Latest Entries »

Living in the Philippines, I have learned a lot about the local food and often
marvel at how tasty it all is. First of all, I feel like you cannot talk about
Filipino food without mentioning the yummy Adobo. This dish is famous throughout the
world, as one of the signature dishes of the country and there is a good reason why.
It is simply delicious, made from chicken or pork, rice and a wonderful sauce. It
typically contains garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and salt, all boiled with the meat
until it has melded into a delicious, tangy meal.

Fish is also a great dish to have in the Philippines. There are many different types
found here, which can be eaten as a snack while playing Partypoker or watching a
film, or as a full-blown meal with all the trimmings. Common types include tilapia,
grouper, swordfish and crab, and they tend to be salted, either pan-fried or
deep-fried and served with rice and vegetables. This is a simple meal, however the
fish is often very tasty and it is ideal for when you are really hungry and cannot
be bothered to cook something too complicated.

For breakfast, things like garlic fried rice or bread rolls are common, as well as
cheese, corned beef and fish. Filipino food tends to taste very flavourful, as a
result of salt and sauces that accompany the dishes and you are never likely to
become bored with the cuisine in this country. Common condiments include soy sauce,
vinegar, lime juice and fish sauce, all of which pack flavour into the food they are
poured over and release taste explosions when you try them. It is for this reason
that I would definitely recommend trying Filipino food whenever you get the chance.

Today I pretty much spent most of the day with Rizza. I came to school in time for Filkomu, but then it turned out that it was preekat – wala si miss =( I can’t remember what I did, but I think I was just sitting outside the classroom thinking “okeh… now what…” and then I went down the elevator with Gelo, Lance, and Rizza lol, but I got off at the 6th floor. Checked the canteen for food, olats yung pagkain dun, so pumunta nalang ako sa Zaide. Somehow I managed to catch up with Lance, Rizza, and Gelo on my way to Zaide hahaha. Di ko alam paano yun nangyare considering I went to the canteen first and then walked down to the ground floor, and I still managed to catch up to them while they were walking through the Agno area. :S me confused.

Lance and Gelo had to go somewhere, so me and Rizza just went to Zaide to eat. First I went to the vice dean’s office to collect my excuse letter and Rizza went to the atm near SJ to withdraw moneh. When we met up again at Zaide, Rizza got a pizza and I was just eating the chicken curry with rice lawl. I was going to get the burger steak, pero sabi ko putik nakakuhaw iyan, wag nalang =) The chicken curry was just right. =) I think we were just talking about stuff related to Japan while we were eating. Rizza’s pretty cool lawl, I feel more comfortable talking to her now… compared to before. I don’t know why, she probably noticed, but I think it’s just because she’s a chill person to hang with. =] Or maybe it’s just easier to talk to someone when you have some common interests LOL.

POLISCI – 40%

I think we were a little late for POLISCI, so we headed back to Andrew. Had to listen up and take down a lot of notes because for me and Rizza, the quiz tomorrow is worth 40% of our grade! Pakyu! We were both absent last Friday because of food poisoning, and since we missed out on the quiz last Friday, Mrs. Teehankee proposed that she would make our quiz tomorrow worth double – 40% for me and Rizza, and 20% for everyone else – which essentially means we have to do realllly good in our quiz tomorrow hahaha! I really tried to absorb as much as I could from that lesson, either by taking down notes or just trying really hard to pay attention.

During the lesson I asked Rizza if she wanted to study together later, and she said okehh! After class we just went to Agno for a bit and drank some milo from Ate Rica’s Bacsilog stall. It was my first time drinking something from Agno, I usually get sick from drinking stuff from food carts and stalls, but I was like puck it and drank it any way lol. Then after we got to the end of the SJ walk, we saw this yellow M&M guy. Should have taken a picture WITH the M&M, but meh, at least I got a picture kahit papano.

Yellow M&M @ DLSU hahaha

 

After that, Rizza had to go somewhere so I just walked back down SJ and ate at Chicboy! hahaha. Nacurious ako sa Chicboy because a lot of people on PinoyExchange have been saying it’s better than Mang Inasal in terms of the quality and taste of their chicken, and I just had to find out for myself. I actually only saw the Chicboy resto along Agno today! O_O Nagulat talaga ako ahahah. I was like wow, what the hell, what is a restaurant like Chicboy doing here. Good location though, malapit lang sa DLSU, at malapit din sa archers place. =)

When I got inside, I saw Gino, Vinz, Alec, and Lyra! =) I asked Lyra anong masarap, and she suggested CB-5, which I think was the letchon manok. =) Food was served pretty quick, they have some really nice condiments too. I dono what it was, but I doused my rice and chicken with that yellow sauce hahaha! I dono, I just kept pouring more and more because it tasted really good =) Chicken was also tender and flavorful. I think I just found myself a new alternative to Tanginasal!! =) Was talking to Alec about all this random stuff while eating and then everyone left shortly after Vinz finished I think, and then we all went our separate ways. =D

Chicboy @ Agno!

 

I went back home. I wasn’t sure if Rizza was still coming, but she actually came around 30 mins after I got home lol. So we both went over our notes for POLISCI, rewrote some stuff and tried to remember all these terms, etc. Hahah I don’t know why, it’s so much better when I study with someone else – I can concentrate better and get a lot more done. Then we would have periods of time where we would just randomly look up videos on YouTube (Japanese stuff, PokePark, etc.) and we even watched 5 episodes of this anime from the 90′s, Great Teacher Onizuka! It’s a funny anime about this perverted teacher LOL.

JAP-OK & Chatime

After studying for POLISCI and working on the JAPALA Prologue and the video, we took a break and went downstairs. Got takeout food from JAP-OK, this new japanese fast food chain at archers place. And then we got drinks from Chatime and went back upstairs and watched Great Teacher Onizuka while eating hahaha.

 

Ramen (Neil)

 

Beef (Rizza)

I got Miso Ramen and Rizza got this beef thingy and cheese sticks lol.

