I know. Nobody needs too many blogs. But since I want to separate all med life related entries (as they can be so many) from the non-medicine related, I created a new blog.

 Doktor Kwak-kwak!

Plus, I really miss writing in Filipino. Considering the things I wrote there, I think I make a tad more sense there than here. Please do drop by. Thank you.

Happy Birthday, Mama Mary!!! Thank you for all the answered prayers.

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I’ve got loads up in my head. As I have expected, life will be excruciatingly more complicated once I get my license. I have applied for residency training in the Department of Medicine of the UST Hospital. If I got the numbers right, each one of us applicants have, mathematically speaking, ~40% chance of bagging one of ten slots available for the 1st year of training. All else considered, I think it is even less (for me at least). Especially when the competition includes a handful of upper class doctors and a board topnotcher.

“Almost despair prey upon my soul…”

I want that slot. And I need it badly. Please let me be qualified.

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To make matters more complicated, the department moved the interview to a latter date – which is this coming week – which totally conflicts with my scheduled Medical Mission here in my barangay (the very first one). The only thing I pray for today is that I won’t be scheduled for interview on Wednesday, Sept 12, the day of the mission. I thought of rescheduling the mission to Sept 14, but then again, pre-residency will start on that day. I am TOTALLY lost.

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I have decided to channel all my frustrations to creative energy and came up with this.

For a week now I have come up with a couple of designs for the Starbucks Create-Your-Own-Tumbler I am planning to give. This one has definitely won my thumbs up. I will be designing more in the next days to come if the schedule permits. I love you, Adobe! (The lady in the design is my Emem. I love you! )

I was desperate to search for the news article about the results of the most recent Nursing Boards here in the Philippines because – well, I just like to know. By the way, to a good friend, Victor Perez, RN, congratulations!

I finally got what I was looking for at the Inquirer website. Looking at the Pageone Image, I saw the following article:

You can read the full article here, as I did. I can’t believe what the headline bore. Mother Teresa, nearing her 10th death anniversary this September, is not called the living saint before when she was living for nothing. But this really is shocking. Then I tried to imagine how all the more hard it was to do what she did. As if what she told the world to do wasn’t epic and saintly in proportions, she must struggle within herself to rationalize why she does it.

But I remembered what she said. “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.” She could have doubted God existed, but I believe it is only because she too busy looking after other people that she failed to take a look inside herself. There in her was God. Only He can love that much.

I admit it. I never was used to studying every single day of my life – med school included. So the past 3 months was hellish for me. Having the urge to pick up a book and study was as much as a compulsion as it was a curse. I know, I can’t stand not studying knowing that time was ticking and I am inching towards the boards. But alas. It’s done. And what followed was better than expected.

Thanks to Egay.

No it wasn’t fun being stuck in the house not being able to go out because it was flooded even here in Bulacan where I have been staying for almost a week now. But since I am most comfortable inside the house than outside, add to the that the DSL-in-my-room factor, I’ve had the grandest time! I was able to do everything (well, almost) I have wanted to do since I started reviewing:

1. I LOVE movies. So my vacacion grande will not be complete without a movie marathon. And what a marathon it has been. It included: Die Hard 1-4, Pirates of the Carribean 2-3, Sin City, Battle Royale, Disturbia, Fight Club, Love Actually, Rise of the Silver Surfer and a couple of titles more. I have 5 more titles on queue, hehehe.
2. I saw the conclusion (not to my satisfaction, though) of the Harry Potter series. (Thank you, Em, for giving me my first ever Potter book.)
3. I devoured a LOT of chocolates. I do mean a LOT.
4. I slept and slept and slept some more.

To some it may not be much, but to me, it is close to perfect. In case you might be wondering, the movies I enumerated above, most of them I already saw before. I just want to watch them again. Hehe. Too bad it will all have to end. A week from now I should file an application for residency training. Goodbye movies. Goodbye non-medical books. Hello studying and 34-and-so-hour duty.

I pondered again and again on how to write about something so big. But again and again I fail. So I will just resort to plain narrating what happened.

As of around 10pm of August 15, 2007, I am a licensed physician in the Philippines.

We finished at 92% batch (class 2006) passing rate versus the 66% national passing rate. Some of my friends were not as fortunate, and it saddens me much. I cannot explain how I feel about it. I feel blessed and sad at the same time.

To the class of 2006 of the UST Medicine and Surgery, CONGRATULATIONS. We have gone farther than most, and so much farther than what was expected of us. I am so proud to be part of this batch. Mabuhay ang PBL 100! Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

There are only 7 days before the medical boards. And I tell you, it does not get more intense than this. Thoughts racing but with no coherence. Frustration one after the other.

PAGOD NA KO.

Two days ago the UST Medicine Class of 2006 offered a mass for the upcoming boards. Father Regent said in his homily in the feast if St. James the Apostle:

“You should pray ‘Lord, help us to be the doctors you want us to be.’”

