Tao: Anong year mo na?
Ako: Third year na po.
Tao: Ano course mo?
Ako: Public Health po
Tao: Ah... Public Ad... so pagkatapos mo iyan mag-lo-law ka?
Ako: Hindi po public ad, Public HEALTH.
Tao: Ah... so pagkatapos mo iyan mag-me-med ka?
Ako: Um... opo.

Sige na... hindi mo na alam kung ano ang Public Health. Kasi naman eh napaka-low profile ng degree program ko. Ayan tuloy hindi alam ng tao kung ano ba ang inaaral namin. Siguro mabuti na rin iyon para masiguro namin na ang tanging nasa field ay ang mga desidong isulong ang mga layunin ng Public Health pero parang ang kaawa-awa naman namin 50 lang kaming BS Public Health at mga 200 lang ang grad students, eh ilan na ba ang tao sa Pilipinas? Paano naman namin magagawa ng maayos ang(magiging) trabaho namin eh ang walang pake alam ata kahit ang mga health professionals(tulad ng mga nars at doktor) sa Public Health? O baka nag-i-ilusyon lang ako.

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Dapat tigilan na ng DOH ang pagsuporta sa STAR margarine. Alam naman nila siguro ang mga health risks ng pagkaing may trans-fat eh(malamang, trabaho kaya nila iyon). Isa nga ako sa mga nabiktima ng margarine craze noong bata ako. Wala naman siguro masyadong malaking effect iyon sa akin kasi hindi naman ako na-adik sa margarine pero paano na ang ibang tao? Mahirap na nga sa Pilipinas, ang dami na ngang nagkalat na infectious diseases, kung anu-anong parasites at mga pulmo-respiratory diseases dadagdagan mo pa ng Cardiovascular diseases? Paano na ang mga Pilipino?

Siguro, ang bilang pampalubag loob, iisipin ko na lang na ka-kaunti lang ang may kayang bumili ng margarine dahil kailangan pa nila bumili ng ibang pagkain. Pero parang mapupunta naman ako sa ibang problema, noodles. Noodles! Noodles! Adik ako sa noodles pero nabasa ko na ayos lang kumain niyon basta may pagitan na tatlong araw para naman maalis ng katawan mo ang ilang undigestable na components nito. Karamihan ata ng mahihirap ito ang pagkain kapag kinakapos at malamang hindi na nila iintayin pa ang tatlong araw kasi gutom na nga sila. Hinde pwede ito!

Syempre lahat ng problemang nabanggit ko problemang nauugat sa Public Health. Mukhang tatanda at mamatay nga ako ng maaga. Joke lang! Magiging mahaba ang buhay ko.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yey! I got my copy 10 minutes earlier than expected. The book store was supposed to open by 7 am but they didn't, they were open by 6:45am! Yey! I didn't start reading there anyway. I started reading at around 7:30am and finished at around 3:15pm. It was good. The Mugglenet people did a very good job predicting some of the things that would appear in this book like the psyche of Snape and the plans of Dumbledore but the novel contains much more that I didn't encounter in the essays that I have read and I do not think any thought of it. Any way, I was not entirely happy with the romantic pairings at the end and JKR forgot to mention Luna in the last chapter. Maybe we could ask her to post the story of Luna in her website or blog.

As for my future reading material, I just hope the last Wheel of Time book gets finished before Robert Jordan dies. In the mean time, I'll be sinking my nose into my textbooks. This sem has really been harsh on my reading time.

I want it to be Saturday tomorrow. The primary reason would be it is because Saturday is the release date of HP 7: HP and the Deathly Hallows(yeah!). Other reasons are three things that are going to happen on Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow: 1st test in Microbiology Friday: Handog sa Freshie + another dance immediately after. Both very important performances and I'm still not confident we'd do it as properly as we could and should. Still, I must fight and move forward! I can do this! We can do this! Aja!

Please beware of Tam Mateo, ND(not doctor) and his proposed "cures" for diseases.

