What The World Needs Now Is Lau Sweet Lau

This has got to be one of my best birthdays in recent years!!! I’m really happy. This is what bumming does for your psyche.  It also makes you forward the most insane jokes (hi Joel!) as well as the corny overused ones (hi Euge!) in an attempt to run Globe Telecom to the ground.

Normally kasi during my birthdays I get attacked by a bad case of the blues. Like, a birthday Scrooge, in the bah-humbug, feeling-sorry-for-myself-as-i-yet-have-nothing-to-show-for-the-many-years-and-now-i-sadly-have-to-add-on-another  way (although I believe I still am quite young… sa totoo lang, twentysomething lang! Haynaku overused ko na). Buhuhuhu. Like a yearly PMS. It’s unavoidable, unacceptable, and painful. 

It all started, I think, on 10.05.96 (wow isang dekada na nakalipas). And I actually “don’t think” this, I’m quite sure the birthday blues started that year (coz the years before that I’d just go ice skating with my friends Zoe, Lexi and Au and everything was fine in the world… those were happy times).  Hehehe. Talagang masamang-masama ang luob ko that day, for reasons no longer relevant for discussion. If I remember correctly, I think I even had to recite in class pa, and I had to fight back the tears, coz firstly I soooo hate being put on the spot, and secondly, birthday ko kaya noh, and bad trip ako, tas natawag pa, syett. I cried a lot. Hahaha, Hehe, yan pala reason kung ba’t ako nagging j-j-jaded (copyright Steven Tyler)? Nah! Actually that’s immaterial now coz I did cry a lot in high school and even in college. Kadiri no?

1997 naman I think was a turning point of sorts, marami kasing naging plot twists and turns in the TGIS/Gimik/Dawson’s Creek life of our barkada… I was then melancholy, but with a tender, happy ache. Gets nyo bay un? Malamang hindi.

1998 di ko na maalala, but I don’t remember it as having been any fun, so it’s safe to assume that it wasn’t. Same for 1999, 2000… 2001 naman, I remember having cried coz I missed my friends terribly; I was thrown out of my Diliman comfort zone, and had to spend my birthday without trees, with noisy traffic and scary rumaragasang jeepneys…), 2002, 2003, I’m sure na-depress din ako… will have to consult my many journals since then to be able to recreate the kwento. Di ko na kasi maalala.

2004 naman I was upset coz I had to spend my birthday apart from my family and friends, we were up there holed up in the Antipolo wilderness for Comm med. However, I must concede it was happy rin, with our nights of inuman, videoke, carnival hopping, kwentuhan and cooking, playing bahay-bahayan virtually, yung mga hula ni Kuya Andy at ang pagpapasyal sa bahay ni Cuanang at sa maraming magagandang lugar sa antipolo. Those were happy sad times, wouldn’t you agree, friends (hi joel she jay dennis vice Irene Verdi cindy gen Helen jun betsy veej leya pebs jan ab jenny ian ping pat!!! astig wala akong namiss! Hi din to Kuya Mar whose corneas we seared inadvertently, sorry kuya, and Mam Regalado)?

2005 I was at an ugly place, full of bitterness and pain, a sad sad phase of my life. This was the saddest, baddest, hated-est birthday of my whole existence, so far. Imagine mo na lang. My family planned a joint birthday salu-salo for my dad and myself (as we do yearly kasi our birthdays are magkasunod lang). Well san ka nakakita ng birthday party na absent ang birthday celebrant???!!! Kasi nga I was at an ugly place, full of bitterness and pain, a sad sad phase of my life. Nadepress talaga ako. And I swear upon my grave this heartless, heartless birthday crime committed against me would someday be avenged, in some way. Mwahaha. Karma’s been a good friend as far as I know (thanks Jason Lee).  I was sooo depressed!!! Grabe! I was almost pushed over the edge, you know (and it just didn’t start kasi on my birthday eh). In fairness I learned to be a better actress, keeping my depression in check. I became more religious, praying at the Chapel every day, and reading my Bible at the quarters every chance I get. I also became closer to my family at that time, missing them terribly. I was crying during my spare time, I wore black for the rest of the month, and on the last day of the month I wore screaming red and celebrated with my friends our freedom from kalupitan at Pizza Hut. Depression galore. MDD. That I decreed my birthday for that year be held on November 6 (November 5 kasi, may dibs na on it my Uncle Dek). Comm med na kasi ako nun. Happy rin but not as much as the previous years kasi wala ang original Antipolo barkada.

