Multiple Entry

I haven't blogged for a while, Dennise is giving me the Evil Eye all the way from Germany and I heard that once an evil eye passes over the Berlin Wall, it increases its power tenfold. That's how Sauron did it.

I initially planned to make several entries but it would look kinda stupid to have like, 5 entries all in one day. So, I decided to make one blog entry a conglomeration of several events.

Or maybe I just wanted to use the title Multiple Entry. With the double entendre and all that jazz. I got my mind in the gutter and the gutter in my mind...


... per orem: Me and My Big Mouth
Sometimes, an unplanned trip comes to fruition more than a trip scheduled months before. I decided to go to Davao for a 24-hour vacation in the space of a few minutes a mere 2 days before I was scheduled to leave. This was my first bus trip to Davao and by far, the longest bus ride I have ever had to take, the trip taking 8 hours and all that.

Lately, I find myself doing things I would have never done before. Like taking a bus trip to Davao on a whim. Or purposely seeking alcohol on a Sunday night in a strange city with newfound friends.


I had consumed alcohol in the form of tequila shots like a month ago. I got decently drunk but I wasn't loud LOUD. Just laughing at the tiniest things, grinning like a fool, speaking slower than usual... But in Davao, I had just heard bad news so I guess I was a teenie bit... how do I put this... audibly amplified.

Strangely, still no hangover. Maybe because my liver is still perfect from all those years of alcoholic abstinence?

And check out the pitcher of mai tai. Half of that was circulating in my blood stream, loosening my tongue to talks of obscenities and goddamned liars.


... per rectum: The Ass (previously entitled "Up Yours.")
While I am not a fan of on & off relationships (Read: A breakup is FINAL and IRREVOCABLE.), I prefer to be, at the very least, privy to the truth. But I guess you can't help it if lying sons of bitches still roam the earth.


... per nares: Swab It Like It's Hot
Everyone's all a twitter about this influenza scare (Influenza A(H1N1)) and even though there hasn't been any confirmed cases here in Cagayan de Oro, DOH mandate requires all the hospitals to have some sort of countermeasure to this pandemic. So, anyone who so much as coughs nervously (while having a fever... hee.), and has a history of travel to a contaminated area, gets the immense pleasure of being probed.

In the nostril.

Like this. Try that on me and I swear, I'll sneeze you out into the next millenium.


... per tracheum: To Tube Or Not To Tube
In the course of medical treatment, there are many factors that hinder ideal medical care. Sometimes the proper equipment are not available. Other times, you are unable to get your hands on the best medications.

But other times, it's the patient that makes it all that much harder for you to give the proper management.

Take the time when we had to intubate a patient because his oxygen saturation was dropping fast and the dialysis he needed badly could not be done ASAP. He was out cold when we intubated him and once the tube was in, he started improving. O2 sats were picking up, gradually regaining consciousness...

Then, the unthinkable happens.

He yanks out his endotracheal tube.
Not to worry. He passed out again but this time, his oxygen saturation remained stable enough for us to send him to dialysis. I just hope he didn't yank out his IJ catheter when he woke up in the dialysis unit.


... per cardium: Amor... Si Me Llamas... Amooooooor
Okay. So maybe the heart isn't an orifice you can enter but I ran out of appropriate holes. And no, per vagina is not appropriate.

There are many things in life that bring me pure joy. Things I work hard for to achieve, lose sleep over to acquire, sweat blood for to hold in my arms...

I finally bought myself a new laptop.

Ah, sweet young love...

Choco Banana Dreams

I might have mentioned that I went on a 4-day roadtrip last December. I've put off writing about it because I needed time to think about what I would write so that it wouldn't sound so much like a documentary. Then, I decided to just upload the music we played during the roadtrip and make it a ROCKumentary.

I'm kidding.

Always wanted to say ROCKUMENTARY. And SMACKDOWN. And BATTLE AURA. Doesn't bode well for 2009.

Aaaanyway, I'll try not to sound like Discovery Travel and Living. But I will have to use adjectives, proper nouns and pronouns. Some superlatives here and there.

It was supposed to be a 5-day roadtrip but it got delayed by a day because Earle (owner of wheeled conveyance) had to work. We were in the outskirts of Davao City by nine in the evening so we had to eat at a roadside eatery. They were about to close and had nothing else to offer us except fried catfish. A lot of fried catfish.

(Clearly, there was more than enough catfish to go around.)

