Supernatural presents....

Before we go to that..... I just need to vent a bit.

After completing my report on colon cancer last night, I had to wake up at 4.30am this morning to give my report a once over. Unfortunately, I got stuck at one section of my report. While I managed to flounder through that portion, it was enough to completely lose my nerve...

That has never happened through out the reports I've done way back in college or even high school. Usually, I still had time left to practice. It was this report that I was cutting it very close. I think with me *still* researching the night before the report, contributed to my half-ready delivery for this afternoon's class. My voice was quivering throughout the report as my friend told me afterward. It was so annoying! It was like, all things that hadn't backfired in school, I was experiencing it now. I hope I won't encounter the next time I'm up for reporting. I want to forget the whole thing!

Thanks dvampyrlestat for this link! This was what I was looking for after this week's stressed out moments. I've never laughed so hard. As dvampyrlestat said, iJensen rules!

Tagged: Michael Johns sings "Man In Motion"

This morning, I was in desperate need of finding something to perk me up because I was nodding off in front of my monitor during my research on Colonic Adenocarcinoma.

I decided to check my e-mails and my blog. Great timing as it was since my friend's site was up. I went straight to her page for a bit of lounging and let out a little squee, as Michael Johns sang "Don't you forget about me." We were talking about the 80s songs performed in American Idol. I mentioned a couple of my favorites, which were "Man In Motion" from St. Elmo's Fire or "The Power of Love" from Back to the Future and wished they were sang in the show. Lo and behold, vintagevixen surprised us by posting Michael Johns video clip singing "Man in Motion"! Thanks! I just wanted to snag it too. *smiles* Photo from American Idol. Thanks!

Report

Last Thursday, I was given the topic to report in class next week. My topic's about "Colonic Adenocarcoma."


Okay, I was given seven guide questions to help me with my report. Yet, I still feel I don't know where to start.

1. Define the following medical terms: a) colorectal carcinoma b) polyposis c) oncogene d) tumor marker e) colostomy f) adjuvant therapy 7) down-staging
2. Discuss the epidemiology of colorectal carcinoma. What are the risk factors for the disease?
3. What are the signs and symptoms of colonic carcinoma? How is a left-sided colonic cancer different from a right-sided colonic cancer in terms of presentation?
4. What are the various screening and diagnostic test used for colonic cancer?
5. Discuss the Duke's tagging system for colonic cancer. What are the 5-year survival rates based on the stage?
   
6. Discuss the different surgical approaches tot remove colon cancer-left and right hemicolectomy, transverse colectomy, sigmoidectomy and Mile's abdominoperineal resection.
7. Discuss chemotherapy as adjuvant treatment for colonic cancer. What are the commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs for colon cancer? What are the common side effects of chemotherapy?

And I'll using PowerPoint, which I've forgotten how this program works. Aargh. It's a good thing Monday has been announced as a holiday but then my friend Connie has invited me to her birthday party! I've said to her before that I'm not sure if I'm going to make it because we have our usual weekly modular exams too. She wasn't very thrilled with my answer. Sorry, mate. I'll see if I can drop be at her place for just a couple of hours and I do have a gift for her too, to brighten her day. She's a huge fan of CSI:NY and I was fortunate to have found this mag! *smiles* I hope her fave actor, Eddie Cahill has an interview inside. I didn't open the mag from its plastic cover to find out. I think there's a nice poster of the cast though as seen in the corner left photo. I apologized for the less HD picture.

The Boyz are back in town!

My friend Daisy forwarded a text message of seeing BZ's latest music video and my friend Kaecie had sent me an email about it too, it wasn't until now, I watched it.

Listening to Love You Anyway, made me smile because nine years may have gone by, their signature tones still meshed well together. Okay, I know we hear more of our dear Ro but whatever had clicked nine years ago, was still there, with them. Like most fans, I hope we'll hear more of Mickey, Shane and Keith. I remember Mickey sang "Good Conversation from their Where We Belong album. It would kewl to have a follow up somewhere down the line. *smiles*

Second new song, Can't Stop Thinking About You!Thanks to arpangupta.

Taking the public bus to school...

After weathering a guy wearing in leather jacket *gag* as a my seatmate last two Mondays ago, I've decided to take the aisle seat now.

