lola revisited

Because I got home early today I went with my mother and brother to visit my lola. She recently had an accident and slipped on the bathroom floor. Although she was already checked at the hospital and had been cleared of any fractures or any other injuries, her being an octogenarian and all still complains of pain over her lower back whre she fell. I reassured her that it will eventually resolve but I also told my aunt who was staying with my dear lola to buy some pain medications. But more than that, I could sense, with a pang of guilt, that all she really wants is for her apo to visit more often. After eating some of the cookies I brought for her, I told her to rest up and promised to be back over the weekend to check on her again.

I hope she gets well soon.

pay cheque

I just received my last pay cheque today. This is because I will no longer be working for my current company. Like I stated ina previous post, I will be undergoing residency training. But before that there’s pre residency, meaning I will be working as a member of the hospital staff under the department of Internal Medicine sans payment for services rendered for a whole month and a half. So, starting tomorrow, belt tightening won’t just be to hide my bulging belly but to make sure that my money last me until I am again receiving a pay slip.

stumbling upon

It’s actually a bit absurd. Now that I’m preparing myself for post graduate residency training program, which will most likely take up most of my time (if not my life), I stumble upon some great finds in Tim Berners-Lee’s contribution to life as we know it (aka the world wide web).

Thanks to file sharing sites (the free ones that do not require you to purchase anything) I amnow able to enjoy readingsome classics that would not have been availale anywhere else, or at least available with a price tag that I can afford.

I’m still in the process of filtering out the good stuff from all the other junk, but who knows, these might actually be diamonds in the rough. For now, I shall be content with the rare finds I have uncovered and try to still live a life offline.

harvest

My mother did some gardening today. She cleaned and harvested the purple yams I planted a long time ago. They were about a kilo each now, totaling to about 10 kilos. The final fate of these root crops will most likely be a kakanin (kalamay) which my mother will be giving away for the holidays.

Funny how when I planted them, I diddn’t even think they’d grow and amount to anything of value.

I guess we are so much like these purple yams, we get planted where we are, but it takes time for us to grow needing all the help we can get but eventually we can stand on our own and eventually bloom and attain our full potentials.

endo

I got a good surprise at work today. Well, sort of. Originally, my contract of service was supposed to expire at the end of the month and so I was already making plans for November, maybe a short vacation and rest before looking for a new job somewhere else.

Imagine my surprise when the Senior HR analyst asked me to sign something. As it turned out, it was a new service agreement extending my terms of service for another 6 months.

Well, I guess I have to reschedule that vacation trip for the meantime.

On the bright side of things, I still have work for the next 6 months!

P.S.

I got the title of this post from an indie film of the same title. It’s a term often used by contract workers when their contracts are about to expire (coined from “end of contract”)

Trese – Unreported Murders

Book 2

The second installment of Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo’s Trese anthologies bring to life familiar stories of urban legends and breathe new life into them as backdrops for this collection of stories in the continuing quest of Alexandra Trese and the Kambal’s dark adventures with the creatures of underworld and those which lurk among us but often only speak of in hushed whispers. The pop culture references abound, albeit disguised, but are still unmistakable and give a sense of tangibility, a realness to the stories.

Another work well done.

Watch out for Book Three, out before the year ends.

memories

“What makes a friendship special is the way each one remembers the other when they are apart. They miss the talks, the laughter, and the times they were together. Life changes, memories don’t”

I went back to my alma mater today, both undergrad and in med school. I did it for the memories. I may never take back the time lost, the words I have said, the things that I did, or worse, failed to do, but I can look back and remember.

I also went back and visited the places where we went to together. There is the pet shop where she would have taken all of the animals home if it were only possible to do so. I walked around the mall where we usually met when she did not have work. I smiled as I approach the the escalator where I always teased her to jump when we went down, the chapel where we donated the flowers I gave her when we “first” met again. Fun memories.

Then I stop in front of the coffee shop where we had our last talk. I do not enter anymore but rather trace the steps we took the last time I held her hand and said goodbye for the last time…

But I now I realize, the good memories will always overshadow the unpleasant ones. But only if I choose to do so. Sure, the unpleasant ones will always be there, but it doesn’t mean I have to wallow in sorrow because of them. I choose to remember her for what she is instead, a special part of me, and that she gave me something neither time nor anyone else can take away from me. She shared with me her precious time, she showed me how to love and be loved in return, and yes she taught me how it is to be happy once again.

Perhaps forever wasn’t meant for us, but I am glad that for a brief moment in time we had each other. I guess she was right when she said I will learn something from her and she will learn something from me. True enough, even if we didn’t endup together, I have learned to love and appreciate her even more.

(for anne)

Expeditions: Prose – The Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Vol. 1

The Book

This is definitely one of the best collection of stories I have read in a long time.

It’s a compilation of the winners and best entries in the First Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards, a joint project of Fully Booked and Neil Gaiman. The challenge posed was to encourage “Filipino Unrealism”. My personal is the story about cockroaches, radiation and a conspiracy theory in the story ‘Omega Project’.

Even without the Neil Gaiman authograph, (yes ladies and gents, my copy of the book is authographed) this book comes as a highly recommended must read.

learning to smile once more

I was doing my evening rounds of the patients I have admitted. Passing by one of the nurse stations I notice that they were wearing frowns on their faces and I reminded them that it takes 17 muscles to smile, 43 to frown. She tells me she is once again on extended tour of duty. I let her be. I continue with my rounds until I stop by another nurse station and made small talk with the satff there. Even before becoming an ER resident physician here, I have already made the acquaintance of these people primarily because my mother was confined her for a week. Long story.

Moving along.

One thing lead to another and they began asking me about the things I try not to talk about, my love life or the apparent lack thereof. I just let them be with their wild and way off theories. Of course I could have just told them the plain and simple truth, but…

Perhaps I will just talk about this in some other time.

online again

It’s been a while.

I was out of town for a week on official business. Been busy with work left undone while I was out for another week. Internet connection at home was down for almost a week. Then to top it all of, my computer caught an annoying virus that requiredd me to reformat once agin.

Pathetic excuses, i know.

At any rate, I’m back. Funny how some people don’t even know that I went offline for so long, save for a few whom I havn’t even met offline and yet I feel a certain kinship.