It was really fun and random =) then we had to take some profile pictures for our JAPALA video. I have this Japanese headband (exact same headband the guy is wearing in the picture below) that I got from Asakusa, Japan last year, so we yeah, we just used that and we’re all going to be wearing it for the introduction at the start of our video, where it shows all our profiles one by one. We were pretty much running around the hallways at archers place wearing this headband, hoping nobody would see us LOL… cos it would be pretty awkward if someone did see either of us wearing that here in the firipin-jin

Japanese Headband

 

After studying and finishing 5 episodes of Great Teacher Onizuka, Rizza went home at around 9:40 pm. I went downstairs to buy water from 7/11 but then I was like maybe I should just walk her home ‘cos it’s all dark n scary. So I just walked her home, said goodbye and then ran back home lol.

Thanks to her, I was able to study heapsss of stuff for POLISCI. A lot of the differences between Parliamentary and Presidential governments also became more clear to me, the advantages/disadvantages of each, the difference between head of state/government in parliamentary government, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I probably would have procrastinated on studying if I was alone lol.

So yeah, this day will probably serve as a reminder for future. More often than not, it’s better to study with someone else. ^^

The idea for the title came from a song I’ve been listening to lately – “Hip Hop Saved My Life” by Lupe Fiasco. Not sure if I could say Makati Med saved my life, but they sure did save me from a looooot of pain :)

It all started yesterday (Thursday). For dinner I ordered the low calorie meal from Kenny Rogers lol (grilled fish, 2 x garlic rice, steamed vegetables). I ate that with kim chi and corned beef. I don’t know why I added corned beef into the mix, I just wanted to get rid of this one can of purefoods corned beef that had been sitting around on the table. I ate way too much for dinner and it also didn’t help that I was eating like a pig. Whenever I’m really hungry, I can’t help but eat really fast – it’s a habit. And that unfortunately led to a case of indigestion shortly after. >.<

Since the stomach pains and acid reflux were starting to get really bad, I resorted to taking a pill of Activated Charcoal by Nature’s Way. I bought it from Healthy Options (MOA) last year and I think I’ve only ever used it once. There was one time last year where I ate bibingka (it tasted a little “off” but I ate it anyway LOL), and then I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like something just exploded in my tummy, and I also felt like I was on the verge of shitting myself and spewing. I just knew it was because of the bibingka, and before it got any worse I decided to give the activated charcoal a try. Seemed like an iffy choice at the time, but that’s life, you gotta take risks sometimes. After a bit of rumbling in my tummy, all the pain, the buildup of gas, everything, it just all disappeared – my stomach was just completely silent. It made me think LOL WTF just happened in there!!

Activated charcoal is the stuff they often use in hospitals for patients who have come in with cases of drug overdose, food poisoning, chemical poisoning, snake bites, spider bites, etc. I think they first use an emetic to get the patient to vomit out some of the poison and then follow it up with activated charcoal to get rid of the rest of the nasty shit in there. The way it works is it absorbs poisons or drugs in the body and carries it down the digestive tract and out the body. Since activated charcoal is not absorbed or metabolized in the gut, it goes in and comes right out like clockwork, along with whatever it absorbs on the way; poisons, drugs, etc. I still remember the basics because I did a lot of research on activated charcoal last year, before I bought it at Healthy Options.

Activated charcoal saved me once, I thought it would work wonders for me again this time. Another reason why I felt the need to try something a little stronger than the average buscopan was because I thought I also ate something that was “off” at Yakimix two days before – I ate a looot of sushi that day, and one of the sushi’s I tasted a little… different…. LOL… so I thought I’d go with the activated charcoal just to be sure.

They say second time’s a charm, but not this time!! … :(

Second time landed me in hospital @ 3 am in the morning! hahahhaha FML.

3 injections @ Makati Med emergency =D

 

My stomach was starting to really scare me. I didn’t know what was going on in there. There were all these kinds of pops and noises I had never even heard before, and they were really loud too. I done fucked up yet again. It was 12 am and time for me to sleep. I noticed the pain reached an 8/10 when I was lying down, especially when I lied down sideways. I just couldn’t for the life of me understand why it would hurt more when I was lying down sideways >< Trivial shit that just seemed to make the situation seem all the more frustrating.  I was also starting to feel weak, fatigued, and dehydrated because I had already shit myself twice beforehand. It was kind of scary because it was all liquid and it hurt like a bitch. But thank God I didn’t shit out blood or black poop, which would have clearly indicated internal bleeding. I was also starting to feel really nauseous, to the point that eating mere crackers or drinking a bit of water would make me want to gag.

Anyways, after 3 hours of tossing and turning because of the excruciating pain that only seemed to get worse, I got out of bed and said “Fuck this. I’m going to Makati Med”. But then I was like wahhhh… are there even any taxi’s going by at this time? How the hell am I gonna get there? So I lied down for a bit and tried to sleep it off yet again…

Got up 2 minutes later, got dressed, got my bag and my domo wallet, my keys, and then bolted out the door and went down via the elevator. I asked the guard if there were still taxi’s and he said yes and called a taxi. LOL then I ran back into the elevator to go back up to get a jacket. Other than deciding to go to the hospital, that was one of the first WISE decisions I had made all day because Makati Med was freaking cold! :D

Taxi was quick to arrive and we got to Makati Med in no time. Straight to the emergency department. There was a lady and a guy at the counter, and I told the lady all my symptoms, they took blood pressure, and shoved something in my ear, etc. and then the guy asked me if I had taken any medication before coming to the hospital. So I reached into my bag and grabbed the bottle of activated charcoal, and the guy just… laughed? I didn’t see what was funny, but then again, a lot of guys who work in hospitals are usually douchebags anyway – that’s why I prefer female doctors, I feel more at ease with them. They are usually more professional and courteous in regards to how they treat and handle their patients.

After that, I had to go this other counter to give my details and then I saw a doctor. I explained my symptoms blah blah blah and then he told me to sit down. After about 30 minutes of sitting down and shitting myself a few times in their toilet, I was like nigga, I thought this was an emergency department. Why am I sitting down here, suffering without any treatment? But I guess I probably had no right to complain because I wasn’t dying or bleeding to death.. :P

Then I called my mum (overseas) just to let her know that I was in hospital LOL, and at the same time I was hoping she wouldn’t freak out. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I just had to let her know. At the time, I also felt I could really use some moral support.. I was just sitting there on my own, exhausted, dehydrated, sleepy as fuck, constantly gagging (nothing would come out because I literally shat everything out already), and just feeling plain terrible. If only my mum was there beside me :( at the time, that was something I could only imagine, I had no choice but to man up and just deal with it. My mum’s sister is all the way in Bulacan, while my other tita lives in Muntinlupa, and I’m right smack-bang in the middle hahaha. I didn’t want to inconvenience either of them.