2006 AND NOW…for the best birthday I had in years. I woke up pretty early, as I have to administer my dad’s insulin every morning. After breakfast I started cooking na rin my amazing culinary masterpieces… yep I’m a regular Iron Chef in the making. I made all kinds of pasta dishes… pesto, putanesca, carbonara… and more siomai and dimsum. We prepared grilled steak. Ordered out chocolate marjolaine (it’s very masarap!!! I urge you to try a slice!). Had dinner with my immediate family (plus Tita Mel and Heather my cousin who were nearby), got plus plus plus marks for the food (although baka mabait lang sila kasi birthday ko nun?). Yummmmyyyy!!! Ang only visitors ko are: Chuck, my sister Lei’s boyfriend… Justin, my sister Cel’s boyfriend… and Joanne, my brother Gian’s girlfriend. Wait. O, is something wrong with the picture? Hehehe! Si God kasi eh ayaw pa pagbigyan ang isang wish list ko. Mwehehehe! Btw guys, thanks for the herb plants, the Bob Ong book, and the Egg bag, respectively. Thanks!

Beinte siyete anyos! Dude!!! (pero hindi halata)

The following day my bestfriends and I met up… I treated out my kaladkarenprens to dinner and we had so much fun out videoke, a lashingan night of fun and music, hic, a four hour concert featuring Aegis, Hagibis, Aerosmith (“wacacacacaoooow!!!!”), Wolfgang, the Eraserheads, Parokya ni Edgar. With the special participation of Mr Pure Energy Gary Valenciano, Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez, Soul Siren Nina, and the Backstreet Boys! With many other special guests (Chaka Khan, for instance). San ka pa?! Take that Dong Abay! Hehehe! (private joke ito, and we mean no offense to Dong Abay, please don’t start flaming me Dong Abay fans!!!). Looking forward to the repeat concert this Saturday for Dawn’s birthday. Kaya? hehehe. Hic.

Kaya fun talaga sobra ang birthday ko na ito. Thank you Lord. Sana naman hindi ito ang last, ahehehe. (Rico Yan once made the fatal mistake of saying March 28 2002 was the best day of his life; he died the next day. Grabe. And again flashbacks of the Baguio incidents and kabaliwan over Rico Yan at Sheila’s come to mind… those were fun fun times too…). thus I correct this: This is the best birthday I’ve had, in ten years. Looking forward to more.

I am half tempted to make another Lolit Solis thank you list for my birthday text well-wishers, yet mukha namang nareplyan ko kayong lahat (maski the Smart and Sun ones I texted rin ha!). Except Mario, Cindy, Kat, Michiku who instead sent a PM, na ngayon ko lang mapasasalamatan. Thanks. basta I really really appreciated it. The thoughts and all. I love you guys! Hug hug! the text breaks from my cooking. Ohyeh ohyeh…

Again the adventures of Princess Lau, The BUM, MD, The First

Went to Megamall with my college and med friend Petite A (MD), to facilitate one of our moonlighting applications. Yes, LAUIELAU, The BUM, MD, I (the first kasi si Chatchie yung the second), yours truly, rambling blogger-humorist  has decided to slowly put away the bum title. Baby steps. Promise, I will try my best to find a moonlighting raket (“na simple lang at hindi toxic”) before the year ends.  My friend Pitet and I have made excellent progress and are waiting for the call backs.

It was, also, the day before my birthday, so I treated her out to lunch at Sbarro (si Pitet ang naging date ko). After that, and a lot of walking (and drinking kasi for some reason, recently, I started getting dehydrated easily), I went grocery shopping for my ingredients…

Ingredients, you say?

