. : s i e s t a : .

Love is a problem itself. I know some of you are happily living with your love ones or currently having a meaningful relationship. But others are not. (Clears throat) See, there’s no perfect relationship. You may be in good terms right now but along the way you may encounter trials. Problems exist; as love exists. These may be small or worst, big. So, be careful handling it.

I know some of you are in great deal of heartache or pain right now. Honestly, I have been there too. And I am not going to tell you how painful it is ‘cause I know you know it too well.

Funny, I realized how bitter I was. And I imagined how crazy and psycho I was before. Haha! Good thing my head didn’t gave up.

Before, I have hard time of waking up and rolling out of bed in the morning. I turned off or skipped songs on my music player because every song is painful and reminds me of her. I can’t even bear to eat to the same restaurants I took her to. Sometimes, I binge eating for comfort. I even constantly check my email or mobile phone to see if she has sent me a message, think constantly why she really left, and felt massively depressed. Back then, everything in me had fallen apart. But, I am OK now.

If love failed, please know that this is not our fault. We weren’t thought this in school, right? We weren’t taught by our parents…and there is no “love fails” or “how to cope when love failed?” lessons in any classes.

The real problem about love is that it can never be learn even by the most intelligent men in the planet. This can not be learn by reading books, watching movies, listening to music, sitting in on a lecture or by reading blog entries like this. Love... Love is ONLY learn by heart.

Labels: fall, happy, life, love, me, opinion, sad, sentiment

Last night, a friend invited me to go out. We went to bonjour—a cafeteria. While I was sipping my chocolate frappe, he posed a surprising question. With a serious voice, he asked “Pare, how can I tell my girlfriend that I don’t like her facial hair?” I chuckled. Fortunately, I able to managed not to spit out the frappe I was drinking on his face. Then, I said, “When did you start dating men? Are you sure she’s a girl?” He giggled. I thought he got offended. But seriously, I felt his pain.

I don’t know how to help him. I can’t think of a way how to get him out of his hairy horror.

I suggested showing her girlfriend a movie in which a beautiful celebrity is having hair-removal wax strips. And I told him to break to her girlfriend gently that she would be as beautiful as the celebrity if she gave that a try. I also suggested to show some hairy horror photos to her and say “Ok na sana…problema lang may bigote sya.”

In the end, I told him that at least her girlfriend has some kind of hair. Because, wouldn’t it be freakier if she had none—as in no eye brows, eye lashes and all? Sigh. I say this is a very tough dilemma.

Labels: film, happy, life, love, opinion, sad, scary, sentiment

I was astounded by this unique masterpiece I watched from youtube. Take a few minutes watching this amazing talent of Ilana Yahav. Watch as she draws sand animations using only her finger on a glass table.

“Incredible.”

The combination of sand, lighting and music truly creates a lively, prevailing and wonderful art.

Labels: film, happy, life, love, sentiment

I was very worried about the storm yesterday. I was on the hospital; having my 10pm-6am duty. The wind was so strong that the door keeps on wobbling. I saw on the glass window how the wind bends trees and the rain flooded the road.

Many staffs had called and informed the supervisors that they won’t be able to go to work due to the bad weather. I was very anxious because I may work overtime or have straight duty due to understaffing. I’m glad it didn’t happen. The next ICU nurse on duty that day came in spite of the bad weather. After the endorsement, I hurriedly went out and prepare my umbrella. There are seldom jeepneys passing by and so I waited long for a ride.

After long minutes, a jeepney stopped. Because the rain was too heavy, I ran fast under my umbrella so I won’t get awfully wet. But as I was running, my new cell phone slept out of my pocket. Oh no! It fell and was dragged by the outpouring ground. I tried to catch it but the water current was too strong. So quick, it disappeared.

I felt miserable. Who wouldn’t? It was a birthday gift from my mom. I only used that phone for 5 days…and now, it’s gone. I am so STUPID.

Labels: fall, life, me, sad, sentiment

Yup, today is my birthday. And I am getting older. Sigh.

