Gift List

Just because I don't want the person who has the (unfortunate) task of getting me a gift for the Singles conference next week during the Excellence Conference a hard time, I'd like to make a few, er, suggestions to help him/her out a bit.:P

• An optical mouse (a blue one, please :P)
• RAM for my computer (I wish!)
• Captivating or Wild at Heart by John and Stasi Eldredge
• Any book of the Time Quartet series by Madeleine L'Engle
• Plato's Symposium (and no, that's not a joke)
• Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, or The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
• Hearts Ablaze by John Bevere
• Any book by Graham Greene
• Music by MxPx and Thousand Foot Krutch

Okay, so maybe these are kinda pricey, so just in case, here's a list of the general stuff that I'd like :P:

• A nice, huge bag
• A good headset for my computer
• Any good book, Christian or secular (if it belongs to the latter category, it would be nice if the genres are either fantasy - such as those written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - or philosophical, particularly existentialism - non-fiction, such as the works written by Emmanuel Levinas, Gabriel Marcel, Jean-Paul Sartre, or Albert Camus - or fiction, such as those written by Milan Kundera)
• Good music (alternative or rock)
• Nothing Sanrio please!

I'll try and add more stuff to the list if I think of anything else.:p

A Stitch in Time Saves Blood (In Theory, At Least)

It's that time of the year again where I get to collect sicknesses from all over the place. I contracted a new allergy (I'm still not sure what it is, but my doctor was positive that it's caused by something I ate), I found out my eyes are now ready for LASIK surgery (which I don't really want to undergo, at least, not right now), and I had another wisdom tooth extracted.

It's in the last one that I want to talk about in this entry, so for those who have weak stomachs and are pretty sensitive about blood, I suggest that you stop reading now.

I've been having a problem with the lower right portion of my jaw this past month. Maybe that's also the reason for my frequent headaches/migraines, I really don't know. Sometimes, when I'd brush my teeth, that part would bleed (and I don't really think I'm heavy-handed when it comes to that). Add that to the fact that that part was really sensitive and tender that I could poke it with a finger and a part of it would wiggle, well... That would explain why I got worried and went to see a dentist about it. It's not that it hurt (well, not that much, anyway), but it was just really annoying.

The thing is, my siblings and I have gone to only two dentists in my lifetime, both of whom know us since we were kids. I don't mean to make them into security blankets or anything (I'm not really scared of dentists), but they're the ones I'm used to. The problem is, they're way over at Pangasinan, and I'm here at Manila. What's a girl with an aching jaw to do? Simple. Look for another dentist near her, so that's what I did.

Immediately after peeking in my mouth, the dentist went something like, "Okay, that tooth has got to come off." I expected that, but I didn't realize that it had to come out right then and there. Well, it didn't, really, because she had to call a dental surgeon to do it. In the meantime, I trooped over to my ENT, who was on a trip at that time but had a substitute, who was the one who said I had a throat allergy.

Anyway, when I got back to the dentist, the surgeon was already there, and without further ado, I plopped down the dental seat and let them at it.

Let me tell you, it's not an experience I want to go through again. Small chunks of my gums were removed, after which the surgeon noticed that it was already infected (you really don't want to know how bad it was) because of the impacted tooth. She got to poking and prodding the tooth, which really didn't want to come out (probably got the streak of stubbornness from its owner). A lot of blood was already coming out, not Kill Bill level, but enough that I got disturbed by it (and I'm not really that scared of blood). To top it off, either the anaesthesia wasn't strong enough, or the surgeon missed a spot, because I actually felt the extraction, and it wasn't nice. The operation wasn't all that long, but it was bad enough, and the wound deep enough that it had to be sewed so as to be able to heal. I really thought it was going to be smooth sailing (I had two of my wisdom teeth extracted at the same time last year, and it was over after around 15 minutes, and it didn't hurt that much after). I was wrong. Not only was it really painful and more bloody than the last time I had extractions, but ice cream even failed to make the day better for me. I really don't understand how one tooth could do much more damage than two teeth, although the dentist said that the lower third molars (har, that sounds so smart) are really harder to pull than the top ones.

Anyway, that's where my story ends. Come this Saturday, I'll be going back to have the stitches removed. I just hope the gum won't bleed crazily again.

I Bleed Blue

With 17 seconds (is that a sign?) remaining in the fourth quarter, Chris Tiu sank a three-pointer that gave the lead (and eventually the win) to Ateneo, 89-87, that was reminiscent of the "Hail Mary" shot made by Gec Chia on Season 65 of the UAAP.

It was such an awesome experience to watch a game live all over again. I can't help but laugh when I remember all the stunts we've pulled because of UAAP, including being hit on the head with green balloons and streamers (and no, that's not a joke), going to the Blue Eagle Gym at 5:00-5:30 a.m. to get tickets (only to see that there are at least 50 people in front of you), attending morning Philosophy classes in the morning instead of the actual class schedule just to watch a game, jumping from GA to Upper B, hanging out at the Moro Lorenzo... Those were good days.

Some staples of the game (especially if it's an Ateneo-La Salle one): suddenly being superstitious when you're not (like believing in lucky shirts, shoes, heck, even food), wearing blue (donning green on an AdMU-DLSU game is a crime - unless you're from Taft), heckling the players, heckling the crowds, heckling the referees (heckling is a must, and the third one being the most crucial - especially if they're making calls that seem to have been pulled from nowhere), sitting/standing as close to the Blue Babble Battalion/Band (the noisier, the better), watching the true-blue alumni giving their absolute all in cheering (and heckling, of course), singing the "Song for Mary" and shouting "Go Ateneo!" as second voice during the chorus...

Man, that rocked. And I want to do it again and again.

Twilight

Note: Sorry, I haven't been posting regularly. I've been doing some stuff, and I haven't really been focusing on my actual, personal blog (don't ask me what I mean by that). I've got a bunch of draft entries on my computer, and I'll try to post them as soon as I edit/finish writing these.

Anyway, I've posted a couple of poems that I've written just to keep in practice (and a product of boredom in a bus on my way home). These are pretty different from what I'm used to making, and it kind of follows "The Red Wheelbarrow" in terms of style (at least, in my head). I don't really know which kind I like best, just that these two aren't the same as the older ones.

---

Twilight
Shadows rise and fall
as the darkness
swallows the light
and makes it its own.
Hope tries
to bring a glimmer
in a blanketed atmosphere
and finds its answer
on the floors of heaven.

Solitude

The wind blows a leaf
astray from its brother
and it floats,
without direction
buffeted by a force
Stronger than its own
and drifts to places unknown.