SHIKIMIKIE

This kind of post is my favorite kind of post to write before. Like, I don't even know why. Maybe because at the beginning of each month, I usually have a lot of things that I look forward to. Places to go, food to eat, friends to see and all that Jazz. But we all know that only half of my plans can make it thru to the second stage. And there are so many stages. LOL. It actually depends whether I would have two days off, if I'm tired or whatever, or my mood basically. Can I just say that I have already failed today's plan of going to Harajuku-Shibuya? Work ended kind of late and I got home kind of late so after work, I set an alarm at 12 and I was like, sleepy and then I thought mmm...I still have a lot of time to go there anyways. LAZY! I should get a planner. I have a journal but I would like to let you know that I haven't seen that since July of last year. Yup! 

I'm turning 23 this month. I have had lots of conversation with my mom about it recently. Mainly her asking me whether I'm turning 22 or 23 more than twice in a week. And my auntie asking me too. But when I said 23, she said she thought I was just 21. Oh how I wish. We all know that 5 years from now, I wish I'd just be 23. Life is full of discontentment. Like, it's just the way it is. My mom said I'd be 25 soon. Oh okay. No pressure!! 

Anyways, I feel like I'm going back to the track of blogging again. Which kind of feel nice but the same time I'm feeling pressured for whatever reason. Awhile ago, my sister asked me what my new blog is all about and how it differs from my previous blog and I was like, I just need a more organized space and she was like, I'll check it then. I don't think this blog is more organized though. It's still just me. Cluttered lol. If any, I think this month is gonna be great!! 

鬼はそと、福はうち!

Awesome workplace gave away some rolls for takeout. Thank you!! So for this year, I would like to ask for good health for my grandmother. Bad health out this year for everyone hopefully. Especially for my nana. Mamemaki is a tradition at the beginning of spring when you can apparently throw bad spirits out of your life and invite some good vibes in. Grandma's condition is at its worse as of the moment and I honestly feel so helpless being away from her. I hope everything's gonna be alright though. I know it will be. Just in different perspectives. I wish for everyone to have the courage to accept things we cannot change. 

Growing up, we didn't really celebrate such thing and although very minimal, it's actually my first time celebrating it. Early Spring, huh? Yes, please! I can't wait for the Hanami. Also. I don't really like it when it gets too cold. Spring is just perfect!! See you!

So the story is this Filipina was caught carrying a prohibited drug at the airport. Coincidence? I don't think so. Her parents are saying that their child is a victim. Really? The woman is not a first timer and I know that she knows what her doing. She just don't know she's gonna get caught! Too bad. Does she deserve to die? NO. She just deserve to be punished. Too bad for her though, China's law states that her act is punishable by death. In that case, she deserve it. I pity her. I pity her family. Especially her children. I know for a fact that their mother just want the best for them that's why she was able to that (and so are hold uppers) but man, it doesn't have to be done that way. The thing is she wanted it the easy way. I don't know if it's even that easy to do that because I bet her conscience killed her many times and stuff like that but you know, she should have said no. And then the media is like, she's just a victim! NOPE. She's aware. She agreed. She hoped that she wouldn't be caught.

I have to say that I think The Philippine government did their part and I'm somehow thankful that they did what they did. The President wrote a letter asking to just punish her with lifetime imprisonment instead of death. And The Vice President went to China to appeal. I mean even though they know the rules. Hindi naman yan sinabi lang on the spot. It's written somewhere and for sure our officials know that rules are rules. But they tried. And I sensed equality. This is not actually the first time this happened. The Government didn't fail to help the families of the people to be convicted and to appeal to the government of different countries so I'm happy for that. Because you know, we should all be protected by our government no matter what. I guess this should be a warning to Filipinos who are not fully aware that this things happen. You can't always get away. So please do yourselves a favor and stop doing illegal stuff. Stop being selfish. First, you're not sure you're gonna get away. Second, you're giving The Filipino people a bad name. I know it's hasty generalization but whatever. I just hope that this would be last time that someone would be killed because of such wrong decision.

Am I pro lethal injection? Not really. I strongly believe that some people really deserve a second chance. SOME. Because for example, if someone killed probably 3 persons, I don't believe that person should be given another chance. Actually, if someone killed someone just because of stupid reasons (jealousy, money, envy, etc.), that's already unforgivable. For me the only valid reason to kill someone is when you're defending yourself or someone from a killer. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". To be honest, I'm more pro than against it actually. Maybe it should be back in the system. Maybe it's a way to reduce the criminal rate here in The Philippines. Maybe it would make this country a safer place to live. I bet it would be nice walking around Recto without worrying that someone would stab you and get your things. With a very reliable group of people that would assess a certain case, this might be our best option. I'm not saying this punishment is the answer to everything of course.

