Coco Martin: A Fine Young Actor

As I stayed at home and recuperate from my rashes I was consumed by boredom and laziness. I opened my television and started watching my teleseryes.

Having followed the new series of "Nagsimula sa Puso" which starred Coco Martin, my favorite actor, as Carlo Pagdanganan who got obsessed with his college teacher Celina Fernandez, portrayed by Maja Salvador, I just couldn't get off my eyes with Coco. He really acts good and portrays his roles excellently and professionally.

I seldom put my best admiration to a very good actor but I think Coco Martin is the best among the rest and the rest among the best. I just can't get over him everytime I am watching him portraying his different roles.

From the mere tic of his handsome face when he emotes, the believable trickle of real tears from his tantalizing eyes, and the life-like quivering of his beautiful thin lips, everything were exquisitely and surreally done.

My hat's off to his good professional acting! I couldn't look for more and for an excellence in acting other than Coco's portrayal of his different roles.

I first noticed his good acting prowess in "Tayong Dalawa", a former ABS-CBN primetime series where he definitely accentuated his villainous role with a very exquisite and believable dramatic acting which propelled and catapulted the show to the top all over the country. The show was been clamored number one in the mainstream primetime Filipino television.

He had stamped himself into the list of the greatest young actors and was branded as the one to be reckoned for and to be watched out to most likely succeed in the Philippine cinema.

His first debut film "Masahista", a gay-indie-flick earned him the title as the Prince of Indie Films.

All through out his life he already made more than fourteen highly rated independent films which even fortified his dramatic acting and made him into a finesse and very accomplished actor.
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I've searched his bio-data in Wikipedia and I wanted to include and share it here. Here it goes:

Coco Martin (born Rodel Nacianceno in real life) is a Filipino actor, dubbed as "The Indie Prince of Philippine Independent Cinema" having been cast in numerous critically acclaimed or award-winning independent films.

He started out in showbiz as one of the members of Star Circle Batch 9 of Philippine media giant, ABS-CBN. Although managed by ABS-CBN’s talent management agency, Star Magic, his career didn’t really take off as he decided to finish his education.

He has appeared in several TV commercials (i.e., BPI, Globe, Smart) before breaking into showbiz with his debut film Masahista (Masseur) which won him the Young Critics Circle Best Actor Award in 2006. He also starred in Kaleldo (Summer Heat) in 2006.

Early in 2007, Coco became an exclusive artist of GMA Network, and appeared in several GMA TV shows starting with Daisy Siete Season 15. He is also a member of the boy-group The Studs. He was also seen in the independent gay-oriented film Daybreak with Paolo Rivero.

And now a big actor of "Nagsimula sa Puso" with Maja Salvador after a big break at "Tayong Dalawa" with Gerald Anderson and Jake Cuenca as their older brother.

In 2008, he returned to ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation as an exclusive artist and became a prominent celebrity appearing in major TV drama series.

Currently, he is part of the cast of the primetime drama series Tayong Dalawa (The Two of Us) with Kim Chiu,Gerald Anderson and Jake Cuenca where he portray as the main antagonist.

Recently, he is starring in his new soap opera call "Nagsimula sa Puso" with Maja Salvador, Jason Abalos and Nikki Gil.

He is now the newest added member of Star Magic
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So to Mr. Coco Martin, I salute you for being a fine young actor. I know you have a bright future lying ahead of you with the innate and raw talent you have.

For sure, I know you've learned a lot from your past mistakes, struggles, adversities, and wrong decisions before and I also know these experiences had helped brought you where you are now because you know how to look back to where you started.

This kind of positive attitude will help you achieve more high-end success and memorable acquaintances which will guide you in your ever growing showbiz career.

God will always be with you every where you go. And with your fine young raw and professional talent I know you deserved more than that.

Just be patient and learn to love your work and craft because I know God is always good to you. I hope your newly found success won't go to your head and change you.

I hope you won't disappoint your fans expectations and hope you will live up with their expectations.

Your family and friends must be proud of you as well as your fans.  My long hat is really off for your extreme profesionalism. And I hope we could meet someday, if God willing.

Take care and good luck to your career. More success to you! Cheers!

ER Bound

It was kinda funny having acquired a lot of medical knowledge in my whole lifetime and made myself paranoid about a certain situation or illness making me diagnosed myself for a certain disorder of disease. This just happened to me recently and I freaked out.

I woke up last Sunday with a small pimple underneath my right breast and a slight pain around my right torso radiating  from my back to front.

I felt like some little bubbles intermittently popped on the skin of my affected trunk. It was extremely excruciating and caused a wavelike pin-pricked pain sensations on that side. I couldn't even bend my back that well. It was a very aweful position to be with.

Then the next day, I noticed some red-raised-rash with tiny-and-grainy-fluid-filled vesicles. I was so alarmed because it was only situated on the front and back of the right side of my torso situated along the nipple line looking like a stripe line across the mid-section of my chest. It was so red, tender, warm, and extremely painful but never itchy initially.

The pain was nagging me so much. It was so debilitating and disabling. It was even constant and making my life a lot miserable. I was moving my body as a one unit acting like a battery-operated robot. It was an aweful feeling and difficult to look at.

I had a very bad feeling about this. It was so alarming, too, so I grabbed my iPhone, punched the Wikipedia application and typed the word shingles then read the literature about Herpes Zoster commonly called "shingles".

Wikipedia says: "Herpes Zoster  or Shingles is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a limited area on one side of the body, often in a stripe.

The initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV) causes the acute illness chickenpox, and generally occurs in children and young people. Once an episode of chickenpox has resolved, the virus is not eliminated from the body but can go on to cause shingles - an illness with very different symptoms - often many years after the initial infection."

Furthermore it says that; "Varicella zoster virus can become latent in the nerve cell bodies and less frequently in non-neuronal satellite cells of dorsal root, cranial nerve or autonomic ganglion, without causing any symptoms.

In an immunocompromised individual, perhaps years or decades after a chickenpox infection, the virus may break out of nerve cell bodies and travel down  nerve axons to cause a viral infection of the skin in the region of the nerve.

The virus may spread from one or more ganglia along nerves of an affected segment and infect the corresponding dermatome (an area of skin supplied by one spinal nerve) causing a painful rash. Although the rash usually heals within two to four weeks, some sufferers experienced residual nerve pain for months or years, a condition called postherpetic neuralgia. Exactly how the virus remains latent in the body, and subsequently reactivates is not understood."

The pathophysiology further explains that the causative agent for herpes zoster is varicella zoster virus (VZV), a double-stranded DNA virus related to Herpes simplex virus group. Most people are infected with this virus as children, and suffer from an episode  of chickenpox.

The immune system eventually eliminates the virus from most locations, but it remains dormant or latent in the ganglia adjacent to the spinal cord called the dorsal root ganglion or the ganglion semilunare in the base of the skull. Repeated attacks of herpes zoster are rare, and it is extremely rare for patients to suffer more than three recurrences.

Herpes zoster occurs only in people who have had chickenpox, and although it can occur at any age, the majority of sufferers are more than 50 years old. The disease results fom the virus reactivating in a single sensory ganglion.

The virus had not been recovered from human nerve cells by cell culture and the location and structure of the viral DNA is not known. Virus-specific proteins continue to be made by the infected cells during the latent period, so true latency, as opposed to a chronic low-level infection, has not been proven.  Although VZV has been detected in autopsies of nervous tissue, there are no methods to find dormant virus in the ganglia in living people.

Unless the immune system is compromised, it suppresses reactivation of the virus and prevents herpes zoster. Why this suppression sometimes fails is poorly understood. but herpes zoster is more likely to occur in people whose immune system is impaired due to aging, immunosuppressive therapy, psychological stress, or other factors.

Upon reactivation, the virus replicates  in the nerve cells, and  virions are shed from the cells and carried down the axons to the area of the skin served by that ganglion. In the skin, the virus causes local inflammation and blisters. The short and  long-term pain caused by herpes zoster comes from the widespread growth of the virus in the infected nerves, which causes inflammation.

The symptoms of herpes zoster cannot be transmitted to another person. However, during the blister phase, direct contact with the rash can spread VZV to a person who has no immunity to the virus. The newly-infected individual may  then develop chickenpox, but will not immediately develop shingles.

