49 Things To Do Before I Get Married

A lof of my friends have been posting their "things to do" before they die. On my part, i find marriage synonymous to death so the title. Dont get me wrong. I also want to get married. I even promised mom that i would just to assure her that her eldest daughter will never end up alone as a spinster. It would even be a double wedding. My parents' golden anniversary and my own wedding.tee-hee Oh, the reason too why i limited my list to 49. By that time, I will be 49 years old.

Have been keeping this list for a long time and actually totally forgot about it. My recent trip to Mindanao though allowed me to eliminate a good number of things in that list. Might as well post my own list here to immortalize it. At least it would be more convenient rereading it again here in my blog than flipping through the pages of that old journal of mine. Achoooo!

Those things in yellow? I achieved in just 4 days!
1. Go bungee jumping - soon!
2. Go Skydiving - someone promised me about this...hehe
3. Train in Neurology - hopefully
4. Train in US - still praying
5. Buy an Ipod - i needed it and just in time that i had the money for it
6. Get to Mindanao - been there! woohoo!
7. Tour around Asia - i hope im still alive next year
8. Own a house by the sea - just in case someone sells his/her place...hehe
9. Go to Disneyland - i would settle for the one in HK now
10. Publish a book - would having a blog be considered?
11. Compose a song - started with the lyrics but lost it!
12. Sponsor a scholar
13. Serve the Missionaries of Charity - when my schedule allows
14. Go to Calcutta, India - just to see what the place really looks like
15. Learn to drive - a real driving lesson
16. Own a car - from my own finances
17. Go to Batanes - please
18. Go out on a real date - i dont consider going out with someone as a date not unless he tells me that it's a date that were having...hehe
19. Do stargazing under the bora skies with someone special - done this before but i dont consider that someone i did this with as special...hehe
20. Travel with someone special
21. Send my parents to a vacation - i mean a grand vacation
22. Help send a sibling to school - maybe in summer, this entry will already be in red
23. Own a Canon SLR camera - hmmm, i wanted a waterproof cam too
24. Go parasailing
25. Be in two places at the same time - i was in the middle of bukidnon and CDO when we went rafting
26. Write my autobiography - hehe
27. Learn to swim
28. Learn to ride a bike
29. Go scuba diving
30. Make a compilation of my pictures of sunsets
31. Travel out of the country with my family
32. Eat baskets of strawberries with salt
33. Do someone a favor everyday
34. Learn another dialect
35. Learn another language - french, spanish, italian, im still thinking
36. Meet the pope - i was at first referring to John Paul II - now we have a new pope!
37. Go to Rome
38. Ride a helicopter
39. Live on my own - INDEPENDENCE!!!
40. Travel to new places on my own
41.Have a rooftop garden complete with landscaping
42. Buy my parents their golden wedding rings - bought them silver rings during their 25th year i hope i could buy them their rings on their 50th...=)
43. Go white water rafting
44. Put up a foundation - my memorial foundation?=)
45. Surprise someone
46. Touch a life - i believe im doing this
47. Write my last will
48. Fall deeply in love - with eyes closed...hehehe
49. Commit without fear - this isnt easy for a commitment-phobe like me.

Back From the Rapids

I have been absent in the blogosphere for a quite a long time. There are a lot of things to blog of course but i was just too busy with things and of course with my Cagayan de Oro trip. Who will never look forward to that first trip i'm going to make to Mindanao? Alone? In my 29 years of existence, it would be my first time to step foot in Mindanao. This served as a challenge for me.

Now, I'm back! Back from that challenge i tested myself to take. It was really a challenge for me for it would be my first time to be in Cagayan and i could barely understand and converse with their dialect. Not to mention of course the trip that i have to take in getting there. Bacolod to Manila, then Manila to Cagayan de Oro. Can you imagine the Visayas, Luzon, and Mindanao tour that i had? Good thing i have my baby with me. Silver Snitch, kept me company during my autistic moments.


---------




Aside from the fact that i will be stepping foot in Mindanao for the first time, i was looking forward to that White Water Rafting Adventure that CDO is very known of. I didnt have an idea of the schedule of the convention that i attended. To my surprise though, there was a half-day activity alloted for White Water Rafting! It was one of the experiences that i will never forget! That was also the time when i realized that i have yet to add another item to the things that i wish to have...a waterproof camera!

--------

My 4-day trip to CDO did not just give me the time to unwind and to recharge. It also gave me a lot of opportunities to fulfill the things that i wish to do before i get married. Well, i guess this deserves another entry!hehe

Calculated Risks

The deadline for my research paper is fast approaching. It's the 13th already. Nah, early morning of the 14th yet im not yet through with my paper. The deadline? The 15th! Woohoot! Cramming...cramming..panic button...adrenaline rush...whew! Why cant i feel them? Why is it that i have a feeling that the deadline be moved to a later date? Uh-oh! This cant be for i already received the guidelines for it the set deadline. It was clear in bold letters that the deadline would be before 12 noon of the 15th. Ive started my paper yet the vital information, that are my results ladies and gentlemen isnt done yet. Im still waiting for my statistician to email them to me. Problem however is that it's early in the morning already yet i havent received them yet. Nice one!