Can I just share that in one of our lessons, our lecturer said that before, when lethal injection is still the capital punishment, they were deciding to give the task of injecting the lethal injection to medical technologists since looking for veins is kind of our forte but then the council said that it's against our Code of Ethics so yeah. When he mentioned that, I instantly wondered how it feels like to be the one to inject that thing and end someone's life. Must feel horrible. But I'm still curious. Would I do it? Probably.

I just had a sudden realization. And as always, I want to share it with you. 

I watched Letters to Juliet awhile ago because not so long ago, I've searched for movies set in Europe and this is one of the recommendations. Totally out of the topic (as always) but I've watched Bourne Legacy, LOL, Under the Tuscan Sun, Midnight in Paris, When in Rome, 2 Days in Paris, Monte Carlo, and Leters to Juliet from that recommendation thingy. I may have missed one or two but it doesn't matter. This particular movie is kind of  a little bit cheesy for me but considering that I searched to kind of see Europe, this one's nice. As a side note, I'd like to work as one of Juliet's secretaries. I think I would have fun writing letters to people. I just like the whole idea of it but I'm not really sure whether or not I'm Juliet enough to write them back or something but who cares? I figured I like writing. 

Also! I don't believe the Sophie and the guy's love because come on! I mean, seriously? It all happened too soon. Like, 3 days? I don't even know! I feel sorry for Victor but Sophie has a point for breaking up and he weren't exactly NA-JANINE TUGONON because really, if you'll go on a pre-honeymoon or pre-moon whatever, I think it's not quite right to be okay spending it on your own way. The two of you should always want to be with each other. Duh? But kudos to Victor for accepting the fact that sometimes, shit happens. 

Malta - 4 | Curaçao - 1 | South Africa - 1 | Poland - 1 | USA - 1 | Canada - 1 | Belgium - 5

As of now, BELGIUM IS STILL NUMBER 1. YAY! :) If you're sort of interested in exchanging postcards, let me know! :) Anyways, I would really love to take a look at Casa di Giulietta in Verona just to see things and stuff.

As much as I find the election enticing, I just can't control myself and notice the effery going on.

IS IT FIESTA TIME OR WHAT?

Who to vote? Just a quick note that this post will be lengthy and I would totally understand if you won't read this post. I just have to have it here. After spell checking and add whatever to this shiz maybe twice, I don't know if I would reread it again myself anytime soon anyways. 

Awhile ago, while watching a morning show, they discussed something that I think I really needed. Basically, it's about being young and doing all the things that you can do while you're still young. But of course those are elites so it's really a different story. But anyways, it's somehow the same story. Whut?
The girls there are already in their mid twenties and early thirties and even though they have already traveled to many places, they still have a lot of places in mind that they want to go to. And one of them said that while she's young, she want to go sky diving, and stuff like that and then the host said that she don't want to sky dive because she's thinking of the welfare of her kids and all that mental stuff which is probably hard to avoid thinking so I say maybe it's really ideal for people to have fun while they still don't have to think of stuff like that. That is not of course to say that people with kids can't have fun. You could totally do that. I'm just saying that there are some people that kind of thinks of other people's welfare such as their offspring or any family members and somehow that stops them from having fun. Or things that they could have done without those thoughts they have in mind. Except my mom though. She's not afraid for us. Na-ah! She's afraid for herself so whatever.

Another thing they talked about was how do they see themselves 9 years from now and one of them answered that when she was 20 or 21 (my age) she had a vision board and envisioned herself to be like this and that and now that she's 26, she can't seem to see a clear vision of where she's going from there. And the older lady told her that planning your life when you're just in your 20's is not the best way to do because you're still young and you should just enjoy the things that are happening as of the moment and that made me think a little bit because lately, I'm feeling kind of lost and I'm in that stage where I don't know exactly what I'm doing or where I'm going. Some of my batch mates are just waiting for the opening of the school year because they already applied for MED SCHOOL and some are in REVIEW CENTERS preparing for the board examination but there are some who are like me that are still trying to figure things out but anyways. Hearing from them makes me feel good. I know I shouldn't just let things be as they are though. I know I have to do something to make something work for me and stuff but whenever I try to do that, I tend to breakdown a little bit. Not breakdown as in breakdown but something like that. It's just that, things are a little complicated to comprehend. Oh well. I will be attending a review center in a month so maybe I would be able to divert my attention from my over thinking sessions to that. I got this. Hopefully.