I was getting tired of gagging. I would just stand there gagging, and people would just look at me – I probably looked like I was having a seizure or something LOL. I really didn’t care, people staring at me was the least of my worries. I went up to the counter and said “nasusuka talaga ako, meron po kayong injection”. The guy was taking his time preparing all the injections. If I can remember correctly, he gave me three injections. It was my first time getting an injection via my hand hahaha. I’m not really scared of injections, what scares me is the possibility of having an allergic reaction to something IN the injection. Scariest allergic reaction I can think of is probably a seizure – never had a seizure in my life, but it looks scary in the movies hahaha.

The three injections I got were:

1) Plasil (an anti-emetic to stop the vomiting)
2) h2 blocker (blocks histamine2, a chemical in the body that signals the stomach to produce acid)
3) Isotonic sodium hydrochloride (for dehydration / to replace lost fluids)

It was a strange, strange feeling. Everytime he would administer an injection in my hand, I could feel the cold fluid as it entered through my skin, and I could also feel the coldness of the fluid in my skin, but the feeling gradually wore off. I’m guessing by the time it wore off, the vein was already at work, pumping it around my body, distributing it systematically.

Did the injections actually help?

For the nausea, it DID sort of help. I still felt nauseous, but not as much as I did beforehand. I wasn’t gagging anymore, thank God! I could finally sit down in peace lol. =) My stomach also felt a lot more come maybe after 2 hours. The improvement was very gradual – it was improving slowly, but surely. :D

Urine and stool test – Nigga what??

Then the doctor gave me two containers, because he needed a urine and stool sample from me just to make sure everything was ok. Urine was easy. I just drank a lot of water (thanks to Plasil, I was now able to eat and drink without gagging it back up) and then went to the toilet and tried to piss in the container. Got a bit of piss on my hands too hahahah because I can’t aim for shit hahahah. So I handed my piss in.

Next, stool. Holy shit, how am I gonna shit, when I already shat the shit out of my shitty shat shitty bum bum. My ass hole was already so very sore. But I just went in there and forced something out, and lo and behold, a few pieces came out. Then I had to pick em up from the toilet bowl. The damn container didn’t come with a pick!! Improvise Neil, improvise! I used sky flakes to pick up the shit from the toilet. Worked out pretty well. It was a waste of food, but meh, I didn’t have anything else to use..

So I covered the container with a tissue when I handed it in LOL. Pretty embarassing ‘cos they were all gathered up at the counter, just having a random conversation LOL, and I just barged in with some fresh shit, straight from the bowl!! A real conversation killer.

2 hours waiting for the test results…

The test results took forever to come out. I was just sitting there looking all droopy-eyed because I just wanted to go home and sleep. Yeah, then I just slept on the chairs lol.

And WHILE I was sleeping, it just dawned on me that I was putting pressure on my hand lol, meaning blood would probably pour out into the little tube hahaha, but lucky there was a cap =P

LOL!

For some reason, it made me laugh. Baliw talaga kasi ako eh. Then I went back to sleep…

Shortly after, some guy walked past and woke me up and said I could sleep on the bed LOL. WOW THANKS! I didn’t know if I was allowed, or if I had to pay extra, or maybe he just felt sorry for me. So straight to sleep I went LOL. The guy even went out of his way and put the blanket over me. That was a pretty homo moment, but it was nice of him I guess hahaha. ><

Since I had already been waiting for about 2+ hours, the doctor woke me up an hour or so later (around 7 am I think) and told me he had the results. He told me nothing was wrong, the results were ok naman. And then he told me to follow up with a gastroenterologist to be sure.  After reading the results, I noticed it was the stool test that took forever. What were those crazy people doing with my poop? Maybe it stunk so bad, they had to go and find a darth vader mask before examining it.

Makati Med saved my life hehheh.. but also cost me a hefty sum :[

The bill

After that, I asked for a medical certificate and then I was directed to billing. I was a little anxious about how much the bill would come out to be. >< Bill totaled P3,285 

Emergency fee was P630, heplock P315 (thingy stuck in my hand, so they could administer more injections if needed), H2 blocker P556, Plasil P63, Urinalysis P577, Stool test P364, and other random fees for all the stuff they used from alcohol swabs to syringes, and even the cotton? LOL damn.

Well, one thing I always like to say, especially in times like this – it could be worse. And it’s my life and my health after all, I should be willing to pay whatever. But I still can’t help but think how much food and daily necessities I could have bought with that money, if I hadn’t been so stupid to land myself in hospital hahaha. Well, you live and learn.

And the feeling I felt as I walked out of Makati Med’s emergency department, facing the bright morning sun, feeling brand new and ready to rock – Priceless. 

Took a taxi back to taft and went straight to sleep. Woke up at around 1:50 pm and pretty much missed my POLISCI class. We had an exam, but the moment I landed myself in hospital, that was no longer my priority. And I have a medical certificate anyway, so that should be enough for her to give me a make-up exam. =)

Thoughts..

So yeah… huwow! What a day it was hahaha. Probably one of the worst days of my life here as a student. It was a learning experience though. :) My tita commended me for being able to go to the hospital on my own, and I guess after all the crap I had just been through, that made my day.

I feel this, and a whole bunch of other experiences of mine here in the Philippines, have all, in their own way contributed to making me that much more stronger, not only as a person, but as an individual.

Over and OUT.

~ n.