I know if his curse oops... cures don't work, then why does the ABS-CBN let him talk to the public in many of their shows? Well, I don't know exactly but you might notice that many of their sponsors are Alternative Medicine/Food Supplement companies. Anyway, please beware of him. Do not trust his medical and scientific claims. They are mostly lies or half-truths.

RBC's don't produce the ATP supply of the whole body(each cell usually produces ATP for its own use). Enzymes from veggies are mostly enzymes for veggies not for humans. And they most probably end up as amino acids(the building blocks of enzymes) and not absorbed as the the intact veggie enzymes. A vegan diet would probably help your bowel movement(all those fiber) but it is not a cure for any disease much less breast cancer. Cancer is not a disease that can be cured by strengthening the immune system(except maybe Cervical, I'm not sure). Tumors are cells of your own body therefore the WBC's wouldn't destroy them because they recognize them a as part of your own body. Fine, follow the fucking diet regimen but do not stop taking the chemo.

I first encountered him on the radio. He was in a show with a licensed MD. The MD was stupid, really! I think her license should be revoked and she be forced to take basic biology again. And he, he was just unbearable. True, most of his cures will probably be harmless but he seems to like saying to people to stop using conventional(proven) cures like chemo for cancer and instead use his naturopathic herbs. Then, I saw him again this morning on Salamat Dok. I feared for the worst since he was talking about Breast Cancer cures. HE had the audacity to say that his all-veggie diet can cure breast cancer. Shame on ABS for not researching properly! A simple google search on naturopathy will lead them to quackwatch and other sites that will provide them sufficient knowledge on the quackery that is naturopathy.

Okay. I sucked at my physio exam. Oh well. I guess I shouldn't have spent the exam time doodling. Yes! I actually spent exam time doodling. Heck! I couldn't answer some of those questions even if I think until my brain explodes. In any case, I would try to perform better at the others tests at least I now know that many of the questions they ask are trivial in nature. I know I should have mastered anatomy before studying physiology(and it cost me at least two questions) but why should I remember the surface area of the lungs? Why? Why? Shouldn't they have asked more questions about the control and process of respiration, digestion and circulation? Why! Still, I have 2 exams(I think) to look forward to and I could always take the final exam to try to increase my grade. I know grades aren't that important but I want to go to med school and grad school and good grades is a must to get into those schools.

I guess, I should just comfort myself with the fact that physio is only 2.5 units and I could still focus more on anatomy, biostatistics and microbiology. Well, we had the 1st exam in biostat and next week, we'll have the other two. I should try to do really well on those two subjects. Besides, I want to do well since it would test my mastery over those subjects. And mastery is important.

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HP movie is out and I haven't seen it. Maybe next week after I'm not so busy. I know I will probably hate it but I saw one clip and it seems to be more promising than the other previous movies. I hope I wouldn't be too disappointed. HP4 movie still seems to be the worst since the only scene I remember clearly is the entrance of the Beauxbatons students with the blue uniforms and "ah..." dance. I still hate the director for putting a sexist twist on that with Beauxbatons being an all-(pretty)girls school and Durmstrang an all-(jock)boys school. They weren't!

Additionally, all the actors(male and female, in case you'd be confused) were too pretty. Hermione was to be geeky looking and look stunning(not that Emma is stunning) only on the Yule Ball. Exceptions include Rubeus who I find to be satisfactory, Malfoy who is a bit too ugly and Sirius who was disappointing at best. JK wrote that Sirius is a handsome man, even after escaping jail. When I saw him, I went! WTF? Who put a Pirate(of the Carribean) in here and its not even Johnny Depp. And after seeing the posters of HP5, I judged that cleaned up Sirius is still too ugly.

Oh yeah and the ending of HP3 was crap. Much of the story revolved around the Firebolt broom stick and they fucked it up big time with that one.

Sleep is such a nice thing. I know scientists are learning that it is possible that we really do not need the recommended 8 hours every night but I still think(and findings agree) that people perform better when they get their complete sleep(which depending on the individual can be range from 6 to 10 hours a night). Naps are very very helpful for most. For me, I find the best time to take naps is in the afternoon. Taking naps in between writing papers at night do not help much.

