54 hours.

That’s how long ’till I’m done with my internship.

*elated* Done with waking up super early in the morning. Done with rounds. Done with all those discharge summaries and prescriptions (Goodbye finger-blisters). Done with endorsements. Done with desperately kissing our resident’s asses just to avoid demerits and extensions. Done with sleepless nights. Done dealing with uber-kulit patients.

*heart starts sinking* Done with surgeries. Done seeing those spotless OR tile and harsh lights.

*teary-eyed*Done saving lives. Done with all those bloopers and stories…

Although it was a tough and grueling road, I think I’m gonna miss being an intern.

Overheard at the ER.

Lady Doctor: Cosa kel, Sir? (How may I help you, Sir?)

Sour-faced guy (looking like a truck accessories salesman): Pwede yo saka medico-legal, doctora? (Can you issue me a medico-legal certificate, doctor?)

Lady Doctor (Pen in one hand, coffee in the other): Cosa ya pasa contigo, Sir? (Ok, what happened?)

Sour-faced guy (calmly): Ya tira comigo, ma’am. (I was shot.)

Lady Doctor (alarmed): Ancina? Onde contigo ya tira? (really? Where’re you hit?) Then, realizing that just about anything could be used as a projectile (including bread), and that the man seems oddly calm and definitely NOT in pain, calmly asks: Ay, ara ya,kun cosa gale contigo ya tira? (And you were shot with what?)

Sour-faced guy: Con utut. (By someone’s fart.)

My classmate and fellow intern (the lady doctor) nearly choked on her coffee. She also nearly drenched me (working at an adjacent table) as she spluttered her way in fits of laughter.

Talk about a Gas-shot wound.

I created my first website in 1999. That was the year the Internet was introduced to me. The very same year I fell in love with the Internet. I poured my heart out online through static pages. I drafted my HTML through Notepad. I crafted my graphics through downloaded image tools.

The butterfly and the Medusanity mask were pastels on paper, scanned and edited for my Medusanity portal.

I’m so gonna miss this space, these memories. I wish someone could save Geocities. I wish I could. Not just this one. But all of it. All of the world’s first foray into online expression. All of the glitter and the blinking. All the tables and the marquees. All the memories.

Goodbye Geocities. Goodbye.

(Hear my heart break into tiny little frames.)

My First Website

Looking for piñatas, hmm they seem to be all here in North Sparkling Terraces! It’s a miracle I got here at all and didn’t get killed by the furious Firesnakes. I’m also hunting for that elusive Special Tools for the Hello Kitty birthday quest. Wonder where they are???

North Sparkling Terraces

Here are the drops you can get in North Sparkling Terraces:

Golden Spore Tree
Spore Wood
Mushroom
Magical Glow
Bad Wood

Banana Kart
Spare Tire
Epic Banana

Tadpole Plant
Tiny Flowerbuds
Curved Root
Withered Leaves

Now I’m doing the Herbal Essences quest. Hello Kitty is so demanding! She wants 12 Fruit Nut, 10 Moonfruit and 15 Ginseng. So here I am sneaking into South Sparkling Terraces, trying my hardest to avoid the terribly strong monsters! Even with the help of my pet Bramtail, it’s hard.

South Sparkling Terraces

Here are the drops you can get in South Sparkling Terraces:

Ginseng
Ginseng
Ginseng Blossom
Withered Roots

Florapod
Shriveled Leaves
Small Splinters
Sweet Nut

Firesnake
Firesnake’s Heat
Firesnake’s Quickness

Fireon
Fireon’s Courage
Fireon’s Treasure

Starbright Rock
Pink Shards
Mooonshard
Pink Crystals

Wild Fern
Yellow Buds
Withered Roots
Withered Leaves
Fern Stern
Fragmented  Branch

Dwarf Polar
Crooked Stalks
Fan Leaf

Amethyst Rock
Purple Stone
Shiny Purple Stone
Amethyst

This is the Rainbow Plain in Hello Kitty Online, just outside of Paris.

