Or I should say, necessary things I want (?)

• External hard drive (100+GB) -- my 80GB hard disk is almost full >_< And besides, I'll be needing this when I go to the other side of the map (?)
• Canon dSLR (ideally an EOS 40D, but any will do) -- I think it's time for my dream shots to be turned into reality (?)
• 70-200mm f/2.8 lens
  
• Bass guitar -- I want to learn more than just hitting the root notes on a bass guitar.
• Drum set -- I want to learn how to play drums. Waaah.
• e-aji with pepper mayo dip -- I'm hungry

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah (?)

My uncle (my father's younger brother) suffered a stroke just last week. He was confined in General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital (GEAMH), the same hospital where I used to work as a student nurse.

At first, my uncle was suffering from partial paralysis because of the stroke. Then yesterday, he went into coma. He was then given bag ventilation ("Ambu-bagging") because he had already lost his ability to breathe on his own.

CT scan results showed bleeding in his brain, particularly at the thalamus part. There were also blood clots in his brain, and a rupture in his brain could instantly worsen his condition and result to death.

Earlier, around 10:00pm, I went to the hospital with my father. The main purpose of our visit was to hand the relatives the money for a mechanical respirator to support my uncle's breathing. When we arrived at the hospital, he was already pulseless. The staff called the doctor, and immediately requested for CPR to be done. And what happened next? The nurse-in-charge was kind of dumbfounded, and was very slow to react. Nurses should be efficient in their jobs because lives are at stake. They are not new in this area. They do this everyday, so why the slow reaction?! And to think that my uncle was in the critical care unit! They could at least move FASTER!!! Some student nurses are actually better than the nurses there that night.

After a few minutes of cardiac compression, the doctor ordered to stop it. There was no way my uncle could survive anymore. The doctor then pronounced my uncle dead.

I have seen people dying before back in my duty days as a student nurse, but this one really felt different. Even though I'm not close with my uncle, I was deeply affected. But what made things worse was that only few of my uncle's relatives were there to help during that time when he needed most of their support. My uncle may have done terrible things in the past, but that is not a reason for people to not care at all. Sad. Very sad.

Despite my uncle's not-so-good life here on earth, I still believe that God has a special place reserved for him in heaven.

I was in Cebu during the last week of September. I came back to Cavite last September 30, not knowing what's in store for me in the following month.

While still recovering (?) from missing Cebu, I had my oath-taking at Araneta Coliseum (damn traffic!). I also underwent a hepa screening test, because I was planning to apply for training at *institution*, but I ran out of slots. I thought I would be able to start training last October 15, but that did not happen. Waaah (?). I will not call that an "unfortunate turn of events" though. Since I had a lot of free time in my hands, I was able to go to gigs of various artists. I discovered new kinds of music. I was also able to meet new people and make new friends (thus overcoming my "fear of meeting new people", which was primarily caused by *toot*). If I had started training by mid-October, these would have not happened. *or maybe they still would have*

It was also my first time to drink beer in an Oktoberfest event. Quattro's beer tastes so good that I don't have to hold my breath while chugging a bottle (haha). I got drunk once though (stupid moronic imbecile).

It's not the way I envisioned my October would be, but it was fun and memorable.


Last year's post (Nov. 5, '06):

Today is Sunday. It is currently 1:46AM in the PC's clock as I am typing this.

Ito ang last day ng aking last (I think) semestral break. My three (3) weeks of freedom will be over soon. Nasulit ko nga ba ang aking sembreak? Gagawa ako ng recap.

