Day 3
Part 2: Rest and Relaxation

Date: 17th May 06, about 1200 hours.

After the slum areas we went to the "Boulevard". It was a nice quaint place where the local people spend their time relaxing.

Upon arrival we saw some young boys with only their underwear on jumping into the river in absolute joy. Playtime for these kids. They were great swimmers. I guess back home, if I were to do that, i wouldn't have gotten parents' approval. (anyway there are no rivers in Singapore to jump, maybe Singapore river, but u kena fined).

Looking at the boys here, and comparing them to our kids who have to endure the complexations of the rat race back home, who is more fortunate?

While watching, our phil hosts brought juice and some purple cake along for refreshments. Their juice comes in packets which are designed to be poked with a straw, however there is no slot for straw, you just either poke it using the sharp end of the straw through the front end where the packet is slanted, or you poke it via the base like i do. Once the juice is sucked out the packet collapses into a flattened piece of rubbish. Quite environmental-friendly.

We then made our way to the basket ball court nearby where a throng of young bystanders had gathered to watch some teens play ball. Well this "national fervour" thing caught members of our team (yes guys) and soon we were having Singapore vs Philippines in one friendly basketball game.

... and of course, we lost. I didn't play - the phil players were simply too nimble and they knew the game well. and i could obviously see them deliberately slowing down in a gesture of friendliness, for our team members. one by one our team members dropped out, either in exhaustion or, in the case of Stephen, because he sprained his ankle. Yep and they had to find some ice to ease the swelling.

but all in all, we had some good times with the people there. these people surely know what's the meaning of fun. or maybe they don't know the meaning of work like we do.

which is fortunate.

we left the place and headed back for lunch at the TLDC, then it was time for some R&R on your own. some people chose to sleep.

we had to pack up by 4pm and leave TLDC for the Buenos Aires Mountain Resort (BAMR), which was to be our 2nd place of stay. and so we went.

the journey there took at least a good hour, with marvellous scenery along the way. well most people fell asleep anyway. along the way dad smsed me from Singapore, asked me how i was, and that they were celebrating mum's birthday back home. ahhhhh how could i have forgotten.

before we reached BAMR, we passed by the Lousiana High School, where we were to build our study room, our main focus in coming here. we went in and saw, and that the infrastructure was already nicely done for us by the workmen, but there's all there is to it. no school that day.

when we reached BAMR, it was just at the foot of the mountain. ah. this is one place everyone wants to slack out their days in peace - there were numerous chalets on the mountain itself, we were staying at four of their best at the foot, where about six stalls were situated on the floor below our chalets, selling the local produce, tidbits, and alcohol. there was a stall also selling roasted chicken-on-a-stick (whatever they call it), the local delicacy.

we split into 3 groups, each of 7. the phil hosts took the fourth chalet. my chalet had me, jingwen, louis, grace, zhaoyuan, ernest tay, janus.

living conditions was the best - we had warm water for bathing, there were aircon in individual rooms, as well as fan, and each room had a veranda for well, anything. we set up clotheslines for hanging clothes and i washed my first set of clothes from TLDC with clear instructions from grace.

half of the party also went to the nearby swimming pool - the water is from the nearby waterfall and it is damn cold - everyone was jumping inside the pool. the pool is about 2.5 m deep - i can't touch the ground at the far side, which is cause for alarm. and i didn't bring my goggles so i was just trapping water in one of my shorter shorts.

the rest of the group (with ernest wee) went to the nearby waterfall for some relaxation, i heard some of them lost their slippers in the fast torrents of water.

we had dinner after that, and our first facilitation session - some personality thing where you ans qns then you are given some personality - grape, orange, banana etc. quite charming i thought, and quite true.

more washing up of clothes, bathing, and sleeptime soon came.

Day 3
Part 1: Slums

Date: 17th May 06

Well woke up today again. Nothing much. Breakfast, then we quickly loaded the stuff that we wanted to give to the slum children and off we went. Reached the area about 10 am.

We were shuttled into a room that looks like a schoolhouse-nursery before anything else. Well we had attracted alot of curious bystanders, and our phil hosts put our safety before anything else, lest we get mugged or anything.

As one of our team members put it when she had experienced first-hand in Bombay: "there's this slum in Bombay that literally kills you when you step in, they rob you until there's nothing left, then they kill you." rumoured to be the biggest slum in asia or the world, something like that.

Gulp. meishan told us not to bring anything along, so i left everything including my wallet, my wristwatch and hp in the TLDC. means no pictures.

basically we had about 7-9 boxes of clothing as donations to be given to the slum people. They were given coupons, of which they could exchange a set of clothing each with one coupon. They were shuttled via a narrow doorway, the only door that led into the schoolhouse. The stronger guys formed a human corridor (about 4 of them, 2 flanking each side) that tried to control the crowd and prevent a mass stampede, while the rest arranged themselves into 2 groups and gave out clothing.

well... in accordance with one of the team members' verdict during the debrief, it was a mess. the clothing wasn't really classified, it was just classified into Adult Male, Adult Female and Child, without any other further specifications. so you can have things like 12-yr old kids getting baby clothing. but of course we try as much to prevent that by matching the clothing we give out with the respective clientele that we see, as in babies we give them some baby clothing, grandmothers we give them grandmother's clothing, etc. but that took some time and hence dampened efficiency.

