In My Pocket -- ARCHIVES

September 30, 2002

10:58 AM I received this short email message today.

Why did you name your website "ambergris" ? Does ambergris wash up on the shores of The Philippines? Have you ever seen it?

To which my reply was:

I'm afraid my answer to that is a definite no, but I was reading Moby Dick and was fascinated with their description of it. Captain Ahab and crew used ambergris as bookmarks in their books, and I just drew my site name from there, since after all a web journal is a sort of a book, and a bookmark shows where the reader is at. Something like that.

I'd love to see real ambergris someday, though.

Yessiree, that's the reason why this site is named Ambergris.

September 25, 2002

08:49 AM For self-confessed foodies like my family, trying out different restaurants is an adventure in itself. The mission objectives are to find the restaurant with the biggest servings relative to the price, and then tell friends and relatives (also food-trippers), just so the place won't go out of business. Now's my chance to share with you as well. Ü

During the time I was mooning about my crush last year, I heard that he'd partied with his orgmates at a place called National Sports Grill at the 3rd floor of the original Greenbelt Mall. I don't know how my parents knew about the place, but then one day E! Philippines featured it in Eksena, and some weeks after, they brought home a wonderful Ty Cobb salad from National Sports Grill. They had resolved to bring us there the very next time we ate out.

What can I say? It was heaven just looking at the huge variety of food on the menu. Burgers, chicken, pasta, pizza, salads, fried mozzarella sticks called "sluggers"--and they all come in servings large enough to share. There were complimentary refills on drinks, and television sets peppered the place, showing ESPN and Star Sports.

The restaurant is actually larger on the inside than you would first think, looking at the facade. There are around three levels; the first level is what you see through the glass window. What you don't see until you come inside is that the second level has billiard tables you can rent, so it's perfect for parties, and if you really want privacy, there's the third level. The service is great, too: the staff (dressed in cute baseball uniforms) are always available to serve you.

And the price? For the huge and delicious servings and prompt service, I'd say that it's neck-and-neck with Friday's, if not just a little bit better. National Sports Grill, 3/F Greenbelt 1. Ü

September 21, 2002

04:00 PM And the winner of the 2002 UAAP Cheerdance Competition is...

3rd place--University of the Philippines
2nd place--University of the East
1st place--University of Santo Tomas

And ABS-CBN stretched out the awarding ceremony just to be able to show more commercials. Grrr. Feel the rage.

I'm pleased that it was UST that won and not some other cheer squad, though. They really did a great performance. Last year they would have placed if some of their pyramids hadn't fallen through. Ü Forgive my conspiracy theories a while ago. I was just bitter about not being able to enjoy watching UP's routine.

Although I still think UP THE BEST! There are more posts about this on Daily and Sesshin.

03:28 PM The tickets were sold out only minutes after the gate opened, prompting the less fortunate to seek scalpers. Screaming fans fill the stadium, for the long-awaited date has finally arrived. Is it a concert by Ricky Martin? No. Is it the final match of Sampras and Agassi? Uh, let me give you a clue--or let's just cut to the chase. Today is the Cheerdance Competition for the 2002 UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) Games. While the UAAP is known for the intense competition between the universities for the basketball title, the cheerdance competition is no less hotly contested. University of the Philippines has held the title for three of the four years the competition has been held (on the first year, it secured third place) and is known for innovative, trend-setting routines and costumes. Read more »

September 19, 2002

04:23 PM By the way, Wedgienet is back online, but it's temporarily un-updated. Even Yam and Jackie haven't started new blog entries yet.

12:48 PM As we approach new frontiers of technology, man and machine may soon be seamlessly combined into one biomechanical being. In the meantime, we have people strapping wheels to their feet. Ü More specifically, parents are buying their kids shoes with built-in hidden wheels--something like what Usher wore in his "U Don't Have to Call" video. Here's a picture to show you what I mean.

I know it's fun to go around on skates. I rent rollerblades at a rink every chance I get (since I don't have money to buy my own), but there are certain places where it's just rude and dangerous to use these contraptions. The mall, for instance. Read more »

September 15, 2002

07:40 AM I viewed this webpage from my mom's workplace, and it didn't look too pretty. It was like the CSS files didn't load properly. Was it just me yesterday, or did everyone else see it that way too?

Anyway, guess who's back from the blogging dead? It's Macy! Her new site is no longer in standard blog format--it's more of a journal, with each entry on its own page, so she doesn't feel the need to update constantly.

I'm going to be interviewed for the grad program this coming Wednesday, and the prospect somehow scares me. The first and only time I was interviewed for something was when I was going to join an org, and it's the culture in my alma mater that application periods for orgs be grueling tasks. The interview there was no less grueling as I was made to feel stupid and incompetent.

I know that the interview board for the grad program will be more civilized than that, but I can't get rid of the nagging feeling that I'm going to do or say something stupid that'll ruin my chances. You know what I learned, though? My whole grad program application is in God's hands. I can't change whether or not I am going to be admitted by worrying. All I have to do is my best, and trust the results to Him. Noelle can't control everything. She's not God. Ü

September 10, 2002

10:04 PM We had a celebration today, because it was my parent's wedding anniversary. Just my parents, my sister, my maternal grandparents, and myself with a bunch of lamb chops and chicken stew. Ü We got my mom a bouquet of mums from Holland Blooms, and my eyes bugged out at the other, more elaborate arrangements. Nearly 800 pesos (about $16) for a bunch of flowers? That's my allowance for an entire month!