I actually and honestly think I have nice eyes. That's all I could brag about anyways. LOL just kidding. 

I watched a short documentary about something alarming, shocking, and amazing all at the same time. The story is that they hired a forensic sketch artist from the FBI and what they did was that individually, they asked this women to have a somehow private session with this artist and then this artist asked these women to describe themselves physically and stuff and then he sketched them accordingly. Then they have few people there that are not related to the women and assigned them to a particular woman and they were asked to get to know each other a little better and all that. And then the apprentices were then asked individually on how they would describe their partners. Now, I don't know if the apprentices were just really kind and gentle (I bet not) about bringing out the flaws of their partners but you know, their description for me is actually more accurate than that of how the girls described themselves. It's kind of sad though that we all we care about is our flaws and everything we don't like. What about our assets? Our strengths? I doubt if there's not any. Go find out! 

This is a very good show for us who are sometimes feeling down because of our looks and whatever. Maybe we just don't know it yet but we're good enough. We're always gonna be good enough. We don't have to be way too complacent and be way too confident though to the point that we're bragging it and stuff because that shizz would probably be annoying already. But have it your own way of course.

Growing up, I never really liked any of my features. Except my eyes that are almond shaped (FTW). They may be a little uneven sometimes but they're kind of cute. Well, my skin used to be so perfect before but now, it's not at its best so let's just take that out of the list. LOL. See, I don't think I'm aesthetically pleasing or something but I was never lonely about it either. I was bullied (many times) on how I look and I cried about it when I was younger but at the end of the day, I know I'm better than what those jerks think (where are they now by the way?). Excuse my self confidence. Really though! They were the "cool" guys and girls back then but now, what? Most of them were kicked out because of their behavior. LOL. Now, that's something to laugh at. At least for me. If you're a teenager (or younger) and you're being bullied on how you look, don't you worry about it. It's just a phase. Believe me. High school is when it all stopped for me but you know wherever you are now, you could always give those bullies a good punch straight to their faces right away! Just kidding. 

I'm probably younger than those women in the video and looking at them actually makes me feel sad that they think less of themselves somehow. They're grown ups and they should probably know themselves better than that. Or they're probably just shy or something. Anyways. This video is a good eye opener and yeah let's just enjoy what we're given and if we're not pleased, then we can probably ask for more. If that's what will make us happy.

If you're interested, here's a link for the documentary. :) Click here to watch the documentary. 

If you don't know Janine Tugonon, that's her picture above I got from Yahoo. And if you don't know what happened to her, I would just link it here. THE ARTICLE I WAS TALKING ABOUT.  I am a fan of The Script if you don't know already and Janine is somehow affiliated with my very dear friend, Erika because they were like in the search for Ms. and Mr. Pharmacy thingy together way back 2009. Probably.

So what happened was Janine broke up with her boyfriend because of "DANNY of The Script". Actually, I don't think it's because of Danny alone. Her boyfriend tweeted so. Her boyfriend was right though that if she's not interested, then she wouldn't be interested in contacting Danny as he wish so yeah. SO SHE'S INTERESTED. 

My sisters really freaked out when they knew about this and my youngest sister was actually the one who told me this because I wasn't able to watch KrisTV's episode on that so whatever. You should hear my sisters rant about this. I was entertained. Haha.

"Well, that's what we would all do naman e. Right, ate?" - Mika
"What are you taking about?" - Me 

I don't know what to feel about it to be honest. I'm not angry or whatsoever. Jealous, maybe. LOL. Whatever. I think it wouldn't be such a great deal if Danny is out of the picture. I think it became a big issue because of the big people involved. Imagine if a normal guy would say "follow me on twitter and I will follow you back" to her. Who cares? Probably only their closest friend would know about that and maybe less than 1/4 of the people ranting about this issue now would care and stuff. You get the point.

You know, let's just leave them alone. They're not kids seeking for our guidance nor opinions so what's up? If they wouldn't be together, so are you. BAD NEWS,eh? I hope they know what they're doing though. Sana. I really feel bad for Janine. I feel like she deserve to explain herself once again and probably be able to clear her name. I'm not saying what she did is right but who are we to pass judgment? I also feel bad for the guy. Being compared to a guy more popular than him is just not fair. 

They say that if you can speak the English language, you're cool, intelligent, probably well educated, or maybe rich, or whatever. That's what they say. At least in the Philippines. NOT MY OPINION. I mean, it's kind of common now and I don't know what these people think. Anyways. I really appreciate the language because if I can't speak and understand English, well, we wouldn't be talking like this right now wouldn't we? And I probably wouldn't be able to watch HOUSE which is my favorite T.V. series by the way. I am not saying that I am the BEST ENGLISH speaker or writer or whatever (not even close) because you know, I don't know if you noticed but I can't really keep my tenses consistent so leave it alone. 

