Excelsior

Karen ・ 22 ・ Pilipinas

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Hello again, Tumblr.

It’s been almost 2 years since I last posted in this platform. Microblogging via Instagram certainly has its perks, but there’s nothing quite like writing full-length posts here, where I can ramble on and on and still feel safe. What better time to catch up than now?

(Photos taken during our Surgery rotation. I’m in LU5 already!)

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I haven’t touched my camera in what feels like forever, so here are some slices of my (usually uneventful) Manila days care of my phone.

The past few days haven’t been good to me — or anyone, really — further exhausting my already-insufficent drive to finish this damn school year. Ang saya. I technically only have our comprehensive exam to worry about, but as of 05/21/2018 2:12:05 AM, I still remain unbothered.

What is the point of everything, and exactly what am I doing with my life?

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Manila - March/April/May 2018

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Have never identified with a place so completely.

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First United Building, Escolta - May 2018

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I actually wasn’t going to print these stickers*, but my mother saw me browsing through my files and asked me to give her some. She collects the things I make and sticks them onto her iPad case.

Most of the things I create are purposeless, really, and I’m forever thankful that she supports me nonetheless.  :)

*I illustrated all designs except for the horizontal Zootopia one (top photo) that I just printed just because I love the movie so much. :( All credit goes to its creator!

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That one time when we crammed our group project literally five minutes before we had to present it.

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UPCM - March 2018

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2018 na pero wala pa ring library sa UPCM.

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#AMSEPMYforPH - July/August 2018

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Making a couple of backlog posts because I have nothing else to do this break.

(And, yes, that’s us embarrassing ourselves in public. Birds are scary.)

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#AMSEPMYforPH: Batu Caves - July/August 2016

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Medicine, design, and maps? Sign me up. 

I stumbled upon this gem on Reddit during class as I was in no mood to pay attention because of dysmenorrhea (#TMI), and now I’m completely obsessed with it. It’s the perfect addition to my bare bedside table and my growing med-art collection.

You can get this brilliant illustration here: Medillustrations on Etsy by Dr. Jonathan Simmonds, an ORL resident at Tufts University. :)

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I know this sounds like bullshit, but I actually really dread making publicity material now, after everything that happened (and didn’t happen) when I was still an officer in one of my orgs.

There are a million things that I realized in the year I spent working, but perhaps the most important, and also the most bittersweet, is this: Try not to make your passion your job. The last thing you want to happen is to lose whatever keeps you sane.

Here are some of the pieces I made that haven’t see the light of day.

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Tao Rin Pala 44: Decades

24 November 2017

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TRP a.k.a. the time of the year when I’m 50% amazed at everyone’s passion for performing and 50% feeling more useless than usual.

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Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto - December 2017

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Warm winter light.

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Kyoto - December 2017

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Kyoto Station - December 2017

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LU3: Second Semester

We’re nearing April already, and all I’ve done this 2018 is study, study, and study. Which I don’t mind, by the way. Acads-wise, this semester’s been great, and exponentially better than the last, thus far:

206: GI was okay. Renal really got my interest -- until now, I wish we were still in this module. 206 made me realize that I’m actually shit at anatomy and physiology’s my dose of #medkilig, so goodbye surgery, I guess?

202C: Endocrinology was really enjoyable, probably because it had the same feel as Renal.

202B: I struggled a lot with Neurophysiology (as was the case with Neuroanatomy; I think 202 minus endocrinology just hates me), but I’m glad I managed to make it out in one piece. Basta ‘yun, the struggle was so incredibly real.

EDIT: How could I have forgotten! Ended this module on a great note ℅ our super high-yield final ward work where I actually got to localize the lesion and diagnose-ish the patient’s condition! Gusto ko lang i-share na at one point during the preceptorials, I was talking about how the lesion should be related to the ACA/MCA, implying that the patient probably had stroke based on the findings, when one of my groupmates gave a strong counterargument. I kinda felt bad about that, because I was already feeling legit HAHA but turns out, it really was vasculature-related! Ganda ko that day haha kidding!!! #CardioembolicInfarct #NeverForget

HD 201: I don’t get why people call this module Happy Days, because it’s really just a bunch of stressful half days, but okay. Ontogeny was meh. I can’t, for the life of me, memorize dates and numbers (and yes, there were many AOG-related questions in our exam earlier).

23 March: We had our demo-return-demo on Prenatal Care & Ultrasound today. It was surreal seeing an unborn child right in front of me.

Also very thankful for friends who always listen! Hi, Belle and Aldrix! HAHA

That’s it for now. The plan is to update this list until the sem ends. :)

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First Tumblr post in a long while. I admittedly haven’t been active in anything lately. And by “anything”, I mean anything -- org work, college activities, social media (other than Instagram, because I do enjoy making stories haha). Heck, I even dropped my regular run-and-lift routine already, and that used to be one of my non-negotiables.

I just feel tired, even when I obviously have no reason to.

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Home - February 2018

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One of the few things I want in life is to take the train home everyday. PH, let’s make this happen.

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Kyoto, Japan - December 2017

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The famed Golden Pavillion.

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Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto - December 2017