Anyway, one of the things I like buying with my allowance is a book every now and then. National Bookstore was on sale this weekend, and I got a copy of Michael Crichton's The Lost World for only PhP12.50 ($0.20). It's actually my second copy; I read the book around a year or two before the movie version came out, and I gave my old copy to David. Then I found Jurassic Park at a secondhand bookstore last May, and I've wanted to buy another copy of The Lost World ever since. It just so happens that my second copy is only 10% the price of my first. Heh.

Still on books: I've been reading and hearing raves about Memoirs of a Geisha for a long time, and when I saw it at Powerbooks last month I got curious about its contents. Unfortunately it's even more expensive than JRR Tolkien's The Lost Road and Other Tales, for which I'm saving money (PhP239.00, or $4). Then my former organization sets up a book sale, and Memoirs was selling for PhP100 (less than $2), and I even got a 10% discount since I was an alumna. I'm a very happy bookworm indeed. Ü

September 7, 2002

11:43 PM This is a poem that suddenly occurred to me while in a car riding to my aunt's house. Read more »

11:22 AM I'd like to tell you a story. A firefighter battles his way into a burning building to save a child from being killed, but since the building has many winding corridors, the firefighter has to make decisions about where to go. He decides to go down one passage where the air is clear even though it would take longer to get out of the building. Then the roof caves in, crashing down on them. The child is knocked unconscious. They finally exit the building, but the child never wakes up. If you were the child's parents, would you sue the firefighter for taking the longer way out and causing the death of your child?

Like firefighters, doctors also hold other people's lives in their hands. But unlike firefighters, doctors have to contend with malpractice suits. Read more »

I was watching Debaté this week, and they asked the poll question, "Safe ka pa ba kay Doc (Are you still safe in your doctor's care)?" in line with the Medical Malpractice Bill being deliberated on within the Philippine Congress, and at the end of the show, the call-in poll results showed that 52% of the respondents did not feel safe with a doctor, while only 48% felt safe with their doctors. Of course, this is a call-in survey and is not statistically accurate, but I lament that most people are only partially informed about what does and does not constitute medical malpractice. News coverage on this for the past month has been generally hostile to the medical profession, beginning with Korina Sanchez's campaign on her radio program Korina sa Umaga for the passage of this bill. She could call it advocacy; I'd call it irresponsible reportage. As a prominent news reporter, people believe what she says, and it is her responsibility to deliver balanced news instead of editorializing. As a result, public sentiment against doctors is building up, and it could culminate in the passing of a bill that is detrimental to both a doctor's practice and a patient's wellbeing.

What is this Medical Malpractice Bill in the first place? A similar bill already exists that enables people to file for damages against doctors, so why the need for a new bill? I'm a doctor's daughter. The medical profession has fed, clothed, and housed me all my 19 years, so I do not claim to be neutral, nor do I know both sides of the story. The following is what I know.

Under this new bill, doctors can be sentenced to corporal punishment for misdiagnosis (among other things) that results in a patient's death or impairment, regardless of whether they did it with wilful intent to hurt or not. Never mind that for a combination of two or three symptoms there could be a plethora of possible diagnoses. The bill does not even distinguish between simple and gross negligence. There is no way for doctors to protect themselves other than quitting their practice or engaging in "defensive medicine," prescribing CAT scans and other tests to diagnose a common headache, just so they can be sure they don't miss anything like a tumor or an aneurysm. This makes diagnosis difficult and lengthy for the doctor, and it will also drive up the cost of health care, since the cost for procedures like blood tests, CAT scans, etc. fall on the patient's shoulders. The Philippines does not have an effective social security system that pays fully for health care, and not all people have health insurance. Additionally, in remote regions the only health care people receive is at the hands of medical outreaches because there are no hospitals nearby. If this bill is passed, few doctors will volunteer their services for outreach missions--or even set up practice in rural areas--because they run the risk of being wrongfully blamed for a death simply caused by the lack of medical equipment. Another thing: humans are complex organisms, and doctors are not gods who know how every molecule of a person works and can treat illnesses without error. Even how the human body responds to treatment is not exactly predictable.

Granted, people can die under a physician's care or a surgeon's scalpel, but what about the thousands who come away healed and healthy? People tend to forget the times when something went right, instead zeroing in on that time something went wrong. And there may be a number of doctors out there who are more interested in making a buck than helping a person get well, but what about the majority of well-meaning doctors who hold to their Hippocratic oath "do no harm"? You can stop erring doctors merely by taking away their license to practice and consequently their livelihood, but there is no need to put them to death if they did not wilfully kill their patients. Let the punishment fit the crime; one can always file a criminal suit under regular laws against a doctor for murdering a patient, but there is no need for a harsher Malpractice Bill.

September 5, 2002

09:58 AM I'll post more tomorrow. I just wanted to archive August's entries and have a new September entry up.

How about a list of my online quiz results?

Where in Middle-earth would I live? Probably in the Bay of Belfalas. After all, I'm a beach bunny even though I don't look particularly good in a bikini. Ü
What kind of child was I? Well, based on my answers, I was the Gifted Child. I'm glad I don't qualify as the Weird Child.

Oh, by the way, try reading this fanfiction by KT SHY, someone I met in #theonering.net chatroom. It's a humorous parody of the Lord of the Rings (what really happened, or what Tolkien didn't tell us). Hehehe. Read it.