The past one week was not easy. I couldn’t sleep peacefully at night as I thought about him and how he was doing. I wondered if he was okay, if he was being taken cared of while he wasn’t with me. It was hard but I had to endure the pain and the sadness of the distance that we both didn’t want but neither did we have a choice. I looked forward to Saturday because of the promise of a reunion. But that sparkle of hope disappeared when a call was made telling me how I wouldn’t be able to see him. Came Saturday and Sunday. Monday, they said, I’d finally get to be with him.

There’s nothing more ecstatic than that moment when I saw him coming, all prim and proper and ready for our much-awaited reunion… » Continue Reading

Kuya Jo used to call her Snow White until later, he was referring to her as Wendy. I, on the other hand, for lack of names to use, call her “Ming-Ming” like how I refer to all the other cats in the neighborhood. We had her by sheer twist of fate. She was outside the gates of our enclave with her mom, awaiting any scrap of a meal that would miraculously land outside the gate as my brother does the duties of feeding our own mini zoo at home: two askals and a half-bulldog half-labrador, a proud cat and the almost-dozen lovebirds. It would have been more exciting if the lab rat was still alive. Imagine what chaos it would be if all of our pets would get loose. My younger cousins would have had a live educational show of how the food web works.

It started when the very papampam half-breed barked like crazy as she jumped up and down on her leash. We didn’t know what it was she wanted so bad outside because the sun had since bid goodbye and the moon had started to shine it’s weak silver of light on Earth. It went on for close to an hour and no amount of pacifying calmed her down. When Kuya Jo went out to smoke, he finally saw her: a tiny living thing clad in nothing but black fur. He was surprised when she did not resist the moment he held her up. The rest as they say, was history.

She’s been with us for close to a month and she never left since that night when my brother fed her with a small amount of human food. You always see her lounging near our toydog-sized askal who didn’t really mind her presence or probably on top or underneath the garden table nearby. It was her home. She willingly became part of our family and wore the gold-colored necklace kuya put on her without resistance. Being the youngest and the newest member of the family, she would always get her dish filled with food first. We’d laugh at how she’d hijack the food dishes of our other pets more than a hundred times her size or how the half-breed would lick her face clean when she passes her by. She was the cutest little charm.

Then one day, my brother asked our househelp if the kitten was already doing good. Puzzled, I went out to look and saw her motionless near one of the window panes. I called her but she didn’t nudge. She was still alive but yes, very weak. When feeding time came, she did not rush to her food dish like she always used to, instead she walked with a very limp frame. That was Saturday evening and by the time I already had to go back to QC on Monday morning, she wasn’t doing any better. The cat poops that littered the area clued me in: she was stricken with diarrhea. Looking at her tiny frame whose bones are starting to jut out of her skin, I prepared myself for the grim possibility that she’s not going to be there when I go back home the next weekend. That was the time when I took out my mobile phone and snapped pictures of her - at least - I told myself, I’d have a remembrance of her when she passes to the other side. The farewell I bid her that morning served dual purpose: a goodbye for the time being and a goodbye for eternity. When I got back to QC, I sent kuya instructions to give her Gatorade or dissolve oral rehydration salts in a glass of water and give her some. I may not really be a vet, but I figured dealing with humans and animals at least used the same principles. I never heard from them again though after kuya told me he would, and each day, I dreaded waking up to a text message telling me that she had already moved on, like that one time when I received a text on how they found one of our dogs dead that morning.

Yesterday, my mom was here in QC to pick up my laundry since I wasn’t going home for the weekend. I waited for her to break the bad news but there wasn’t any until I couldn’t take it any longer and asked. Mom instead, gave me the wonderful news that the little kitten managed to hold on and was now doing better unexpectedly. I finally was able to heave a sigh of relief. Tiny Ming-Ming survived the storm. I guess the pictures would not be her first - and last after all.

She’s so tiny she even wouldn’t fit in baby clothes.

It’s over. UAAP Season 74’s Men’s Basketball Championship goes to Ateneo. To tell you the truth, I care less of who’s going to win. After all, I came from UP and inasmuch as I don’t want to swallow the bitter pill, the basketball arena was never my alma mater’s cup of tea. My roommate who’s neither an Atenean nor a LaSallian herself is overjoyed. Having most, if not all of her relatives graduate from Ateneo, she feels the same excitement and ecstacy over Ateneo’s recent win.

Back when I was in college, I never really felt the high of the UAAP. I don’t know if being in UP Manila instead of studying in Diliman played a factor but most of people I know from UPM weren’t much into it either. We’ve been accustomed to just watching the action from the comforts of our La-Z Boys (oh how i wish!) and enjoying the sight of seeing the extremes of emotions unfold at Araneta.

