Rina's achtzehnte Geburtstag :)

@ Casa Milan Neopolitan Clubhouse

29 March 08

photos grabbed from Josh

subzero: be mesmerICEd

Josha's fashion show :D

Can't Take That Away

captures my current mood. i wannted to write a blog for i really miss writing one but it seems that i have something more important to do - tidy up!

i started liking Mariah Carey's style the moment i heard her sing 'hero' way back when i was on my 2nd grade. kept listening to her up to my crazy high school years but stopped when she started doing the MIMI stuff. then i heard this song this morning while i was in the office. a coworker kept playing it but instead of getting annoyed, it somehow calmed me down. the lyrics are exactly what i wanna keep on saying to myself.

They can say anything they want to say
Try to bring me down
But I will not allow
Anyone to succeed
Hanging clouds over me
And they can try hard to make me feel
That I don't matter at all
But I refuse to falter
In what I believe
Or lose faith in my dreams
Cause there's a light in me
That shines brightly
They can try
But they can't take that away from me
From me
They can do anything they want to you
lf you let them in
But they won't ever win
If you cling to your pride
And just push them aside See
I have learned there's an inner peace I own
Something in my soul
That they cannot possess
So I won't be afraid
And darkness will fade
'Cause there's a light in me
That shines brightly
They can try
But they can't take that away from me No
They can't take this
Precious love
I'll always have inside me
Certainly the Lord will guide me
Where I need to go
They can say anything they want to say
Try to break me down
But 1 won't face the ground
I will rise steadily
Sailing out of their reach
Oh Lord
They do try hard to make me feel
That I don't matter at all
But I refuse to falter
In what I believe
Or lose faith in my dreams
'Cause there's a light in me that shines brightly
They can try
But they can't take that away from me
From me

so you want a candy or a chocolate?

i didnt understand it the first time she wrote it. i was complaining about her handing down her phone to my brother (again!). it should be my turn now since i let 2 phones pass my hands. she wrote: do you realize that you are much better off your brother? i then complained more, trying to prove her wrong. then she reiterated:

mama: kaya nga ang tanong ko sa iyo, gusto mo ba ay candy o chocolate?
Lei: none
mama: akala mo nasa isang tabi ka lang?
Lei: tsaka anong sinasabi nyong mas swerte ako?
Lei: pucha, who decided na ayaw nya na mag-aral?
mama: i wanted to surprise you with a digital camera because alam ko matutuwa ka doon kaysa sa cellphone.
mama: pero hindi ka marunong mag-antay. am saving several hundred dollars for you
mama: at hindi iyon second hand BRAND NEW!
mama: sumama ang loob ko when daisy accused me of favoritism
Lei: because that's what they see
mama: i do not deserve such a treatment when i did everything to keep my family
mama: what they see o what they think they see?
mama: they do not see the real picture
Lei: they dont?
mama: well, do you?
mama: do you see yourself into the picture?or you look from the outside?
Lei: i try to look from the outside because that's how im gonna see the whole picture
mama: pero hindi ka kasama sa nasa loob. nasa labas ka pa rin
mama: because what is wrong with you is you are consumed by your anger and jealousy
Lei: i dunno why i never felt i belong since i was a kid
Lei: jealousy? di mo ba naaalala dati lagi ako nagpaparaya? tao lang ako, natututo rn mainggit

good thing Markkie left the cafe earlier. i wasnt able to hold those tears back anymore. the conversation went deeper. she confessed she also felt the same thing with my aunt (daisy) as they were growing up for my granny always took my aunt's side. but mom never complained.

yes, im old enough to understand. but i don't know why i dont want to. i still prefer to take the role of the family's black sheep. maybe im just afraid they'd expect high on me. after copy-pasting the conversation above, i realized how disrespectful i've become of my parents. embarrasing. too much liberty did me no good. but i think it did a little good on one side. i dunno. im so confused. i still keep on insisting to myself that i dont miss her. that mom here in the country with us and mom working abroad makes no difference at all. i still get my dose of nags from time to time. but what i dont realize is that why do i bother so much to get her attention in the first place?

going back to infirmatay

if my doctor was just available, i would not bother going back to that dreaded place. and just as i thought, the follow up consultation turned out to be another horror.