i was in charge of unpacking the stuff (as were with the rest) and helping to control the crowd by ushering those people who had taken something out asap. Rule of thumb: you can't have more than one group (i.e. one family) of people inside, i think the concern is to prevent them from charging in once they see too many people huddled inside there.

while we were unpacking the stuff, some of the slum people (the hooligan type from 10-15 years old, male) stared at us from window panes and made some noises that i could not decipher. rude people! basically they were making this repetitive noise, very loudly and rudely, and gesturing to stuff on our selves, like some of them had taken a liking to my "Ray-bans" (my tinted transition glasses), some of our caps, etc. initially i responded a bit but then Bong, one of the hosts, told me to ignore them. hmmm.

well.. if this was a different situation i would have shown them the finger... don't ask for too much kids. and anyway we were also sort of being surrounded so i thought twice about it.

(for the record, i didn't show any fingers, i think? during this trip. some record.)

after all the people with the coupons left, there were still some extra, so meishan asked them to form one queue and take one piece of clothing per person. after all, some people might just forget their coupons here and there.

gulp, well ms was definitely asking for more trouble.. but well heck it. we saw some people coming for more, a second time, maybe a third, but we could do nothing to control them. can't expect to remember and screen everyone's faces when there' like 50-60 people outside waiting.

then we gave out our clothing until the last few pieces.. before we gave the last one out we evacuated all our men standing outside, especially glynsen (official photographer with the SLR camera), our phil hosts, into the schoolhouse, and shut the door on them.

it was quite... well. to hear people knocking behind the door, in fact feel people knocking behind the door. heart-wrenching was not the word i had in mind, more like scared. we were after all being besieged.

after the knocking dissipated our phil hosts graciously offered to show us around the slum area, and we split into two groups (probably for safety's sake). basically, those talk that mum and dad have of their childhood years come alive now, those kampung houses stand tall and firm on not-so-firm soil (the area is flooded when it's high tide, and the paths we walked through are actually streams). there is a nice well, pentagonal in shape, that smacks so much of village life. poultry ran all over the place. basically, the paths are sometimes covered with shit (dung), some dried and assimilated into the path where i had the misfortune to step on some. human shit? chicken shit? whatever. the paths were also covered with this shiny-looking thing, like pieces of glitter, which on further asking our phil hosts, confirmed that it was probably minerals which had washed onto the soil from the river. interesting.

wasn't very interesting though. the slums were better off that i thought, i saw one house with a little girl watching television, apparently that's their favourite pastime, or national pastime in phil. despite the living conditions, they do hold themselves proud here.

yup, we then went back to the schoolhouse area. they have a basketball pole next to the schoolhouse, i think someone donated it. apparently that's their national sport.

we left the slums at around 12pm, after taking a group picture and getting surrounded by all the cheeky cute little children. hmm. one thing: i observed very very few people of our age. where did they go?

i guess this operation was quite successful, in terms of 1) safety and 2) the efficiency, although i think we can improve on that much better.

One thing was the necessity of this entire thing: did we actually need to give them these clothes? Did we help them at all, in fact. While on my pre-trip tasks to find a logistics company to bring all these stuff there, the “boss” of the company remarked that he would his countrymen (he’s a Filipino) receive books rather than clothes (in fact he was quite shocked when we gave them clothes). “what use are clothes? What they need now are books, to educate them… clothes they can just sell…” that got me thinking.

Well, what exactly do these slum people need? A way out of poverty, I guess. But I don’t think receiving clothes doesn’t make them any closer to that goal. or do they not need anything at all?

Day 2
Part 2: Sightseeing around Bago City

Date: 16 Jun 06, after lunch (1300 onwards)

after lunch (in the TLDC) we had to move to the Bago City College (BCC) for our first performance, as well as give out textbooks to the students over there.

yes, while i and brenda was having our great bago city sale in the market, the other not-so-fortunate members of bhbh2 have had to practice dance moves after they finish sorting out the stuff. our signature bhbh2 dance by zhaoyuan!

yep, though it wasn't very nicely done as it should be, nevertheless it was quite well executed, from the viewpoint of a person who has practised it only once.

louis had an idea and he wanted to bring out our chingay dance which him, i, jingwen and grace executed to the great appreciation of all those who saw it. ha. singaporeans and our phil hosts do know how to appreciate a branded dance. (not saying zy's dance is... well, nvm)

went to bago city college, got some speech, then we danced our bhbh2 dance, then followed by chingay dance, plus some nice performances the people there have for us. one such performance is what i call the "bench dance", i.e. a couple basically dances on a slender wooden bench (used for sitting people), and involves the guy lifting the gal and placing her on his other side at times (e.g. the gal is on the guy's left side, then he lifts her by the waist and puts her on his right side). all on the bench. marvellous.







Bago City College, with ernest tay and grace posing to someone.










