i was  already 20 when i decided to learn how to drive.  i thought the skill would come in handy in case of emergencies.  also, most of my friends have enrolled in driving schools.

ans so, i asked my dad to enrol me as well.  the practice route of my driving school was Taft Avenue — jeepney hell!

then on occassions, the driver of my dad would let me drive going to school (then AdMU, Loyola Heights).  truly nerve-wracking coming from manila and driving all the way to Q.C. via EDSA — bus and cars hell! panicky moments when i get stalled under crossing ilalim (hanging kapag traffic kasi).

the skill came in handy especially during the time my dad’s cancer recurred.  i don’t know why, but his medical emergencies (rush to hospital because he’s vomitting blood or can hardly breathe) usually happen between 1-5am.  atleast we did not have to wait for his driver or an ambulance as i can immediately get behind the wheel and drive to the hospital.

since being a licensed driver, i’ve been involved in several car accident/driving situations:

1. five hours after claiming my official plastic driver’s license, i (well, technically that was kris’ car) got hit behind by a delivery vehicle along EDSA.  not my fault though. malas lang, tainted agad records!

2. got flagged by mmda before magallanes interchange because i wasn’t wearing a seatbelt — i truly thought i was because i was in a hurry and my messenger bag strap felt like so.  gosh, to think i always wear my seatbelt even before we had the seatbelt law in this country!

3. got flagged down by an mmda before the ortigas flyover (i was heading under) for being along the yellow lane/swerving due to the pink fences — hmm, how could i see the start of the friggin fence when a bus was swerving towards the ramp? yep, the bus got away. 

4. bumped a jeepney from behind ‘coz i wasn’t yet used to driving the big matic xwind. my bad!

5. and recently my ‘reckless’ driving along Q.C. circle according to that a*****e cop.

1. hala! pa’no na kung nasira talaga ang space shuttle discovery and cannot make the journey back to earth? pa’no babalik yung mga astronauts?

2. serviceable pa ba ang Mir Russian space station?

3. the past month, i’ve changed four starters of different circular fluorescent ceiling lamps here at home. i wonder what ticked them. handy(wo)man at work!

4. dang, my eyes seem more malabo the past days. to think i’ve just upgraded the grade of my lens about four months ago.  too much reading and eyestrain, i guess.

5. left wrist still in pain. i think i’ve developed an allergy against the heat ointment i usually apply onto my skin due to muscle pains. i’ve got rashes in the area. good thing shey lent me her bottle of benadryl anti-itch gel.  greatness, atleast i don’t feel the urge to scratch my wrist rashes endlessly.

6. wow, a HS ka-barkada just got into a relationship. happiness for her.  poor fellow when the time the rest of us will scrutinize him! we can be real meanie gurls! hehe.

7. another wow, a GS friend just got married!

errands prior and actual going to the wedding venue yesterday took 2.5 hours of being behind the wheel. going home from the venue due to traffic and rain took 1.5 hours of being behind the wheel.

to think this is just within metro manila (Parañaque to deep Tandang Sora area).  but with the rains, traffic, pot holes, reckless drivers on the road and being caught by a QC cop** — i’m racking my brain again why i was excited to learn how to drive a couple of years ago! 

**happend along QC circle, commonwealth area.  i was gonna turn towards visayas ave, which is the next branch to commonwealth ave.  and so, since my turn is coming next na, i started to veer towards the outer lane because it can be quite hard to swerve from the inner lane to visayas ave (so many times i’ve driven sa area, walang gustong magbigay ng way so yesterday, sobrang ingat na ako to drive along the lane that would make it easy for me to turn and not miss the avenue i am to spin off to). suddenly a QC cop hailed me in the middle of the road — reckless driving daw ako for being on the lane i started to traverse.  reckeless?! me?! i told him, i did not swerve and my exit avenue is coming next so proper lane ako (hindi rin naman outermost lane yung binabaybay ko noh)! he asked for my license and waited for ‘lagay.’  i insisted my case; apologize na nga rin to ease him up; told him i’m not familiar driving around the very wide Q.C. circle; and that we are gonna be late for the wedding (my niece, piper is one of the flower girls).  ayun, he finally let me go.  mind you, hindi ako nag-abot ng bribe money…i’d rather get a ticket than give money to the damned cop.

pero ako, reckless driver?! c’mon!

dang, i gotta attend a wedding tomorrow.  the ‘dang’ is because: 1. the event is with the maternal side (the strangers!); 2. it is in far-flung Q.C. (gotta drive far); and 3. precious time away from studying. ooohh, i dread tomorrow!

polo, my dog, is not friendly to any being or creature. he barks at everyone he is not familiar with the moment he sees them approach our gate (okay, super exception si bubu).

he barks at any dog/cat he sees, hears, or smells. he even tries to catch flies, insects, or any small moving creature that comes within his ‘pawing-distance.’

weird though, he is not irritated with the numerous birds (the brown maya bird flying about here in the city) chirping daily near his place in our garage.  mind you, these birds are constantly making ‘tambay’ at the electric post near/wires in front of our house, upon our gate, our window ledges, and anything they can perch on in our garden. then, eventually, these birds became bolder and started pecking off left-over food bits from polo’s food plate —  kakaibang sight talaga after polo is done eating from his plate; biglang swoop down ang daming chirping birds for a feeding frenzy (they seem to have mastered the time when polo is fed)!

polo does not bark at the birds. while the latter do not seem to be scared of the former. ang galing ng co-existence nila!

grabe nga lang ang ingay ng mga ibon — pero cute na rin.

kaso, grabe rin the bird poop they drop onto the cars, the gate, the window and the ledges, and the plant leaves in our garden — yuck!