Oct. 11 (Wed) - last day of exams, official start of sembreak
Oct. 12 (Thu) - gym, kumain sa fiesta sa Imus, nanood ng gig ng MOJOFLY
Oct. 14 (Sat) - gym
Oct. 15 (Sun) - pumunta sa Podium para panoorin si Sitti
Oct. 16, 18 (MW) - gym
Oct. 20 (Fri) - gym; pumuntang Makati para manood ng gig nina Kirk (ulol), at malaking perwisyo ang idinulot nito sa akin
Oct. 22 (Sun) - nagtungong SM Manila upang panoorin ang MOJOFLY
Oct. 23 (Mon) - gym; pumunta ako sa SM Megamall para panoorin si Sofia
Oct. 24 (Tue) - *kilig* (huh?)
Oct. 25 (Wed) - makeup duty *yahoo*
Oct. 26 (Thu) - wala, gym lang
Oct. 27 (Fri) - pumunta ako sa Podium para panoorin ulit si Sofia
Oct. 28 (Sat) - gym ulit
Oct. 29 (Sun) - naglinis ng kwarto
Oct. 30 (Mon) - gym
Oct. 31 (Tue) - sa bahay lang, bertdey ni ama
Nov. 1 (Wed) - sa sementeryo duty ko, 2pm to 10pm
Nov. 2 (Thu) - gym
Nov. 3 (Fri) - natulog lang ako buong hapon. Napaka-unproductive ng araw na to.
Nov. 4 (Sat) - Eastwood sana, kaso cancelled ang show ni Sofia. Sayang.

I went to Quattro (again! haha) at Timog Avenue earlier to watch Lala and Djiwa perform live. Instead of my usual Coastal Road-Macapagal Boulevard-EDSA-Timog Avenue route, I decided to take another way, just for fun (?). No, the real reason was I do not want to get stuck in traffic at EDSA (just like what I experienced last Monday and Tuesday).

From Macapagal Boulevard, I drove up to the street beside CCP, then to Roxas Boulevard. From there: Kalaw Avenue-Quezon Bridge-Quezon Boulevard-España-Quezon Avenue.

Since I was not very familiar with the area, I drove past Timog Avenue. I turned right at Scout Borromeo instead, then used my internal GPS (???) to navigate there. Eventually I exited at Tomas Morato, but being the stupid person that I am, instead of heading towards the Boy Scout Rotonda, I turned at the direction going to ABS-CBN. I then realized after a second that I was going the wrong way, so I took a U-turn, then went to Timog.

Whew (?). The trip was fast. No huge traffic jams. The problems I faced though were buses suddenly stopping in the middle of Quezon Avenue. There were also no lane markings, so vehicles were in disarray (?).

I took EDSA on my way home. I texted my mother while I was still in Timog Avenue.

"Mommy paalis n ko dto." 02:15:42 -- Timog Avenue, QC

"Mlpt na ako." 02:49:16 -- Malagasang I-A (then after 2-3 minutes I was already in front of our house)

What the..?!

*from Ramon Tulfo's column in PDI (25-Oct-2007)

Where in the world do you find a government that begs a convicted grafter to accept pardon?

Only in the Philippines!

*katangahang part andun sa FRIDAY*

TUESDAY -- went to school to hand them the form I need them to fill out. Unfortunately, I left my transcript of records >_<

WEDNESDAY -- went to NBI for the fingerprints (for my NCLEX application) and to get an NBI clearance. I also claimed my Red Cross IDs.

THURSDAY -- registered at *institution* for *toot* training. I then went to Robinsons Galleria afterwards to kill time (kill! kill! kill!), then headed to Quattro at Timog Avenue to watch Lala perform live. Having downed two 500ml bottles of Red Horse, they (Lala and the band) were able to make me sing there. Waaaah (?)

****

FRIDAY *tantananan*

I went to Robinsons Manila to watch Moonstar88's gig. The show was supposed to start at 5:00pm, but because of the mishap that occurred in Makati earlier that day, they were stuck in heavy traffic (they came from Makati that day). The show started at around 7:00pm.

I was having second thoughts if I would go to Quezon City afterwards for the Oktoberfest celebration there and to watch Lala perform since it's already late, and I do not have a car. I also heard that the guards / bouncers there were very strict. I thought (and felt) that I won't be able to have fun if I would go there. Yet, I rode a bus going to Fairview (which will pass by Scout Borromeo), with hopes of seeing Lala perform at the Oktoberfest.