Until the rash has developed crusts, a person is extremely contagious. A person is also not  infectious before blisters appear, or during postherpetic neuralgia (pain after the rash is gone). The person is no longer contagious after the virus has disappeared.

I tried to self-medicate myself with two tablets of over-the-counter Ibuprofen to at least help me taper down the excruciating pain but it didn't even helped. I called my best friend from school and she recommended for me to make a short visit to the emergency room. I was so helpless that time and was still battling whether I should make a visit to ER or not.

I was kinda vehement at first but I can't wait for my doctor's appointment which was scheduled on Tuesday anymore. Plus the fact that the rash had tiny little blisters with fluid-like vesicles and had spread already all over my lower right chest but never crossed the mid-spine. And the excruciating pain had renderred me handicapped so much so I kept thinking it over a lot of times whether I will seek the much needed and immediate medical help.

I debated it several thousand times whether I will drive myself to the emergency room and finally I succumbed and surrendered from brushing it off because in the first place the extreme pain was so inadvertently intolerable anymore. So I finally gave up from over-thinking and debating not to have myself seek an emergent physician's help.

As I drove myself towards Good Samaritan Hospital ER, the pain greatly intensified everytime I moved. I felt like a log trying to protect my right side from not moving, and I was already hyperventilating while I was driving because the pain really kills me.

I was already crying when I came out of the parking lot and walked slowly towards the hospital's entrance trying to eased up my nagging pain and anesthetized myself from the cold breeze of the afternoon Pacific autumn air.

I finally arrived at the hospital's lobby and tried to slowly walked more to the other side of the building where the ER is located.

Then I registered myself and waited for my name to be called. I waited for more than an hour to be triaged to have a decent and profesional doctor's attention.

I was interviewed for my basic profile, the reason of my visit, and chief complaints. Was then placed on isolation because of the contagiousness and infectivity of the virus and attached to the monitor for my initial vital signs.

The physician assessed me and assured me that I will be out there in a jiffy after I can take my initial dose of antiviral drug, which is a gram of Valtrex, and a presciption of my narcotic pain reliever, which is Vicodin, a more potent drug compared to the NSAID drug I took earlier.

After taking my initial antiviral dose, I was given my prescription and home instructions, paid my dues and then I left the ER and passed by Walgreens and have my prescriptions filled.

Then I went home and took my good night's rest. At least by this time the pain was been eased up by the narcotic medicine and I had a good night sleep, although I still have the nagging pain at times but it was better than the previous days.

The next day I woke up and noticed that the rash was even redder with some little pinpointed black dots and some blisters already popped and oozed out spreading wider underneath my right pectorals. My white tank top was been soaked with the serousy drainage and the blisters started to be itchy and warm sticking on my white tank top.

I immediately dabbed the blisters with the clear Caladryl lotion and the Hydrocortisone cream I bought last night along with my presciption and those two worked wonders in easing off the pruritus away. My God..... it was a mixture of nagging excruciating pain and unexplainable itchiness which feels like pruritic-tiny-little-needle-skin-pricks. It was a very miserable feeling all over me which I couldn't even comprehend

I took another dose of the codeine tablet then I fell asleep after that. Aaah...... it was a crazy feeling.

When I woke up after noontime, I took a cold shower and medicated my rashes again with the mixture of the calamine lotion and hydrocortisone cream, then isolated myself in my room for the rest of the day.

I called my school DON to just cancel me for the skills lab tomorrow for the newly admitted Batch 12 and find me a replacement instead so that I can have a more decent rest tomorrow and had more time to recuperate. I still felt I am still contagious so I opted to have an extra day off the next day, which he agreed anyway.

I don't know but this one is always in a bad timing. I already got bored staying at home but I can't do otherwise but to stay at home to contain the virus and get well soon. It already made me crazy......aaah!

Proudest of the Proud

Well, seems like good news always reverberates everywhere. It tingled my ears everytime I heard one.

I know life has it's good news and bad news. But I'd rather take the good news first and just learn from the bad news in the end.

I was been the proudest of the proud upon hearing that most of my students from Batch 4 who took the NCLEX-PN exams recently passed with flying colors.

So far, I heard six students from the class had took it and passed it 100%. There's still at least three getting the exam at the end of this month. And if they passed it there will be nine board passers out of the eleven who graduated. I am hoping all of them will eventually pass and get a very decent job.

I am very happy to know that my students had learned a lot, after most of them flunked that initial ATI test or exit exam and with only two students passed it.

It was an honest mistake and a huge challenge for them but at least they've learned from it. And now I can really see and feel that they really prepared theirselves for their board exams.

I mean this batch was just an A-okay group in their clinical and theory class and they really showed their best to change their outlook in front of their instructors. A very rowdy group but had some potentials.

Hopefully, with fingers crossed all of them will pass the board fruitfully. I could never be more thankful and prouder for that. I hope they will eventually know how noble the nursing profession be.

But for the meantime, I am savoring their success because in as much as I won't admit it, I am still a part of what they are, after handling them for twelve solid months in their clinical rotations.

So, to all who passed: Eva Selene, Abigail, Nimfa, Krystel, Jhoan, and Ronnel; Congratulations Guys!

I hope you will land a more decent job, and learn to love your profession. You have been called to care for the sick people and hope you will do your part to take care of them. You are now my colleagues. Welcome to the new world of Nursing Profession!

And to all who are still waiting for their approval and schedule, good luck to all of you. Hope you will make it too, like this magic six who just reached the finish line and made it to the top.

They've set a good example to you guys, hope you won't disappoint their efforts to always find excellence in our teachings.

Your instructors, mentors, classmates, parents, love ones and everybody who are close to you would be more proud if you can also make it to the top.

Study well, and good luck to all!

My 40th Birthday

Well, a day before my birthday, Friday afternoon, I have a clinical class with Batch 9 at Centinela Hospital Medical Center.

I was patiently waiting for my students in the cafeteria's small room near the vending machine. It's already past 3 pm but still there were no students around except for Chasity who was intently talking to me about her studies.

When it's around 3:30 pm and there were no students around I was already almost getting mad. I told Chasity to check the main big room on the other side if her classmates were there. When she came back she told me that there were some students there waiting for me and watching TV.

I stood up and went there to call them to move to the other room. When I went in the room I saw they were preparing potluck food on the table.

Then when I went near the table, they started to sing Happy Birthday to me. I was totally surprised about it and just held both my hands on my ears gesturing that I couldn't believe what I saw and heard.

I thanked the whole group after that and told them that I was totally surprised about the little gesture. We started to take pictures after that and then eat the food.

They also brought a mango cake from Red Ribbon and a pink hello kitty tin balloon. I was still awe-struck by their small gesture. For me, their effort of putting up such thing was kinda big and touching.

I didn't know that spending time for this small group for a short time meant so much for them. I did't know I created such big impact to them. I didn't know how much they liked me compared to their previous clinical adviser.

But being with them in a short time gave me a lot of confidence in myself. I thank God I met them and handled them.
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Saturday morning the next day, the day of my big day, I met with Batch 5 at Greater El Monte Community Hospital.

It was so unusual for me though working on my birthday. But I have no choice, I have to work because I need money to pay-off my condo in the Philippines and help my niece finish her nursing studies.

I met the group at the hospital's cafeteria, discussed with the some procedural guidelines and talked to them a little bit about anticipating in the unit they are going to be assigned. After the pre-conference I dispersed them to their respective units.

ER was kinda slow that time so I stayed most of the time in L&D and Post-partum. In the Nursery though, there was a newly born baby who was born the previous night having a steady pulse oximeter reading between 60-70%. I then presume it was a cardiac baby.

I asked Lidjia, the nurse in-charge, if I can assessed the baby and she gave me a go signal. When I listened to the heart sounds I noticed a faint swooshing sound indicating a small heart murmur.

Then the nurse notified the Pediatrician and I assisted her start the IV. The Pediatrician then ordered to transfer out the baby to another level 3 facility.

So, while awaiting the transfer I went back to ER and checked my other students there. We did some procedures there and assisted the ER doctor suture a lacerated wound of a boy on the left forearm which was cut by a broken glass.

