Blog This: How Blogs Empower Every Internet User

A work-in-progress journal of Janette Toral's upcoming book patterned after her Blogging 101 Online Workshop.

Details at:
http://blogging101workshop.blogspot.com

The First Filipino Ever to CLIMB DOWN Mt.Everest

I just have to blog about this. According to the news, two Filipinos have just reached the summit of Mt. Everest, before Garduce. For those of you who don't know Garduce, he is sponsored and spearheaded by GMA (the TV network) as the first ever Filipino to attempt to reach Mt.Everest's summit, and the network has been championing his cause in the media for several weeks already. There have been daily updates, numerous interviews, motivational advertisments, reporters-turned-climbers, the works! You name it, they've done it. And now, two Filipinos (their names escape me, gee I wonder why?) have already reached the top, even before the much celebrated Garduce. Hehehe. Chuckle-Sigh. I can't imagine how Garduce must feel right now. Oh wait, I think I do imagine it. Mmmmpppffttt (suppressed laugh)! Well (shoulder shrug)... what can I say? $#it happens!? Hehehe. Sigh. If I could just get my message across to Garduce, I'd advise him to climb back down NOW, as quickly as he can! He could still be the first ever Filipino to actually CLIMB DOWN Mt. Everest! Hehehe. Think about it! Anyways, my heart goes out to you Mr.Garduce... sometimes, life just sucks. But it's kinda thrilling that way don't you think? Now all you have to do is find a new mountain to conquer. (",) Mmmmpppffttt...

On coincidental storms and cheap gift ideas

Mood Music: Into the Fire by Thirteen Senses

Chris just got voted off AI yesterday. I couldn't believe it. As much as I wanted Kat to stay (despite her poor performance the other night), it was really shocking seeing Chris go. Among the final four, I think he's got the most talent and the most potential for record-making. Seriously, would you guys buy an album with Elliot or Taylor in it? Parang laos na kasi style nila. But heck, that's why they call it "American" Idol right? Lesson learned, it's not always the deserving people who end up winning in the end. Hmmm...

Dadating ang bagyong "Caloy" sa Maynila sa Linggo ng umaga, ika-14 ng Mayo. Haha. How very fitting and coincidental. "Caloy" was born to wreak havoc on the world, and 26 years later, here we all are. And whatever happened to storms with girl's names? It's the first time that a weather report prompted me to blog. Oh and by the way, Happy Mother's day to us all! This coming Sunday, tell her you love her. It's cheaper than flowers or chocolates, but it would mean a whole lot more. Note to reader. Note to self.

On Pickles and Dog Shows

Damn! It's a sad day. Kellie Pickler just got voted off American Idol! They didn't pick the Pickler?!? Americans... sheesh. Now that's one less reason to watch AI. Good thing Kat McPhee's still there. Oh and yes, I admit, I watch AI. Is that so bad? Haha. A bit of brainless TV programming is like "liquid sosa" for our brain, it empties and unclogs so that more information can come through. Haha.

On another note, I was watching this dog show on the news where the mutts were all dressed up, shampooed hair, pampered beyond beastiality. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE dogs! Especially our cute little mongrels (read: Askal aka AdobongAso aka IsDatARodent) with those cute little stubs for tails and clueless rat-like expressions. But I think it's just too much. No offense to other dog lovers (madami tayo alam ko). That special news coverage (now how did THAT become newsworthy??) just seemed quite a bit insensitive, especially now when Filipinos are poverty-stricken and dying of hunger. I'm sure the cost of maintaining these breeded dogs' extravagant lifestyles (food, shelter, clothing[?!], spa and salon treatments[?!?!]) per month could already feed a Filipino family of four... easily! Imagine that?! Hey I've got a brilliant idea: Pet lovers, instead of adopting pets, could adopt a poor Filipino (or two) and they could provide food (kahit wag na Alpo, mas mura tira-tira) house them (wag naman sa doghouse, lagyan naman nila ng bintana) and take care of them like they do their beloved pets, and that could surely solve a significant part of the Philippine poverty situation. Think about it! Then they could relocate these beagels, german shepherds, shitzus, chiuauahs, and what-have-you's, into the slum areas where they could fend for themselves, rummage through trash, beg for food, do cheap tricks, just to survive, just as nature probably intended them to do. Wouldn't that be more fair? Isn't that more human? If dogs can be loved so much, don't you think human beings also deserve the same treatment? Although I'm not so sure if poor-human-pet shows could pass our current ethical standards. And I guess it's just not the same, seeing a poor person on a leash and on all-fours jumping through hoops just for that prized doggie biscuit. See the hidden meaning there? Just a little helpless sarcasm to get some of our rusty gears turning. After all, sarcasm IS the mother of invention. Necessity is debatable.

