LIFE IS INDEED SHORT

I was trying to get rid of some old college books from my bookshelf when I found a directory containing the names and email addresses of the 100 aspiring doctors I shared 6 weeks with in Chicago through the Minority Medical Education Program in 2001. I browsed through it and ended up reminiscing of all the fun times we had then. And then I logged on to facebook and tried to look up as many of them as possible. And I found some. It's interesting how almost everyone is on facebook nowadays - well, except for several of those I was really close to. Most of them had pretty common names, so googling them up did not end up in relevant results. One of them had a unique name. And so I googled him up. And I was surprised with what I found.

But before disclosing what I found, let me say something about this friend. As I mentioned, he was one of the closest friends I had when I was in Chicago. He was ambitious and would do everything he can to reach his goals. He got in to a medical school without taking the MCATs and turning in an application. He just sent a letter to the admissions committee of that school (Summer of 2001), the school gave him an interview, and he got in just in time for the beginning of school that Fall of 2001. Again, how he did it, I'm not sure. But I was really happy for him. He was also full of life - always ready to try new things. He went with Anthony (my half-Filipino; half-Colombian friend) and myself to Barrio Fiesta where he tried "Adobong Fried Rice" because "adobo" meant something interesting in his own native tongue and where he sang his heart out (they had Karaoke). He was also someone you can easily talk with.

So anyway, I googled him up and to my dismay, I found out that he was killed in 2005, 4 to 5 months before he was to receive his MD degree. I could not believe it. And worse, I could not believe the story surrounding his death. The person they portrayed in the news did not seem like him at all. But I guess, 6 weeks was not enough time to really know a person.

That made me realize that truly life is short. He and I talked about having a reunion of MMEPers after 5 years (supposedly 2006). That came and went and no one was able to organize anything. Who would have known that even if that reunion was organized, he would not have been able to come.

So, we must really live life to the fullest. Live life with no regrets. Because we'll never know when our time will be up.

BORED, DISTRACTED, SLEEPY

It's been a while since I last blogged. I'm at my aunt's place right now waiting for the UFC fight to begin and end so that I can go home. And while I brought my laptop so I can study, I'm distracted because my family is too loud. I can't find a quiet place to concentrate. I'm also really sleepy but can't sleep for the same reason - my family is way too loud. So I thought I should just update my blog (for a change).

~o~o~o~

Things are busy at school. As P2s, we're the ones responsible for running all school organizations. And that's on top of everything we need to learn this year (and it's a lot). We have 5 required classes this quarter (2 of them are 5 units each) and I am taking a 1 unit elective. That's why I haven't been able to blog lately. I'm swamped with work and when I do have free time to myself, I tend to use that time to sleep and get some rest (sometimes, I try to catch up with my chores).

I am also working part-time. Only 4 hours a week, which is not too bad. But sometimes I can't help but think, those 4 hours could be used for studying or fulfilling my other responsibilities. But at least I'm still learning at work. I have a great pharmacy manager who loves to teach and I learn a lot from him.

~o~o~o~

I am absolutely the worst bowler ever. My fraternity brothers and I went bowling last night and I scored a measly 44. Haha. The last time I went bowling was 4 or 5 years ago (and even then I was already pretty bad). I had trouble releasing the ball and everyone was afraid that I would end up hitting the pins with the ball. But it was fun bonding with the brothers. They were supportive. Whenever my ball would end up in the gutter, they would say, "It was a good try! You'll do better the next time." And whenever I'd hit 1 pin they would say, "Good job! Way to go!" They're the best!

~o~o~o~

I joined a bunch of classmates in an endeavor to raise funds for research and raise awareness for Juvenile Diabetes Research by walking 2 miles at Crissy Field this morning. Crissy Field has this magnificent view of both the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Although it was cold this morning and a bit foggy, the view and the company of my classmates made up for it. It was a fun and fulfilling walk.

~o~o~o~

Okay, I'm officially sleepy. I think if I close my eyes now, I'll end up sound asleep in 5 minutes.

I hope everyone's doing okay. I try to read blogs every now and then and it's good to see updates from everyone once in a while. Take care y'all.

