Life.

Your Body is a Wonderland - [John Mayer]

Doi taught me how to play this song today. 

Yesterday, I donated blood for the first time.

It wasn’t what I expected.

Whenever I think about blood drives, the mental image my brain comes up with are syringes puncturing a vein and siphoning blood as much as you can. I thought that donating blood only amounted to the volume of a syringe.

There I was, in line waiting to be seated so I can study for my exam. When I sat on the cot-like chair, I was surprised to see a blood bag (?), much like the ones in The Vampire Diaries.

The phlebotomist (individuals trained to draw blood from a live person or animal) gave me a plastic ball which I had to squeeze every now and then. Not only was the bag volume larger than syringe, the needle was bigger and too (as thick as the plastic tube which holds the ink of a Pilot ballpen) 

I sat there for 5 minutes, watching the blood course from the tube to the bag. I squeezed the ball the whole time but with more effort.

It wasn’t a terrifying experience altogether, just surprising. I even received free drinks and a cupcake as I lay down for ten minutes. Twenty minutes later, I felt my vision blurring, nothing a Bonchon lunch couldn’t fix (I assumed it was my food that fixed it)

I also found out that when you donate blood, your family (spouse, children, parents) would become beneficiaries. Whenever they’d need blood, they’d be prioritized. At least that’s what I think I understood. 

There’ll be another blood drive next week handled by our class, but it’ll be 3 more months before I could donate some more erythrocytes. 

Tomorrow, we’ll be teaching pregnant patients tomorrow on normal physiologic changes during pregnancy.

I’ll be the speaker for the third trimester. We made a life-size caricature of a naked woman a while ago. During each trimester, we’ll be explaining the changes that women undergo and plaster them on the visual aid (bigger boobs, larger abdomen with stretch marks, violaceous vagina etc) If only I had pictures of our visual aids, I’d probably post them here.

I should have been asleep 40 minutes ago but I have no pants left for tomorrow, and the laundry staff hasn’t returned from their dinner yet.

I only need a pair of white pants. :(

is working against me. 

Almost done with our transcription. 

Today, Jereel, Celina and I participated in Tagisang Pinoy. Hosted by RSO, it pitted different colleges (most participants came from CM though) against each other in categories ranging from history, politics, current events, pinoy pop culture, and geography. 

Thank you to Jereel for answering all the questions. Lahat talaga si Jereel sumagot. Di kami quizbee material ni Cel =))) Congrats to Jim and Madi for placing 2nd! (kung mabasa mo to Jim, hahahaha iququote kita sa dulo kaya magbasa ka lang) 

Things I learned from the quizbee:

• The three stars in the Philippine flag symbolizes Luzon, Mindanao and…Panay. The rationale for this was that only Panay aided (a faction I don’t remember) during the revolt
• Edcel Lagman is the primary author of the RH Bill
• Bongao is Tawi-tawi’s Capital
• Ruy Lopez de Villalobos! 
• Sarswela
• These are all I can remember for now. I still need to finish our trans. :))

Sorry Jereel umalis kaagad kami ni Cel! :(

Ano ba yan Madi! Paano ka sumasali ng contests nung high school…ang pangit ng sulat mo!