Brush Spa

Guess who just got pampered?!!

Haha! I was reading my good friend Jehan's blog  when I found out about her kikay regimen. I never had an entry about my kikay stuff because they're NOT worth blogging!! Haha! For two years now, I've been using affordable Korean products, particularly the ones from The Faceshop after my former co-intern Patricia introduced them to me.  I also want stuff from Skin Food but they're so pricey!!! Haha! Poorita me. 

This afternoon, while reading Jeh's blog, I suddenly thought of cleaning my makeup brushes but I don't know how to do it without ruining their fragile strands. So I sought help from HERE.  

According to Lauren Conrad, here’s the right way to deep clean your makeup brushes…

You will need:
• A shallow bowl
• Gentle clarifying shampoo or baby shampoo
• Your sink
• A lint free cloth

Instructions:

1. Begin by running your brushes under lukewarm water, rinsing out all of the residual makeup. Try to focus on the actual bristles while avoiding the part of the brush where handle meets the head, as this can loosen the glue over time
2. Fill a bowl with lukewarm water and a squirt of shampoo, and gently swirl your brush tip in the water. If you need to, you can also swirl the brush in the palm of your hand to work up a lather.
3. Rinse the brush tip under running water once again. Repeat steps two and three until the water runs clear from the brush,
4. Use a cloth to wipe your brush clean, reshaping the bristles as you go.
5. Lay your brushes flat on a cloth to dry.

And there you have it! Your makeup brushes will be as clean a whistle. It’s also worth mentioning that there are specially formulated brush shampoos on the market. A gentle clarifying or baby shampoo will do the trick just fine though.

I just did what the instructions said and voila!! my brushes were as fresh as a lady out of the shower and they smelled like my hair. Haha! 

Get that sickly bone working, my love! C'mon!

Knowing that your better-half is down with a potentially fatal disease and you cannot do anything to alleviate his discomfort is such a downer. Really. This long-distance relationship is taking its toll on both of us. If I could only turn back the hands of time, I shouldn't have applied for the First Gentleman Foundation to get that scholarship so I won't get into the Doctors to the Barrios Program so I can take care of my love. Oh Regrets, get off my thoughts.

Ever since I got married and having acquainted to the obligations of a wife under the Islamic law, my life plans were shaken. Instead of pursuing residency right after the DTTB Program, I have decided to join my husband in his Post so we can start a family and stay there until he gets recalled back in 2016 . Diplomats live a rather flexible life and being married to one means I need to adjust my selfish life priorities and go with the pliability. A two-year long distance relationship is too much to take. We're married for six months now but two-thirds of the whole time was spent on BBM (blackberry messenger) and Wechat. Well, thanks to the power of technology for keeping us in touch every single day despite the distance and the difference in time. However, physical presence is still A MUST for every married couple. No amount of BBM-ing or Wechat-ing can be compared to physical presence. If we are physically together, we can just sit and sip our coffee in silence, do our things individually but still feeling a sense of tranquility. We need to be together to fulfill our obligations to one another. That's the very essence of our marriage---to be together through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. And sadly, I breached it. Being far away from him especially now that he's sick gradually kills me. I take commitments seriously so when I committed myself to the DTTB Program, I stick to it even though I thought of leaving it a hundred times to fly to Nigeria. It appears to him as if I chose my work over him, but the truth is, I cannot leave a commitment just like that. The same feeling of loyalty and faithfulness I have for him. I tell him over and over again that immediately after the DTTB Program, I am all his. 100% his. InshaaAllah. 

God knows how much I terribly miss Jabar. This post can get mushy but he's the answer to my prayers.  He's the perfect person to tone down the hidden harshness of my character and at the same time he brings out the best in me. We share the same values but with contrasting educational background (he's a CPA and I'm a physician), our minds are wired differently. I love that I learn a lot from him, especially on the business side which I totally lack knowledge of, in the same way that he learns a lot from me. I miss how he delivers his tambay jokes which cracks me up almost instantly. I don't know if its just the hormones during the first phase of marriage but Jab never bored me out. I can talk to him all day and night without a dull moment. Or am I just like that to everybody? Haha! 

Breakfast at Grand Men Seng Hotel, Davao City. March 2013.

Oh c'mon Love, stretch your spine and shove those malaria parasites away!!!! Get here ASAP so I can boast my newly-learned cooking skills and we can do endless foodtrips!!!

Malaria Strikes!

Malaria is a parasitic infection that is endemic in tropical countries including Nigeria, where my husband Jabar works. He was having chills two days ago and low-grade fever accompanied by body malaise. I was already contemplating on malaria but I was in denial initially. This is his second bout of infection so he must have known the symptoms. He was telling me it could be malaria, I told him to observe it for 24 hours and have supportive treatment first. Forty eight hours later, his symptoms didn't relent so he took blood smearing test for malaria. His result is (+2). Subhanallah! Confirmed. 

Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by infection with Plasmodium protozoa transmitted by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. It has a high mortality rate if untreated but has an excellent prognosis if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. Apparently, uncomplicated cases of malaria in Nigeria does not call for immediate hospital admission. In fact, Jabar bought the meds (artemether/lumefantrin or Coartem) over-the-counter.

