Family Medicine. I don't know how to start the thing. I want it to be insightful, impressive, artistic and with soul. Too much to ask for my rusty writing skills and dim-witted brain. I haven't written a single word.

I should have written it last night. But it was the first episode of Amazing Race 8. I've got to watch it. But then, I didn't like this season. I think the Family Edition was a bad idea. Well, the irritating shrieking pink ladies from Illnois won the race, the-family-with-evil-kids come a close second and the cutest bunch almost got eliminated. Geez. The pink ladies are very annoying: they are always screaming and yelling in their high pitch voices. Just as if someone stole their undies and they come running after him. It was the sound of sexual excitement and shriek from a slasher movie rolled into one. Makes me want to puke, honestly. Then, it's hard to watch kids saying--not the darnest, mind you--but the meanest things. Like they would sneak up to the other teams and crush the competition like they really mean it. I mean, it's like watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl in reality television. I'm into Pediatrics, so I guess, you would understand. And finally, the hunky Linz family. Boohoohoo. Their biceps are bigger than their brain, their strength is not proportion to their body mass and man, they talk like scoundrels. Where did you guys come from? Prison? I hate to see them go in the next episode, but brains are needed than body in this game. Well, in this WORLD, while we're at it.

Oh yeah, the Black family got sacked. I almost forgot that one. At first, I thought the commentator (Phil) made a racist remark. Pretty offensive on national television. But, I was wrong. But I heard it correctly:

"Next team on the amazing race...the Black family"

And the next frame shows a black family. Whoa. They could've at least called them by their family name!

But I was wrong. They were really THE Black family. Too bad they got sacked early in the show. But man, the kids have more spirit than their dad! He drives terrrrribly slow. This isn't a trip, honey, its a GAME. And its not just any other game, its a freaking RACE. Poor kids. It must've been a total bummer to have boring parents. Well, mine is not THAT boring. My mom is just like the Italian mom. She nags a lot and keeps his motherly pride above everything. It takes a below-the-belt remark to make her shut up. Well, at least my parents are a little bit cool: My mom snorkeled in Puerto Galera while my dad, er...hmm...my dad had 2 car accidents in one month. Everytime he sets down to the driver seat, he feels there's a NASCAR logo printed on either door. How can you get cooler than that?

I gotta go. So much things to do today.

Another weekend spent away from home

Countdown: 6 more days and I'm outta here! I'll be flying again to the states for another family-budget-wringing time in the States. This is my last try and if I don't get a freaking job this time its time for me to say "oh well, i tried...but i guess its not for me" and start my own practice. Not a good plan though. Not at all, man. Because if that shit happens, I'll be neck high in debt to my parents. Although nobody in this house has ever nagged me about money, it doesn't mean that my dad picks green bills from trees in our backyard. And besides, I told myself that I just "borrowed" the money. I'll pay it back with my own well-earned dough.

Since I'll be flying off to the US of A in a couple of days, my high school friends decided to spend the weekend in Lucban, Quezon. It's an old town around 4 hours from Manila. We just miss the habhab, lugaw with lechon and halo-halo we ate last time we were there. We go to Lucban annually to attend the Pahiyas Festival but this weekend is a special send-off party for me.

No Lucban trip will ever be complete without having lunch in our favorite restaurant: Kamayan sa Palaisdaan. It's around 5 km from the town of Lucban, actually, it is part of the town of Tayabas. Anyway, the food there is my ultimate comfort food. I have dreams of their tasty sinugbo (grilled tilapia cooked in coconut milk and green peppers) and exotic enseladang pako (fern salad with sardines). The ambiance isn't that spectacular but the food was delicious. It took our waiter 10 minutes to serve the food and 10 minutes to clear the table...10 minutes apart. We sneaked in a bottle of wine to cap our lazy afternoon. We don't want to pay corkage fees, so we end up pouring the wine under the table. We can get that cheap.

We were heading back to Manila when the girls agreed to go hiking to the falls. I thought there were all sluggish from all that food but then, they were in the mood for a swim. It was just a good 10 minute walk down to Majayjay Falls. It was great because we have the falls to ourselves. It took me quite sometime before plunging into the chilly waters but I did it. I was thinking of running off the ledge, just like what we did in Tali Beach, but nobody was up to it. I was banking on strength in numbers during that time. Anyway, we ate, swam, took millions of pictures, ate some junk and headed home before it gets dark.

