Last week I had an altercation with our school's administrative officer that oversees faculty's issues. I just emailed him to just schedule me for clinicals and not schedule me for theory because he doesn't honor his previous promises to me.
He specifically told me to teach Batch 40 until they finished Fundamentals of Nursing and follow them up until their clinicals but he changed his position. He even denied telling me those statements which even made me fume with reticent anger. I was so furious that's why I emailed him my decisions.
He retaliated by emailing me back that I was so unprofessional and very demanding about my schedule. Well hello..... I only told him to keep me scheduled in the clinicals and I didn't demand anything. If he choses not to give me schedule then it's okay. I am just requesting that's all. What's wrong with that?
Now, I don't have the right to request? In the first place I am not in his mercy for giving me a schedule. I don't care if he doesn't give me one. I can get anywhere at my registry job. I was just merely asking with no malice about it and he was very defensive telling me that I have no gratitude to him for recommending me to teach theory.
Well hello..... yes I agree you've given me a chance to teach theory but look what have you done? You even retracted your promises and had made some issues that I am incompetent just to accommodate your friend who's waiting for his approval from the Board of Nursing to teach at the school. Now that he had the approval you've indirectly pulled me out from the theory class and used me as a patched alternate for the October schedule? Now you were fabricating those issues that the students had complained about me?
Well whatever issues you've been telling me were greatly contrasting from what the students had told me. They've told me that they've written good comments about me during the evaluation survey. And when I asked you the copies of those evaluations you withheld it from me. You said there was no evaluation happened. Now who's lying between us?
You damn know well about the student's retaliation not to remove me from the class and in fact they've send you a petition to keep me until they've finished Fundamentals of Nursing. And looked what you did...... you still pursued to pull me out from the class and told me that the students were very attached to me. It seems to me that you were jealous that the students had liked me a lot for the short time I've been with them?
You haven't heard from me complaining about the schedule before. You've scheduled me to cover for another instructor and you've given me a short notice for it. I didn't even complain about it. I just told you to please give me more time to prepare next time and not tell me hours before the lecture will happen. Is that the kind of professionalism you're always reiterating every time we had a monthly meeting? That's preposterous sir!
Now you've turned over every thing against me? What kind of professionalism is that sir? I may be very forgiving of your loopholes but this time I'm telling you that I am already up to the brim. My emotions were already boiling and needed to be scraped but unfortunately I bursted acccidentally because of an uncircumstancial email you've sent me that made me shoot some sparks all over.
I don't have to embrace this kind of bullshit anymore because you're just using me to cover up for your inconsistensies and now you are blaming me because you're short of theory instructors? I am sorry sir for turning you down because I don't want to succumb to all these baloney anymore.
Good riddance to you and to all your shitty alibis. I am full of it already. I don't care anymore about your school because it's going down the drain already. I don't know if it can be saved from all the shambles and shame it had involved in the past but unprofessionally using the faculties for your personal gain is another side of the story.
I hope you have the conscience to internalize what you've been doing to me and to the other instructors who fell victim of your two-face scheme but to me it has to end. I hope you'll realize the necessity to change your approaches and tactics and be man enough to honor your words and not flip-flopping them. I hope you have the courage to accept all your wrongdoings but one thing for me for sure is that I have forgiven you already.
I just wanted to let you know that what you've been doing is wrong and that you have to change for the better. Thanks for the opportunity though to work with you although it frustrates me but I have to accept the fact that there are people in the mainstream like you. Life would be boring if there is not.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
My 43rd Birthday Celebration
Yes, I just turned 43-years-old last Wednesday, October 24th in the year of our Lord 2012. I celebrated it with a lot of regressions. Oh.... I mean regression in a good way. I went to the happiest place on earth which is the famous Disneyland in Anaheim, CA.
I was off during that time on a bright LA sunny morning. I woke up so magnificently energized and just wanted to blissfully celebrate my very special day which is my 43rd birthday. Me and my special friends had planned to meet up at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I was super excited and just wanted to personally enjoy and cherish the day because I am officially off that day.
I still vividly remember last year I celebrated my 42nd birthday in Genova, Italy. Actually we were on an adventure trip to Torino during that day and we went back home to Genova, whch is our based city, during my travels in Italy with Doreen. We went back to Genova with a misty and cold rain drizzling at night time and there were no more restaurants opened because it was already 2220H.
Our very hospitable host had advised us to just order delicious and crispy authentic Italian pizzas because there was a very famous pizza store opened near their apartment during that time. We had ordered a lot of their original pizzas from the menu and my birthday had ended up as a feast of great tasting authentic Italian pizza party celebration. There was a lot of good smelling and delicious pizzas as well as a wide array of Italian wines. It was a blast!
This year, I personally wanted my birthday a little more different in some way and that very different and original idea had turned out into a "LITTLE" of this and a "LITTLE" of that which means I am technically and literally going back to my "old little ways". Regression actually is an apt word for it but in a positive and constructive connotation. Celebrating it like a child is strange but it was fun actually. I giggled thinking and writing about it right now.
Disneyland as they say..... "is the happiest and most entertaining place on the surface of the earth." At least for me it is.... And I can attest to that. Celebrating my birthday there was even a lot memorable as well as unforgettable. Celebrating it with my very close friends had just added some spice to it and I was so delighted thinking that we're all acting like a child again.
Seeing those familiar places inside the park like the Main Street, Toontown, Small World, Tea Cup ride, Carousel, The Castle, Tinker Bell, Space Mountain, Frontierland, Jungle ride and those cartoon characters I've seen on TV when I was a child like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc. were very heartwarming and remakable. I felt like I'm still a 15-year-old again.
We met up at the Disneyland Park but before meeting them I decided to go to Toontown first and look for Minnie and Mickey to meet them initially then I went to find the group and continued to explore the whole park with them. I was able to find Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and had a remembrance picture from them which I will remember in years to come commemorating that I had celebrated my 43rd birthday with this very adorable couple.
After doing just that, I met up with my friends near Fronetierland and we continued to explore the enormous park. After lunch we decided to transferred to the Disney California Adventure, my first time there, across the main park and giddily continued to explore it where we celebrated like free people inside there.
We rode the huge and slightly terrifying ferris wheel where the seats slides back and forth when suspended on air, took the chugging and super fast roller coaster, took the awesome and memorable imitation flight with a plane-and-feel-like ride all over the coast of California and also took a lot of memorable pictures highlighting all of our good experiences inside the two parks. Gladly... it was a very fun day though very tiring.
We culminated our playful day at the Disneyland Downtown and celebrate my birthday with a bang which is sumptuous dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We enjoyed our meals very much talking and telling each other our own experiences for the whole day laughing and giggling at our funny and awkward moments for the day. It was hilarious!
I am glad that my beautiful sunny day at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure was a blast with my close friends and that I had celebrated it a very different way compared to last year's adventure. It was good to just cool-it-down there for my off as well as for my special day.
Although how much I was tired during that time I did not really regret having it celebrated there because at the end of the day I knew that we have enjoyed every moment of it and had cherished the fun, the joys, and the awkward moments we had there. I had a blast and my whole day was literally enjoyable and memorable indeed.
I regret to believe that I am getting old but though what ever happens I'm still accepting and still believed that everything is all worth the while and that I am content about it. Life for me is indeed treating me good and I have no qualms about it. Never been better actually but just the best of it.
You just have no idea how much happy I am to celebrate my best and special day there. And I am telling you.... it was so much much different, a lot of fun, and it was well worth it to the hilt. I never never regretted having planned it to celebrate it there and I am so glad it all turned okay and fabulous. Ahhh..... life is indeed full of surprises huh.
I was off during that time on a bright LA sunny morning. I woke up so magnificently energized and just wanted to blissfully celebrate my very special day which is my 43rd birthday. Me and my special friends had planned to meet up at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. I was super excited and just wanted to personally enjoy and cherish the day because I am officially off that day.
I still vividly remember last year I celebrated my 42nd birthday in Genova, Italy. Actually we were on an adventure trip to Torino during that day and we went back home to Genova, whch is our based city, during my travels in Italy with Doreen. We went back to Genova with a misty and cold rain drizzling at night time and there were no more restaurants opened because it was already 2220H.
Our very hospitable host had advised us to just order delicious and crispy authentic Italian pizzas because there was a very famous pizza store opened near their apartment during that time. We had ordered a lot of their original pizzas from the menu and my birthday had ended up as a feast of great tasting authentic Italian pizza party celebration. There was a lot of good smelling and delicious pizzas as well as a wide array of Italian wines. It was a blast!
This year, I personally wanted my birthday a little more different in some way and that very different and original idea had turned out into a "LITTLE" of this and a "LITTLE" of that which means I am technically and literally going back to my "old little ways". Regression actually is an apt word for it but in a positive and constructive connotation. Celebrating it like a child is strange but it was fun actually. I giggled thinking and writing about it right now.
Disneyland as they say..... "is the happiest and most entertaining place on the surface of the earth." At least for me it is.... And I can attest to that. Celebrating my birthday there was even a lot memorable as well as unforgettable. Celebrating it with my very close friends had just added some spice to it and I was so delighted thinking that we're all acting like a child again.
Seeing those familiar places inside the park like the Main Street, Toontown, Small World, Tea Cup ride, Carousel, The Castle, Tinker Bell, Space Mountain, Frontierland, Jungle ride and those cartoon characters I've seen on TV when I was a child like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc. were very heartwarming and remakable. I felt like I'm still a 15-year-old again.
We met up at the Disneyland Park but before meeting them I decided to go to Toontown first and look for Minnie and Mickey to meet them initially then I went to find the group and continued to explore the whole park with them. I was able to find Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and had a remembrance picture from them which I will remember in years to come commemorating that I had celebrated my 43rd birthday with this very adorable couple.
After doing just that, I met up with my friends near Fronetierland and we continued to explore the enormous park. After lunch we decided to transferred to the Disney California Adventure, my first time there, across the main park and giddily continued to explore it where we celebrated like free people inside there.
We rode the huge and slightly terrifying ferris wheel where the seats slides back and forth when suspended on air, took the chugging and super fast roller coaster, took the awesome and memorable imitation flight with a plane-and-feel-like ride all over the coast of California and also took a lot of memorable pictures highlighting all of our good experiences inside the two parks. Gladly... it was a very fun day though very tiring.
