The Wrath of Sendong

No such thing as ceasefire, Christmas, or any form of holiday as far as the wrath of nature is concerned.

Rescue operations at CDO. Photo from this site. Read more at the Mindanao News website.

Typhoon Sendong struck Southern Philippines specifically Cagayan De Oro and Iligan and is said to have left at least 327 people dead and many families homeless, no thanks to landslides and floods.

If you wish to help the victims, please make sure that your donations won't fall in the hands of the crooks. Sadly, people who take advantage even of situations such as this do exist. Please just send your donations to reputable charitable institutions such as The Red Cross.

I would be more than happy if I am able to course at least a few visitors (even just one) a day to the links. After all, as a Filipino, I have a social responsibility, and using this blog is one of my means of fulfilling this responsibility.

Shopping For Christmas Gifts

(Well, well, who do we have here? )

Shopping during the Christmas season is one of my least favorite activities. I love giving gifts, but I hate having to brave the crowd. During the holidays, the malls, bazaars, bars, and probably every public place in the city are filled with people. Pickpockets seem to be in every corner as well.

Fortunately, I completed my shopping a week ago. Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun shopping this year. (Maybe because I did a lot of shopping in Manila, and there is not a lot of places to shop here where I am stationed right now. *sob*) 

I bought a lot of beauty products for the ladies and the men (yes, them too ^^) in the workplace. There are many new great products out in the market that I have only come to know recently. My favorite thing at the moment is this.

(Yes, it's quite embarrassing that I am talking about a beauty product - of all things! - in my blog. But now I know why women are going ga-ga over BB cream. I now have Etude House's Precious Mineral and I, too, am crazy about it. So sue me. :D)

I also had a great time shopping for wines and toys. It has become a habit of late to look into labels of toys, just so to avoid buying products that can be potentially toxic. Christmas, after all, belongs to children, and it would be best to give them gifts that are both enjoyable and safe.

So now, I am almost done with wrapping the gifts, and am getting ready to go to bed ...

*****

By the way.

The blog's template has already been modified. For 3 years, my blog has had the same look. This new template is a little more updated but is structurally similar to the past design. I like the blog to maintain its simple, uncluttered look that I cannot achieve with multiple-column templates.

One week to go and it's Christmas day. Time goes so fast, indeed ....

To Paul, (arguably) the coolest guy on the planet

<3 PAUL SIMONON <3

You are probably the coolest guy to have ever lived on the planet.

(I know, I once said that I love Joe Strummer more, but I think you're cooler ... and a lot more like my boyfriend, who passed away more than 2 years ago.)

photo from this site

My late boyfriend, whom I adored and admired so much, took after your coolness. He lived by Joe Strummer's ideals, dug deep into Mick Jones' pop sensibilities, understood Topper Heddon's rebellious streak. But, if he were alive to this day, he'd probably deny this, but I'd say, in my most biased assertion, he was very much like you.

While it is only coincidental, he also played the bass guitar. He was a left-handed punk bass player, a really mean one at that.

To be idolized by men may feel like identifying with you in a fraternal manner. Maybe some may even look up to you as a father or even a godfather. I can surmise that many women see you more like a good-looking man worthy of a dream. I wonder, given the above situation, to what category my adulation qualifies.

But does it matter?

I came across this piece of news, and I am convinced that you are (still) my favorite cool guy on the planet.

So to you Paul, may you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my heartfelt greetings coming from the opposite side of the world. You can never be my boyfriend, but you were my boyfriend's hero, and my idol as well. That, for me, is more than enough. :)

Feeling Baudelaire on a Monday

It's a Monday afternoon where I am right now. It's cloudy and for some reasons, I'm feeling ... yellow. (Why?!)

...as yellow as this boat, yep. Ma On Shan, 2007

And for some reasons, I feel like posting one of Charles Baudelaire's poems. This is the first poem by him that I have read, and I got hooked enough to ask someone to get me the original French version of Fleurs du Mal. (Thank you, Cristy.) I know, I really suck at French but I really appreciate reading poetry in its native form - the context, the meaning, and the lyricism are preserved that way, among other reasons.

J'espere que tu apprecierez les poesie de Baudelaire. (Ah, I tried so hard there, hahah.) That is, as much as I do. :) Happy Monday y'all.

Viens-tu du ciel profond ou sors-tu de l'abîme,
Ô Beauté ? ton regard infernal et divin,
Verse confusément le bienfait et le crime,
Et l'on peut pour cela te comparer au vin. 

