Month: March 2017
Photo: Japanese subway art
The Midori notebook my cousin Chris got me from his recent trip to Japan is really pretty. This subway map is very nice, and I find humor in that it is all written in Japanese, and I can only appreciate how organized and efficient it looks. 🙂
Also, I have an opportunity to travel to Singapore for a few days in the first week of May, so that got me thinking about subway systems that I will take when I am there.  Quite excited. 🙂 (Japan is my next place to go to, fingers crossed.)
Photo: Final exams
Teaching part-time has its rewards, and I thoroughly enjoy talking to younger people about my line of work. It also encourages me to work on my own knowledge and skills set, so it keeps me fresh.
This photo is a documentation of my students’ final exam from Tuesday. 🙂
Photo: Man and ArtÂ
#JusticeForDrey
Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, 31 years old, Â a native of Aklan, was shot to his death while riding his motorcycle from a medical mission held in Lanao del Norte. He was in the Doctors to the Barrios (DTTB) program and he had decided to stay in the area after his tenure. He allegedly came from a medical mission in Sapad, and was on his way home when he was shot by an unknown assailant. Efforts were made to take him to the hospital, but he was dead on arrival.
It was initially hard to get in touch with his relatives because he was deployed in a far-flung area and since his phone was locked, no one could get a hold of his immediate family. I can only imagine how they must have felt when they got the news of his demise. It is one of the terrible things that you hope you never get to hear.
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I’ve never met him, but he came from the same medical school I was from, and he was friends with many of my friends. Still, it does not diminish the fact that he’s gone, and too soon. Here was an idealistic young man who thought it best to serve in marginalized areas, and in the heat of the moment, he was gunned down like any other common criminal.
No leads on who did this, so far.
The Department of Health condemned this, and many netizens have taken to social media to talk about it and air out their grievances.
The gravity of the problem didn’t hit me until I was able to see, and write about it. And even talk to my DTTB friends who had been there. These guys are modern day heroes. The struggle and threat to life and limb is definitely real.
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March 6, 2017. Wear black for Drey. Wear black for Justice.
Photo: Mr. Fruit Man
It was his bright auburn hair, I saw first… and then the oranges.
And then like I always do, I reached for mine phone and pretended to walk by while making a photo.I only got to walk a few steps when I realized that my “surreptitiously-done” photo was not what I wanted (or not what I had pictured in my head).
No matter, I thought, I could still remedy the situation. And besides, I could choose a few Mandarin oranges…:-)
“What’s your name? ” I asked him.
My mother, in the meantime, was haggling, but ended up buying more fruit than my oranges. She’s pretty good at it, I suppose, but he was adept at being “firm” about the prices. It was actually entertaining to see them banter about it a bit while she tried to have her way with the purchases.
“CherryVoy…but my friends call me Sean.” he said.
“Hey, would you mind if I took your picture?” I asked, “I think your store has such bright colors, I think it would make a really nice photo.” He gamely posed, and I took a few shots with my phone camera. When I showed them to him, and asked if it was alright if I could post it online. He looked through the ones I had taken, and smiled as if to say that he liked how he and the store looked. He easily consented.
As it turns out, it was a  Win-Win situation, I’d say. 🙂
(And man, those were some of the sweetest Mandarin oranges I’ve had. If you’re ever in the Cang’s Department Store area, drop by his store, it is just right beside the parking spaces. I think He can give discounts…if you ask nicely. :-))
The Magic Paintbrush Lady
Fair endings. Manila, February 2017
 The start of February had me going to Manila to participate in a lecture that focused on Psychodynamic Psychotherapy.
It was an extremely exciting feeling to be there to listen to my mentors do what they do best. They talked about their passion and zeal for Psychotherapy, as well as discussed the new trends and the principles and concepts behind it, with equal aplomb.
All of therapy is a relationship, and like any relationship, ground rules must be set and understood. One simply does not start psychotherapy, without a goal planned. What constitutes talk therapy is a whole lot of effort from both therapist and patient/client, and a good deal of time. And like any other relationship, both parties may come to a point where they have to say goodbye. To “terminate” properly, so that the lessons learned are understood. That feeling of abandonment, from when one is dropped hastily and without proper closure, does more harm actually despite the apparent progress in therapy.
This got me thinking about personal experiences with “improper termination” in a romantic relationship years back.  The severance of that relationship was sudden, and the boundaries were  never clear, and thus it took quite a while to adjust and process to.  It was perhaps one of the most confusing experiences I’ve ever been through. The pain from which, has eventually become “useful” later in life. We sometimes learn our lessons in relating the hard way. Unpleasant, yes, but life-altering, definitely. #
