Well, it seems like time is running too fast for me. And I have been making bad choices lately.
I have started this school year not right. And so what should I expect on the latter days. Looks like a long ride on a rollercoaster. I’m sure not going to get this right in time. Hopefully not.
First two weeks of school, how do I describe it? I’ll say it was appalling for me – this applies to what I have done. If this were work, it would be tantamount to slacking. I think I am again on an adapting phase after two months of being a complete no-use guy.
Let’s talk about what happened at school. There were quizzes, recitations during small-group discussions and case presentations, series of lectures, and a ton of readings. Until now, I have not done anything of those satisfactorily.
I have not finished any of the readings which were really a sort of waste of time since I could not get all those information in my small brain. I even tried sleeping early and waking up at twelve midnight to start reading until four (with DVD breaks once in a while, hehe) and yet I have not finished them all and almost none of what I have read were absorbed and processed into memory.
So what could I expect on the quizzes? Hehe, they were all good quiz papers, definitely qualified to be crumpled, tear into pieces, and thrown in the garbage can.
And we have those several small group discussions. I have not even uttered a single word on those several sessions. Well, maybe just few words but only during that interview portion in our Pediatrics discussion. Good one.
I even opted to watch DVD series on my laptop than attend to all these medical school stuffs. What kind of student am I? Maybe I should throw this laptop out; it has been always an accomplice to all the bad things that has been happening. All those late nights watching The Simpsons or The Office, and House instead of preparing for the quiz or SGD. Whew!
And so what did I do in class? Logic – I just sleep on all those several lectures. I was just too sleepy to attend to those speeches full of medical jargons that my mind can no longer process. I don’t even know the fundamentals in Radiology because I have been half asleep during the lecture. Same with the surgical considerations in dysphagia. Oh, what am I doing?
Seriously, life is really a matter of making good decisions, choosing the best choice. And if I really do not start getting all these things right now, I’m really sure I’ll get drop down the rollercoaster. As for me, Medicine indeed has become my best laughter.
Third year, finally!
It’s my first week as third year med student. The class starts on a Wednesday. Some of my classmates went to school as early as seven thinking that we have our Dermatology subject. I, on the other hand, was too lazy to start the day right and decided to skip that supposedly seven o’ clock class. Another reason is that I knew that Derma will be offered on the second shift for our section. True enough, there was no Derma class for section D, hehe, am I not lucky?
Third year… whoaw! I’m already third year, a regular third year. But it’s sad to see that some of our second year classmates have not made it with us. Some failed a subject and has to retake it. With that, I thought I may be so lucky to made it this far. I could still remember how I almost flunk some of my subjects – Clinical Pathology, Obstetrics, Pathology, and Pharmacology. The latter being worst since I took the remedial exam to pass it. And I even thought that remedial exams are only for formality sake – that all of us will pass that exam – that I only studied one day for that test that encompasses topics from the first shift to the last. Later, I found out that some of those who took the exam failed. Luckily it was from other section. That sure sent some chills to my bones.
I’m already third year. But to my chagrin, our schedule is too toxic. Our school days always start at seven and end at five with some few (and I mean ‘few’) vacant hours in between like lunch break. And there were many readings, too many readings this early June.
But you know what, if you’ll ask me again if I want to continue this life, honestly, I don’t. And am I lucky that even though I have not been too serious or even serious with my medical study, I am still here? A regular third year already.
Had the turn of events been cruel to me, I could have been dead this very night. No, this is not a hyperbolic statement. This could have been true.
I am supposed to be on the road to Manila this night with my mother, two brothers, and our driver. But we decided to turn back after this incident. There were signs that I could have heeded to prevent what have happened hours ago. But luckily still, we were alright.
While traveling along the Maharlika Highway already in Sipocot, our car's side mirror bumped with another one's'. Thinking it was a reckless truck who did it, we decided to let the incident pass by. But unknowingly, the passenger on that vehicle was a prominent person and thought of us as ambushers. It was the governor of a certain province (let the name be left concealed) with his driver and army of body guards inside the black Lincoln Navigator who got bumped with our meekly Mitsubishi Strada. Both vehicle suffered the same fate - a completely dilapidated side mirror.
But our fate could have been worse if we did not park by the side a few meters from the incident to check our side mirror. Being a high government official, the passengers on the vehicle could have been too paranoid that someone is after their boss. So while on park by the street side, a man coming from behind our car got hold of our driver's shirt in an aggressive mode. He was armed with a rifle and asked our driver if we were the one who crashed with their side mirror. Few men arrived after him and there was a little interrogation on what have happened. But seeing us, saintly looking passengers, their mood was changed to a lighter one.
On the duration of the conversation, they told us they could have fired bullets on us had we not stop because as said earlier they thought of us as ambushers. It happened that after our car bumped on theirs, they tailed on us ready to fire their guns. We were lucky we made the stop. The men introduced themselves later on with the governor who got off the vehicle also to negotiate on the damage.
Since I am not that good on story-telling, you may not feel the fear we had. In the end, we decided to go back to Naga since we do not have the left side mirror of our car. And thank God we're still alive.
P.S. On our defense, it was really their fault, not ours. We were on the right line (right as in correct). What happened is that they were overtaking a motorcycle and so they got to our line a bit. And they were really the one who bumped on our side mirror.