Standard lecture theatre, we occupied the first row and waited for the other bago city college people to come in. on the extreme right was the teachers.


then there was this "fashion show" which we had to perform. rather lame, those type where u perform during cultural activities or Friendship Day, where nuanxin will read stuff showcasing the four different races, basically we got the city look, the army look, chinese, malay (that's me), indian, plus some other cultures like jap, viet, burmese, etc. not to slam u nuanxin.. but i think it's lame

after the performance and the giving of books we had a short interaction with the students. found out that, in fact, many crave for these books that we had previously.. discarded. they were of the same age group as us: early 20s, and most of them are plagued by bgrs. typical.

went to tour the college after that.. well the impression was that it looked like a secondary school here.. or a primary school as someone brought out. very run-down, without proper facilities. thank god that singapore's schools are much much better off than that. but other than the facilities, the spirit of the students are pretty much the same - what bothers them now, i.e. results, studies, girlfriends - are probably what bothers us. of course life is made easier for us when you don't have to worry about dropping out of sch (for most) and that you don't have to work in your dad's paddy fields after study (well, maybe in genki sushi).





find the red button for me.
don't worry, there's another alarm in the history section of the central library that says "dummy bell" in NUS...











computer lab that BHBH1 helped to set up. computers are courtesy of Crescent Girls School, Primary.


went to the Bago City Hospital (BCH) after that. the BCH is located along the main road and its quite a stone throw's away from the college. (fyi TLDC is located along the main road as well, we can occasionally hear ambulance sirens). They have two wings: one old, one new, not enough medical staff, and beds. Probably most of their diagnostic stuff is also not accurate (as winnie discovered at a later date).

The old wing is.. very old. Needs a makeover, probably the looks of Singapore's General Hospital. The old one. It is quite small, about slightly larger than a clinic of Singaporean standards. Reception room is not crowded - i think they see common ailments somewhere else. According to the nurse there there are only 5 doctors in BCH, and i don't see any of them around when we visit. probably very busy. There are only about one or two wards, with a maternity room, guess that's about it.

The new wing has just been complete, and it links to the old wing via some corridor. Some parts are still not done - workers can be seen drilling here and there in a room. Two storeys, mainly an extension of wards, enough to occupy 50 people as what the nurse said. So far, i only see one patient around though. Beds and everything are not put into place yet, i guess its still not very functional. There is a collection of OTs around, about 4, but obviously they are not used as we, a bunch of about 25, can trample upon the relative tranquility of the "sterile" area. Guess that's because of the lack of the proper operating facilities there and that there's only one surgeon around. In fact, all (non-life-threatening?) operations are directed to Bacalod's hospitals, about 20km drive away.

After visiting the hospital we were scheduled to go to the museum, but then i had an "aura" and so requested to stay in the vehicle. Afraid that it might be too hot, ms and andy bade me to rest in the TLDC, with andy accompanying me along.

The rest of them had better activities like a ride down the river... they returned at around 1800 hours, we had dinner. Meishan, louis and jingwen went especially to buy watermelons, and a special noodle soup (which looks deliciously like sharksfin) for my enacimated self. Owe them one for that. Yup the whole group was wondering what the hell happened to their logistics head and i was like showered with too many "how are you?"s. well. Nothing much to do after dinner, kept nuaing, people wanted to bathe, and we played jenga and "polar bear".







My dinner, 2nd day. Sharks fin soup (forgot the actual name).
Very salty.










Jenga challenge while waiting to go bathe.












Playing Polar Bear in the other room.


In retrospect...

Hmm... i guess that i'm really thankful for Singapore's excellent medical facilities... when i asked Joseph, the medic from phil that accompanied us, he said that there are epilepsy patients in phil.. but the epilepsy is often not controlled via proper medication. one thing is that medication here is expensive - one carbamazepine pill costs about S$1/S$2 and it comes in those large satchets - about twice or thrice the price of it here. economies of scale as you might cruelly put it. Also, the state of the hospital as compared to ours is very dismal, and i wonder if life-threatening cases like heart attacks or strokes come in, will the staff be able to cope? Or when any epidemic / major disaster strikes?

The schools, as seen by the college (which is equivalent to our university), thirst for education. Education in phil isn't very good - they have one of the highest student to teacher ratio: 45:1., which means the student's learning abilities will be diminished. And that is primary school, which is compulsory, i think it gets worse in secondary school, about 55:1. Basically due to a lack of schoolteachers. As for college, they do not have courses like chemistry or medicine or life sciences, but more practical stuff like law (for policeman) and nursing.

I guess well? are we lucky to be more exposed to more discliplinary areas then? or should something be done?

Day 2
Part 1: Market Day

Date: 16th May 06

Woke up to the spartan outdoors of the TLDC and witnessed the early morning sights of the philippines. It was beautiful, for once there were no highrise buildings around. It also meant that other than the four walls of the TLDC, there were no where else to go.

Morning is very early in phil - the sun rises at 0600 exactly and the cockerel makes its morning song about then. Thought i wouldn't make it for breakfast but got blinded by the sun's rays at 0600. man, i thought it was already 0800. breakfast was simple and consisted of rice, scrambled eggs, bacon, about that. quite salty and filling.

surrounding the TLDC was the Manuel E Torres Sports Centre, some stadium-like thingy. I should think it's the only one in Bago City, i've never seen any other stadium since. there's a running track, soccer pitch and all the exercise/training stations like pullup bar. there was also this women's and children's nutrition centre or what, i didn't really know.

after breakfast we were to unpack all our donations as ordered by meishan and sort them out into clothes, books, toys, and other paraphenelia. halfway through i got dragged off by ms to "procuere supplies" for the group, i.e. soap, toilet paper, detergent, etc.










