Carnaval

Segunda-feira, Novembro 29, 2004

Hellebore The Great

The weather made the entire house cool and ominous, my commodious room cozier. I like it when it rains in Greenville. But I get annoyed when it starts to pour while I'm commuting. Rain and mud become a pain in my butt.

Last Thursday, I decided to meet with Augie in front of La Salle after my duty orientation. Kei, my favorite friend from grade school, and two others were there with Augie when they arrived minutes after. She looked pretty much the same when I last saw her, but she was surprised to see me gain so much weight. Haha. We had lunch together (I did not eat, though since I had my lunch earlier that time) at some chic eating place whose owner was Augie's family friend, which means he got a good discount for the food. Afterward, we all parted ways and Augie and I hailed a taxi and went to Greenbelt 3 to watch Oliver Stone's Alexander. Of course, my expenses were all paid for.

I say the film is cursed. Alexander, a megalomaniac who wished to be called divine, must have put a spell on every film who wanted to reveal his historic greatness. I guess Alexander was so great no film could ever recreate his fabulous stories, only a sketchy facade of who he was and what he did during battle and his reign over empires. He was legendary. After all, the Spartans had declared him god. And now that I've seen the film, maybe it's also okay for me to call him a gay god.

Despite being that gay, I have seen his passion and unusual virility while he killed those enemies. He was very wise. And like many other homosexuals, he was also artistic as hell, which was justified when he devised skillful and imaginative strategies to seize the opponents.

Indeed, I have seen bravery and boldness. But I believe William Wallace showed more. How he shouted "FFFRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!" always bring me to tears.

The film bored me. This may account for my lack of knowledge about Alexander III's historical career. Had I read all about him, maybe I would have had the chance to appreciate the film more. Unfortunately, I didn't. So there you go.

Alexander the Great did not die of some conspiracy plotted by his men. One afternoon some months ago, I was able to watch "Who Killed Alexander the Great?" at Discovery Channel. Here, they conducted a forensic study of how Alexander really died. It turned out he had been killed in an 'accident' when Alexander's physician/s used the root of hellebore, a "member of either of two genera of poisonous herbaceous plants, Helleborus and Veratrum, some species of which are grown as garden ornamentals" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002), to cure his illness. Alexander III, the Excessive Drinker, was possibly a victim of adverse drug effects when repeated doses of White Hellebore were medically administered to him. The toxicity led to Alexander's death.

The great general among the greatest the world has known could have gotten on with his plans and conquered Arabia, had he only recuperated.

Carnaval took a nap at 3:48:00 PM

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Sábado, Novembro 27, 2004

Synthesize My Fat!

Boy, how I missed writing in my blog.

I've been doing lots of schoolwork the past week that it's hard for me to get some appropriate sleep. Besides reviewing for the subjects' discussion, another factor that contributed to making my school days so 'eventful' is that I was made group leader in two major subjects by some new block mates. Personally, being group leader sucks. And my group mates who appointed me to be their leader don't have any idea how lousy I am with this matter. They see me as some smart and assertive person and sometimes that's the problem with judging by merely looking at the person. I'm not saying I'm dumb and I'm a doormat, though. Point is, they don't know that I have a problem with procrastination. Good leaders don't delay in doing their tasks, you know.

I've been more productive this semester than the previous ones. It's a lot of hard work but I'm proud to say it anyway. On the contrary, each day I become more robust. I have to do something about this or in no time I shall rupture my entire body from outgrown dresses. I must admit it has been months since I last played my sport, badminton, and I haven't worked out lately. My daily allowances are mostly spent on unhealthy, high-calorie food that I don't get to burn because instead of exercising, I take a nap.

Somehow I've gotten used to my friends who say to me, "Uy, hiyang a!" Or a bolder statement like "Trish, tumataba ka, a!"

Carnaval took a nap at 4:39:00 PM

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Sexta-feira, Novembro 19, 2004

(no subject)

I myself wonder why I'm starting to write shorter posts in this blog. Maybe it's because classes already started and I'm focusing more on schoolwork. Maybe my life is too boring it won't let me write about anything because I'm a very dreadful person. (Boy, two weeks passed and I still can't stand being with my new classmates). Or maybe the life I'm living isn't life AT ALL. Maybe it's happening without me.

I finally met my teachers for this semester. Most of them I think are OK. I like it when I have a teacher who's a doctor. Their names totally 'shine' when the initials, MD are attached to them. My instructor in Pathophysiology is a nurse plus a medicine doctor. That means he has not only one but two sparkling abbreviations appended to his name (RN, MD). Wow, he must be very brilliant. One of my quixotic plans for the future is to have as many initials in my name. It'd be ubercool. I'd be like Professor Patricia A. Laoagan, RN, MD, MAN, PhD, DMD, RM, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. I'd be super genius by the time I get to append the entire English alphabet to my name. Haha.

I'm to have my second dose of Hapatitis vaccine tomorrow. Ever since I had that return demonstration last semester, I have hated having my skin pricked by needles.

Boa noite, amigos.

Carnaval took a nap at 9:28:00 PM

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Segunda-feira, Novembro 15, 2004

Uy! Amoy Bago!

After six months of blogging, I finally decided to switch template. Creating a new look for the site was a painstaking task for me since I am not very much familiar with HTML tags. My mother doesn't like the heavily ominous background of my new layout, but it looks pretty good to me anyway. I will have to make further titivation here albeit personally, it's just alright to appear dull sometimes.