In the past, I've always preferred the window seat because I like looking out the window and watched overgrown fields changed from well-tended rice fields to pit stops in forms of gas stations and fast food joints, as we sped along the expressway. However, after putting up with the guy who thought wearing a leather jacket in a hot, humid country is an IN thing, I decided that I should choose the aisle seat these days.

I was so stressed out with the guy. I wanted to shove him off the seat because when he shrugged of his jacket, eckk, I could see his sweat glistening on his forearms. I wanted to change seats but there weren't any left. It was a Monday. Loads of people heading for work. The Monday Madness.

The only good thing was, the guy kept his sweaty arms to himself. Despite the fact, I was still shoulder to shoulder to him. Argh. I felt so hassled that day that I didn't notice our registrar who was on her way to school too.

I also hate it when guys feel they are at their homes and napped inside the bus where they take more space in the seat to the point of invading your personal space. I experienced that too and it was the last straw for me.

Plastic! Winchesters Theater

Oh, I have missed visiting Anteka's blog for the daily dose of creativity and injected fun into this project as she gave us weekly adventures of the Plastic! Winchesters. If you're an SN fan and haven't stumbled into her site yet, go check her Plastic!Winchesters Theater now. *grinz*

I found her site in a mailing list I was on (a couple years back) and have followed through her creations until halfway of Season 2 when RL begged attention and other preoccupations led me elsewhere. Now, I've come back because I think I need to be in touch with some inspiration to get my own creative juices pumping for my other pending projects. Lolz. What are those projects? Well, some of them that I like to get back are:

1. To continue my Photoshop creations for TCP (The Charmed Paladins)
2. To add scenes to my neophyte screenplays
   
3. To repaint my room but with my allergies, I don't know how's that going to happen
4. To add to my one poem per month plan - so far, nothing yet
   

Anyway, maybe by revisiting her site and re-reading her stories will send a touch of inspiration my way. Besides, I'm also looking forward to the additions she has done too.

I remember listening to her behind-the-scenes audio files before and it was just amazing how she thought of turning it into successful tie-in show. Who would have thought finding several naked barbie dolls, a mini-sized computer, a karaoke machine, which at one PWT episode, Sam belted out a song... "My Heart Will Go On", would become like this with a loyal following to boot. Then, there's the designing of the motel rooms, the Impala and meeting the evil Carebears to fairies! Even Plastic! Aragon even makes his appearance. Hahaha.

Speaking of Aragon, there was a time, I wanted to make something like this but LOTR style? Back then, I had finished two LOTR stories of a 5-part story. I wanted to do some still shots using the LOTR action figures and add captions from the finished stories. Unfortunately, finding an affordable LOTR action figures was challenging in the financial department. If there was an LOTR collector living in my neighborhood then I'm sure the project would've worked and I could present it to the The Philippine Tolkien Society (TPTS).

Back to Plastic! Winchesters.... *smiles* Here's an interview done by CW.

After Lunch break...

One of the scenarios my mind imagined happened when Irene and I, with several other people from the 4th floor ventured inside the elevator. Can you guess?

It wasn't like a scene from Speed where a bad guy rigged the elevator (although that'll be frightening) instead the elevator froze when it reached our floor and the doors won't obligingly open for us so we could get off. Now, it was fortunate the janitor accompanied us so he managed to keep a near hysterical girl from going into a full panic mode and no, it wasn't me. But I have to tell you, when you have someone in very close quarters in panic, it was hard not to feel panicky too. I think I've squeezed Irene's arm a couple of times as a measure of assurance that the other hysterical girl won't be the death of me. Lolz.

Why was the elevator stuck? We don't know. We only heard that it was being fixed that morning and by lunch time, the technician told us that they've repaired it. So, we took his word and there, we're stuck. We tried our cellphones to call the guard on the ground floor but we all had no signals. Man, with all the high-end phones inside that metal cart, none had signals! The emergency bell was disable so we couldn't alert the technician. The janitor pushed an incorrect button, which plunged the car into darkness and stopping the fans that feed air into the small cabin. The act drove the panicky girl, edgy. She managed to calm down with the help of her friends who were doing their best to calm her down with a joke or two. Fortunately, the technician must have a 6th sense with the problematic elevator and he pried the doors open with his tools. We were shouting in relief! Irene and I ended up coming in late for our next class but our instructor was understanding so we were good.