June 19, 2008 is Dr. Jose Rizal’s birthday too, our national hero. And because Rizal was born here in our own town, Calamba (which is now a city), there’s always a big celebration held at his house which is a tourist attraction. I remember last year, we went there; tried to join the big crowd and watched. But our patient was too short that we decided to go to other places because it was too hot and earsplitting.

June 19 is also Laguna Day, our province day. It’s always been a holiday; means, no classes, no works, no offices. That’s why, unlike others, I never celebrated my birthday in school.

Aside from me and Rizal, there are also few friends of mine whose celebrating their birthday today. They are Jonn (my bible study mate), Gene (my co-worker), Jason and Ate Itchy (which are my former classmates). I know there’re many more birthday celebrants out there aside from us. So, happy birthday too!

I thank those who telephoned and sent me SMS, IMs, and emails just to greet me. Thank you for remembering my birthday. How thoughtful and touching.

Thank you God for giving me another fruitful and meaningful year! Thank you for this challenging and yet wonderful life you are conferring. I’ll treasure this gift, life, you gave me and do my best to live the way you wanted.

Labels: faith, happy, life, me, sentiment

Today marks the 15^th anniversary of Calamba Doctors’ Hospital, where I am currently working. As part of celebration, there were programs, games and other competitions.

We have a parade this morning as an opening. Even though I came from a night duty, from 10 PM to 9 AM, I still managed to attend and join the parade. With balloons, banners and respective color team shirts, the parade began around 8 PM. It’s too early, that’s why I haven’t had the chance to go home first. What we, other night duties, did is to take a few rests and take our breakfast on a near fast food. In spite of feeling drowsy and burned under the sun, I continued walking and finished the parade.

Afterwards, there was the symbolic ceremony of lighting a torch which marked the opening of the games/competition. Yup, just like in the Olympics. Haha!

Then, there was the cheer dance competition. There were five groups in all; the Red, Violet, Blue, Green, and Orange Team (my group). Proudly, our group with a nice costumes and momentous choreography won first place. Hep-hep, Orange!

I didn’t watch all today’s program because I have to go home and sleep. Anyway, there were parlor and relay games, volleyball, basketball, etc.

Feeling lazy, I didn’t join any contest. What’s important to me is that the hospital is giving us an increase in our salary (aside from the nationwide increase). Yes! Plus, our ICU was refurnished and repainted. And the new NICU and PICU are now open.

Addendum:

I was pulled out to have duty on PICU. I am one of the first nurses to use the newest PICU. And what a coincident, our first patient is also celebrating his “15^th” birthday.

Because we haven’t been to any beach last summer, we decided to do it this June. I know we might be late for the summer. But at least, the weather these days are still hot. We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. It’s our only chance for this year—before the rainy season comes.

The meeting place was again in front of our dearest alma mater, our former school. I was the last one to come because I wasted my time searching for the camera’s USB port. And I have no cash yet, so, I have to go to an ATM. I thought I’ll be left behind. I am glad I still made it.

Because some of us haven’t seen ourselves for a long time, there were endless chit chats inside the van. The road was clear. It took us more than two hours to get to the beach. We looked for a good-looking beach resort with a good cost too.

We rented a tiny house with a kitchen, dinning table, room and comfort room. The cottage is comfy enough. And we got it for a cheap price of Php700. We also rented a boat bike for us to wander around beaches all day long for a cheap price of Php700 too. Because there’s less expenses for our stay, we have plenty of budgets for foods.

Before doing any beach activities, first, we settled and grab plates. We didn’t prepare any food for this outing; everything was bought at the nearest talipapa or small market.

With our stomach full and recharged bodies, we did the first activity—site seeing. We wandered, felt the fine sand with our feet, relaxed our eyes with the blue horizon and smelled the fresh sea breeze. Of course, there were endless picture takings.

Then, we drove the boat bike. This ride has pedals for two persons and a steer. It can accommodate up to 7 persons. While on the boat, we can see the sea bed and the corals under. The water is so clear.

The next activity was body henna tattooing. There are lots of designs to choose from. I decided to have a tribal tattoo on my nape. A boy, about 10 years old, drew the pattern on my back with a pen. Then, his older brother did the henna tattooing. My other friends have their tattoos at their biceps and on around their ankles.