Yes, Yes, LAUIELAU, The BUM, MD, I, yours truly, rambling bloggist-humorer has decided to take up an interest in cooking. Opo I have been cooking. Partly due to my fascination with the Lifestyle Network Cooking shows during board review (and half of the reason was so I could keep from studying). This is good, because although I know naman about cooking (Cooking Club member, Grade 5 in Miriam Grade School), most of what I know is in theory. I’m putting the theoreticals to good use now.  Sana more opportunities to experiment. Before I thought I wanted to enroll myself in culinary school (and maybe run ito Judy Ann Santos? More importantly her boylets Ryan and Piolo, ehehe! Joke), but I realized I can use the money to buy my ingredients and experiment. I am very well armed naman with beautiful cookbooks and many cooking show hours (units kumbaga sa college) logged in. I bow to the Iron Chefs of the house, my Manang Zen and Mom (I am but a sous chef rising slowly through the ranks). I still adore the Iron Chef people (Trina sweetie, helleuw) and Emeril, pero my latest idol si Rachel Ray kasi she cooks 30 minute meals. Hehehe.

In addition to this, I want to start an herb garden. Para fresh ang herbs! I’ve begun with small potted plants na gift saken ni Leia my sister and her boyfriend Chuck.

Epilogue: my dad is well and okay and is back on his feet (he even did rounds before he was discharged, JP drain and all). His BP and blood sugar (lalo na sugar) still occasionally go haywire, but we’re medicating, so that’s good. I mean, well, I would never wish for those things to happen again, but it has given me another perspective on things, grounded me. And made me realize how much I love my family, made me feel the love all around… the love of my extended family and beyond, yung mga taong kapamilya (at kapuso hehe) na rin namin in every sense of the word… the solidarity, the very essence of family. Ito yung na-miss ko, yung family dynamic, all throughout the cloistered years of med school. I love all of you sobra! Thanks.

In behalf of our whole big family, again again again I’d like to thank, with all my heart, everyone who called, texted, visited, made their presence (and love, concern, support) felt throughout this whole ordeal, thank you very much, and a virtual hug to you all. Di ko na kayo maisa-isa, dami eh, but you all know who you are. Especially to my very good friend Vincent Varilla, who visited sobrang last minute with his mom and Tito Alex. Naks. Everyone, let us all continue praying! Keep the faith!

Ang Milenyo at ang Sigalot II, Ang operasyon (09.27.06)

So… what would normally be a 1-2 (3 is matagal na) hour operation took so so so very long. 

We entered the OR at 12:30, for a 1 PM schedule, but due to technical difficulties, we started at about 2:15 (cutting) already.  And the process took too painfully long. Nainip talaga ako. My brother Gian (a third year medical student) fell asleep. I wasn’t worried at that time naman, chatting happily with my old JIs who were anesthesia SIs now (Miriam, Sheila and Mutya), and seeing that the anes monitor was showing really good, stable vitals and whatnot. However, as the hours wore on, mejo kinabahan na din ako. (Would this convert to open, eventually? Would it? I wondered)…

It took us a record 4 and something hours (a record for Sir’s standards) to finish. Paano kasi, the gallbladder was chronically inflamed, infected, and it was difficult to visualize the common bile duct and cystic duct (the GB was apposed to and lying on the CBD, so, very careful, slow, and precise dissection had to be done. Imagine doing that laparoscopically, mas mabusisi, right?). But, as Sir explained later, he was making progress, millimeter by millimeter, so it may seem, and there was no guarantee that converting to open chole will make the process faster or any less difficult. So he decided to rough it and slug it out with the lap procedure. Anyway, soon, it was “baby out” (hehe, GB out) time na rin, and there it was, my dad’s huge, makapal gallbladder, stones and sludge and all, cold and severed and lifeless on a metal kidney basin. It was through. Thank you God. Things were then looking up.

