After looking high and low, Mama finally found her arrhae. Takwe and I have been bugging her to find it, because we want to use it (something borrowed, something blue…). There are 13 coins from around 1973 and on the holder are etched Mama and Papa’s names and wedding date. It’s a rough-hewn, but it’s still really nice:) Have a look…
I was in Singapore for a few days last week for the World Glaucoma Congress. It was a big deal, because it’s held only every 3 years, the first one being in Vienna, and the next one in Boston in 2009. I figured I might as well go to this one, since fat chance I’d be able to go to the next one (I might be fat and pregnant by then!).
I wasn’t at all giddy with excitement when I was preparing for my trip. The excitement level would have been higher if I was flying to Cebu or Palawan 
Sam aptly put it when we were leaving Singapore for good in April: “Hon, this is like our province na.” I agreed. Spending 14 months there made it NOT a big deal I HATED the plane ride. I took Cebu Pacific, which was of course an hour late, so we flew out at 930PM, and the 3 1/2 hour planeride was cramped (and i’m small na ha!), no entertainment and no food. I had a tattered copy of Angels and Demons to keep me sane. My seatmate gave me pa a flyer of Herbalife (she’s an agent, I think) and I wanted to stuff it up her nose:”Do you think I need this?!? Am I obese?!?!”. She was making small talk pa and I was so tired and irritable that I just gave one liners, but , NO! she couldn’t take the hint! Arrrgh! I arrived at my old apartment at past 1AM and i was so pooped!
Anyway, the congress had something like 1000-2000 delegates from all over the world, and it was like being let loose in a giant candy store—I didn’t know what sessions to go to, since they were all of excellent quality! World renowned glaucomatologists gave talks and sessions. These were the men and women whose work I only read or heard about before my Singapore fellowship. It was incredible listening to them!
I had a poster presentation, but during the poster walkthrough, Marion and I disappeared to the Funan IT Mall! Heeheehee!!! The Gala Night was fun, fun, fun! We took a free River Cruise (too expensive dati),and had henna tattooes done by this pretty Indian Girl (no real ones for me, thank you! I leave that to my gutsier siblings!). My favorite part of the night was the videoke jam! Don Peczon, my senior in PGH and current Retina fellow in Singapore was tasked by my ex-boss to start the ball rolling (I told him that Don could sing and dance at the drop of a hat!). After one song, people started lining up and singing! Hilarious pa this AMerican guy, who obviously was doing videoke for the first time–he started singing WITHOUT the music! hahahaha!!! The emcee, Eric Greeves (a prominent Scandinavian ophthalmologist) sang Hey Jude, think, and he sang some parts in falsetto. I realized he looked exactly like that American Idol auditonee who sang Unchained Melody in a creepy falsetto and bulging eyes, and was so mad that the judges were laughing! A bunch of Americans also sang Dancing Queen, and I saw one of the more popular ones in bermuda shorts kicking his heels up!!! Sobrang hilarious!! I couldn’t believe that this was the same, serious, bordering on sungit, guy who chaired a plenary session that same afternoon!!! Don sang Footloose, and suddenly, the dancefloor was filled with people dancing, and even one couple who was seriously dancing a la John Travolta (with matching serious facial expression pa ha!). It was a fun, fun night!!!
I flew out of Singapore at 130AM on Sunday, but this time i was able to get a front row seat–more legroom for my stubby little legs. I still hated the flight and was so wasted on the ride home. Nag-clinic pa ako ng 3pm that same afternoon!
Visiting my “province” was fun. Though I’m glad I didn’t have to stay longer than I had to. All I missed was their incredible coffee and kaya toast, and the bus and train system. Those things, I wish ferevently that we had. Other than that, I’m happy right here, home sweet home 
I’ve been trying to connect to the net for the past 40 minutes, with no results. Asar talaga ang Smart!!! The connection has been screwy for the past 2 weeks, since it started raining. I don’t have much of a choice since we’re locked into their service for a year, and I know for a fact that there’s no one perfect broadband service—PLDT and Globe have not been performing well either. It’s just a huge pain in the ass, since I rely on the net for a lot of things, including Skypeing with Sam who is in Hong Kong. Aaaargh!