Shucks! Blunted sympathetics? I'm telling my heart to go palpitate. My brain to run and be anxious. Yet here i am posting this blog as if i have no deadline to beat. Great! Too confident that i could finish it by tomorrow (when i will also be on duty) or am i not just driven to finish the job? Too comfortable that i could get through the experience or am i just too lazy to even worry about it? Still have that trauma from the past about how unfair people here were. You give your best shot and yet it's unfairly judged. Might as well give them a mediocre work just so i could complete my requirements. At least i will not be putting pressure on myself, less expectations and disappointments on my part and i would even be making them happy if they get again the trophy.

Relaxed. No-cramming. Calculated Risks. I guess this is what im currently practicing!

Blog Clean Up 2

I am dead tired. Hokaaaay! How can the dead tired still able to post another entry? Let's say my body's dead tired but my brain isn't. For you see, on a Sunday, i came home late since i have to make rounds with my juniors. We had a strategic planning yesterday and we simply grabbed the opportunity of being away from the hospital for a day. In short, we started our rounds a little late than usual.

The mere sight of my bed caused loss of consciousness. I only realized that i fell asleep when i heard my phone ringing. Half-way between being awake and asleep, i answered my call. Only to realize that i was a bit disoriented. Definitely have to hang up and i was again back into dreamworld. My brother woke me up again for dinner though that i could no longer put myself back to sleep. I have to drag myself into the dinner table but the sight of food in front of me woke me up.

Quality time with my family. This i always remember. In short, no matter how tired i am, i have to have the energy to bond with my family. Talked about my activities for the past 24 hours that i was away from home like the experiences i had with my colleagues in our strategic planning. Yep! We had another strategic planning. It's nice that for the 2nd time this year, all of us in the department went out of the hospital to realign our objectives and ourselves.

The reason for my being tired is that i didnt not just spend time with my family but my colleagues as well. Twas nice to see that there are already 10 of us in my 2nd family. I now have new younger brothers and sisters whom i guess have adapted already to our system. Twas nice to see our department grow in number. At least there are now more people that our big boss could drink with.hehe Unlike when there were just 6 of us, we were a boring lot for noone really's a drinker in our group. Anyhow, last night's activity was culminated by a drinking session at the resort's garden until the early morning. We've talked about everything under the sun...from training, to future plans, to lovelife. Epppp, lovelife? We too are normal actually.

The whole activity ended over lunch courtesy of big boss. We were seated in a long table and it really was a nice sight with all 10 of us eating together with our core consultants and their families. The sight i'll surely miss when i'm going to leave this hospital. Geez! What's happening to me? Another attack of separation anxiety?

These are the things that money cant buy. The time you spend with the people you love cant be charged to your credit card. The joys you get from the conversations you have with them cant be written off by check accounts. This is the bonding that i guess i cant experience again in subspecialty training. Actually, sent an mms to our past chief resident and he was kind of jealous with the bonding that we have. With another past senior of mine too, they even called me up to ask about the recent happening. Just so i could share with them the experience they were deprived of during their time and the joy that i might feel, i made a videocall. They get to see my colleagues, our consultants, our new siblings, our whole family. I might find another family from a new set of friends or acquaintances but nothing could equal the experience that i have with my department. The reason too why i could withstand the challenges of training in this crap hospital.

I may be dead tired physically but the reason why im still up is that the experience i had was like an adrenaline that keeps me going. I really couldnt sleep if i dont blog it. In short, it's not just all trash that im pouring out here. I'm once again doing a blog clean up. Now that ive consumed all my adrenaline here, i might now be able to go back to dreamworld.

Loving Dolores

I've mentioned in my previous posts that our hospital is under a new administration. I even gave them names. So Dumbledore and Snapes were back to their homebase and we are left with Dolores Umbridge here as our chief. I called her Dolores for i could associate all those new memos she issued in the hospital with what the real Dolores Umbridge did. In attitude and character though, i guess they're just the opposites.

Yep! I'm finally loving Dolores. After the rest have left, she remained here. I dont know if it's an order that she has to follow or by freewill that she chose to stay. She's got a family in Manila and here she is, in a new place with a different dialect, all alone and without a relative. For a mother like her, what a big sacrifice it is too to leave her family for a work assignment.

The previous administration left her with a crap hospital that's full of debt and without a budget. Add also those personnel who were pro-previous administration (since they were given their monthly benefits before), who were rallying against her present administration. Well, these people should realize that after the several juggling of funds that the past admin did, the hospital is left with nothing but debt. Why dont we top this with ineffective and corrupt departments in the hospital? This, she has to investigate. This, she has to monitor, to rectify, to straighten out.

I started to love her when i attended the emergency meeting that she called. Ive seen how firm she was in implementing the rules yet she added a touch of humor in it so as not to appear bossy. She was able to warn the section heads about their inefficiencies in a manner that was not offensive. One thing that really moved me in that meeting however was when she got teary-eyed. I felt her sincerity in helping our hospital. The reason she cried was because she was so thankful to the consultants and specialists that we have here in the hospital. Consultants who are not paid for their services in training the residents yet they spent their time here. This i guess is also one of the factors that the media failed to see in this hospital. She cried because she saw the dedication in every doctor and nurse that she met. In return, she was inspired to help our dying hospital too after all the odds ive previously mentioned.

Why will i not love her? She's not a native of this place. She did not even grow old in this hospital. Yet, i felt her concern for this hospital, for us, for our patients. She has to sacrifice her personal life just for the sake of helping revive our dying hospital. I did not see this from the previous administrators that we have. Instead, they were too busy grabbing the throne. To think, these people are from here and were working in this hospital for so long yet all they did for this hospital were crap. Here comes Dolores. She's got not just brains here. The reason why i love her is because she too has a heart.