Reaching Liliw before sundown, we scurried among the shops finding the best bargain for slippers. I bought several pairs for pasalubong when I get to the states. Tip to anybody going to the states: bring slippers. Better yet, bring slippers for pasalubong. The price of thong slippers is rediculous over there. Well, if you can muster a $70 Banana Republic sandals for your pambahay, good for you. Get two servants to fan you while you eat while you're at it, you Queen of Sheba!

We ate dinner at Anabelle's at Liliw, Laguna. Good food...considering it sprung from nowhere. I like the T-bone steak and their pasta is amazingly...italian. Great price, too. I wa wondering who owned the place but I was quite tired to do some social gestures to anybody. It's a small eatery with a low roof and a few tables. When I was smoking from outside, I noticed that it's just a basement of an old Spanish style house. I peaked through their glass mirror...lo and behold! Narra furnitures, mahogany china cabinet, extravagant chandeliers. I will not be surprised to see a $70 Banana Republic sandals on the doorstep. The owner has taste and so is his food.

As we were heading back to Manila, I was so tired. I could barely lift up my eyelid. But my friend, who was driving, keeps shouting on my ear, "DONT YOU DARE SLEEP ON ME!!" We agreed to stop beside a fruit stand where we bought 2 kilos of lanzones and a kilo of rambutan. No, we didn't finish everything, contrary to the legendary capacity of my appetite. We just emptied the rambutan bag. We have to keep eating or else I'll be dozing off the passenger seat. I even dont care if my arms and palms were soiled with rambutan juice when we arrived home.

It was a great weekend.

Images from Boracay

Bits of nonsense

• I bought a Kodak C300 before I went here in Boracay. So far, it's been great! It's the most affordable camera in the market. I've always been drooling to get an IXUS-- just like what my sister has--but, I simply cannot afford it. This one is a third of the price and surprisingly, it takes good pictures! Downside: the LCD is not that crisp. But I agree to what my friend said: you just need it to know if you need another shot. It has video too, but alas, no sound. But still, for the price and for a beginner's camera, I definitely recommend this one.
  

• I'm leaving in a few weeks and I have so, much things left to do. I'm still here in the island and I need to cram everything in a week to get everything done. Definitely, I won't accomplish one thing I went back here for: learning to drive and getting a license. I KNOW! I'm such a brat. I always have someone to drive for me or pick me up. I LOVE riding in FX's and securing the leftmost seat in order to secure an undisturbed sleep throughout my ride. I am a natural commuter. I like the mystery of the new person sitting beside you every time. I like to read, hear music and even fantasize during a long commute. I organize my thoughts and plan my life in those long rides. Its one of the perks of living in the suburbs. Well, I'm looking at the bright side of it. Give me a fucking break.

• From KAPLAN lectures (mp3): "Why would doctors want to specialize in hematology? It's a dead specialty. What is the newest disease they found in the specialty? Nothing. Did management of hematologic diseases change over the years? No. Well, except for the treatment for CML, everything in hematology is the same 20 years ago. I don't understand why people choose this field..." Thaaaank you, sir!

MD on call

The beach looks this way at this time of the year. He's such a beauty.







After one of my house calls in Nami. I vowed to myself that I will work hard in the US in order to afford this place. It has a breathtaking view of the ocean. The place is quite a sight to behold at night.

Weekend at Tali

This was one of the best weekends I had with friends. It was planned two nights ago and I glad I came. Well, I never thought of not going because I'm sure, Richard will be all over me again and cursing me to oblivion. Ha ha! And besides, I'll be out of the country again in three weeks...I wouldn't miss this for the world.

Richard and I met in Manila at 7pm and picked up Nick V in Pasay. We had several stops along the way (we had to buy Cinnabon for dessert, then halfway through, Richard was dying for coffee). It took us 4 hours to reach Tali Beach.

We arrived to a bunch of shrieking, screaming, definitely drunk friends. They have been acquainted well with Jay (&B) and Gilbey for quite a while now and we have to catch up real soon. I was cheering VODKA! VODKA! in the car upon we enter the village gate. Catching up is not a big deal, really. I have an appetite for a barrel of alcohol that night.

I miss this kind of thing. Being drunk like nothing else matters. Drunk as drunk can get. We sang and talked and teased in the jacuzzi like Irishmen. It was blast.