I watched an HBO movie last night on the tsunami that happened a couple of years back. Of course, it was from the point of view of Westerners who were in Thailand when it hit. It was mostly a British cast—I recognized the mommy in About a Boy, and the black actor opposite Keira K, in Love, Actually. I wanted to get to turn off the TV because it was quite depressing, but I somehow stayed up till past midnight to finish it. There was a young Thai who played a hotel staff member, and man, I missed Bangkok just listening to him talk in their soft, melodious and lilting accent ☺ Thais are pretty good looking, like Filipinos—most have brown skin but small eyes—a beautiful mix of the Chinese and Malay races ☺ They’re such sweet, gentle people, like the Ilonggos, that sometimes I forget to be wary that like us Pinoys, they also have con artists who prey on tourists.
I’ve been watching a lot of David Tutera lately, and he’s so adorable! I love his lashes, and I love his enthusiasm with what he does! He’s so creative, and I wish I had half his talent creating such wonderful set-ups for parties!!! Queer Eye is great, too, but I keep forgetting its time slot. I think Kyan Douglas is hot!!! Why are all the good looking men either gay or married!?!? But my favorite is the blond with a hook nose—he is the most outspoken and irreverent—HILARIOUS!!! I feel that half the time, he wants to grab the ass of the hottie they’re trying to make over! Hilarious also the Indian looking guy—I think he must be a small man in person and such a demure gay!!! Obviously I am not a homophobic. I have nothing but respect for them—hell, a lot of my very smart classmates in Med School were gay! And I hate it when people take it against them that they’re gay. I mean, they didn’t make a conscious decision to become gay! Hellooooo!!!! I also hate it that people condemn gay relationships. Sige, never mind those relationships that involve an older gay man being milked dry by a young gigolo. katangahan na rin yun on the part of the older gay man. But those with meaningful relationships, leave them alone!!! Hell, there are straight people who will search a lifetime to find meaningful relationships, but don’t find it naman in the end!!! So let’s leave these people alone!
Nope this isn’t about the Crocs sandals that are so popular here in Manila nowadays. I first saw them in Singapore, and they were not at all appealing —I’d see lolos and lolas wearing them with their houseclothes in the hawkers. Ngiiii. They’re cute on kids, but seem very incongruous on adults. The classic style looks like a bucket with holes, complete with handles and are so wide! Hahaha! Parang I can’t imagine what I could wear with them, unlike my trusty high Havaianas that will go with just about anything.
Anyway, after weeks of searching through various hardwares, I finally found Crocodile cleaning fluid. It’s a terpene-based solvent made in the US. Takwe recommended this for cleaning the Mac; and I finally found it sa Electroworld at the top floor of Town. A 230cc bottle costs just Php70. I was so excited about it that I gave Whitey (my Macbook) a good cleaning as soon as I got home. All his difficult to remove libag, especially sa corners, magically disappeared in one swipe!!! Can you see me clapping my hands and jumping up and down?!? Hehe!!! Another good cleaner is the Magic Eraser available in hardwares (thank you, Ganda Girl Betsy!!)—the imported ones are so expensive, but the hard to find local ones work just as well. You just have to very careful because it can scratch the surface.
Can’t wait to use Crocodile on Blackie (Sam’s HP) and Auntie (our geezer Acer notebook) and just about anything I could get my hands on…Crocodile cleaning frenzy!!!
There’s something extremely therapeutic about throwing out stuff you don’t need. Upon coming home after 4 years of dorming in Manila for residency and fellowship, Nanay (my yaya) and I had to throw out a lot of things to make space for the stuff I somehow accumulated. I had to sort through old clothes, shoes, papers and odds and ends. The still useful clothes, shoes and bags, I gave away; and the rest, I threw out. I found so much stuff given by various people that were totally useless, like paperweights, small cutesy patootsey figurines, and odds and ends that just accumulated dust. Then I realized that I must be guilty, too, of giving similar stuff for Chistmas when I was younger (sort of buy a dozen of the same thing and give to everyone). I threw out old letters and greeting cards from an old relationship not because they held bad memories, but because sure as hell, those letters aren’t what I’d someday show my kids ☺ Bottomline is, those didn’t matter anymore.
We also discovered stuff like an old wig Peew used in a shooting in high school (Nanay and I had huge fun putting it on and taking pictures!!! I had an asthma attack from laughing so hard! Hilarious!!!), and a pink dress I wore on my third birthday (which she was saving for my daughter). Oh, but bundling all those useless, accumulated dust-gatherers into huge garbage bags and throwing them out felt damned good!!!