Today I went to Mall of Asia with Gizelle, Jan, Chari, Jac, and Mari =) I first asked Gizelle a few days before if she wanted to watch a movie and eat because it was her 18th, and then I *tried* to organize a day where we could all eat at Yakimix and watch Happy Feet 2 at MOA. When I was texting Gizelle and Chari, it seemed like everything was set and fully organized, but when the day actually came, we ended up late because of me :( Feeling organized hahah, sumablay pa. But I think they know the reason why LOL! =(

Yakimix – Mall of Asia

We still got to eat at Yakimix for an hour or so :) and then we took a group picture afterward, which I plan to put in a frame =) =) =)

Yakimix - Mall Of Asia

I mostly ate Sushi, yang chao rice, the beef slices, chicken, and a bunch of other stuff hahaha. To be honest, I think I ate a looooot more than I thought I’d be able to eat. Everyone else mostly ate the food that was grilled.

Hahaha we were also the last one’s there! We stayed back after closing time because we still had food to finish at nainis na din si Chari samin ni Mari because we took all this food and didn’t even finish it hahahaha! But yeah, we eventually left without finishing the food LOL! At nagalit ulet tuloy si Chari hahahaha

Then we walked to the cinemas to buy our tickets for Happy Feet 2 =) And since we had some time to burn, we walked around and checked out some stores. It was pretty fun kasi hindi ko pa napasukan yung mga ibang store na pinuntahan namin. I don’t really like going into small stores (clothing stores, shoe stores, etc.) because as soon as you go in, all the people in there start looking at you and walk up to you and it gets a bit awkward LOL. =D

While Gizelle, Chari, Mari, and Jac were at the Zoo York store, me and Jan took pictures of…

Exhibit @ MOA

It was really nice =) Could probably show my mum some of the pictures. Matutuwa siguro yun. =)

Then we went into the Zoo York store and looked at some of the shoes. First time ko din sa Zoo York store =D Meron silang buy 1 get 1 free offer! =O

Happy Feet 2

Happy Feet 2 (3D) @ Mall of Asia =)

After that, we went ahead and watched Happy Feet 2. I thought it was really cute, and some parts were really funny too =) While I was watching the movie, I took down some quotes on my phone hahaha and then posted some of them on Facebook when I got home lawl.

Topman & Terranova

Then we went to Topman/Topshop and Terranova and looked around hahah. Was pretttyyy fun window shopping with them =) =) Tingin tingin lang kami =) And then me and Jan talked about Lookbook for a bit too haha =) Then Mari bought some shirts from Topman… probably for a special someone ;)

hahaha! but lucky meron sale. She got 3 shirts for 1,200 I think =)

Epic Taxi Ride

After that, we went to the taxi area outside MOA and then said goodbye to Mari =D So it was just me, Jan, Chari, Gizelle, Jac in da taxi. Most of what I can remember from that taxi ride was everyone making fun of shampoo commercials hahaha. And then when they mentioned that head & shoulders commercial where the girl goes “hmmm… I really don’t know!” talagang natawa ako! :D :D Naalala ko nung dito pa yung dad ko, we used to ALWAYS make fun of that commercial hahaha tanginang commercial yan! HEAD AND SHORDERS!! we would even copy their deep voices and accents.. HERDEN SHAWDERSSS!!! Hangang ngayon, natatawa parin ako sa lintik na commercial na yan hahaha =) The best squashy taxi ride I’ve been in, ever. =) Dito lang sa Pilipinas naranasan ko yan hahaha.

Corny stuff..

I’d say today was, without a doubt, the best day of my stay here in DLSU so far! =) Pero sayang hindi nakapunta si Irvin. :\ If only you guys knew, the random times I see you around campus or spend time with you outside DLSU (especially days like today), have all made being here worthwhile for me. Really. Walang halong biro. <3

So, for that, I’d have to say a big thank you! And thank you so much for coming along today =)

Lastly, Happy 18th birthday ulet Gizelle! hahaha

Stop Following Me! - shirt I saw at Trinoma Landmark

Thought I’d start off this post with a shirt I saw at Landmark, Trinoma. I laughed the moment I saw it.. hahaha :D

Why I haven’t been blogging…

I haven’t made a DLSU blog in over 2 weeks! I just haven’t been bothered – been feeling downright terrible (not really) the past few weeks, and it was a little demotivating because I hate being sick. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, until I gave up and went to Makati Med after 2-3 weeks of trying all sorts of stuff from antibiotics (Amoxicillin), Vitamin C (in the form of sodium ascorbate @ 1000 mg), Zinc picolinate (30 mg), kim chi, coconut water fast, homeopathic nasal sprays, nasal irrigation (making a saline water solution and pouring it into your nose while your head is tilted, so that the water goes out the other nostril), and I’ve even tried pouring diluted apple cider vinegar up my nose with my head tilted back! After 2 weeks, shit son, I felt like I was at my wits end. I gave up – I felt like I tried almost everything I could, every natural remedy I could think of. The last resort was antibiotics (Amoxicillin @ 500 mg, 2 times a day – I like to pretend I’m a doctor), which I managed to get my hands on without a prescription at the Mercury Drug store. The lady at the counter asked what I needed it for, to which I said “sinus infection po”.

After 10 days of antibiotics and feeling like the antibiotics were screwing with my insides, I just sat down and thought “Wow, Neil. You’re Fucked.”  

I hate that feeling. When you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work, and you just somehow reach a point where you’re simply clueless as to what there is left for you to try..

But there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.. :)

I noticed that  I never actually mentioned any of my symptoms – I was at my worst just before bed, and upon waking up. I would constantly sneeze and blow my nose over and over, ridding myself of what seemed like endless colorless fluid. At the same time, my eyes and my face just looked and felt swollen, my eyes would get really itchy and teary when blowing my nose, my ears would constantly pop and make all these weird noises when I blew my nose, and my head just felt really congested and heavy. This would often carry on while in school, but to a lesser degree. I also noticed that I became more sensitive to different smells – the slightest scent of a perfume was able to send me into a sneezing frenzy. I put up with that for about 2-3 weeks and missed out on a ton of sleep because of it – I often found myself waking up in the early hours of the morning sneezing my nose off.

After some research, I found that it might not have been a sinus infection after all. It could have been allergies, specifically allergic rhinitis (constant sneezing and nasal congestion and other symptoms that mimic a sinus infection) because of the mere fact that most of what came out of my nose was clear fluid. Maybe I never had a sinus infection after all. But regardless, I wasn’t willing to go through another round of self-diagnosis, trial and error, and consulting with Dr. Google. It was time for me to see a real doctor. And fast.