Tu contiens dans ton oeil le couchant et l'aurore;
Tu répands des parfums comme un soir orageux;
Tes baisers sont un philtre et ta bouche une amphore
Qui font le héros lâche et l'enfant courageux. 

Sors-tu du gouffre noir ou descends-tu des astres ?
Le Destin charmé suit tes jupons comme un chien;
Tu sèmes au hasard la joie et les désastres,
Et tu gouvernes tout et ne réponds de rien. 

Tu marches sur des morts, Beauté, dont tu te moques;
De tes bijoux l'Horreur n'est pas le moins charmant,
Et le Meurtre, parmi tes plus chères breloques,
Sur ton ventre orgueilleux danse amoureusement. 

L'éphémère ébloui vole vers toi, chandelle,
Crépite, flambe et dit : Bénissons ce flambeau !
L'amoureux pantelant incliné sur sa belle
A l'air d'un moribond caressant son tombeau. 

Que tu viennes du ciel ou de l'enfer, qu'importe,
Ô Beauté, monstre énorme, effrayant, ingénu!
Si ton oeil, ton souris, ton pied, m'ouvrent la porte
D'un Infini que j'aime et n'ai jamais connu ? 

De Satan ou de Dieu, qu'importe ? Ange ou Sirène,
Qu'importe, si tu rends, - fée aux yeux de velours,
Rythme, parfum, lueur, ô mon unique reine ! -
L'univers moins hideux et les instants moins lourds.

 - Charles Baudelaire (extrait des Fleurs du Mal)

I Love Bar Dolci

Whenever I go home back to Manila, I try to drop by Bar Dolci for my gelato and macaron fix. A lot of Manila-based food blogs have already waxed praises for this little sweet spot somewhere in Bonifacio Global City. I, too, fell for Bar Dolci's gelato and macaron, and have recommended the place to friends a good number of times already.

Mae taking photos

I thought about writing my own Bar Dolci piece after having read Mae's review in When In Manila and in her personal food blog, Eats A Date. Mae seems very satisfied and I am happy that she likes it there. It is not too often that I zealously recommend a place to eat, since I am a very sensitive person and I take it rather hard when a person that matters to me (i.e., a good friend, a member of the family) does not enjoy the restaurants nor the dishes that I like. (LOL!)

Gelato attack

Macaron fix

Bar Dolci's gelato and macarons are some of the best in Manila, I think. I kind of expected Mae to go crazy over the best-selling gelato Salted Caramel. :) My favorite, however, is the Ferrero gelato. I am also a sucker for anything pistachio.

I was there when Mae reviewed the place, taking pictures and sampling the food as I watched and munched away. Paula and Badeth were present as well. It was a drizzly Sunday evening, just the perfect time to lounge around. I surely miss this face of Manila: on a Sunday afternoon, there are places in Manila that seem to stop with time, and the best way to spend it is to sit comfortably on a couch and read or chat with friends while nibbling on snacks.

It's also great that Bar Dolci is near my house as well. Can't wait till I get back home in a few weeks. Sigh. Dagupan City (where I spend time for the most part of late) has some cool places to eat and I like it there also, but I guess it will be always true that there's no place like home.

Bar Dolci is here:

F133 Forbeswood Heights
Forbestown Road, cor Burgos Circle,
Bonifacio Global City,
Manila, Philippines

Doctor-Patient Relationship: How Far Am I Willing To Go?

Bonedoc, my colleague in more ways than one (fellow orthopod, fellow blogger, fellow...nature lover :D) posted a link to an interesting read in our Facebook group page hours ago. Titled "Can Patients Be Facebook Friends With Doctors?", the article is something that I could have probably written a few months earlier. It is not a secret to most of you who have come across some of my posts that I am not much of a Facebook fan mainly because of security and privacy concerns, though I am still holding on to my present account for purposes of keeping in touch with family and friends.

Of course, doctor-patient relationship is but one of the many relationships that I have to protect, not just in Facebook world. I may still be (relatively) young in the specialty practice, but already I am quite aware that most patients appreciate it so much when their attending physicians take time out to know them a bit more. Things like remembering the patient's name and being able to associate the name to the right face are just but the first steps in helping the patient speak more openly, not just about his illness, but also his concerns about its impact on his personal and social life. However, and this is a personal opinion, a line has to be drawn somewhere, somehow. And "friending" in Facebook is just one of the places where this line has to made distinct. 

Cartoon comes from this link: http://doccartoon.blogspot.com/2010/07/facebook-friend-requests-i-will-refuse.html

Endocrine-witch did make me think about how much I would want to get involved in a doctor-patient relationship, and I came up with this list.