I also taught the students how to obtain an RSV nasal swab for a congested 3-year-old child to rule out a respiratory virus. Then after that we went to lunch.

I opted to stay at the cafeteria, because it was so hot outside, and told the students to come back at 1 pm. I stayed there and ate my lunch.

While waiting for the students, I randomly checked some of my paperworks to lessen some of my burdens in checking it and then took a short nap for a while.

When they came back, I didn't know that they bought me a yummy chocolate cake and a very meaningful birthday card.

When they came in the cafeteria they started singing Happy Birthday to me and I was very surprised about the little gesture. I thanked them after that then we took pictures and enjoyed the chocolate cake that they brought.

Again, another day of celebrating my 40th birthday with the batch that I am handling in the clinicals, which is Batch 5.

I mean, this group was my primary group, and I grew a lot with them. They mentored me so much, learned a lot from them, and made me more confident and I loved them so much.

I felt that my birthday was a special one because of this overwhelming attention that was being given to me by my students.

Thanks to you all for your love, respect, and trust in my care and teachings. I love you all!
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After, I dismissed the students, I went home and picked up Kuya George at his apartment because we were planning to have a dinner that night.

After picking him up, I went home to change then we left off and went to Koreatown. We went straight to where the ChungDam Korean BBQ is located then we asked for a table for two.

We ordered the authentic Korean food and enjoyed it. We also took pictures at each other and started to make happy and funny conversation and shared our wishes for each other for my birthday.

Kuya George, as my best friend was my best buddy and the person I can talked with about my major problems. So it is just apt for me to celebrate my 40th birthday with my best friend and shared with him my graces and wishes.

After the dinner I dropped off Kuya at his apartment and there he handed me my birthday card. It was a very meaningful card I had from a best friend. The message really touched my heart a lot.

So far, my birthday celebration goes all well. This was the most memorable birthday I ever had.

I thanked God to have known those wonderful people around who have brought joy to me and shared their frienship with me, especially on my birthday.

To my dear students, my family and relatives, my facebook well-wishers, and my best friend Kuya George, thank you so much.

And most of all to my dear God for His grace and guidance. Thank you very much.

They say life begins at forty and I hope it will become true, for I know I just kicked it off today, on this very auspicious day.

Gratitude 2: A Job Well Done

I was basically sitting at my usual corner at work yesterday wrapping up my documentation for my patients when my unit supervisor called me inside her office.

I was palpitating that time upon knowing that she wants to speak to me in private. I dreaded those times when supervisors had to talk to me and confront me about patients and parents complaints regarding my work.

Although I know that I did not do anything wrong, I was kinda nervous when I was knocking at her door. She then politely asked me to come in and take a seat.

She asked me if I have any idea why she called me in the middle of my work and I honestly told her may be it's pertaining to my job or any complaints made by my patients and their significant others.

She was smiling at me because of my nonchalant reaction and my obvious nervousness. And she told me to just relax and listen to what she will be saying.

She told me that a parent had obviously left a comment through a letter about me, for a job well done, because I left a good impression at them in taking care of her very sick son.

I then asked her who was the patient and she told me that the patient who came in one time for an emergency appendectomy with those Argentinian decent. I then remembered that cute and handsome 12-year-old polite boy with a lot of family inside the room.

I told my supervisor that I was just doing my job and I was amazaed that my client was satistified about my services.

My supervisor then thanked me for a job well done and told me to continue to promote good and excellent patient care and customer service so that our patients will continually patronized our facility and continue to recommend them to their relatives and other people they know.

She then handed me a copy of the letter written in Spanish and a typewritten letter being translated by the hospital's translator for me to understand. She also gave me two movie passes and a thank you card and most especially a slight pat on the back.

I went out of the office smiling and very relieved, brushing off my anxiety earlier, thinking that I may be executed and reprimanded from any wrong doings. But I was totally mistaken about my premature premonitions.

Here is the excerpt of the letter in Spanish followed by the English translation:

A Todas Las Enfermeras Pediatricas:

Estoy, la Sra. Maria Cisneros, quisiera darle las gracias por la atencion todos apasionados por su atencion a mi querido hijo, que se admitiran a una apendicectomia y se quedo en su piso de pediatria desde hace mas de una semana. Sin su dedicacion en su trabajo de mi hijo no se curan tan rapido. El hospital nos ha dado las enfermeras profesionales y el cuidado que sabe lo que hacen y que ama su trabajo. Yo no podia decir mas, pero muchas gracias por el excelente trabajo ayudando a mi hijo y nosotros como padres, asi como en hacer frente a esta crisis poco. Personas bueno trabajo. Me encantaria volver de nuevo aqui en este hospital si alguno de mi familia se enferma y con gusto le recomendara su unidad. Un agradecimiento especial a Tonee que es enfermera principal de mi hijo por su constante seguimiento del progreso de mi hijo. Y a todo el mundo ..... Gracias a todos.

Respetuosamente,

Sr. y la Sra. Emmanuel Cisneros y Familia
(Padres de Brian Cisneros)

Translated into English by the hospital translator as the following:

To All Pediatric Nurses:

I, Mrs. Maria Cisneros, would like to thank you for all your passionate care given to my dear son who got admitted for an appendectomy and stayed in your pediatric floor for more than one week. Without your dedication in your job my son won't heal so fast. The hospital has given us professional and caring nurses who knows what they do and who loves their job. I could not say for more but thanks a lot for the excellent job in helping my son and us as parents as well in coping for this little crises. Good job guys! I would love to come back again here in this hospital if some of my family will be ill and will gladly recommend your unit. Special thanks to Mr. Tonee who is my son's primary nurse for his constant follow-up of his progress. And to everyone.... thank you all.

Respectfully yours,

Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Cisneros and Family
(Parents of Brian Cisneros)

Sometimes people just can't express their gratitude in some way or the other. Sometimes people take time to write what they feel for the small help they got from others. And this lifted their feelings if they can say something to the person they are intended to thank for and express their sincere gratitude.

And in the case of the Cisneros Family, what they felt inside was a genuine gratitude for the services rendered to them with total sincerety and respect and they appreciated every effort the nurses have put up for their son who was so sick.

For me, it was an honor to have served them in times of their need and to be of help in every way. It was a good feeling to have helped them in every way without expecting any return or any appreciation but for what they did to write us a letter was even an exceptional gesture for us appreciating our own efforts to help them out.

It lifted my spirits to have encountered such thankful and polite people who has the humility to generate a sense of gratitude and appreciation. And I hope others will be the same as what the Cisneros had felt and expressed. But it is impossible though because people have diverse views about other peoples services and efforts.

But I salute what they did, and I hope they will stay as genuine as what I've known them. Thank you also for letting us serve you and help you during your stay at our unit and our hospital.

Hope to see you again in the near future. To the Cisneros Family good luck. And to Brian, get well soon!

Another Strange Dream

I basically lie tired on my soft bed last night after touring my visiting relatives from the Philippines all around the Los Angeles area.

I was so exhausted and went to sleep right away after I washed my face well with warm water and papaya soap then put on my night cream. Doing this ritual all the time was so tedious especially when I am so tired to perform such task. But I have to do it to maintain my youthful appearance. Oh yeah...

I was probably sleeping soundly in my dark room with only a lava lamp on, unmindful of what was happening outside my apartment. I heard Chula, our mixed-wolf-dog, howling outside the house but I just brushed off her barking noise and annoying howl she irately made outside the house.

My body was so eerily numb as it slowly sank on the soft bed and as the fatigue succumb to me, it slowly numbed all my sensations and lull me into deep sleep. I was in a feeling of euphoria and was feeling so high and floating in deja vu.

I was so engrossed in sleeping and was probably snoring soundly. That I didn't know, but all of a sudden I had this very strange dream that I couldn't even explain.

I had this vivid dream that I was working in a western countryside in a very large country house where our boss and master was very cruel to us, his subordinates. He made us do things that could even hurt our fellow co-workers, to a point that we have to kill one another. It was a house where competition was reeking badly all over it.

He commanded me to even kill my best friend in that country house. And threatened me that if I won't carry out his order he will have somebody kill my best friend. I was so devastated about the threat so I devised a perfect plan in order not to involve and hurt my best friend.