Carnaval took a nap at 2:31:00 PM

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Domingo, Novembro 14, 2004

I Want To Get Away, I Want To Fly Away

It's nice to have a four-day vacation a week because that means spending time in school for three days only. Duh. It's going to be like this for one more week since my duty would start on the 25th and it's good that I got ample time to hibernate. Oh, yeah. I'm scared about the duty. I went to Ospital ng Maynila with my former classmates for an orientation last Wednesday. But for us to get to their auditorium where we would be oriented, we had to pass by the OB ward where there is stench in the heavy air. I didn't want to breathe that time because I was afraid I'd inhale pathogens and perish within 24 hours. Nothing exciting happened at the orientation at all. In fact, the entire room was packed with noisy students and I just sat near the corner of the auditorium. With my head firmly placed on Bien's humongous arms, I slept like mad while waiting for the orientation to start. How I wish I hadn't awakened that time. The nurse speaker was like one mile away from me, and the sound system she's using was so poor that I almost thought she's speaking gibberish. I needed to get myself out of the room or I shall experience paranoia.

Of course, I didn't scram and experienced a 10-minute paranoia. You knew me too well.

Carnaval took a nap at 1:44:00 AM

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On December, Perhaps

My sister is in Baguio with her friends right now.

Miss Cherry is right there, too, with her family. And she said it's darn cold in the city.

*Sigh* I wish I were there.

'Di bale, may ube jam naman ako pag-uwi ni Ate.

Carnaval took a nap at 1:02:00 AM

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Terça-feira, Novembro 09, 2004

There's Something Special About Egg Fritters

Classes just started today. I got home so tired I wanted to rest instantly. But since I haven't posted anything here for days (no money to purchase some prepaid card) I'd love to sacrifice a bit of my precious time tonight.

Today was spent in an eerie place I call school, and I hung around with people I don't even want to know, at least not yet. I am having tantrums now because I can no longer be with the block mates I used to spend my school days with for the past three semesters. I can see it coming. The subjects are undeniably harder, the schedule becomes more hectic, and the days I am about to spend in the classroom with these aliens seem almost eternal. My second semester is going to suck execrably. I need to get out of there!

I remember during class dismissals, especially on Wednesdays, after the lousy Microbiology session with Pamela-wan in that very steamy Nursing Lab, I used to eat 'egg fritters' outside the school with some of my close pals from my previous block. Often, there are five of us-- Me, Gene, Ava, Aton and Soc. I consider those moments of unwinding as the best times of my schooldays because profound friendship has been established over Escherichia delicacies, bottles of potent Pepsi, intelligent and silly conversations, and our reassuring motto declared exclusively at the threshold of Acuario: We die together.

I realized that in hard times like the one I'm experiencing right now, my friends can't always be there for me... merely because they're now staying in some stupid new blocks. A while ago, after our teacher for today's last subject dismissed our class, I accompanied Bien to go look for Miss Cherry. We found her with Miss Cecille outside the computer room by the lobby and after some short conversations we had with one another, they decided to go out to munch on the famous 'egg fritters.' At the legendary food stall of the legendary 'egg fritters,' Miss Cherry tried to offer me some, which she had managed to place in an elongated piece of cardboard container. But instead of taking it gladly from her, I refused. Don't get me wrong. I love to spend time with Bien and Miss Che, and Miss Cecille. I hang around with them most of the time! I suppose I just wouldn't feel comfortable had I eaten those lovely egg fritters without Soc and Ava and Aton and Gene.

Yes, I'm an idiot because I mourn over these egg fritters. I could only surmise how irritated you've gotten now since I keep mentioning them. Well, if that's the case, then you have missed the entire point in this sad post. I can't blame you for your inability to comprehend though. Aside from admitting that this post, once again, lacks coherence, you may not understand this because YOU are not ME.
Things will never be the same from this day onward.

Carnaval took a nap at 1:07:00 AM

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Quinta-feira, Novembro 04, 2004

Turn My Heat Off

As always, I didn't have anything to do besides reading and contemplating things, so I went to bed a bit early last night. It was pretty cool that evening and Freia, having suddenly deprived her brain of oxygen from biting my hands off, started to cuddle at the corner of the bed. It was breezy and all inside the room but I slept terribly. I realized that I was already pyrexic at around 1a when I began feeling cold and hot at the same time. You know how it is when you get fever, right? I turned to ask myself what could my antibodies be doing inside my body at this ungodly hour? And who were they battling with?

Hours passed and I felt so drowsy I can't determine if I were dreaming, or kidnapped by some cosmic creatures, or transiently stuck in... THE TWILIGHT ZONE... *sound effects: nuninuninuninuninuni* There I was, nestled under my plaid Ilocandia blanket, oddly cold and bed-ridden. I started to ponder and ask if this had been my punishment for eating six times daily. Ugh.

After what seemed like half an hour, I woke up, got up to check my temperature and turned out I had a 38-degree Celsius fever. So, okay, after having done so, I went back to bed and slept and when I woke up again that afternoon, I realized my fever abated to normal and I felt happy as a clam since I don't have to take my meds anymore.

It didn't take long after I realized that my muscles on the lumbar region and limbs began to ache like mad, like the execrable sensation you get after doing strenuous activities without warming up a bit. It's unbelievable why I was able to experience body pains when I've been idle for so many days now. I felt so weak that I have to resort to my lovely bed to deliver me from tenderness. I slept for three hours more and boy did my head hurt from dozing off too much. I guess the sleep didn't help because as soon as I returned to slump myself onto this computer, the pain returned and it felt worse now than it did three hours ago.

So yeah, I have what science terms as fever spike. I had to take anti-pyretic to eliminate this out of me. I'm writing this while waiting for the pain to subside. I still feel hot, but you don't need to know that.

And in case I'd get well, I'd go back to the CN for some orientation at the auditorium tomorrow. What I'm excited about going is being able to see my erstwhile classmates again.

Carnaval took a nap at 6:24:00 PM

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