Remembering Ike

September 13, 2008

I woke up late that morning. Something was amiss. I got out of bed and walked out of the house and looked around. The neighborhood was deserted, all windows boarded up. The only sound to be heard was the rustling of leaves by the unusually strong wind that fateful morning.

My phone had multiple voicemails.

"where are you?! wake up!! i've been calling you forever. I know you are asleep again. Listen, Galveston is on mandatory evacuation. You need to leave now!"

That was two hours ago.

My roommates left the island last night while i went to the airport to pick up a friend, Marvs, who was visiting from the Philippines. I told him days ago that it might not be a good time to visit because of the storm warnings and all but he told me, "ok lang, exciting nga eh!". what could i do.

I went back to the house to wake up Marvs."Uh.. i think we need to leave." He sits up in bed blinking, started to stretch. I think it took a full minute before he finally said, "Ok."

First thing to pack was my box of important papers.

Next were my clothes. i threw a few shirts and pants in my bag and packed the rest into garbage bags and left them at a friend's 3rd floor apartment.

Next was my computer. Yes, i had a desktop then. I was so kuripot to buy myself a laptop so i had to lug my gianormous desktop everywhere i went.

When we turned the radio on, the announcement was this..."If you are still on the island by this time, DO NOT LEAVE. It is too dangerous to leave now. Just hunker down and pray. Again, we repeat, do not leave the island if you are still in Galveston. "

I have never heard the phrase "hunker down" used so much in my life.

Well, anyway, we were driving past the hospital with helicopters flying out our ICU patients when i apologized to Marvs because he might not get to see my Galveston after the Hurricane. Again he repeated the words, "hinde, ok nga eh. exciting."

So i turned the car and went to the seawall which was unusually empty. We could see that the waters have risen on the beach. We posed for pictures of ourselves and galveston (yes, nagpichure taken pa kame).

Then we drove to Houston to stay with a common good friend from medschool, Duane.

And Galveston went underwater in the next couple of days.

*post written during time Typhoon Ondoy was flooding Manila. Sorry for the timing.

Goodbye and Hello

Goodbye TEXAS!!!

Hello ARIZONA!!!!

*****
mas muka ako bumbay sa AZ driver's license ko.

tae.

expires 2043 daw. parang tanga.

Moving...

July 2009

" I don't have a lot of stuff. most of the tuff here are my sister's and a lot have been damaged by the hurricane."

"Ok, so let's list them so i can give you an estimate."

"One full sized bed, a wooden dining table with 4 chairs, i also have another dining table with 6 chairs and a sectional sofa with a big ottoman and a large single swivel couch, all of which are still in the furniture store. Need to be picked up on moving day."

" ok. how about appliances? TV? Fridge?"

" I don't have any but I'm moving my car too."

" Boxes? Do you need us to pack for you?"

" No worries. I already have them in plastic rubbermaid boxes. i have 10 boxes full of clothes and a couple full of books."

" That's it?"

" yup, how much?"

"(punching computer keys) that brings us to $3,400.00."

" Ok. Thank you."

****

So there, Everything taken care of.

****

I thought everything was alright until my Mom and Dad arrived from the Philippines and started to help me pack.

Mom: Ay, di mo ito dadalhin? Sayang anak, dalhin natin. Eto? dalhin natin. Ay ito pa, Dad! pakilagay sa box eto...

Dad: Gusto ko to, iuwi ko sa Pilipinas, dalhin natin ito. Pede ipamigay. Ilagay sa box. madaming nangangailangan...

blah blah blah blah.

_______________

"(talkin to the moving lady on the phone)...How many boxes did i tell you i was moving? Ten? oh, scrap that...make that 27 boxes. with a flat screen TV and a large microwave oven."

_______________

haaay. nasaan ang simpleng buhay?

Life Changing Decisions

Dilemma #1. To go to fellowship or start working.

DUH! Tinatanong pa ba yun? Aba, bahala na sila magpakatalino! Gusto ko na kumita ng totoong pera! Now na!

***

Dilemma #2.To stay or to go.

The agreement was to go back to my beloved country and serve for two years...

or... the waiver,

be a physician in an underserved area the United States for three years...

The ingrate that i am, i chose the latter. You can't blame me, well, actually you can. But please, don't.

Don't worry, mahal ko pa din kayong mga kababayan ko. Except si boy abunda.

