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callistaI just came back from the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. I stayed there overnight since my mom had some seminar + awards ceremony + party thing; a bunch of insane psychiatrists (i.e. the Philippine Psychiatric Association) held some seminars and then partied all night long. And since this is a very long entry, here is the obligatory LJ cut.
My mom was awarded Most Outstanding Psychiatrist for Community Service in recognition of her extensive work with victims of various forms of violence – war, rape, human rights violations, domestic abuse, etc. She first got into it during the martial law era and, at the time, she was both a medical student and a human rights activist. Despite skipping class for days or weeks at a time to go underground with other activists, she not only managed to finish med school but also graduated near the top of her class. It was her experience with victims of human rights violations during the Marcos era, as well as her brief rural internship at some backwater town, that inspired her to go into psychiatry and focus on issues such as violence, human rights, and gender (Yes, she’s a feminist. My views had to come from somewhere :P). Her work eventually drew the attention of the World Health Organization, which sent her (and continues to send her) on various missions around the world, including places like East Timor, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Kosovo. She lived for several months in East Timor during its struggle for independence, helping children and other casualties recover from the brutality of armed conflict. She’s been going back and forth to Kosovo, which is currently experiencing its own war, and she’s been training psychiatrists and counselors there on effective therapies for victims of torture. She’s also done some similar work locally, in a small town in North Cotabato where the citizens are caught in the middle of the ongoing war between the military and the MILF; she was even there when the military bombed the surrounding area. Like one psychiatrist friend of hers said, she really deserves this award. Even the guest speaker, an American psychiatrist from Los Angeles
My parents are really something. Even my dad has more than his own share of accolades and is also very well-known internationally. He’s probably most known for his involvement with the Filipino craniopagus (attached at the head) Siamese twins who were sent to the U.S. to be separated; he was personally invited by the American neurosurgeon in charge (who happens to be his friend) because of his extensive experience with craniopagus twins, which is unparalleled among most neurosurgeons in the world. He’s one of the most (if not the most) renowned neurosurgeons in the country. I suppose I should be intimidated by having such successful parents, but I’m really not; I don’t have much ambition to speak of, so I don’t have any aspirations to feel insecure about. I think the problem is less of being able to achieve what I want and more of not knowing what I want in the first place (besides getting filthy rich :P).
But I am reminded every single day that my parents are still only human. Case in point: my mother is even more forgetful and scatterbrained than I am. When we were checking out of the hotel, she almost forgot her perfume bottle and some articles of clothing. She almost lost the valet parking ticket (and eventually found it in the pocket of one of her pants) and she drove off without her shoe bag; it’s a good thing the security guard and the bellboy stopped us before we got too far. When she bought something at Mini Stop, she left the thing she bought at the counter and went back to the car. Again, the security guard had to call us back. And let’s not get started on my dad. Suffice to say he has anger management problems. It’s no wonder they used to fight all the time, given how much my dad hates irresponsible people. But let’s not go there :P
My parents are really something. Even my dad has more than his own share of accolades and is also very well-known internationally. He’s probably most known for his involvement with the Filipino craniopagus (attached at the head) Siamese twins who were sent to the U.S. to be separated; he was personally invited by the American neurosurgeon in charge (who happens to be his friend) because of his extensive experience with craniopagus twins, which is unparalleled among most neurosurgeons in the world. He’s one of the most (if not the most) renowned neurosurgeons in the country. I suppose I should be intimidated by having such successful parents, but I’m really not; I don’t have much ambition to speak of, so I don’t have any aspirations to feel insecure about. I think the problem is less of being able to achieve what I want and more of not knowing what I want in the first place (besides getting filthy rich :P).
But I am reminded every single day that my parents are still only human. Case in point: my mother is even more forgetful and scatterbrained than I am. When we were checking out of the hotel, she almost forgot her perfume bottle and some articles of clothing. She almost lost the valet parking ticket (and eventually found it in the pocket of one of her pants) and she drove off without her shoe bag; it’s a good thing the security guard and the bellboy stopped us before we got too far. When she bought something at Mini Stop, she left the thing she bought at the counter and went back to the car. Again, the security guard had to call us back. And let’s not get started on my dad. Suffice to say he has anger management problems. It’s no wonder they used to fight all the time, given how much my dad hates irresponsible people. But let’s not go there :P
In other news, I am addicted to Pokemon (again). I’ve been sleeping at 4 or 5 am for the past few days (except last night) because I couldn’t stop leveling up my pokemon. Pokemon Diamond (and Pearl too, I guess) has this cool new thing where you’re forced to team up with another trainer in certain dungeons, so your lead pokemon always goes to battle with the other trainer’s pokemon (he/she usually has only one). Most of the trainers I’ve teamed up with have pokemon that are useless offensively, like Chansey and Clefairy, but in one dungeon I had to go with this guy trainer who has a pretty decent fighting/steel-type pokemon (Lucario). Better yet, the dungeon we were in had mostly rock-type pokemon (Graveler, Onyx, Steelix), which is weak against both fighting and steel. And the best thing about the whole teaming-up thing is that your pokemon are fully healed by the other trainer after each battle, so you can stay there and level up for as long as you want :D The other thing is that instead of encountering only one pokemon at a time, you get two at a time because there are always two of you in a single battle, which means double exp :D But I got tired of it eventually; my pokemon got to be so much more powerful than that guy’s Lucario that he was rendered practically useless in the end. The thing about the new generation of Pokemon games is that there are so many more sidequests that you’re often distracted from your main goals – beating the Pokemon League and completing the Pokedex. Of course, this makes the game more fun and, consequently, more addicting :P
Anyway, enough Pokemon crap. I wanna watch Pisay. But I don’t have tickets and it’s likely that the screening at UP is sold out. I guess both Cassy and I will just have to hope for a DVD release.