The Rainbow Plain

Right now I am hunting for Magical Glow. I’m not sure where I can get it. I need to it make my Solar Pickaxe so I can mine Level 14 items. I’m completing Hello Kitty’s Birthday Quest but there are some high level items I can’t gather because I simply haven’t had time to complete all the quests yet. Grrr.

So anyway, hopefully some Magical Glow can come out of these Rainbow Trees. :)

Here are the drops you can get in the Rainbow Plain:

From the Candy Tree:
Candy Fruit
Withered Leaves
Caterpillar
Candy Tree Branches
Fragmented Branch
Short Sticks

From the Rainbow Tree:
Bad Wood
Rainbow Wood
Rainbow Powder
Fragmented Branch

From the Komodo:
Komodo Lizard’s Fury

Cebu Pacific Zamboanga Promo

Cebu Pacific is offering a Php888 go-lite promo good for travel from December 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010. This domestic seat sale runs from October 24 to 27 only.

They’re calling this the So Fare, So Good promo. All flights are sold at Php888 one way. Here are the domestic routes:

Manila to Zamboanga (and vice versa)
Cebu to Clark (and vice versa)
Cebu to Zamboanga (and vice versa)
Davao to Zamboanga (and vice versa)

There’s also an international seat sale. Here are the routes and prices:

Php999
Clark to Bangkok (and vice versa)
Clark to Macau (and vice versa)
Clark to Hong Kong (and vice versa)
Clark to Singapore (and vice versa)

Php2499
Manila to Incheon (and vice versa)
Cebu to Busan (and vice versa)
Cebu to Incheon (and vice versa)

Php2599
Manila to Osaka

And the last piece of good news is: if you’re traveling from Clark to Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok or Singapore (or vice versa), you get 30 kilos free baggage allowance! To book a flight, just visit their website or call the Cebu Pacific hotline numbers (02)7020-888 or (032)230-8888.

I love fireworks.

Ever since I came to Manila two years ago, I’ve always yearned to watch the World Pyro Olympics that happen every year. It’s a fireworks showdown of countries, a spectacular display of fire on water and a backdrop starry night. Whatever could be more romantic than sitting on a bed of grass, lying in the arms of the one you love, and watching the darkness break into dazzling choreographies of fire and light?

Alas, I’ve never watched a single pyro show ever. This time I won’t miss it, whether I have a partner or not!

This time, the World Pyro Olympics won’t be a fire show on water. Instead, it will be held at Bonifacio Global City, in Taguig (also known locally as The Fort). Hmm. Our company has a tower there. Maybe I can work there instead of in Ayala during the Pyrolympics? Sounds good to me! :) :) :)

Here’s the schedule of the World Pyro Olympics 2009:

November 21 – Germany, China
November 28 – Japan, Australia
December 5 – Canada, Italy
December 12 -South Korea, USA
December 19 – Fellowship of Fire, Philippines

And ticket prices are:

Regular Pass – Php200, Php500, Php1500 (VIP)
Season Pass (All Shows) – Php800, Php2000, Php6000 (VIP)

VIP tickets mean you get food (Via Mare) along with a sure seat. To reserve, call (02) 568-6908 or (02) 384-0239.

So, who wants to be my date??? :D

In the building where I live, you get someone to do it for you.

Coming home from work today, it was so frustrating. I realized upon reaching my condo unit that I had forgotten my keys inside! I called my roommate Christian, who always came home early to go to the gym, except he informed me he was currently out of town! (What a great roommate that makes me, huh.)

I called Jose, my other roommate, but I knew he often came home late, and alas, he said he’d be home by 8:30. It was only 6pm. Rare moment that I got to come home so early. (Normally, I finish work around 9 to 10pm.)

I didn’t want to wait around so I went and visited the admin office and asked if they could open my door. I had visions of a brawny security guard smashing down my door with his boots, or forcibly breaking open the doorknob. Something entertainingly disastrous and violent.

The secretary picked up the phone and called someone, after she heard my problem. She told me to talk to the person on the end of the line, to negotiate the cost. We haggled. Five hundred per lock was the first offer. I had two and simply could not spend that much. He relented and said five hundred for both locks. Relieved I had slashed 50% off the price, I agreed and put down the receiver. Then the secretary gave me this flat look like she thought I was a stupid, stupid tenant — then called the guy back and haggled it down to 400.