the doctor on the door #__ was the one who had checked me up the week before so she should be the one i should be asking for for this consultation. but she wasnt around. i can no longer wait for my head was throbbing so bad and ive only enough strength left to spend 4 more hours waiting for her. so i told the triage nurse my situation. she then decided to direct me to the doctor on the door #|||||. darn! i knew that doctor. she's known for diagnosing her patients from across her table (how tamad). can't forget pam's experience with this doctor (she just told me this morning) when she went for a sore throat check up one time (not sure if it's sore throat or anything that has got to do with her throat). this doctor then made pam open her mouth when she was a table away from the doctor. and then, the doctor held out the flashlight a meter away from pam's mouth the light would not even reach halfway across the table. duh! my experience with this doctor is as strange as that. i was nauseatic that time and a little anemic. after letting me in her room, she asked for my record. of course the triage nurse put there all the symptoms that i've been experiencing. after a ten-second glance at the record, she asked me: "When was your last intercourse?" I gasped. since then, i swore not to consult her ever again.

but then i had no choice that day. i was getting worse as the time passes. i had to get that over and done with. i was so afraid that i might have typhoid fever too since i have the same symptoms as my neighbor who happens to be confined in a hospital at the moment for the typhoid reason :(

so there i waited for almost an hour. finally, i got my chance. she was still sitting on her chair when i got in her room. she asked for my record. after handing her the bright yellow folder, she asked me if i took the medication prescribed by the other physician the week before. i said, yes but not religiously. she then concluded that i needed a laboratory test before she gave me another prescription. it must be my lucky day. how those needles have been a nightmare to me since i was little. she checked the box for cbc test on a piece of paper for lab test request. i insisted that she diagnose me first before i go to the lab. like ask me more of what i've been experiencing that week, what made me go to the hospital and explain to me the possibilities why i had been experiencing such stuff, etc. but to my surprise, she raised her voice insisting that i should go to the lab first. i was about to answer back when she took the lab test request from me and checked the box for platelet count. no point of arguing. i went out to go to the lab and computed how long the consultation lasted against how long i waited for my turn.

just going to a hospital or clinic makes me feel really sick. so the longer i stayed there, the worse i felt. when i finally reached the lab, i was directed to the cashier. darn, it means another set of walk. paid my lab fee, went back to the lab. the med tech seems friendly so i trusted that nothing will go wrong. i tried diverting my attention so i wouldnt feel the needle going through my vein. but oh no. my arm tightened, felt a little numb and painful at the same time. she was trying to let my blood out but it wont go out she explained to me. she might've noticed my pale face and maybe for fear that that i might faint anytime, she just decided to prick one of my fingertip. ouch, it hurt a bit but then, gathered all my courage, i was able to watch my dark scarlet blood fill the small vial. i prayed so hard that the nightmare would end soon. but it didnt. :(

after work

bangag hehe

Red Rider from the Hood

sa THY last friday

gave me goosebumps

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/helen_keller_photograph

1888 photo depicts Helen Keller, teacher

By MELISSA TRUJILLO, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 6, 6:14 AM ET

 BOSTON - Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.

Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll — the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887 — according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which now has the photo.

"It's really one of the best images I've seen in a long, long time," said Helen Selsdon, an archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind, where Keller worked for more than 40 years. "This is just a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie."

For more than a century, the photograph has belonged to the family of Thaxter Spencer, an 87-year-old man in Waltham.

Spencer's mother, Hope Thaxter Parks, often stayed at the Elijah Cobb House on Cape Cod during the summer as a child. In July 1888, she played with Keller, whose family had traveled from Tuscumbia, Ala., to vacation in Massachusetts.

Spencer, who doesn't know which of his relatives took the picture, told the society that his mother, four years younger than Helen, remembered Helen exploring her face with her hands.

In June, Spencer donated a large collection of photo albums, letters, diaries and other heirlooms to the genealogical society, which preserves artifacts from New England families for future research.

"I never thought much about it," Spencer said in a statement released by the society. "It just seemed like something no one would find very interesting." Spencer has recently been hospitalized and could not be reached for comment.

It wasn't until recently that staff at the society realized the photograph's significance. Advocates for the blind say they had never heard of it, though after they announced its discovery Wednesday they learned it had published in 1987 in a magazine on Cape Cod and a half-century earlier in The Boston Globe. It is unclear whether there was more than one copy of the photograph.

D. Brenton Simons, the society's president and CEO, said the photograph offers a glimpse of what was a very important time in Keller's life.

Sullivan was hired in 1887 to teach Keller, who had been left blind and deaf after an illness at the age of 1 1/2. With her new teacher, Keller learned language from words spelled manually into her hand. Not quite 7, the girl went from an angry, frustrated child without a way to communicate to an eager scholar.

While "doll" was the first word spelled into her hand, Helen finally comprehended the meaning of language a few weeks later with the word "water," as famously depicted in the film "The Miracle Worker." Sullivan stayed at her side until her death in 1936, and Keller became a world-famous author and humanitarian. She died in 1968.