4 YEARS LATER AND I'M STILL LEARNING THE SAME THINGS ...

I'm a control freak who's learning how to surrender my whole life unreservedly to my Savior

I'm a spoiled brat who's learning how to willingly accept all that He wills for me

I'm an impatient person who's learning how to wait on the unfolding of God's will in my life

I'm a pessimist who's learning how to believe and hope that in Him all things are possible

I'm a worry wart who's learning how to cast all my cares unto Him.

I'm a doubting Thomas(ina) who's learning how to trust in His infinite wisdom

I'm someone who questions everything and yet who's learning not to ask where He's taking me and just be satisfied in knowing that He'll be with me no matter where He leads me.

I'm His precious daughter who still has a lot to learn. Thankfully, my Teacher never gives up on me. And one day, through His abundant grace, I'll be the daughter, and student He wants me to be.

UPDATES

It seems like my blog will be reduced to a mere "updates" site as I really do not have time to write on it. I apologize to everyone whose blogs I have not visited for sooooo long. I actually visit them, but I just end up glancing at the titles of the posts. I don't have time to read. Just as I do not have time to type. Except today.

June 13, 2008 was my last day of final for my 1st year in pharmacy school. Afterwards, we had a meeting for a registered campus organization we will be setting up in the following year. And then we met with our faculty advisor. Then, my friends and I went to dinner at Circa, a restaurant whose chef was in the "Top Chef" show on Food Network. It was a good dinner, even though the desserts did not meet our expectations.

June 14 and 15 (Sat and Sunday), 2008 was spent in Sacramento with my family.

June 16, 2008, I started working. And that was a huge mistake. I should not have done that at all. Because I started working immediately after school, I feel like I have no vacation at all. And let me tell you, it took me 5 looong weeks to adjust to working. It is only now that I have the energy and the strength to do things when I get home. Normally, I am a zombie when I get home. I'm too tired to do anything - even read or watch tv.

So, that's what's been going on with my life. I've been working, working and working. I like it. I am enjoying it. I am learning a lot from it. Hopefully, next time, I'll have more things to say about my work. I'm just plain tired - both physically and mentally.

I'm no longer making sense. So I'll end this post now. Hope everyone's doing great!

I MISS BLOGGING ...

... I wish I have more time to blog ...

LA FIN

It's offically over - my first year of pharmacy school is officially over. YAHOO!

FUNNY

Finals in two weeks and I went to a Giants game against the Padres tonight. I just got home, in fact. I drove to Mission Bay (a UCSF campus close to the ATT Park) and parked my car there ($1.50 vs $20 at the Giants' parking lot) and walked to the Park with my classmates who live in Mission Bay. After the game, we all walked back to Mission Bay and one guy friend asked me where I parked and said he would walk me to my car because there had been an attempted rape on campus several months back. And then he gave me the disclaimer, "Not that I'm going to do anything. But at least I'll be able to shout, 'Venus is in trouble. Help! Venus is in trouble!'" I had to laugh. But I guess, it's the thought that counts. =)

BEHOLD THE CROSS

2 months from now, there will be a big gathering and celebration of young Catholics from all over the world in Sydney, Australia - World Youth Day 2008. I recently saw a promotional video of the upcoming event at EWTN and immediately fell in love with the song (and the video). How I wish I could go. =(

Here are the lyrics:

Behold the Cross
Gary Pinto and Phil Turcio

Child, behold the Cross
Let me take all your burden
You will discover
I will always be with you
Through the darkness of the night
I'll help you
Cross over Jordan
You need not fear
Let me lead you into the light of My power

Can you see through the Cross
To a love that is never ending
Reaching out to the lost
With open arms
You are My child

Oh, my loving God
You gave Your Son as our Savior
And Your Holy Spirit
To take us back into Your heart

We can see through Your Cross
To a love that is never ending
Reaching out to the lost
With open arms
We will receive Your Truth
With forgiveness that is all enduring
Open our heart to You
Our loving God

All glory and praise to our God
Whose love will never end
We will help carry His cross
For His mercy forgives all our sins
Let us proclaim His Word
To the ends of the Earth

