Another achievement in the family.

I browsed the news late last night and I was delighted to see my youngest sister's name in the list of new nurses. She is the youngest in the brood of four, and with her passing the licensure exam, we are all professionals now . A dentist, two CPA's and a nurse. We surely have the reason to rejoice, celebrate and to endlessly praise and thank God for the overflowing blessings all these years. I hope that I am not being boastful here, but I think that after more than 30 years of toiling hard for our future, I have the slightest right to be proud of my parents and my family as a whole.

Congratulations palangga! Our baby in the family. I am so proud of you. It's not easy to be included in the 12,000 board passers out of the 26,000 exam takers, but you did it. Thank you for not failing our parents and for growing up with positive values and love for God, our family and all the people around you. Good luck to the life and career ahead of you. Don't get married yet, ha? Hehehe.. just kidding. She's single (as far as the tsismis is concerned).

The sun is high and I'm loving it.

I am back after a brief hiatus! The past weeks were a mosaic of events that mellowed down my passion for writing. And why not? Summer has come and I just felt that I needed to enjoy the warm weather after more than eight long months of cold. No, I did not bum around in my shorts, sunglasses and sneakers all the time because I have tons of work to do, but during those precious breaks from school work, I’d rather hit the road and take pictures than sit down and bleed for words. And besides, I have just submitted a scientific paper for peer review and writing a new one now. Silly me, huh! Masochistic freak. Sometimes, I do feel sick of investigating people’s genes and writing a report about it but you know, better take advantage of the technology here before I go back and preach the gospel of science in the Philippines.

Speaking about the Philippines, I just wish there were good news over there to be excited about. But apparently (sigh) things happen in my country like a vicious cycle. I want to be numb about it and just be indifferent. But I just can’t. The news back home is more than an action flick. It’s like “All the President’s Men”, “Italian Job” and “Lord of the Rings” combined altogether in a 30-minute episode. Highly political and action-packed with a sprinkling of fantasy. A lot different from the news here in Japan that takes fifteen minutes for weather report and sometimes the whole news hour about the Japanese soccer team or about the origin of the cherry blossoms.

In spite of all the drama that is the Philippines, I still ache to go back soon. Truly, home is where the heart is.