I actually didn't want to do this at first but dad made me do it. Here's why. While my sister and I were watching Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son and then dad asked us if we can understand everything they're saying in the film and we said YES. He didn't believe us but anyways, I don't know what's wrong with him or something because you know, we're learning it from school so why wouldn't we understand it fully? Is it impossible for us to learn? My theory is that my dad doesn't want to admit we're better than him at some point. LOL. Dad actually took an English class at age 50, I guess. In Japan.

Why is English IMPORTANT, really? I am always proud that in Japan, you have to do the adjustments. I mean, don't expect all the JAPANESE people to speak English for you. You have to speak Japanese to be able to speak to them. But that's not my point. I don't even know why I mentioned that but since that's kind of on my mind, let it be. Back to my point now, I don't think mastering the English language is necessary. As long as you can express yourself and stuff, good to go. I can't help but share you this. Well, a little bit later. I don't even know if this is legit but a friend of mine who's studying Medicine showed this to me and some of our other friends.

This is not to say that Filipinos can't speak proper English of course. One thing about PGH is that it's like United Nations and coincidentally, it actually can be found in U.N. Avenue. I don't know what I think about this. I have experienced talking to foreign doctors who are practicing in the Philippines but I haven't encountered a doctor like this. So far. Now can we just take a loot at number 6 all together, please? UNFORGIVABLE! Whoever wrote that probably deserves a one way ticket to AZKABAN. I mean, seriously? That's a mortal sin right there. The rest are okay. I mean, laughable but somehow understandable. The moist and dry thingy confused me as heck as well but whatever. There are times when we don't really have to be sooo proper with our English and all that but there are times when English should be properly executed. Say, MEDICAL RECORDS. That's all I have to say actually. Ciao!

As I consider my blog as a PENSIEVE, I have to let things out of my too stretched brain because it can't handle things anymore.

It's SUMMER BREAK and I am bored as hell. So I decided to add up BLOGS to my reading list. And I am still searching for blogs by the way so if you know a blog that you think I might enjoy reading, feel free to recommend or something. Actually, I did search for blogs myself but I didn't really find that much. Sure there are a lot of blogs out there but I found out (just now) that I'm not really that much of a fan of BEAUTY BLOGS. And by beauty, I mean, PURE BEAUTY BLOGS. I know it's not my business but I don't know. I'm not hating of course. But personally (good for me, I know) in the future, I'd rather look at the places I've been or the things I've done than to look at how made up I was or something. Oh well. I say a little bit of everything is nice. You gotta believe me though! I was probably just in a wrong place for search but it was beauty after beauty after beauty. But anyways. I think beauty blogs are good and helpful but yeah. If you're a beauty blogger and offended by this, I didn't mean to offend you, sorry.

I of course want to update everyone that these 2 last Sundays, I failed. I have to do better! I'll improve, I swear.

I also dreamt of ONE DIRECTION yesterday. Basically, what happened was my auntie was scolding one member for having a girlfriend. Serious stuff guys. She was punching the guy and torturing him. Everyone was actually scared and we were just talking about random stuff while the poor guy was being scolded.

Yesterday, I was having an identity crisis because I don't feel quite a Gryffindor for some reason so I took the Pottermore test once again. I found out that I AM INDEED A GRYFFINDOR. Holy cow! My wand is still Sycamore but not with Phoenix Feather anymore. Unicorn Hair now. Oh well.

Election here in the Philippines is just around the corner. It means, things are already getting annoying. I'm not a fan of politics. Thank you to my second year Filipino teacher way back in high school who supported me with this. In my opinion, it's not like choosing to turn off the lights for an hour to save the Earth. By doing that, you're certain that you did something right. There's no backfire. In politics, you choose someone, that someone messed up, your fault (partly) because not everyone wanted that someone to be in position. The point is, I don't really care if I don't vote or whatever because I don't really care. And because I don't vote, I wouldn't complain (much) about things related to politics or things like that.

Except this.