In as much as I couldn't see my best friend inside the house (as we were held captives or prisoners) to tell him of my perfect plan to escape, I went ahead to pursue my plan. How I wish I could contact him and tell him that it was time to make a quiet escape.

As a chief cook for the whole house, I planned to place and mix a very potent poison with the food I was cooking one day and prepared the trays for all the people all over the house. I cautiously placed the food with poison on each tray except for my best friend and mine. By the time the tray were being delivered during lunch time, an hour after, the poison will take effect.

An hour after lunchtime, I can hear the loud screaming and painful moaning of the people all over the house and all of them were foaming with white froth in their mouth and eventually fell down helplessly on the floor, couch, stairs, and everywhere. The house was in total disarray and chaos during that time.

Then I went out the kitchen looking for my best friend on the second floor and saw him stunned with what was happening around the house. I told him briefly about what had happened and we went out of that country house, started to set it on fire, and ran on an open field to the best of our might, trying to escape from our sad fate and experiences from that horrible house and from the cruelty and evil doing of our very fierce and manipulative master.

Then, I suddenly woke up, sweating profusely despite it was so cold outside the house from the early foggy October morning and despite of my fan being left on whirring the whole night. I was awakened and stunned by that very bad dream instantly.

I then got up from the bed and went to the dark kitchen, opened my fridge to cool me down. I also took two glasses of water from the cooler and started gulping the cold water so fast to quench my thirst from my dry throat.

After that I headed immediately to the restroom to empty my bulging bladder of the whole night's worth of stagnant urine making my bladder extremely full and palpable. And I felt better after I get rid of the fullness of my bladder.

I went back to my bed and remained awake the rest of the morning, afraid to fall asleep again and have another strange dream. I was trying hardly to decipher the meaning of that vivid strange dream but I couldn't get the meaning of it.

I was assuming that probably, what I did to kill all the evil people in that house except my best friend was a way out and the best one to escape from there. I never think that I could hurt other people at all.

Relating it to life was probably the same thing. Maybe in order for me to get away from my problems I will probably succumb to hurting people in order to get away from it. That probably I wouldn't do in real life, but this strange dream was exactly depicting and pointing that way. Hopefully, this dream will not come true.

It was just a very strange dream to me, a very bad dream, and a very horrible awakening in the very end.

May be I was just tired from my whole day activities yesterday, that's why I was just thinking of some bad dreams like the one I had last night.

Well, it was an odd experience for me, and a very bad experience, too. I mean, I have a lot of dreams before but not too extreme, horrible, and the like of this one I had last night. It really affected me so deeply as if I was cursed but hopefully not.

It was probably just a very bad awakening for me and I hope everything will be fine as I lived life in the open.

With fervent prayers and sincere faith, I hope this one strange dream will be totally reversed or hexed. So help me God!

Family Bonding

I had a very long day yesterday, spending a lot of time with my visiting aunt and uncle from the Philippines and my immediate family here from Reseda, CA and Long Beach, CA.

I was so harriedly tired but it was worth a day. It was a good feeling to be with my families and relatives again. I was glad I did entertain my aunt and uncle and made their vacation more meaningful and memorable.

Well, actually the fun started Saturday night. And my whole weekend was been spent well, spending time with visiting relatives and immediate families around Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Reseda area.

My aunt and uncle arrived on Saturday at 9 am. They  then went to my other aunt's house, from my mother's side, in the afternoon to meet the rest of my immediate family for dinner at 6 pm. It was a night of family fun and togetherness, seeing aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.

A lot of casual conversations, laughters, sharing stories about life, everything you can think of. Each one brought food, desserts, and presents. It was an impromptu little reunion but it was worth it. It was definitely the best and I can still savor the closeness happened during that night.

All of our aunts and uncles were so engrossed talking at each other about family life and comparing notes about life's progress. Sometimes I can see them giggle when they reminisce their old past especially when they were little and that put a smile on my face, too.

Me and my cousins were also intently talking about work, kids, different happenings, and life struggles. We went teasing each other recalling our past happy and embarrassing experiences especially when we were little. It was very recharging to talk about memorable things with cousins and put on a laugh and a slight giggle at them. Were poking fun at each other, too.

Children were also playing loudly in the nearby living room. Some screaming to the top of their voices, and some hyperactively running all around the house. Some were seriously crying and just needs mom's immediate attention. It was total chaos but it's actually fun. It was like a big party celebration!

The night ended at 9 pm and it was very intoxicating not to stop the welcome party for the newly arrived relatives. But we have to call it quits and have to rest. We gave each other, tight hugs and wet kisses and graciously thanked each other for coming and making the little-impromptu-reunion-party possible and realized.

I went home awesomely tired because I came from a clinical class that day at Greater El Monte Community Hospital but I was so happy I saw my immediate relatives. It was a day of on-the-spot bonding with my cousins and planning for future happenings.

Aaah ..... I am still extremely imbibed with our closeness with each other.... and I feel so intoxicated by it while I was driving back home to Los Angeles.

*********

Meanwhile, the next day, Sunday morning I woke up early, picked-up my visiting aunt and uncle at Van Nuys, CA for another day of special bonding with my other family, my mom's cousin, residing in the nearby Reseda city.

A night before, I phoned my aunt living in Palmdale that her cousin from Batangas was here in Los Angeles vacationing with her husband (my uncle). So, she told me to bring them on Sunday which is the next day, at my uncle's house (her brother) at lunchtime, and they will just go meet us there together with her sister (my other aunt) from Pensacola, FL who happened to be here also in Los Angeles to visit her son and his family in Orange County. What a coincidence! I am foreseeing another huge little-impromptu-reunion on Sunday.

Sunday morning at 9 am, I picked-up my visiting relatives and brought them to St. Genevieve's Church in Panorama City to attend an early morning mass. Then after the mass, I phoned my other aunt who's supposed to meet us and we agreed to meet at my uncle's place living in Reseda, CA.

After we got out of the church we headed to Reseda, CA and located the direction of the house. When we got there all of our family were there already, including my aunts, uncle, cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Oh my God! I'm a grandpa already..... lol.

My visiting aunt was so happy seeing her first cousins and they all talked a little bit, while I strike conversations with my cousins and the kids were playing happily all together in the living room. It was good and fun to see all of my immediate relatives all around the area.

Then, we planned to eat out at Zen Buffet. We all agreed to meet there and continued our little reunion and conversation.

As I was driving the car towards the restaurant, I can see the faces of my aunt and uncle that they were so delighted to see my other aunts and uncle, their cousins, and their families. I can see that they are so happy to be here in Los Angeles even for a very short three days to bond with our family who they did not saw for thirty years.

When we got to the buffet restaurant we immediately get our seats and start hauling food to our table. While eating I was talking to my aunt who lived in Palmdale and talked about life and about my mom's wake and burial and also about my previous vacation. We were poking fun at each other together with my aunt who came from Pensacola, FL.

I can see all of my Fil-Am cousins were all grown ups now and even have their own family in tow with them. I was so happy to see all of them. The children were all engrossed in eating and playing at the same time. They look so cute and pretty.

After the lunch we took some pictures then decided to meet up at Balboa Park in the nearby city of Encino. We met there and continued our cut-off conversations.

The park was so wide with a beautiful man-made lake in the middle. There were a lot of people of all walks of life. Elderly, adults, young adults, teenagers, and children were been seen flocking the park.

Some were busy fishing in the lake, strolling around the park, even partying, children were playing either alone or with somebody, adults were intently talking at each other, lovers were seriously dating and some kissing at each other, and some were just there to merely obeserve and watch. Different actions and movements could be seen everywhere.

We settled in a shady place near the lake. The adults were still talking at each other remiscing their old pasts, laughing and giggling at them. It was so amusing looking at them.

While me and my cousins were also busy talking about life and work, kids, and all sorts of stuff. It was a fun and very memorable day. I am so elated to have this kind of togertherness. How refreshing!

We separated at 4 pm, lovingly hugging and kissing each other and sincerely thanking everyone for making this day possible. It was a delightfully fun and awe-inspiring little retreat and small reunion. How I wish it's always be like this!

After we left the park, I drove my visiting aunt and uncle around Los Angeles area, Los Feliz, LA downtown, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills.