We culminated our playful day at the Disneyland Downtown and celebrate my birthday with a bang which is sumptuous dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We enjoyed our meals very much talking and telling each other our own experiences for the whole day laughing and giggling at our funny and awkward moments for the day. It was hilarious!
I am glad that my beautiful sunny day at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure was a blast with my close friends and that I had celebrated it a very different way compared to last year's adventure. It was good to just cool-it-down there for my off as well as for my special day.
Although how much I was tired during that time I did not really regret having it celebrated there because at the end of the day I knew that we have enjoyed every moment of it and had cherished the fun, the joys, and the awkward moments we had there. I had a blast and my whole day was literally enjoyable and memorable indeed.
I regret to believe that I am getting old but though what ever happens I'm still accepting and still believed that everything is all worth the while and that I am content about it. Life for me is indeed treating me good and I have no qualms about it. Never been better actually but just the best of it.
You just have no idea how much happy I am to celebrate my best and special day there. And I am telling you.... it was so much much different, a lot of fun, and it was well worth it to the hilt. I never never regretted having planned it to celebrate it there and I am so glad it all turned okay and fabulous. Ahhh..... life is indeed full of surprises huh.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Pedro Calungsod: A New Filipino Saint
Yesterday October 20, 2012 at around 0900H in Rome, Italy Pope Benedict XVI had canonized a young Filipino martyr who died for his Christian faith while spreading the word of God in the island of Guam in the late 1660's. His martyrdom has inspired a lot of Filipino youth around the country and had sparked more awareness about Catholic faith in the Philipinnes.
Having read his hapless plight and ruthless murder from a lot of articles online I got longstanding goosebumps and also had emotionally cried for his painful sufferings and indomitable patience. He died trying to protect his master, an old Jesuit priest who brought him during their missionary works in Guam.
Young Pedro was thought to come from Visayas but his actual hometown was been obscured because there was no legal evidences to support it but findings says that in the 1600's most of the Calungsods were living in Central Visayas especially near Cebu.
The young Pedro was about 14 years old when he joined the Jesuit mission in Guam and had served the group of Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores who was also declared a saint long time ago. He travelled with Fr. Diego as a catechist spreading the word of God. As a teenager he also is a carpenter, an acolyte, and help for the Jesuit priests.
His martyrdom started when the native Chamoros of Guam had resisted the Christian faith. The head of the tribe had declared war with the Jesuit priests and eventually killed them including the young Calungsod (who is 17 years old when he died)and had tied all their bodies with rocks and throw them to the sea.
He had a chance to escape the fierce natives but he chose to stay and defend Fr. Diego while spreading the word of God and was eventually killed during the altercation. This had established his martyrdom and had even strengthened his cause to be canonized as a saint.
It took thirty years for him to get approved or declared as a saint only not until 1997 when one miraculous involvement in helping an older lady back to life after being declared by a professional doctor as a brain dead patient. The doctor had invoked the then beatified Pedro Calungsod by the blessed Pope John II in 2000 and miraculously had helped the old lady back to normal life and without complications.
After Vatican had send a team to investigate the miraculous event and after several years of studies about his works and sufferings for the Christian faith, thirty years later, which is October 20, 2012 at 0900H the young Pedro Calungsod was not a beato anymore but is a young saint worthy of emulation by the young Filipino Christians as well as the Christian people of the Philipinnes.
Although it will take more years for the Philippines to have another saint, the canonization of Saint Pedro Calungsod as a martyr and inspiration of the young and as the second saint of the Philippines had given a lot of hopes for the Filipinos and had given them boost their spiritual pride, as well as show to the whole world that Filipinos can be also capable of achieving sainthood.
I myself had drawn a lot of inspiration from this canonization and had high regard with the young saint as well as appreciate him for his noble work. If Saint Pedro Calungsod had achieved sainthood for sure many Filipinos will aspire to follow his footsteps and be an inspiration for everybody.
Having read his hapless plight and ruthless murder from a lot of articles online I got longstanding goosebumps and also had emotionally cried for his painful sufferings and indomitable patience. He died trying to protect his master, an old Jesuit priest who brought him during their missionary works in Guam.
Young Pedro was thought to come from Visayas but his actual hometown was been obscured because there was no legal evidences to support it but findings says that in the 1600's most of the Calungsods were living in Central Visayas especially near Cebu.
The young Pedro was about 14 years old when he joined the Jesuit mission in Guam and had served the group of Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores who was also declared a saint long time ago. He travelled with Fr. Diego as a catechist spreading the word of God. As a teenager he also is a carpenter, an acolyte, and help for the Jesuit priests.
His martyrdom started when the native Chamoros of Guam had resisted the Christian faith. The head of the tribe had declared war with the Jesuit priests and eventually killed them including the young Calungsod (who is 17 years old when he died)and had tied all their bodies with rocks and throw them to the sea.
He had a chance to escape the fierce natives but he chose to stay and defend Fr. Diego while spreading the word of God and was eventually killed during the altercation. This had established his martyrdom and had even strengthened his cause to be canonized as a saint.
It took thirty years for him to get approved or declared as a saint only not until 1997 when one miraculous involvement in helping an older lady back to life after being declared by a professional doctor as a brain dead patient. The doctor had invoked the then beatified Pedro Calungsod by the blessed Pope John II in 2000 and miraculously had helped the old lady back to normal life and without complications.
After Vatican had send a team to investigate the miraculous event and after several years of studies about his works and sufferings for the Christian faith, thirty years later, which is October 20, 2012 at 0900H the young Pedro Calungsod was not a beato anymore but is a young saint worthy of emulation by the young Filipino Christians as well as the Christian people of the Philipinnes.
Although it will take more years for the Philippines to have another saint, the canonization of Saint Pedro Calungsod as a martyr and inspiration of the young and as the second saint of the Philippines had given a lot of hopes for the Filipinos and had given them boost their spiritual pride, as well as show to the whole world that Filipinos can be also capable of achieving sainthood.
I myself had drawn a lot of inspiration from this canonization and had high regard with the young saint as well as appreciate him for his noble work. If Saint Pedro Calungsod had achieved sainthood for sure many Filipinos will aspire to follow his footsteps and be an inspiration for everybody.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Road Trip #3: Santa Cruz, Pescadero, Montara, San Jose, and Los Angeles
October 17, 2012 (Wednesday): We both woke up at 0900H taking turns in using the shower and get ready for another day of fun adventure in northern California. We took our continental breakfast at the hotel and then got ready to leave the beautiful city of Monterey.
We headed north of Highway 1 up to Santa Cruz to look for the twin lighthouses there. Our GPS had brought us to a residential place so we thought we missed the location. Good thing I asked the guy walking his dog after I parked the car and he told us to go walk downhill and at the corner make a right going to the marina. After we made a right,there we saw the magnificent white lighthouse at a distance inviting us to come closer and appreciate its alluring posture.
We circled the fascinating lighthouse and took a lot of pictures of it then we also appreciated the surrounding beach with young surfers playing and toying the finicky waves expertly manipulating their surf boards on the surf waves that is trying to kiss the sandy shore.
After roaming the Walden lighthouse we went to the other side of the bay to see the other twin lighthouse. We coasted the shoreline roads until we get to a small cliff where the Santa Cruz lighthouse was located. We alighted from the car and walked towards the small lighthouse sprawled on a well manicured green lawn on top of the cliff. It was closed for renovations but still good for picture taking. We took more pictures of it for our own online memento.
From there we left Santa Cruz and headed to Pescadero going north to look for the Pigeon Point lighthouse which is only twenty-four miles from Santa Cruz as indicated from our GPS. We took the ever winding and narrow Highway 1 going north which was very mystical to us the previous three days.
We enjoyed the sceneries at the highway and also counting at how many pumpkin patches we passed by along the way. Shortly after forty minutes we can visibly see the huge white lighthouse from the distance. We can see how beautiful it is from a distance. What a very stunning piece of beauty!
We made a left on a small dirt road leading to the lighthouse and we were in awe when we saw it up close and personal. It was not operational anymore but its beauty was still there despite the lantern getting rusty. There were community organizations campaigning for the restoration of the decaying lantern.
There was also a school within the grounds where the lighthouse was located and there were children playing at the playground nearby. This lighthouse was the huge one we saw today and was very majestic to look at. There were wire fences around it signalling that it's not functional anymore. Poor thing, it's such a beauty to look at from a far.
After taking so much pictures for our own online collections we decided to leave the place and look for the last lighthouse on our list. We continued going north taking the same road which is the Highway 1 going to Montara, CA trekking the coast lines. We missed the exact location as stated from our GPS so we went down and anxiously asked for the right direction at a nearby Peruvian restaurant which was apparently closed. So we asked the visitors and locals who were there coming from the nearby beach coming out of the restaurant's parking lot.
We went back south and found it luckily on the right side. The lighthouse was the smallest we saw today and is also beautiful at its own right. We also took a lot of pictures of it and then toured around it reading all the informations placed around it. There were two painters doing some painting of the lighthouse. They did a good job of painting it and John was been very interactive with them and had spoke to them both and also had befriended them nicely.
After seeing all four lighthouses for the whole day we decided to go to San Jose and look for the Gilroy Outlet Malls there for John to do a lot of shopping after doing three days of driving and fun adventures.
We drove more than seventy-five miles from Montara going to Gilroy Outlet passing the city of San Jose taking Freeway 101 South. John shopped a lot for his families back home especially his mom and siblings. I actually bought a reasonable Coach leather wallet for myself.
We left the outlet malls after three hours of endless shopping. It was already dark there and at 2100H we decided toleave for home. We took Highway 138 going east towards Interstate 5 and we were led to a dead end by the GPS because the road was closed and I missed the detour sign earlier because I was driving fast maybe. I turned around and drove slowly for the GPS to pick-up another route and luckily it guided us to a new route hitting Highway 138.
We drove for another 30 minutes at Highway 138 until we hit Highway 5 which was even more straight and fast. The drive was very quiet and boring on that dark and eerily scary highway. John and I were conversing about different things that amused us especially about families, work, and future plans of travels. I also tuned my iPhone to Pandora for a wide array of my favorite music collections.