Then an hour of hotel hopping and finally, we checked in at MY HOTEL. Yeah, not very imaginative.

So, 1 day spent on the road, eating a gazillion catfish and sleeping in an unimaginative hotel.

Ooooh, forgot to put down the roadtrippers.

(Earle with the head on the table, Paulo standing, Marisse the girl,
Ramon the vile friend. LOL! I'm behind the camera.)

Earle: The Driver
Unfortunately for him, nobody else knew how to drive so...

Paulo: A Man of Few Words
But he's starting to open up. He answers to direct questions. Formulates sentences...

Marisse: The Churchgoer
Seriously, even while on a roadtrip, she got up at 3AM to attend the dawn mass.

Ramon: The Adorably Vile Friend
No roadtrip is complete without criticizing other people. Whether they be pedestrians, people we actually know, or the person sitting beside you in the pickup truck. And Ramon is the king of bashing.

And then there's ME. Roadtrip DJ. Hey, they might not have liked every song but I'm sure it was a multilingual cultural musical experience.

Okay, so Day 2. We were in search of the legendary white beaches of Glan. First time I've heard of it. Sounds like something from Lord of The Rings. "Arwen Evenstar met Aragorn in secret at the legendary white beaches of Glan."

(It was raining a bit and since it was nearly nightfall, we left after an hour.)

Well, this beach was not found in maps of Middle Earth. It was apparently somewhere in Sarangani, past seven mosques. Pretty much like Boracay. Minus the people, restaurants, hotels and gift shops. And boats, sandcastles, beach flags, photographers, tattoo parlors, ice cream stands... Okay, so maybe it's just the white sand. But it's actually finer than the sand in Boracay. Earle, Marisse and Ramon were exfoliating with it.

I'm getting distracted. Watching The Nanny reruns on Hallmark.

We spent the night at Sydney Hotel in General Santos City. We also went to Fagioli where I found my Choco Banana Dreams. Not much of a coffee person but I tend to frequent coffee shops for their non-caffeinated drinks. And the Choco Banana Fagiofrappe at Fagioli was awesoooooome. Which is why I had to have another one the very next day. Which led to Ramon's taunting that if we didn't go to Fagioli, Earle would be crushing my Choco Banana Dreams. *snerk* It was kinda funny. There were other coffee shops in Davao City (Firenzo, Blugre) but nothing came close to my Choco Banana Dreams. *drool*



Swerving back to topic. Did I mention Ramon's been vomiting throughout the entire roadtrip? *evil laugh*

During our last night in Davao City, we had dinner at Yahong while Marisse went to some sorority party. The girl managed to bring a dress and a pair of heels in her backpack while I had nothing but slippers in my big ass SUITCASE. Only proves that just because you're friends, it doesn't mean you have the same priorities in life.

Anyway, after dinner, we all met up at Firenzo (coffee shop) then went to Rizal Promenade, this place with bars and a live band. Also where I encountered the pitcher of mai tai. (See previous slightly drunken post).

Jeez, it's the 6th The Nanny episode in a row. There's a marathon?!

I'm not sure if this is exclusive to Filipinos but here, when people get drunk, they go somewhere to get soup. Go figure. So we did get soup at this place called Bulcachong. Catchy.

Then we went back to MY HOTEL and my slightly under the influence self read aloud my letter to Ramon in high school. Always nice to see evidence of my craziness during my tender high school years...
After a 6-hour trip the next morning, we were back in Cagayan de Oro. With no Choco Banana Dreams.

Tipsy

I'm currently on my Mindanao roadtrip right now but we'll discuss enough of that in a later post. Topic for the moment is my current state of inebriation.

Well, I'm not drunk yet but my balance is off. Cognitive skills still intact although balance has been compromised. And this is all the mai tai's fault.

You see, we were at this bar/club 183 in Davao City when they served this pitcher of Mai Tai. I'm really not much of a drinker but it was yummy! And as I usually do with yummy things, I stuffed myself with it. Seven shots in near rapid succession. I really didn't feel a thing at all. I might as well have been drinking water.

That was until 30min later when we transferred location when I felt like I was tripping all over myself. Minute movements could make me fall. This was when I realized that for the first time in my 26 years of existence, I was tipsy. Slightly under the influence.

So, I blogged. To immortalize this rare window into my slightly inebriated cognitive self.

Yup, still crazy-weird.