I don't know why those people pushing for natural cures are so obsessed with poop. You don't even secrete your waste in poop. Poop is the part of food your body doesn't want. If you want wastes (toxins if you will) the body truly makes, look into urine, expired air and sweat.

And some people on Sunday 8-9pm AM radio are illegally practicing medicine. They examine, diagnose and treat people through their radio program.

studying for our comprehensive exam while worrying about our research projects.

and I read some of the questions of last year's compre and one question goes like this:

A patient is experiencing nausea and vomiting. What bone is affected?

oh sh*t
re-reading all that we've studied about the human body makes me wanna puke my brains out. the musculoskeletal, head and neck modules makes me want to quit med all together.

the worst part is when you try answering the sample exams and you see how much you forgot then you remember it took you days of re-reading to get that stuff in then you realize you have less than a week left.

so I could have composed that better but who cares, I still have compre to face.

been busy giving birth to writing our research paper and being such a med student.

anyway, we visited DAMAS which is a shelter/orphanage in Manila.

Benign days are not just suiting me. These "lazy" nights spent reading fiction, writing and editing papers and sleeping early is not right. Still, my mind is a jumble with all the things I plan to do this summer and I just realized that I might have to seek approval of an ethics board for a project.

And summer just sprang upon our unprepared bodies. Morning commute is hot, sticky and uncomfortable. Noontime travel is just hell. I still haven't saved enough to purchase a new lens.

so my friend didn't win a councilor seat.

Too bad, I was hoping the student body will finally unite and demand that the CHDP program be fixed (they have 2-3 years more in that place) and coordinated instead of initiating a separate immersion program.

and the red party, got the two top positions in the usc. blame it on uncharismatic opponents.

I should brace myself for a year of stupidity and jumps in reasoning such as private = bad, not talking to us = no consultations, accreditation = tuition fee increase, attending rallies = serving people, attending class = ignoring national issues.

Maybe, they'll prove me wrong. I hope so. I don't want a USC who doesn't know how to work with the administration.

On beliefs: We never had religious ethics in class. The question assumes you will act as ethically as possible following secular ethical principles. Passing responsibility to someone thus delaying care is not ethical. And we have a method to show that it is.

So yes, our teacher is correct. There is a (note: only one) right answer.

Don't even get me started on how selfish you sound...

If you trace the sudden boom in attention, you'd encounter the start on the day Gibo Teodoro visited UP Manila for the Make Health Count Presidentiable series (spearheaded by the UPM USC).

In that forum, I was in charge of filtering the questions the audience can ask to the presidentiable. The event started late and just after a few questions, the Gibo staff were telling us we have time for one last question. Flustered with the number of questions flooding in, we had to choose the "last" question. It was narrowed down to two: smoking and HIV/AIDS. We chose HIV/AIDS. And apparently the one who asked the question was an advocate of the infection in the Philippines. And now we have this. Which is good. The NEC and DOH has actually been trying hard and failing to capture the mass and media's attention on the disease and they have the surveillance data to back it up.

How funny that I unintentionally played a role in HIV/AIDS advocacy in the country. This is  something to tell my grandchildren or students or whatever when I'm old and moldy.

In much sadder news, January 2010 had the highest number of news cases of HIV diagnosed ever in the Philippines. The NEC points to needle-sharing among IV-drug users.

medgroove 2010

Is it my fault I was sitting in that location?

Medrhythmia 2010

Love love the stage lights.

Organic Agriculture Act of 2009 (Text from senate) may be a step back, away from food security for the Filipino people.

Why? Though the text has no mention of GM food restriction or special labeling, it uses in its definition of "organic agriculture" the definition held by International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). And this organization outright rejects the use of Genetically-modified organisms in agriculture. Looking at the reasons of IFOAM, one feels that they are more about propaganda rather than evidence as so far, no studies have shown that GM foods cause "genetic pollution", are "threats to human health" or lead to "violation of farmers' fundamental property rights and endangerment of their economic independence." What is truly laughable is their claim that genetic engineering is "incompatible with sustainable agriculture."

GM foods have been in use in the country for years now and several prominent research and extension programs by IRRI and UPLB is using modern genetic engineering technology in order to help farmers achieve better yield while protecting the environment from harm. Making organic agriculture the national policy would make these efforts moot and useless.

Organic agriculture methods might have to be adopted but it doesn't mean that we should reject genetic engineering. Our country cannot afford to neglect a tool that will help it achieve food security.

It comes to me as a surprise that the act is just waiting for the signature of pGMA to be approved. Where are the GM advocacy groups when we need them? The DOST have attended the hearings, why then is the definition of organic agriculture so restricting?

And it comes at a time when the US is calling for a rethinking of agriculture.

So the AFP detained and tortured 43 health workers attending a health training in Morong. The AFP claim they are part of the NPA and the training is a training on bomb making or some other skills terrorists and rebels need to learn and not on health.

Having heard the military spokesperson on Crossroads (the ANC show):
- Why have you detained and prevented these people access to legal counsel for days?
- Even if they were rebels, you can not treat these people the way you treated them. And aren't we supposed to presume innocence even if we have overwhelming evidence at hand?

In italics are some things that the AFP claim support their accusations regarding the participants:
-Low educational attainment
-Event wasn't publicized
-Groups who support the Morong 43 are mostly leftists
-They have revealed their NPA affiliations during their detainment

The first two reveal how ignorant the military is regarding the prevailing approach towards community health. Educational background is irrelevant in health skills training. You do not need a college degree to be able to protect you and your community's health. You do not need to be the brightest one in the community to be able to pick up these skills. That is the purpose of the training anyway.