If I was Susan Sarandon in The Banger Sisters, Richard will definitely be Goldie Hawn. We used to drink until 4 in the morning and go home all drunk and puking on the floor. We even fell asleep in the car before a stop sign in Quezon Avenue. We were too drunk then to stay awake. Good times. I don't know but the world seemed to move on. Suddenly, I found myself getting sleepy at an early time. I become getting annoyed with the hypnotic sound of house music. To some extent, going out seems to have no fucking sense.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend retreat was absolutely memorable. It was the first time I jumped from a cliff of a considerable height, landing my touche in the sand in the bottom of the sea. I buckled at first, but I did it anyway. We spent the whole day in a cloud of laughter. I learned how to play mahjong again. I got hooked with it and called it quits at 5 in the morning. A drop of vodka was nowhere in our midst by that time.

The beach looks good from this point of view. It was a memorable weekend all right.

Week 2: The Last Boracay Stint

Wait. Wrong title. I dont want to say that this is the last EVER. Maybe last stint for the year...or the season...whatever.

My nose is stuffed tonight and I think I am bound for a headache. It's already 12 midnight and I have to do tons of stuff. Well, I just have to do a Personal Statement for my residency application. I find it hard, I must say, since I have to be formal and conscious about my thoughts. Blast those blog writing skills for now. And I've been putting this off for the last couple of days. Despite the burden on my back, I still decided to write here first. Hoping to jumpstart the creative juices.

My first week here is not that exciting. There's only a few consults...around 15-20 a day, most of it locals and mostly, trivial cases. I finished 2 books already: Farenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) and The Reader (Bernard Schlink). I definitely consider the latter one the best books I've read this year. Well-constructed sentences, good plot, very detailed analysis of the protagonists' conflict. And, very concise--not a sentence wasted in each paragraph. It's a memoir of a German professor who fell in love with a 36 year woman when he was 15. It was a very honest, sexual relationship and both were happy. He read to her during the time they were together. One morning he found out she was gone. They met again 10 years after, in a courtroom, he was a law student while she was defending herself for being a prison guard in Auswitz during the Holocaust. The subject of the Holocaust made me so interested in the story.

Not because I like anarchy. I empathize with the Jews in this big bruhaha. I admire the spirit of those who survived. I constantly wonder how could somebody be capable to do such brutality. Ever since I read Elie Weisel's book Night, I got caught in the emotions of the Jews who survived the Holocaust. I savored films like Schindler's List and Sophie's Choice. My interest peaked when I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The very bastion of the Holocaust memory built by Elie Weisel himself. Going through the exhibits was a real tearjerker if you ask me about it, especially for someone in the profession of saving lives.

Before I went here in Boracay, I thought, "Geez, I never had any patient from show business, I wish I will have one this time." Yesterday, I found a celebrity couple waiting for me in the clinic. It took me quite a while to fix his problem but I did it anyhow. I stole a couple of snapshots from them and got an invitation to their newly opened business in D'Mall. It was great to be superhero again.

Tomorrow, there will be a whole bunch of public officials who will be having a summit on the island. I'm already excited to do housecalls. I just hope everybody brought their medications and will stay out of Jack Daniel's reach. Please --let there be no MIs in my island!!

Here we go again

I always get a second shot on something. I dunno, maybe God put me on earth to give me a second chance in everything I do. Maybe to appreciate these things better and not to take everything for granted. Like when entering med school. Like when taking this residency match shit again. It's a good thing, yeah I agree, to be given a second chance/second shot in life, but man! I get dizzy with the emotional roller coaster ride that goes with it.

I just filled up my application for the match. Hopefully, a good pediatrics program will hire me this time. Tough choice: Chicago or New York? I'm eyeing Chicago right now, but living in New York is one heck of a party! And besides, a lot of my classmates are in New York. But if I want to get serious with my chosen field, I could use the cozy, relaxed atmosphere of Chicago. I say I should get down to business this time.

In a month, I'll be leaving for LA. I'm planning to stay for 6 months but if I get a job before that, I'll definitely leave for the Philippines right away. It's expensive to live in the States! Especially when you're living under your parent's subsidy and a tourist visa to chain you down from getting a job. Well, here are 10 things I will definitely miss:

10. The pirated DVDs. Crucify, chain me or eat me alive...but,honey, I live for piracy. The third world's revenge. Thank God for limewire and torrentspy. Thank God for Quiapo. For approximately a buck a copy, how can you go wrong? Even pirated stuff in the States is expensive ($4, from the subway). And most of the time, I get better DVD bootleg copies here than anywhere else.

9. The fabulous street food. Every now and then, I get this weird cravings for street food: grilled isaw(pig intestines), grilled tenga (pig ears), fishballs and shawarma. Somehow, it gives me a weird high.

8. The movie theater . OK, I admit, I'm a film geek as well. I love going to the theater. And for 2 bucks a movie, you'll find me in the theater as much as 3x a week! 2 bucks for a large popcorn as well. During my last trip in the States, I only went to the theater thrice in 6 months. Can you imagine such deprivation?

7. My free CDs. Thanks to a friend who works for a distributing company, I get three or four promotional copy of recently released CDs. Makes my boo happy (see previous post -- my boo).

6. Free party invites. Perks of being a contributor/writer in an alternative lifestyle magazine published here in the Philippines.

7. Booksale. I can buy all the books I want from this little store and at super bargain prices!! Imagine I got a hardbound copy of How To Lose Friends and Alienate People for 50 pesos. It didn't sound like a great deal,huh? But, for me, it definely was! It was a great book. It's a memoir, FYI, not a Chicken-Soup-for-my-wretched-soul or something.

5. My supply of Reader's Digest. My mom's friend supplies me with back issues every third month. She actually works for Chatelaine (a Canadian home magazine) but she goes back to the Philippines every 3 months. Her mom was my patient and she's eternally grateful that I pulled her back to life again. I didn't charge her (my PF) because she's my mom's best friend. But the X deal is better than what I expected.

4. My cosmetic freebies. Sigh, I'll miss my facials, spa and cosmetic freebies. Perks of befriending the whole Cosmo mag staff and courtesy of my best friend in the pharma business.

3. My patients. Honestly. I hope I could feel the same compassion to other races but it's getting a little longer than I expected. I may sound racist but if you were taught to care for little brown people, it needs a little more effort to understand and feel empathy for big white rednecks and big brothas from the hood. You know what I mean. I even read The Invisible Man by Thomas Ellison and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison to listen to the black man's voice. It did help a lot. But it me who needs a little work (i.e. exposure).

2. My room. I feel elated when I am surrounded with my books. (I know, I know--I am a geek. I thought that's settled already.)

1. Boracay. I will definitely go back here for a shot of paradise.

Have you ever...?

Have you ever had a friend who brought a great change in your life? Some trivial sleight of hand that he never thought would change your everyday life? Let me cite an example. I have a close friend who gives her best to everything. Academics, creative stuff, sports...and even in covering books. We share the same passion for books and with it, the strange notion that covering it with plastic will extend its supposed lifespan. I cover my books alright...haphazardly that is. Well, this friend has the habit of getting my books from me to cover it in a rather more decent way: neatly trimmed flaps, taping it ON the plastic and not ON the cover and keeping the plastic nice and taut over the front and back covers. Pretty much an obsessive-compulsive thing to do...but that's how she is. I tell you: IT HAUNTS ME. Now, everytime I cover my new books, all I can think of is her. (Yes, you read it right -- she.) And I quote from the musical WICKED: Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good. Pretty sentimental, huh? Well, just a random thought.

Have you ever found paradise? I mean a place that you can say This is MY f**king paradise and I don't care if yours is better. A place that you can go to, even inside your mind, whenever you want to drone out the commotion of real life. A place where you could have your very own peace and quiet and at the same time allows you to think and conteplate your own thoughts. It is a place where you can defy the contradictions of your ideals and still say, "Life is still beautiful". It will sound cliche, but yes, I did find it in Boracay. And anytime I am lost with the rigors of the world, I just close my eyes and imagine being there. They say if you found your paradise, you can never be lost. I think its true.

Have you ever been considerably happy? A point in your stay on earth that you could say you had a no-bull, truly and genuinely happy moment in time. This will sound a little mushy, but, I was happy when I was singing. It was a time when I look forward to every choir practice after school, to every gig in some dinghy hotel and to every concert we staged. It took off the stress I painfully acquired from my chosen profession. It dulls the unsolicited reproach of my sexuality. It gave me the license to be free. Do I want to do it for the rest of my life? I want to, but I can't. Because behind that, there's a looming sign that says REAL LIFE glaring at my face. It sucks to be a grown-up.