After that was the slightly less nerve wracking post-op period, but as my Dad was extubated (and emergence from general anesthesia) I felt the most terrible heartwrenching pity for him. He seemed so weak and helpless, gasping and moaning, as if he was in terrible, terrible pain or discomfort. I would not be lying when I tell you this really killed me (naku pano na ako mag-a-anes nyan?). I wanted to cry. Thank God I had Gian (who cut his afternoon SURGERY classes, hehehe, to witness this) right next to me, to rein me in (“kawawa naman si papa ano” “oo nga, kawawa naman ang tatay natin” went our commiseration dialogue… I’m sure he was feeling the same way and we were just drawing strength from each other). My dad later said that he felt no pain, nor discomfort, parang wala lang nangyari. But then again he IS very matiisin, obviously (nurse a stone for half a decade ba naman?, and secondly, having been on general anesthesia does have its potent analgesic and amnesic perks.

Anyway, we were then headed for the Recovery Room. I instructed my bro to unscrub na lang and go to our room, to tell my whole big angkan everything he saw, and reassure everybody that things were going to be all right from then on. I stayed with my dad at the RR, and I woke him up almost instantly. Bruha eh no? Hehe. "Papa Papa wake up!" (shake shake shake)…  "Pa we’ll get Tita Janet to do the histopath ha?" (his moan for a response I took as a yes). Hehe. Of course he felt tired and drained (and thoroughly discombobulated and disoriented – "yes Pa, gabi na… no we did not convert to open… yes Gian and I were there the whole time…") so I had him sleep a bit. My mom joined us shortly at the RR, gowned and all that.

We were set for transfer out to room at about 745pm.

Post-op naman, for the first time in almost half a year, I willingly slept in the hospital again to do bedside duty with my mom for my dad. I’m not sure if I was a lot of help, but I knew my mom needed me, and of course my dad also.I love my parents so so so much, like I’d kill for them and stuff (heck, I love my entire big angkan way too much!), and it’s terribly heartbreaking to see people you love so weak and helpless, especially when they have been there for you all your life, playing the roles of the strong ones, and you were the weak one in reverse. I hate the feeling talaga, thank God tapos na.

So post-op Day 1, we were then at 422, it was the same day Milenyo struck and punished the nation. The power went out (the generator only being able to provide for the lights above us and 1 electric fan), and the awful howling wind kept assaulting the windows (we were on the southwestern-most part of 4 South kasi), really annoying, and I admit, pretty scary. We had to sporadically open the windows because naiinitan yung dad ko, he still had fever — cholangitis kami, right? Which was being kept at bay and restrained by the kyawsandkyawsand-costing antibiotic Piperacillin-Tazobactam (Tazocin) since the day my dad first went in. So anyway, my mom and I fearfully opened and closed the windows, with my mom noting the destruction of the trees and billboards and flying yeros (not sure if the last is true). Horrifying thought. And I was gleefully loving the rain (coz I love the rain!), hehehe, naiinitan nga lang.

Anyway, at around 2 PM, my dad was sleeping comfortably, my mom resting, I snuck out to the nurses station, to read my chart, hoping to catch some friends para makipagchikahan (and I did, with birthday girl Chicanee). I have not been out for very long when a nurse came rushing and saying, “gumuho yung kisame sa 422”. Siempre nagitla ako (naks, nagitla)… "wait lang, kami yung 422"! So I went back to our room, which was hardly more than 20 steps away, and saw my dad, in hospital gown, JP drain, IV lines and all, walking away, quick, from the scene of the disaster. How’s that for early ambulation? It turned out, naalimpungatan sha ng konti when he noticed the square mouldings of the ceiling shaking, moving rhythmically to the accompaniment of the angry winds (“pumapalakpak ang kisame” according to one of our NODs). Buti nalang the GA did nothing to impair my dad’s presence of mind. He got up, collected my mom, and went out just seconds before the ceiling caved in! No joke! I am not making this up. Comedy no?

The ceiling caved in, and my poor parents scrambled out to safety (haler naman, we even had one of the more pricy rooms in the hospital and look what happens?!?! Nakakaturn off isipin, buti na lang UERM’s responsible “for all that we are and all we have…” kaya we don’t think less of it. Milenyo’s fault naman kasi eh). Anyway, we asked the help of the personnel to move out our things, and we were evacuated to 423-A, which was right smack in the middle of 4 South, in front of the Nurses Station.  Every single room at the southwestern most part was evcauated. We spent one very hot, kuryente-less night there (wala kasing windows yung room, and it’s smaller and cramped); the following day we were transferred to 420, which was as big and as good as the first room. Later on, we transferred ulit to 429, which was on the other side of the world, at 4 North (as this station was the 1st one to have electricity, and airconditioning restored!), and this was where we stayed until we got discharged.    

