I haven't had a long and decent sleep in two whole weeks. Last week, it was all debut planning and picking up the balikbayans. This week, it's all classes, and lessons and family bonding. Urgh.

Not that I don't like spending time with my family. I love them. But I just want to rest...

This is a stupid topic, I know, but I'm here in the Computer Lab, with the airconditioner hyped up, and the teacher's droning voice in the background, it's hard not to think of dozing off.

I guess I'm still not going to be able to get my sleep this weekend, since my dad wants us to go to Batangas City to visit our grandparents. And then on Sunday, I have a scheduled thing for CWTS. Tanginang CWT S yan, panira talaga lagi, kahit na kailan. Shet.

I got the proof pictures of the debut yesterday. Gusto kong makita yung printouts, as the proofs are so tiny, it's hard to distinguish any of the faces. Except mine of course. Dahil hindi lang nuknukan ng laki yung mukha ko, naka-close-up pa. Gusto ko ipa-CD but the additional fee was too high. (500php, wtf.)

I can't wait for the barkada Christmas Party. Mukhang all-out kami this year. Dinner, KTV at Red Boxx and then dancing 'til dawn. Must hit 168 before then. ^o^'

Ang takaw ko pucha. Must control eating tendencies. It's not easy you know. The chocolate in our house right now can give Charlie and his factory a run for their money.

Marami pang assignments. At quizzes. Kelan ko kaya magagawa yun lahat?

OK wala nang sense. Paubos na rin yung time namin.

Buhbye.

And I thought Ma'am Ignacio's impressive "You have the license to kill" speech kicked me into the real world.

How very wrong I was.

Our first shift for this semester is in Tondo Medical Center's Nursery. I was mostly excited to handle ickle babies, and just a little nervous.

So Ma'am Lerma gave us all the lectures we needed, and I was like, OK that'd be easy enough. We were to administer the initial care for the newborn, you see. (bathing/cleaning the newborn, giving it vitamin k and eye medicine, measuring it...the works)

It was Becca who went first. She made it look pretty easy. So did Dettie.

And then it was my turn.

I was actually in the ward then, attending to my patients when one of the other CIs came in the ward and told us that there were two new deliveries, and they needed nursery nurses. Lance and I went running, our smock gowns went askew as we tried to glove and mask ourselves along the way.

So there I was, at the foot of the delivery table, while the doctor instructed the mother to bear down. It took a long time for her to get the child out.

It was a boy...and it was barely breathing. It had a very weak cry, which was a bad sign. I did the protocol before taking it to be suctioned. It was still barely crying. I removed as much of the fluid as I can from its nose and mouth, trying to make it cry as I did so. The staff nurse was helping me with this baby, and even she wasn't happy with the baby's color..nor its non-activity.

Urgh. Textbooks never really does capture the true essence of the real thing. No textbook has mentioned the anxiety and pressure of standing in that fishy-smelling delivery room, running to and from the nursery to the DR, with mothers waiting...mothers in labor...mothers feeling severe pains...cyanotic babies...healthy crying babies...barely breathing babies...

It took three pediatricians to resuscitate [sp?] him. I never got to do the initial care for him, because they had to take him to the Nursery Intensive Care Unit.

And it was that experience that really, truly and finally made me face the facts that I am, in fact, a steward of lives. If that staff nurse hadn't been with me then, if she hadn't acted as quickly as she did, that newborn would have died. Imagine... that tiny little thing's life rested in my hands right then...and I would be handling more of them in the future. This is the profession that I would be practicing for the most of my life. For a moment there, I wondered if I made the wrong choice of being in nursing.

The next baby I handled was fine, except for the fact that it was pre-term (it wasn't supposed to come out yet). It was so very small, and it felt so fragile in my hands. There were times that it went shivering, and I just wanted to hug it to me, to keep it warm. That's not allowed of course, so I just rubbed her arms and legs. But all in all, the initial care was good. Or so Ma'am Lerma said.

On the up side, I now know how to change diapers (disposable or cloth/lampin). I can carry babies, and clean their cords. I can do initial care, with just a little assistance. And just for the record, it's very difficult to work with gloved hands. I learned a lot this shift...unlike my past ones.

So it wasn't a joke that once we've been capped, our responsibilities are doubled.