Jan Seymour-Ford, a research librarian at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, which both Sullivan and Keller attended, said she was moved to see how deeply connected the women were, even in 1888.

"The way Anne is gazing so intently at Helen, I think it's a beautiful portrait of the devotion that lasted between these two women all of Anne's life," Seymour-Ford said.

Selsdon said the photograph is valuable because it shows many elements of Keller's childhood: that devotion, Sullivan's push to teach Helen outdoors and Helen's attachment to her baby dolls, one of which was given to her upon Sullivan's arrival as her teacher.

"It's a beautiful composition," she said. "It's not even the individual elements. It's the fact that it has all of the components."

given up

Given Up

Wake in a sweat again
Another day's been laid to waste
In my disgrace
Stuck in my head again
Feels like I'll never leave this place
There's no escape

I'm my own worst enemy

I've given up, I'm sick of feeling
Is there nothing you can say?
Take this all away, I'm suffocating
Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me

I don't know what to take
Thought I was focused, but I'm scared
I'm not prepared
I hyperventilate
Looking for help, somehow, somewhere
And no one cares

I'm my own worst enemy

I've given up, I'm sick of feeling
Is there nothing you can say?
Take this all away, I'm suffocating
Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me

Put me out of my misery!
Put me out of my misery!
Put me out of my
Put me out of my fucking misery!

I've given up, I'm sick of feeling
Is there nothing you can say?
Take this all away, I'm suffocating
Tell me what the fuck is wrong with me

if we could only choose our parents

oh God take me now before i commit a sin. cant take this anymore!

KSD

Thank you so much to Debz and Luke :)

Tamabay hours

mukhang haggard naman

cant remember when this was :P

shit, natakot ako, typhoid fever outbreak!

Suspected typhoid outbreak hits Laguna city

By Niña Catherine Calleja
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 14:19:00 03/03/2008

CALAMBA CITY, Philippines -- A total of 504 people stricken with typhoid have been admitted in different hospitals in this city over the last two weeks, the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) in Laguna reported.

However , the PNRC explained that the Department of Health has yet to declare an outbreak of the disease.

Rudelly Cabutin, PNRC administrator for Laguna, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) that nine hospitals have been admitting typhoid patients since February 16 and that the incidence of the disease has continued to increase as of Monday.

She said teams from Red Cross and city health office have been deployed to assess and verify the number of people affected.

They found out that there are 2,000 people in Barangay (village) Bucal and 700 in Barangay Pansol who are under observation, Cabutin added.

The typhoid patients mostly come from the 18 villages of Calamba City.

Cabutin said the PNRC and city health office conducted an information dissemination campaign in the villages on the symptoms, treatment and prevention of typhoid fever.

They are still investigating the cause of the suspected outbreak, she said.

Laguna second district board member Neil Nocon said in a phone interview that water contamination could be one reason.

With the increasing number of industries, he said there is no longer any assurance about the safety and cleanliness of water in the affected areas.

Nocon added he has plans of conducting a study and assessment of the water in Laguna's second district with help from scientists and researchers from the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

___________________

source: http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/communicable/typhoid_fever/fact_sheet.htm

Typhoid Fever

Last Reviewed: November 2006

• "Typhoid Fever" is also available in Portable Document Format (PDF, 15KB, 2pg.)
• Versión en español

What is typhoid fever?

Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract and occasionally the bloodstream. It is an uncommon disease with only 30-50 cases occurring in New York each year. Most of the cases are acquired during foreign travel to underdeveloped countries. The germ that causes typhoid is a unique human strain of Salmonella called Salmonella typhi. Outbreaks are rare.

Who gets typhoid fever?

Anyone can get typhoid fever but the greatest risk exists to travelers visiting countries where the disease is common. Occasionally, local cases can be traced to exposure to a person who is a chronic carrier.

How is the germ spread?

Typhoid germs are passed in the feces and, to some extent, the urine of infected people. The germs are spread by eating or drinking water or foods contaminated by feces from the infected individual.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms may be mild or severe and may include fever, headache, constipation or diarrhea, rose-colored spots on the trunk and an enlarged spleen and liver. Relapses are common. Fatalities are less than 1 percent with antibiotic treatment.

How soon do symptoms appear?

Symptoms generally appear one to three weeks after exposure.

For how long can an infected person carry the typhoid germ?

The carrier stage varies from a number of days to years. Only about 3 percent of cases go on to become lifelong carriers of the germ and this tends to occur more often in adults than in children.

How is typhoid treated?

Specific antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin or ciprofloxacin are often used to treat cases of typhoid.

Should infected people be isolated?

Because the germ is passed in the feces of infected people, only people with active diarrhea who are unable to control their bowel habits (infants, certain handicapped individuals) should be isolated. Most infected people may return to work or school when they have recovered, provided that they carefully wash hands after toilet visits. Children in daycare, health care workers, and persons in other sensitive settings must obtain the approval of the local or state health department before returning to their routine activities. Food handlers may not return to work until three consecutive negative stool cultures are confirmed.

Is there a vaccine for typhoid?

A vaccine is available but is generally reserved for people traveling to underdeveloped countries where significant exposure may occur. Strict attention to food and water precautions while traveling to such countries is the most effective preventive method.

sick being sick

how to make your life more miserable when you're sick?
-- non-stop nagging brother on the background
-- unclean dwelling fit for unhealthy pigs (not to mention the stentch)
-- nobody to nurse you but your effin sick self
-- unavailable medication
-- infirmatay doctors who wouldnt even check u up before giving out prescription
-- problematic people around you
-- busy friends
-- besf friend lives far far away
-- mom works far away (well, she wouldnt be nursing me even if she's just around :S i dont miss her)
-- i'd feel better, then i'd feel worse, cycle went on for weeks now :S

how did i cope with this effin situation?
-- got off the bed
-- took a cold shower (it lessen the body heat)
-- went to the mall
-- bought a 16 oz. strawberry banana blizzard (not just good for the cough and colds but for my toothache as well - at least i didnt give in to the brownie tempation)
-- well, speaking of brownies, i bought a pack! :P
-- then a serving of siomai (with the chili-garlic of course)
-- walked around as much as i could

for a while i felt so alive and healthy and happy

until i felt bad again :S

throbbing muscles all over

body temperature rising

non-stop coughing

runny nose

aching tooth

nausea

had no other choice but to go back to bed :(

but at least some cravings has been satiated for a while.

i wonder what to do tomorrow

i just hope i still wake up and feel a lot better.

they say what the mind can conceive can be achieved.

imani is what i needed now

badly

KSD pub materials

for printing

she died lying on my breast (i saw her last draw of breath)

twice my life was spared,
my two kittens paid
the price.
oh, demise.
why should they be sacrifised
when i should be the one crusified?

yes, i saw death coming
he was staring hard at me
his eager eyes are flashing
towards my direction.
he almost caught me

paghahanda

kung patuloy lang din akong mahuhulog sa burak ng kasamaan, at kung ito na ang huli kong banal na hapunan, maanong ako ay kunin na lamang

Destination: Germany

The UP Deutscher Verein (UP German Club), in line with the UP Centennial Celebration, will be re-launching the 'Kennen Sie Deutchland?' -- all-about-Germany quiz bee for College Students; staging a play 'Red Rider from the Hood' -- a modern version of the fairytale; and will be hosting a 'Torwand Schießwettbewerb' -- a German street sport, on its annual Deutsche Woche or German Week tagged as "Destination: Germany" from March 3 to 7, 2008. For details about the event, visit http://upgermanclub.multiply.com

________________________________

March 4, Tuesday, 4pm
Torwand Schießwettbewerb

Ano yon?
It's pretty much like soccer, only instead of kicking the ball through the goal, you have to kick it through a goal wall with two holes.

If you get 6 successful kicks in a row, you can win as much as P500!

If you get 4-5 successful goals, you can get special "Deutschland" prizes!

So join us! Registration fee is P15 but if you preregister it's only P10. Text 09178971224 or 09164771742.

________________________________

March 6, Thursday, 4pm
PH 400
Kennen Sie Deutschland? (Do you know Germany?)


Do want a Goethe Institut Library Membership?

How about Netopia Membership Card?

Or a Siemens Laptop...bag?


If you are a UP student and knows things about Germany, don't just stare at this ad, sign up and join 'Kennen Sie Deutschland?' an all-about-Germany quiz bee for college students. Win as much as P3000 worth of prizes. You only need a valid UP ID and P40 to register. What are you waiting for? Call or message Iza at 09214410122 for details and registration, or e-mail us at upgermanclub@gmail.com


note: most questions are in English :)

_______________________________

March 7, Friday, 6pm,
Theatro Hermogenes Ylagan
Red Rider from the Hood


A modern take on the Brother's Grimm's Little Red Riding Hood--with a twist. Laugh with us as we see the misadventures of Rebecca (LRRH's great-great-great... to the nth power Granddaughter) as she tries to visit her sick Grandma at the old folks home but instead gets herself involved in a crazy adventure in New York--all because of a mysterious suitcase!