Oh well yun lang. End of Chapter One….

Ang Milenyo At Ang Sigalot

Sabato: My dad was rushed to the UERMMMC on September 23, 2006, Saturday night, due to vague, generalized abdominal pains, fever and vomiting. At ang magaling na Lau ay kasalukuyang gumigimik nung mga panahon na yun sa Makati kasama ng aking good friend na si Sarah Bagsic, among others (where I ate for the 1st time at a truly truly authentic Korean restaurant, not Kimchi or any of the pa-Korryan lang na lugar, a resto with a name I can’t even say kasi it’s in Korryan nga haler? And also did videoke at a truly truly authentic Korean videoke place…. Dig this, majority of the songs were in Korean, pero at least I know some of “I Believe”).  This would have turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since my dad brought home several ampules of intravenous painkillers and anti-emetics (wishing to temporize the condition yet again), for me to administer sana. But I wasn’t home, thank God I wasn’t home, otherwise he wouldn’t have decided to bring himself then to the hospital and it could have been too late!

Turns out, my dad was obstipated for many days na, since oath taking, and nagjau-jaundice (slight lang) na pala sha, which I didn’t really notice, slackerrrr, coz kinda sallow naman talaga ang natural complexion ng tatay ko eh. Hehehe. Anyway, so he was in Saturday night, which I didn’t really notice until very early Sunday morning, when I came home from my gimik.

Basta as soon as he got confined, he underwent many, many lab tests and imaging na ayoko na’ng isa-isahin (cut the medical gobbledygook crap for the interest of my non-med fans, hehehe!). He also underwent colonoscopy (for GI clearance), ERCP with papillotomy and basket extraction of the CBD stone visualized on ultrasound (er, er, gobbledygook, lau). Ang diagnosis ay cholecystitis with cholelithiasis and subsequent ascending cholangitis, and the compounding chuva factors such as hypertension at diabetes siempre. (acute chole on chronic, apparently my dad had been nursing his gallbladder stone for about 6 years na! Aren’t doctors the most matigas-ulo, worst patients ever possible?!).  Many services under Medicine were enlisted (GI, Cardio, Endo, Infectious), as well as Surgery and Anesthesia (oh and Patho rin pala for the histopathology of the biopsies done). Everything was, and is, being done to keep his BP, blood sugar (which are way off the charts!), and the infection etc etc under control. 

It was then decided that the logical next step, of course, was surgery. To remove the chronically ailing gallbladder. We were presented with two options, the open and the laparoscopic approach, and obviously we chose the lap. Low risk naman daw si papa ko as a pre-op candidate according to the medical risk assessment, despite being a Stage 2 hypertensive, Type 2 diabetic for approximately 9 years, poorly controlled and non-compliant to his own meds, and a chain smoker since well, forever, kasi matigas talaga ulo…

The day before my dad’s laparoscopic cholecystectomy, I was a nervous wreck. I slept at 4 in the morning, writing most of the stuff already written here (modified and edited slightly only since it would be posted late). Nakakastress talaga yung feeling, na parang gusto ko tuloy nuon magyosi, which I’ve never even attempted in my whole life (Anyway I tried to sublimate the urge with another bisyo, my bisyo, which is this one. Writing and rambling, er, blogging. Buti na lang it worked, else sayang naman ang aking virgin respiratory tract. Asthmatic pa! So yun lang). I was just really worried. Alam ko namang simpleng simple lang ang laparoscopic cholecystectomy, and Dr. Miguel Mendoza is one of the best in the field.