Child, embrace the Cross
Let it be your compassion
Forgiveness and mercy
Tell all the world of my love
Tell them to come
I am their God

Can you see through the Cross
To a love that is never ending
Reaching out to the lost
With open arms
You will receive My Power
When the Holy Ghost comes to anoint you
Open your heart to Me
I am your God
You are My child
You are My child
Behold the Cross

SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO

I will be working at Walgreens (YUP! Walgreens!) this summer as an intern. And I was assigned (by luck) to a Walgreens Diabetes Specialty Clinic. How cool is that. My preceptor sent me an email detailing the plan he has for me this summer. I'm really excited!

The Walgreens you'll be working at is a little odd. We're in the middle of transitioning to a more patient focused care model and have several projects in transition at this very moment. Our pharmacists are certified in Diabetes, Dyslipidemia, Pain Management, Asthma/COPD, Immunization, EC, and others. We've just started the MTM program and are currently involved in pharmacist intervention in Diabetes, HTN, Asthma, EC, and others. In addition, I'd like to get more involved in the Pediatric Intervention Program (PIP) with your help.

I've been working with students for over a decade now and have guest lectured at UOP, Western, & UCSF and have now worked with over a hundred students. I hope to continue to refine my teaching skills with your help and have developed a specific curiculum that I'd like to cover with you this summer to help prepare you for both classes as well as Boards. The first section will review OTCs (this usually takes a couple of weeks), then I'd like to cover Pharmacy Law, then I'd like to dive into Diabetes (several lectures here). After that, you have the option to pick another two topics that you are interested in. Topics that have been done before include Dyslipidemia, HIV, Depression, Asthma, but feel free to branch out into areas of your specific interest. I would like the topics fairly early to be able to prepare the lecture properly.

A lot of work, but hopefully now I'll understand what retail pharmacy is all about.

CONSERVATIVE THOUGHTS ...

I used to not care about the issue of abortion. My position was, "I won't do it. But I don't care if other people do it." But I had a change of heart when suddenly I came face to face with the harsh realities of the "process." ... NO! Don't worry! I did not go through an abortion. Hehe ... I really did not know of anyone who went through one or who thought of having one. But going back to school made me interact with people who are very pro-choice. In fact, they are so pro-choice, they wanted the School of Medicine to require ALL medical students to learn how to abort. They even had a rally at school about it. Had I been a medical student and had the school decided to make it mandatory to learn how to abort, I would have been forced to learn it, even if I did not want to do it ... where's the freedom (the one America always brags about) in that?

Anyway, as we were driving down I-5 to go to Anaheim, I saw a bumper sticker on a truck. I liked it a lot. It said,

It's not a choice

It's a child

And I say, "How true that is!"

MINI-UPDATE

Gusto ko lang magparamdam sa mga taong dating nagbabasa nitong blog na ito. Buhay pa po ako, salamat sa Dios! Busy lang talaga kaya di na ako nakakapag-update. Hopefully, pag summer vacation na, makakasulat na ulit ako dito. Pasensiya na din hindi na ako nakakabasa ng mga blog ninyo. Busy lang talaga. Pag tapos na ang school year, mababasa ko na ulit ang inyong mga blog.

Ingat!

Easter Greeting

Christian Glitter by www.christianglitter.com

Christ gave us new life when He rose from the dead. All praise, honor and glory be to our Lord!

FOR K. JUNBY AND HARBIE

K. Junby - Feb. 1
Harbie - Feb. 2

BIRTHDAY GREETING

HATIN'

I hate my schedule ... I absolutely hate it ... That's all I want to say.

WHEE WII (part two)

I finally got my wii. But so far, only 1 game (pathetic I know). I only have the Wii Sports ... I'm going to try to break that in before I buy another game ... I have a list of games to buy now (thanks to Harbie) ... but not enough funds to buy them ... Oh why oh why did I go back to school? =P Maybe I'll start working my spring quarter so I can buy more Wii stuff. Wehehe ... Anywho, I'm totally enjoying it, especially since I exaggerate my movements ... so I end up getting a good workout from it. =)

I know this is a bit late, but I TAG Harbie (and everyone else who wants to do it) to do the 100 blessings of 2007. Have fun!