How do we prevent malaria? I've been constantly reminding Jabar to always put on Off lotion and use mosquito nets when he sleeps. But he can be stubborn sometimes, even feeling invincible. The only way to prevent is by wearing protective clothings, using insect repellent lotions and sprays and using bed nettings soaked in insecticides (yes, they are commercially available). Drug prophylaxis can be taken by travelers to places with high malarial endemicity. Presently, no vaccine has been approved to prevent malaria but scientific studies on the vaccine is already on its way. 

Jabar finished his first day of treatment (treatment lasts for 3 days with a total of 24 tablet intakes) and is experiencing the worst side effects---headache, dizziness and loss of appetite. And I feel so bad that I'm not even there to see over and take care of him. If I could have the power of teleportation, I would do so in an instant. :( Right now, I can only offer my prayers and making sure that he's taking his meds on time. 

Please get well soon, my love. 

The Complainant

This is perhaps normal for people who extended their adolescent stage and woke up one day, forced to act like an adult, and thrown into the world of the unknown. It wasn't normal for me to complain for the things happening in my everyday life, I grew up to accept all the tiny bits thrown my way. And then all of a sudden, boom! the opacity of life disappeared and I got to see through it and saw the crippled form in everything. Here are the list of things I complain about almost EVERY SINGLE DAY.

1. My brothers' messy stuff thrown all over the house.

I hate it when upon arriving at home, they'd leave their bags at the sala, used (and smelly) socks on the floor, and leaving their shoes wherever they feel like taking it off. Why the hell can't they just bring their stuff inside their rooms because I seriously do not care if their rooms looks like a storm had came to pass. Just please spare the sala. 

2. The unruly pedicab drivers in Marawi City.

Oh, Marawi City. I love my homeland, no doubt, that's why I struggled and did my best to get pulled out from Maguindanao and transfer my area of assignment here in Lanao del Sur to be able to enjoy the cool weather and the company of my family. BUT, everyday I am bombarded with unpleasant sights and experiences making Marawi a loathsome place to live in. For one, the unruly, choosy and abusive pedicab drivers. Our main means of public transpo here are pedicabs and jeepneys. They know nothing of road rules and etiquette. Oh, almost everybody here including jeepney drivers and even owners of private cars. Pedicabs are like parasites that infested the entire city (the cityhood of this place must be revoked) and even creeping into my beloved MSU. There are NO traffic lights and NO policemen to regulate the flow of the traffic. Sometimes, you can see policemen standing under the shade, watching the cars go by or try to regulate the traffic by waving their uncoordinated hands causing more knotting of the traffic. 

3. No proper disposal and collecting of garbage in Marawi City.

 Wherever you go, it is impossible not to notice mountain of stinky garbage and even spewed on the roads catching attention. I sometimes wonder where are the people that we have voted for public office. Where are those who promised to give their public service? Why are they not doing something about this? And why are the people so irresponsible to be just throwing their wastes wherever they want to? No shame, at all?  

In my own home, my father taught us since we were kids to separate our trash into biodegradable and non-biodegradable (true!!!). The biodegradables are thrown into a pit at our backyard and the non-bios are either recycled, burnt or sold to junk buyer passerbys.  

Our beloved public servants, how do you feel when you go out of your house and greeted by the stench of trash at the corner of your street? Do you just look and drive past it? No concern at all? 

4.  About my job as a Doctor to the Barrio in ARMM. 

I can probably write a whole novel about my job but let me start on how the DOH central office made us contractuals instead of having plantilla items which was enjoyed by senior DTTBs. Being on a contractual status bereft us of the benefits that we deserve including hazard pay in which we are fully entitled of. Our workload has no difference with that of our seniors, the only difference is that we are being treated unjustly by the agency which is supposed to take care of us considering that we are being fed to the lions in the geographically isolated areas in the country. 

Being a DTTB is worse due to the mandatory political ties in implementation of  the health programs but it is worst in ARMM. I am sorry to say this and to frustrate each and everyone who, like me, was very hopeful in trying to initiate change in the community. It appeared to me how powerful politics is, not just in the political arena per se, but in public agencies as well. Life in the Philippines revolves around dirty politics but worst in ARMM.

Almost a year later, being a doctor to the barrio is far from the fulfilling job I expect it to be. I was pulled out from my area in Maguindanao due to the erratic peace and order situation (political war) and I was subtly ousted by the local chief executive himself (aka Mayor) after defending my staff on our absence at the RHU during the heat of the midterm election period where firefight encounters occur almost everyday. Truth be told, nobody wants to risk his life for a nonsense reason (read: political greed). That untoward incident deserves a whole entry. Nevertheless, I got transferred to Lanao del Sur (Alhamdulillah!) in the comfort of home and of my family. I am still waiting for my next deployment. 

One year left for DTTB and I can plan my life again with my love. :)

               

Look at you, poor thingy. 

How you've gathered inch-thick dust and  cobwebs. 

I haved missed you so dearly. 

Love,

Aziza