I guess I need to show some evidence. Take Marion Bartoli. Who? Well, she's only one of the finalists in the Women's Wimbledon 07. She was a set down(in a best out of 3 match) during the her quarterfinal match against Krajicek. She was playing poorly then the rain came. After the delay, she returned to court and dispatched of Krajicek with minimal fuss. In her after-game interview, she explained
“I was short of sleep so I slept for an hour during the rain delay. After that I was feeling much better so it was good for me to have rain today."
Wow! And that's just with a nap. With the complete sleep she had last night(and some very good tennis), she managed to defeat Henin(world no.1) and reach the finals. Okay! So it's an anecdote, so suit me! = )

But really,if all of us just get enough sleep every night(or day) and sacrificing our night habits(surfing the web, clubbing, drinking) the world'll be a slightly better place to live in.

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Speaking of sleep. It seems my attempts at trying to control my Dreams is working. Just kidding! In our microbio class, I was trying very hard not to fall asleep but the prof is just so boring so I failed. Every time I close my eyes I zoom right into dream mode but I quickly realize that it's a dream and I wake up. This repeats about 50 times. Every time I close my eyes, I fall asleep and dream for a second then I wake up. I do not know if those are really dreams but it somehow always ends with some loud noise like someone shouting or an object falling. I guess, I should be happy those ended like that because if it didn't I had probably fallen asleep in class.

And just this afternoon, this happened. I took a nap(after reading my microbio book). I set my alarm to 1:40. I fall asleep. Soon enough I started dreaming. It was a nice dream. It was like a movie, with a great plot and many many characters. It was really nice and enjoyable. It was nearing the climax(I don't now why I knew it was nearing the climax) when the alarm went off. Blast it! So I reached for the alarm and turned it off. I thought may be I should wake and stand up now since my dream is probably gone but I didn't. I went back to sleep and somehow I managed to continue my dream and find out the ending. Unfortunately, I forgot what it was about. I think there was a dragon in it and we were in this big house but I can't remember clearly. Any way. Maybe I should really try working on remembering those dreams so I can put the good ones in here.

I'm so drained... I feel a cold coming up. = (

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Rain hasn't come yet. I want it to rain. I know it'll be really hard to keep my uniform clean when it rains and the streets become flooded but I still want for the rain to come. Besides, those poor farmers who cannot afford irrigation need the rain and the Angat Dam seems to be near-critical water level again. Coincidentally, the last place where they want rain is very wet right now. Where? Wimbledon of course! The tournament's schedule(pronounced: schedyul not skedyul) is whacked and the top players are relegated to smaller courts rather than on Court 1 or on Center Court.

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Those blasted trainees! They didn't come to practice even though I told them to come! Blast it! They better be prepared for Tuesday. *evil grin*

Fuck! It's only 9 and I really want to sleep already. Maybe I should, I have a nasty test coming up next week.

Guess what! I probably had a twin. He(or maybe, she) vanished in the womb(either I ate him/her or my mother did... okay! so ate may not be the most appropriate word).

Just learned about Vanishing Twin syndrome from the In the Womb documentary by NGC. They said left-handed people are probably the surviving members of once twins. It's all related about how twins are sometimes mirror images of each other(ex. one is left-handed while the other is right-handed). I wouldn't be able to confirm it right now(maybe in the future) because my mother did not undergo the normal laboratory and scanning tests while I was inside her. Something about how she and her doctor believes the scanning device could harm me(the embryo/fetus/baby).
It is seems possible that the surviving "twin" could be the right-handed one but according to their logic, left-handed are more probable to have vanished twins because the human species seem to be more(selectively?) right-handed(more right-handed people than left-handed ones and more left-handed people than twins). However, modern research does not support the (very old, 1928)hypothesis. I guess NGC should have read more or if they did should have mentioned that the hypothesis is still a hypothesis and one that is probably wrong.

Still, I wonder what would it be like if I had a twin. We'd probably end up killing each other... well... maybe not.