EXTERNAL DRIVE

Before 2013 ends, I want to reflect on what this year did to me or what I did with this year. Generally, 2013 has been good to me and so far, this has been the longest year I had. A lot happened and I can now attest to what my former professor said, “A lot of people and things come, go and change in your twenties.” While browsing online, I stumbled upon this one article entitled “Seven Questions to Ask about Last Year” and this, I thought, would be a good reference as to how I will reflect about the ending year. Question 1: If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be? Honestly, I cannot classify how my life has been in the past year. It’s a combination of 65% comedy, 10% drama and 25% romance. I’m certain, however, that it is not a tragedy. Oh, let me revise that. It is 60% comedy, 10% drama, 15% romance and 15% ACTION. Haha! Question 2:  What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring? This year, my life has been mostly about my tra...

I am employed in a government institution with my position labelled Research Associate I. The words research and associate, together – sounds fascinating, right? But no, I now associate those words with exploitation. What do I get from this job given that I’m under job order? Aside from additional knowledge about drugs, I’m paid a gross amount of Php 13, 500.00 a month (NO WORK, NO PAY and we receive no benefits) and I get my time spent while waiting for my dream job. I can also resign anytime despite my contract covering six (6) months (but I opt not to because I have honor for my word). What do I do in this job? Just refer to my previous blog entry ( http://ang-externaldrive.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-my-way-there.html ). I am already in my 5 th month in this job and so far, I’m hating it. At the same time, I’m glad because I’m getting closer to the day when my contract ends. I have been through a lot in this job. I had a lot of “required” overtimes. I even experienced staying awa...

During gloomy times like this, I just have to think of happy thoughts and when I can’t I just have to sleep; then again when I can’t I force myself to think of happy thoughts and then force myself to sleep. Cycle. Endless. Good thing is that I learned a new way to escape from the negative feels. I just have to look at pretty things, happy photos, relaxing videos. This time, I had to look at the beauty of sunflowers. The first thing I liked about sunflowers is that they are yellow. Yellow looks happy. Yellow looks light. Yellow looks carefree. Yellow looks independent. These traits are just how I want to be. Aside from their color, I love how sunflowers bloom. When they bloom, it’s as if they are sharing their beauty to the world. The visibility of their seeds looks like they want to share their happiness by letting the wind and the insects spread their tiny seeds. Sunflowers symbolize the sun – the sun that shines, the sun that lightens, the sun that comes after the storm, the sun tha...

Time flies fast. It has been long since I last wrote. A lot have already happened. The last entry I wrote was about how I enjoyed my clinical duty as a student nurse. Now, here I am, a registered nurse, a professional nurse by definition, currently employed as a research associate in the Research Ethics Board of my alma mater, UP Manila and is enjoying a funny and happy love life (still not used to calling 'us' a lovelife or a couple). I am finally a registered professional nurse. This statement may sound simple and may elicit the so-what reaction or the-hell-I-care-there-are-a-lot-more-professionals-like-you expression but for me, it isn’t just that. Before being able to state that fact – that sweet fact – I went through what I cannot describe precisely, life in UP, life in UPCN. Again, those phrases sound ordinary but they really aren't and those who went through the same can attest what I’m talking about. Burnout – I almost experienced every essence of this wor...

Hi Tart! Matagal ko nang gustong magsulat ng sulat na addressed sa’yo pero ewan ko ba kung bakit hindi matuloy-tuloy. Iniisip ko kasi kung sa card ko ilalagay, parang ang corny, though ginawa ko iyon sa unang monthsary natin, hindi ko lang naibigay kasi naisip kong parang ang corny nga kaya hindi ko na ibi nigay. Tapos kung ibinigay ko naman ng ibang araw, parang ang irrelevant na. Hahaha. Basta. Anyway Tart, masaya akong eleven ulit ngayon. =)) tapos single na ba ulit tayo? Hahahaha. Jk. Pero seryoso, hindi ko man preferred na bumabati ng monthsary dahil gusto ko ng anniversary, wala namang mawawala kung babati ako. Happy 3 rd monthsary. Haha. I wish us more days, months or even years together. :) Salamat sa lahat-lahat. Ewan ko ba kung bakit Tart pero ang chill chill pag kasama kita. Parang wala lang – in a good way. Masaya lang. Kapag magkasama tayo, feeling ko, I can act anyway  that I want. Kumbaga, akong ako. Komportable. Masaya ako Tart. Kahit sabog-sabog tayo pareho. Tang...

This is lifted from a photo caption I saw on Facebook.  I found this conversation empowering and I guess, I have the same sentiments regarding the subject. :)  In a brief conversation, a man asked a woman he was pursuing the question: “What kind of man are you looking for?” She sat quietly for a moment before looking him in the eye & asked, ‘Do you really want to know?’ Reluctantly, he said,”Yes.” She began to expound… “As a woman in this day & age, I am in a position to ask a man what can you do for me that I can’t do for myself? I pay my own bills. I take care of my household without the help of any man…or woman for that matter. I am in the position to ask, ‘What can you bring to the table?’” The man looked at her. Clearly he thought that she was referring to money. She quickly corrected his thought & stated, “I am not referring to money. I need something more. I need a man who is striving for excellence in every aspect of life.” He sat back...

“Ayoko talaga sa pedia.” “Wag talaga sa Ward 9. Wag sa Ward 11, Lord please...wag din OB” “Ward 3 or 5 pleaaaaase~” These were the words I declared, I thought and I hoped for before and even during the ward assignment for our N121.1 – Intensive Nursing Experience (Hospital-based). SANA HINDI WARD 11. January 21, 2013, Monday: We were asked to choose our top 3 preferred ward assignments and briefly state why we chose that ward since the professors would consider our preferences for our ward assignments.  I chose Ward 5 (Neuro), Ward 6 (Neuro-Surgical) and Ward 3 (Medical). Ward 5 has been the ward I’m wishing for since I was in my third year in college. I enjoyed my first (and last, so far) experience there and I wanted to enjoy more there. Ward 6 was my second choice just because it had “neuro” in its name (yeah, lame). Finally, I chose Ward 3 because I also enjoyed my rotations there and I like the variation of cases there.   Pro...

As part of our degree program curriculum, students are sent to partner communities to promote community development. In our case, we’re sent to San Juan, Batangas. We have been staying there since November 2012 but we go back to Manila every two weekends. We are immersed there until the third week of January 2013. In our community stay, we are expected to mobilize the community in terms of planning, implementing and evaluating health programs. We are also entailed to provide nursing care to five families following the criteria given to us. Aside from these, we are doing our community-based research as well. Months before our community experience, I had been wishing to be assigned to a large barangay where I would be very much challenged without the person I least wanted to work with (let’s call her Arsi). I got what I wanted; I was put in a large barangay, a very challenging one based on the previous batch’s experiences, but unfortunately, I was grouped with that person I least w...