apologies for the email clutter.  o.c.-ness dictates editing: one, my font sometimes goes back to default black that my words appear invisible against my black background; two, grammar errors (although i sometimes ignore some typo errors na nga so as not to generate another email alert to others in my network)

i can’t do anything on my part.  better tweak your settings to stop such automatic blog update message alert.

dang, my left wrist hurts the past days.

let this not be like what happened to my right wrist a year ago (de quervain’s tenosynovitis)…and lead to bouts of PT sessions and another operation (the very date wat 29 July 2004)!

just like before, i suddenly woke up with pain on the wrist (nadaganan ko in my flat-bellied manner of sleeping?) na hindi nawawala.  i’ll do the hot compress (doc said before, the earliest dapat hot compress na at BAKA makuha pang i-relieve yung microscopic bump sa tendon), pain ointment and bandage muna. kung hindi pa makuha, ay, ignore! too much time awasting sa PT!

also, itatali ko na my right arm when i sleep to ensure safe and good condition ang writing hand ko hanggang september (haha).  the bar is after all almost a month away na lang!

right now, my immediate concern is to get over with this terrible cough and colds.  the meds sure do wonders…but they cause some drowsiness (sigh, nanginginig na ako sa coffee eh).

It is sad when we get subjected to shocking/terrible treatment from establishments/companies we thought we can trust because of their apparent good reputation. I’m thinking, we opted to patronize these establishments/companies because we want good service; but we got something no better.

1. Vehicle-Brand Casa – Yeah, isuzu sucks.  But I was surprised recently when my friend complained to me that Toyotadid more damage after her car’s tune-up (to prepare so for her trip up north).

2. Yellow Cab – back in lawschool, Abel, Pixie, and I had dinner at Yellow Cab Makati Ave.  It took us a long time to get there due to traffic.  We were so famished that we gobbled up our big big pizza.  However, with only around three slices left, I noticed, that one had a dead fly masquerading as a piece of dark olives.  We immediately complained so to the store manager.  It’s ok that she did not replace our pizza (busog na rin kami and we were quite done); but heck, she did not even apologize!

3. ABN-AMRO – My aunt told me this bank had high interest rates and good customer service.  To try it out, I parked some money for a term.  When my placing matured, I decided to transfer my money because I was not happy with the bank.  After copying the serial numbers of the bills I withdrew, I went to another bank (my old bank actually, but in a different branch due to our house transfer that time) to deposit the very same bills.  Much to my surprise and outrage, the bank personnel at the latter found one counterfeit bill amongst those I’m depositing! Wow, to think that bill came from ABN-AMRO — nalulusutan ang banks ng fake dollar bills?!  It was quite embarrassing for me as well because the branch where I’m gonna deposit might think I’m an estafa-dor!  After checking the list of serial numbers, ABN-AMRO acknowledged the bill came from them and will replace so.  If I was older and wiser then, dapat I made a demand for damages! Haha. The lesson: make sure talaga that you take note of the serial number of the foreign bills you’d be receiving and make the personnel who noted so sign your copy of the list.

4. Aside but related to consumerism: When buying packs of instant noodles in the grocery, be sure to check them for any holes created by mice or cockroaches.  I’ve seen some packs destroyed by the said pests in Rustan’s and Cash and Carry. Eeeew, yuck and the sickness one can catch from eating that contaminated pack! And so, whenever I grab some instant noodles, I examine the packaging for any holes and kinda flatten them one by one between my hands to make sure the packs are still airtight-sealed (the packs do not get flattened in my hands…but do be careful not to pop open the packs while doing this).

The final episode of CSI’s season 5 was such a thrill!  super suspense that i did not dare flip channels during commercials in fear of missing a single second of it.  however, typical Tarantino work — may bloody gore and weird flashbacks.

super naawa ako kay nick; i can’t believe he endured the torture! i was gasping for air as i watched him stuck in that ‘coffin.’ and the ants pa! Gawd, pamatay (although, jm, he would have survived the itch with shey’s new benadryl anti-itch gel — parang alcogel)!

Kung ako si nick, one minute in the situation and i’d surely shoot na myself because:

1. i’m such a claustrophopic! i can’t even make ‘taklob’ under a blanket even though im so cold or scared in bed because in seconds, i’m flipping out for air and space (that is why i use blindfold/eyemask if i’m scared of ’seeing’ something paranormal).  in malls, pag-sale, dyoshkopo, nahihilo na ko agad seeing/being surrounded by people (yeah, i have a very wide personal space bubble).

2. i super hate ants! since i was young, ants have been so icky for me. they come in troves, they bite like hell, and they smell (allan did agree with me on this point)!!

I can’t wait for season 6!

and no, I’m just a solid fan of Crime Scene Investigation.  I don’t watch CSI:  Miami nor CSI: NY.

Target’s Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelet:

" Share Beauty Spread Hope Bracelet "

All proceeds will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation! 

a small contribution to the fight against and awareness about cancer.

———————————————-

Breast Cancer happens when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control enabling them to invade nearby tissues or even spread through the body. Sizable collections of the out of control tissue are called tumors. Not all Brest Tumors are considered to be cancer because certain types of large cell collections cannot spread or threaten a person’s life. The preceding type of tumor is called a benign tumor.

The tumors that can spread throughout the body or invade nearby tissues are considered to be cancerous cells and are called malignant tumors. In theory, any of the types of tissue in the breast can form cancer cells, but usually cancer comes from either ducts or glands in the breast. Because it may take months or years for a tumor to get large enough to notice in the breast, we screen for tumors with mammograms, which can sometimes see disease before we can feel it.

http://www.cancerwisdom.com/breast%20cancer.htm