THE JOY OF THE NEW YEAR ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! I WISH YOU ALL LOVE AND JOY!

The joy of welcoming the new year is now gone as I look forward (NOT) to welcoming the start of a new quarter tomorrow. WAAH!

100 BLESSINGS OF 2007

Before I begin counting down to welcome 2008, I will first count the blessings I received from God for 2007. I know that they number more than 100, but I would probably need a lifetime to enumerate them all. So, I'll just stick to 100. Let's see how long it will take me to list them all.

1. God's theme for my life in 2007 - NEW BEGINNINGS
2. The exciting, challenging independent project given to me at work
3. My loving and supportive parents
4. My crazy, fun-loving family
   
5. Krys and Jen - sisters for life
6. FLES - I can't begin to say how grateful I am for the blessing of such amazing friends who are there for one another through thick or thin
7. The Pismo Beach trip FLESK took
8. The 1 hour mineral springs bath ...
   
9. ATV adventure
10. Visit to Mission San Luis Obispo
    
11. My spiritual identical twin, Gerard Fuentes
12. My older brother (non-biological), Kuya Junby, who would stay up til 3 am or 4 am just to listen to all my rantings, to pray for me, and to give me great advices.
13. RAINA CHAN - I miss my honey!
14. Gladys Marie Miguel - super fun friendship. =)
    
15. Singles for Christ
16. Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals
    
17. Interview at UCSF
18. lessons I learned from the UCSF interview
19. Interview at UCSD
20. Seeing and hanging out with high school friends Alvin and Eileen after my interviews.
21. the opportunity to discern if I have a calling to religious life
22. My email exchanges with Sister Mary of the Holy Family, O.P. of the Corpus Christi Monastery.
23. Meeting Sister Mary of the Holy Family, O.P. in person
24. Having a two hour conversation with Sister Mary of the Holy Family, O.P.
25. The big challenge and lesson God gave me at the end of 2006 that went on til mid 2007.
26. The people God gave me to help me rise up to the "challenge" and not succumb to defeat and despair.
27. Mitzi, for everything that she did for me and said to me. She's truly an angel sent by God.
28. gift of healing
29. My blogger friends (former high school classmates) - Harbie, Erlyn, Cookster, Jane, and Malou. It's wonderful to still know what's going on with them despite the miles that separate us.
30. Ate Nette's blog - RiverPilgrim - a very inspiring blog.
31. This year's BCLP - we waited how long for this to finally happen? a loong time ... so praise and thank You, God, for finally providing for the community.
32. My new AG - Elaine, Lau, Anna, Gianna, Pie, and Olive - new (some old) sisters in Christ who show me how to love God and follow God.
    
33. Kuya Ben and Ate Emmy's return to the community.
34. The birth of SFC's Apologetics Forum - it's a wonderful avenue to discuss how blessed we are as Catholics.
35. The trip I took to Seattle to meet my high school friends Janelle and Abby.
36. Everything we did in Seattle was AMAZING and FUN. I'll never forget it.
37. Stephane Vassilopoulos and all that I learned from him and through him.
38. Sherard finally getting together
39. 20-07-2007 - my first ever perfect day.
40. My plastic pearl necklace
41. the amazing feeling that sometimes you don't have to do anything and still you get everything
42. the 750,000 I asked for ... amazing!
43. the gift of answered prayer
44. my supportive friends who stayed up with me til 4 am and hiked up and down just to see me happy
45. Getting in to UCSF.
46. Linh Pham - my instant friend from school
47. My European Dream trip to Rome, Venice, Lucerne, Paris, and London with my parents.
48. Standing inside the Sistine Chapel, staring at Michelangelo's paintings of Creation and Last Judgement and becoming emotional at the surrealness of it all.
    