The drive was very silent and I have to maintain my speed at 75-80 mph to cutback on our time and also to hit our target travel of four hours from San Jose to Los Angeles. We drove for almost four hours and got to Los Angeles 20 minutes before 0100H. We were so tired and hungry so we decided to passed by the Thai restaurant in Hollywood and ordered some food for our very late dinner.
After we ate I noticed that my gas tank was already bottomed down so I decided to fill it up at the gas station near the apartment in preparation for my clinicals tomorrow then we headed home after that. We were so tired and very sleepy as well. We bade each other good night and I slept off all my fatigue to regain more strength for my clinical job the next day.
It was a very fruitful and progressive three days road trip going to northern California and I am so happy that we did it together. If not for John coming here I haven't roamed California that extensive and fun way. Thank God.
We headed north of Highway 1 up to Santa Cruz to look for the twin lighthouses there. Our GPS had brought us to a residential place so we thought we missed the location. Good thing I asked the guy walking his dog after I parked the car and he told us to go walk downhill and at the corner make a right going to the marina. After we made a right,there we saw the magnificent white lighthouse at a distance inviting us to come closer and appreciate its alluring posture.
We circled the fascinating lighthouse and took a lot of pictures of it then we also appreciated the surrounding beach with young surfers playing and toying the finicky waves expertly manipulating their surf boards on the surf waves that is trying to kiss the sandy shore.
After roaming the Walden lighthouse we went to the other side of the bay to see the other twin lighthouse. We coasted the shoreline roads until we get to a small cliff where the Santa Cruz lighthouse was located. We alighted from the car and walked towards the small lighthouse sprawled on a well manicured green lawn on top of the cliff. It was closed for renovations but still good for picture taking. We took more pictures of it for our own online memento.
From there we left Santa Cruz and headed to Pescadero going north to look for the Pigeon Point lighthouse which is only twenty-four miles from Santa Cruz as indicated from our GPS. We took the ever winding and narrow Highway 1 going north which was very mystical to us the previous three days.
We enjoyed the sceneries at the highway and also counting at how many pumpkin patches we passed by along the way. Shortly after forty minutes we can visibly see the huge white lighthouse from the distance. We can see how beautiful it is from a distance. What a very stunning piece of beauty!
We made a left on a small dirt road leading to the lighthouse and we were in awe when we saw it up close and personal. It was not operational anymore but its beauty was still there despite the lantern getting rusty. There were community organizations campaigning for the restoration of the decaying lantern.
There was also a school within the grounds where the lighthouse was located and there were children playing at the playground nearby. This lighthouse was the huge one we saw today and was very majestic to look at. There were wire fences around it signalling that it's not functional anymore. Poor thing, it's such a beauty to look at from a far.
After taking so much pictures for our own online collections we decided to leave the place and look for the last lighthouse on our list. We continued going north taking the same road which is the Highway 1 going to Montara, CA trekking the coast lines. We missed the exact location as stated from our GPS so we went down and anxiously asked for the right direction at a nearby Peruvian restaurant which was apparently closed. So we asked the visitors and locals who were there coming from the nearby beach coming out of the restaurant's parking lot.
We went back south and found it luckily on the right side. The lighthouse was the smallest we saw today and is also beautiful at its own right. We also took a lot of pictures of it and then toured around it reading all the informations placed around it. There were two painters doing some painting of the lighthouse. They did a good job of painting it and John was been very interactive with them and had spoke to them both and also had befriended them nicely.
After seeing all four lighthouses for the whole day we decided to go to San Jose and look for the Gilroy Outlet Malls there for John to do a lot of shopping after doing three days of driving and fun adventures.
We drove more than seventy-five miles from Montara going to Gilroy Outlet passing the city of San Jose taking Freeway 101 South. John shopped a lot for his families back home especially his mom and siblings. I actually bought a reasonable Coach leather wallet for myself.
We left the outlet malls after three hours of endless shopping. It was already dark there and at 2100H we decided toleave for home. We took Highway 138 going east towards Interstate 5 and we were led to a dead end by the GPS because the road was closed and I missed the detour sign earlier because I was driving fast maybe. I turned around and drove slowly for the GPS to pick-up another route and luckily it guided us to a new route hitting Highway 138.
We drove for another 30 minutes at Highway 138 until we hit Highway 5 which was even more straight and fast. The drive was very quiet and boring on that dark and eerily scary highway. John and I were conversing about different things that amused us especially about families, work, and future plans of travels. I also tuned my iPhone to Pandora for a wide array of my favorite music collections.
The drive was very silent and I have to maintain my speed at 75-80 mph to cutback on our time and also to hit our target travel of four hours from San Jose to Los Angeles. We drove for almost four hours and got to Los Angeles 20 minutes before 0100H. We were so tired and hungry so we decided to passed by the Thai restaurant in Hollywood and ordered some food for our very late dinner.
After we ate I noticed that my gas tank was already bottomed down so I decided to fill it up at the gas station near the apartment in preparation for my clinicals tomorrow then we headed home after that. We were so tired and very sleepy as well. We bade each other good night and I slept off all my fatigue to regain more strength for my clinical job the next day.
It was a very fruitful and progressive three days road trip going to northern California and I am so happy that we did it together. If not for John coming here I haven't roamed California that extensive and fun way. Thank God.
Road Trip #2: San Simeon, Big Sur, Carmel, and Monterey
October 16, 2012 (Tuesday): We woke up early at San Simeon Holiday Inn at 0800H getting ready for our trip at Hearst Castle that day. After fixing ourselves for the day we went to eat our continental breakfast courtesy by the hotel.
At 0845H we went to look for a gas station near Cambria and filled the almost bottomed down tank. The regular gas cost $5.35 per gallon which is more expensive than the ones in Los Angeles. From there we headed to the castle and stopped by the entrance to take a picture of the entrance caption for our own souvenir to document our trip there.Then we continued to drive inside until we reached the visiting center. We have to park our car there because there will be buses provided to haul and bring people up the hill at the castle.
When we got in the center we went ahead and asked the amiable old lady volunteer what to do and she instructed us to buy a ticket for the tour and chose among the three tours they offered. I asked her what will she recommend and she told us to chose the grand rooms tour which we eventually chose to go per her guidance.
We lined up ourselves at the ticketing station and bought two tickets for the grand rooms tour then we lined up to get a picture at a make shift studio by the exit door adorned with a green screen background before they let us queue outside for the bus pick up. Fifteen minutes later they let us board the bus and then it left after ten minutes after everybody had boarded.
The climb at the hill was very steep and we were entertained by the voice of Alex Trebek of Jeopardy from the overhead pager introducing the castle to us and what they expect for us to do when we were there. It's kind of giving us a heads up on what to expect in coming or going there. He told us the hills other name which is "La Cuesta Encantada" also better known as "The Enchanted Hill".
Listening to Alex was very informative and educational. I learned a little history of the castle from him starting from its inception, creation, and how it ended up the hands of the State of California from that fifteen minute bus ride snaking the brown and arid hill of San Simeon. It was very soothing to listen to his voice spoonfeeding us information about the luxurious and famous castle.
When we arrived at the castle's entrance we alighted from the bus and we were greeted by this very amiable old blonde lady guide and briefed us a little bit about the tour's rules and regulations then she started telling us stories about the castle and then started touring us the grand rooms after.
After touring the grand rooms we went to tour the lush and beautiful mediterranean gardens with intricate sculptures placed everywhere. We also checked the posh guest houses as well as the incomparable and enormous bluish hued Neptune pool. I was tongue-tied of the opulence that enveloped me there. I just shook my head giddily feeling it's majestic and luxurious presence. It seems like I was living in a world of magical creation during that time.
When we finished our interesting and dreamlike tour we went to check the beautiful Roman pool at the basement and the tennis court at the backyard. After that we took the bus back at the visitor's center and checked out.
We bought the pictures which they had took lately from that green screen background studio then decided to eat first before leaving San Simeon heading to Big Sur, CA looking for more unexplored lighthouses.
We passed by the Piedras Blancas lighthouse again for me to get more clearer pictures to be added for my online album which was very blurry yesterday because we took it at almost a foggy dusk. Then we continued driving Highway 1 going north taking the curving and treacherous California coastal roads.
We took the coastal roads going north and enjoyed the sceneries highlighting the Pacific Ocean. While John was driving I also took pictures of the roads we passed by documenting this very memorable road trip. We winded the narrow roads, climbed up the steep ascent as well as climbed down the tricky descent, and enjoyed the beauty that nature abounds into our sight. It was a very long trip from San Simeon to Big Sur but very unforgettable.
When we got to Big Sur, CA we looked for the Big Sur lighthouse but we were told at the hotel we passed by that it was close right now because it is off season. If we go there we will just probably be wasting our precious time and expensive gas. We decided to skip the lighthouse and continued driving to Carmel going to Pacific Grove, CA to look for the second lighthose on our list.
We headed to Pacific Grove to visit the Point Pinos lighthouse. The estate was closed to public because of the reconstruction and renovations they're doing for the lighthouse but the public can still able to get a picture of it nearby because they put the wire fence close by the lighthouse. I was able to snap a lot of pictures of it for my online album.
When we left Pacific Grove we decided to go back to Carmel and look for the Mission Church. We found it right away but the church was also on renovation. There were scaffolds on the roof and construction people were seen working on it. The gate was also close and we were devastated because we can't see it.
When we turned around the gift shop we saw an entrance sign leading us to the church's backyard and there we found out that it was still open to the public even though the church is under renovation. At least our efforts to go back to Carmel was not futile.
We grabbed the opportunity to roam around the place taking as much pictures as we like. We roamed around the interior of the church and the convent juxtapositioned near it as well as we explored the huge backyard and playground at the back of the convent. It was very quiet there and very spiritual as well.
It was almost 1600H when we left Carmel. We then decided to head to Monterrey and look for the famous Cannery Row. We didn't know what to expect at the cannery row because I myself doesn't know what it is. We thought we got lost at first because the GPS brought us to a shopping and eating center.
We were wondering how come it was named as Cannery Row but apparently John found out when he traced back the town's history, it had lead him to the staple industry of Monterey long time ago which was the canning industry as seen by the bridges along and across the streets with the names of the famous cannery companies that was and had been established in Monterey before. Now it is a sprawling and huge shopping and eating center. It still looked the same as before as what the folks had claimed.
