I am, therefore I eat

Excuse me while I spend my weekend lounging around trying to simulate my former life as a bum. It’s not even officially my off day; I have a remaining on-call time of eighteen hours as of this writing. I have another engagement this afternoon which will prolly last until later tonight, and it’s quite important to me so I hope there are no conflicts and nobody calls. Let a baby be born someplace else, haha. 

Presently, I do not have any outstanding ideas which I think are fit to post, but it doesn’t disturb me as much as it used to in the past. All I can think of right now are rest, food, movies, and the concept that mermaids might exist somewhere deep in unexplored waters. Just as we catch fish with nets, they, too, will lure humans with their dreamy voices and take their unfortunate preys down to the seabed to be devoured. I blame the revival of my childhood fascination with sea maidens on the POTC mermaids and Gemma Ward (Tamara), who is by far the hottest mermaid to ever grace the big screen.

I’m gonna go daydream some more about turning into a mermaid before I start getting ready for tonight’s activity. New entry will be posted once I’m not too busy having no ideas/when I feel like it/when I’m done being a mermaid. Have a great weekend. xo

P.S. I can’t swim. lol

Happy mother’s day to the woman who endured a total of 27 months— that’s two and a quarter years— carrying me and my two younger siblings in her belly. The woman who nurtured me so well in her womb that I weighed a staggering 4 kgs when I was born (I helped deliver a 3.9 kg baby last week and he was HUGE). The strong-willed woman whose uterus had to be opened up three times to bring me, Norbin and Ara into the world. The beautiful, gentle natured Leonora who, when angry, does not convince or intimidate anybody. I can’t imagine a world without her, and I love her to death though I may not always say it.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have traveled to the boondocks, attempted to soothe belligerent, hysterical children, wiped meconium (first poop) off newborns, spent nights in the OB unit, went beyond 24 hours of duty, bathed in and virtually made a home out of the health center. It’s pretty tiring and for obvs reasons I’ve had less time to make an update. Not that there’s anything to update about anyway. It’s all been just work, really. I spent last weekend at home and as it turned out, two days is NOT enough to make up for a heavy week. I hope this weekend is better. Which reminds me, my sister is on a 4-day youth camp at school and she’s both a candidate for a mini pageant and a vocalist for a band competition this evening. I’m gonna watch her be all awesome.

So maybe when I arrive home tonight, I’ll have something to yap about. I woke up from a full 8 hours of sleep around 11 today, with a headache. Ate a little brunch then popped a mefenamic. Good instrumental music is on my speakers, it’s 2:16 p.m.— only 3 hours after I woke, my bed is calling out to me and I’m going back to sleep. Laterzz. xo

Edit: It’s raining! Perfect.

I never thought I’d say this, but after a month on the job, it’s actually starting to grow on me. It’s quite dynamic and surprisingly unpredictable. What I really like about it is that I don’t remain in the same place everyday; you stay in a place too long and it gets boring. I go here and there— one day I’m near the sea, the next I’m up in the mountains where the rough roads are steeper than any I have previously encountered and my phone gets no coverage. The travel to and from the hilly barangays is more than a little dangerous; we ride a habal-habal as no other public utility vehicle could make the incline. I guarantee it’s scarier than the most extreme ride you ever rode on— no safety straps, no harness to keep you from falling off a cliff. Also, I’ll make it a point to bring my own helmet on my next trip to the mountains; it’s little inconvenience compared to turning into a vegetable. Snakes have even become the least of my worries. A visit to the mountains is risky business, but boy, what a ride!

I guess I needed this after all. My life was becoming too stagnant, I almost felt like I wasn’t living, but merely existing. So I asked for a little variety, and I got an adventure. For a public health nurse, it really is more fun in the Philippines.

On our way home, walked about a kilometer to the bottom of a hill where the motorcycles were parked because they couldn’t make it to the top. My shoes gave me blisters and my feet were killing me, so I walked far behind my companions.

In a completely irrelevant picture, a baby is born as the ambulance is about to leave for the hospital. A preeclamptic mother calls for a hospital delivery.

Due to safety reasons, my colleagues and I will not be renting the aforementioned apartment. Shame, I was really looking forward to living near the beach. With summer looming ahead, it’s the nearest thing to an island resort getaway. Instead, the three of us will be sharing a room, which we will take turns sleeping in during our on-call schedules. The landlady is a kindly middle-aged woman who lives alone with her grandson— a 10ish boy named Marcus— and a dog. They’re nice people (so is the dog, gave us a friendly wag of its tail) and I think they’re okay to live with. Besides, I already have a difficult time sleeping alone in my room, much less the two-room beach house.

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I forgot to mention, our work involves having to go to mountainous barangays to visit individual homes. We haven’t started yet, and though I’m excited, I can’t help getting paranoid about snakes. I never gave the creatures much thought (I even found a small one in my room in Cebu and I wasn’t fazed) until a man with a snake bite was proclaimed dead on arrival back when I was a volunteer. Add the fact that antivenom serums are not readily available in this part of the country. I was born in the year of the snake btw (in the Chinese calendar), so my newfound fear of snakes can be considered another irony.

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About the title of this entry… yeah, I’m really sleepy. I’m gonna crash for now. Sweet dreams. xo