This week:

Intravenous Therapy Training - quizzes, lectures, return demonstrations

Assessment of Geriatric, Adult, Pediatric patients.

Neuro, Cardio, and Pulmonary Assessment

Workshops on various chart forms

Pain Management workshop

Next week:

Clinical Duties

It’s like we’re squeezing in 4 years of Nursing in to 3 months! haha! I’m having fun but at the same time I can’t help but look back and miss my friends whose personalities I’ve grown accustomed to.  It’s so difficult adjusting to a new set of people!  I can’t help but think about how much easier all of this would be if only I was my regular set of friends…

This week is almost over.  *beaming*

I have NEVER felt THIS excited for the weekend to come… EVER.  Roughly 20 hours to go… and I’m flying off to sleepy land. I can stay in my ratty old PJ’s till 3 p.m.. I can eat breakfast at 2p.m.  I can browse through Sanriotown and all its cuteness ALL I WANT.  I can watch T.V.  I can download all the shows that I watch.  I can watch movies.  And most importantly… I can spend some time with my family and mbf and his niece.   Can’t wait.

Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons, looks like Edna Mode (sans the eyeglasses) from The Incredibles. Was Edna Mode created with Kawakubo in mind or is it the other way around? hahaha!

I was actually writing an entry on men’s fashion but I just had to stop and write about what has been on my mind since I read Steffi’s entry about English and writing.

I was a bit surprised that someone who is 10 times better than me at writing would write about not being very good at English. I mean, call me self-centered but I immediately thought “Okay… so I guess this makes me the world’s crappiest writer?” LOL. Then WHJ, wrote a lengthy reply about the basics of good writing, writing style and such, and then I realized, though I’m starting to love writing, I really don’t put much thought into making a good article/blog entry. I just write whatever pops into my head. I rarely even proof-read! I’ve got all the basics of bad writing down pat!

It’s kind of embarrassing because my two sisters are very good writers. My older sister was the Editor-in-Chief of our high school newspaper (and even got an award for excellence in leadership and journalism), while my younger sister is a contributing writer for a gaming magazine. My cousins are super writers too. One would assume that I have the writer gene in my body, but I really don’t.

In elementary, I remember getting whacked on the hand with a ruler by my Reading teacher because I didn’t do my homework. In high-school, I joined the school newspaper but never got around to making any articles. In college, I HATED writing papers even though I had to write at least one every month. That gene eluded me. It knew that it wouldn’t develop to its fullest potential in me. :p

I think the reason why I love writing now is because I don’t have to follow any rules. I don’t have to read my entry three times before I publish it. I don’t have to worry about other people putting red marks on it. I don’t see other people reading it. I don’t feel the judgements being passed. Plus, I can write about whatever I want. Most importantly, as I write entries and read other peoples’, I think I’m learning (albeit slowly) how to write, uhm, decently.

I’d like to think I’ll get better at this someday. However until that day comes, I would like to apologize to the readers who have read or are reading my blog… Sorry for all the wishy-washy and incoherent paragraphs. heehee! A BIG THANK YOU AND A HUG to the same lot, who have continued reading and commenting despite the incoherence.

Shout-out to Steffi, who wrote the article from which a flood of realizations came (and again, your English is really very good!), and WHJ and iheartbadtz for those comments in Steffi’s blog that helped me out a lot as well!

I read from a gossip blog earlier about a memo from Kitty Go (former editor-in-chief of a major local fashion magazine) saying that “the Phils has not produced anyone [model] of international caliber” since the 80’s.

I was inclined to agree, after all I can’t think of any Filipino model who has recently made waves in the international fashion scene. However, as I was browsing through my regular internet jaunts, I chanced upon this entry in Fabsugar featuring a very familiar face: Charo Ronquillo.

I heard about her a few times before when I read an article about her win in the Ford Supermodel of the World Search contest and again in an ANC (Local news network) interview. Until I read the Fabsugar article, I had no idea she was dubbed “the Asian Kate Moss”.

After reading Kitty Go’s note, I almost felt sad about the perceived sorry state that my country is in. It seemed like we’re not the talented lot that we think we are. With regard to fashion, it seems like the really good, “international caliber” talents we produce in that realm are few and far in between. For a fashion-lover, it’s a little bit depressing.