I brought them to see the famous Griffith Planetarium in the Los Feliz district; the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ahmanson Theatre, LA Convention Center, Staples Center, Nokia Theater, my hospital in the downtown area; and the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, Roosevelt Hotel, Madame Taussauds, Kodak Theater, El Capitan Theater in West Hollywood. Then we hungrily ate our dinner at Bossa Nova in Sunset Blvd.

After the dinner, I drove them back to Van Nuys, CA and dropped them off at my uncle's sister's house where they were staying.

I bade them a good night and wished them a good day tomorrow in Disneyland and a safe trip to New York on Tuesday.
*********

It was a wonderful weekend for me to spend time with my immediate family. I was glad this happened and was made possible. Despite of my busy schedule at work I can still manage to juggle my time and be with them and be a part of their little vacation.

At least I made a smile in their faces and made a good impression, which I always do. I regret to have missed them so much but hopefully when I go vacation next year, I get to see them again.

It is also a good feeling to see my aunts and uncles who lived nearby and also talked to my cousins intently about everything and saw my little nephews and nieces as well as my grandchildren. Oooh.... how I loved to have this kind of impromptu reunion again.

Hopefully there is one coming and brewing in April, and I can't wait to see all my close relatives again and bond with them.

This time it's a formal celebration, a wedding of one of my niece from my aunt in Hawaii who graciously contacted and invited all of our possible relatives all around the continental US.

Yay...... it must be fun and I just can't wait to be there. See you all there guys!

Hospital Disaster Drill

The previous night at around 1 am I volunteered to be flexed at work because I will have a disaster drill with my handled batch at Centinela Hospital Medical Center the next day.

When I got out of the hospital it was nippy outside and the whole downtown Los Angeles, where my hospital was located, was been blanketed by a very thick fog. It is now reminiscent of the coming of Fall and Winter season. Oooh... how I love those two seasons.

I got out of the hospital's parking lot and continued to drive unto north Pasadena Freeway till I converged with north Hollywood freeway. As I was driving home, I cannot see the road from afar, as in zero visibility, so I just drove real slow and very carefully. Good thing I arrived home safely.

But before going home, I felt extremely hungry so I passed by at my favorite 24-hour deli which is the Canter's Deli in Fairfax Avenue and bought my favorite pastrami-corned beef sandwich.

When I got home I changed my scrubs and put on my pj's, ate my food, and watched a little bit of television news.Then after an hour I went to sleep in preparation for the very busy and big day today.

At around 8 am I woke up then had a warm shower and changed for my casual clothes. I then left my apartment forty minutes after and then drove to Inglewood, CA going straight to Centinela Hospital Medical Center to meet Batch 9 for the hospital's disaster drill.

When I arrived there at 9:15 am some of my students were already there so I immediately told them to proceed to the Ira Kaufman conference room and wait for me there, while I went to meet Claudia Marroquin-Frometa, the program director of today's drill and get some last minute instructions.

Thirty minutes after, the conference room was full of student nurses from my school and two other nursing schools. My school send two batches, Batch 9 and 10, to participate for the drill.

Then Claudia meet the students and gave them last minute instructions. The hospital's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Patel, also met and thank the students for participating for the annual hospital disaster drill.

The drill was about "Earthquake Preparedness", so we were told that the nurses were being briefed about what to do if earthquake strikes California and the hospital and today they will practice on what to do for themselves and the hospital's patient.

After the meet-and-greet, the students were instructed to go up to 7th East and were given a yellow tags indicating their ambulatory status and their little baggies for their belongings and pretended medication. The students were acting like patients for this simulation drill and were being identified whether they are ambulatory or non-ambulatory.

At exactly 11 am, the hospital's overhead call system announces the drill and gave instructions for the drill participants on what to do in case there is an earthquake.

I also joined the drill as a volunteer instructor and had also helped in separating the students whether they can walk or cannot. And distributing their pretend medications and placed it into their baggies.

We then waited for the nurse volunteers and the firefighters to bring the ambulatory first down the first floor walking through the stairs then placed the non-ambulatory on the carrier and carried them down to the first floor until they are being sorted to received proper care and treatment at the hospital's disaster command post.

Overall, the drill was a success with some minor problems and delays in communication.

After the drill, the students were being gathered at the Gazebo Room in the cafeteria and were explained to evaluate the drill. Some students were very excited about the event and they made a lot of comments about its success. They also told me that they have learned a lot from today's simulation drill and that they now know what to do during an earthquake if they happen to be stucked in the hospital if they work in the future.

After the evaluation, lunch was served courtesy of the hospital management. Boxes of sandwiches and sodas were distributed to the students in gratitude of their participation for today's very successful hospital disaster drill.

I was so thankful that the student's learned a lot from this simulation experience, and hopefully they will apply it if ever they come across to the same situation in the near future.

Preparation is the best thing to prevent chaos. And today's disaster drill will sure help the hospital staff as well as my students on what to do if ever things like this happens in the near future.

Congratulations to all the students and thank you for your unselfish participation in this hospital drill.

The Kite Story

I don't know why I kept sharing all these life-inspiring stories I've read lately. I may be paranoid about my faith.....

I am in a mood of jotting all these little snippets of features I've read lately in my blog so that one day when I come across such situation I may recall that they were related to what I experienced that day. But it seems that these stories I bumped oftenly happens in our lives everyday. It is routinary.

Like this one I got, from ODB, when I was doing my quiet time trying to reflect myself and examine my faith in Jesus our Lord.

I may be not a very religious person but I tried to maintain my relationship with Jesus Christ everyday by at least spending an ample time to read bible verses and refllecting it's effect and essence in my daily living.

That's why ODB was very handy for me and was very helpful in guiding me with my solo bible study and quiet time.

That way, I couldn't forget that there is only one Lord, which is Jesus Christ, that oversees us and reminds us that we have to know our limitations and live our lives the right and moral way.

This story of the brazen kite reminds me of myself a lot who always forgot that there is always a border and a stop line. And it really inspired me because it kinda mirror the life I am living all the time.

I am always gullible in everything I do and I don't know that I am passing the borderline already. Then suddenly I will crash and then start all over again.

It gives me a big lesson to live life within my own means and my limitations and not to be greedy and selfish in attaining for more things that we don't even need leading us to debauch ourselves and live in excess which can hurt our own ties with the Lord and forget about our own spirituality.

I consider myself a spiritual person, rather than a practicing religious person, because I don't fancy showing to everyone that I go to Church everyday or every Sunday and been doing things against the morality of our conscience. Like some people showing off that they practice their religion but in fact talking unreal things behind someone's back.

Enough for those crap. I am a very straight-forward person. And if I don't like the way you treated me, then you can hear an earful from me. That's how upfront I am, though in a very nice and professional way of course.

Well, let's go to the story and I hope you all like it as you like my previous post. Hope this one will also inspire you and served you a big lesson for today. Here's Religion 101 from your bestfriend in the neighborhood. Hehehe......

~The Kite Story~

"Once there was a kite that loved to fly high. Nothing made it happier than to be caught in a stiff breeze that would send it soaring upward, far above the grassy meadows below. It loved the feel of the wind and the faraway view.

But gradually the kite became dissatisfied. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it could fly even higher that its string allowed? It could think only of sailing so high that the houses became dots far below. So it tugged and tugged on the string, hoping to break free.

Then one day the string snapped! For a moment the kite was ecstatic as it leaped skyward. But then it began to tumble and spin out of control, and soon it crashed to the ground below.

Unfortunately, we are sometimes like that kite. We want to go places and do things that are morally out of bounds. We tug against the lordship of Christ and the truth that we are to live Him. We tell ourselves that if only we could get free, we would be happy. But like that kite, we would crash.

Jesus died and rose from the grave to give us true liberty - freedom to soar safely within the bounds of His law and the constraints of His love."
 
So what do you think? I hope you like it a lot, in as much as I like it, too. Till next post..... Ciao!

Stepping Up

Last night at work, I have nothing to do in the unit. It was those very quiet and serene moment I ever had judging that the cold season is fast approaching. I only have two patients.

It was pouring rain outside the hospital's parking lot and according to the radio forecast, when I was driving to work earlier, California will have a two-day rainy moments because of the storm spotted west of the Pacific Ocean.