Off I went to Makati Med the next day. I saw an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat doctor). He looked into my nostrils with a nasal telescope and then used some kind of vacuum to get rid of the congestion in my left nostril LOL. It felt really good hahaha. When I described my symptoms, he asked me if I was a med student LOL. I didn’t want to tell him that I only know of this stuff from years of consultation with Dr. Google.

He confirmed that what I had was allergic rhinitis mainly on the basis of the clear fluid. He prescribed me Loratadine Betamethasone (oral antihistamine – 5mg, taken twice daily) and Avamys nasal spray (2 sprays in each nostril once a day). And I also got him to prescribe me ventolin and seretide for my asthma.

All in all, the appointment with the doctor cost about P700 and the meds, about P2,400. Another reason why I go to the doctor or a hospital only when I feel like I’m dieing hahaha!

Fast-forward 7 days later…

I finally feel alive. I feel like my life has been given back to me – I wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy (not really).. I just feel NORMAL again, finally! I can breathe properly, no more constant sneezing or congestion, no more itchy teary swollen eyes, and I really can’t believe how clear my nose is now.

But now I’m facing yet another dilemma with my health – I don’t know if it’s a side effect, but if it IS, I’m guessing it’s from the nasal spray, because it’s a corticosteroid. Often times when I used the nasal spray, it would go down my throat for some reason. o_o Lately for the past 3-4 days my chest has been realllly tight, my heart has been racing, stomach pains, headaches, and I’ve just been feeling really fatigued and lethargic. Shit nigga, when one problem goes, another one comes along. But AT LEAST, I no longer have to put up with what I experienced during those 2-3 weeks. If this continues for a few more days, it’s back to the doctor for me! Time to shell out another P700, that could’ve been used for 7 days worth of food. I’m such a tight arse.

Boses Film Viewing

Today we had Anthropology and no JAPALA! Yehey! I was so scared because I thought we were gonna have a quiz on Katakana, but 30 minutes passed and miss never showed up, so we just left. I was soooooo relieved and oh soooooo happy! =) Can’t even begin to explain the immense joy I felt.

Then later on in the day we watched a Filipino independent film called “Boses” at the Teresa Yuchengco auditorium. On my way there, I bumped into Gizelle, Chari, and Mari =) so I just watched the film with them and sat next to Gizelle and Chari. I really enjoyed the film, half of the time I was laughing, the other half I was just in awe at the talent of the little boy and the crazy old man (forgot his name) – they are both exceptional violinists. The audience was also very appreciative of their talent and would often clap during the film.

Overall, it was a touching film about child abuse, and the film somehow made me really appreciate those who play the violin more. It just seems like an instrument that you can really put your heart and soul into playing. I really like how elegantly it’s played – it seems to convey an assortment of emotions, which are then siphoned to the audience if they simply let go of any inhibitions and just open themselves up to it. Allow yourself to become absorbed in the music, let it take you away – it’s like surfing, it’s a nice feeling while it lasts, so just enjoy it while it’s happening. =)

After that I think I bought some Chatime and then went home and farted.

 

K-pop Artists Arrival @ Sydney Airport (10/11/11)

This was a video my sister shot yesterday at Sydney airport, sometime in the morning. It was her first time seeing a bunch of K-pop artists in real life. Since it was her first time, I could probably imagine how she felt, so I’m really happy for her. :) I don’t know what it is about them, but when I first saw 4minute perform at Mall of Asia last February (2010), my heart felt like it was gonna pop out of my chest. I don’t know how else I could describe the feeling. My heart would just beat insanely fast, but at the same time, I felt like I was on cloud  nine. I was mesmerized by their mere presence. “Well, duh Neil, that’s what you’re supposed to feel!” – hahaha I swear it was different! I’ve never fainted in my life, but that was the one time I felt like I was *THAT* close – luckily, I lived to tell the tale ^_^ and I made it home that night in one piece. =P

On the video itself, I find it hilarious how everyone is going crazy hahaha! Only thing that kinda sucks about the video is how most of the K-pop artists didn’t acknowledge the fans – a simple wave would’ve sufficed hahaha cos I’m sure many of them made their way to the airport as early as 6 in the morning, my sister included. I think only 2 of them (Suzy from Miss A, and this guy from B2st) really waved to the fans. But yeah, apparently after the video was taken, my sister said everyone literally ran towards their bus and some innocent bystanders got pushed and shoved out of the way hahaha shit! The whole phenomenon even made headlines on the daily telegraph, news, etc. that’s how crazy it was!

Fah brew, I can only imagine what the headlines were like…

BREAKING NEWS: Asians Gone Wild at Sydney Airport, 14 Bystanders Injured, 2 In Critical Condition

hahahaha..

The reason they’re all there in Sydney is for the K-pop music fest concert, which will ensue tomorrow (12/11/11) at the ANZ stadium. The K-pop artists featured in the concert are  BEAST, SHINee, 4Minute, Secret, CN Blue, Miss A, Girls Generation (*__*), DBSK, KARA and 2AM. My sister saved up some of her pay from work to get a VIP ticket to the concert and she was also lucky enough to win an extra ticket to the concert after entering a contest – could’ve been for me if I was there =( but yeah haha, I’m not really bummed about it or anything, I’m really happy for my sister, I know she’s going to have the time of her life. =) And if anything, I’m pretty sure they will come back to Sydney in future too, or at least I hope so LOL.

This is completely random from what I usually blog hahah. It’s because I really have nothing to blog about these days. Usually if something interesting happens during the day, I jot it down in my book, but I haven’t done that for a while now lol. The only thing I can think of blogging about is my random food trips around Manila. But other than that, lately I’ve been feeling like there’s nothing else I can write about lawl. Writer’s block?

Meh.

Till next time.

 

DLSU Day “I Love You” (143) hahah.

this gonna be a lazyyyy post cos im sick.