But I can do this. I chose to be in this profession and I'm sticking to it. I just hope I do my duty well.

....

I'm going to 168 with my friends tomorrow. Walang connection, pero sinabi ko lang. Looking forward to our shopping spree.

I agree with 'weird' and 'thriving', but 'creative'? 'inspired'? i don't think so.

By hotties I meant us and a few other men in the said party. ^o^;

December 21, 2005 was our barkada Christmas party held in Greenbelt Makati. As usual all my friends met up a my place (which I now officially call our point of origin) to dress and glam up before going out. Ironically, while we were preparing to party, there was a funeral going on next door. But hey, superstition or no superstition, this party has been planned months in advance and no funeral (unless it is mine or a close family member`s) is going to spoil it.

We had dinner first in Cibo, an Italian resto in ABS-CBN. We were supposed to go to RedBoxx first for dinner and some KTV fun but we had difficulties with the reservation so no RedBoxx for us this year. Then there`s the fact that Pao almost wasn't able to come with us. He`s going to Beijing the following day so his mom didn`t want him out too late. We agreed to have dinner in a closer place (which was in QC) so Pao could come with us for the dinner at least. Good food at Cibo. :D

Then we were off to Greenbelt by 9-ish. Checked out the club scenes first. Absinth looked promising but there weren`t any free tables left. At Ice...man. Receding hairlines seemed to be a trend there, if you get my meaning. The Temple Bar crowd was better than the last two, and it still had free tables but the music wasn't very good. We had to decide and decide we did: and the winner is.....Temple Bar! Nyaha.

Ordered a round of drinks while we waited for more people to arrive and get the dancing started. When we got to our second round and still people wouldn't dance anywhere but beside their tables, we took the matter into our own hands and raided the dance floor. It didn't take long before the other customers filled the rest of the dancefloor space with us. Hooray for party starters, whoohoo!

And as usual, they made fun of my low tolerance for alcohol. One Margarita had my ears buring up and my pulse thundering like crazy, but I wasn't drunk. Or at least I think I wasn't. After the Tequila Sunrise, Icouldn't drink any more. I could take on more alcohol sure, but it's the bloated feeling that I hated. Para bang super bundat na ng tiyan ko because of all the liquid I drank, and it didn't feel good. I might throw up, sayang yung kinain ko sa Cibo so I stopped drinking nalang. Nyehe.

Kat decided to have a yosi break so a went along with her. No I did not smoke with her, but the music that time was like the worst of all so I took a break from dancing. And lo and behold the cutest guy I've seen that night so far(and I think Kat and Nicole wouldn`t disagree with me on that). My typical chinito preference of course. He also had a companion whom I might call not-bad. A lesser version of Paolo from Lizzie McGuire the Movie.

Kat and I turned on the charm and bombarded them with the suggestive looks and catty grins. But i think it was when we got back to the dance floor that really got 'em. I mean, he was seated with his back at us but he kept glancing over, that I feared that his neck might break from twisting so much.

Hook. Line. And Sinker.

Before long they joined us on the dance floor. Then introduction, small talk and dancing. I danced with Chinoy more than I did with Paolo lookalike. They said their names were Bryan (Chinoy) and Rainier (Paolo lookie.) May pagka barbero sila because their kwentos were mismatching and we keep catching them off guard, so we couldn't be sure when they were telling the truth or not.

Bryan. Tisoy, chinito, guwapo, mabango. Mukhang tanga sumayaw, at sinungaling medyo, pero ok lang guwapo pa ren. From St. Benilde, HRM freshie (or so he says). Single, daw. Crush.

Rainer. May itsura at magaling sumayaw. Hindi ko masyadong type at kulang sa height. Says he's 18 before Bryan asked why he told us he was 18. STI Bulacan (daw). Single...for the night.

He (Bry) got my number but he hasn't texted yet. Right, like he really would. Sayang, ang stupid ko, hindi ko nakuha yung number nila. my phone batt died already, but it didn't occur to me that i could use someone else`s phone to store the new numbers. Oh well.

But it was fun while it lasted. We should do this more often.

Birthday na ni Kat next week and she's already planning another gimmick. hooray hooray. Merry Christmas One and All!:D

Here are some piccies for you and more to come later: