i can't plurk, i can't facebook, so here. just got home from a medical mission at Digkilaan. dude, anlayo pala! we were like, Iligan CITY pa ba 'to?

wake me up when october ends.

I know the title should be "September" but it's already October, so what? *giggles* First semester of A.Y. 2009-2010 is officially over and sembreak has already started but I am stuck here in Iligan. I need to stay for the enrolment (which is today) and to finish some works for our college publication. Actually, I may go home tomorrow but we have this Medical Mission this Saturday so I decided to stay to spare me from the nauseating travel to and fro Marawi-Iligan. So what have I been doing? I started on "A Map of the World" and I also started watching Glee! I think Cory Monteith (photo on the left) is hot and he makes me stay tuned to the show. I have been spending a lot this week because I have been tolerating my cravings so I tend to eat out with friends and housemates. Last night, Gans introduced me to this new place here, it's called Delecta. They're known for their bakeshop but the cafe is kinda new. I was with Gans and Ate Ayin last night, the three of us rarely go out together due to differences in schedule especially now that Ate Ayin is a senior clerk so she rarely has time at home, er, boarding house.

I like the rattan chairs, the white-painted wall and the lights. Very minimalist and simple, yet comfy and elegant.

This is called Java Blenz (yeah, minus the D). It's very sweet yet very tasty, you can separate the taste of coffee and chocolate in your tongue.

***
I am officially enrolled today for the second semester, and right now, I am chatting with my sister via FB and she's telling me about her newfound crush who IS my crush too!! She even suggested that I might as well develop an eye for crush's brother who, apparently, has a thing for me. Oh well, I'm not kilig. *rolls eyes*  Sisterette, back off. I am your Ate and that says it all. Haha! :)

multiple choice

what's loathsome about multiple choice type of exam is you're faced with limited choices. you argue with what is presented and thinks that there is a better answer. CHOOSE THE BEST ANSWER--the instruction says. but what if there are two best answers? or none of the above is the best answer, yet "none of the above" is not among the choices? this type of exam cannot gauge what you know and what you do not know, because sometimes, you studied so hard for the exam you almost lost your sanity but you are faced with confined options. you want to debate to the person who constructed the exam but there's no room for that, not even a chance. so if you flunk, it doesn't mean you're dumb, it only means: WHAT YOU CERTAINLY KNOW IS NOT ON THE CHOICES. but then again, on the brighter side, it helps to have options when you have absolutely no idea about the statement given. tee hee. and hope for God's mercy that the box you have decided to shade after a minute or two of inny-minni-miny-mooing is the right one. chamba, 'ika nga. but the point is you studied, and a mark of "JUST PASSED" is not enough after putting on too much sweat and tears for it.

procrastination

i need to constantly remind myself that:

"PROCRASTINATION IS THE GRAVE WHERE OPPORTUNITY IS BURIED."

our neuro 2 exam will be this wednesday and although there are piles of things to be done (i.e., commed family progress reports, com diag and caduceus), i don't understand why i am so not in the mood for studying when i badly want to have a good mark in this exam. i want to end this sem with a bang, but, darnits! i'm so in a sembreak-mode. can't wait for:
Dan Brown's The Last Symbol (e-book, courtesy of Ate Karla)

Jane Hamilton's A Map of the World

Rebecca Wells' Little Altars Everywhere

..and movies, movies, movies.....
in less than three months, we're saying hello to junior clinical clerkship and i don't feel ready yet. nah! if i could only hold back time.
xoxo

lush

it's a strange thought but, i reckon, mother earth can get back on its green and verdant nature if everything on it will perish so it can start all over again. the cycle of degeneration and regeneration. that'd be the end of mankind.

i'm just reminded of the movie Knowing.

On Politics

          Once in a while, we swerve out of the everyday routine that life dictates and find ourselves in situations we aren’t supposed to be in. Nevertheless, there isn’t any flickering remorse as such circumstance opened our minds and brought us into another dimension of our very existence that most medical students are heedless of. That, my friends, is the familiar word POLITICS. Yes, we hear about it everyday from the television, read political headlines on newspapers, see politicians’ faces on tarpaulins and infomercials but most medical students give them a mere shrug. Our lives revolve around the library reading books, correlating the signs and symptoms to the lab result of our patients, or digging down our cerebral cortices for the pathophysiology of the possible diagnoses jumping in and out of our heads (we’re facebook addicts too, by the way). Yes, we care, too, about our country’s governance because we are affected by our patients’ inability to buy their medicines due to poverty. We give our opinions regarding the political state of our country and find ourselves cursing the culprits of the nation’s suffering, our very own sufferings. We accuse them, the president down to the senators and the congressmen, of graft and corruption, of stealing what is supposedly for the people, of being political turncoats. We judge them just like that. Yes, I curse them and they cannot blame me.

          But I ask myself, what gave me the right other than being a natural citizen of this country to air my grievances when I haven’t even exercised my right to suffrage? I want change for the better to take place; I want a bright future for myself and for my siblings and I want to raise my future children in this country free of corruption and violence, but I dare not took the single step towards change—casting my votes during national and local elections. I had been an eligible voter for five years now and haven’t tried voting, not even once. It’s woeful, I know. It’s not my choice not to cast my vote; it’s the chaotic situation that demanded me not to do so. It’s for personal security and the realization that my right to suffrage doesn’t make any difference as obvious vote-buying and electoral manipulation seems normal as the beating of one’s heart. He who has plenty of money (which comes from god-knows-where) and who has adequate power to grip the people on their necks wins the race—it’s not about he who can bring progress to the land and can unite its people to act harmoniously as one. It is a very pitiful situation to contemplate on, making the word HOPE an illusion of the past.

          However, if I continue being an idle citizen of this nation allowing my illusion of hope to endure getting buried and trampled upon by selfish and ambitious political figures who care only about their images and their wealth, I might as well forget my delusion of a bright future and I might as well step out of medical school as all hard works shall not pay off if I continue being a passive citizen. We medical students make an implication on how we don’t care about the political happenings in the country as there are certain set of individuals responsible for political jobs the way we are responsible for treating our patients. But we must also take into consideration the web we are all moving within, that the action of the people on one side deliberately affects us on the other side.

          Hence, I encourage everyone to take a stand and get involved into the process of electing the set of people who shall run our government in the next coming years. Our choice this coming May Election will reflect on our country’s stability, our oneness as a nation, our future and most importantly, our choice will reflect what kind of people we are.

          Somehow, despite all the odds, I can see HOPE shimmering from a distance, signaling it’s not yet too late. We can do something to put a halt to our country’s suffering, thus we must act. NOW!

This time, I took the step towards my goal towards change—electoral registration. Have you?