Dear Present Self...

 While I was cleaning earlier, I found this letter I wrote maybe when I was in 3rd Year or 4th Year College during one of our recollections. I will spare you the burden of reading it 'coz of my illegible handwriting haha, so this it how it goes:

"Dear present self,
Hello :D !
I know you are enjoying your life now. You are not stressing yourself too much and that's good because you are happy doing it but be sure to know your priorities first but I know you are good at multitasking and great at cramming :D. Love yourself before you love others too much. Treasure you friends and of course your family. Don't regret things that make you happy. Enjoy life. Laugh always. Let God lead your journey to the finish line. SMILE. :) Don't rush.
Much L<3ve,
Jean Michael L. Castillo
:)"

I found myself smiling the first time I read it. I realized, I didn't changed that much since I wrote that letter. I'm still a happy-go-lucky person. I do not stress myself on petty things. I still cram, cram, cram. I think this letter still applies until today. I must know my priorities to achieve my dreams but of course achieving my dreams won't be fulfilling without my treasured family and friends, and reaching the finish line will be impossible without God' guidance. Thank you Past/Present self. 

Snapshot | Shroud of Darkness

06|13|13

Life may bring you many grey clouds, but remember around every grey cloud there is always a silver lining.

- Old One TTM

Last Minute.

Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC). Never imagined I would go to this hospital for my internship. I only considered 2 hospitals after successfully passing my 4th Year 1st Semester and heck JRRMMC wasn't even on my top 2. It was only in that last minute during enrollment when my usual indecisive self kicked in. I began having doubts whether to pursue on my decision to enlist my name on Delos Santos-STI and only in that time that JRRMMC popped into my mind. 

I've heard so many things about these two hospitals from higher batches who has finished their internship from DeLo and JR. To summarize things, If you want to have your internship in a toxic-free and clean setting, choose DeLo but if you want to stress yourself with tons of workload, practice near a -not-so-safe-vicinity, and eat MNM for lunch, btw MNM stands for (Mura na Madumi pa) as my professor told us before, choose JR. 

Realizations came pouring in that very minute. I told myself (or maybe God said it to me I don't really know haha), "Anong gagawin ko sa DeLo? Tumunganga? Tatambay? Magiging decoration?" Then it became clearer to me that JR is the right choice. I already stressed myself during my undergrad years, studying those core subjects (Hematology, Clinical Microscopy, Clinical Chemistry, etc..) and again I told myself or God maybe, "Why not put it to good use? Why not choose a hospital where you can practice it thoroughly?"

And that was almost 7 months ago, I've already gone through 5 posts (Clinical Microscopy, Clinical Chemistry, Bacteriology, Hematology, Blood Banking) and I am currently in my last week on my 6th post, Histopathology. My days as a JR intern is coming to an end  and I can proudly say that choosing Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center's one of the best decisions I made in my life.

 P.S.(I'll save my experiences and learnings from each posts and JR for a later post, one is not enough).

Early morning thoughts.

I've graduated already like 7 days ago but I don't feel like being one, maybe because I still have at least 3 weeks of internship to finish and boy time moves so sloooooooooooooowwww! But I'm happy that I still have this business to finish because this internship is giving me 3 weeks more to delay the problems that a graduate usually encounters. 

3 weeks from now I will be enjoying my temporary break, a break from all the mind breaking acads, all the extractions, all the follow-ups, all the sleepless nights, all the blood typing and cross matching, all the bitchy nurses every morning, all the toxic doctors. Internship will end and my mind and body will at last be given enough rest for extensive reviews for the board exam.

3 months from now I should have passed the Revalida. Still having reviews for the board but of course having some enjoyment in between. 3 months from now I will be a teenage no more.

3 years from now I should be a RMT, ASCPi already. I should already be in my 2nd Year or 3rd Year in Medicine. Maybe I will be wearing reading glasses already because of too much reading, reading and more reading. Love life rarely comes in med school I heard so I;m not getting my hopes up. Still single but happy and focused.

and it will be 3:00 A.M. in the morning 30 minutes from now. Oh I hate it when my mind wanders too much in the future. I want to take it slowly. One battle at a time. I need a cup more of motivation, 1 gallon of inspiration, a pinch of love, a tablespoon of luck, tons of kilos of hard work and with God's continued sprinkle of blessings, I will reach my goal. 