After the Eucharistic celebration, our beloved dean, Dean Angeles Alora told us something that made me struggle not to let out the tears from my eyes:

“For you to pass the boards, you need three things: You should work hard, Pray hard, and you must have the right attitude.

“I am sure all of you have worked hard and I am sure all of you have prayed hard. So all that it left is the right attitude. You should tell yourself ‘Kaya ko yan! Kaya ko yan!’

“I have no doubt in my mind that you will make it. All of you will make it. So let me congratulate you in advance for passing the board exams.”

To the Class of 2006 of the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, good luck and God bless! We’ll see each other at the oath taking ceremonies.

The latest installment to the HP movie adaptations again has a unique taste to it owing to again a new director. While David Yates’ directorial style is fresh and brilliant, I must admit I still like Alfonso Cuaron’s. I have let go of the bias that books will always be better than movies (as this will always be true) because it will lead to disappointment in the movie, but still, I found the movie lacking.

There are a lot of elements in the movie that you will understand ONLY if you read the book. I read Phoenix 2 years ago. Because of that, I have already forgotten the nitty gritty of the 5th installment. However, I knew Luna Lovegood better (and why she was introduced as ‘Looney’ by Hermione) what ‘tabloid’ she was reading on the couch to Hogwarts, why Dumbledore kept Sibyl Trelauney as a Hogwarts professor despite lack of talent and why he insisted on keeping her in the grounds despite being sacked, what the entrance-to-a-cave-like-structure-with-smokey-stuff-hovering-about-it was and why Sirius “flew” into it after being hit by the Avada Kedavra curse – all because I read the book before.

I must admit though that I had fun watching the movie, all the more because of this:

Seeing it on IMAX 3D is a whole new experience. From the moment Harry and the DA rode the thestrals to the Ministry of Magic, the whole while they were battling the Deatheaters, the Dumbledore vs Voldemort showdown, all were in magnificent 3D. When I thought that the great special effects were enough to wow an audience of a movie, adding depth (the 3rd dimension) to the picture is something else. I was actually doubting if they really were not projected into the space above our heads because it really seemed that way. It seemed that you can already touch them. No kidding. I hope more and more great movies will be made to 3D and I hope more IMAX theaters will open soon (as it is inevitable, it is the future of movies). If you have the time to go to the Mall of Asia and a spare 400 bucks, do yourself a favor and see it on 3D.

Two days ago, finally, I was able to see the 2007 Transformers with Em. It has caused a lot of hype around here so I decided to check it out being a fan of the original cartoon series.

Bumblebee has always been a favorite and the 2007 movie version, although not entirely faithful to the original, did not disappoint in this aspect. I don’t remember the part when Bumblebee damaged his vocal apparatus in battle but this detail of the movie contributed a lot to its hilarity especially during the first part.

Its adaption to the modern ‘tech’ scene, I think, is a lot helpful to the viewers (i.e., the kids) who wasn’t able to see the original series. Although it was a bit funny that in the movie the Transformers made wide use of the Internet to acquire information (showing even a Google screen and eBay), it contributed to the appeal. However, I think one will be able to appreciate in better if he is familiar with the original.

A few points of comparison. In the original series, the Transformers crashed into the planet. Their ship is still stuck in a mountain. It served as their base. This is obivously not the case in the movie – which was all about the ‘All Spark.’ Next, the robots transformed to constant objects in the original, and they don’t have the super cool ability of transforming into whatever they would want to which is seen in the movie. While I always wondered as a kid as to where Optimus Prime’s cargo goes whenever he transforms into his robot form is arbitrarily solved in the 2007 version – he simply didn’t have one. I just didn’t like to “too machine-like” look of the new version as I think it made the Autobots look too skinny. And yes who would miss the fact that Megatron who was supposedly a kick-ass gun in the original (which I think is really lame), is now the buffed fighter plane who has godzilla like features?

I have mixed opinions about this movie but all in all I am glad to see that they have revived the characters of the series I really followed when I was a kid. It is now only a matter of time before I avail of the DVDs of the original.

I learned in Kindergarten.

When I was a kid of four, I think, I had a green shirt with a bespectacled owl on it reading a book. Beside it, in bold letters, is something I have forgotten until earlier today:

GENIUS is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

I’ve also started to watch the Full Metal Alchemist series. It’s core motto is deep:

Nothing of value could be obtained without sacrificing something of equal value.

I hope we adults learn something that supposedly are just for kids.

Figure 1. Those are the books I have read for the upcoming August Physician’s Licensure Exam. I don’t have photo of myself at this very moment but I am sure that even you know that I am not reading any of those right now.

Figure 2. Em + Me + BigMac + Large Fries + Large Drink = Zzzzzzz…..

Figure 3. If you are currently viewing this page using IE, you will probably see this page correctly. However, if like me you are using another browser (good for you), you will see something like that (picture). WHAT THE ?!!! So much for W3C Standards.