go to hell, you!

it does not take much to tick me off this days. i'm getting quite a reputation among my seatmates as the resident hothead. one likely reason would be my period, but then,the uterine cycle of renewal has already such a bad reputation that i digress.

periods don't tick me off. teachers do. particularly inept and incompetent teachers. inept, incompetent and gay teachers, and i don't mean gay as happy. gay as in gay--homo, fag...that's about the extent of my gay vocab but you get the point. trust me, if your gay teacher was my teacher, you'll be wishing for an air gun waaaay before christmas.

i don't have problems with gay people, normally, since i tend to avoid them and unfashionable slobs like me hardly attract their attention. i have noticed that gay people tend to lean towards women who are sophisticated, mature, fashinable and well-groomed (kris and boy, anyone?)...but yes, i find them nice and good, irritating sometimes and arrogant, but nevertheless tolerable.

however, gay teachers are a different matter. nursing students, as a rule, are critical and observant (read: bisyador), and gay people are critical people, a higher degree than the normal homo sapien, too. what do you get when you mix the two? a kick-ass critical bitch, whose pastime are bitching and prancing.

my teacher/s exactly. i want nothing but good lessons and good teachers. gender does not matter. in this case, it does. for the past week, my lessons under gay teachers have all been imitations of MMK meets Oprah meets Tyra Banks meets the MAD tv show. it's pissing me off, and i don't get pissed off, 5 minutes into the class. that is an extreme number, given that i have the patience of a patient gone comatose.

overreacting?maybe but i prefer maybe not. how would you feel if all your teacher did was bitch, criticize, scrutinize, and made rude and below-the-belt remarks? or if he is a racis, but does not think he is? or if he thinks he's a god just because he went to this college, or trained in this so-so institution? or if he thinks he's a psychologist, that he has the right to analyze those experiences of yours, marking you out as a weird, non-existent entity just because you never had a relationship with the opposite sex? or if he looked like glenda, the gender-confused doll of the seed of chucky? oh, c'mon now. bite me.

i survive the hours by not paying attention and by exercising my creative abilities. these has produced good results. my drawing skills, while still pathetic at some points, are becoming better and better. i even have my first color-pencil rendered anime girl (without reference!). the other times, i make snide comments with my seatmates, calling my instructor names and wishing i had a slingshot with me. but then, my heart rate only shoots up and i suffer from the shock and pressure of not being able to scream and pull my instructors' hair off. that is so gay.

still numb

school is back, but i still can't shake off my post-vacation hangover. maybe taking that 2 month vacation after 2 years of vacation-less days was a bad idea.

my first week in school had me fighting to breath, literally, since my nose was heavy with the dripping stuff we call phelgm. i sounded like a soprano gone wrong, and my machinery would backfire at the most conspicious moments. so much for being a head-turner.

second week had me waking up at an ungodly hour of 5 am to resume my weekly torture, an act that is required of me so that i can graduate. my duties began again, and i cursed fluently for the week straight. it was gore-fest this time though as i got assigned in glorious OR, where blood and spit are normal occurences, and guts are normal panoramic view. i got a lot of cases this time around, and i'm keeping my fingers for more people to fall sick and get operated upon. harhar, talk about misfortune on others.

third week in and i have had 3 exams. i did pretty well in my first, but the second two were disasters. the lecture consisted of a 28-page photocopy, but all i had was one page of handwritten, unlegible, unorganized lecture in my notebook. now that's something. some people call it amazing, that i had summarized the lesson within 4-5 paragraphs. i call it plain lunacy. gosh, i wasn't even listening to the lesson. but i did produce an amazing still life portrait of my teacher's bag, which prompted my friend mica, to say that i needed to shift to fine arts instead of nursing. first time luck, i say to her.

on the weekend: no study habit was born. i read through an amazing novel by jeffrey archer, entitled kane and abel. my mom read this during her college years. talk about amazing, neh? anyway, it was a great read and an amazing find. i hope to finish two more books by this week, while surviving my responsibilities as president of an organization (PSALM) and as a copy editor for the newspaper. not bad for a lazy senior with no ambition.

yeah, i know i speak forth utter crap and nonsense. didn't i tell you i still have that post-vacation hangover? here's the undeniable proof.

r u naruto?

it has been a long time since anime took this country by storm. i miss the days of anime assault 1 and 2, of watching super-robots kick alien ass, of winged swordsmen falling in love, of afternoon fights with the family for television supremacy. those were the good days *nostalgia*

but now, i am seeing a possible resurrection, thanks to studio 23's anime block in the afternoon. ladies and gentlemen, presenting the.....ninjas of konoha, who in the past few months, succesfully glued children, teens and adults alike to tubes and computers. like ghostfighters, voltes v and fushigi yuugi, naruto, in my humble opinion, is starting to resurrect anime nostalgia and fervor among the weary teens of this nations. it's not life-saving but still a good thing.

naruto is a story about well, a boy named naruto and his dealings with his community and his journey on becoming the greatest ninja evah or hokage. the story is pretty formulaic, talentless and scorned boy becomes better and better because he never gives up in a fight....but we noypis are suckers for those kinds of anime anyway (at least i am).

naruto's success can be seen by the way people in my community interact with each other. one time, as i was going to the store to buy my daily provisions of junk foods, five boys rushed by, all screaming "naruto ya, naruto ya!!". you don't see that everyday. it's a testament to the success of the show because you just don't see people running and screaming "deal or no deal na!!.."

