Archive for October, 2007

Vacation

Friday, October 26th, 2007

I am on leave for a week! Yey! No follow-up, No general clinic, No pay consults, No duties, No ED clinic for one whole week! Wow, I can stay in bed as late as I want to without the guilt… Hmmmm….. But of course, I will be studying…. Gosh, buti nalang I am a nerd and I actually like studying and reading my ophtha books and learning new stuff…. I am actually looking forward to go back to CS library to study, where I spent most of my time reviewing for the boards before… Baka lang, I will rediscover there the perseverance and productivity to be able to review for the USMLE for long hours. Bugger.

My top 3 favorite coffee shops

Friday, October 26th, 2007

Who doesn’t like free stuff…. free dinners, sample meds, gift items that come along when you purchase a bottle of perfume, free make-up makeovers…. I’ve long been on the hunt for coffeeshops with free parking and free wi-fi. So far I’ve found 3. First is Figaro in front of ever commonwealth which is most accessible to me when I’m in Quezon City. Parking’s free and on weekends, you can avail of their wi-fi for unlimited period for a minimum single purchase of P200 of their products. I usually order their white chocolate mocha (which sadly comes in 1 size only) and their pasta arrabiata. Sadly too, they’ve phased out or modified 3 of my favorite orders: grilled eggplant sandwich, chocolate cake and peanut-butter bar. So my selection has been pretty much limited at Figaro. I love Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Tomas Morato the best. Free parking is more difficult especially during peak hours and less safer. I’ve heard and read so many carnapping and “bukas-pinto” stories in that area. But wi-fi is free and fast 24/7. Plus the diners are mostly law or medical students working on their laptops or studying over their books, just like me. I like their teas and since I’m relatively new to Coffee Bean, I’m trying out their different dishes and drinks. In Manila, I recently discovered that Seattle’s Best Coffee near Harrisons has free wi-fi connection. Although it is not as fast as in the first 2 coffeeshops I mentioned. For my palate, Seattle’s makes the best white chocolate mocha drink.
However, the downside of studying at coffeeshops with free wifi and parking is the short hours I actually get to study because of the distractions of the net and limewire. Oh well.
(I am in search of a starbucks branch with these 2 criteria.)

Senior year

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

“Uy lala, senior na tayo next year,” I would have followed this with a hyena-like pang-asar laugh. Ang bilis ng panahon. Time INDEED flies. Lala and I were blockmates during our internship year and became fast friends when we found out we enjoyed stalking people, especially our senior residents! “May stalkers din kaya tayo, Lala?!?!” I would ask her and follow it with another yelp and bellow. Nyahahaha.

LSS by carissa

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

“Last Boy Syndrome”

What is it in our brains that makes us think of one song, or one boy, over and over and over and over and over again?
Is it a melody or a rhythm? Or a face or a voice that’s on repeat mode long after our ipods have run out of batt?
They say you never stop thinking about a boy until you meet a new one. You never stop humming a song ’til you hear another one.
So sing me a new song.

This was published by my new-yorker-published-writer-author cousin carissa in her blog.

I find this so true. And kahit na the boy is as baduy and jologs as the song you curse yourself to be sometimes stuck with, that baduy boy will persist in your mind try as you might to get him or the stupid music out of your mind. hand me something hard to hit my head with pls!

to read more from my cousin carissa’s blog, follow this link, which i suggest you do….
http://carissavillacorta.blogs.friendster.com/rollercoaster_ride/

fire in the building

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

it has been a year or more since my last blog. a few of my friends (a handful at most!) have been asking why i don’t write anymore. i’ve become shy and uninspired i guess.

let’s see what have i been up to lately?!?

i did my first corneal transplant surgery last week! a little yabang lang. actually it was a lost eye following a very severe infection from poor contact lens use. imagine that! so the service consultant decided to give me the procedure as P-R-A-C (can i actually publish this?) anyway, i was assisted by a fellow and the service senior naman. the surgery took 4.5 hours, i removed the lens as well, did a segmental iridectomy and anterior vitrectomy but i might as well had completely vitrectomized the eye sa big glob of vitreous that went out. but finishing the surgery at 730pm na ako ang gumawa ng surgery is way better than going home at the same time na naghihintay lang like i did when i was a first year. pero i realized too, grabe, mas madali mag-follow-up kaysa mag-opera and i catch myself shaking my head on all the complaints i had back then. tsk. tsk. tsk.

ow, and last saturday we had a fire scare at rob.i didnt want to get out of bed yet at 10am and i told my mom i will drive the car to the repair shop at 10 am! i was awake, too lazy to move when someone rang the doorbell multiple times. I was like “exag, who could that be?!?” I opened the door and there were 3 maintenance boys outside, one was already taking to my next door neighboor. He told me to abandon my unit and use the exit. Naturally i was confused. The hallway was filled with smoke, the 3rd guy was coughing na. I asked why. He answered there’s fire in the building. It still didn’t quite hit me. Parang i reiterated to him what he told me to do, “Abandon the unit? I can’t use the elevator? Stairs ako? Can i take my car with me out of the building?” He said yes, yes, yes, yes. Unbelievable! So i closed the door again, went back to my bedroom, changed into a more decent clothes, decided i don’t have time to wash my face or brush my teeth anymore (which i will later regret!), grabbed my laptop bag (because i have my research proposal saved in there and i was scheduled to present in 4 days) and my instrument set (na mostly ay utang pa), towel and extra shirt. i was planning to bathe and change in sentro. plus i could use the towel to cover my face if it gets mausok like they do in the movies! and so i locked my unit and headed for the stairs, where surprisingly was somewhat empty except for 3 or 4 voices behind me. it was scary, i was a bit panicky but i had to keep my composure and think with my mind. when i got to the 5th floor where my car is parked, i saw people taking the elevator to go up the building but the parking was unordinarily busy that time. There were people in their pambahay hopping into their cars and leaving the building. So i got more comfused. My imagination got wild. Did someone plant smoke in my floor to convince the residents to evacuate their units then eventually robbing them? yes, parang movies. So when i got out of the building i drove past our lobby, saw there are indeed firetrucks out front and the lobby was packed with people in their pambahay, with plastics of whathaveyous in their hands. Baka may sunog nga. So i started calling my friends who live in the building…. edhel, jen, liz, trina…. and my mom to inform her what is happening. Edhel who lives on the 21st floor was unaware. Buti nalang she didn’t think i was joking again this time when i told her the building might be on fire, especially after the prank lala and i pulled on her 1 or 2 weeks ago and she got really pissed. Got to sentro. Yes, i had fresh out of bed hair, with eye discharge pa! Eeeewwwww!!!! So anyway, they were able to control the small fire, nakabalik din agad kami sa building and the entire experience has turned into a blog entry.

this has been a long article, quite detailed too actually. i suddenly became chatty.