Facials

Tension, stress and lack of sleep while preparing for the Board Exams last August resulted in unnatural outbreaks of pimples on my face. Eventually I was persuaded to have my first, much needed facial. I made a mental note that somehow i would undergo the procedure regularly - i didn't. But i forgot why.

The past 2 weeks of being on duty at Dr D's clinic was unusally busy and i often had just an hour of sleep everytime. As expected, the pimples came back. A few days ago, i found myself having my second facial - now i remember why i didn't have it more often - OUCH! OUCH! OUCH!

Tales From Enchanted Kingdom

I wasn't really able to enjoy the holiday season because I was frequently on duty at Dr. D's clinic. Fortunately on the 1st week of January I had some free time and I decided to treat myself to Enchanted Kingdom.

Enchanted Kingdom is the first theme park in the Philippines. It's located in Sta. Rosa Laguna, about 2 hours from Metro Manila. For 500 pesos ($10) you get to enjoy most of the rides for a whole day.


I wish I had more such days!


They say that a hearty laugh is a great stress reliever - well, so is a good scream! hehehe

A great way to fight the heat!


The most nerve-wrecking ride of all - The Kiddy Train! Imagine lining up with all those noisy kids and fighting over who gets to ring the train bell! hahaha!

PS: On the ride Rio Grande Rapids, there are signs that say, "Expect to get wet on this ride." - This is an understatement! Expect to get soaked!

PS PS: Don't skip the 4D Theater! you'll have to pay 40 pesos but it's worth finding out what the 4th D is!

Is This New to You?

I'm still having a drought of topics to post about. I have 3 blogs and it was still 2005 when i last posted in 2 of them. I've been scanning health headlines recently and maybe its just me but some of the recent findings researchers have reported don't seem to be worth the money and effort just to prove something... but that's the trend - Evidence based Medicine. Here are some of those headlines:

Alcohol ads boost drinking among young: study --> why do you think they make ads?

Cheerleaders run high risk of injury: study --> Would getting rid of the pompoms help?

Women who cut dietary fat lose weight: study --> isn't decreasing fat intake a 'must' in dieting

Children with asthma often miss school --> I wonder why!

Heavy, poorly positioned backpacks hard on kids --> Must have took them a long time to find out

and the most useless headline (not health related):

Microsoft warns of critical Windows security flaws --> HAHAHAHAHA!!!

NO, I didn't read the contents :)

Up or Down?

What is God's Will?

A neighbor, after months of applying, is finally leaving to work in another country. She'll earn about 15X more than she currently earns here. Her husband will be in charge of taking care of their kids. But this past week, things became more complicated - Her husband was diagnosed with a malignancy.

Although the extra income would mean that her husband would get better treatment, it would also mean that she won't be around to provide emotional support and help care for the kids if ever chemotherapy would cause side effects of if the treatment would fail.

What would you advise her to do? What do you think God's will is in this case?

Fireworks, Firecrackers and the Economy

It has always been part of Philippine tradition to welcome the New Year with firecrackers (those noisy things that explode on the ground and some fireworks (those things that explode in the sky).

When I was a kid it was almost impossible to go out on New Year's Eve as early as 7pm because of the many firecrackers going on (unless you wanted to risk having 1 less finger on your hand) and would end around 2AM of the New Year. As years flew by i noticed that the noise of firecrackers started later in the evening. By New Year's Eve 2001 the noise of firecrackers started becoming noticeable only around 10pm and would end at 1AM.

2004 was the quietest (in terms of firecracker noise). It was already 11:30pm when the celebrations could be heard and around 12:15am it was aready quiet.

It was a surprise for me this past New Year that around 9pm celebrations were already underway. Plus there were a lot more fireworks now than the previous years. Things quieted down around 1AM.

This could only mean 1 of 2 things:

1. Despite the political turmoil, natural disasters, and increasing gap between the rich and poor - 2005 wasn't that bad; or

2. it really was a bad year and the people were so glad that the year was done that they just had to celebrate!

Whatever the reason, Happy New Year, Philippines!!!