This happened very near our house so I was able to hear what the speakers were saying and all that crap. So basically, this politician who's running for a position in the congress was like mentioning her accomplishments and all that which I have nothing against. I mean, if you really were able to accomplish things like that, go on! Because it's related to whatever you still want to do in your future term. Just in case. And then she was like, I left politics because of the greater responsibility instilled in me by God and that's to be a mother to my children. I agree! I mean, that's a good thing to do. And then! She was like, my eldest was this age (can't remember) when I left politics and now, she/he's already a practising lawyer and stuff. And she was like, she/he graduated from U.P. Diliman and all that shizz and then she went on and said basically the same thing to her other children. And I was like, she could have just generalized her children but then she was like, bragging, telling the people her children are consistent honor students, and whatever. And I was like, woman! Are you gonna be a mother to this people? If yes, then what you bragged about would be relevant but no! So why tell them? Building rapport? I feel bad for her children because her mother just took off their individuality and make it look like it's her who made them where they are right now. Which is true! But they're the one who studied their arse out to become a dean's listers not their mother. What their mother did is to actually pay for their tuition fee. I don't know. I would actually appreciate it if she did mention how proud she is that her children worked hard and studied hard and everything but nah. She took all the credits. In my humble opinion.

Just when I thought everything's done, our Barangay People was like telling everyone to listen to the speaker because it's for them and that they should be interested and all that and basically just trying to brainwash the people and telling them how great the next speaker would be. On how they talked to the next speaker and that he promised to put doctors and nurses in our health center. On how there would be a better this and that. Sick. And oh he was like, you should listen to the speaker because he was from this pa, and he would make time for all of you and stuff. WTH. And then he was like, don't just be here for the prices because if this candidate made it, there would be a better price for all of us thru his service. Yeah right. Tell me more about it. And they were telling how close this candidate is to the President of the Philippines and so we would have a better shot. I didn't know that's how things work in the palace. I didn't know you have to be close to the President to get things done. Wow.

At the end, they gave away 500 pesos to I think 5 winners and all that. I don't really care but I think the people deserved that token for listening to a lot of bull.

Oh well. That's all I have to say.

I don't actually cry easily. Except when Sirius Black died. OMG my feelings! Anyways, I just want to share these crying experiences during our internship program because I want to let these things go now and I don't want to go on with my life with a heavy heart or something like that. I should have entitled this WHY I CRIED but that's just...I don't know. 

This is the first time I cried. During my first internship, it was my first time in a certain laboratory post so even though I learned the theoretical stuff at school, I really don't know if I can touch anything there and do whatever I want to do, or what. I was with a post mate that time and we weren't oriented on what to do so we just stayed there. The staff there usually comes at around 9 and our duty starts at 7 so we were just sitting there and all that. Talking and stuff. When the laboratory receptionist brought a specimen, naturally, we didn't know whether we could do that because we weren't oriented. So I asked. I asked a staff and he told us that it's not on his line of expertise and that we should just wait for our staff to come. Okay. When the staff came, she was hysterical already. Like, we didn't do this, and that, where's this blood, where's that blood, etc, etc. And my postmate and I were like looking at each other because we were surprised by her reaction. Well, of course. I just thought that's inappropriate because I would definitely understand if she acted that way on our second day. Or even hours before we were oriented. But that's like our first day. I didn't cry like, cry. I was just teary eyed because I got scolded on things that are out of my control. Like, really woman? But that afternoon she called us and said sorry and admitted that it was her fault and all that. Of course it is your fault. Like, we didn't know already. But it was way before pa so wala na yun. 

The second time was during my second internship. It was supposed to be my off day because I would be having my 24 hour shift 2 days after that day but since I was absent because of thesis, I had to make-up for that absence and because I have no choice, I sacrificed that off day and went to the hospital for my make-up duty. I was with my night duty groupmate that time and she came earlier than I did so she did warn me about that (what's gonna happen next). So cautiously, I logged in my time and greeted the staff there. And boom! The staff was calm but for some reason, I was kind of emotional because I did thesis and slept late and all that and then what? I would hear all those stuff? Basically, she just told me that I should have informed her that I would have a make-up duty on her post because she don't accept a lot of make-uppers which in our case, there's two of us. The staff also told me that I should have had my make-up the day before that incident because her interns were absent and I told her that it wouldn't be possible because I was in Clinical Chemistry having my make-up duty as well. Well, the two of us already scheduled our make-up duty 2 MONTHS BEFORE that incident and she would tell us that we should have informed her? I was thinking I should just go home and all that but then the head staff on that post told us that we could just go to a sub-branch of that post and do our make-up duty there. Phew. The head staff said that she tried to look for us two to inform us that we should inform the staff that we would make-up that day but I guess it was our uni day so whatever. She said it was her fault and so yeah. Oh well. 

But it's all over now. There's no other way than to move forward and learn from mistakes that we have made in the past. I am happy that I'm done with internship but it's kind of nice to look back things and to reflect. At least I know better now.