Market scene in Bago City. Lots of tricycles that gave you a ride for 6 pesos (P6) x number of stops.

went with mama remia and brenda to the nearby (ok, about 1 km away) bago city market. the place wasn't big, with a collection of stores for about 2-3 streets selling all kinds of stuff from chicken lassos to drugs (pharmacies), phil handphone top-up cards and cakes. Went to their wet market, same smell as the wet market here. Basically it felt like mum bringing me and my little sister out to the jurong east market, heh, only thing was i had one eye on my two companions and two eyes on my wallet. yes, i had to pay first.

went to this place called Ding's minimart and bought stuff like toilet paper, bottled water, soap, extra toiletries, some wash-basins for washing clothes, detergent, etc. something like your NTUC minimart, only more run-down. noticed that they sore stuff differently here - they sell in much more smaller packets, as described in the marketing lectures for those not-so-affulent countries. Ice is sold as well, like water, in waterbomb-sized packets. They sell sugar in brown and white forms, except that the packaging doesn't really look like much, one single transparent packet, and well to the analytical chemist's eye it looks like...











Brenda and Mama Remia (covered partly) buying tape for wrapping the Mayor's present.

Despite the backwardness of it all, i found out that they have a wide assortment of snacks and biscuits that everyone loves, we bought some - and a wide assortment of alcohol too - the local Tanduay Rum and other products. In fact when we were at the checkout counter the local women were buying like 5-6 bottles of rum (250ml) at one shot. Either they have a serious alcoholic problem here, or they might be selling the stuff.

We went to the market too for other stuff like getting top-up cards: in phil to call anywhere using your hp without a plan (who has a plan for 18 days?!?) you use top-up cards, which are worth P300 ($10). these stuff are hot cakes, wenyi was asking for one today, and another the next (heh. bfs) - apparently they last only only about 10-15 minutes for overseas calls.

I got myself a pair of slippers, but they were too small, i found that out when i reached the TLDC. so the driver jun had to fetch me and poor mama reima back to change the slipper. so paiseh.

enjoyed shooting away with my digital camera at their market scenes, there's a lot of visuals around, much to the amusement (and annoyance) of mama reima and brenda.

Day 1 - Leaving on a Jet Plane

Date: 15 May 06

woke up 0530. yawnz.

morning: went to changi airport via mrt wih nx.. reached there at 0715 to find ms nagging at us again. yeah.. need to tag the luggage but dun need to nag right?? sigh.

caught akanksha's and shaila's bfs, as well as ew's "new" gf. very sweet of all of them to send their respective lovers off. haha. saw some family members like jw's and zy's mums too.

check in, dilly-dally here and there and soon it was 0940.. time to fly off to manila! quite nice, i'd always love the GREAT check-in area of CA!!! Wowee. too bad open to transit passengers only, and we have only about 30 minutes to zip to our Gate.

Sat on philippine airlines PR502, with sisters YuTing and wenyi (wengz?) looking at some queen latifah movie. service was good, but no cards - why?

1320 hrs: touched down on manila - ninoy aquino airport. must say that while the airport is quite clean, their customs services isn't too efficient. lots of guards around, checks, and signs saying philippines is bird flu free, no bomb jokes, and quarantine your animals. oh yes they have this "footbath" thingy which is supposed to ward off bird flu but i dun see any pools of water around so i guess this sign must have been around for years and nobody bothered. or we were also speculating that the yucky carpets that welcomed us down into the customs areas IS the footbath. but well...

a slight pause at the transit area of the airport. quite sucky.. we explored the stores, mainly nothing.. janus got ripped off by a toilet cleaner for a tip of S$5 = 150 pesos!! tried their foot-long sausage, some donuts from chien hao and a enormous pao. was feeling quite sated after the entire feast..

took some pics too.. go see in my gallery. blogger doesn't really approve of uploading pics...

took a pic with grace and xiao ji ji...

SO CUTE RIGHT!! no, not grace. not the xiao ji ji. me. ahahhahhahahhahahah. i looked like i just booked out..

me, grace and janus' xiao ji ji. so cute right!!

touched down at bacalod about 1800-1900 hours.. flight was delayed. domestic flight so no airway bridge, u gotta use leg power on the tarmac. bacolod airport is quite pathetic, a one-storey building with a 2-3 storey control tower and a arrival area that looked like a cockfighting pit. collected our luggage while trying to fend off the porters.

went outside the building and welcoming us was this matronly woman, (Mama) Reima. (pronounced as re-mier). sat in 3 cars and we sped to bago city under cover of night.

the way to bago city was quite desolate by singaporean standards, like somewhere along old changi village road, only that we were going at 80-100 kmh. there were no lights around, no street lamps and our driver just blared the horn with all his might. seem like they drive like bats around here. it feels like those "which part of malaysia am i in" feeling.

reached bago city at about 2030 hours. the mayor and all the big shots of bago city were already there. so paiseh to walk in and found out that they've been waiting for us all along. after the formalities (speech, etc) we ate.. quite a feast. they had roast suckling pig and alot of other stuff (which i can't eat very much cos i was too full from my internal transit feast.. sigh) yeah ate a pittance only.

after the feast and all.. drove about short distance to TLDC (technology learning and development center) where it will be our quarters for the next 3 days.

tried to sleep in the 21-bed dormitory (with fans) but found it too hot and too many mozzies flying around, and i didn't have any DEET (mozzie repellent), so just retreated like gavin, wengz, yt, and Our Dear Leader did to the comfort of the aircon room. end of day 1.