Grey's Anatomy

Just finished the 5th episode of Grey's Anatomy. It got me thinking. I'm not sure who was talking: the 3 beers, the lipovitan xl, the anxiety over a half-finished paper due later at 7:00am, or just plainly, my over-analytical brain. The topic was about growing up, being an adult, not being a kid anymore. It talked about the responsibility that comes with being an adult, or in the episode's case, being a doctor, with its accompanying perks and problems. One doctor left a surgical towel inside a patient's chest and 5 years later the patient suffered from complications. Another nicked a patient's heart during cardiac surgery with her nails. It got me thinking about the life WE led as medical interns in the hospital. The bootcamp we had to go through as medical students, with sleepless duty nights, drill-seargent-like seniors, and punishing rounds and conferences, where our insecurities and our incompetencies are paraded around in a cruel, mocking fashion. I wouldn't wish it on anybody else. Going through all that was really tough. We had to harden and desensitize ourselves, like soldiers did during training and later on in the battlefield. There was little room for error. And rightfuly so. We held lives in our hands. We were responsible for the lives (and deaths) of our patients. We had to learn and we had to do it quick and without looking back. Unfortunately, no person is infallible. No human being is perfect. And to broadcast a seemingly obvious but underlooked fact: doctors make mistakes too. Unfortunately, it sometimes becomes necessary for us to make mistakes in order to really learn and internalize a lesson which could later on save much much more lives. I am not washing my hands of this and telling other people that we shouldn't be blamed just because we're human too. Nor am I justifying mistakes made by any negligent physician. I swore to myself, as per the Hippocratic oath, that I would do everything in my power to do no harm, and to do all I can for each and every patient that I treat. I guess I can speak for most of us in the field right now, and even those just starting out (the younger they are, the more idealistic), that we regard medicine as a calling, a noble profession that we chose to go into, not because of the prestige and power that the title held, but rather as a service to men, much like a soldier being called to arms. Soldiers defend countries. Doctors save lives. Sometimes soldiers trip and die in the battlefield. Sometimes doctors trip and patients die. Soldiers are given purple crosses, gun salutes, and honorable burials. Doctors are sued for malpractice and buried in shame and debt from skyrocketing insurance fees. Now this slightly sarcastic rant may seem to most as a narrow-minded and extremely biased view about doctors. However, I can honestly say, I'm talking NOT as a physician, but as someone who has seen the inner workings of a medical bootcamp. Believe me, It isn't a very pretty sight. And to go through all of that, emerge from 5 years of limbo, and then see an impoverished county's health system in shambles and offering little chance for a rewarding life of service? It's no wonder our doctors are looking to other countries. I won't even touch on the long-drawn-out issue about doctors taking up nursing... It's old, it's sad, but it's real, and I can't blame them. A life of service, saving lives, and making other people happy, is best served by someone who is ALSO happy and fulfilled. One of my personal, and entirely natural highs is seeing a patient you took care of thanking you and telling you how much they appreciate everything you've done. Salamat po doc! As cliche as it may seem, it really gets me through the sleepless nights, the hellish duties, and the inhumane working hours. To my non-physician friends, try to cut your doctors some slack and give them a pat in the back once in a while. It helps immensely. To my colleagues, try to remember why you wanted to be a doctor in the first place. If you thought being a doctor was going to make you rich (as most people would still assume), think again! I laugh AT you and not with you. Plus, I would strongly suggest career counseling coupled with a sincere psychiatric consult. If that doesn't work, try shock-therapy with a pre-recorded voice message loudly repeating the words "What the heck were you thinking??" I jest you not. Those fresh out of medical school with their newly-acquired licenses (mainit-init pa galing sa PRC) know all too well what I'm talking about. Fact: the average newly-graduated physician earns less per hour than a starting customer service (call center) agent. Again, I kid you not. So folks, the major lesson here is... watch Grey's Anatomy! (Huh?!) It's fun, interesting, and it leaves a good reflective feeling after every episode (so far). Plus, it also helps that the lead roles are hot chicks (Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl)! O girls, para naman hindi chauvinistic... andun din si Patrick Dempsey, ok? Ok. Hehe. To end on a less trivial, more relevant, and hopefully more hopeful (pun intended) note, I quote Paracelsus on his supplement to the Hippocratic oath:

"This I swear: To accomplish my system of medicine, not to waver in its defense as long as God grants me the office and to oppose all erroneous medicines and doctrines; to love the sick like my own body; not to trust my eyes, and not to prescribe medicine without understanding; not to accept a fee unless it has been earned."

Love is nothing but a series of happy coincidences?

Originally posted here on January 24, 2006:

"Love is nothing but a series of happy coincidences."

