Happy New Year! ....Another List and No, It's Not About Resolutions!
As 2009 ended, and remembering new years past, I had a lightbulb moment when I realized that hey! 2010 is the last year of the first decade of the new millennium. I remember when the year 2000 was approaching, how people were placed in a panic mode because of all the dire predictions being thrown around as early as 1997. I admit I had some blessed candles available "just in case". Of course, nothing really happened...January 1, 2000 was just an ordinary sleepy day (after all that celebrations) and life went on. But since I am a list person, I can't help but think about what I did and did not do...what changed or did not change, what happened and did not happen during the last 9 years? The first 5 years were basically uneventful...I say so because I could not remember anything important, so I presume nothing happened. For posterity and remembrance and before I forget everything I decided to make a list (being a compulsive lister who most of the time misplaces the list). So here's my did this, done that list circa 2000-2010 at no random order...
#1, I joined a marathon(!)...the July 23rd, 2006 Milo Marathon Bacolod Leg. Why in heavens name would I do it....me whose only concession to exercise is read sports magazines. Well, my brother (who runs, of course) made me do it...dared me and because I could not make the usual excuse of not wanting to travel between islands, I said yes. UH-OH...I enlisted for the the 5 k run since I thought it would be too embarassing to run the 3 K and get beaten by the 7 year olds. My preparation included going up and down the stairs 4x, walking about 200 steps around the hospital the day before and then talking about how I am going to finish the race
... oh, and I did walk from Makati Medical Center to Don Bosco about a week before when I was there for a seminar and lest I forget, counting the walk from Glorietta to Greenbelt...should have been enough preparation, don't you think so? For the actual marathon, I did a run/walk but to be honest, it was mostly walk and I would take a little run or was it a hop and a skip(?) when I felt that everyone was overtaking me...heehee. I finished in 59 minutes and 37 seconds, which earned me a certificate...for a non-runner that's not too bad. Of course, you won't see me doing it again, not in a million years.
#2, In October 2006, the new hospital became operational (soft opening) with it's formal inauguration in February 2007. I met the president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and had the privilege of touring her around the hospital, walking arm in arm. Later, we chatted like old friends about nothing important and I got her to sign an old photograph I had with her when she was still DTI secretary. Despite her unpopularity and very wrong political decisions today, I believe that history will judge her more kindly and her political foes will be proven not entirely correct in their opinion of her presidency.
#3, If finding lost friends, relatives, making connections to people count as a "momentous moment", then discovering Facebook (FB, for brevity) is high on the list. And how did I get on the FB wagon? I read an article in the lifestyle section of the newspaper about this new social networking site in July 2007. I was already on Friendster but I was not an active user. I enjoy the internet but basically I use it for research. I don't really chat unless it's an emergency but I like to connect to people through e-mail and I use it a lot. The article said that FB connects you to people as if you see them everyday...and that interested me. So I registered and the rest is history!
#4, I did not have a lot of close friends in med school, nor did I participate in non-school related activities. I went to class, came home, eat, sleep, sometimes "study" and basically just lived each day as it comes till the semester ended and I could go home to my eagerly waiting parents in the province. 25 years later, in December 2005, I decided to attend the 25th alumni homecoming of my med school class and it was during this time seeing how classmates and batchmates interact with each other that I realized compared to them, my memories were few and far in between. Did it matter after 25 years? Not really...it is a fact that I did not have time nor the inclination to develop intimate friendships with many people while in school...I was too busy with other things important to me at that time. But to those classmates who did become my friend in the real sense of the word...today we remain friends, reunion or no reunion. And the best part of that 3 day Silver Jubilee Homecoming in 2005 was not just rediscovering old acquaintances but it was about creating new memories with new found "old" friends.
#5, I now have a case filed against me in the OMBUDSMAN. I don't really want to talk about it except in the proper forum but because not everyone gets to have a case filed against them, so this should be on the list. So in CY 2008, I count among the chosen few and am in "good" company :)
#6, I became a mother again in January 2009 when we decided to permanently foster Ella. She is now a year and a half and thank God, healthy and walking. She says Ma-ma and knows all of us. We consider her our angel, our joy, and God's gift.