We have to let the henna dried up first. So, the next activity was sun bathing. We laid and sat on the sand while letting our skins get sunburns and skin cancer. *Joking. We wore sun blocks for our protection. Then, we covered Ric with sands. We buried him alive. Haha! Afterwards, we all got sand body scrubs.

Next, we swam. The water is cool enough and colder below. You can swim well because there are only small waves. The sea bed’s sand is so fine. You can feel it with your feet’s soles. There are some portions that are rough because of the coral reefs under. We played, glide, float and stroked.

Afterward is my favorite part. We rode a fishing boat and sent us to The Little Cave Island. The ride only cost us Php500 back and forth, plus free snorkels for us to use. It took us about 15 minutes to the little cave. We were all stunned by the beauty of that place. The water is very clear—crystal clear. The cave is said to be the nest of fisher birds. It has awesome boulders and bounty fine-looking sea shells. The place is breathtaking…a perfect time for picture taking. Haha!

I caught live sea shells (small creatures called, “I don’t know”) which I brought home. I placed it on my small aquarium with my little soft shelled turtle.

The next best thing we did was snorkeling. We grabbed snorkels and goggles. Then, jump to the sea. Wow! The coral reef is so splendid. There are corals with different colors, shapes and sizes. There are small fishes which seem to be playing around with you. But if you tried to hold them, they would swim away. Some creatures I saw were clown fish, angel fish, sword fish and star fish. (Sigh.) The underwater world is so dazzling. It feels like were on a giant aquarium.

After that underwater adventure, we went back to the resort. We took merienda or snack. Minutes later, we went back to the water for our last swim. About 6pm, we all decided to have our fresh water bath/shower and dressed up.

We saw the spectacular sunset. The sun seems to be a giant orange basket ball. We all hate to leave but we have to say goodbye to beach…and drove way back home.

But, our journey didn’t stop there. Going back home, we decided to have our dinner on an also famous place in Batangas, at Tagaytay. The place is similar to our country’s summer capital city, Baguio. Tagaytay is a high land where you can view the smallest volcano in a middle of a lake called Taal.

We had our dinner at Mushroom Burger. It’s a popular restaurant that uniquely serves cultured mushroom dishes. I ordered mushroom beef and 100% mushroom burger, their specialty. Hmm…yummy! You must taste these burgers. They are not just delicious but nutritious as well. Trust me. (Endorser? Haha!)

We all went home safely with our body tired, hearts filled with joy, and faces painted with smile. This had been another happy and unforgettable bonding moment for us. Actually, on our way home, we are already wondering and planning for when and where will be our next outing. We all can’t wait.

For more photos, click the link below:

Nurses' Day Out at Batangas Multiply Photo Album

Labels: food, happy, life, me, nursing, sentiment, summer, travel

I have been gone for a long while and I am finally back. I had been to Bicol with my family. It took us 13 hours to be there. We traveled by land. But if you travel by a domestic plane, it will just take you few minutes. But, it’s very expensive.

The last time we went to Bicol was few years ago. And Bicol now seems to be just the same as before, for me. Though, some roads are now solid, my favorite hanging bridge is now concrete and the padyak is now motored tricyle. There were few developments, but still Bicol is a bucolic province. It’s a province dominated by rich and fertile rice lands. Aside from its plains, Bicol is generally hilly and mountainous. It also has many rivers, lakes, bays, mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, caves and spring. I am very lucky to see these beautiful and interesting spots again. One of my favorite spot is the majestic world’s nearly perfect cone Mayon Volcano. I am glad to see Mt. Mayon still with its perfect cone shape after many eruptions.

I was also fascinated by the Philippine’s 2^nd tallest mountain, the Mt. Isarog. It’s an inactive volcano which has a rich diversity of flora and fauna.

I also found out that Bicol has its leaning tower too, similar to The Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s called Leaning Tower of Milaor. It’s a beautiful and strong stone tower composed of three layers stood. I was curious about what’s inside the tower but I didn’t attempt to go inside. I was scared the tower might fall down.