[Anyway, just to explain things, lap chole has better chances of earlier recovery than open chole kasi small incisions lang, instead of your typical big, talagang-inoperahan-ako-evah-surgical-incision, and makes use of metal trocars inserted into the peritoneum for instruments and a camera (bali papanuorin na lang nung surgeon ang ginagawa niya through a TV monitor). I've assisted in about siguro 3 of these through my 2 years of internship, under Sir and Dra Sagayaga also. May possibility pa ren, as always, for complications, and for the procedure to be converted into an open one midway through the operation.].

So, ayun. I was given the opportunity to observe the operation along with my brother Gian. Prior to that though, I had to experience a gnawing, nakakangilo na feeling of anticipation. I mean, okay, having had my share of seemingly sadistic berdugo tendencies, hahaha,  in the quest for medical excellence during my years of training, okay lang dapat sa aken ito, but it’s absolutely nerve-wracking if it’s someone you love, like really really love, being cut up on the table. Thinking about it just killed me. So I actually had to pray myself into a trance, I guess. I never doubted, and I knew my Dad was in good hands, the best, and that the Lord is the Divine Healer, but his daughter is a breakable creature with a subhuman propensity for freaking out. Kaya tuloy there I was shrouding my fears with humor again (a MATURE self-defense, I assure you. Check nyo pa ang psychology books), many many text messages to summon a cavalcade of prayers (it wouldn’t hurt to have an army of prayer warriors anyway, we’ve proven that time and again).  But the truth of the matter was, it’s not about me, no. It’s about my dad, and consequently, my whole family’s fate, which was now all in God’s hands and His healing instruments.

The Law Of Inertia states that: A body at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an external force.

I rest my case.

Monday:
- attended testimonial lunch by my review class (Quest!), with only a handful of co-Questors in attendance, sad naman (paging Princy G, who may or may not have a friendster account, pano na yung moonlight?!?!)…
- got a haircut at David’s… went shopping…
- attended testimonial dinner with Vice F, Bobing T (and other members of the updilbio dabarkads like Rey L and Rica P), Jay E, Dennis F, Babes T, etc, which was ayus lang, quite boring, not really spectacular… but at least we had picture-picture! That’s always fun.

– Nice quotes:

“You can study all you want but you can’t teach IQ…” – Bobing Tongco, 2006.

(Mabuhay ulit ang updilbio2001 family for the 100%)

"Sorreh sorreh, I do not know what Bobing means…" - classic updilbio quote

Tuesday, Wednesday, Giovedi, Venerdi (you guessed it, from everyday italian): wala lang, carried on with my enjoyable bum lifestyle. Made dimsum/siomai, which was given high marks by my food critics (my sibs and friends).

My oath taking for the physician licensure. I was brought to the venue by my Tito and cousin Pong (who is basketball star and iron chef rolled into one lanky giant), where I had to wait for my mother and my brother, who would be escorting me. My dad would be coming in late, kasi na-late ang flight nya as he was just coming back from a sortie with medical colleagues in Cagayan De Oro.  Anyway, so I sat there, pretty early huh, watching friends such as Ferdie, Tonette, Coe, Ma’am Che Nazareth, Reg my kinakapatid (MD, MD, MD, MD, MD!), etc (MD) sashay past me down the red carpet… and kept on sitting there for sooo long. I waited for close to 2 hours! (okay, yes, that’s rich coming from me the perennial latecomer, pero hello naman, to my defense since I finished internship I’m almost never late for things! :-)) Nakakawala ng poise much, as I had to wait alone texting furiously sa gilid in my Neiman Marcus clothing, Kenneth Cole shoes and Nicole Richie shades (my Kris Aquino syndrome… and im like her, so bear with me, hehehe… banggitin ko na rin ang combination Shu Uemura-Clinique-Lancome makeup? Hehe. Asif sponsored eh! If I had a son called Joshua I’ll be namedropping him too. But I thank my Tita Syl, other Titas, Manang Rochelle probably, coz without their generosity I prolly wouldn’t own such beautiful and expensive things, hehehe). Waiting and watching on the sides of the red carpet.  when I’m supposed to be walking it.  Haynaku .