Have you ever thought if you could go on with the rest of your life alone? I got this from the movie Shall We Dance? (I am now convinced that Jennifer Lopez is a really terrible actress):

People get married because they want someone to be a witness to their lives. There are a billion souls in this planet and your life is just one, one in the whole damn universe. But if you have someone in your life, you have a witness of how you spent all those years.

Painfully true, I reckon. Being someone without any experience about relationships and in THIS "side of the boat", its a little, rather, taunting fact for me. I don't want to be tipped over the edge and be lost in the murky water of unattached souls. I need a witness. And a steady hand to keep me from reeling over.

Random thoughts in this side of the world.

Sense and Sensibilities

I picked a fight with some twerp in another blogging country. He replied to my post in that site regarding this UP guy who doesn't want to flaunt his Atenean heritage. I told him that most of my friends in UP are Ateneans and we had the grandest time in Diliman. Ateneans were just being labeled as assholes and prudish...why not break through the stereotype? Then, this dumbass UP guy replied:

what's wrong with being an atenean? I came from the grade school and I really learned a lot. Not to be mayabang or anything but you could see the difference between a person who came from a private elementary school or not with the way they act upon the smallest of things. I hoped I don't get flamed (again).

He didn't got flamed (What does this mean? Sunog? Please, spare me.) I torched him. I called him all possible names you can be called in hell. He introduced a completely tangential point and it hit my social consciousness right between the eyes.

Well, I guess when you're a medical doctor spending the last 2-3 years serving the marginalized members of the society, your sensibilities change. Being poor is definitely not a choice for some people and there's a lot of people who take their social status for granted. I can still hear my professors in medschool preaching: "Give your patients the dignity they deserve. Especially the poor and the tax payers...they are the ones who sent you to school." Although my parents are the ones who always REMIND me that there are debts to be paid, I am truthfully and honestly grateful to the hoardes of patients who let themselves be examined, questioned, sutured, IE-ed, casted, etc. when I was in PGH. And most of them are poor. And did not even attend co-ed schools like Sacre!

Call me high-strung or even weird. I guess it's the weather. And my age is becoming a factor, too. But this guy needs some serious straightening up. UP pa naman sya.

What specialty fits you most?

I took the test and this came up:

The medical specialty for you is.... Cardiology

Cardiology is the best of all specialties. As a cardiologist, you'll be sure to profit from the sharp increase in obesity. You'll open at clinic across the street from a McDonalds and retire a billionaire.

To find out what specialty best fits your unique personality, go to:

What Medical Specialty Is For You?

WHAAT! For a person who regards ECG as "squiggly lines". No way, jose. But you'll never know...I might do it for the money. He he.

Two Birthdays

Pictures during connie's birthday. We staged a lousy surprise party for her. Her husband, Ricky, blew us off. He asked her to dress rather nicely on that day. Knowing Connie, she sniffed out our surprise plans from his rather uncalled for request.


Hanging out at loqui's bar

Connie blowing her caramel cake

Red should have been the color of the day. Apparently some people are not aware.

Whew! I'm glad m post duty now!

After 2 duties in Boracay, I'm back as a reliever resident in Ospital ng Muntinlupa. Scary. It's been a while since I did in-patient management. Fluids and electrolyte management seems like rigging a carburator to me. So, the first thing I did was borrowing a copy of Pocket Pedia from the post duty resident. Great book! Too bad its not available now.

Anyway, the first 8 hours of my duty was so-so: an IV line here, chart ordering there. Benign stuff. I was also the catcher in the nursery. I resuscitated 3 newborns on that half of my duty. All of them are spontaneously born so I don't need a lot of skills AND anxiety to do that. Not so toxic. Not at all.

But wait! Before I leave the next morning, everything went so fast. I had 3 admissions (all of them need a new Hx and PE) and my PICU patient is crashing while m waiting for 2 pregnant patients to give birth! To top it all, I need to do my endorsements before 9 am.

My 28-weeker PICU patient is the worst ever! He had several episodes of O2 desaturation last night. We transferred him to an O2 mask from an O2 hood to improve his O2 sats. It went up to 98-99 but he is still having chest retractions. His vitals are stable but I was wary of the chest retractions. It was way beyond normal. And I had a bad feeling about it.