It was odd though, because it seldom rain her in Los Angeles. And while I was driving I could see accidents mushroomed everywhere..... left and right, causing a heavy traffic on my way to work. I was late to work earlier......

People just don't know how to drive when it rain. No discipline at all. They're just in a hurry to go home and not even mindful of the rain that was happening. How much more if it's snowing her in Los Angeles? Aaah.... it's crazy!

Enough for that crazy and mind-boggling situation outside.......

After I assessed my patients and did my initial vital signs, I also did and finished my usual routine of refilling and double-checking and marking the charts for any unfinished documents. I was super bored and have nothing to do. So, I was tempted to open my Facebook account via my very handy and portable iPhone.

I was browsing the iLaugh application to check some good and inspiring jokes to amuse me from my boredom when I came across this little meaningful passage that really inspired me.

And I would like to share it to you here on my blog. I guess this will also inspire all of you as it inspires me a lot. Hope you'll enjoy it and live it in your everyday lives.

And here it goes:

"One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. the animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, so it just wasn't worth to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel into the well.

At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.

With every shovel full of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt you can think of.
The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.

We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping, never giving up! Shake the dirt off and take a step up! Remember the five simple rules to be happy which is: a.) Free your heart from hatred, b.) Free your mind from worries, c.) Live simply,  d.) Give more, and e.) Expect less."

And life will all be easy and fulfilling.

Yeah, sometimes we tend to ignore the bitter realities of life but we tend to forget that as life runs it's own course we forget that we have to meet some obstacles and hindrances along the way, then right there life has to run it's different course in order to arrive at the same goal.

Life is always flexible and we don't need to lose hope and hope for our lost. We have to believe in ourselves and never give up. Because quitter's doesn't have a place in this big space we are living in.

Life has to go on and we should never quit and give up. Instead we have to step up all the time. Got it!

Correspondence

Well guys, glad to be back here again after this very very exhausting weekend. I am glad I was off yesterday and was actually a little bit homey and relaxed.

Yet, I have a lot of things in my mind to accomplish lately, like calling my maternal aunt, which is my mom's cousin, who happened to be living in San Bernardino County, which I still need to call and thank for her little help or donation for my mom's wake and burial.

It's been too late to thank her and I am a little bit embarrassed to call her. And I have no choice but to swallow my own personal pride because I really need to do this to clear up my reputation for having been branded as ungrateful.

And if ever I will let this pass up, especially for a very long period of time, then I will be more liable to being branded and dubbed as an ingrate person. And I don't want that to happen, either.

It is my utmost responsibility to notify her that I got the help and of course tell her that I am very grateful for the unexpected and sincere help or assistance she extended to my family, though how big or small it was.

I was kinda hesitant to dial her number at first but I did it anyway. Initially, my second cousin Kevin answered it and he then recognized me right away.

After a brief "hi" and "hello" and a little chit-chat and update of each other's lives, I asked him to give me my aunt's celfone number. He immediately gave it to me, then I called my aunt after that.

It was been almost four years that I haven't called my immediate family around here in Los Angeles and the nearby Long Beach area, although I have a lot of aunts and uncles around the area, yet this specific aunt of mine was been very very close to me.

She always visited me at the hospital in 2004 when I was helplessly lying on the hospital bed after I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's disease.

She dedicatedly encouraged me all the time to fight the bitter test of life for me and prayed for my immediate recovery. She especially watched and took care of me during those sad times I had. So I felt a little pang of guilt in me to call her up, yet I am very hopeful she will understand.

After they moved to San Bernardino County from San Fernando Valley four years ago, I lost contact with her and her family because they changed their home and mobile numbers.

Good thing there is this famous network site called Facebook who can bridged people all around the globe. When I saw my cousin's profile on Facebook I messaged them immediately asking their whereabouts.

Then everything happened in flash suddenly, especially with my life, starting from my mom's lost until my long vacation back to the Philippines because of her wake and burial preparations, which even prolonged my grieving process.

Then when, I came back here in Los Angeles, I never had the chance to correspond to them because I have to settle back with my life and work first and get myself a little organized and stabilized after that.

Now that I got everything in order, I finally made the very important decision to call and get in touch with everybody who were so close and dear to me and correspond to them as soon as possible, thanking them for their unselfish help, though how big or small were they, and their fervent prayers in times of my family's extreme sorrow, pain, and grief.

So, I immediately dialed my aunt's celfone number and she answered it after three rings. I said hi to her and she immediately recognized my voice, masked with the advent of flu symptoms, on the other line.

I asked her if how she was doing lately and then everything started from there.

I can really feel how happy and excited she was hearing from me and about the news I brought from our hometown. She was also a little empathic and sympathetic about our recent family lost.

We talked a lot of things about family, friends, our hometown, work, life, kids, and other things......... everything under the sun. And we talked for a very long long time...........

I updated her everything about what's going on with my life and how I pulled through with my own life after mom's passing.

I told her that I am fine now and quite stable and settled in my life and in my job. I was very very ecstatic though to hear and talk to her on the phone and to listen to her own account and story about thriving and surviving life.

She told me apparently, that she was kind of in a heavy bind about surviving life, especially in this recession induced situation of our country.

She hesitantly told me that my uncle was been laid-off from work for a couple of months already and that she had a hard time meeting both ends meet, now that she's the only one working for the whole family and was acting as the sole breadwinner.

I just lend her a very intent and listening ear and helped her vent out her frustrations and anxiety about life.

Then she told me after that, that she felt real good now that she was venting and talking to me about her personal problems. I just consoled her on the other line. I was so helpless that moment and don't know much what to do to help her but to listen to her very intently.

She also told me about one of her sister, my other aunt in Guam, who also was struggling keeping up with her strained relationship with my uncle who just came back from Iraq and was diagnosed with a post Gulf War syndrome.

She told me that the poor guy almost hit my aunt and hurt the whole family. They immediately seek psychiatric attention for him and struggled to maintain their marriage in good standing because the state had already intervened in the battle for the children's custody.

I was so saddened about the bad news that happened to my other aunt, and I was hoping everything will be taken cared of now that they got an expert help from a very notable attorney.

It was a very long time that I haven't keep up  with my immediate family from my mom's. And now all the needed facts and news I needed to gather and hear were all piled up for a long long time and it's hard to catch up with them and too much to bear especially that most of them comprised of almost the bad news rather than the happy news.

On the lighter note though, I got a facebook message from my other aunt in Hawaii, my mom's first cousin also, inviting me for my second cousin's wedding in Las Vegas next Spring in April. And that she wanted it to be a big family reunion with all my aunts and uncles all over the country so she was asking me if I happen to have some of their phones, emails, celfones, websites, URLs and other means of contacts so that she can connect with them and invite them while it is still early.

I gave send her whatever information I had about all our immediate families I had, here in the United States, from my files, phone books, and personal lists. And she was very thankful about all the information I had send her.

I was expecting and  foreseeing a very big and happy family reunion that will happen next year. I can't wait to see all of my immediate family and present myself on behalf of my dear parents.

For sure it will be a good and merry celebration especially reconnecting with the lost times that I did not spent with my immediate families while I was growing up away from them.

I just can't wait to see when that happens. Yay.........

A Reason For Everything

Does something rattled you if you are in a hurry trying to buy time just not to be late? How aweful would that situation be and must that feeling to be in?

Well, you are actually not alone...... it just happened to me lately...... and actually just today.

Sometimes, we could not help to be anxious on some things trying to beat time when in fact we couldn't make it anymore. Sometimes, we could never accept the fact that we are so damn helpless and extremely defeated against doing such thing.

And we could not do otherwise but to accept the fact that it is time to stoop for our own purported defeat because time itself could not be defeated unless we arm ourselves with the anticipation to beat it such as being prepared and organized in order not to race against time itself.

Surely, these are just the manifestations of having a very pre-occupied life although in our current society right now this frequently happens.

Life is always full of nudging challenges and insurmountable obstacles and sometimes we always encounter a situation that time is always technically involved with it. And if this happens..... it is hard to beat, inevitable, and unpredictable.

I was literally so tired this morning when I got home from my night shift job and I have to go to sleep right away because I will be having a clinical class later on at 3 pm with Batch 7 at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, CA.

