I actually forgot my own birthday! I got so busy with schoolwork that I really did forget what day it was hahah ^^0 That is, until people greeted me: my mom, Tin-chan, Tita Pes, Paul, Peter, Camille, Tito Toto, Tita Miles, Guido, Aldrin, Ems, etc...

Thanks so uber much for remembering and greeting me ^^

Guido's short phone call during our duty's lunch break was the best birthday present I received. It's just so nice hearing from an old friend after so long. Kuya, I know I haven't exactly been forthcoming about visiting with you guys from ADMU during the times I get to go to the capital, I'll try to remedy that so wag ka na po magtampo hahaha ^^ Mahirap lang kasi talaga to get away from the hospital and schoolwork. Hay, I can't wait to graduate~!

First week of school was hectic; had our lecture in NCM102 the very first day of class and so far we've managed to finish a 120-pages handout on the neuro and musculoskeletal disorders. We're supposed to have our unit exam next Tuesday, and we owe Ms. De Mesa 8 quizzes this coming Monday, plus the quiz Sir Sese and Ms. Capati still have to give us... that makes around 10 exams plus the unit exam for next week. Great. Not.

We went to Bataan last Thursday for our orientation to the Mariveles Mental Ward. Except for the fact that it IS a hospital for the mentally ill, the place actually looked nice. Mariveles is connected to the sea (I dunno which) and we passed by this road where on one side you could see the beach and a hell of a lot of fishing boats. The hospital's surrounded by mountains, everywhere you turn, there's virtually a mountain in sight, and it's really wonderful though somewhat belittling to look at. The air is crisp and a cool breeze was blowing all the time. If you close your eyes it really is kind of easy to forget where you are; well, at least until an old man singing at the top of his lungs that he's Darna breaks the spell of peace ^^0 We're to have our duty there sometime in January; a three-day duty where we'll be assigned one patient and we'll have to figure out on our own what mental disorder that patient is suffering from.

Oh yeah... my uncle's out of the ICU. He really did have a mild stroke but luckily the clot on his brain didn't explode. I know the operation to take that clot out costs around half a milion... wonder where the hell they're gonna get the money for that? Gah... I'm so bad because I really don't care what happens to him. I'm only remembering coz Mom's hounding me to get dressed now and stop using the computer so we could go visit him at the hospital. I kinda don't wanna go. Hell, forget the 'kinda'; I simply don't want to go. But we're going shopping afterwards so... ^_^0

Ang sama ko no? hahah ^^ Just being truthful here, is that so wrong?

I feel more alarmed that my father would suffer the same ailment as his siblings than the fact that one of them is now at the ICU of a local hospital.

Maybe it is because he was so very mean, aloof and generally unpleasant to my mom and I when we still lived at our old house; I just can’t find enough compunction or sympathy for his plight now. I’m a tad bit worried that he would die, but I don’t think I’d feel devastated if he up and croaked. I just don’t care about any of my relatives on my father’s side that way. They’re not exactly lovable people... gah... what has me worried is that if anything worse happens to him my dad will be greatly affected so that he’ll in turn get sick. I don’t want that. For my dad’s sake, to avoid any chances that my dad would suffer, I pray nothing worse happens to my uncle (what I mean by worse is dead, ok?).

So far, what I heard is that half of his body’s paralyzed, dunno which half though, so judging from that and how they said they found him unconscious at home lying on a puddle of his own urine, I think he suffered from CVA? Plus I know he suffered from a heart condition too. He was kinda stressed out coz of his older sister, my dear old I-still-wanna-wring-her-neck-for-being-such-a-huge-bitch aunt, who he’s fighting with about what else but the title of the land they’re living at. My aunt wants EVERYTHING for herself and her gods-be-merciful-and-just-take-them-off-this-planet kids, my beloved (not!) cousins. So the land title’s an issue for several years now. My dad and the other siblings have claim but they’re not getting anywhere with the discussions because of my aunt and her stubbornness about how fucking “kawawa” she is coz everybody’s against her and all that shit about where her kids are gonna stay if they divided up the land and what not. My dad and ICU-bound uncle suggested that they have the land upraised then divide the cost amongst themselves and that if my aunt wants to stay so badly at their current house, she should just pay up the cost. This is a rather logical solution to the issue but would she agree to it... hell nooooo!! She’d rather have the issue unresolved coz that way she gets to live there for free.

