The deadline for THE paper is looming. I'm at that stage where I hate everything I wrote.

I wonder when or if I'd ever get rid of that stage. I guess the only way to find out is to continue writing.

on miracles: maybe they happen. I've never experienced one but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Still, it would be pretty hard to convince me that there is no "natural" or rational explanation for an event. I do accept that things of very low probability do occur. hey, if they don't occur then Life shouldn't have existed.

Happy Atheist Solidarity Day!

----
Parents sue DepEd regarding Sex Ed

One, how many of you hypocrites have children enrolled in public schools?
Two, private schools have been "overtaking the parents' responsibility" for years now. If you are going to sue someone, sue one who has committed the act and not one who is intending to.
Three, your invocation of a clause from the Constitution is irrelevant. The sex education module will not even affect the morals of children. It is not a religion nor a values ed class.
Four, you should sue DepEd because they have values class which is "overtaking the parents' responsibility" for the child's moral development. But you don't want that because according to you the youth already has twisted morals.
Five, it is actually your Church who wants to include the moral implications of sex in the module. So you should first complain to them.

Our art of medicine lecturer shared stories of "rude" UPCM graduates.

It was toxic in the ER. A journalist was asked to leave since he is not allowed. He threatened to expose this "maltreatment" of media and write about how he was wronged. The intern present having enough of the journalist just told him to leave and even showed the journalist his nameplate and said, "Be sure that you don't incorrectly spell my name, ok?"

I probably would have done the same thing but our lecturer warned us that it is stupid to fight the media. And since I was recently called rude by a teacher I respect, I should work on creating a polite public persona. At least one I could use for patients and business acquaintances i.e. people I need something from. Cleaning myself up would help since a doctor also asked me why I look like I haven't taken a bath (I actually did but commuting in the summer heat from home to PGH unraveled most of its effects).

The bishop who attended the DepEd consultation said that they will only agree to sex ed if contentious material against certain doctrine of people are removed particularly those against of the Roman Catholic doctrine.

Uh... no. The DepEd needs to follow secular molarity free from religious doctrine. If it is contentious i.e. offends the RC doctrine or any doctrine for that matter, the teacher can note this in class. There is no need to remove it.

They also want a spiritual component to be involved. From any other person, this would be an okay suggestion but this is coming from a bishop and you know that what he's referring to spiritual development is development to becoming a good Catholic.

And I don't agree that sex should occur within marriage. Nor should they teach that sex should only happen in marriage. Sex should occur between responsible adults who have both understood the potential outcomes of intercourse and have prepared for it. In other words, consenting adults. Adults need not be married. The module could point out that having children out of wedlock would be difficult for the current society but it is not immoral. Having sex out of wedlock is immoral only in religious ethics and not secular ethics.

And having religious teaching in public school is unconstitutional.

In the end, this consultation is a farce. The RC Church is not for sex education. They don't even want using the word SEX. The DepEd should have a firm stance and not be bullied into weakening their module. Worse, they should not be bullied into making a module that forces religious belief unto others especially young and impressionable individuals. If the RC Church is so worried about it sex ed, they should hold their own sessions. I think that is what Sunday school is for anyway.

One, there is no absolute normal. A doctor should know that there is always a small chance that an abnormal lab test is not abnormal for the patient.

Two, ask before attacking. I wouldn't have gotten annoyed have you chosen better words to criticize our work.

Three, don't assume that I don't know what I'm doing. I may not have experienced as many things as you have but don't treat me like I know nothing.

Four, yes. BHWs can last four hours listening to lectures. Their levels of internal motivation is quite wonderful.

Five, We did have a relatively good session. At least my classmates seem to have learned something.

I spent my Saturday afternoon with the child residents of Hospicio de San Jose talking
about peace, war and climate change.

LUIII officially ended with enrollment yesterday. And I really should be posting on LUIII so here it goes.

LUIII started with me hating medicine. Coming from a 4 week stint as a research assistant for a health policy project made me want to just stop taking up medicine and just take the plunge into the public health arena. Of course, my dependence on my parents and my desire to become a doctor won over so here I am a 2nd year med student.

To avoid the feeling of utter uselessness to Philippine society, I had to join organizations. I am active in three: MSSR, RSO and the MSC Social issues VolCorps. These organizations provide a venue to complement my medical education. UPCM wants us to be community-oriented doctors and I feel these three help me grow to be that kind of doctor. Summer immersions and real community work beyond medical missions? RSO. Updated on national issues? MSC SocIsh. Peace and human rights? Global issues? Networking? MSSR. I've got my bases pretty covered.

I was pretty sure I was sending off anti-social vibes during my first few days in med school. I couldn't even bring myself to say the class cheer. That all changed. I'm pretty sure I'm well integrated socially. Us having to follow a seat plan and that art of medicine module did move things along.

Academically, I exceeded my expectations. The subjects were challenging but surprisingly, I did well in the subject I feared most, OS 202 or Neurology and Endocrinology. I'm still bewildered by the score I got at the first lecture exam. Having friends who tutored me on the anatomy of the brain really helped. And the weird thing is that I got the same grades for the other OS subjects (except for the Thorax module were grades were curved) despite the feeling that I really did well in that abdomen and pelvis modules. The dreadful part is getting relatively low grades in our research subject despite having an arguably good paper, presentation and positive results on top. I have yet to evaluate this subject but they'll be hearing a lot from me and their stupid evaluation method.

Having a BSPH degree really helped. As the year progressed, I realized that I can "let go" of the histology portions of the modules since I already know them enough. The time saved was spent on reviewing areas where I was weak, such as gross anatomy. Medicine has been good because it allowed me to practice skills I learned in undergrad. At least when I get out, I have increased mastery over skills such as making health promotion materials, managing groups and writing research papers.

Overall, LUIII is a good year. I hope LUIV brings more fun and cheer.