The next few entries will be of my life in philippines.. will take some time to put up.. meanwhile enjoy!!

Timeline for the next 2.5 months (until i start schooling)

Friday, May 12: typing this.
May 13: final briefing for bhbh2.
May 14: mother's day.
May 15: departure to bago city via Manila. approx eta: dinnertime.
May 16: Preparation of donation of books to Bago City college and interaction session.
May 17: Going to Lousiana National High School.
May 17-19: Study room construction.
May 20: Summer Youth Camp at Buenos Aires Mt. Resort.
May 21: Attend sunday mass (!) visit to Bacolod (city)
May 22-23: resume construction of study room.
May 24: Donations to "rose" neighbourhood, more construction.
May 25-27: more construction.
May 27: visit to Kipot Twin Falls, Rafael Salas Park and Nature Center, and Philippines Lan shop to check results
May 28: Homestay
May 29: Touch up of construction
May 30: Day care centre visit - programmes with children!! Open our study room
May 31: Visit to Espinos Elementary School, feed the children with vitamins.
June 1: Arrival back home at 1545 hours.


June 2 - June 23: continued planning, collection of Data for FOCC.
June 24 / 26: dry run.
June 27 - July 2: finalisation of FOCC.

July 3 - July 6: FOCC

July 7 - Orientation week: slacking and helping alvin plan for FOW

O week: FOW

Week 1: hit the books. sad life~

The Level of Friendship

Level 0: Strangers

Both of you don't know each other's names even though you might have met somewhere before, talked before, or performed an event with each other before.

Level 1: Acquantainces

You know the other person, the other person may or may not know you. When both of you meet, there is no greeting, but a silent acknowledgement (may not be mutual) of each other's presences.

Level 2: Hi-bye friends.

Both of you know each other. You may still remember each other's names, but it takes a moment for you to do so. When both of you meet, there is a "hi" or a "bye" spoken, nothing much.

Level 3: Superficial

Both of you know each other. You may still remember each other's names, but it takes a moment for you to do so. When both of you meet, you ask about superficial things like "have you eaten?" or "how was the test on friday?", which, hopefully can lead to greater conversations but never did.

Level 4: Associates

Both of you know each other and can recall each other's names. You address each other by original names, or by surnames. When both of you meet, you ask about things regarding a certain topic of interest common to both of you, e.g. about business or work, or "have you studied for your maths test?" Conversation is polite and formal- may run into some dead space sometimes. The time that you spend with each other may be long or short, but you wish that you would spend time with someone else had you a better choice.

Level 5: Friends

Both of you know each other, and can recall each other's names instantly. You address each other by original names, or by the name that you wish the other person to call you. There is a slight bond between the two of you. Conversation topics would probably include things familiar with the both of you, or with one person only. Generally a little help will be extended to each other in times of need by the other party, and both of you feel comfortable with each other around.

Level 6: Good Friends

Both of you know each other well, and other than name, can recognise some other aspects of each other, e.g. birthday, partner, other friends, etc. You address each other by the name that you wish the other person to call you, or by a nickname for some. You see each other quite often. There is a definite bond between the two of you. Conversation topics are wide, and would probably include many familiar events and most everyday events. Help will generally be extended to each other in times of need by the other party, and both of you feel happy with each other's company.

Level 7: Clique

Both of you know each other very well, in fact, some attributes of each other become the recognising factor (i.e. he or she is recognised for her birthday on March 27). You tell each other everything that can be told to anyone else (i.e. except secrets). You address each other by a nickname, otherwise by a shortform of the name. You see each other almost every day. Both of you think of one another when you want to perform an activity together, and are in each other's evoked set. There is a intimate bond between the two of you - you feel like both of you are in an inner circle of trust. Conversation topics are wide, are tailored to what both of you likes. Both you talk about anything under the sun, and would probably extend to secretive topics like emotional issues. Help will definitely be extended to each other in times of need by the other party. Both of you feel extremely happy with each other's company, and feel that the other party has the power to cheer them up sometimes.

Level 8: Buddy

Both of you know each other inside out, except for the most intimate secrets. You address each other by a nickname, otherwise by a shortform of the name - the nickname may be derogatory, but you don't mind. You see each other almost every day, if not, probably think of each other sometimes. Both of you think of each other as among the first choices when making an activity together, that requires a certain level of risk and involvement. Both of you trust each other completely. Conversation topics are wide, and extends to even secrets, and are tailored to the frequency of each other. And should either of you meet problems of whatsoever kind, the other party will be most willing to help, and will help till the end. Both of you feel extremely happy with each other's company, and feel that the other party makes their day.