It was almost dark so we decided to culminate our trip at the Monterey Harbor and the Old Fisherman's Wharf. At the harbor we feasted our eyes with various colorful yachts bouying at the shoreline and also strolled at the pier watching folks or locals fishing and also surfers surfing at a nearby beach in this cold northern Californian afternoon.
We ended our stroll at the Old Fisherman's Wharf and decided to grab something to eat for dinner. We decided to eat at Isabella's where I ate Penne Shrimp Alfredo and John ordered a sirloin steak on rice topped with sauteed fresh and organic veggies.
After dinner we went to look for a hoteln to stay for the night. We got a room at Travelodge Hotel near Highway 1. There John retired immediately because he got tired during the whole day's road trip while I watched the second Presidential debate held in Hempstead, New York.
I went to sleep close to midnight thinking of our activities the next day. Hopefully, it will be another fun-filled day of long and interesting driving and also of an unpredictable adventures awaiting for us the next day. I am very excited about it!
At 0845H we went to look for a gas station near Cambria and filled the almost bottomed down tank. The regular gas cost $5.35 per gallon which is more expensive than the ones in Los Angeles. From there we headed to the castle and stopped by the entrance to take a picture of the entrance caption for our own souvenir to document our trip there.Then we continued to drive inside until we reached the visiting center. We have to park our car there because there will be buses provided to haul and bring people up the hill at the castle.
When we got in the center we went ahead and asked the amiable old lady volunteer what to do and she instructed us to buy a ticket for the tour and chose among the three tours they offered. I asked her what will she recommend and she told us to chose the grand rooms tour which we eventually chose to go per her guidance.
We lined up ourselves at the ticketing station and bought two tickets for the grand rooms tour then we lined up to get a picture at a make shift studio by the exit door adorned with a green screen background before they let us queue outside for the bus pick up. Fifteen minutes later they let us board the bus and then it left after ten minutes after everybody had boarded.
The climb at the hill was very steep and we were entertained by the voice of Alex Trebek of Jeopardy from the overhead pager introducing the castle to us and what they expect for us to do when we were there. It's kind of giving us a heads up on what to expect in coming or going there. He told us the hills other name which is "La Cuesta Encantada" also better known as "The Enchanted Hill".
Listening to Alex was very informative and educational. I learned a little history of the castle from him starting from its inception, creation, and how it ended up the hands of the State of California from that fifteen minute bus ride snaking the brown and arid hill of San Simeon. It was very soothing to listen to his voice spoonfeeding us information about the luxurious and famous castle.
When we arrived at the castle's entrance we alighted from the bus and we were greeted by this very amiable old blonde lady guide and briefed us a little bit about the tour's rules and regulations then she started telling us stories about the castle and then started touring us the grand rooms after.
After touring the grand rooms we went to tour the lush and beautiful mediterranean gardens with intricate sculptures placed everywhere. We also checked the posh guest houses as well as the incomparable and enormous bluish hued Neptune pool. I was tongue-tied of the opulence that enveloped me there. I just shook my head giddily feeling it's majestic and luxurious presence. It seems like I was living in a world of magical creation during that time.
When we finished our interesting and dreamlike tour we went to check the beautiful Roman pool at the basement and the tennis court at the backyard. After that we took the bus back at the visitor's center and checked out.
We bought the pictures which they had took lately from that green screen background studio then decided to eat first before leaving San Simeon heading to Big Sur, CA looking for more unexplored lighthouses.
We passed by the Piedras Blancas lighthouse again for me to get more clearer pictures to be added for my online album which was very blurry yesterday because we took it at almost a foggy dusk. Then we continued driving Highway 1 going north taking the curving and treacherous California coastal roads.
We took the coastal roads going north and enjoyed the sceneries highlighting the Pacific Ocean. While John was driving I also took pictures of the roads we passed by documenting this very memorable road trip. We winded the narrow roads, climbed up the steep ascent as well as climbed down the tricky descent, and enjoyed the beauty that nature abounds into our sight. It was a very long trip from San Simeon to Big Sur but very unforgettable.
When we got to Big Sur, CA we looked for the Big Sur lighthouse but we were told at the hotel we passed by that it was close right now because it is off season. If we go there we will just probably be wasting our precious time and expensive gas. We decided to skip the lighthouse and continued driving to Carmel going to Pacific Grove, CA to look for the second lighthose on our list.
We headed to Pacific Grove to visit the Point Pinos lighthouse. The estate was closed to public because of the reconstruction and renovations they're doing for the lighthouse but the public can still able to get a picture of it nearby because they put the wire fence close by the lighthouse. I was able to snap a lot of pictures of it for my online album.
When we left Pacific Grove we decided to go back to Carmel and look for the Mission Church. We found it right away but the church was also on renovation. There were scaffolds on the roof and construction people were seen working on it. The gate was also close and we were devastated because we can't see it.
When we turned around the gift shop we saw an entrance sign leading us to the church's backyard and there we found out that it was still open to the public even though the church is under renovation. At least our efforts to go back to Carmel was not futile.
We grabbed the opportunity to roam around the place taking as much pictures as we like. We roamed around the interior of the church and the convent juxtapositioned near it as well as we explored the huge backyard and playground at the back of the convent. It was very quiet there and very spiritual as well.
It was almost 1600H when we left Carmel. We then decided to head to Monterrey and look for the famous Cannery Row. We didn't know what to expect at the cannery row because I myself doesn't know what it is. We thought we got lost at first because the GPS brought us to a shopping and eating center.
We were wondering how come it was named as Cannery Row but apparently John found out when he traced back the town's history, it had lead him to the staple industry of Monterey long time ago which was the canning industry as seen by the bridges along and across the streets with the names of the famous cannery companies that was and had been established in Monterey before. Now it is a sprawling and huge shopping and eating center. It still looked the same as before as what the folks had claimed.
It was almost dark so we decided to culminate our trip at the Monterey Harbor and the Old Fisherman's Wharf. At the harbor we feasted our eyes with various colorful yachts bouying at the shoreline and also strolled at the pier watching folks or locals fishing and also surfers surfing at a nearby beach in this cold northern Californian afternoon.
We ended our stroll at the Old Fisherman's Wharf and decided to grab something to eat for dinner. We decided to eat at Isabella's where I ate Penne Shrimp Alfredo and John ordered a sirloin steak on rice topped with sauteed fresh and organic veggies.
After dinner we went to look for a hoteln to stay for the night. We got a room at Travelodge Hotel near Highway 1. There John retired immediately because he got tired during the whole day's road trip while I watched the second Presidential debate held in Hempstead, New York.
I went to sleep close to midnight thinking of our activities the next day. Hopefully, it will be another fun-filled day of long and interesting driving and also of an unpredictable adventures awaiting for us the next day. I am very excited about it!
Road Trip #1: Santa Barbara and San Simeon
October 15, 2012 (Monday): Today, marked the first day of our road trip going to northern California. After picking up John at the airport yesterday and meeting some important friends last night we are now ready to do our planned road trip to central and northern California taking the mesmerizing and beautiful coastal roads along the Pacific rim hunting for the most evasive, unexplored, and unreachable yet beautiful lighthouses.
We left Los Angeles at around 1000H and took the Freeway 101 also known as the Ventura Highway going north. We were heading first to Santa Barbara to enjoy this small tropical bay city in central California. The trip was only less than two hours passing some not so well-known towns I never knew because honestly this is my first road trip out of Los Angeles area going to the north of California.
The GPS was pretty much accurate at this time and the first stop we did was the Santa Barbara Mission Church. Sprawling on top of the hill the small church appeared splendid and majestic with its modern concrete facade walls and adjacent convent offices. I heard from a volunteer inside the church that it was damaged from an earthquake sometime in the 1930s and the community had reinstalled a new one almost the same as the old ones. We toured the place and took pictures for our own remembrance.
From there we then headed to the town's famous vintage court house just few blocks from the old mission church. The court house was also a beautiful edifice to reckon with. It has a tower with big functional clocks on all four sides. We also toured inside the building and saw a lot of old furnitures, antique doors, and beautiful vintage arts.
The courtrom walls were painted with intricate paintings and the lectern was made of very old and special wood, very antique and vintage to look at. Sprawling outside was a well manicured lush green lawns at the backyard as seen from the terrace on the second floor. From the tower we can also spot the 360 degrees spectacular and awesome view of the whole city. Mostly seen were the dominant and uniform brick adobe roofs of the houses and buildings reminiscent of its colonial history.
From the court house we headed to Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. It is a nursery for orchids located outside the town where we feasted our eyes with the beautiful blooms of cattleyas, cymbidiums, phalaenopsis, and various varieties of orchids I never knew and saw. We took pictures of the flower blooms to document our trip and I also bought two seedlings for me to grow at my apartment.
From the orchidarium we went to look for the famous Stearn's Wharf along the coast line of Santa Barbara. Spreading along the blue-green waters of the Santa Barbara bay was a long wooden pier which they called the Stearn's Wharf. We drove inside the pier and parked at the end part then strolled the whole length of the pier. We also took pictures of the place and decided to buy some magnets for our own collections as well as decided to eat something before hitting back the road for our long road trip to San Simeon.
After our lunch we left Santa Barbara and decided to hit the road again taking the straight Ventura Highway and Route 154 going to San Luis Obispo up north. We decided to drop the first two lighthouses on our list because we were not sure if they allow visitors to go inside the property because it was listed as a private property online plus we don't have time anymore because it was almost 1400H that time when we left Santa Barbara.
The trip to San Simeon was almost two-hours-and-a-half and we arrived there at around 1600H roughly. It was already gloomy and cold when we got there. The sea breeze was very nippy and heavily windy. We decided to look for the Piedras Blancas lighthouse but when we found it the entrance was been cordoned to the public. It was close so I just decided to take pictures of the lighthouse from afar zooming my camera's lens to amplify its size. This was the first lighthouse we saw for this trip.
After our short stint at the lighthouse we decided to pass by the viewing deck of the elephant seals on the nearby San Simeon Parks and Wildlife and gleefully watched them snort and sleep while lying on the sandy beach. They waddle, wiggle, squirm, squeal, snort,and play. It was fun to watch them for minutes. We also took pictures of them lazily spreading, resting, and sleeping on the coarse brown sand of the San Simeon beach. Their shiny huge bodies were covered with the brown sand and they enjoyed laying on it like a soft mattress.