“Will he destroy my locks?” I asked sadly, thinking of how much it would cost me to replace all my locks. Waiting two hours for my roommate to arrive was starting to get a lot more attractive.

“No. We have the master lock,” she declared with a bland look on her face, like she had done this many times over. “He’ll be here in 10 minutes. Don’t fret, he has got a motorcycle.” How efficient, I thought, though a bit puzzled why they had to hire a third party. Must be a specialist.

And then a stupid bit later, miffed that they had a master key. So anybody could just come into my condo??? Although I was wont to say this publicly, as I was there asking them to break in. Wouldn’t I sound just so uppity.

The guy finally arrived, and we were escorted by security to my door. Whereupon he bent down on the floor, took out some pieces of wire and tin… and picked both my locks with ease, in under 10 minutes. Master lock, indeed. Dumbly, I handed him my money, he grinned widely and was escorted out by security.

Somehow I think I will have trouble sleeping tonight…

Zesto Wrappers

What can you do with leftover plastic wrappers, the wasteful by-products of an industrialized generation?

Burn them? Bury them? Throw them into space?

You’d be surprised. Zesto does none of these. Instead, Zesto Corporation donates all their (clean but) excess doy pack materials to Gawad Kalinga, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter and livelihood to financially-challenged Filipinos. In turn, GK produces beautifully woven bags from these donated scraps right in their local chapter in GK Sunshineville, BF Resort Village, Las Piñas City, Philippines.

Their product include woven handbags, laptop bags, lunch bags, envelope bags, purses, bed mats, coasters, table tops, place mats, picture frames, storage cases and more.

Last week, I and my fellow bloggers, in coordination with Nuffnang and sponsored by HSBC, got the chance to personally visit GK Sunshineville.

We met up at Starbucks Bonifacio High Street early Saturday, and rode a van towards GK Sunshineville. It was half an hour’s ride away from Makati, and upon getting there, we immediately saw the GKers hard at work weaving strips of doy pack, sewing up bags, making envelops and creating all sorts of wonderful knick knacks.

Project Director Bong Ragojos and the GK Beneficiaries

We met Brother Bong, the project director for the Gawad Kalinga Bayong ng Kabuhayan livelihood project. (Bayong in Filipino means large bag. Bayong ng kabuhayan means livelihood bags.)

He, with the help of his wife, voluntarily manages the Bayong project, as part of  his responsibilities towards Couples for Christ (CFC). The men and women of Gawad Kalinga Sunshineville choose to work for the Bayong project, as most of them are unemployed and with children.

I asked the women how many bags they produce in a day, and they said that on average, they could finish 5-7 each. They are paid about 7 pesos per bag they create. Each bag sells for about Php200-300. (But more when sold via retailers.)

Bayong ng Kabuhayan Samples

Here are sampler bayongs from the Bayong project. Lovely, aren’t they? From afar, you can’t even see that they’re made out of Zesto materials.

The generic silver bags are Bayong’s best seller. They’re a hit locally. Interestingly, foreigners and Filipinos overseas prefer those that show the Zesto labels. I completely understand. Who wants to walk around carrying a bag that matches your buddy’s snack? However, a local product is certainly something unique abroad. :-)

I was enamored with the silver bag as well, but I’m not a fan of the handbag. I wanted a laptop bag, but the one they currently had on display had a black strap. I wanted the earthy brown strap they used for the other bags. They were only too happy to oblige, except that they couldn’t find a long enough strap to hold my laptop bag. :-( Aw. However, they said they could do it, I’d just have to follow up. GK Sunshineville, I’m holding you to your promise! ;-)

If you are interested in purchasing these bags, they do accept orders and even customizations. You can contact Mr. Bong Ragojos via mobile phone 63.2.9173907861/63.2.9196120202 or email him at ljragojos2002@yahoo.com.

My thanks goes out to Nuffnang, especially Patty, for inviting us to this event, and Abby, for buying us lunch. Thanks to Gawad Kalinga as well for giving me a bag! (More on the next post!)

To see more photos of the trip, see the gallery below.

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