Halloween in the air!

Yesterday, I was at the mall and relished having a Saturday free. After I finished my lunch and wiped the grin off my face (lest other people think I'm a loon now) I sat back for a few minutes and I watched the selected food court staff doing their usual business dressed in pirate costumes!Yesterday, I was at the mall and relished having a Saturday free. After I finished my lunch and wiped the grin off my face (lest other people think I'm a loon now) I sat back for a few minutes and I watched the selected food court staff doing their usual business dressed in pirate costumes!

Too bad, none of them resembled Jack Sparrow or commotion would have been the thing for the day with loads of photo ops in the side. Hahaha. It felt I was heading for a swash-buckling meet N greet! The ladies were in costume too as fortune tellers minus the crystal balls while others were in witches get-up. I even misread a lady's intention, dressed as a fortune teller to thinking she wanted to tell me my fortune. *grins* It turned out she was asking me if I wanted to buy anything from her food cart filled with assorted Japanese dishes. I declined since I don't think I can squeeze anything else and besides, I only can stomach, is their beef teriyaki, so she went to the next table. Jeffer will definitely me give me some pointers here. See, I told ya, she's poking me already!

I wanted to take a picture of the pirate guys but I'm without my partner-in-crime for this mall visit. Kaecie's half away across the globe! Connie has issues with this mall, which I understand while Lyne, I didn't have time to ask as it was an impromptu decision from my end.

I left the food court and passed by the skating rink. Kids were twirling around and beginners (young and mature) were moving along the side of the rink, holding on the side bar for balance as they test their skating skills. Watching the people at the rink, brought back memories from college.

I remember I had skating rink discount tickets (good for 20 ppl), which I was holding after we completed our on-the-job training (OJT) at Elsie Gaches. I suggested to the second group coming from our Psych class to join us and check out the skating rink at the mall. Since, I still have extra 10 tixs, I broached our end-of-activity day with the group from another school. They liked the idea but we couldn't decide which exact day because we all had varied schedules. They told us they would let us know once their schedules have been sorted out. Unfortunately, like all half-cooked plans, at our final day of training, the group from the other school changed their minds because they still have a few more requirements to finish and for us Letran Knights, we put it off for a different day because we too had similar requirements to complete. Lolz. In the long run, we weren't able to hit the skating rink because before we knew it, it was already a week leading up to our graduation and I had already one thing in my mind, California!

Anyway, back to my yesterday's visit at the mall. After buying the needed toiletries, which can't seemed to find their way at our town mall, I nearly let out a shriek inside the department! My gaze fell on a group of mannequins with ghoulish masks on! If I could've taken a picture I would and post it here but the department people might think I'm on to steal their 'halloween ideas'. Hahaha.

I headed for NBS to buy a medical and a pharmacology dictionaries to help me get acquainted with the medical terms and drug names while taking the Medical transcription course. I really hope I don't have another spell where it feels like I'm in a middle of having "information overload or meltdown". Lolz. Last week, I had that feeling when I was studying for the Dermatology modular exams. This week, I'm "studying" the Orthopedics module. I kept saying to myself that the names of the human bones and muscles should be just a re-aquaintance since I've been through with this section of the human body when I stayed a couple years taking up Nursing. I'm forcing my mind to see the names like Latissimus dorsi, Sartorius or Tarsals, Tibia and Fibula as friends. Lolz.

I was able to receive several discount book coupons from NBS and I'm thinking of using it when I buy The Secret. Kaecie mentioned that I give it a read, so I will. Then I'll use the other discount book coupons for purchasing the rest of the Stargate Atlantis books : Exogenesis, Halcyon, The Chosen and Rising. Plus, the two up-coming books: Nightfall and Angelus.

Going home was very tiring. I had to contend with sardine-style packed way of traveling. I navigated around bodies, tried not to step on anyone's toes (literally) and made sure, no one tried to make a pass at me when I got off the bus. I was holding my breath on the way out too, because my nostrils have already been assaulted for too long.

Prison Break Season 4!

The premiere aired last Tuesday but I wasn't able to watch because I was drawn back to Gateworld after being away from the computer or I should say, after not being able to go online for a week.