Technically, I am always off on a Thursday night but because I made some adjustments with my very hectic schedule this week due to the reason that my uncle and aunt from Batangas will come over here in Los Angeles and visit our nearest relatives, so I opted to trade one of my Thursdays just to accommodate a day or two for my visiting relatives in order to show them around the town.

Well, the trade-off was a very bad decision. I groggily woke up at around 2:10 pm and was hurrying up myself because I am anticipating a very bad traffic by this time.

Well, I could not do otherwise but to accept the fact that I'll gonna be late for a very uncomfortable one hour, so I immediately phoned in one of my student to wait for me at the hospital's cafeteria and instructed her to tell her classmates to meet with the disaster coordinator of the hospital who is suppose to meet them before our clinical pre-conference.

I usually leave the house at 1:30 pm to beat the nagging mid-day Los Angeles traffic but because it was too late now to beat it, I just succumb to my own defeat and accept the fact that I will have to face the anxiety of getting stuck in the traffic. Oooh.... I hate it to happen.

I left the house at around 2:30 pm. Driving on my usual route from north of Wilton Place to east of Santa Monica then merging to US 101, I can feel the congested traffic right after I got out of my house. But after I merged on the freeway the traffic was even slower. Damn.... I was already anxious and palpitating. I hate being late in my class.

Then suddenly I remembered my horoscope today. It says; "Don't get distracted by the process, focus on where you're going."

I immediately calmed down myself after realizing that the horscope was probably right and was pointing out with this current situation I am into right now. I made a few deep breaths to calm down my nerves and I made it to the point to focus on my way and my driving, as what the horscope have told me to do.

Judging with the series of ominous bad lucks I had the previous weeks including that freak accident, I promised myself not to be in that kind of situation again.

So, I immediately brushed off my anxiety and apprehension of getting late and just silently focused on getting to the clinical site, safe and sound even though I will be late. Anyway, I already phoned my students that I am on my way and a little bit late.

I kept driving appenhensively on the slow traffic at US 101 then by the time I have to merged on Highway 110 the traffic was even slower, it was a rat-race. I really can't help to be anxious this time so I took some more couple deep breaths again to calm me down.

It took me a slow-paced twenty-minute-drive to get to exit at Manchester Boulevard then I took the side streets immediately which is a little more loose now compared to the freeways. After stopping on several stop signs I got at the hospital's parking lot at around 3:20 pm. A little more late before our meeting time at the cafeteria.

When I got to the cafeteria, Claudia, the disaster coordinator, was already been talking with my students and the students of El Camino Real School, briefing them what to expect about the forthcoming annual hospital's disaster drill to be held next Thursday. I was glad I arrived safely at the clinical site without any harm despite of my anxiety, apprehension, and being late.

It was really a bad feeling to woke up stunned trying to catch up with time in order not to be late at work. I always never been late at the clinical site except for this time. But sometimes things are inevitable and we could not change it.

Well may be, there's always a reason for everything that had happened in our lives though how small or big it is. I am a very fateful and superstitious person. And good thing I remembered that horoscope I read this morning before I went to sleep. I think it has a valid reason why I get to read it this morning and relate it to my being late now.

Have I not heed the advise from that little horoscope today probably I will be a little confused and out-of-focus with my clinical rotation right now. May be I have to pick-up my scattered brains anywhere in order for me to get focused and get back on my feet on what I will be teaching today.

God is always good to me, and I always believe in Him, trusting Him for the success of my everyday endeavour.

After that brief meeting from Claudia, I gathered all my students and apologized to them about my little tardiness which they understood. I then made their assignments and talked to them a little bit about their daily expectations and activities. Then we headed to our different floor assignments and started our day right.

Aaah.... things always happens at the right time with the right reason. And I am always ever thankful to God for being there to guide me everyday.

Surviving Life

Life for me was been a challenge most of the time. It left me no choices but to survive all the challenges it offered to me. Life can be dragging at times. It can be tough and never been easy.

Living alone far from my family was another big challenge I already conquered. I mean, I've overcame living away from them for almost twenty years, living here in Los Angeles, CA on my own. It must have been tough but yes, I did it, and I survived all through the years. It's been a hell of a ride actually, but life can be more better.

Sometimes I have to emerge victorious from a lot of difficult and mixed emotions like depression, boredom, and loneliness. Putting a happy face when you're sad can be real tough at times but I have to live with it.

I have to battle all these insane feelings and emotions but in order to survive life I have to face the music and come out resilient and victorious from the challenges of this competitive world in the end.

I've been lying on my bed feeling totally bored. I wanted to go out and watch a movie but I am scared to drive now after that freak accident that had happened a week ago. Instead I've been sulking myself in my apartment doing and finishing my household chores.

After I went home this morning from working graveyard shift last night, I was so tired and beaten up from walking back and forth in our unit.

After admitting that four-year-old ruptured appendectomy male child after midnight, my night was been so freaking busy after that. I haven't had the chance to sit down and do my documentation. I even started charting late in the morning, thirty minutes before report time.

When I got home I was very very tired. I laid on my soft bed and slept like a baby the whole morning. When I woke up at 1 pm I felt so recharged and good. It seems that I never worked so hard last night. But it was a very uneventful respite and dreamless sleep. Never been better!

After waking up, I grabbed some bowl of raisin bran cereals to at least fill my stomach up a little bit. Then I started doing some household chores that I kept setting aside these previous days.

I started tidying up my room first, picking up all the scattered dirty clothes from the hamper including cleaning and tidying up my closet and then dusting off the furnitures and the bookshelves in the living room and then organizing my shoe rack.

I even vacuumed the carpet real good spreading and sprinkling scented powder on it and I also cleaned-up and tidied the kitchen including washing the dishes and cleaning the restroom including scrubbing the bathtub then after that did my laundry until 4 pm.

Doing laundry was very exhausting to me. Separating the colored clothes from the white and black ones, separating the undies from the socks, and also separating the blue and khaki jeans and shorts and washing the bed sheets was a lot of work. It was wearingly burdensome and a very taxing job.

I did almost six loads of laundry today and the folding added a lot of toll on me. I hate folding clothes, per se. If they have created a machine that can fold laundry then I will the first one on the line. Aaah..... it was crazy!

It's really hard to live alone. I mean, I have to do everything on my own from doing the household chores, running errands, and driving myself to work.

Well, I am not really complaining here but I am just pointing out that it is really hard. Well, this is the life I chose so I really have to bear, grasp, and live with it.

I couldn't even see myself if ever I have a wife and family. I don't know my philosophy is that I'd rather be living on my own and keep my problems to myself rather than sharing it with somebody because I already have a vivid idea what it feels to have a family.

My family alone was a big family. Seeing my parents arguing sometimes pains me a lot. I mean, I can feel what my parents have been through in raising me and six of my siblings. It was really a tough one. I can feel and see their pain all the time.

I firmly believe that the aches of the finger is also the aches of the body. Whatever problems the parents have is also being felt by the children. And that was I felt about the family I grew up, and maybe having or raising my own family will be like that, too.

I don't know I was just like pessimistic about that... but also the joys of having children couldn't be explained. It's a mixed up feelings actually.

Seeing me and my siblings arguing about anything was a bit painful. Having me doing my own assigned chores made me more independent and isolated. That's probably made me very introverted sometimes.

I learned doing things on my own and with my own resourcefulness. There is really no togetherness in the brood because of the big household we are in and the fact that our parents were so busy at work and doing and fulfilling their own individual responsibilities.

I felt so lucky that I learned all the rigors of doing household chores on my own and still get to improve it until now. I mean I am proud of myself for being so independent. My autonomy taught me to be strong and tough in living and surviving life.

I just can't stop thanking my self for being so determined in surviving, for my parents understanding for my own choices, and to those who in some way or the other contributed to how the way I am today, especially to my friends who were always there to boost my morale.

Life is not that very easy to live. We have to learn things on our own in order to survive things around us. And just like the Energizer Bunny, life has to go on..... and on...... and on..........

Bayanihan Spirit

I woke up this afternoon at 4 pm thinking that I was off but when I checked my phone messages I noticed that the nursing office had called me earlier that afternoon while I was sleeping soundly and left a brief message if I can come to work extra tonight because they needed extra help in the Pediatric Floor.