From there we decided to look for a hotel to take respite because it was almost dark. We decided to stay at San Simeon Holiday Inn and stayed there for the rest of the night. My gas tank was almost bottomed down so I decided to have it filled in the morning. We both felt tired so we decided to stay in the hotel and plus it was very cold outside. We were still full from our lunch so we decided to skip dinner.
The next day we will be visiting the famous Hearst Castle of San Simeon built by a very rich newspaper and mining mogul. We know it will be a stunning day tomorrow. We don't know what awaits of our planned adventures but we were ready for whatever will happen. We know there will be a lot of surprises that will happen during the entire trip and we were ready for it as well. We went to sleep and dreamed about it.
We left Los Angeles at around 1000H and took the Freeway 101 also known as the Ventura Highway going north. We were heading first to Santa Barbara to enjoy this small tropical bay city in central California. The trip was only less than two hours passing some not so well-known towns I never knew because honestly this is my first road trip out of Los Angeles area going to the north of California.
The GPS was pretty much accurate at this time and the first stop we did was the Santa Barbara Mission Church. Sprawling on top of the hill the small church appeared splendid and majestic with its modern concrete facade walls and adjacent convent offices. I heard from a volunteer inside the church that it was damaged from an earthquake sometime in the 1930s and the community had reinstalled a new one almost the same as the old ones. We toured the place and took pictures for our own remembrance.
From there we then headed to the town's famous vintage court house just few blocks from the old mission church. The court house was also a beautiful edifice to reckon with. It has a tower with big functional clocks on all four sides. We also toured inside the building and saw a lot of old furnitures, antique doors, and beautiful vintage arts.
The courtrom walls were painted with intricate paintings and the lectern was made of very old and special wood, very antique and vintage to look at. Sprawling outside was a well manicured lush green lawns at the backyard as seen from the terrace on the second floor. From the tower we can also spot the 360 degrees spectacular and awesome view of the whole city. Mostly seen were the dominant and uniform brick adobe roofs of the houses and buildings reminiscent of its colonial history.
From the court house we headed to Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. It is a nursery for orchids located outside the town where we feasted our eyes with the beautiful blooms of cattleyas, cymbidiums, phalaenopsis, and various varieties of orchids I never knew and saw. We took pictures of the flower blooms to document our trip and I also bought two seedlings for me to grow at my apartment.
From the orchidarium we went to look for the famous Stearn's Wharf along the coast line of Santa Barbara. Spreading along the blue-green waters of the Santa Barbara bay was a long wooden pier which they called the Stearn's Wharf. We drove inside the pier and parked at the end part then strolled the whole length of the pier. We also took pictures of the place and decided to buy some magnets for our own collections as well as decided to eat something before hitting back the road for our long road trip to San Simeon.
After our lunch we left Santa Barbara and decided to hit the road again taking the straight Ventura Highway and Route 154 going to San Luis Obispo up north. We decided to drop the first two lighthouses on our list because we were not sure if they allow visitors to go inside the property because it was listed as a private property online plus we don't have time anymore because it was almost 1400H that time when we left Santa Barbara.
The trip to San Simeon was almost two-hours-and-a-half and we arrived there at around 1600H roughly. It was already gloomy and cold when we got there. The sea breeze was very nippy and heavily windy. We decided to look for the Piedras Blancas lighthouse but when we found it the entrance was been cordoned to the public. It was close so I just decided to take pictures of the lighthouse from afar zooming my camera's lens to amplify its size. This was the first lighthouse we saw for this trip.
After our short stint at the lighthouse we decided to pass by the viewing deck of the elephant seals on the nearby San Simeon Parks and Wildlife and gleefully watched them snort and sleep while lying on the sandy beach. They waddle, wiggle, squirm, squeal, snort,and play. It was fun to watch them for minutes. We also took pictures of them lazily spreading, resting, and sleeping on the coarse brown sand of the San Simeon beach. Their shiny huge bodies were covered with the brown sand and they enjoyed laying on it like a soft mattress.
From there we decided to look for a hotel to take respite because it was almost dark. We decided to stay at San Simeon Holiday Inn and stayed there for the rest of the night. My gas tank was almost bottomed down so I decided to have it filled in the morning. We both felt tired so we decided to stay in the hotel and plus it was very cold outside. We were still full from our lunch so we decided to skip dinner.
The next day we will be visiting the famous Hearst Castle of San Simeon built by a very rich newspaper and mining mogul. We know it will be a stunning day tomorrow. We don't know what awaits of our planned adventures but we were ready for whatever will happen. We know there will be a lot of surprises that will happen during the entire trip and we were ready for it as well. We went to sleep and dreamed about it.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Shuttle Endeavour At LaLa Land
Well last Friday I had a taste of the worse traffic in Los Angeles. It's because of the slow procession of the Shuttle Endeavour along the busy streets of Los Angeles going to the California Science Center located in downtown Exposition Park of Los Angeles where it will forever retire permanently. Yes, the traffic was a mad dog.
I left the clinical site at Long Beach Care Center at 1540H trying to hurry due to the fact that I will be going to take a few hours rest for quite a bit because I will be working during that night. I accidentally took the 405 N Freeway and impulsively exited at Centinela Boulevard and then the traffic started to get congested after I exited at the boulevard.
I didn't know that there was an important event happening during that time. The ramps were closed so I immediately thought there was a serious police chase knowing that the Inglewood Area was notoriously famous for street gangs and theft violence. That's how it is here in Los Angeles.... I didn't know about the Endeavour's transport to the famous Los Angeles Museum. I was totally unaware of it. I was just focused on going home and that's it.
It took me more than three hours to get off from the very congested afternoon traffic along Crenshaw Boulevard and I was so pissed off because I have only few hours left to sleep. That night, I went to work half asleep like a zombie, very tired and exhausted. From there I overheard from one of my certified nursing assistant that she needed to go home early because the streets will be closed that night due to the Shuttle Endeavour's parade. I asked her when and where will that be happening and she told me that the city's public works were actually transporting the big space plane at that very moment in Inglewood.
I know about the shuttle's being relocated here in Los Angeles from Houston because I saw some pictures online that it was being secretly kept in one of an isolated hangar in LAX. I also saw some of my friends and students at school who took nice pictures of it at the airport. I didn't know that NASA had donated it to the California Science Center here in Los Angeles. I was very naive about the things that were happening in my surroundings. I have no idea really. I was clueless.
I've heard that the snail-like street procession was very slow because of some hurdles or problems along the way. The plane's wide wingspan had some trouble passing through the street's light posts, houses, matured trees, and other road structures such as building corners and edges. It took them two days to transfer the enormous plane and finally it had arrived at it's final destination and resting place, what I mean eternal retirement place on Sunday October 14, 2012 at around past midnight as what the news had revealed.
Having the Shuttle Endeavour here in Los Angeles entails a lot of benefits for the locals and visiting tourists especially boosting the tourism projects of the city of Los Angeles. Many people for sure will come to Los Angeles to curiously take a glimpse of this magnificent piece of space history which boosted a record of going out of the earth's atmosphere for more or less than two dozen times as a fact. I myself will probably make an effort to see it once all this commotion and pandemonium will eventually died down.
My adopted town was so lucky to be the sole recipient of the Shuttle Endeavor. It will be probably a great feeling to have it seen in person. I am extremely jealous pf those people who had personally witnessed how it was successfully moved along the narrow streets of Los Angeles after it trekked a twelve mile distance of slow paced transport until it had reached it's final home base which is the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Wow, I was so dumbfounded of this great honor and opportunity. Thank you very much Almighty NASA for selecting my famous second hometown to showcase this well known piece of our American space odyssey and history which wonderfully displayed the huge success of space exploration and space science from the 60's to the 90's. Los Angeles was indeed fortunate to have it.
I provided some pictures here in this blog relevant to the transport which I snipped from Google images and I was really envious with those who had witnessed it personally. I really didn't know about it not until last Friday when I overheard it from one of my staff who told me about it because she was in a hurry to go home due to some expected delays in traffic that will occur during that night. Actually, she was taking a bus in going home near the shuttle's route, that's why she was so jittery to leave early at work. I myself had tasted the long hours of traffic when I went home from my clinical route during that day.
Well, just in time for my hometown friend who is visiting from the Philippines this week then maybe I can bring him to see this fascinating space artifact one of these days. At least I have one agenda to show every time I have a visitor coming to see or tour Los Angeles and Hollywood.
I love LA as my adopted town. Having lived here for more than thirteen years, it had really made me rooted more to stay here. It is a banal thing to really expect that kind of reaction but honestly I felt more than that. To me Los Angeles had influenced me greatly in every way. I then considered myself as a true "Angeleno" and I am proud to have lived here for so many years and claim it as my second hometown apart from my birth hometown in the Philippines.
The Shuttle Endeavour's spectacular slow paced parade had also intrigued me that's why in order to indelibly remember this date I have to blog an article about it so that in the future when I kind of browse this site I can say; "Oh, I remember that day when they moved the big plane from an isolated hangar at Los Angeles Airport (LAX)......." And I can attest that I have unfortunately experienced the worse traffic of LA during the time when they gradually towed the Shuttle Endeavour on the narrow streets of South Los Angeles.
This article will attest to all of that and I am proud I have written this blog for my future reminiscence. Yeah...... kind of anticipating what I needed to remember significantly when my brain's grey matter will eventually lessened, sclerosed, and blur my remote memory.
I left the clinical site at Long Beach Care Center at 1540H trying to hurry due to the fact that I will be going to take a few hours rest for quite a bit because I will be working during that night. I accidentally took the 405 N Freeway and impulsively exited at Centinela Boulevard and then the traffic started to get congested after I exited at the boulevard.
I didn't know that there was an important event happening during that time. The ramps were closed so I immediately thought there was a serious police chase knowing that the Inglewood Area was notoriously famous for street gangs and theft violence. That's how it is here in Los Angeles.... I didn't know about the Endeavour's transport to the famous Los Angeles Museum. I was totally unaware of it. I was just focused on going home and that's it.
It took me more than three hours to get off from the very congested afternoon traffic along Crenshaw Boulevard and I was so pissed off because I have only few hours left to sleep. That night, I went to work half asleep like a zombie, very tired and exhausted. From there I overheard from one of my certified nursing assistant that she needed to go home early because the streets will be closed that night due to the Shuttle Endeavour's parade. I asked her when and where will that be happening and she told me that the city's public works were actually transporting the big space plane at that very moment in Inglewood.