SO anyway, the oath-taking itself wasn’t really that noteworthy. Aside from the usual speeches from dignitaries all around, we had the pagbibigay pugay for the top 10 placers, the minutes of silence for the late Joram, MD (may he RIP!), and the wakeupper-kahet-papano from the spitfire speechmaker Patricia “Heart” Evangelista (im kidding about the heart of course). Weird nga lang that she’s very young and an undergrad at that, speaking to, uh, slightly less young postgraduate graduates (hoy bata pa ko! Twenty something lang! – thanks again, Kris Aquino)… imagine na lang getting admonitions from your younger sister or something. Anyway, at least she made a lot of sense.

OH wait, what’s noteworthy for me, is that I suffered from an asthma attack, wheezing and coughing (mostly trying to suppress the coughing, but we all know coughing’s one of the three things that rise above the surface the more you try to hide it, eh eh? ) for three-quarters of the whole ceremony. And I so happened to have left my inhaler. And my phone was with my brother who was up in the rafters or something. I managed to calm myself (thanks to my friend and seatmate Mommy G) though sheer willpower. And through sheer willpower, too, I was able to scan the seats and the crowd around me for my fellow asthmatic friend, groupmate and former choirmate and ka-back, Brian D, who was located several rows from us. … all for nothing though, kasi hindi nya naman dala that day ang kanyang supply of medications, even if Bry has saved me, Mix G and Donna C, our other choirmates nung mga bata pa kame, from sure asthmatic exacerbations. Kainis. Hi Bry, and Mommy, Mix, Donna!:-)

My father then texted us that he wasn’t feeling very well, and will no longer catch up with us, as he’s decided to stay at the infirmary.  Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t make tampo, and I didn’t hold it against him. My father was feeling ill, and he needed to rest. We were all supposed to proceed at a Japanese restaurant at the Mall Of Asia.

Prior to that however, was the waste of a lot of precious time courtesy of the ineptitude (plain stupidity) of the (dis)organizers of this event, who saw it fit to hold a mad scramble/mosh pit session, the unbearable cockfight for the physician’s license. Goodlooking people, nay, doctors, in sexy gowns and dapper suits and all, boxing each other out and sharing each other’s sweat (and the whiffs! Don’t forget the whiffs!)… you’d end up all so sweaty and half of the gunk isn’t even yours! All of these could have been prevented, had one organizer summoned enough common sense for the rest of his committee.

Note to the PRC people: First of all, wala kayong ka-siste-sistema. I’m not surprised that there’s a scandal going on. Bulok nyo. License distribution lang yun, my goodness, there are tons of ways to make this simpler, and organized, and less of a headache for everybody concerned. Mag-isep isep please. For my friends in February. And second, super mahal naman ng binayad namin, we expect at the very least a decent, truly formal ceremony. And maybe someone a bit more distinguished – hell, older! – than Patricia Evangelista (whom I have nothing against, I promise. She was good, really good. I just really thought it was kind of odd to have her address us). Thanks.

So we ate Japanese food as scheduled, my cousins, my sibs, my mom, my tito and tita. No traipsing around the Mall Of Asia (so I technically still have to go there) kasi lumulubog daw ang reclamation area and we had to leave fast! Joke. No, we had to leave not cause of some silly architectural rumor but because my tito has a dentist’s appointment and my Dad had to be fetched from the infirmary.

And at this point the story begins…

My sisters and I spent the weekend at my cousin Mariel’s place. We went to the beautiful, beautiful Sonya’s Garden in the Hamptons, er, Tagaytay/Cavite City  (san ba talaga?) after picking her up from her CSA retreat house. I thank my Tita Sylvia and Tito Ric (and Mariel of course, coz she reads this blog palage eh, hi sweetie hug hug!) for taking such good care of us then. Wow talaga! Sonya’s alone was suuuch an experience! I couldn’t get over the inviting scent of flowers, which I would gladly name and group taxonomically had I not been stuck with an algae botany elective, and had the Fates blessed me with the course on more valuable plant life. Valuable in terms of showing off – I mean, really, not a lot of people would be impressed if you spouted out trivia on the numerous lumot and flotilla swimming in the esteros and canals of your barangay, pero asteeg for the trees, the shrubs, the vines, tsaka the flowers… I mean, plant forms you’d willingly grasp, take pictures of, or stare at (and smell and put in your hair, in the case of flowers).