ANTHRO

today we had anthropology at 9:40am miguel 310. felt so groggy today fahh. i had really bad hay fever yesterday so what i did was i ate a loooot of kimchi the night before because its high in vitamin C and a bunch of other stuff.. from the cabbage and the peppers, etc. i used to not like kimchi, even when i tried it in korea. i found it to be too spicy, and on top of that, it also had this strange sour taste to it. >< but yeah back when my dad was still staying here with me in the philippines, i would only get sick maybe once every 2-3 weeks? i’m guessing it might’ve been the kimchi we would often eat at dinner as a side dish lol. di parin ako hiyang sa mga spicy food, but yeah, i eventually started to really like kimchi =)  it tastes a lot better when you eat it with rice lol – is that how you’re supposed to eat it? >< lol. yeah last night i ate half a jar of kimchi with rice and salmon hahah my mouth and my stomach both felt like they were on fire but i didn’t care. if that’s what it takes for me to feel better the day after, then so be it (taray~). i woke up feeling a lot better, but still felt shitty hahaha.. ooohh i just wanted this day to end nice and quick!! =)

JAPALA

after anthro i saw chari, gizelle, and irvin on my way to JAPALA and they just asked if i wanted to watch moobee with them. hahah so yeah even though i felt bleh and had that seminar about studying in japan at 2:30, i’d much rather hang with them ahohoho ^-^ ahaha and another thing is, i thought gizelle was mari at first hahah. sometimes that’s what happens >< since i don’t really look at people’s faces, sometimes i don’t know who i’m talking to hahahha. it’s funny i guess. =P

then i went to zaide and ate pork chops with rice and then jobo, goss, and franz came along and sat down =) and goss gave us all some pizza haha thanks goss! =] and then dian and bianca came and dian was talking about some funny stuff that happened yesterday, but yeah i didn’t know what she was talking about because i was absent yesterday cos i was sick lol. then i say gootbye to bianca and leave. had to withdraw shum money from BDO for the movie later LOL cos i only had 100 pesos yo.

JAPALA

We learned some kanji… that was pretty fun! =) and someone asked an interesting question today lol. i think it was mico? or a girl? i dono. he/she asked about the “hon” in nihon because nihon’s supposed to translate to “the sun’s origin” but we were taught that hon means “book”. miss explained that the original meaning of “hon” is origin. so put two and two together and somehow you get “the sun’s origin” or “the land of the rising sun” =D

lol we haven’t even learned katakana yet >< i’m guessing we’re all gonna have to learn that on our own o_o hahah.

Paranormal Activity 3 with Chari, Irvin, Christine, Jenevieve, Yukari

lool i txted gizelle if she still going to watch the movie, but she said she couldn’t come because of kaspil =(( so then i txted chari and asked her and she said she’s still going so i met her at archers place and that’s when i met three other people from LR 39 =) Jenevieve, Yukari, and Christine. ^_^

hmm then we all took a jeep to pedro gil and got off and walked down towards padre faura and then to Robinsons! =) first we ate at Aristocrat i think cos it was near the cinema lol. haven’t eaten in Aristocrat in years o_o the last time i remember eating here was in 2000 or 2001 when i went to Philippines with family for christmas / new year lol. I remember eating java rice with chicken LOL, i was surprised to see na java rice parin ginagamit nila hangang ngayon lol. me and Irvin got the spare ribs. the girls got their food first lol and our food came last =( masarap naman yung pagkain, but a little expensive.

Spare Ribs @ Aristocrat, Robinsons

yeah then after eating me and irvin went to buy the tickets =) and then we went back and everyone paid for da food and then we walked off to the cinema. lol we sat near the front hahah. twas a new experience kasi hindi ako sanay lol nakakahilo kasi especially considering andaming scenes na nakakagulat LOL but hey, we watch horror movies to get scared right? might as well just sit at the front LOL. Then Chari and Yukari came and sat down after buying popcorn LOL and chari kept complaining about how we were sitting too close to the screen because it also makes her dizzy. hahaha tawa lang ako ng tawa.

Paranormal Activity 3

I didn’t watch paranormal activity (the first one) when it first came out because i thought it was lame. I watched paranormal activity 2 here in the Philippines though and i thought “wow ok pala to ah”. but paranormal activity 3 shits on paranormal activity 2 =) mas nakakagulat at mas nakakatakot. there were two parts where sobrang nagulat ako to the point na parang muntik na akong atakihin sa puso! shet -___- the one scene i can remember that shocked me the most was the part where the guy’s wife was levitating and then out of nowhere, Toby(?) throws her onto the camera. I really didn’t see that coming hahaha amputo naman oh! o_o i guess if i was sitting at the back, siguro hindi ako magugulat ng ganon Lol.

hehehe i really enjoyed the movie kasi sigaw ng sigaw si Chari and she was sitting right next to me =) so thanks to her, the movie for me was both scary and funny at the same time hahaha. nagugulat naman ok pero at the same time natatawa din dahil sa mga reaction at sigaw ni Chari. sometimes I even get scared, not because of the movie, kasi minsan biglaan pagsisigaw ni Chari hahaha amputo di ako prepared, so nagugulat tuloy ako hahah but it was fun! I think Chari was the loudest in the whole cinema hahaha. I’m not sure if anyone else in our row was screaming, but I think I heard either Jenevieve or Christine screaming at times lol. =) I think Yukari was the only one from the girls who didn’t really react LOL =o maybe she already watched da movie? o: i dono about Irvin though LOL he seemed pretty neutral during the whole movie hahaha, wala masyadong reaction din LOL.

Paranormal Activity 3 - Robinsons Place

My favorite parts of the movie?

1) The part where the dad has tea with the little girl and he drinks from the toy cup hahahah. I found that scene soooo cute!!!

2) The part where the bed sheet is floating and then drops lawl!

3) The part where the little girl plays Bloody Mary in the bathroom with the camera guy

4) Pretty much all of the parts that caught me off guard, most of the shock scenes

5) The part where the guy opens up this room and finds all these old scary looking grandmas hahahaha! I was like WATDAPAK.