When I came home from Singapore, again, I had to throw out some stuff to make room for the things I once again accumulated. I was so determined to clear out two drawers full of old stationery, but when I went through them, I could not bear the thought of throwing out the stuff I had since I was Grade 1. I knew I wanted to show and share these with my daughter, so that she could see what sort of stuff Mommy had when she was young. I wanted to show her my stamp collection (well, actually stuff Papa bought for me whenever he went abroad), old stickers from Papemelroti, stuff Santa Claus gave me, the fake bun I wore in my ballet recital when I was eight, my Sanrio pencil collection (pre-school to early grade school pa), my extensive Hello Kitty collection (hell, I even have a freaking Hello Kitty telephone and lamp!!!) and some stuff I got for my eighteenth birthday. I still have a Little Twin Stars glass Mama gave me when I was in prep, a My Melody glass in a pink holder when I was grade one ( I joined the elocution but lost, but she prepared a prize for me anyway), a Little Twin Stars mechanical pencil she got when I was in Grade 2 and loads of other stuff from way back…Gad, now when I think about it, my Mama must have been a Gift Gate stockholder!!!
Every couple of weeks or so, I get into a throwing away frenzy. Like kanina, I found two Mango catalogues in my sister’s closet (I sleep in her room), which I threw away. Fire hazard, you know. Peew, if you’re reading this, they were catalogues from 2 seasons ago pa! Useless!!!
I find that these mini spring cleanings are good for my soul. Sort of erasing some useless memories to make room for new ones. It clears my mind and somehow soothes my soul. Funny rin, kasi at the same time, throwing out old stuff makes you rediscover stuff from your past that makes you stop and smile and maybe snicker at bit… ☺ 
It’s another Sunday, and I’m having clinic again this afternoon.
I’m missing Sam so bad 
Luckily I was able to buy the entire season of Heroes (we only got to watch up to episode 16 lang prior) and the entire first season of Supernatural (we got to finish season 2 na in Singapore), so I have a surrogate boyfriend to keep me occupied in the evenings (yeah, yeah, LOSER!).
He’s doing fine, still adjusting, but they threw him to work ASAP (wala nang arte-arte), which is good, because time really flies when you’re busy, no time to think na. Luckily, his co-Spine fellow is a Malaysian from Penang, so he speaks pretty much like a SIngaporean (which, i think, is A LOT more intelligible than Hong Kong English). So medyo bonding-bonding sila, and he’s quite amused that Sam knows a lot of the SIngaporean/Malay phrases. Coming from Sam, high praise na yun na Tan is a nice guy
He also bought a cheap phone card, so he calls every night (sometimes twice a day, para magpa-hug), and then we get to talk about our day, and I get to whine about my stuffy nose. Sana lang he can set up na the internet sa room niya para we can use Skype na (it’s cheaper to fight on the net–you can have like five minutes of angry silence and pay close to nothing).
One week down, 23 more to go for my munkey!!!
Sam left for Hong Kong this morning to start his six month stint as Spine fellow at the Duchess of Kent Hospital. I was quite surprised at myself, because I wasn’t as upset as I was when I flew to Singapore for my fellowship last year. Sure I cried yesterday when we hugged for the last time, and last night when he called to say goodnight. But when he called just before boarding today, I was reasonably calm. Big difference, I guess, is that he’ll be gone for only six months. This is as opposed to a daunting and surreal one year I knew I was spending in Singapore. One year away from him and my family was a very depressing thought, and it was traumatic, to say the least. Lucky for us, he joined me there in my last six months ☺
I’m creating an illusion that he’s staying for a short time lang—24 weeks. Somehow, this is more manageable than saying 6 months —I’m trying to fool myself to keep myself going ☺ He, on the other hand said, “179 days to go, honey!” when he called kanina. Inspite of my theatrics, I am truly excited for him. Hong Kong, like Singapore, will be good for him surgically, professionally, and will help him become an even more travel-savvy person (his words, hehe!). Very few people speak daw English, they had to find a translator in the first restaurant he ate at. He asked for “pork in black pepper sauce”, and they served him 3 slices of pork with 5-6 cups of rice! Hahaha! I guess you didn’t need language to see that a person was famished! Knowing Sam, he will thrive beautifully. I mean, you get thrown into a snake pit called PGH, and after that you can survive anything, anywhere☺
179 days and counting….can’t wait to have him back…