Gah, I’m ranting and wasting time about ‘them’ yet again. I’d really rather not waste another second to them. I practically HATE those people. They’re a nuisance. I could very well live out my entire life without them, thank you very much, and I’d prefer it that way, having no contact with them. Of course I can’t tell my dad that coz he’s bound to get hurt if so much as a whisper of these sentiments reach him, but he knows and understands why I’m not particularly fond of his siblings and his nephews and nieces by them. See? I don’t even want to claim them as my relations. Dammit!

I really don’t see why mom feels the need to help them when the whole lot of them (excepting a few individuals) had been nothing but causes of migraines for us. They practically drove us out of our old home, dear uncle in ICU included, now they come banging our doors in the middle of the fricking night for help?! Fuck this!

I didn’t want this to be my post for the blog... hay. I’ll talk about my weekend at Ems’ place with the gang next time. Too wrought up in irritation right now to post about anything as happy and fun as that outing.

Watched Doom and The Legend of Zorro yesterday; gotta say I liked Zorro more, guess I'm not such a big fan of the Rock.

Watching Doom made me realize why I hate playing games like it, Counter Strike, Halo and all the other similar genre... I get a migraine every time the character runs around those god blasted similar-looking corridors and I just absolutely hate seeing nothing but a gun or whatever available weapon on screen blasting away at whatever monster or creature that pops into view. Just isn't my cup of tea. I like seeing people, I like seeing the character I'm playing. I guess the whole you'll have the feeling like you're the one actually in the game is lost to me. I just hate it.

And the plot isn't at all original. Right off the bat it was so obvious that it's gonna be one of those films where they start as a group then one by one they'll get killed till one or two would end up surviving. The only difference this time is that instead of lovers, the two survivors are siblings; but isn't it so cliche that one of them would be the only girl in the group? And the fight between Reaper and the Sarg... that was so obviously coming right from the start.. hay... what is it with plots where best of friends almost always end up being the worst enemies in the climax? Of course the 'good' guy always wins, gah... whatever.

Suffice it to say that I didn't like the film. I enjoyed watching the trailers more than the film itself.

The Legend of Zorro was a bit better. Ana-nechan was right, Dela Vega's kid was cute and kinda cool coz of his moves. I would probably die of a heart attack if I had a kid like that though... he's just too spunky, but he is still one cute runt.

I liked the horse... I know he was used as a comic relief, but still it was kinda nice that they maintained his character of being a rather difficult but smart animal.

Zorro kept on getting unmasked; which I liked coz Banderas just didn't look too good with a cloth hiding his eyes and hair.

Plotwise, it's the usual evil organization led by a charismatic but slightly demented and deadly though socially well-liked man out to destroy the rest of the world for their own personal goals then battered, bruised, misunderstood superhero out to stop them while saving the damsel in distress along the way, nevermind that this time the damsel in distress was his own wife who divorsed him coz she was blackmailed to spy on the villain. Hmmm, was that spoilers enough for you?

Well I did say I liked Zorro better than Doom, but heck it doesn't make it to my favorite movies and gods-you-should-definitely-see-this-one list; nope, definitely not.

Got this from Charles Tan's blog. It's just too funny not to share *grins* A must for anyone of you who had written/is planning to write/is in the midst of writing a fantasy novel:

The Fantasy Novelist's Exam

My super wonderful (...not! :-[ ) schedule for this semester goes like this:

Monday & Tuesday:
7:30-12:00 = NCM102
1:00-2:30 = Statistics
2:30-4:30 = AsianCiv (categorized as a political science, which I don’t get... actually curious how they’ll teach this one)
4:30-6:00 = Research

Thursday, Friday & Saturday:
7:00-3:00 / 3:00-11:00 = RLE

Can you believe it?! We’ll have NIGHT Shifts!!! Coz of this, mom’s thinking about either letting me board or getting a car. We’ll see what happens. Hope we have enough for a car hahahah ^^ I’d like to practice my driving; haven’t been behind the wheel in more than a year *sigh*

I’m fervently praying that our former Pharmacology professor won’t return for this semester to teach or if she decides to stay on, I hope and pray that she won’t be my professor. I don’t want to rant yet again about her and the grade she gave me; just think like this, if she becomes my professor again I’ll shift to another section and won’t care if they have a worse schedule than what I already have for the semester. I don’t care if I’ll have to be at school by 5am and stay there till midnight, just as long as she’s not my professor I’ll be perfectly happy thank you very much.