Trainings of community health workers are not publicized or advertised in the usual ways. It is not only due to the effin high expense to do these things but also the uselessness of these publicizing modalities. And no AFP, GOs and NGOs do not need to tell you about all the trainings they will conduct in an area. They, as a form of courtesy, will inform the local officials but not you. Why should they? Unless they seek help in maintaining security of the training site, they wouldn't interact with you. These trainings are indeed spread through word of mouth and communication channels already present in the community. Sometimes, the training is invitation only because the NGOs have already identified what communities are targeted and the only groups they will contact for participants. I repeat, they don't need to publicize these trainings. These are not huge events needing humongous number of attendants. They don't need to tell everybody, they just need to tell the involved communities.

The AFP also seem to have this notion that the organizers should have screened this people. No! They screen them if they are capable of giving back to their community by imparting or using their new skills but they don't screen for character, legal history or warrant of arrests. One, you don't have a good database of warrant of arrests easily accessible by the public or NGOs and two, that is not their job. That is yours. And lastly, why should they forbid people to learn these skills especially if these people are chosen by the community itself.

For the fourth, confessions made during torture is and should be invalid. Under torture and extreme stress, a normal person can be made to do anything. Given that the detainment seem to be one big torture fest, why give weight to their confession?

And for the third. That's one of the stupidest things I've heard in a long time (and I frequently read posts regarding quackery in SB). These groups are supporting the Morong 43 not because they are necessarily involved in them. Rather, they saw that attack on HR and the illegal nature of how the AFP handled the Morong 43 from capture to detainment. If you can let go of your bias against the left maybe you can realize that your attempts at hiding your mistakes is failing, greatly.

I wonder why the DOH is being mum about this though. DOH being a huge partner in promoting community health programs should have been one of the first to react to this. And a good thing they could do is introduce the AFP, PNP and other GOs to primary health care and community health.

Suddenly became one of the official photographers for an APMC event.



1.8 saved my ass.

I'm so craving for that Tamron lens.

I'll post more once my schedule frees up.

My classmates think I only have three emotions: triumph, disappointment and disgust. Of course not, I also have hate, disdain, apathy, discontentment, anger and frustration.

I think I will fail in helping a friend achieve her goal. Maybe next year, I'll bully her into working harder.

I badly want need a new novel to read. I can't bear anymore having free time spent pining for transes to read.

Things happened in January...

Saw but did not finish Imburnal.
4 hours is too long for a movie.
I did manage to reach the third hour. I'll just have to see the last hour someday.
Yes, I did not "get" it.

Erap can run. COMELEC believes that the Constitution and the claims of the very people who drafted it is irrelevant because the people know what is right. The SC agrees. If Noynoy wins this election and realizes he really can't handle this, he can resign within 2 years and run again in 2016. Mar becomes president, Korina becomes 1st lady. Lalalalala...

Apparently Ang Ladlad can also run but they won't be included in the ballot, so you can't vote for them... oh... they will be included in the ballot but the COMELEC is whining that it's more work, we hate gays... no they didn't say that... and  they fear that there would be wasted votes on partylist groups who will be disqualified after the election and they are bigots.

Somebody is campaigning against GM food in the Philippine Star and I was too busy to email her about her stupidity and now its too late. If they fear GM and GE so much they should just shut down IMBB and IRRI and that place in LB where they breed tamaraws. They should also stop taking medicines and having diagnostic tests.

I have to be in two places at the same time on Tuesday.

And will have to sneak in study time for endocrinology.

Another week of fun fun and more fun!

---
We're going to buy an canon ixus 95 as replacement for the lost sony cybershot. I just realized last week that three events I was supposed to be covering were still in the memory card and the only real hope of getting a similar bag is if I go to Japan again... or if I befriend a person who is going to be an AMSEP participant for Japan this summer. hmmm...

I lost my small digicam along with the bag we bought in Japan, our family's noche buena pictures, AMSA GA pictures and pictures of our wonderful cells. life sucks.

How in the effing world that thing disappeared in the midst of tons of people I know is beyond me.

And as luck would have it, the security camera was nonfunctional during that time period.

Looks like I have to postpone the purchase of the Tamron lens so I could replace that point and shoot.

My parents were real nice about it though.

I'm still alive and have actually been taking a lot of photos this past week. Too bad I have two weeks of nonstop neurosciences ahead that would prevent me from screening, editing and uploading those pictures.

My hard drive is nearing its maximum capacity. I resolve to save enough money to buy an external hard drive. I also want to buy a new lens by this summer. More carinderia and less trips to the book store should do the trick.

I also misplaced  very important object last Friday and its eating up that I would not be able to look for it till Monday. I'm fairly certain (and hoping very very hard) that I left it in a safe place like Dualan lab (the place where the college keep the cadavers).

I'm so looking forward to February when neuro and that org event is over and done with and I can move on to other things such as that summer immersion and maybe a new research project. I don't care if I know nothing about the things we'll be taking up on February, after neuro I feel more or less invincible. Watch out when I eat my own words come March.

orgs... dapat tigilan ko muna ang pagdalo sa mga meeting.

Saturday - AMSA GA
Sunday - Gawa ng sayaw at paper mache islands
Next week - RSO week toxicity!
Jan 30 - SPARK + Sayaw Manila (pero di naman ako sasayaw)

Stress junkie ata talaga ako.

Exams? Whenever. hahaha

Degenerating blog posts are bad. I'll post pictures when I find time the time to clean up the PC and increase the disc space.

My first post in multiply (still beats facebook in terms of photo hosting) contains histology slides.

Way to start a year...

Now I resume cramming for the exams will be having this January (med school has been one big cramfest so far). Student mode... ON!