49. Setting foot inside St. Peter's Basilica.
50. Seeing Paris from the Eiffel Tower
51. Lighting candles at Notre Dame Cathedral
52. Watching Avenue Q in London
53. Catching a glimpse of Orlando Bloom in person after watching Avenue Q.
54. Marta Chamiga - my constant companion in Europe.
55. The support of my coworkers in my decision to go back to school
56. My best friend at work - Ms. Jean
57. The one I talk to about anything at work - Chris - I miss him
58. The very useful gifts my coworkers gave me on my last day at work - a tumbler (for coffee to keep me up on days we have classes at 8), and a digital recorder (for me to record all the lectures).
59. The Immunology book my boss gave me - I'll use it my 2nd year in school and my boss's husband wrote it and my boss will teach the class. =)
60. realizing through pharmacy school experience that everything is part of God's plan
61. Going back to school after 5 long years
    
62. The camping trip I went with my classmates.
63. The many opportunities given to us, students, to serve others through school activities.
64. My shadowing experience at the Poison Control Center
65. The PUSO health fair I served at
66. Participating at the Walgreens flu shot clinic in Santa Rosa
67. Phi Delta Chi - can't wait
    
68. The very understanding and nice teachers we got last quarter
69. October 10, 11, and 12, 2007. Hehe.
70. Mission Santa Clara trip
71. The grades that I received that I did not deserve - Thank You God!
72. 12/07/07 - my second perfect day
73. My very blessed birthday
74. The cake Ate Roda bought for me
75. The mass I heard at St. Mary's that changed my life
76. The fun dinner / sleep over I had with my friends - the food was courtesy of Raina.
77. The scrumptious brunch we had the following day
78. The mass at St. Agustine where God told me He is making all things new.
79. The bachelorette for Jen / bday celebration we had
80. The confession I made on December 10, 2007 - best confession ever!
81. The lunch I had with Alaine that day. =)
    
82. My two new godsons - Julio Inigo Concepcion German and Goodrich Almoradie Jr.
83. Jen's wedding - December 15, 2007
84. 1-on-1 Gladys and I had.
85. BCBP successful caroling
    
86. The advent recollection I attended led by Fr. Geo.
87. Czarmaine's engagement - December 23, 2007
88. The book - Choices: Making the One that Matters Most - that changed my life
89. My month long break from school. I was a bum for one month!
90. Spice Girls concert I attended.
    
91. December 24, 2007
    
92. December 27, 2007
93. EWTN
94. God teaching me to be grateful for everything
95. Learning how to be still and know that He is God
96. my new life ... by grace through faith
97. Sacred Heart of Jesus
98. The Lolo who makes sure I have everything I need when I go to Mass (mind you, I don't know him)
99. God's victory over one inner demon
100. God's challenge for me in the next year ... by grace through faith, He will claim victory soon enough.

shucks ... that took me 1 hour to finish! =)

EVER WONDER?

I used to write a lot. I had lots of thoughts, emotions, and reflections that, I thank God, I had time to write down on paper. I just opened a journal I closed several years ago, promising never to open it again. I wanted to burn that journal and forget all that had happened to me and all the pain it caused me. But I thank God (again) that I did not. I spent a good hour (at least) pouring over all that I wrote. I have to say that I used to write better. Hehe. I was impressed at my writings. Of course, they were not Pulitzer material, but they were definitely better than my writings now. And then I lost my train of thought ...

I thought I understood why I had to go through everything that I went through that I chronicled in that journal that should have been burned. I thought I was able to rationalize everything. I thought I found explanations for everything that happened. But now I am at a loss. I do not understand why things happened. I could not rationalize the events that transpired in my life. And I could not explain why I went through what I went through.

And now I am left wondering. For what purpose did those events serve in my life? Were they supposed to serve a purpose? Or did they just happen for no reason at all? I wonder ...

I WANT A WII

I don't know how long ago that was when I mentioned the impracticability of buying a wii since I am an only child. Now I am realizing what a mistake that was ... I should've bought a wii. WAAH. I guess, now, I would have to wait until the prices go down. $500 is, I think, too much for a wii. Hay. Kelan kaya bababa ang price ng wii? I want to play rock star kasi eh. Hehe. And wii sports kahit na sumakit pa braso ko sa boxing. When o when will it be?