Naga City is the nearest city where we stayed at. It was said that it is the heart of Bicol. It’s a commercial center and it’s where we often shop and buy foods. Naga is erected with many catholic churches mostly housed with image of Virgin Mary.

What I missed most to Bicol is its spicy dishes, called “Bicol Express”. Due to abundance of chili plants, it’s been a custom that foods in Bicol are generally spicier. Eating them is very challenging for me. But, it will really increase your appetite and will make you eat lusciously. Other famous native foods I ate here are rock n roll (colorful banana chips), Naga’s toasted siopao, pili nuts (found in Pili town) and the famous smallest edible fish, which is the tabios or sinarapan (found in Lake Buhi and Bato).

The people and culture of Bicol never changed. They are still very hospitable and entertaining. They are very joyful and kind. They still live with so many pamanhiin or superstitious beliefs.

I still find hard times of learning its dialect. But, I have learned few words and can understand few phrases when they were talking to me in Bikolano.

My stay at Bicol seems to be living from the past. There were no TV, DVD, music player and internet. But I enjoyed that simple way of living. Eating with my bear hands, sleeping inside the kulambo or mosquito net, and taking bath on farm’s water irrigation are my blissful experience in Bicol. It’s the place I would love to go back to. See you again, Bicolanos!;)

Labels: food, happy, life, me, summer, travel

I am going to a very far land. It will be an extremely long travel. So, I’ll be gone for few days. I hope to connect to this cyber world when I got there.
I am packing my baggage right now…and be leaving early in the morning.

HS friends, sorry I won’t be able to attend our reunion.
Workmates, I’ll miss you all.
To my dog, please safeguard our house.;)

Alright, see you soon, guys!

Labels: life, me, summer

"Let me explain the problem science has with Jesus Christ." The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Christian, aren't you, son?"

"Yes, sir."

"So you believe in God?"

"Absolutely."

"Is God good?"

"Sure! God's good."

"Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?"

"Yes."

"Are you good or evil?"

"The Bible says I'm evil."

The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BIBLE!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help them? Would you try?"

"Yes sir, I would."

"So you're good...!"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could... in fact most of us would if we could...God doesn't." [No answer.] "He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?" [No answer] The elderly man is sympathetic. "No, you can't, can you?" He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. In philosophy, you have to go easy with the new ones. "Let's start again, young fella.....Is God good?"

"Er... Yes."

"Is Satan good?"

"No."

"Where does Satan come from?"

The student falters. "From... God..."

"That's right. God made Satan, didn't he?" The elderly man runs his bony fingers through his thinning hair and turns to the smirking, student audience. "I think we're going to have a lot of fun this semester, ladies and gentlemen." He turns back to the Christian. "Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?"

"Yes, sir."

"Evil's everywhere, isn't it? Did God make everything?"

"Yes."

"Who created evil? [No answer] "Is there sickness in this world? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All the terrible things - do they exist in this world? "

The student squirms on his feet. "Yes."

"Who created them?" [No answer] The professor suddenly shouts at his student. "WHO CREATED THEM? TELL ME, PLEASE!" The professor closes in for the kill and climbs into the Christian's face. In a still small voice: "God created all evil, didn't He, son?" [No answer]

The student tries to hold the steady, experienced gaze and fails. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace the front of the classroom like an aging panther. The class is mesmerized. "Tell me," he continues, "how is it that this God is good if He created all evil throughout all time?" The professor swishes his arms around to encompass the wickedness of the world. "All the hatred, the brutality, all the pain, all the torture, all the death and ugliness and all the suffering created by this good God is all over the world, isn't it, young man?" [No answer] "Don't you see it all over the place? Huh?" [Pause] "Don't you?" The professor leans into the student's face again and whispers, "Is God good?" [No answer] "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?"

The student's voice betrays him and cracks. "Yes, professor. I do."

The old man shakes his head sadly. "Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen your Jesus?"

"No, sir. I've never seen Him."

"Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?"

"No, sir. I have not."

"Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus...in fact, do you have any sensory perception of your God whatsoever?" [No answer] "Answer me, please."

"No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't."