then, naruto has become very common conversation fare. in my school, where territories are determined by courses, and friendships are limited by blocks since everyone is prejudiced, people from all courses are seen talking about naruto. a nursing student stops a BS Comsci student to ask for details of episode 123, and an organization featured naruto episodes in the hallway, to great success. with naruto, courses and status does not matter. all are equal in the sight of the hokage.

the classroom is not exempted. my friend, marc, having introduced me to naruto way back, is delighted to see such appreciation from the people. he's like a proud papa, the way he's acting. it's easier to talk about this things since everybody listens to you and starts talking.

as the official anime freak of the class, many has made it a point of stopping me in hallways to ask if i had the complete series of naruto. i have been asked this question by six different people from different sections and courses. i am not irritated or anything. i am actually flattered that people would consider me as a source of anime pleasure. it's a reputation i have been nurturing since college in hopes of becoming popular (harhar). mababaw lang talaga kaligayahan ko =^^=v

unfortunately, i don't have the whole series of naruto, and this painfully reminds me that i am a struggling anime fan without pockets to indulge my hobbies.

i'm glad to see that anime is finally coming back, not yet to its former glory, but we're getting there. but then it's hell to be an anime fan in the philippines.

back to the old roots

i give up. i can't find a skin that suits my need and personality. so for now, i am going back to the old blogspot look, many thanks to the available templates. no more cboxes and fancy navigation.

speaking of going back to old roots, school is rearing it's ugly head again. thankfully, this will be my last year in college and then i am off to become another statistic in my county's unemployment lists. i dread the day where i'll become a useless minority. productivity is something that i crave. seriously, i don't mind being busy.

and busy is what i'll be this year (eventually). God has expanded my territory and made me president of PSALM. i also became one of the copy editors for the Beacon Publications. either way, i've got a full schedule to for this one. here's to hoping for a better school year. i mean, isn't that what we always wish for?

i have apprehensions in coming back to school, number one of which is waking up. i have gotten so used to sleeping till noon, and there's no way that my biological clock could switch gears that quickly *sweat*. second of all is the prospect (heh, more like, the mathematical certainty) of going back to duty. of all the things that i hate in college, duty takes the top spot. ironic, since that's going to my job in the future.

i have been nursing this desire to take another course soon after i graduate. if by chance i can snag a scholarship along the way, then i'll most definitely be working my way to medical school. but if not, maybe a teacher. then, there's always that desire to go to japan and study.

one thing that i look forward the most in going back to school? allowances. after 2 months of being income-less, i am celebrating the return of my 70 bucks per day allowance, with hopes of saving up for some anime cd's. which reminds me, my salary for the tutoring job i do for my cousin has dried up. it's really frustrating to see money disappear. and i did not even buy anything major yet.

pray for a good school year. good luck and God bless! aim to be the best!

the perils of the stool exam

spare a thought for all the medical technologists out there, who suffer the brunt of the hospitals' 'dirty works' everyday. the process of obtaining urine, sputum, blood and, que horror, stool specimens is disgusting as is, but to slosh though other people's undesirable body samples at such close proximity with only a cm thin layer of latex serving as buffer, is nothing short of heroic.

as nursing students, it is required for us to undergo laboratory exams to ensure our serviceability, so to speak, to the hospital we are affiliated with (it's like, so that the patients don't get anythinng harmful from us. but the students' health? oh, fugghedaboutit...). urinalysis i can do. hepa and drug exams? no biggie. sputum? never done that, but 'tis to'lable. but come the damn stool exam, my stomach does major Olympic-standard backflips. This has got to be the yuckiest exam designed by man in white coats with a macabre sense of humor. It's an essential exam for us nurses, where a positive result can mean doomsday for case-deprived students. essential, but still disgusting. poking my own stool is not something i enjoy doing. egad. luckily for me, my stool sample was negative for any parasites. this means no stool-poking-in-the-early-morning-after-laxative-binge-at-night sessions for me, for at least six months.

stool exams are common conversation fare amongst nursing students come enrollment time. some snatches of conversations from people suffering from indigestion, constipation and diarrhea:
"hoy, doys! ya kaga ya bo? miyo de bo tai ha?" (hey, buddy? you defecated yet? i'll have your stool, ok?)
"tiene ya tu tai? dale daw..." (do you have a sample stool yet? c'mon, gimme some..)
"pwede tu ase di miyo stool exam para kumigo?" (can you do my stool exam for me?)
"shit, nukere gat yo kaga. panus de lata ya yo ta kome para pwede lang kaga!" (shit, i can't defecate. i ate spoiled canned goods just to be able to defecate!)
two points: these are disgusting conversation fare and second, food poisoning is a fate better than no duty.

stool exams are unpredictable. for some reasons (like, improper collection, inept technicians, faulty laboratory procedures), they come positive. or worse, the hospital misplaced your sample and they can't find it! either way, you have to undergo the process again..and again...depends on whether lady luck is by your side. this is the case of my brother. as of now, i am eating a plateful of oatmeal in hopes of stimulating my gastrointestinal system to move faster and churn out the blasted feces. thanks to psychological blocks and an irregular defecating schedule,.

in school, we are taught not to be disgusted with our own stool. it's not advisable to show disgust or reprimand young 'uns when they play with their stool, since it'll make them think that their bad and dirty. after all, at that age, children know that everything that comes out from them is theirs, and like, there is nothing wrong if they share it with you. if you do, they may become cleanliness freaks or OC people. it has something to do with Freud's psychosexual theory of development. technically, stool is nothing more but indigested food materials, and ceratin body waste and water. it's something that should be embrace as yours. but it's still disgusting. in this case, my psychosexual development was probably dysfunctional.