I know about the shuttle's being relocated here in Los Angeles from Houston because I saw some pictures online that it was being secretly kept in one of an isolated hangar in LAX. I also saw some of my friends and students at school who took nice pictures of it at the airport. I didn't know that NASA had donated it to the California Science Center here in Los Angeles. I was very naive about the things that were happening in my surroundings. I have no idea really. I was clueless.
I've heard that the snail-like street procession was very slow because of some hurdles or problems along the way. The plane's wide wingspan had some trouble passing through the street's light posts, houses, matured trees, and other road structures such as building corners and edges. It took them two days to transfer the enormous plane and finally it had arrived at it's final destination and resting place, what I mean eternal retirement place on Sunday October 14, 2012 at around past midnight as what the news had revealed.
Having the Shuttle Endeavour here in Los Angeles entails a lot of benefits for the locals and visiting tourists especially boosting the tourism projects of the city of Los Angeles. Many people for sure will come to Los Angeles to curiously take a glimpse of this magnificent piece of space history which boosted a record of going out of the earth's atmosphere for more or less than two dozen times as a fact. I myself will probably make an effort to see it once all this commotion and pandemonium will eventually died down.
My adopted town was so lucky to be the sole recipient of the Shuttle Endeavor. It will be probably a great feeling to have it seen in person. I am extremely jealous pf those people who had personally witnessed how it was successfully moved along the narrow streets of Los Angeles after it trekked a twelve mile distance of slow paced transport until it had reached it's final home base which is the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Wow, I was so dumbfounded of this great honor and opportunity. Thank you very much Almighty NASA for selecting my famous second hometown to showcase this well known piece of our American space odyssey and history which wonderfully displayed the huge success of space exploration and space science from the 60's to the 90's. Los Angeles was indeed fortunate to have it.
I provided some pictures here in this blog relevant to the transport which I snipped from Google images and I was really envious with those who had witnessed it personally. I really didn't know about it not until last Friday when I overheard it from one of my staff who told me about it because she was in a hurry to go home due to some expected delays in traffic that will occur during that night. Actually, she was taking a bus in going home near the shuttle's route, that's why she was so jittery to leave early at work. I myself had tasted the long hours of traffic when I went home from my clinical route during that day.
Well, just in time for my hometown friend who is visiting from the Philippines this week then maybe I can bring him to see this fascinating space artifact one of these days. At least I have one agenda to show every time I have a visitor coming to see or tour Los Angeles and Hollywood.
I love LA as my adopted town. Having lived here for more than thirteen years, it had really made me rooted more to stay here. It is a banal thing to really expect that kind of reaction but honestly I felt more than that. To me Los Angeles had influenced me greatly in every way. I then considered myself as a true "Angeleno" and I am proud to have lived here for so many years and claim it as my second hometown apart from my birth hometown in the Philippines.
The Shuttle Endeavour's spectacular slow paced parade had also intrigued me that's why in order to indelibly remember this date I have to blog an article about it so that in the future when I kind of browse this site I can say; "Oh, I remember that day when they moved the big plane from an isolated hangar at Los Angeles Airport (LAX)......." And I can attest that I have unfortunately experienced the worse traffic of LA during the time when they gradually towed the Shuttle Endeavour on the narrow streets of South Los Angeles.
This article will attest to all of that and I am proud I have written this blog for my future reminiscence. Yeah...... kind of anticipating what I needed to remember significantly when my brain's grey matter will eventually lessened, sclerosed, and blur my remote memory.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Watching Globe Trekker
Yeah.... I woke up early this morning because of the reason that I am tired lying down on my bed already. I was off yesterday but I spend the whole day sleeping because I was working the previous night. I also slept the whole night that's why I woke up so over relieved and I felt good to exercise.
I went to the gym right after I changed after I woke up and also brought the water jug because I needed to fetch water which I procrastinated doing it for four days because I was so lazy maybe as well as super tired because of the back-to-back schedule I had from the school and the hospital. Whew.... it was really a hectic schedule.
I am glad that I wasn't been teaching now so I got a three days off and will be back to the clinical site on Thursday and Friday. In as much as I needed this days off greatly I really felt so bummed out, I don't know why. I mean I felt so lazy to move and do things as well as doing the chores. Even fetching water from the nearby water station really doesn't motivate me at all. I look so pathetic!
I went to the gym feeling so down but I know I have to do it. I run for forty-five minutes then biked for half an hour. I also did some thigh presses and chest squeezes but I felt that I was just there physically but not mentally. After three hours I left the gym and finally dragged myself fetching water from the nearby water station because it is within a near distance from the gym.
I went home but still felt so tired and lazy. I opened the TV and browsed my DVR and saw "Dancing With The Stars All Stars" which was recorded last night so I watched it with amusement for a while. The dances were more difficult and pressured because there will be two people being eliminated tonight.
After watching "Dancing With The Stars All Stars" I also clicked the "Globe Trekker Episode" which I recorded last week. I love travel shows so I kind of watched this episode featuring the countries of Panama and Colombia and lay on the couch listening to the lady describing her experiences when she was in Panama City and Colombia.
I never knew that Panama City is a beautiful country. She showed her shopping travels in Panama City and I was so fascinated with the episode where she bought some fedora like hats which Panama is famous of. The whole city of Panama City looks so progressive and pretty.
I was touched about her experience in Portobello and the islands of Kuna Yala, Carti, and San Blas where she met another indigenous group of people there. Her experiences in the Panama Canal was also interesting and educational because the guy who toured her at the canal was very informative explaining how Panama Canal was made and operating. It was very interesting as well as educational to watch.
From Panama the lady boarded a plane and flew to Bogota, Colombia. She expressed that the presence of armies around the city had made her safe despite that Colombia was been known around the world to be a not so safe place to tour and roam. But the lady had explained that it's just about how a tourist can prevent herself or himself encounter some trouble in another place. What I mean is that precautions should be taken into an urgent consideration.
The episode of the coat factory owner showing her some of the bulletproof jackets was also interesting. The coat factory owner had demonstrated in front of her how safe were those coats or jackets are by demonstrating in her midst through shooting one of the owner's factory worker wearing a sample jacket and I saw how the bullet was flattened after he shot the factory worker wearing the jacket. The worker was also safe and did not incurred any injury at all. Interesting huh!
From her travels she explained her various memorable and remarkable travels and experiences when she went to the city of Cartagena (one of the beautiful city in Colombia), the town of Medelin, the poblacion of Magdalena, the town of Santa Marta, and the infamous Lost City. It was quite interesting because I was so amazed about her travels to The Lost City riding a donkey with a group of men starting from Santa Marta, going to Machete, traveling until Mutanahl Village, until they arrived to most seek and sought Lost City. She also indicated how much she spend in going to the lost city which appears a little costly.
When she arrived at The Lost City..... it looks so pretty over there. It's just like she went to the Incas on top of the mountain. The area was huge and looks like the Machu Picu in Peru. It was the seat of an Indian Civilization in Colombia before the Spaniards came there. Her travels culminated there in The Lost City until she was hoisted by a helicopter back to Santa Marta and to Bogota. It was a very good documentation of her travels and I learned a lot from it.
I hope that in the future I can also travel there and appreciate all the places that she went. How I wish I could do extensive traveling again like I did in Southern Europe last year. Hopefully when I can save up some enough money I wish to travel to Brazil and roam around Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro which I often heard from my Brazilian landlord as a better place to go. I am studying the map of Brazil now and was exploring some good places to go there.
This December I was planning to go back to Mexico because I still believed that I needed to scour more beautiful places there especially the ones near the Yucatan Jungle and the Guadalajara area as well as the surrounding cities. If God permits I will be traveling everyday of my life but because of my responsibilities to myself and to my little nieces and nephews I am bound to work rather than doing pleasure traveling.
Of course I will mix work and travel to make my life more interesting. It would be boring if I just work work work and not enjoy myself at all. I say I will be bummed out if all I did was just work and not play some times. That's why I needed to adjust my time also and make myself rested through my travels. Hopefully next year I will achieve this travel goals I had. God will bless me.
I went to the gym right after I changed after I woke up and also brought the water jug because I needed to fetch water which I procrastinated doing it for four days because I was so lazy maybe as well as super tired because of the back-to-back schedule I had from the school and the hospital. Whew.... it was really a hectic schedule.
I am glad that I wasn't been teaching now so I got a three days off and will be back to the clinical site on Thursday and Friday. In as much as I needed this days off greatly I really felt so bummed out, I don't know why. I mean I felt so lazy to move and do things as well as doing the chores. Even fetching water from the nearby water station really doesn't motivate me at all. I look so pathetic!
I went to the gym feeling so down but I know I have to do it. I run for forty-five minutes then biked for half an hour. I also did some thigh presses and chest squeezes but I felt that I was just there physically but not mentally. After three hours I left the gym and finally dragged myself fetching water from the nearby water station because it is within a near distance from the gym.
I went home but still felt so tired and lazy. I opened the TV and browsed my DVR and saw "Dancing With The Stars All Stars" which was recorded last night so I watched it with amusement for a while. The dances were more difficult and pressured because there will be two people being eliminated tonight.
After watching "Dancing With The Stars All Stars" I also clicked the "Globe Trekker Episode" which I recorded last week. I love travel shows so I kind of watched this episode featuring the countries of Panama and Colombia and lay on the couch listening to the lady describing her experiences when she was in Panama City and Colombia.
I never knew that Panama City is a beautiful country. She showed her shopping travels in Panama City and I was so fascinated with the episode where she bought some fedora like hats which Panama is famous of. The whole city of Panama City looks so progressive and pretty.
I was touched about her experience in Portobello and the islands of Kuna Yala, Carti, and San Blas where she met another indigenous group of people there. Her experiences in the Panama Canal was also interesting and educational because the guy who toured her at the canal was very informative explaining how Panama Canal was made and operating. It was very interesting as well as educational to watch.
From Panama the lady boarded a plane and flew to Bogota, Colombia. She expressed that the presence of armies around the city had made her safe despite that Colombia was been known around the world to be a not so safe place to tour and roam. But the lady had explained that it's just about how a tourist can prevent herself or himself encounter some trouble in another place. What I mean is that precautions should be taken into an urgent consideration.