Level 9: Soulmate

This is the ultimate level of friendship.

Both of you know each other inside out, until there is nothing to hide between the two of you. You address each other by a degoratory nickname, or simply acknowledge other's presence. You see and think of each other almost every day, it would be a shame if both of you weren't lovers. Both of you think of each other as the first choice when making an activity together, that requires the maximum level of risk and involvement. Both of you trust each other completely. Conversation topics are wide, but sometimes you don't even need to communicate, you already know what the other side's thinking. And should either of you meet problems of whatsoever kind, the other party will be most willing to help, and will help till the end, even if it means sacrificing anything on his side. Both of you feel blessed that you have each other's company, and should this friendship be broken, it will be a grievious loss to both sides.

Outburst

sigh. i dunno why, sometimes when desperation sets into me, i just feel like lashing out. adrenaline sucks, cortisol sucks.

its those situations when you feel like there's no way out - there's only one way that you can do it and somehow that way is unavailable to you.

a rational person will sit down, think and try to work another way, possibly a compromise, into the situation.

a desperado will panic and scream, and probably claw his way out to freedom.

i haven't been a desperado for very long. but when you feel the increasing desperation setting in - the cortisol building up with the stress, and the increased adrenaline flowing in your system to actually help you think, but no, it makes you more frightened.

then you do something that you will regret in the near future.

that sucks.

What are my demands?? I demand world peace and love!!

















a thief in my room???



the balaclava - standard issue for Siberian grunts, bank robbers, would-be thieves, with AK-47s, half the Counterstrike skins, Rainbow Six NPCs - for headgear in the not-so-distant past. now, it has become a symbol of fear.

Pre-trip thoughts

Today went out with louis to get a bag / haversack / backpack for my trip to The Philippines. got a balaclava for $3.5 and a penknife for $4.5 at The Army Market..

The balaclava is for sleeping (yes, in case there are freaking mosquitoes there) and while its not currently in fashion due to the infamy caused by that #$%^&*&^%$er Osama Bin Laden, it can still be re-used for fright night. There are no black balaclavas for sale though and what i bought was the last one. Seems like it really has gone out of vogue.

One way to get a minimum of 10 laser sights coming from fully-loaded mp5 submachineguns held by red-beret police officers wearing full body kevlar armor and helmet: wear the balaclava in the airport. ok, not funny. kids dont try this, at home or anywhere.

How do i use the thing for sleeping? Well. since it covers the head entirely, with a blindfold, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, track pants and socks, no mosquito should be able to get my skin other than via the nostrils. muhahahhaha.

Oh yes, the penknife cannot be brought onto the plane. mustn't forget. damn those terrorists.

Decided to bring clothing for 06 x days to PP. They said can wash the clothing. Toothpaste, toothbrush, soap toiletries etc can buy over there, so don't need to bring. Oh yes, don't forget the drugstore: my medicine for 20 days, some Panadol, Clarityne for running nose, some charcoal for diarrhoea, no sleeping pills though.

Entertainment: one pack of cards, one recorder, one x mp3 player (still thinking of whether to bring it there), the rest of the group. Was thinking of bringing my book of e-tales there but decided against it. No guitar - too bulky. My precious laptop is not leaving Singapore either.

Sigh. i think i'll prob get homesick very fast, since i've not stepped out of the country for like, 5-6 years. Being stripped of basic amentities such as clean water and my laptop sucks. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is like totally gone - no electricity sometimes. well. that's outfield.

wonder if i'll be able to sleep there? i can't even sleep here well in Singapore. darn.

i'd wish i'd get back to Singapore here asap. it's like, so many things are gonna happen to focc during the 18 days that i'll be away, and it's a shame for me not to see it and perhaps provide some ideas. not that my ideas are absolute: some of them are totally crappy... well i think yuantai should be able to handle it...

thus said, i've been handling much of the programme stuff like a dictator.. well i think i should have more autonomy, but well its just too bad that i have only 10-12 days to 'settle everything' and fly off to pp. And i must really credit joy, huilin and charmaine for putting in so much effort on my team, as well as yuantai, co-head in programme. progress is good, i can safely say we're probably halfway done. i guess a good part of the ideas that will eventually be put to use will be from these people.

still totally blur of what to do and expect from philippines... suddenly i just wanna do focc all these holidays. it feels like i just wanna bang straight into a brick wall... as i had done so many times.

one third of the hols gone after i come back.