SO where was I again? Okay, Sonya’s, right. Yah, the garden scent wafting in the breeze pa lang, panalo na… And yet even the food was heavenly, fresh and healthy and flavorful. Salad and pasta and bread and pate and fish and many other glorious things! Images of the Barefoot Contessa’s garden brunches, although now definitely NOT free, flit into my mind.  Wanna go back… wanna go back…  (taraletstarataratarataralets?)

This is part of what I initially wrote, for blogging sana on October 3, 2006…

Just as our poor kawawa country has been ravaged and beaten (“bee-uhn” – Sam Oh) by the horrid typhoon Milenyo, a challenge has befallen our family… and just as the storm left our tropical skies, our family crisis also came to an end. For this, I thank every single soul who said a prayer, muttered a word of concern, texted their caring thoughts for our family, or in every little way, showed their support for us… salamat.

Okay, for the uninitiated… Flashback!

I was at UP Diliman (as always. 2nd home diba?) because I mailed a letter to my friend Sheila and went book-hunting at the former Greenhouse to buy myself a birthday present. So I was at the SC, typing away (wala pa kasing internet ulit sa house), when suddenly… boom! Brownout. PI talaga, majorly, coz at that time I was already halfway through finishing my latest blog. So, since obviously the entire UP system has been crippled by the power shortage, I decided to go to SM North Edsa, at the Cyberzone, to continue my internet business. This was at a place na mahal pala ang charge for internet rental, gagii (not Netopia, which was full of gamers, whaddyaexpect… twas something else… di ko maalala, but it was near Mc Donalds). So there I was, again, typing, typing… until something really went awry, and I was sooo not in the mood to start over (for the 2nd time in a day). Kaya I just walked away and resolved to blog everything, every single thing that at least I’m not ashamed to share, hehe, in one tell-all blow, one episode. Which is this one.

This was the same day I rode a cab with a freakishly conio driver. My best friends know about this but could i leave my fans family and other friends out? Siempre hindi. Lemme check my sent text messages… ok there, October 3, 2006. Digression in order… I got off a conio cab with a conio driver. It was sooo wow, I was super impressed. A souped-up car (don’t even try asking me what car it was – you can ask my kid bro Diego, that Gran Turismo/F1 whiz, for that — since I know no zilch about them, but all I can say is that it… was… white. And nice. Remember, cars and Lau don’t mix.  In fact i was never the type naman to get impressed by cars — "wow ang gwapo ni blank, ganda ng kotse!" is so not me. I’m gonna quote Kuya Carlo on this, I’m more like, "wow ang tangkad ni blank, he’s so cute!" hehehe!), so neat and bango. His phone was a high end Sony Ericson, I think, the sound system was really wow, too, something I-Pod like, although I really didn’t find the apple logo after much squinting, with kick ass speakers. Galing galing talaga. Something like bossa nova-ish, cool, chill music was playing in the background.  But all that wasn’t what shocked me. It was the driver’s coniotic ways, the boses with the shlight lishp and nuances and all. And good enough English grammar, peppered with the coniotic Taglish here and there, when he was talking to his girlfriend on speaker phone. C’mon man, that has got to be a practical joke played on me by a TV show, right?! Well, wrong! I got off without incident, and I had to pay for my fare. I was half expecting Michael V – no no not Ashton Kutcher, although that would have been sweeeet! – to tell me I got punk’d, or yari ako, or wow mali, and hand me back my money, and I’d be overjoyed coz Bitoy’s easily my favorite Pinoy comedian of late. But then again Bitoy doesn’t sound coniotic, does he?  To end it all, well, we did not live happily ever after… and I didn’t even see if he had a cute face to match the wow car. Sabi ko nga baka Piolo Pascual in the rough. Darn it.

(thanks to saved sent messages, I can remember things like that. Now im starting to think of saving all of them, in the hopes that someday when I’m famous I might need to cannibalize pieces of them for autobiography. Hehe. If anyone knows a computer application for me to download text messages into my computer, lemme know… I know DB knows of something…)