The episode of the coat factory owner showing her some of the bulletproof jackets was also interesting. The coat factory owner had demonstrated in front of her how safe were those coats or jackets are by demonstrating in her midst through shooting one of the owner's factory worker wearing a sample jacket and I saw how the bullet was flattened after he shot the factory worker wearing the jacket. The worker was also safe and did not incurred any injury at all. Interesting huh!
From her travels she explained her various memorable and remarkable travels and experiences when she went to the city of Cartagena (one of the beautiful city in Colombia), the town of Medelin, the poblacion of Magdalena, the town of Santa Marta, and the infamous Lost City. It was quite interesting because I was so amazed about her travels to The Lost City riding a donkey with a group of men starting from Santa Marta, going to Machete, traveling until Mutanahl Village, until they arrived to most seek and sought Lost City. She also indicated how much she spend in going to the lost city which appears a little costly.
When she arrived at The Lost City..... it looks so pretty over there. It's just like she went to the Incas on top of the mountain. The area was huge and looks like the Machu Picu in Peru. It was the seat of an Indian Civilization in Colombia before the Spaniards came there. Her travels culminated there in The Lost City until she was hoisted by a helicopter back to Santa Marta and to Bogota. It was a very good documentation of her travels and I learned a lot from it.
I hope that in the future I can also travel there and appreciate all the places that she went. How I wish I could do extensive traveling again like I did in Southern Europe last year. Hopefully when I can save up some enough money I wish to travel to Brazil and roam around Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro which I often heard from my Brazilian landlord as a better place to go. I am studying the map of Brazil now and was exploring some good places to go there.
This December I was planning to go back to Mexico because I still believed that I needed to scour more beautiful places there especially the ones near the Yucatan Jungle and the Guadalajara area as well as the surrounding cities. If God permits I will be traveling everyday of my life but because of my responsibilities to myself and to my little nieces and nephews I am bound to work rather than doing pleasure traveling.
Of course I will mix work and travel to make my life more interesting. It would be boring if I just work work work and not enjoy myself at all. I say I will be bummed out if all I did was just work and not play some times. That's why I needed to adjust my time also and make myself rested through my travels. Hopefully next year I will achieve this travel goals I had. God will bless me.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Learning Is A Roller Coaster
It's been a joy to help others. And it's such a pleasure to be of service to everyone, somebody, or anybody that you love as well as you meet along the way. My parents have always instill in me the spirit of benevolence and kindness and that was one of the values as well as virtues I have inherited maybe from them.
Last Friday was my last day of teaching Fundamentals of Nursing with Batch 40 in school. I came early in the morning to start the day and as I came into the room I was greeted with sad and gloomy faces because they look so down and affected due to the fact that they knew of the school's plan to take me off their schedule. I heard they opposed the move by filing a petition to keep me and they were still waiting for the result of their petition that day.
They were telling me that it was unfair for the management to remove me from teaching them because they were so comfortable with me already. They say they like me a lot and that they were learning a lot from me. They also told me that they will adjust again to another teacher when I am gone and that it will affect their grades. And they don't want that to happen to them.
As I listened to all their individual complaints I knew that they were still in denial because of this drastic decision. I told them that they have to accept change and that change is for the better. They have to give a chance to the next instructor because I know they can also learn from him especially from his experiences as a nurse.
In as much as I wanted them to learn from me, I also wanted them to learn from others because I wanted them to interact with other personalities as well where they can get more experiences. It will help them later on especially when they have their own individual jobs. Being a nurse entails a lot of interactions with other people's personalities and that it can also toughen them up especially in dealing with mean and precocious people. I know they will be okay with Mr. Villanueva because he is a very good teacher.
In my experience as a nurse, I always learned a lot from interacting with other people. Having listened from the wisdom other people had shared with me I always find it a pleasure to talk to them. I can get a lot of advises as well as learn different lessons in life especially to those who are more experienced and had the joy to really teach someone with passion. It is a very rewarding learning experience having met and interact with them intimately in a conversation.
There's always a subtle cues that can tell me that a person is an intellectual at the beginning. From there I can strike a more interactive and rational conversation with them and can learn a lot from the interaction. I can talk to them in hours and get more insights especialy for everyday undertakings.
About me, I always have some inhibitions with regards to interacting with people that's why some of my students told me that I look very strict and unapproachable on the first meeting. I told them that it is okay to have that kind of impression because as a teacher I have to make a gap and maintain that imaginary line that separates a teacher from a student..... which they call respect.
I told them that I don't want to get too close with the students because in my experience it always brings me to so much trouble especially when it comes to a teacher-student relationship. They say too much closeness can bridge contempt which in my own personal experience is very very true and I don't want that to happen to me either. It will be a nightmare if that will happen on my part.
I told my students that they need to psyche up their teacher next time and must be frank and honest with him or her about their expectations so that everything will be laid out on the floor in an organized manner. In that, their learning process will be continuous and smooth as they go along. Things might be troublesome sometimes but if they can talk and communicate with each other willingly then everything will just be smooth sailing and productive.
I told them that learning has always ups and downs and that they have to prepare themselves with the labile condition of their learning situations. Learning is not permanent. It always change. They have to have flexibility in adjusting to a change and I didn't lack an opportunity telling them to study hard. Learning is just like a roller coaster and in order not to be thrown out from the ride they have to strap themselves well with good study habits and proper organization when it comes to studying.
My heart bleeds leaving them at this time but I know it will be for their own good and I will be the one stopping it if it's not good for them. Hopefully, when I see them in their clinicals they will joyfully tell me that I am right at the start. Can't wait to see that happen. And I will be waiting for it to happen in the future. That I will patiently wait for now.......
Last Friday was my last day of teaching Fundamentals of Nursing with Batch 40 in school. I came early in the morning to start the day and as I came into the room I was greeted with sad and gloomy faces because they look so down and affected due to the fact that they knew of the school's plan to take me off their schedule. I heard they opposed the move by filing a petition to keep me and they were still waiting for the result of their petition that day.
They were telling me that it was unfair for the management to remove me from teaching them because they were so comfortable with me already. They say they like me a lot and that they were learning a lot from me. They also told me that they will adjust again to another teacher when I am gone and that it will affect their grades. And they don't want that to happen to them.
As I listened to all their individual complaints I knew that they were still in denial because of this drastic decision. I told them that they have to accept change and that change is for the better. They have to give a chance to the next instructor because I know they can also learn from him especially from his experiences as a nurse.
In as much as I wanted them to learn from me, I also wanted them to learn from others because I wanted them to interact with other personalities as well where they can get more experiences. It will help them later on especially when they have their own individual jobs. Being a nurse entails a lot of interactions with other people's personalities and that it can also toughen them up especially in dealing with mean and precocious people. I know they will be okay with Mr. Villanueva because he is a very good teacher.
In my experience as a nurse, I always learned a lot from interacting with other people. Having listened from the wisdom other people had shared with me I always find it a pleasure to talk to them. I can get a lot of advises as well as learn different lessons in life especially to those who are more experienced and had the joy to really teach someone with passion. It is a very rewarding learning experience having met and interact with them intimately in a conversation.
There's always a subtle cues that can tell me that a person is an intellectual at the beginning. From there I can strike a more interactive and rational conversation with them and can learn a lot from the interaction. I can talk to them in hours and get more insights especialy for everyday undertakings.
About me, I always have some inhibitions with regards to interacting with people that's why some of my students told me that I look very strict and unapproachable on the first meeting. I told them that it is okay to have that kind of impression because as a teacher I have to make a gap and maintain that imaginary line that separates a teacher from a student..... which they call respect.
I told them that I don't want to get too close with the students because in my experience it always brings me to so much trouble especially when it comes to a teacher-student relationship. They say too much closeness can bridge contempt which in my own personal experience is very very true and I don't want that to happen to me either. It will be a nightmare if that will happen on my part.
I told my students that they need to psyche up their teacher next time and must be frank and honest with him or her about their expectations so that everything will be laid out on the floor in an organized manner. In that, their learning process will be continuous and smooth as they go along. Things might be troublesome sometimes but if they can talk and communicate with each other willingly then everything will just be smooth sailing and productive.
I told them that learning has always ups and downs and that they have to prepare themselves with the labile condition of their learning situations. Learning is not permanent. It always change. They have to have flexibility in adjusting to a change and I didn't lack an opportunity telling them to study hard. Learning is just like a roller coaster and in order not to be thrown out from the ride they have to strap themselves well with good study habits and proper organization when it comes to studying.
My heart bleeds leaving them at this time but I know it will be for their own good and I will be the one stopping it if it's not good for them. Hopefully, when I see them in their clinicals they will joyfully tell me that I am right at the start. Can't wait to see that happen. And I will be waiting for it to happen in the future. That I will patiently wait for now.......
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Grandest Exit
Whew!.... I had a very long day today. It was a gruelling day which I say was a very rewarding day. I was teaching Nursing Process to Batch 40, my usual daytime theory class. It was a very thought draining lecture but at least very fulfilling. I'm glad the students learned it from me.
This coming Friday will be my last day with them because my October schedule says I have to go back to th eclinical site and the theory classes should be handled by Mr. Villanueva. It is sad though because I already got attached with this group after several weeks of teaching them. They were also sad because I am leaving them but I comforted them that they have to adapt to changes.
Changes are good for the better I say. From changes you'll benefit form intermingling with personalities especially with different teachers who have different experiences in didactic lectures or clinical rotations. It's kind of a win-win situations for them.... but you know they're still in denial that I am leaving them.
They're kind of resenting the decisions of the administration but I know eventually they will understand why it has to happen. I just let them waddle with their miseries and was just there present to assure them that I will be around especially when they needed me. I told them that they can call me and email me if they needed my advise that is why I gave them my celfone number and my email address.
Today we talk about Nursing Process and I taught them the rigors of making a simple but effective nursing care plan which some of the students are struggling to make. I have had students in Term 4 who doesn't even know how to make care plans and that was very shocking and distressing to know.
With this group, they were very eager to know and I make sure that I go slow for them to absorb thelecture and I also provided them with clear examples so that they can compare it later on when they are in the clinical settings. They say they totally learned a lot form me today especially on how to make the dreaded nursing care plan. That is still remains to be seen and I hope they will internalize what I taught them today.