.... and more FOCC

Woke up yesterday (monday) and went to FOCC meeting with yuantai, joy, hui lin and one yr 3 senior, yaozong, who helped out in the camp i went to last year.

it was kinda refreshing for yaozong to share his ideas with us, esp from the side of the fright night. from his two years of "fright night planning experience" he could tell us which tactics work, and which don't at all. which was quite ironic cos he had personally never been to a fright night before. =)

managed to finalise day 1 by today - the events are mostly done with, finalised. not that there are alot of events anyway. most of the time was spent discussing and revamping the fright night. manpower slash from 26 originally to 11, which is a great feat.. haha. Must get 11 really daring souls inside then.

hmm.. original plan was to have about 10 seniors + 6-7 fright night helpers etc = 16 guys.

anyway.

have to brief the OGLs, the PFs, the GMs, the Medics, the logistics stuff.. which means more more proposals to type out.. groannnnn

ha. something interesting happened when i came back from nus. took the bus 97 from nus back. bus 97 is supposed to turn right into town hall road (the vertical orange line) after emerging from the AYE (a tributary of the horizontal veins)

then i think between jurong town hall road and the AYE the bus broke down!!! in the middle of the road (you can see where the bus broke down: it went at the red * on the map) yup right there!!

firstly i tot the bus driver was damn inexperienced and he forgot to turn right into Jurong Town Hall road (and instead carried on to the other branch of the AYE entrance). then, phut. the engine went dead. The TV mobile went off and the whole bus suddenly went quiet. Then he restarted the engine. This went on for about 6-7 times before the frustrated bus driver just gave up and shucks, let the whole crew of passengers off.

Imagine stopping at this confluence point! This area jams like shit during rush hour (5-6pm). There were people coming up from Teban/Pandan area and seeing this monstrous bus blocking all 4 lanes of the road. People who wanted to turn right into Jurong Town Hall road to go back to jurong east also can't do so (there was only this small lane). Buses who wanted to go back into the AYE after dropping people at the cycle and carriage busstop also can't do so.

Well, luckily no one horned their asses off, i guess singaporeans are a quite understanding species. Especially when they know that area is known for jams.

Me? i got off the bus, and because my bus card was negative amount, just walked all the way back to central. quite an ok walk - 1 or 2 kms.

yup.. going to bugis' army market and concourse later to see what the hell we can find for bhbh2 and FN. then try to make it tonight, finalise FN, help yt and joy finalise their stuff so we can call like Day 2 of the camp settled and half of day 3 settled too.

i wanna go out with someone.. haiz

FOCC and more FOCC

sigh. its D-Day + 4 and i'm still in focc mode.

almost all the prelimary planning has been done already and a concrete plan is almost fashioned from the forge, yup we're just meeting over the next two days to finalise the plan and make everything work on paper... well if it can't even work on paper then we can eat shit...

Product development process:

1) company policy? yes
2) brainstorming? done that
3) idea selection? not enough to do so
4) finances
5) test drive
6) small-scale implementation
7) large-scale implementation

anyway.. i hope to make this proj a good one before i "retire" from fun.. well yea time to study seriously, like the others and edwin. i think i'm lagging. i hope i can get at least a 3.5 for my CAP score. bhbh2 and later on, this, have really been fun, but they are really distracting too.. was like 1/2 of my mind on focc, 1/2 of my mind on exams.. driving me crazy. can't sleep at night.

well.. what else to write? sat (yesterday) went out with leo and ws. we were talking about focc.. haha leo organising his with his tsb friends and having a great time as safety ic.. ws as dance ic.. again from because of some blood line thingy. and his excellent (hot) performance at tri fac bash.

then leo introduced me to this shit on youtube.. its called "hard gay"... yar its this fella in japan then he goes around and says "hard gay de neh!" and makes a fool out of himself, i think. likes young boys (gulp). we d/led a clip from the net and watched it on youtube in the apple mac shop in cineleisure, much to the displeasure of the staff there and the amusement of the shoppers.

leo's full of shit.. seems like he's the next one to be hit by the youtube bug after choon han... got this series called "top car" or something like that where they introduce car after car and do funny shit with cars (like treat them like dodgems).

then we shared stuff about camp organising.. he got a manual for like safety instructions and he typed it out SAF-style, even the font used is Arial 12 and all the tabbing is in place. Annex A Dated 050506 written on the top right-hand corner. reminds me of all those dumb army days.

then there was this ice-breaker game which i think was ultimately hilarious: we christened it "the 50-cent game"

how to play: everyone is supposed to sit in a circle and one of the guys will be "it". then the rest take turns to ask "it" questions, but "it" can only give one answer to the question. the rest of the guys must refrain from laughing, if they do, they become the next "it".

demonstration:
Word: 50-cent coin

Q: What do you show to the shopkeeper in exchange for something worth 50 cents?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you show to the shopkeeper in exchange for something worth 50 dollars?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you brush your teeth with?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you wear when you go and swim?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you eat for lunch?
A: 50-cent coin

(then suddenly they think what the hell is this game about, u pom some rather obscene one)

Q: What do you use to dig your left nostril?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you use to dig your right nostril?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: What do you put in your mouth, chew it, spit it out, and say "delicious!!"?
A: 50-cent coin
Q: How do you say "kiss my ass" in french?
A: 50-cent coin

...etc.

Medication Use Process: 4 simple steps

Doctors: Prescribe

Assess need, select drug and regimen

Before: ask patients for DI (Drug interactions), DA (allergies) and CI (contraindications) as well as ensure appropriate drug.
DA: "u got any allergy or not?"
DI: "u got take any medicines before this??" + review drug history.
CI: review medical history.

Consider alternative therapies (but most docs don't do that... i wonder why.)