Lokohan Ng Sarili 2013

This is my own version of the yearly "New Year's Resolution" where MOST of the time isn't successful maybe because you got lazy in the middle or you're just plain lazy and many more reasons, valid or not, that you failed to do all your resolutions in the past year. I just hope I can do at least a few of these things in my list this year.

 1.) STUDY HARDER.

When it comes to studying, I really can't help it but slack off. I study BUT when I know that I learned just enough to pass, I stop. So this year, I'm going to be more efficient in studying because I'm going to take my Licensure Exam this September 2013 and not only hoping to pass but hoping to TOP it. Anyway, who doesn't want to top the Board Exam?! :))

2.) EXPLORE NEW PLACES.

I've been to many places last year. Went to Baguio and celebrated the Flower Festival there last February 2012. Went to Subic to experience the ZOOBIC Adventure and enjoyed my tour in Cebu and Bohol with my closest HS friends. This year I want to explore places I've never been to. I want to go to other countries too.  Places on my "Travel List" this year: Palawan, Bacolod, Ilo-Ilo, Batanes and Singapore. 

3.) MAKE EXERCISE A HABIT.

I want to shed a few pounds, be healthy and monitor my diet. Plain and simple.

4.) COLLECT & READ MORE BOOKS...

and blog about it. I must read at least 20 books/novels this year. I want to meet new characters, enjoy new plots and adventures, whine and appreciate the endings. I also want to add at least 50 books to my growing book collection (160+ and counting).

5.) BE ORGANIZED.

Burara ako and I need to change that attitude. 

6.) SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Every minute is special so spending more time with my Family and Friends will make it extra special. 

7.) SAVE MORE.

How can I travel and buy books if i don't save MORE money? 

Lastly

8.) Enjoy What Life Has To Offer

Live. Laugh. Love. Pray More. Complain Less. 

WELCOME 2013!

Student Life | Internship Jitters

After using millions of neurons, reading TONS of notes and understanding each of them, enduring (not so) sleepless nights and the countless venipunctures, I can proudly say that I SURVIVED the most difficult 2 semesters of my academic life! The journey wasn't easy, most of the time I was either scanning my notes, studying for a long quiz, reviewing past lessons, making assignments or just having the pleasure of sleeping after a very long day at school but every effort was worth it because I passed all my subjects and tomorrow will be 1st day of my Internship as a Medical Technology student at Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

And now I'm freaking the hell out because of it! I don't know what to do when it actually starts. I think being this nervous is just normal for starters. JRMMC (correct me if I'm wrong) is the second largest public hospital here in PH so I am really pressured to do my best in this hospital. I'm imagining a lot of blood and not to mention gallons of urine and different types of stool samples. Patient interaction isn't a problem because we MedTechs do not deal with them often. Tomorrow will just be an orientation so I think we will be toured there by our Clinical Instructor and then we will be assigned to our post this week and I hope I will be assigned in the Clinical Chemistry lab. 

The bright side is lesser neurons will be used and sleeping late won't be a problem except for 16 and 24 hours duty. Good luck and God bless to all my co-interns!

I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.I'm so nervous.

Movie | Recently Watched

My summer class just ended a week ago and a way to keep me busy this after that is watching new movies. So this past 3 days I've watched two movies, the first one was the movie "Gone" starring Amanda Seyfried and the second one was one of my awaited movies this year, "Snow White and the Huntsman" starring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Thor....I mean Chris Hemsworth but he will always be Thor in my eyes.  

"Gone"

I was expecting this movie to be good because of the trailer but *sigh* it did not reach my expectation. Just like Randy Jackson said to Jessica Sanchez when she sang "I'll Be There", I was waiting for a "moment moment" in the movie but it never gave me that "moment, moment". Lame story, no remarkable twists, it didn't gave me the "oooooh" and the "aaaaaah" and I was like "JUST LIKE THAT?!" when the movie ended though I was happy because its as if I've rented the whole movie house for the two of us who were there. HAHA! Don't waste your money watching this! 

"Snow White and the Huntsman"

One of my anticipated movie this year that is why I watched it on its opening day. All I can say is the mirror must have been high! IMO Queen Ravenna is much gorgeous than that constipated Snow White even if the queen does not have a hair black as night, lips red as blood and skin white as snow and watching Thor wielding an axe is just awkward, he should have brought Mjolnir and ended the war easily so that no lives were sacrificed. The movie is really nice and you must watch it if you have time!

 I found this edited poster of the movie in 9GAG and it will somehow show you what I see while watching the movie.