2005: The Year That Was

In a few hours the year 2005 will come to an end and a New Year will begin. I have to admit this year was one of my best. Here are the reasons why:

met someone (February)
finished my medical internship (April)
returned to regular church going (May)
started blogging (May)
passed the medical board exams (August)
went on vacation in Boracay (September)
got my professional license (October)
found my first job (October)
received first salary (November)
gained 7 lbs!!! (December)

What a year! I'm looking forward to this coming 2006!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Boracay: The Last Sunset

All good things must come to an end. It came too fast for me. I suddenly realized that it was the last afternoon of my vacation. It felt as if I had just arrived on the island. I decided to spend the remaining hours of the day strolling the North Beach.


Time passed by quickly and before I knew it the sun was setting. I thought it would be memorable that to spend this last sunset in the same place I first visited when I arrived - Willy's Rock.


I can't explain what I felt seeing that sun set on the horizon - sad? definitely. But there was something else - something that felt like peace of mind.



Next: Back to Civilization

Tags: beach, Boracay, sunset

My Empire Awaits

It's been a while since I've posted on my blogs (1 month on my health blog). Blame it on running my empire - Civilization 4 is out and there are many more sleepless nights ahead. I'd like to blog somemore but the Mongol diplomats are protesting my occupation of their farmlands, the Greecians are preparing an army of swordsmen and archers against me, and I just found out that my citizens want me to remove slavery and pay them to work - Imagine that!

The Love Molecule

Your pulse beats faster, there are butterflies in your stomach, euphoria - you're in love!

What is love?

A scientist will tell you that it's simply a series of chemical reactions. Many chemicals/substances in our body have been associated with the feeling of love. Researchers in Pavia University have pin pointed a certain molecule - nerve growth factor (NGF) - as the cause of the emotions that overwhelm new lovers. But there's a catch - it only lasts 1 year.

The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships.

But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the 'love molecule' in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.
[Yahoo News November 30, 2005]

If you think about it, that's approximately the time you stop being 'blindly' in love and start seeing the 'real' person. That's the time you start noticing the little things about him/her that bother you.

If love is triggered by certain substances, it certainly takes more than just a chemical to make it last.

Beauty in the Brain of the Beholder

Do you know anyone who actually likes his/her body? I myself find it easier to be appreciative of others physically than of myself. Science is coming closer to find the reason for this and hopefully provide a solution for those with poor self image.

Researchers in the UK have identified the part of our brain that processes perceptions about the size and shape of our body parts.

As they report in the journal PloS Biology, Ehrsson and his team identified the brain area by employing a technique that produces an effect known as the "Pinocchio illusion." It involves vibrating the skin over the tendons in a joint, which produces the illusion that the joint is bending or extending depending on where the stimulus is placed. For example, a person who placed his finger at the end of his nose could be made to feel that his finger was extending, giving him the perception that his nose growing.

In the current experiment, volunteers placed their hands at their waists. The skin over the tendon responsible for bending the wrists inward was then vibrated, producing the illusion that the waist was shrinking.

The findings, Ehrsson said, could one day be used to better understand conditions that involve misperception of body image -- for example anorexia, in which people see themselves as too fat even when they're skeletal. [Reuters December 6, 2005]

Maybe one day science can adjust this part of the brain to give us the illusion that we are all supermodels :)

The Magic of Christmas

A cool breeze is blowing right now. A sign that Christmas is just around the corner. I wasn't able to really celebrate Christmas these past 2 years - I was on duty in the hospital. It really is sad having to work on Christmas. But what I feel worse about is I can't seem to catch the Christmas Spirit anymore.

As a kid, Christmas was really special and somehow magical and it wasn't just because of the gifts. It seems growing up makes us loose that belief in magic. We become more sceptical, more difficult to impress, less appreciative of small things. There are many things I want to receive as gifts this Christmas but somehow I think it'll only make me wish for more. My wish this Christmas is to have that magic back.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Routine

I'm the kind of person that prefers a routine daily life than that of spontaneity. I have difficulty going back to 'normal' life after going on a long vacation. After the end of my medical internship my routine went out the window - preparing for the board exams, taking it, looking for a job. But now i realized that somehow my creative side comes out when things become unpredictable. I discovered blogging, writing, and photography.

Routine is again setting in and i'm slipping back to my boring self. No ups or downs just a monotonous "I'm OK!" I never was the kind of person who could motivate himself. My motivation usually comes from what's going on around me. I'll be the first to admit - although unpredictability exhausts me, it's better than living like a robot with only a limited set of actions.