And true enough, his sats dropped to 50s the next morning. I have no choice but to intubate the poor baby. In all honesty, I never intubated a preterm baby in my whole life. I was anxious but if I don't do anything, this poor baby will die before my eyes. After a few minutes, I was standing there with the 2.5 ET tube in my hand and the laryngoscope in the other. I took a long breath and inserted it between the glottis I exposed with the laryngoscope. Breath sounds were not equal so I pulled it to level 7. Both lungs expanding, equal breath sounds...whew.

But it doesn'e end there. The baby was still crashing. I gave him two doses of epinephrine and primed the parents that the prognosis is not good. His vitals were stable when I left him but all I can do is hope for the best for that baby. Poor guy.

Now, what do i do?

Darn!

So WHO decided to take an in-house researcher. It could've been the perfect break: a 2-month research assistant job, with pay and a letter of recommendation to help me in my residency application. Nothing could be better. It will also translate to a longer stay here in Manila before hitting the winter months in the east coast. Haaay.

Now I have to think and consider the best plan for my career.

Option 1: Go to California. Study Step 3. Apply for a volunteer research job. Take the Step 3 then proceed with the ERAS applications.

Option 2: Study here before hitting California. (I don't think this is a good idea, though.)

Option 3: Moonlight here then go back to the US next year and hope to get a post match position.

Honestly, I don't think the last two are viable option. I better stick to option 1.

Two cents, anyone?

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Getting back to the craze

I just got back from a badminton game. A good one, that is. I've been craving for activity since I get back here in Manila. During my 2 weeks in Boracay, I hardly exercise, except for the walking during my calls. Oh, yeah, I took a swim twice in the beach but basically that's it. I need my endorphin rush.

I got hooked (understatement) with this sport after I graduated from medical school. (That was two years ago...I'm not that OLD you know). I was studying for the boards that time and I figured that I need an escape: to ease my stress and to express the aggression boiling inside me. Two years later, I'm now licensed to practice here and in the States and yes, I'm still playing the game.

My ICeT Prince racket is a little worn and the strings remain unchanged. Miracurously. it has still power despite the fact that I never restringed it. I still like the feel of the handles and the weight of it.

My play is a little rusty also since I have lesser time to play with friends. But I do always try to play better everytime...trying hard to give them a good whack on the butt. And I do manage to give them a mean whacking a while ago.

Actually, a friend and I are planning to have tennis lessons today. But we figured that the commotion in Commonwealth Avenue will hinder us from doing anything. I ended up playing badminton the whole day while he hit the gym just a while ago. I guess I'm kissing my tennis lessons goodbye. I'll stick with this. There's a tournament on the end of the month and I would rather practice for that. Maybe I'll take the tennis lessons before I leave for the States.

Gotta go...I have another game in an hour! :-)

Boracay again

Just got home from paradise. It was a great 8-day duty. I enjoyed my cases, I get to meet a lot of new people and I had a better salary than the previous one. The last part means I saw quite a number of cases than my previous duty. I also enjoyed the beach this time because most of the days are sunny. My eyes are locked to the turquoise waters everytime I get a chance to have a glimpse of it from the main road in boracay. I wonder how can I ever leave this place? And the Philippines for that matter?

There are some notable cases I had during my duty that I want to share:

18 year old British girl. She called me up to see her in the resort that she's staying with her boyfriend. It turns out that her tongue was "twisted" and cannot open it so much. She was crying and really anxious about her condition. When I asked her to open her mouth, her jaw was deviated to the left and her big tongue was obstructing the view. My first thought was an infectious cause. No fever. Allergic? No history. Neuro? No other deficits. I just asked her one question: "Did you hear a click when this happened?" Yes. It was a simple temporomandibular joint dislocation. I just reduced it back to its place and the girl thanked me profusely, meanwhile, I, walked out from their room in a cloud of valiant air.

I had several trauma victims. Most of them were drunk and had picked a fight with another person. No spilling of guts, though. Damn.

First time to take out a toenail from an infected ingrown nail: my patient is a native of Neuva Ejica, also visiting boracay for a conference. She came up with a swollen toe. It was almost as big as a tomato. Plump and juicy, also. (Sorry for the munching people out there.) The infection got worse because she went to dive before the day she made the consult. She was pretty much grossed out to see her nailless nailbed but happy to get all the pus out. She promised to teach me how to dive. Although I did a digital block. I bet it hurt like hell.