 

I really enjoyed the movie to the point na napapamura din ako minsan hahaha… it’s either shet shet shet or pakshet or shetpak or pakyu or pakshetyu or yupakshet

Then we went down and we went home lol. We all walked down Padre Faura to catch a jeep at taft. While walking, we passed heaps of side vendor shops LOL. I lol’d when I saw someone selling fake cockroaches, rats, etc. I wanted to buy one =( but couldn’t be bothered. then I saw a bracelet LOL. I thought it was for guys cos I thought it was a single bracelet but when she gave it to me, it turned out that the bracelets are all attached, so it’s essentially a long bracelet? it was kinda girly LOL but i just paid for it anyway lol. I asked Irvin what he thought of it, he tried it on, and I guess we both agreed that it would probably be better for Chari so I just gave it to her ^^

Then we went on da jeep and we all got on the elevator at archers lol.

Thank you Chari Irvin Christine Jenevieve and Yukari for bringing me along =) Me had looot of fun..hahah I love watching horror movies with others, so thank you again! =) <333

 

20. Most of my midterms are over so I finally have time to post SOMETHING here hahaha. Hay. Only have a take home quiz for Kaspil that’s due this Thursday, and I think after that it’s all smooth sailing =) I can only imagine how good it’s gonna feel to hand that paper in on Thursday. *_*

Bone bone bone bone bone bone!

FILKOMU Midterm Exam!

Today I think we had the FILKOMU exam. I can’t remember what was in the exam, but it was pretty hard hahaha! Especially the part where you had to sort the words into different categories like colloquial, etc. ahahah it was fun though! I tried to make somewhat educated guesses >.< Now that I remember, for the first part of the exam, you pretty much had to come up with the answers yourself hahha damn! No multiple choice hahaha. You either had to fill in the blank in a sentence or write the answer LOL.

I still remember two answers I wrote…

There was one question about this term that the old Pangulong Arroyo popularized? I had no idea how to answer that LOL. The only thing I could think of putting was “kurakot” lol, so that was my answer for that question.

Then there was another question about a term that is used to described unsung Filipino heroes. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about that one. The only word I could think of was “dakila”. Hahaha anak ng tokwa, I didn’t even know what that word meant, but I just kept saying it over and over in my head and thought that hmmm… isn’t that a good quality about someone? doesn’t that have something to do with being a hero? o__O (I talked to my mum on Skype when I got home and asked her what it meant and she said it wasn’t far off from hero lol… I think it means “great”? oh well, I tried!)

But hey I didn’t give up there…

Hinugot ko ang lakas sa puso ko…

hahaha kinareer ko talaga yung mga extended response questions! =)

I re-read my answers to the extended response questions and I was actually pretty happy with my answers. While my tagalog was probably mediocre at best, I think the overall idea I was trying to insinuate made perfect sense – hahah I usually don’t make sense, I tend to beat around the bush and bullshit sometimes when I can’t think of what to say hahahah. So yeah, I’m just hoping she’ll see past the bad grammar and all that =( She actually left a nice comment on the first paper I submitted hahah, which I found very encouraging =) =)

POLISCI

hahaha laugh trip. everyone gave their presentations about their Utopia’s and the whole class just pretty much turned into a debate session, especially during Marge’s presentation. some people seemed to be a little disgruntled at how their group related the president’s love life (or lack thereof) to him being corrupt or not. iono, somtin like that. Tawa lang ako ng tawa for most of the lesson – I just find it hella funny when people argue, but yeah you can learn quite a bit from listening to people argue and debate haha =) Ms. Teehankee also seemed to be enjoying herself at the back, laughing here and there :D I think I liked and enjoyed the Utopia’s of Vinz and Arvin’s group the most. Laugh trip din yung presentation ni Vinz haha! =)

Learning Japanese with Rizza!

After I ate at Zaide, I went home and rest por a bit then went to Rizza’s dorm, which is near Burgundy taft. haha I saw Lance and Shiori on the way =] I think me and Rizza went through some of the basics and lesson 1 together and I was there for about 2-3 hours o_o Got so into it LOL, my eyes were pretty damn sore when I got home haahha… I probably forgot to blink!

After learning with Rizza, I sort of came to the realization that perhaps the best way for me to learn Japanese would probably be through a tutor? Keeping that in mind, it kind of begs the question; why then bother with JAPALA? I think Sir Richard addressed this already, and he said if you only want to learn the language, don’t take up this course – learn outside of school from a language school, etc. but I guess it’s different if you’re in it for the culture, and more than just the language itself.

I would have to agree with what he said though lol. I mean, I learned more from Rizza than I did in 2-3 JAPALA lessons LOL. And I actually memorized a lot of the stuff she taught me, so thank you Rizza! I think with learning a new language, it’s probably best to learn at your own pace. I find the class lectures to be too fast-paced for me, especially considering that I got into all this with zero knowledge about the language =< hoho

lol was so hungry afterward so I ate at Flaming Wings on my way back home LOL

Chicken Tenders Meal - Flaming Wings (Taft Avenue)

 

Wicked Oreos - Flaming Wings (Taft Avenue)

 

 

PE – 8:00 am

Today started off so… crappy! =) I woke up at 7:20 am, had nothing for breakfast haha (no time), shower, tootbras, put on my PE shirt… and then spent the next 20 or 30 mins running around the place with just a brip and my PE shirt. I couldn’t find my PE shorts! -____- Argghh.. I couldn’t help but think HOW the HELL did those shorts get lost in this small ass room? The apartment I’m staying at consists of a small room, a bunk bed, a cabinet, a small kitchen next to the door, and a toilet tucked in the corner. “Where could those shorts possibly be!?” I didn’t want to go to school wearing just a brip and my PE shorts, so I just stayed at home (I was already 25 mins late lol). Other than a brip, I could have just worn pants instead, but I knew if I went to PE without my shorts, I’d be thinking about my shorts the entire time – it probably would have driven me crazy lol. I hate it when something’s stuck on my mind! Same reason I can’t sleep at night sometimes . :( Hindi talaga ako mapapakali hangang di ko nahanap yung shorts ko. Plus, I’ll need ‘em for the next PE lesson, so might as well find out where the hell they are.

So yeah.. that was pretty sad. :( Missed out on some exercise just because of those stupid shorts, which up until now (16/10/11), I haven’t found. Might as well just buy new shorts from the book store I guess.