It was what the fans have been waiting for... The return of Sara! Season 3 was disheartening because we really thought, Linc found *gulp* Sara's head inside the box. It made me wonder who was the unfortunate soul Gretchen used to pass as Sara. I'm still hoping for a re-airing this Saturday but so far I haven't seen any announcements from Cs9.

Pic image from JustJared. Thanks!

After a while...

I took tonight to go online (finally) since I lost my episode guide for Stargate: SG-1, which I printed last night. While on the subject of Stargate, I visited Ask the Authors (Fandimonium) thread

This is such a great thread! I didn't know there was one here! This was a good idea made by the poster and I'm glad the mods made it a "sticky note" in the forums. I would like to post a question in the future too. Hopefully, when I've finished reading the 74+ pages, a question will pop up. I hope the authors are still around to answer some questions from very recent fans. Lolz. At the moment, I'm in page 2 and reading all these interesting questions and answers. It was also from this thread that I found out there will be two upcoming SGA books. Yay! One, Stargate Atlantis: Nightfall , which is due this coming November and the other is Stargate Atlantis: Angelus. I can't wait!

On other things, I had finished our major exam for Dermatology specialty and our doctor-lecturer showed our exam results. Hmm, I need more improvement on the Anatomy and Physiology section in the future exams while maintaining or even go for a higher points for the rest of the exam sections such as Pharmacology, Medical Terminology, Health Records, Treatment etc. We had an impromptu group guiz this afternoon (we were divided by twos) and Glo and I came out with a decent score thanks so much to Nina too.

My forays to the transcription world was challenging. I was transcribing since yesterday and I've managed to polish three chart notes. I still have 12 or so files to transcribe. The accents of the dictators have surprised me. Let's just say, my ears weren't as keen as I thought. I have a British accent dermatologist and an American one so far.

Irene also found her transcription files difficult to transcribe. It seemed doctors have the habit of drowning the medical terms by shuffling papers around their desks (the voice recorder picked it up with no problems), or by speaking very fast (not clearly enunciated most of the times) or an intrusive click-clack of someone's high-heeled shoes in the background.

She wished we had those high-end computers from the tv show CSI-NY, where a software removes the ambient sounds and allows more tweaking on the dictator's voice to understand the words. Of course, we can't request something like that. I'll have to train my ears for tomorrow's activity.

Baby... SNAKE!

My calm Sunday morning turned into a heart-stopper day when I went out to the porch and found a... baby snake!

I was going to get the morning paper and was curious why my two cats were fussing at the corner of the porch. I took a peek at the object of their attention and I came up short in letting out a shriek!

I rushed inside the house and calmly asked mom how I should kill the baby snake! She said I should get something to bash its tiny head with. I reached for the mop. The rag's no longer attached to the metal head so it was good for the job. I didn't like the idea to be at arms length of the thing even if it was only a baby snake.

I put on the rain boots for extra precaution and headed back to the porch. My cats were still playing with the unconscious baby snake but seeing it with its underbelly up still made me squeamish.

I drove the metal bar of the mop on the baby snake's head but I didn't feel the reassuring crush of its bones. I repeated the motion until I saw the jaw looked dislocated. However, to be on the safe side, I struck the baby snake until its head was crushed to pulp. Gross.

The baby snake was about one foot and a half! Brownish color, which could be a baby python. Ack. I would have taken a picture of it but I was too unnerved by the incident. I think my cats found their 'plaything' by the empty lot across us.

I'm also relieved my cats are doing their guard duty. Lolz.

First day of classes!

So, I've enrolled yesterday at one of MTC academy branches and attended my first day of class this morning. I met Ces (BS Nutrition grad), Cres ( BS Accountancy grad), Linda ( a registered nurse) Glo, Alex and Irene. They were very nice and very chatty which helped eased my overwhelmed emotions. It was strange to feel this way when all I've been thinking of for over a year was taking this training course. Now, that I'm here, I feel indifferent.

My enthusiasm has hid itself under a rock leaving me during the orientation, with some frayed nerves, which was enough to send me in a panic mode!