Katangahan -- I got off the bus, then walked along Scout Borromeo. The last time I checked my Accu-map Metro Manila CITIATLAS, Scout Bayoran is not that far from where I was. So I walked. And walked. And walked. When I thought I was lost, I asked for directions from a vendor nearby. He told me to go straight, and that's what I did -- only to find out that I was already at Timog Avenue. >_<

I hailed (wow) a taxi, and told the driver to drop me off at Scout Bayoran. The driver then told me that he is not familiar with the streets there (wtf?!). He drove past Tomas Morato. I asked the driver, "Hindi po ba yan yung Oktoberfest?" upon seeing that there were many people at the northern end of Tomas Morato. He replied, "Miting de avance yan." He then drove somewhere, then we reached Eugenio Lopez street. I saw the stage (although it was the back part of the stage), then asked the driver to stop. Dammit, I paid P50 when I could have just walked my way from where I was at Timog Avenue going to the venue. >_<

But everything was worth the trouble. I got to shoot Lala's performance in front of the stage. Feeling official photographer hahahaha!!! XD

We then went to Capone's (Makati) for Lala's other gig that night. Lagari.

Again, I had no car that day / night. Upon being dropped off at Baclaran, I rode a bus going to Cavite. I got home at around 2:00AM.

So there, I watched 3 gigs in one day.
Moonstar88: http://paoe.multiply.com/photos/album/159
Lala @ Oktoberfest: http://paoe.multiply.com/photos/album/160
Lala @ Capone's Bistro Makati: http://paoe.multiply.com/photos/album/161

I asked for P20 load from my mother earlier. When I received the load, I immediately registered for Unlitxt (1 day). I got a message saying "Ang iyong request ay blah blah", which is different from the usual "Natanggap na namin ang iyong request...". I checked my balance, and saw that P20 was already deducted from my account.

I loaded P100 afterwards. Then I received another message: "Natanggap na namin ang iyong request at blah blah blah". I have not received the go-signal (?) that I could already use the Unlitxt, so I waited, waited, and waited.

It has been more than 3 hours, so I checked my balance again. What the ehhhf (yeah, "ehhhf", the same way that letter is pronounced on FTV), ANOTHER P20 WAS DEDUCTED FROM MY ACCOUNT!!!

I lost P40 already for a one day Unlitxt, and yet the service has not been activated up to now!!!

1: "Sh*t pare, tingnan mo o, ang ganda nun!!!"
2: "Oo nga no, napakaganda!"
1: "...."
2: "...."
1: "Ay bakla pala."

Glorietta 2 was bombed earlier. I was inside a bus going to Manila that time when I heard the news on TV. I was not even planning to listen to the breaking news, but when I saw that people around me started listening very attentively, I took off my earphones and listened to the news.

There were casualties, and a lot of people were injured. I was thinking that time if I should go to the location of the incident to help out, but I realized that I did not bring along with me my Red Cross IDs, so I thought that I might just be shooed away by the trained rescuers. I felt bad. Really bad. I wanted to help, but the fact remains, I did nothing.

I remember an incident that occurred last year. I was driving on my way to school, then I saw a young man, lying on the side of the highway. A fallen bicycle was also in the scene, and there were many people around. That time, I was late -- really late -- for my prelim term exam. I was very confused about what I should do. I was thinking that even if I stop to help, I won't be able to do much, because I cannot put the man inside the car since it can aggravate possible spinal injuries. So I just drove past the fallen man.

My thoughts were realy messed up that time while I was driving. But when I was just around 1km away from my school, I finally decided to turn back to the location of the man to help. When I got there, the man was gone. Someone else might have brought the man to a nearby medical facility.

I'm useless. >_<

I'm too tired, and I'm very sleepy, so I'll make this short.

I went to Quattro (at Timog Avenue) to watch Lala perform live. As usual, I covered the event by taking photos.

If Aruba has terrible lighting (for photography purposes), Quattro, on the other hand, BEATS ARUBA AT THE LIGHTING CATEGORY! Beat, in the sense that their lighting is WORSE than Aruba's.

I took videos instead.

But wait, what is this?!