KASPIL – 11:20 am

Despite the little fiasco with my PE shorts earlier on in the day, I headed off to KASPIL feeling optimistic that a brighter day would unfold. =) Jhonel just so happened to be late as well, so we walked to KASPIL together and he asked me why am I always late to class. I told him, If a class starts at 11:20 am I leave at 11:20 am haha. I usually arrive 5-10 minutes late and most of the teachers don’t seem to have a problem with that, so it has become a habit for me. I only come earlier than usual if the teacher is strict or if there’s an exam, etc. I don’t know… it’s just this thing… I prefer being the last (or one of the last people) to arrive to class. I’d rather that, than sit there and wait for everyone else to arrive. I’d just sit there, everyone would be talking and waiting for the teacher to arrive. I just find being in that situation awkward as balls sometimes, and maybe even a waste of time. That’s just me. If I lived further away, I probably wouldn’t leave at the last minute LOL – I guess that’s just one of the perks of living besides DLSU, and specifically one of the reasons why I chose to stay here =( Lazy?

Back to KASPIL…. I really enjoyed KASPIL today because our teacher shared some stories about anting-anting (lucky charms) and how some dude in a car survived a grenade explosion!? Crazy. He also talked about spanish colonialization back in the days, how Filipino’s learned English from American soldiers through the old style of teaching (parsing), and how the Filipino’s eventually became so good at English that there’s also a Filipino variety of English called Philippine English. Lots of interesting stuff today, including the rise of Philippine nationalism. Starting to really learn a lot about the Philippines and its history yo! =) Gotta love KASPIL. Y’all ready know what it is~

Lunch time is crunch time!

After class I was so damn hungry, I felt like eating some burger steak from Zaide, so off I went to Zaide!! =) What a pleasant surprise, I saw Gizelle, Chari, Jan, and I think Mari(?) on my way down =) Always nice to see them.

Hmm.. and yup, below is a picture of the meal I had at Zaide lol. Looks good huh? Nice and filling.

 

Hamburger Steak - Zaide Canteen

lol may chillin at agno pa nalalaman. i couldn’t think of any other title for this post haha.

FILKOMU

today for filkomu we watched a tagalog film called “Misedukasyon” and we’re supposed to do a 2 page reflection paper on this film for homework, and it’s due on friday (reminding myself haha). and i think ms. tabernero randomly asked me if i knew some guy called Lester? lol i just said “wala po”. i’m still wondering why she asked LOL. maybe that person has the same last name as me lol. or maybe she was just trying to find a way to talk to me (LOL naks feeler ko naman). hehe i’m just kidding, may boypren na si miss, si Arvin. =)

POLISCI

after that we had polisci. i was hungry and wanted to go down to the canteen at lv 6, but i was like nah… might not make it back in time lol, so i just held it in and let my stomach growl for another 1hr 30 mins hahah. oh and before class, someone said that sir binondo was teaching in the classroom next door, so i just quickly went out of the room to check haha. kinda miss that teacher ^^

lol for polisci today we were discussing communism and a bunch of other stuff and arvin mentioned that immortal technique is probably a communist, to which i agreed because yeah that’s the idea you pretty much get from most of his songs and a lot of his songs are based on the concept of revolution. who knows, one day he’ll probably have enough people behind him to start his own revolution =] learned quite a bit from this lesson, the discussions, and even the little disagreement arvin had with anjo because of something he said. i was hoping i wouldn’t get picked to answer, because while i do find the discussions interesting, i’m really not into politics and probably wouldn’t have a clue what to say haha. i never really cared about politics, i just found it more interesting when i started listening to rappers like immortal technique, jedi mind tricks, lowkey, and a few others. oh and can’t forget CITIGOV and INTGLOS – those two subjects were definite eye-openers in the realm of politics.

Chillin’ at Agno

after class I went down to agno with arvin, jhonel, and mico. got food from one of the stalls at agno. sa 75 pesos mo, meron kang rice at dalawang ulam. there were quite a few choices lol, me and arvin both got sisig and chicken pastel (i think that’s what it was?) and then we just found somewhere to sit down and eat the food. i was pretty happy with the food. =) considering i was really hungry, it was actually really filling! and yeah while we were eating, we just talked about random stuff and some rappers for a bit. i was wondering what other rappers he listens to. lol i think music is actually a good topic for conversation, and it’s especially nice when you find out someone listens to the same kind of music. when it comes to music, i really don’t discriminate haha, i love just about everything from classics (looooove), rap, rnb, opm, country, pop, rock, almost everything except that death metal stuff… kinda does my head in – bit too crazy for me LOL. so yeah s’always good to talk about music! =)

and after we finished eating we just moved to the corner of archers (facing agno) and talked for a bit there too haha. and while we were talking i saw this beauty queen girl walk past with her friend. O__O i can’t remember her name, but i think it starts with an A. all i know is she’s from college of business. she sometimes posts on the DLSU section at pinoyexchange. i saw some of her posts way back before i got into DLSU lawwwl. i was still looking for a condo at the time, and i was asking all these dumb questions because i was a nooooob, and yeah i just stumbled upon some of her posts and eventually found out she won this pageant on TV.. i think it was on GMA or TV5… not sure.. she seemed really pretty on picha, but you always wonder how someone looks in real life, and I finally got to see her today… no doubt she’s beautiful, only thing is she’s not as tall as i thought.. and that’s another thing i noticed in my short time here in the philippines.. there really aren’t many tall filipinas, but there are heaps of tall guys hahah. lol another thing i wanna share is… well another thing i noticed is.. when a girl is the same height as me or taller, parang nakaka-intimidate o nakakadagdag sa nerbyos? i don’t know if that’s the right way to put it, but when i see a girl through a picture and then i see her in real life and she’s not that tall, it’s like i instantly feel less intimidated by her and not as nervous…. i dono i guess i just find tall people intimidating in general LOL..

back home, it’s the opposite.. not many tall guys, but heaps of tall girls. hahaha i think i observe people too much… stalker? but honestly, you can learn quite a bit just from observing people… and it’s pretty fun too. haha i wanna go people watching some day, maybe at MOA… one of those days when i’m bored out of my mind haha.

Sisig and Chicken Pastel with Rice (P75 @ Agno)