I think I was having an information overload this afternoon while I listened to the stories of the other MT students who were a month or so ahead of me. Our mentor shared to the class newbies (Irene and I) what to expect within the training course. I suddenly wondered if I was doing the right thing. I've already mentally berated myself why I hadn't got around to sending my CV first to the person my mom said I should get in touch if I was interested to go abroad. I was so caught up about leaving my job and was also thinking too much of MT and the path I could take after finishing MT (take up summer classes on screenwriting at the International Academy of Film and Television) that I didn't realize e-mailing this individual was also important. Argh. I will have to wait until I finish this course then I'll contact the person because I can't leave MT when I've started with it. I hope I'll be able to receive some good news in the overseas front.

My first session was typing and this will continue till Friday, which will be a slew of typing exams. Not enough time. Again, I've chided myself why I didn't maintain my WPM (words per minute) since Typing was a part of our curriculum back in college. While I'm fairly fast now, our instructor said, "a 300+ wpm" will have to be attained by the end of the six month course. I'll keep positive thoughts that I'll be able to type that fast. *taps finger on table*

I don't know if this Friday too, where Irene and I will meet the doctor-instructor for the medical lab transcription session. The schedule was mentioned earlier by our mentor but it has slipped my mind.

The 15 modules are with me so I'll be browsing through the pages (perhaps module 1 and 2 since their thicker) to speed up the acclimatization into the world of Medical Transcription.

Near Mishap!

I was too slow but it was a good thing, Mom was able to recover her balance.

Time slowed all right and even my reflexes weren't quick. *mental note to self**Be extra aware when Mom tags along.* We were heading to the Jeepney stop and Mom couldn't stand waiting and rushed off to a jeepney that was trundling by. It was at this moment, her foot was caught at the jutted piece of broken up pavement square slap. If she hadn't regain her balance, she would have slammed against the jeepney just coming to a halt beside her. I nearly freaked out! And the traffic police officer didn't so much as to pull her out of the way. He was closer to her than I was! His reflexes were non-existent! Yet, they loved to give tickets jeepney drivers 'not following' traffic rules.

The near-accident scene was set like a video-loop inside my head and it sickened me. It took a while for it to get out of my system. Mom would have ended in the hospital with a gash on her head or worse. I'm thanking her guardian angels for this.

Clearing Out

I decided to dispose all of the old and ruined VHS tapes, which contained guest appearances of my favorite boy bands and girl bands when they toured Asia. They were collected clips from MTV Asia spots, Musica Si, Channel V, MTV Europe, Party in the Park specials, Disney Awards to ASAP appearances. Wait, the ASAP appearance of A1 is with me. I knew I saved it.

I do hope I didn't throw that out. I'm a bit lazy to go an re-check the container. Lolz. This was memorable because I was with my best mate, Kaecie and the rest of A1 fan club members. Several months ago, she sent me a link of the ASAP special. It was uploaded by a kind soul in Youtube. It brought back wonderful memories. I remembered how excited we all were. Mark mentioned he was surprised when they visited USA because they were greeted by A1 fans at the airport. I think he said something about not expecting any fans there because they weren't very known in that part of the world. So, he thanked all of us for spreading the word. Okay, I'm sure he may have said that bit in their other guest appearances in other countries, still, I do recall reminding my A1 USA friends (who have more connections than I have) of these guys USA visit.

Back to the vhs tapes, I also recorded one hit wonder tv shows where my fave actors have starred in, Hallmark movies, which were most of the times hard to find vcd copies in the video shop and music videos. I really hate to see them all go but molds have made their home inside the film. I don't have a suitable cleaner for these vhs tapes anymore. Besides, both of my vcrs are kaput and I won't be visiting the repair shop anytime soon so, it was best to discard them and use the storage container for my cds now.

My wish? I had a vcr machine that could transfer what was recorded from the vhs tapes to cds then I could've saved them and re-watched the clips to pass the time or if I need to de-stress.

Magnetism? or Just Luck

According to Wikipedia, Magnetism is one of the phenomena by which materials exert attractive or repulsive forces on other materials. Maybe a different kind of magnetism or just just plain luck happened when I found another Stargate related item at the mall.