Dig this. I had a patient who works for Albert Einstein in Jacobi! Waaay too cool. He promised to take me around the hyperbaric facility which he operates. He's a very interesting guy, actually. He has businesses in Boracay and Cebu but he goes back to the US every other month. He lives in Westchester and he would love to entertain me whenever I visit. He told me that he will tell the people of AE how I took care of him. Swell.

I had a malingerer chest pain patient who got to my nerves. And another one who had an abortion. She was even smiling when I went to her house. Grrr. I charged them twice...no, thrice my actual PF. Serves them right.

During my stay I read a couple of books too:

1. Devil in the White City: Murder, Lies in the Fair That Changed America. I think every Chicagoan (?) should read this book. Its about the World Columbian Exposition of 1984. The biggest fair at the end of the century which rivalled the Paris exposition. Many American firsts came from the fair: Aunt Jemima, hamburger, Juicy Fruit, Cracker Jack and the Ferris Wheel. And a nice gory serial killer hunt interspersed between the pages. Very entertaining, well-researched work.

2. Opal Deception. The latest installation of the Artemis Fowl Series. Best of the four Artemis Fowl series. Took me just 6 hours to read it. Hard-to-put-down book.

3. Chronicles of Narnia. Got through the first, second and half of the third book. I'm excited to see the movie!

I was planning to have an intro dive before I leave but I felt guilty spending that much money. It was P2T bucks for a dive. My patient is willing to give me a free lesson in Palawan, so why bother if I can get it for free. I just hope it will push through.

And now m back in my room. Back to my backlog books, to my Step 3 reviewers waiting to be opened and to my dial-up internet connection that I'm trying to upgrade to a DSL connection. I'm trying to figure out where to get the funds for that. Ugh.

My boo

I just want to share my love for my baby: my Creative Zen Extra 30GB mp3 player. Yeah, you can call me pathetic or a frigging loser...but what can I do? Nothing deserves a write-up other than my boo.

Knowing that I'll be spending the next 6 months in solitude in New Jersey, I bought my Zen player last year before going to the States. My concern is to bring my 40+ CD collection to the states and thus, preventing looming states of boredom while I am in the snowy suburbs of NJ. I also need to smuggle pirated CDs of KAPLAN reviewer to the states that time so I decided to invest in an mp3 player which can also function as a hard drive.

True enough, my boo served its purpose. I ripped all my choir CDs, all my 17 albums of Broadway musicals, downloaded mp3's and the whole season 1 of queer eye for the straight guy (which I painstakingly downloaded from the internet) into it. And yes! it kept me sane all throughout my stay. Other things made me crazy but that's another story....

I was able to rip CDs I borrowed from friend on it, Spanish language learning CDs and even mp3 copies of KAPLAN lectures. I never got bored during the long subway rides from Manhattan to Queens nor the bus rides from Port Authority to our house in Union, NJ.

Yeah, sometimes I do envy the portability and sleek Starck design of the iPOD but there are a lot of things that iPOD cannot do. One major thing is that it doesn't support file sharing between computers. I get a lot of music files from my friends and I can't overemphasize the NEED to drag my boo from one computer to another to get the music albums that I need.

To top it all, I can take my important documents everywhere I go, including my resume, letters and transcript.

I love my boo.

BONUS TIP: your Bel Ami and Falcon files will never be discovered again. :-)

Food tripping in Angeles City

Its my second week now in Angeles, doing some moonlighting. My friend happens to own this school here in Angeles and we're doing a physical exam on all the students - elementary, high school and college. And it's about 3,000 students all in all. When I checked with the nurse earlier today, I found out, that we haven't PE'd even 25% of the student body!! Gosh. Its not that we've been doing really HARD work to finish all off...but then, after 2 weeks, we haven't gone past the high school students. We're only done with 2 sections of grade school. Ha ha.