I was still mourning my termination or sepration from them but I know it has to happen. It is for the common good and I will have to abide for it. As I exit from this class I know I am fulfilled and satisfied because I did my best for them to understand the rigors of the Fundamentals of Nursing and that I am proud enough to say that they all did well from day one till I left them.
I can sigh with relief leaving them in good hands and I know for sure that I will still see them again in their remaining terms, maybe on Terms 3 and 4, hopefully. But that's not so soon yet but crossing my fingers it will happen someday.
I also got a bad news today about our staffing administration consultant who told one of my colleague that he will be leaving anytime because he cannot take the issue form the administration not cooperating with him. I was shocked and I was tongue-tied because he is the one who organized and plained all thechaos and wrinkles within the internal school issues. And now that everything was almost straightened out he will leave the school. I dreaded that the school will go down the drain again. So sad about the bad news.
Well, they say that changes has to go on and the effect of it may be negative or positive. But life has to go on because it is continuous and dynamic and we just have to learn from the effects of the changes that is being imposed along the way. But whatever happens our consultant will take his grandest exit but organizing the previously chaotic system of the school and I leaving Batch 40 on Friday is happy enough and feel secured that they were been supplied with enough knowledge to carry on with their Term 1 clinical rotation.
God will bless me what will happen next but I am glad I am back in the clinical area again. There's no place I could call home but my clinical rotation exposures because I am very adept and good at guiding and assiting nursing students learn more in the clinical settings. Thank you Lord for answering my prayers. Hopefully, these students will learn more from me when they rotate in the field. Crossing my fingers they will.
This coming Friday will be my last day with them because my October schedule says I have to go back to th eclinical site and the theory classes should be handled by Mr. Villanueva. It is sad though because I already got attached with this group after several weeks of teaching them. They were also sad because I am leaving them but I comforted them that they have to adapt to changes.
Changes are good for the better I say. From changes you'll benefit form intermingling with personalities especially with different teachers who have different experiences in didactic lectures or clinical rotations. It's kind of a win-win situations for them.... but you know they're still in denial that I am leaving them.
They're kind of resenting the decisions of the administration but I know eventually they will understand why it has to happen. I just let them waddle with their miseries and was just there present to assure them that I will be around especially when they needed me. I told them that they can call me and email me if they needed my advise that is why I gave them my celfone number and my email address.
Today we talk about Nursing Process and I taught them the rigors of making a simple but effective nursing care plan which some of the students are struggling to make. I have had students in Term 4 who doesn't even know how to make care plans and that was very shocking and distressing to know.
With this group, they were very eager to know and I make sure that I go slow for them to absorb thelecture and I also provided them with clear examples so that they can compare it later on when they are in the clinical settings. They say they totally learned a lot form me today especially on how to make the dreaded nursing care plan. That is still remains to be seen and I hope they will internalize what I taught them today.
I was still mourning my termination or sepration from them but I know it has to happen. It is for the common good and I will have to abide for it. As I exit from this class I know I am fulfilled and satisfied because I did my best for them to understand the rigors of the Fundamentals of Nursing and that I am proud enough to say that they all did well from day one till I left them.
I can sigh with relief leaving them in good hands and I know for sure that I will still see them again in their remaining terms, maybe on Terms 3 and 4, hopefully. But that's not so soon yet but crossing my fingers it will happen someday.
I also got a bad news today about our staffing administration consultant who told one of my colleague that he will be leaving anytime because he cannot take the issue form the administration not cooperating with him. I was shocked and I was tongue-tied because he is the one who organized and plained all thechaos and wrinkles within the internal school issues. And now that everything was almost straightened out he will leave the school. I dreaded that the school will go down the drain again. So sad about the bad news.
Well, they say that changes has to go on and the effect of it may be negative or positive. But life has to go on because it is continuous and dynamic and we just have to learn from the effects of the changes that is being imposed along the way. But whatever happens our consultant will take his grandest exit but organizing the previously chaotic system of the school and I leaving Batch 40 on Friday is happy enough and feel secured that they were been supplied with enough knowledge to carry on with their Term 1 clinical rotation.
God will bless me what will happen next but I am glad I am back in the clinical area again. There's no place I could call home but my clinical rotation exposures because I am very adept and good at guiding and assiting nursing students learn more in the clinical settings. Thank you Lord for answering my prayers. Hopefully, these students will learn more from me when they rotate in the field. Crossing my fingers they will.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
My Visit To My Ear Doctor
Yes.... today I am due to visit my ear doctor. After more than a month after my last ear surgery I was scheduled to go back to the ear doctor to see if how's things going on. I am kind of apprehensive but I have to go for my peace of mind.
I have also a theory class today at 0900H but I told on eof my colleague to cover for me after asking permission form our administrative staff coordinator. I already prepared the exercises for my student for that day and I already left it with my relief yesterday leaving a very thorough instructions on what to do while I am away.
Today, the students will have their fingerprints be programmed also on the computer for their clock-in and clock-out when they are in school. They will also get a little orientation on what to do during clocking-in and out. I believe their individual name tags and ID will also be issued today. Gosh.... a lot of interruptions in my class hours. Good thing they have time to do that when I am away for my doctor's visit.
I left the hose quarter to 0900H because my schedule at the doctor's office will be at nine sharp. Good thing the traffic is not that bad I arrived at the parking structure ten minutes before the intended schedule.
After parking I crossed the street from the parking structure and went to the elevator punching the button for the sixth floor. I lined up myself at the reception and registered myself, gave the receptionist my insurance card and paid the $25 co-pay then went to the doctor's office.
Mindy, the Armenian doctor's secretary greeted me and called me in to get my vitals then she send me to wait outside and wait until I will be called to the examining room because most of the examining rooms were occupied that time.
I went outside the waiting area and watched the early morning show hosted by Kelly Ripa and her amiable new football player host, because Regis Philbin had already retired. Today, was Kelly's birthday and judging with her looks on TV she looks stunning for her age. I don't know how old she is because I haven't catched them saying it while they were airing at that time.
Twenty minutes after, Mindy summoned me to go inside while she prepared the room for me. I sat on the examining table waiting for Dr. Terry to come in. Fifteen minutes later, he knocked on the door and came in greeting me and asking how everything is going.
I told him that everything is good and that my hearing was 200% improved and I was happy about the outcome of the surgery and that I have no issues or problems to give him except that my right ear hearing aid is under reapair right now because of some malfunction issues and also that the thing was already out of warranty so I have to shore out a huge amount to have it repaired.
He was just smiling at me while I was ranting amount my minor dilemma. He told me to lie down on the examining table so that he can examine the left ear. He had me turned my head to the right and then he visualize the inside of the left ear. I noticed and felt he is suctioning the ear canal which gave me at itchy sensation and he told me he's gonna put some liquid antibiotic with a small packing that will melt eventually.
After that he updated me that the new skin that was put during the surgery was been healing well except for a small portion that is not covered so he had it fixed and stuck it to put it in place. He also told me that they are healing well and that there was no infectin or any major issues noted. I was happy for the good news. He told me to go back again in one month to hav ean audiogram and another check-up. He guided me outside towards Mindy to schedule for the next appointment.
Whew! I am glad everything were okay and that I am super happy that everything went out well. I can also feel the progress because I know my hearing had improved greatly after that. I left the clinic and headed to school for my teaching class. Thank you Lord for everything and I cannot express my happiness right now. Oh..... how I felt so bless for all this good moments happening to me. Life is good indeed!
I have also a theory class today at 0900H but I told on eof my colleague to cover for me after asking permission form our administrative staff coordinator. I already prepared the exercises for my student for that day and I already left it with my relief yesterday leaving a very thorough instructions on what to do while I am away.
Today, the students will have their fingerprints be programmed also on the computer for their clock-in and clock-out when they are in school. They will also get a little orientation on what to do during clocking-in and out. I believe their individual name tags and ID will also be issued today. Gosh.... a lot of interruptions in my class hours. Good thing they have time to do that when I am away for my doctor's visit.
I left the hose quarter to 0900H because my schedule at the doctor's office will be at nine sharp. Good thing the traffic is not that bad I arrived at the parking structure ten minutes before the intended schedule.
After parking I crossed the street from the parking structure and went to the elevator punching the button for the sixth floor. I lined up myself at the reception and registered myself, gave the receptionist my insurance card and paid the $25 co-pay then went to the doctor's office.
Mindy, the Armenian doctor's secretary greeted me and called me in to get my vitals then she send me to wait outside and wait until I will be called to the examining room because most of the examining rooms were occupied that time.
I went outside the waiting area and watched the early morning show hosted by Kelly Ripa and her amiable new football player host, because Regis Philbin had already retired. Today, was Kelly's birthday and judging with her looks on TV she looks stunning for her age. I don't know how old she is because I haven't catched them saying it while they were airing at that time.
Twenty minutes after, Mindy summoned me to go inside while she prepared the room for me. I sat on the examining table waiting for Dr. Terry to come in. Fifteen minutes later, he knocked on the door and came in greeting me and asking how everything is going.
I told him that everything is good and that my hearing was 200% improved and I was happy about the outcome of the surgery and that I have no issues or problems to give him except that my right ear hearing aid is under reapair right now because of some malfunction issues and also that the thing was already out of warranty so I have to shore out a huge amount to have it repaired.
He was just smiling at me while I was ranting amount my minor dilemma. He told me to lie down on the examining table so that he can examine the left ear. He had me turned my head to the right and then he visualize the inside of the left ear. I noticed and felt he is suctioning the ear canal which gave me at itchy sensation and he told me he's gonna put some liquid antibiotic with a small packing that will melt eventually.
After that he updated me that the new skin that was put during the surgery was been healing well except for a small portion that is not covered so he had it fixed and stuck it to put it in place. He also told me that they are healing well and that there was no infectin or any major issues noted. I was happy for the good news. He told me to go back again in one month to hav ean audiogram and another check-up. He guided me outside towards Mindy to schedule for the next appointment.
Whew! I am glad everything were okay and that I am super happy that everything went out well. I can also feel the progress because I know my hearing had improved greatly after that. I left the clinic and headed to school for my teaching class. Thank you Lord for everything and I cannot express my happiness right now. Oh..... how I felt so bless for all this good moments happening to me. Life is good indeed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)