I really didn't expect finding the magazine when I went to the mall after picking up my order of Stargate: Atlantis books. After purchasing Palabok , a couple of fried lumpia and NY Fries to go (this was going to be my dinner when I get home), I decided it was high time to catch a ride back home. It was fairly getting late and I didn't like the bottle neck traffic even if it was a Saturday. Except, I did veer off to visit a book shop. A thrift shop with loads of pocket books and magazines. I took a chance since it was so-o inviting. *grinz* I went with my rounds. I found a Dragonlance book, which my friend, Jeffer has a standing watch list for me to check for her. I texted the title I found and she later confirmed that she has this book title already. So, I went to the magazine section. By this time, the plastic bags were I have the SGA books and my dinner were starting to bite into the skin of my fingers. I didn't want to set the plastic bags on the floor because someone might run away with "my precious stuffs" *tapping Gollum here*

I headed for the magazine section as fast as I could and blindly reached through the pile and found Mr. Joe Flanigan's smiling face on the front cover Stargate: Atlantis magazine.

It was like my hand was magnetized to this certain column of the stacks where the magazines were crammed in the display table. I lost track of time because I was hoping to find a magazine from Supernatural or another Stargate: Atlantis magazine. Not these were found but an official CSI: NY magazine was in the stacks too so I bought that for another friend of mine.

A trip down the memory lane...

Yesterday, I spent most of the morning down in our basement searching for dad's mechanical and engineering books. I was able to find most of the titles he asked for except for two remaining titles that are still unaccounted for.



In between the intervening time of looking for the books (all kept in the lockers and cabinets) I stumbled across mine. I found I have several high school and college books in storage, which brought back memories.



The memorable memories from high school were when I was late for my first subject (General Sciences) in my Freshman year. Our group was the first up to report on Solar Energy. I remembered my group mates paced inside the science room as they waited for me to arrive. I could see them from the doorway as I ran up the remaining steps. Then another memory for one afternoon in our Maths class, then the graded recitations from our Biology class, the microscope blooper then my classmate being late for our Music class. There were others but these were the ones that stood out. When I got to my college books, memories from my stay in the dormitory intruded in my mind.



Here, the memories of a certain girl on my floor who loved pulling pranks on us was the instant thing I can recall. She liked to scare people by making spooky voices or just randomly bang against the shower room door if she found one to be taking the shower room all ALONE. Yep, I wasn't lucky to escape from her moods. It was a good thing, I didn't attack her with my flashlight. I had it with me because electricity would go off in the most unexpected times.

I was amazed to still find the old books in the lockers. I knew I had sent batches to the thrift shop for sale and to the book drive I spotted at the mall, a couple years back. I need to find another book drive. *grinz*

Getting Started....

This rainy night seemed to be a perfect start for my first entry. I see this site has changed since the last time I was here, which was during the height of Lord of the Rings movies. What? Eight years ago? I could be wrong. I don't have imdb.com readily opened to the particular films section, so I'm guessing.

I have couple of blogs floating in cyberspace too and depending on my mood I visit and update them. *looks around for a smiley icon* It can stretch this girl's spare time too thin though.

September is almost over and I'll leaving my previous day job to hop back to the student role by October *cross fingers* and embark in a different profession. I won't say it just yet or until I finish the short course (six months). I might jinx myself. *lolz* Okay, so not thinking that. Of course, some of ya dear friends know it anyway. This is a new adventure for me and I'm looking forward to the change of scenery.

Next Monday, will be my final (exit) *interview* with my boss. The last of the turn-over then its off to send an e-card for everyone at the office. I was going to do it tonight but I was attracted to setting up this blog. Somehow tonight, I needed to do this. Am I looking for a therapy? Haha

My boss asked me to bring any pertinent files to the meeting that needs attention and I've been going over the records for any that might have slipped through my steel net. Yup, one actually got past it, so I have to deal with it tomorrow. *sigh*

This afternoon, since our marketing person will be taking over my duties, we've been clearing out my cabinet. The motions brought a feeling of finality. Weird. Since last year I couldn't stay any longer and now I'm caught in between whether this was the right thing to do or I was hasty with my decision. Hasty? I need a grip. Circumstances have sprung up and let's just say, I need greener pastures if I'm to help around in the monetary department.

It doesn't ease the feeling of my other officemates sparing me glances though. I may not have actually seen it but I could feel them watching me, unobtrusively.

I'm glad I'll be moving to the next step of possible growth (changing career paths) and find more sense of accomplishment too. I hope I don't feel stuck ever again in my life.