***

Dillemma #3. Easy life with big moolah or hard life with bigger moolah or hardest life with biggest moolah!

As soon as recruiters knew i was about to finish training, i would get at least 10 phone calls a day. My email was also full of offers that i had to put some of them in the spam folder.

4 day work week, strictly out patient, no calls, no pagers, no hospital duties. Enough moolah. Panalo.

***

So last December, i flew in to this place, and told them, I'll think about it. Pakipot.

March, i was on vacation in California when they sent me the contract which was approved by my lawyer (nux! may lawyer lawyer pang nalalaman. parang tutuo. feelingero.)

I signed.

Contract signing by Fedex. Picture taken by good friend, Mrs. Eya Dee. buwahaha.

*****

Life changing decisions. I hate doing them.

More to come.

Leaving Residency

June 30, 2009

I have been hanging around the department for the past few days, going there in the pretense of me finishing my final paperwork, charts, faxes, etc. Although it's true that i have all those things to do, the real reason for my being visible there and sticking my head in every open office door, and making small talk with everybody, is that...i 'm gonna miss them all.

I bug Linda once last time for something sweet (she's diabetic but her office is full of chocolate/candies if you know where to find them). She gives me a pack of candies and shoos me out of her office because she has yet to finish the schedule for the next month.

I go to Becky's desk and ask her to teach me to work her fax machine even tho i knew how to do it. I go to Louis' office and, as usual he threatens me to " go empty your mailbox or else blah blah", as he usually does. i tell him i already did and he finally is happy (they know i check my mailbox once a year, during spring cleaning).

Next i pass by Ron's office and tell him i've completed all my online requirements, just for the heck of telling him. i don't want to argue with him this last day.

I drop by my adviser's office and spend a few minutes ranting and complaining about stuff, just like a regular day. But we both know i'm not ranting today because it is a regular day. I'm ranting because it is my way of saying goodbye. She gives me a tight hug, and it is enough to silence me.

It is 6pm. everybody else has left the building. I walk down the hallway one last time and take a picture of the place, which, in the past 3 years, i called home.

Done

Just like everything comes to an end, so has my stay at the University of Texas Medical Branch Department of Family Medicine.

On June 27, 2009, i graduated. Again.

Bayaw, dad, mom, and I. The Filipino Mafia. Ate Lita and the whole family was there too, of course.

Accepting the "most handsome" award. As expected. hahahaha!

I have been very blessed to have known and worked with these wonderful doctors in my class.

It has been a good three years, i must say.

On to the next chapter.

Home at last.

After over 7 months of living in other people’s houses, i’m home at last.

​

On the day i was moving back in, i saw the two painters at home and helped them move my stuff from the storage container to the house. After carrying a few loads, i was tired. A car pulled up in front of the house and ate lita and her her husband stepped out. Then came another car and ate lita’s son and grandsons stepped out. Then a red car arrived and out came my co resident. All ready to help. It was Bayanihan in the US of A. hehehehe.

I moved in 3 weeks ago to a house that is 95% finished. Spent a few days cleaning before i finally slept in my own bed with new sheets. I still didn’t get my hot water running for about a week and had no kitchen until after 2 weeks. Then my toilet started flushing hot water! ( don’t ask me how i found out, it wasn’t pleasant). One time when i got home i flipped the toilet lid up and voila! steam clouds.

The washer drain leaked, the dryer socket is 50amps instead of 30amp. I found out they forgot to install phone jacks on my walls. I called AT&T and they told me that it will cost me $120 to install ONE jack. ONE jack for $120. I wanted at least 4. It’s not rocket science to install a phone jack. I could do it myself. But i didn’t want to do it. Told the contractor to get his electrician to do it.

I’m settled now. I still do my laundry at ate Lita’s new house which is BIIIG and NIIICCCEE. Actually, I have my own room and bed at her place. I still eat dinner there every night. I don’t use my kitchen except for the microwave. I burned my chicken nuggets once and the house was full of smoke. I then realized that my contractors did not install smoke detectors. Nice.

I bought cheap curtains and a cheap rug for my room. I won’t be living here for long. In fact i’m leaving in a few weeks. So right now this is just a place for me to bunk in. My parents are arriving next week and i’ll be feeding them TV dinners on plastic plates and disposable cups. All my kitchen stuff are in a box somewhere in the garage. Did not bother to look for them.




This place just doesn’t feel like home anymore..