1. I would not be so inclined to accept Facebook friend requests from patients. Probably the only exception to this is when my account is created for the purpose of disseminating general information relevant to the medical field; however, I have no such account.

2. For security reasons, I do not also wish to give my mobile number to patients. In the past, I had been a victim of numerous stalkers. Sadly, some stalkers actually got my number from my co-workers (one incident involved a stalker asking for my number from a nurse(!)). While I have many times contemplated to get another number solely dedicated to patient calls, at the moment the hospital landline seems to suffice.

3. Will I accept invitations to attend social affairs from patients? (i.e., birthday party, wedding etc) Filipinos are generally the type to involve everyone in their social affairs; I say generally, and yes I think is a cultural thing. This is quite an iffy situation that has to be answered out on a case-to-case basis.

4. What if I fall in love with my patient? I have never been in this situation, have never envisioned myself to be in this situation, and I do not, by all means, intend to be in this situation. As far as I am concerned, carrying on a love affair with a patient is so out of the question. The only acceptable time for me to be in a romantic relationship with a patient is when that person first became my partner before becoming my patient - certainly not the other way around. 

There are likely more situations where the extent of the doctor-patient relationship will be tested. I am not one to impose my personal beliefs, and I welcome opinions and constructive criticisms. Let me know what you think. :) 

By the way, the absolutely cute cartoon is courtesy of this entertaining blog A Cartoon Guide To Becoming A Doctor. Do check it out.

Back

Finally.

After roughly six months of soul-searching, serious bone-mending, trekking, reading voluminous tomes...

[...as well as reading loads of manga and watching loads of anime (yaoi not spared hahah)]

...I decided that quietly brooding is over for now, and that the time has come for brooding aloud. ;)

So, after nearly half a year of hibernation, I am resuming this blog.

Glad to be back here.

Why Blog...? (...when it's as obsolete as mIRC?)

Sigh. Why risk being called a tech dinosaur? After all, there have been numerous well-based predictions that Facebook and Twitter, what with their ease of usage and accessibility, will slowly put blogging into extinction.

It is not actually a question of whether I like to write. There is, indeed, no question that I like to write, as I find this method of communication more effective for me than talking. I did not learn to talk till I was 4 to 5 years of age, but at that very same time I was constructing sentences and doing a lot of drawings. I grew up always bringing with me my "magic slate" (y'know, those things you write on and eventually erase when you lift the translucent gray film off the black base), eventually replaced by a small notebook and a pen where I can write random thoughts and ideas. It is one of my many personal attempts to put some semblance of order into my cluttered mind.

(Ideas as cluttered as wisps of cloud. Hong Kong skies, 2007)

One of my first reasons why I started blogging is to address a need, so to speak.

When I started my first proper blog called Trash Radio Manila, my initial goal was to write about the music that I like and how the local underground scene is like from my viewpoint. These are the very things that I want to read about online and yet I do not get to read much. Apparently, there are some people who would want to read about the same things that I am interested in.

Then I realized then that blogging allows for a sharing of opinion even from strangers - people whom I would not dream of adding in my Facebook account.

You see, sometimes, there are just some things that I just want to write about and see what people think. When you want to determine a particular opinion, oftentimes you get the more objective ones from strangers. I can explain a certain issue at length, without being interrupted, and then see what they have to say. It is like allowing a good friend to talk about a problem that's bugging her and what he plans to do about it without interrupting him, then when he is done talking you can give your thoughts.

I certainly believe that good communication even with people whom I never know at a personal level is possible, and this does not require Facebook.

I have always regarded Facebook as a phenomenon yet not without its limitations. Facebook has made communication too personal. Honestly, it irks me a bit to read those status that change every hour - and people wonder why stalkers abound. Sometimes - my apologies for having to state this - some friends will breach the boundaries of "personal space", at times invading your Facebook wall with their issues that you have absolutely nothing to do about. Facebook is like being in a noisy bar: people move about you, brushing your arms and shoulders as they move about, breathing behind your necks ... does this sound like I am experiencing some form of online claustrophobia here?

This is also the same reason why I do not hang around much in Twitter, either - I only use it for networking purposes, just like my Facebook account.

Blogging, well ... call me old-fashioned. Blogging is like being in a coffee shop with a friend. Communication is unhurried, you can both stay up all night, and go home to your respective places without one needing to know what the other person wears (or does not wear, perhaps) when sleeping.

*****

This is my submission to the May 2011 edition of The Blog Rounds. Yay, Bonedoc, we're back! :)