The game ended more than half an hour ago but they’re still celebrating over at Araneta. With this big win over their archrival, the celebration wouldn’t stop within the walls of Araneta. The Ateneans are surely in cloud nine five time over. I wonder how it feels like to be up there.

Looking for diet pills perhaps?

Having realized how the last movie we saw together on the big screen was Cinemalaya’s Imoral (an experience which deserves a new entry altogether), a movie date was immediately drawn out on the draft board. We weren’t sure what good movies are out for this week but we figured out it’s high time that we add another movie in the already very outdated list of movies we’ve seen. The lucky pick was Babylon A.D. at Trinoma and it wasn’t until when Bee jokingly added how the movie date’s going to be like the very first one we had that it occurred to me how it’s been almost a year since we technically “met”. How the two of us ended up together two years after we met online is not really something we hid from the people we knew. In the modern times, a story like this is a classic: a friendship transcending from cables, wires and fiber optics to the “real” physical world is not something novel. But I guess, it’s never passe when things - especially good ones - happen right smack at your face.

The plan was to see a movie, dine out and perhaps drop by the coffee shop where we first met (clue: it’s the one right in the middle of a beautiful garden) - just like the what we did almost a year ago. The fact that it wasn’t really my idea to “relive the moments” to begin with made the plan more heartwarming - you know, the tickle-to-the-bone kind. Sadly the “date that was” was never relived. We missed the movie altogether because the queue at CD-R King was too long. It would have been really funny if we were actually able to retrace our steps to when we “started” and lived the day as we had it a year back (minus the stress, extra flabs that warrant the best diet pill in the market). Disappointing as it was, at the end of the day, the only thing that would have mattered is that at least we were together, right?

The three month-long Pinoy Dream Academy is down to its final night when the winner for this season would be announced later at the Cuneta Astrodome. I’ve been irregularly following this show since they started airing the auditions and the moment I saw Jay Bogayon (Bugoy) sing, he won me over already. It’s amazing how he has transformed from a simple student in the province with a great voice:

…to a very energetic performer who can bring the house down:

I am amazed by his natural vocal talent. Never mind if he’s not as good-looking as the other dreamers. What really brought him close to my heart is his unique voice  and I think more than anyone else, he deserves the prize money, which, unfortunately, I don’t have any idea how much would be (but I sure know it could buy him a lot of Nautica watches). Most often in popularity contests like this, the most financially inadept contestant wins because s/he wins the public sympathy. Yes, Bugoy is impoverished, but in his case I believe his talent shines more than anything else - yes, even more than being a master to Goofy.

So who are you voting for?

I have never been a fixture in blog events whether big time or just a small gathering even if I’ve been blogging since time immemorial. Things changed in the past couple of months though as I found myself actually attending two and a quarter of blog events in perhaps, a span of three months. The first was Buhay Coke Part 1 at Taste Asia where I got to mingle not only with my blog friends but had been within 500 meter-radius with the big names in the field of blogging (fangirl? LOL). The second, which technically, I didn’t really attend as the programme had already finished and the food had long been gone, was Buhay Coke Part 2 at the same venue. The last one just happened over the weekend, when I once again exposed the face behind this blog at Wordcamp 2008.

I didn’t exactly know what to expect aside from the fact that I’d be brushing elbows and breathing the same air with the bloggers at the top of the food chain. To my surprise, there was quite a number of bloggers who showed up. Some of them I’ve seen in the past events, while others (which were a lot!) were new faces to me. I believe the seminars were well attended, although I won’t be a hypocrite and say all of them were much to my liking. I did, however, enjoy listening to Mr. Danny Arao who tackled about Blogging and Journalism. Although my field now is a mile away from journalism, the topic itself was really close to my heart being once a journalist myself. But perhaps the most unforgettable part of the event, aside from the freebies (promotional pens from Friendster, mugs et al), the muy delicioso cupcakes by Sonja from Spot.ph and the prizes (which I never got any by the way) was the unprecedented spotlight thrown at me when Mr. Danny Arao thought I was Doc Tess Termulo (Hi doc! I hope you don’t mind the link ). Flattering it is, really, if only for the thought that at least I already look the part of a doctor, (never mind if my med school grades are still hanging up in the air), but at the same time, it was really embarrassing as being put on the spot was never at the top of my list in any occasion for that matter - Wordcamp or not!

I really really enjoy going out of my turf once in a while. Going out with non-medical people for a couple of hours is like a breath of fresh air to me. Too bad exams are coming up (yes, AGAIN!) and I have to go back into hiding if I want to redeem myself and my dismal grades.

So to everyone, from the new people I met, the old faces I’m already sick of seeing (kidding! kidding!), the organizers, speakers and most especially to Matt Mullenweg, (who is the new love of my life, I’m sorry Bee! ), thank you for keeping this doctor-to-be alive, kicking and SANE!

See you again next year!