#7. This January, we had a surgical mission in the hospital sponsored by local Chinese groups and guess who came to visit? I finally met a Tai-pan, the one who owns and chairs Asia's first commercial airline. He is quite simple and just nods and smiles. This was one time I wished I spoke Fookien or Mandarin.
That's about what I can remember for now...when I do remember more, I can always make........
another list.
#1, I joined a marathon(!)...the July 23rd, 2006 Milo Marathon Bacolod Leg. Why in heavens name would I do it....me whose only concession to exercise is read sports magazines. Well, my brother (who runs, of course) made me do it...dared me and because I could not make the usual excuse of not wanting to travel between islands, I said yes. UH-OH...I enlisted for the the 5 k run since I thought it would be too embarassing to run the 3 K and get beaten by the 7 year olds. My preparation included going up and down the stairs 4x, walking about 200 steps around the hospital the day before and then talking about how I am going to finish the race
... oh, and I did walk from Makati Medical Center to Don Bosco about a week before when I was there for a seminar and lest I forget, counting the walk from Glorietta to Greenbelt...should have been enough preparation, don't you think so? For the actual marathon, I did a run/walk but to be honest, it was mostly walk and I would take a little run or was it a hop and a skip(?) when I felt that everyone was overtaking me...heehee. I finished in 59 minutes and 37 seconds, which earned me a certificate...for a non-runner that's not too bad. Of course, you won't see me doing it again, not in a million years.#2, In October 2006, the new hospital became operational (soft opening) with it's formal inauguration in February 2007. I met the president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and had the privilege of touring her around the hospital, walking arm in arm. Later, we chatted like old friends about nothing important and I got her to sign an old photograph I had with her when she was still DTI secretary. Despite her unpopularity and very wrong political decisions today, I believe that history will judge her more kindly and her political foes will be proven not entirely correct in their opinion of her presidency.
#3, If finding lost friends, relatives, making connections to people count as a "momentous moment", then discovering Facebook (FB, for brevity) is high on the list. And how did I get on the FB wagon? I read an article in the lifestyle section of the newspaper about this new social networking site in July 2007. I was already on Friendster but I was not an active user. I enjoy the internet but basically I use it for research. I don't really chat unless it's an emergency but I like to connect to people through e-mail and I use it a lot. The article said that FB connects you to people as if you see them everyday...and that interested me. So I registered and the rest is history!
#4, I did not have a lot of close friends in med school, nor did I participate in non-school related activities. I went to class, came home, eat, sleep, sometimes "study" and basically just lived each day as it comes till the semester ended and I could go home to my eagerly waiting parents in the province. 25 years later, in December 2005, I decided to attend the 25th alumni homecoming of my med school class and it was during this time seeing how classmates and batchmates interact with each other that I realized compared to them, my memories were few and far in between. Did it matter after 25 years? Not really...it is a fact that I did not have time nor the inclination to develop intimate friendships with many people while in school...I was too busy with other things important to me at that time. But to those classmates who did become my friend in the real sense of the word...today we remain friends, reunion or no reunion. And the best part of that 3 day Silver Jubilee Homecoming in 2005 was not just rediscovering old acquaintances but it was about creating new memories with new found "old" friends.
#5, I now have a case filed against me in the OMBUDSMAN. I don't really want to talk about it except in the proper forum but because not everyone gets to have a case filed against them, so this should be on the list. So in CY 2008, I count among the chosen few and am in "good" company :)
#6, I became a mother again in January 2009 when we decided to permanently foster Ella. She is now a year and a half and thank God, healthy and walking. She says Ma-ma and knows all of us. We consider her our angel, our joy, and God's gift.
#7. This January, we had a surgical mission in the hospital sponsored by local Chinese groups and guess who came to visit? I finally met a Tai-pan, the one who owns and chairs Asia's first commercial airline. He is quite simple and just nods and smiles. This was one time I wished I spoke Fookien or Mandarin.
That's about what I can remember for now...when I do remember more, I can always make........
another list.
Yes, also remember that 2000 new year. Before 1999 ended, I had several nightmares about the coming of an end. Turns out a Y2K bug. I was also planning to create an entry like this, a sort of listing things I've done for the past year. But my sudden change of career plan shifted my focus.
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