Reading about Charo Ronquillo, of course, cheered me up. Though I’m not all nationalistic (like superBONG is! :p), it feels good to, sort of, be somewhat associated with someone who is so successful at what he/she does. It makes me feel really good to be Filipino and that’s a LOT coming from someone who is itching to migrate to another country.

P.S.: Charo Ronquillo does look a lot like Kate Moss doesn’t she? I just hope she doesn’t fall into the drug addiction route like Kate Moss.

P.P.S: Another Filipino designer making international fashion waves right now is Lesley Mobo, who recently had a fashion show right here in Manila! *clap clap*

My grandmother, 2 of my aunts, and I went to 168 Mall last Wednesday.  One of my aunts bought a mouse trap.  It was a folded piece of cardboard with really sticky goo in the middle.  Anyway, I read the front part of the packaging and this is what I learned:

Romantic rat night life.  This charming dashing habit is many.  This on the way fortune upons the strange monster.  Miserably miserably and miserably! die.

This was printed on the front part as a sort of description about the product.  Did you understand it?

PS: Sorry, I was able to take a photo with my phone but I can’t seem to upload it into my computer

Before heading home, we made a quick stop at Gourmet’s Coffee and Tea to have some coffee and dessert. As we were waiting for our orders to arrive, someone asked my 5-year-old nephew, Luis, if he was happy. His reply was an honest: “I feel happy… and sad. Happy and sad mixed together!” I don’t know why, but this is one of the best answers from a 5-year-old. I mean, with a relatively limited vocabulary, he managed to describe quite accurately how he felt at the time. He really amazes me with the breadth and depth of his knowledge and understanding!

Anyway, I felt happy and sad mixed together, too. Details on the uber short vaycay in my next blog entry. It’s 2:34 a.m. and I have to wake up for my Basic Life Support seminar tomorrow. *sigh*

Since I haven’t been working nor studying for the past 9 months, you probably think that I was on an extended vacation. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Don’t let my inactivity fool you. Though I wasn’t working nor studying, I really wouldn’t consider all that idle time as vacation. Vacation should feel like you’re escaping from your daily grind and I don’t think I was in any sort of “escape” during those nine months. Vacation isn’t boring, and 90% of the time I was bored out of my wits. Everything I felt, experienced, and did, during those 9 months couldn’t be farther from my definition of “vacation”.

So after 9 months of non-vacation hiatus, I’m going on a semi-real vacation. I’m going to stay in a hotel in Tagaytay. (I know I’m pathetic but please indulge me! Nyahaha!) Yes, I know this isn’t much of a big deal. I know it’s not like going to Bohol or Thailand or somewhere that’s actually nice to visit, but for someone as deprived as I am, it’s good enough. heehee! It’s a “pseudo-vaycay” because I’m going to be working a bit from there as well, but let’s not dwell on this :p

I can’t believe I’m this excited about going somewhere so common, and so near (for an out of town trip). At some point, I could easily opt out of a trip to Tagaytay because it was too familiar and boring. Now, with less time and less resources, something that used to be so common has become a luxury. That 3 hour ride that I could easily give up is now something I am looking forward to doing.

It’s true that you learn to be more appreciative of all the things you have when you have so little. 

… I finally got to exercise a few muscles and sweat under the sun.

After ranting for a good two months about my application at a certain hospital, they finally sent me a text message last Friday asking me to come in for my physical exam yesterday (Monday). Off I went, expecting to be done before lunchtime, after all, how long can a simple chest x-ray, blood extraction, and specimen collection, take? But no. Oh no, no, no. Things should be far more difficult and complicated. After going to and from 3 separate buildings, having all the paperwork and fees taken care of, waiting for people to do their jobs, I accomplished almost everything at 4 pm, all ready to lay on the cold cement and sleep right then and there. I hadn’t slept the night before because my sleep-wake pattern is in a different time zone.

Today was no different. Still with not much sleep, still had to go back and forth… fixing, submitting, a seemingly endless number of paperwork.

GAH. I’m just about ready to crash as I’m typing this…

Photo from thefunhunt.blogspot.com

Update: I got in! :p I feel bad for those who got eliminated because of some *very* minor health problems. One very intelligent girl was deemed “unfit to work” because of mild asthma, one has her clearance on hold because of a slightly above normal platelet count… I thought I wouldn’t get in because they had me repeat my chest x-ray. Anyhoo I’m so excited! Thanks to everyone who sent congratulatory messages! *hugs*