But the best thing about this stint is that 1) the pay is good and 2) I get the nights off. That means I can go around Angeles and try all the nice restaurants in town. Unbelievably there are a lot of them here. What's nice about these quaint, homey restaurants is that the owners are foreigners: meaning you get authentic Italian, Creole, Japanese meals all the time. Lets have a run down of the restaurants that we tried:

HANAMI. Great Japanese restaurant off Friendship Boulevard. The sushi is made fresh and tastes different too! It's better than the local Japanese chains like Kitaro and Sushi-Ya. (Tokyo-Tokyo is out of the question.) But mind you, the stuff there is expensive. The ambiance is so-so and when we were there...they were showing a Japanese news program. Quite irritating. P1200 for a sushi platter (for 2), miso soup, tonkatsu and San mig light. Not bad for the experience.

COTTAGE HOUSE. A few meters down from Hanami. They serve authentic Creole and Southern style cooking in here. The ambiance is hole-in-the-wall kind with lots of shadows and cigarette smoke. Looks like a place where you deal with the mafia or have dinner with an awful date. Food is superb, though. The baby back ribs are mouth watering. I even dreamt about it when we were in Manila. P870 for a baby back ribs meal (which includes beans and mashed potato), buffalo wings and 2 san mig light. Cheap for a good meal.

ALING LUCING. If I dream about Cottage House, I'm getting an orgasm when I think about Aling Lucing's sisig. Not with Aling Lucing. It's just near the train tracks and they serve heavenly, cholesterol-laden, mushy sisig. Their burong kanin is good also. I must if you visit Angeles. Ultra cheap too. P456 for 2 sisigs, 2 pwet ng manok, burong kanin and 2 san mig lights. Yum!

BAMBINO'S. We just spotted this Italian restaurant when we came home one day (after eating I guess from Hana-mi or Cottage House) Looks tattered, though, but to our amazement and glee, they serve authentic Pizza Margarita! I never had pizza this good in the Philippines! Its a basic cheeze-tomato-basil pizza that needs to be cooked in a stone oven to get that right crisp. They did it the authentic way and I'm quite happy about it. Can't stop munching on those wedges! P850 for a small pizza, a serving of eggplant pagmigiana and a half carafe of red wine. Not Bad.

After all of those food trips during my stay here in Angeles, I'm worrying about squeezing myself into my old jeans. I only have size 32 x 32 jeans and I vehemently refuse to buy anything larger than that. If it doesn't fit, it means I have to do something about my weight. Not much of a problem, though, because I lose weight so fast. But how can you resist these fabulous eats in the Philippines? Oh well, as I would always say, life is too short anyway...

Just got back from Boracay

I had an 8-day stint as a physician in boracay last week. But due to the harsh weather, I need to extend for another 5 days. I opted to take the boat to manila to lessen my expenses so I have to wait for a calmer weather before I go.

I am beginning to loathe the little island now. It's becoming more and more commercialized. There's new establishments/resorts being constructed everywhere. These are not just the usual small scale resort you find in front of the beach but gigantic extensions of the small resorts like Hotel Seraph, Le Soleil, etc. Man, they're humongous! And soon they will be constructing a branch of Shangri-La hotel near Panoly and Discovery Suites Boracay near Friday's. Talk about raping a small island.

Nevertheless, the beach in Boracay is still gorgeous - with its torquoise-colored water and powdery, crystal-like sand. The sun glared for a day during my 5-day extension and during that time, my eyes did not leave the water. No kid!! It is simply one of the best sights for me. I've been to the beaches of Pattaya and Marina del Rey but nothing...absolutely nothing....compares to the beach in Boracay.

It makes me wonder if I am really prepared to leave all this for a residency position in the states. It is just okay for me to have a modest salary and a good job in the Philippines which will allow me to go back to the island once in a while. I won't become FILTHY rich that way but I can live a good, rock n' rollin' time for the rest of my life. Life is terribly tough sometimes.

Moreover, my 2-week stint has showed me that being a doctor in the Philippines is more emotionally rewarding. They treat you as a modern-day hero in this part of the world. In the US, you are practically a malpractice suit bait.

Being a doctor is never that easy. Especially in the Philippines. Its true that "you never run out of money in your pocket" - an amount to feed you for a day that is. But it never allows me to enjoy the finer things in life. Things that my contemporaries are enjoying right now. I am talking about the media executives, engineers and basically those who are non-doctors. I almost wished I never went into medicine. But then, I still have my own reasons why I love this profession.

It's the WORST choice of profession if you can't stop thinking about money but there are absolutely more than "perks" in this one.