"You're AFRAID...you haven't?"

"No, sir."

"Yet you still believe in him?"

"...Yes..."

"That takes FAITH!" The professor smiles sagely at the underling. "According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Where is your God now?" [The student doesn't answer] "Sit down, please."

The Christian sits...Defeated.



--------------------------------------...



Another Christian raises his hand. "Professor, may I address the class?"

The professor turns and smiles. "Ah, another Christian in the vanguard! Come, come, young man. Speak some proper wisdom to the gathering."

The Christian looks around the room. "Some interesting points you are making, sir. Now I've got a question for you. Is there such thing as heat?"

"Yes," the professor replies. "There's heat."

"Is there such a thing as cold?"

"Yes, son, there's cold too."

"No, sir, there isn't."

The professor's grin freezes. The room suddenly goes very cold.

The second Christian continues. "You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold, otherwise we would be able to go colder than 458 - You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. Because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just..," [Silence fills the room] "...the absence of it." [More silence. A pin drops somewhere in the classroom.] "Is there such a thing as darkness, professor?"

"That's a dumb question, son. What is night if it isn't darkness? What are you getting at...?"

"So you say there is such a thing as darkness?"

"Yes..."

"You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something, it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, Darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker and give me a jar of it. Can you...give me a jar of darker darkness, professor?"

Despite himself, the professor smiles at the young effrontery before him. This will indeed be a good semester. "Would you mind telling us what your point is, young man?"

"Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with and so your conclusion must be in error...."

The professor goes toxic. "Flawed...? How dare you...!"

"Sir, may I explain what I mean?" The class is all ears.

"Explain...oh explain..." The professor makes an admirable effort to regain control. Suddenly he is affability itself. He waves his hand to silence the class, for the student to continue.

"You are working on the premise of duality," the Christian explains. "That for example there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science cannot even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood them. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, merely the absence of it."

The young man holds up a newspaper he takes from the desk of a neighbor who has been reading it. "Here is one of the most disgusting tabloids this country hosts, professor. Is there such a thing as immorality?"

"Of course there is, now look..."

"Wrong again, sir. You see, immorality is merely the absence of morality. Is there such thing as injustice? No. Injustice is the absence of justice. Is there such a thing as evil?" The Christian pauses. "Isn't evil the absence of good?" [The teacher is temporarily speechless.] The Christian continues. "If there is evil in the world, professor, and we all agree there is, then God, if he exists, must be accomplishing a work through the agency of evil. What is that work, God is accomplishing? The Bible tells us it is to see if each one of us will, of our own free will, choose good over evil."

The professor bridles. "As a philosophical scientist, I don't view this matter as having anything to do with any choice; as a realist, I absolutely do not recognize the concept of God or any other theological factor as being part of the world equation because God is not observable."

"I would have thought that the absence of God's moral code in this world is probably one of the most observable phenomena going," the Christian replies. "Newspapers make billions of dollars reporting it every week! Tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?"

"If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do."

"Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?" [The professor makes a sucking sound with his teeth and gives his student a silent, stony stare.] "Professor. Since no-one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an ongoing endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a priest?"

"I'll overlook your impudence in the light of our philosophical discussion. Now, have you quite finished?" the professor hisses.

"So you don't accept God's moral code to do what is righteous?"

"I believe in what is-that's science!"

"Ahh! SCIENCE!" the student's face splits into a grin. "Sir, you rightly state that science is the study of observed phenomena. Science too is a premise which is flawed..."

"SCIENCE IS FLAWED?" the professor splutters. The class is in uproar.

The Christian remains standing until the commotion has subsided. "To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, may I give you an example of what I mean?" [The professor wisely keeps silent.] The Christian looks around the room. "Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?" The class breaks out in laughter.The Christian points towards his elderly, crumbling tutor. "Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain...felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain?" No one appears to have done so. The Christian shakes his head sadly. "It appears no-one here has had any sensory perception of the professor's brain whatsoever. Well, according to the rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science, I DECLARE that the professor has no brain."


The class is in chaos. The Christian sits... Because that is what a chair is for.

Labels: faith, life, opinion