During: Check name, drug name, dose, quantity, frequency, route of admin. Write clearly.

After: watch out for any unprecented reactions, follow-up, review your drug booklets regularly

Pharmacists: Dispense

Before: check prescription for legality, ambiguity, correct drug --> correct illness and nice handwriting. Refuse if not met.
Make sure u key in the correct drug order to the correct patient profile. (Otherwise hong gan)
If the computer got say DA, DI, CI, etc, check for them and see if Doctor got miss out.
Refuse if so.
Type label: Make sure drug name, dose, frequency (instructions), quantity, name of patient, date, date of expiry, hospital/pharmacy name, serial no., other instructions blah blah blah all that the doctor writes in the Rx are all there. Paste your secondary labels also.
Paste correct label to correct drug container. (Otherwise hong gan, redo)
Before dispensing, CHECK correct drug with prescription, NOT label.

During: Ask the patient's name / NRIC / 11B / whatever.
Ask if patient has any DA. Inform prescriber if any
Check if patient is taking any medications, like TCM. May cause DI
Tell patient of drug, how to take it, and any adverse drug reactions (ADR). Ask patient to pay.
"OK this is carbamazepine, 200mg/tablet, the doctor already tell you to take 2 tabs in the morning and 3 tabs at night. May cause drowsiness. That will be $200"

Nurses: Administer

Take the correct medication chart for the correct patient.
Examine the prescription carefully, make sure everything is understood.
Make sure the doctor/pharmacist reviews a drug if it is being used for the first time.
Check for DA (usually nurses dun give a damn though. maybe chief nurses)
Check for 5 rights:
right drug
right dose
right route (of administration)
right patient
right time

Whack the medicine into the person... encourage them to express any discomfort or problems experienced during the administration (SCREAM!!!)

(Usually little children cry like hell, so for injections one way is to distract them with a sweet then ask their parents to hold them down.. then whack)

Inform the patient what the drug is used for (usually they don't), any adverse drug reactions, and tell them to report any ADR.

Record the drug into the patient's medication chart.

Code of Ethics for a Pharmacist

1. Patient's health is first priority.

2. Strive to give best services to public.

3. There is such a thing called medical-in-confidence.

4. Reinforce the patient's trust and confidence as what is given to his colleagues.

5. Help others.

6. Make friends, respect their achievements.

7. Don't publicly criticise.

8. Don't snatch business.

9. Observe the law and don't be naughty.

10. Train your juniors.

11. Do CPD.

12. Do not do anything that "does not ensure your professional independence".

Random Rantings

grr. i'm now alternating between periods of headaches / dizziness and periods of clear vision.

why can't i have a good brain like most people. instead something that crackles with sparks near the scarring tissue. damn. causing alot of headaches.

some asshole is sawing / drilling something in the floor above me.

no motivation to study...

haiz all my folks are out. delivered the color printer which my dad bought for me during my stay in hall. $300, to my fourth uncle. i wondered, since i already have a laser (black-and-white) printer outside, just keep this for now. it's been sitting underneath a desk for some time already.

instead of keeping it as a white elephant, why not lend it to them? hmm. well after all i didn't buy it, my dad did, and if he wanna give let him give.

hmm. wonder when i'll see it back again. my mum's not very pleased about this. the last time we lent something to them it came back ONLY when it was spoilt. and they didn't even tell us it was spolit. oh well, reasons for family squabbles...

grr. my mum reasons, since both fourth uncle and aunt are uni grads, why shouldn't they have the $$ to buy their own color printer. which makes sense.

mum thinks my dad's being too kind to his siblings. on the expense of us. well. i have no comment. i don't click very well with my fourth uncle's cousins either (primary sch to Sec 4)

godddamn it.. the fella upstairs has started drilling/screwing again, why not go and screw yourself.

Labour Day, all right

woke up 10:15am and studied for pharm practice I. Sighs.

Some nice mnemonic: IVth CAR, 5 P's.

Roles of a pharmacist
I: Inform public about drug-related issues, teach, do community in-services, answer drug-related questions
V: Volunteer your ass off to health-related organisations.

C: encourage Compliance
A: Assist in chronic disease management
R: Recommend OTC / vitamins / herbs as alternative treatment.

P: read Prescriptions
P: manage Patient profile
P: counsel Patients
P: compound Pharmaceuticals
P: work with other health Professionals, e.g. TPN.

every neuron in my brain now wants to go to sleep. my eyes are closing. but i dun wanna go sleep cos that'll affect my sleep cycle... get insomnia again. horrible illness. torture. wait until 9-10pm.

Outlook for May:

1st: revise pr1103
2nd: go to YIH and camp, snipe next year pharmacy ORD students. and revise. ha
3rd: ORD lor!! sorry that was last year. D-Day!!!
4th: go and recee Changi chalets with focc and FN team. meeting
5th: meeting with EPs.
6th: meeting with bhbh2.
7th: (rest) maybe go buy supplies from beach rd.
8th: meeting.
9th: meeting.
10th-13th: ??? probably tie up bhbh2 / focc stuff
14th: mother's day and flyoff.
15th - 1st june: philippines volunteer project.

busybusybusy....