Chances Are

On my last week of duty at the Calamba Medical Center, one of the medical secretaries, Ate Brenda, asked me to place a bet on her own little version of lottery, popularly known as "ripa" in the Laguna area (I think).

The lottery person goes around houses and public places to make people place their bets, which could be any number from 1 to 50, depending on how large the lottery person wants it to be. Of course, the bigger the prize, the more people can place a bet. In Ate Brenda's ripa, she has 40 slots for the betters to choose from, at 50 bucks per bet. She showed me her list and I saw the names of nurses, doctors, other medical secretaries, and some medical representatives.

here's Lizbeth placing her own bet on the number 10

The prize is a little package containing these goodies from Avon-

a bottle of lotion, lipstick, a purse concentrate of a popular scent,
a small bottle of edp, a jewelry set, and a wallet

Not bad eh? I don't know who won, though. In fact, I didn't place a bet because I won't be back in the immediate future to claim my prize just in case. =)

Friend

My college friend James is an up and coming radiologist. We call each other Friend (believe me, this didn't sound cliche when we started at that time). We shared a lot of college memories together even before Noy started to court me. We kinda lost touch in med school but still tried to catch up whenever we could. Now that he's topped the recent philippine board exam for radiologists, he spends his day studying at the UPCM Library when he's not in the clinic.

Hence, when I moved to work in PGH, we immediately set plans to have lunch together. For some reason, we kept on postponing this date, including one planned sometime two weeks ago. I was free, but could not reach his mobile. Thinking he was still busy and feeling tired somehow, I sent him a message to set the date another day again and headed home. I was walking from my building towards Pedro Gil street when I chanced upon Friend chatting with someone. In other words, our date got suddenly on. =)

He brought me to this breakfast place at Robinson's Midtown called Momo. It definitely looked chic from the outside. I liked the interiors too. It's modern and fresh and designed to perk its diners up.


However, the food was a little bit on the downside for me. I got their bestseller, their version of Eggs Benedict, which had two braised eggs and a huge serving of fries on the side. The bread was almost reminiscent of the oblong monay from the local panaderya, while the ham definitely tasted something out of my fridge on a lonely, make-yourself-a-sad-ham-sandwich-dinner night.



James had their version of a combined -silog; he chose tocino and tapa. I tasted both, and I visualized their pantry brimming with frozen cured meat from whatever brand is available. Did I mention the drinks were lousy too? My strawberry lemonade was weak lemon water with a dollop of strawberry jam sitting like dirt on the bottom. James' iced tea slush was half froth and half tea.



It was a good thing that we had a lot to talk about, enough for us to forget about the early dinner which seemed like a waste of money. Somehow, I had fun. I missed James, and the time we spent catching up was worth it.


Julie

Two Sundays ago, I bid goodbye to the staff of St John the Baptist Hospital where I worked for two years before I moved to Calamba Medical Center. At around 10 pm, Noy and I drove by with pizza and coke. Another car parked beside us at about the same time. I was so thrilled to find Dra Julie Ferraz getting out of it!


Dra Julie is a practicing Internist in that hospital. She has taught me a lot and have been the nicest consultant to work with. She liked to teach, and she liked to tell stories about her kids and life too. I really like her. When she made an effort to stop by the hospital to see me when I had chest pains, I was so touched because she didn't even have patients to do rounds at that time. She's always made it a point that my blood sugar is put on check. She was almost like an Ate to me. I'm so making her ninang when I get pregnant. =)

A Day of Firsts

Last tuesday, September first, was my first day at my new workplace. I decided to move because it's a lot nearer to home; this way Noy and I won't have to live in a clinic anymore. There's so much to say about my new workplace, it is literally new because it's revamped and made over. I don't know what the room used to be, but it sure looks cool, comfortable & quite stylish with its high ceilings and wood details which gives it a modern rustic feel to it. I kinda like the way they made the ancient ceiling fans blend with the new look well. And they do make the room much cooler by scattering the draft from the airconditioning units.

I especially like this view of the garden from my table (which I share with the outgoing doctor - or is it the other office's? - haha). It's a readily accessible breath of fresh air when I need it. In case I'll be needing it. My plan is to put in some orchids from mama's garden if the boss would approve of it. Right now, it's just all green, but serves the purpose nonetheless.


I have yet to memorize the names of the people I'm going to work with, but so far they're all nice and accommodating, albeit shy. (The next day I understood why - my boss introduced me to the staff as their new boss, which I never expected. It's quite a complicated story, and I'd rather not divulge it here no matter how much I wanted to.)

Since a lot about this work is confidential, let's just say I did some extra work on this day. I didn't mind because 1) my lunch is free (what a way to spend my first day!) and 2) it's field work that takes me much closer to home, which cuts back my transportation expense about 90%. This extra work took me to the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila, where we vaccinated their employees. I caught a glimpse of this exciting new hotel in the Ortigas area, and enjoyed the work there. Unfortunately we didn't get to see & experience their services well, save for the egg sandwiches, but I'm sure looking forward to their next doses. =)


Since Crowne Galleria was already near home, I was excited at the thought of having more free time before dinner since we were done at about 4. Passing through Shang Plaza, I imagined myself reclining on the day bed to snooze when I realized I left my keys at home. Noy isn't coming back until the morning, and my brother is attending bar review and won't be home until 10.

This is the first time I ever had problems with a key (I guess that's what living in a clinic could do to someone huh?), and since I needed cash too I decided to line up at the BDO ATM there while I think about my options. After 2 solid hours, 4 long-playing attempts (read: ultra loooong lines) at obtaining cash, and an episode of a matrix-like thing appearing on the ATM screen (really scary I thought my card got busted or something), I am still cashless at 6 pm.

Tired, hungry and with feet so painful they'd leave me had they been detachable, I went up the cinema and had a brilliant idea - watch a movie! That'll kill a lot of time and when it's over, dear brother will be on his way home. Luckily, the BPI ATM was kind enough to let me have some of MY cash (I am sooo opening an account next week! I am sick and tired of BDO already!) that I was able to grab dinner from McDonald's and buy a ticket for one to The Time Traveler's Wife.

It was my first time to eat the usually fun to eat cheeseburger by my lonesome in the cinema lobby (Shang only allows food in their Snackbar to be brought in). Interestingly, it was also my first time to watch a movie ALONE. For some reason, it was only this late that I realized it wasn't scary at all. In fact, I can't remember why I never watched a movie alone before. But finally, I'm a big girl!

I've never read The Time Traveler's Wife, but I was intrigued, fascinated even, by the trailer and the reviews. So there I was, enjoying myself and feeling good & bad at the same time. It's such a sad movie that felt heavy on the chest (but I'd rather not tolerate it) but then, it's happy too because it's possible to physically be with a loved one who already died, albeit "on strict schedule" and "for a very limited time only".

I hate quoting Kris Aquino, but I agree with her hands down, that when you lose someone, you'd kill for 5 days, or 5 minutes, heck even 5 seconds, of time again with that someone. Just to be with that someone. I've never lost someone I love, and that is one of my greatest fears. This movie just reinforces my daily aim to let my husband and family know that I love them in any possible way - a kiss, a hug, tweet, SMS, email - any acceptable way. If I do get to time travel, this I won't mind doing for the first time every time for the rest of my life.