I immediately grabbed my phone right away and called the staffing coordinator telling her that I am coming for tonight to work extra. Anyways, I don't have any needed agenda to accomplish for tonight on my day off, so I would rather opt to work extra. That's good for my wallet though.... hehehe.

As I waited for the time to pass by, I clicked on my teevee and watched the TFC TV Patrol World. I'm still stunned and shocked to see that the Philippines was still in chaos until now because of the flooding caused by the two typhoons that had passed the country.

Last week Typhoon Ondoy had caused a lot of damages in the Metro Manila area alone and a lot of our fellow-Filipinos were been affected by the heavy rain and the flood because of the very bad drainage system in the whole city. A lot of people's houses and properties were been affected and damaged badly. Many people lost their houses and some had lost their loved ones.

Then after Typhoon Ondoy, another typhoon named Typhoon Peping followed and hit the western and northern part of Luzon. This also caused a lot of rain in Metro Manila which caused the flood in the area to rise even more and not abate.

I was touched with the struggles of my countrymen in times of this calamity. And the only thing I can do is to participate in the campaign of helping them through donations.

I am glad there's organizations such as the Gawad Kalinga by the TFC Channel where I send a hundred dollar donation from my credit card. I know it was a small amount but I am sure it will help them in a little way. Hopefully, it will help those who were really affected by the flooding especially the poor and indigent ones.

After the afternoon news, I continued watching Balitang America hosted by Ms. Gel Santos Relos which was televised here in the Bay Area in North America. And there I saw how Filipino-Americans all around the United States help out each other to put up a huge campaign for collecting various donations of money, clothing, or goods. May be they were also touched too by the fate experienced by our fellow countrymen.

It was common sense though, that in times of this calamity and distress, people all over the world help hand-in-hand to better the feelings and situations of those who got affected by the typhoon. And people who saw it never ceased sending their precious donations and unselfish help no matter how big or small it was.

Our spirit to extend a helping hand was been in our culture as a Filipino nation. It was been flowing deep in our blood. It is called the "bayanihan attitude" and this really separates us from any other culture or nation.

That's why no matter how bad the situation is, we could always hurdle and overcome them because of our good inter-relationship as a big nation. We never stopped helping though how bad the situation is and how much we struggle to keep our life on both ends. The spirit of "bayanihan" always there to thrive everytime and everywhere.

Hopefully, these trials of our fellow countrymen will be done over time. I hope the government will do its share to help them but it seems that our corrupt politicians made this hapless situation as their agenda to usurp people for their own political interest.

Instead of uniting and setting aside their political interest and ambitions and help our fellow countrymen, our politicians even took advantage of the situation and made it even more complicated by putting and flagging their individual agenda confusing the people and the country as well.

How pathetic to see them helping without showing any ounce of compassion in what they do. It was a blatant show of "walang delikadesa" to our fellow countrymen.

I am so saddened to see this, and I hope it will not happen again. Hopefully, whoever wins in the next Presidential elections I hope that these will have to change.

It's also good to see that our celebrities unite in helping the people by spending their precious time to distribute goods as well as donating their money to help the ones who were affected by the flood. I mean that's the spirit of keeping the "bayanihan attitude" live in the air. At least, in some way or the other our fellow countrymen can feel some little comfort even in a small way in times of this sad event.

Well, I hope this is a wake-up call to our politicians and to all people who can't set aside their vested interests. Even though how bent their mentality is, yet the spirit of "bayanihan" is there to live for and just keeps pouring because people of all walks of life just can't seem to handle the trauma and havoc these calamities had brought in our lives and society.

They say, "What comes around, goes around." and as what the Bible had said, "Whatever you sow is what you will reap." Both these sayings has the same connotation and message, to all the people, especially in the situations like what had happened in our country, the Philippines.

Hopefully, this will be a clear realization for all of us to extend help even though how big or small it was for it will come back to us the biggest.

Thanks to all those who in some way or the other made the lives of those who were affected by the two typhoons a little bit comfortable by putting in their special donations in kind or in deed.

Let's all unite to build our own nation from the dust of sorrow and adversity so that we can rise again as a strong people despite of the very very bad dream that had occurred. Good luck guys.......

Up And About

After that freak accident last Wednesday night, I get to hang-out with Kuya George a lot of times due to the reason that I don't want to stay at my apartment alone. I was still haunted by the trauma and aweful experience I had that hapless night.

I can still recall my helpless situation when I could not talk or call to somebody or anybody. Even looking for a rental car on that late night was so hard because most of the rental car offices were close that time except the one near the airport. I don't even want to go to the airport that time because it was very far from my place. So I decided to stay at Kuya George's apartment to spend the night.

The next morning I have to go to the body shop to talk to my friend Joseph, who owns the shop, about my accident and the rough estimate of the damages to my car. Then there and then, my friend helped me find an affordable rental car. After I got the rented car then I feel that my life was back to normal again.

It's really hard to go up and about around Los Angeles without a car. A car is very important and necessary in moving about and all around the town, especially in doing errands and fulfilling special appointments.

For myself alone, a car is very important especially now that my clinical rotations with the students were located far from where I live. I couldn't imagine myself waking up early to catch a bus for work. Like me, who usually wakes up late my life always revolves around my work, bedroom, and my car.

Now that my car was in the body shop for necessary repair then I have to settle with the alternate rented car. The one that I got was a Mazda sport-type sedan. It even got a spoiler to even prove that it really looked like a sports car. It is conveniently drivable and very easy to handle. I think I like it....... and mind you Hetz rental gave me unlimited miles to drive, too. It was agood perk by the way. So, that means that I can go anywhere I want to go. How about driving it to Las Vegas.... or maybe Santa Barbara? Hahaha....

Well, since I already have the alternate car to drive, me and Kuya George went to the Grove one time to watch a movie. We were just too eager to pursue our goal of watching a movie before that unexpected accident happened.

After ordering and gobbling a tasty double double cheeseburger and their freshly made crunchy French fries with Kuya George at In and Out, we headed to the Grove afterwards to watch "Love Happens" which starred Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in a very cute and interesting love story.

The plot centered with the life of Aaron Eckhart who lost his pretty and loving wife from a freak accident. He still grieved his wife's lost by immersing and subjecting himself in helping other people to get over their loss of  a love ones when in fact he himself had secretly and discreetly hide his own grief about his wife and cannot pull off or out of it and go on with his life because of the guilt he felt about his wife's loss.

He then have a strained relationship with his father-in-law, played by the talented Mr. Martin Sheen, who had nothing to wish for but to see and have his son-in-law get over with the guilt he felt about his daughter's loss. But it took a while for Aaron Eckhart  to shake all those pent-up feelings, emotions, and longing for his wife by accepting the fact that he did nothing about his wife's death and that he has to move on with his life.

Jennifer Aniston's role was just right on time in helping the poor grieving Aaron Eckhart. Seeing the potential to help him recover from the loss and be a good loving friend to him, they both developed a very funny, conniving, and trusting bond through words written on the wall behind some famous and fabulous portraits hanged in the hotel's hallways and lobbies. I also learned some high-end words like quidnunc, sesquipedalian, incarnadine, schadenfreude, esurient, and others.

The movie was full of interesting bylines and good to excellent conversations. The script itself was exceedingly superb and the blending and mixing of the dialogues is awesomely inspiring and pleasing to the ears.

Even the actor's portrayals of their roles were superbly done and directed skillfully. The backdrop, which is Seattle, WA; was very pretty and romantic. Looking at the Spaceneedle behind the scenes even highlights the beauty of Seattle, WA itself. How I wanted to go back there again and visit all of the cool places they've featured in the movie.

Well, having the freedom to drive around brings new hope and promise for me to explore my surroundings as well as be cautious of some inevitable events and happenings that can lead to or bring me to any harm's way. So for now, my ultimate goal is to be free from any accident as much as possible, for I don't want to experience that bad and traumatic incident that I've  experienced last Wednesday.

But life can be erratic sometimes and eventhough how careful we are, if it is an accident it will really happen even if you don't ask for it. But hopefully, I can get rid of any bad luck to happen if I'll be more optimistic and relaxed about everything.

Crossing my fingers won't even help, but I hope luck will be on my side the next time.