Hmm. So you're saying that man's pursuit of happiness (e.g love) is a seemingly worthless rollercoaster which can all be summed up by man fooling him/herself into thinking that he/she is genuinely happy (read: in love)? Does this theory only hold true for love or the whole gamut of human emotions? Happiness? Sorrow? Fulfillment? Bliss? Do we HAVE to "convince" ourselves we're happy in order to really BE happy? Are you saying LOVE doesn't even exist and we are all driven by our desire to obtain something that we don't even know EXISTS in the first place? Is love to us what "the holy grail" was to the crusades? All in our head? What is LOVE anyway? A feeling? A choice? An agreement between people? Whew.. A rather sweeping generalization but I'm glad you wrote it.. made me think.

Personally.. I believe in love. Yes it is intangible, but me believing in it gives it purpose: I can derive happiness from it. Does it exist? To me it does, and I guess that makes all the difference. I believe in it, therefore it exists. Much like our belief in God(read: NOT blasphemy), religion, faith.. all rest on the existence of intangibles.

Hmm..

A Post About Pants

I just watched "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" on video. Don’t get me wrong, my mom wanted to watch it, I just “watched along”. Hehe. Spare me my dignity please. Not that there’s anything wrong with it… I AM very much secure with my manhood, thank you very much. A movie that has to do with “sisterhood” and “pants” doesn’t detract the least bit from one’s masculinity, as some of you may have (wrongly) speculated. Haha. Okay enough of the disclaimers…

The story was about close friends, all female teenagers, moving through different life experiences as they go on their individual summer vacations. They communicated through letters and air-mailing each other a pair of jeans (yes… jeans!) that they described as “magical”, because it fit all of them perfectly. (Now how did that happen?? Damn, those special effects were GOOD!) They each had the jeans for one week, and a bevy of interesting stuff happened while they were wearing it. The story dealt with broken families, separated parents, puppy love, lustful attraction, death at a young age, building relationships, seeing beneath the surface, etc. It was a real tear-jerker (for the ladies I presume… coz we “real men” don’t cry, haha). In other words, the movie tried to bring out the “little girl” in all of us. I’m not saying this applied to me though… I was merely a non-participating spectator. The little girl inside of me was NOT permitted to come out. Haha. Whew…

Anyways, as with any piece of media (ie. paintings, music, books, etc.), it got me thinking. I thought about friendships, our relationships with other people. I have always been ideal about this concept and I hold the word “friend” in the greatest esteem. I’ve always tried going to the extreme of really treasuring all my friendships and my relationships to the best of my abilities. But sometimes, a sad reality we all can’t escape from is this: People will let you down, time and again. Why? Because people are just people. People are human. Nobody’s perfect, be it a friend, a lover, even your family members. All of us, at some point in our life, will let somebody down, and will also be let down by someone, whether we like it or not. Even your best and closest friend in the whole world, who you can’t even imagine inflicting you with the least bit amount of hurt, can sometimes leave you hanging in the air with nothing but yourself to grab on to. My point? Each relationship in life we choose to go into is a risk. We risk opening ourselves up, exposing ourselves to hurt, pain, and disappointment. Why then, we ask, do we keep on doing it? Because in every risk we take, we know there is a greater reward waiting for us at the end: the chance at a great relationship, a true friendship, even true love (arguably the most rewarding form of human emotion). I would go as far to conclude that all the hurt, pain, and misery we all feel (at one time or another), is a necessary prerequisite for us to really be able to appreciate true happiness. And I don’t mean the kind of happiness we often describe as “a fleeting moment of joy”, but rather, a state of perfection, pure bliss, ecstatic euphoria, where one could close his eyes, smile and say to himself “I could really die right now. My life is complete.”

Opening yourself up to people in friendships and relationships is a huge risk, but it’s a risk well worth taking. Life is too short and too important to spend trying to protect yourself from hurt, and in the process, preventing the various miracles of life from happening. Wait, all this from a tear-jerking girly movie which dealt with “sisterhood” and “pants”?? Let us never underestimate the power of motion picture. A book could only go as far as your imagination, but movies? Movies can do wonders for the imagination-impaired, and can serve as an intellectual equalizer of sorts. All in all (and much to my own surprise), I liked the movie. It had that feel-good Disney-ish effect which, when watched at precisely the right time and right state of mind, can really be a refreshing (rejuvenating) experience.

Okay then! I really have to stop this now. I can already hear my inner monologue going: “’Argh…’Little girl’ feeling overwhelming…Must NOT let her out, at all costs…these are NOT tears, there’s just something in my eye…Help me…MUST watch sports…NOW!”. Hehehe. Somebody get me a beer…