SWEET SPY

I was reading the very thick World Drug Report 2009 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) and it made me feel so exhausted so I decided I'll just assign it as a Seminal Paper to my students on Pharmaceutical Jurisprudence and Ethics for the 2nd Prelims (Hekhekhek). What I really was thinking is that maybe the UN should hire an International Spy to take care of these matters with emphasis on the recent capitals for illegal drugs, Mexico and Afghanistan which reminds me of my favorite TV show of all time... Sweet Spy. Then, I forgot everything about the UNDOC and listened to "Show me your love" all night, the theme from the now defunct korean TV series.

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Really, I do love this series up to this day because the message is universal and timeless. Its about second chances that life surprises us (except me), courage that originates from love - its mystery and transforming power and best of all, its James Bond-ish.

A CAT AMONG BULLDOGS

This semester, I am very pleased to join the College of Pharmacy at the National University as a Pharmacy Instructor. This university has been undergoing huge change after majority of its stocks were bought by businessman Henry Sy just last year. It provides a very good opportunity for growth under the new administration and I am honored to be part of it.
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I am currently teaching 3 subjects: Pharmacy Jurisprudence and Ethics, Pharmacy Administration and Management and Botany Lecture/Laboratory. Its my first time to teach in a traditional setting and I think I'm loving it forever, best of all it has been my hunger to impart knowledge to the youth and this is a very good break for me. I know I can teach in other universities but I feel that this is where the Lord feels I am needed and I'm glad to accept it.

SERVANT GIRL

Her parents were burned to death when she was a child, people belive that if one is born a warlock or a witch then he/she is only capable of evil, but her parents were not. She will always remember what her Papa and Mama told her that no matter what people say what matters is her self-confirmation that she is with God and haven't done anything wrong, she can still hear them in her sleep saying just that. Orphaned and broken she served as help from one household to another where she can no longer count the cruelty she received at a tender age while keeping her being a witch secret. Finally when she was 14, she found her place in the forest living in peace and in solitude. In the forest, she grew different plants that she used to treat different ailments using the herbal book that her ancestors developed, her only connection to a long departed family.

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It took another 14 years when one evening she met a fine looking man of her age, he was sick, hungry and lost when he knocked at her door. She took care of him for days, feeding him with fresh vegetables and healing him with exotic plants until he was well, able and healthy again. It didn't took long to create a tight bond between two souls, he was also an orphan and alone so they decided to stick together in the forest and took care of each other and he didn't care of her being witch, when one has vegetables to eat moreover a reason to live then one could not ask for more.

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One day when they were happily walking in their herb garden, she asked him if he has loved another before she came into his life. Honest and sighing, he answered the question that he once met a girl when he was very young, she was a servant girl in a cruel family and he met her in the market place while she was crying for the money that she was supposed to buy potatoes was stolen from her, she was so afraid but still beautiful and he helped her by giving her the money he earned that day. In return the girl gave her a ripped page from a book and she told him that her mother said this will bring the greatest joy someday and he still kept it not because of the promised joy but because he felt something strange in his heart that day even at a very young age. "Does the page say - Ang gino-o na magbayad sa imo? (God will be the one to repay), she asked. He said yes and she smiled asking for the page then she placed it back to where it should be, her ancestors herbal book. She continued "for my parents told me that God who is the cure more than herbs and He will make sure that all lost will be found and reunited in time amidst birth-right".

The Old Pill

I was very sick and needed cure so I looked for a pill for relief. I was lucky enough to be able to get two kinds of pill when all I needed was one! The first pill I've been taking for too long, it was unquestionably tested while the other one was new but supplies are readily available. Then I thought, why not go for the new pill? Although the old pill is tested, I am already tired of waiting for fills that takes so long. In other words, I already lost my faith from constantly waiting for long fills and I was willing to try a new pill, a new concept that I could use in my life onwards relief.
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So I tried this new pill. I was surprised how willing I was to switch from the old pill for a new one but then I found out that the new pill doesn't really work and left me with many unbearable side effects. Yes, the new pill was readily available but its availability didn't do much relief or serve its purpose. Yes, the old pill might not be always available but I felt quality and sincere releif. So I ran to the drugstore to get some of my old pill praying to still be able to get enough but there wasn't any of the old pill anymore.
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I was lonely when I went home thinking how cure would be handy with the old pill then when I found and looked at my old pill box, I was surprised to have found some of the old pills and still good. I must have failed to realize that there is a place where I can find some of it and where it is waiting to be found. So then, I am thankful for having found my old pill... But if you read this and understand it like I do, you'll learn its more than an old pill. Its a happy ending =)

ROBIN HOOD: HONEST, BRAVE & NAIVE

Its not about the national elections or the leadership in the pharmaceutical industry but I'm talking where all aspects apply. I was watching Robin Hood with my baby brother this afternoon and aside from the fact that it amazes me how Russel Crowe fits the role it affirms the virtues I always value in my life.
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HONEST(Y)

My very own definition of this is when people offers the truth even to their vulnerability when needed. I have this friend who is unafraid to tell her story that she needs to work hard because she got brothers that need to go to school, she just fininshed college and this is the very reason why she went abroad. Other people never share stories like this and here is somebody who opens the common reality for us to realize (BTW, this made her look more beautiful)

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BRAVE(RY)

To me this is someone who never waits to be rescued but instead stands up for himself/herself and for other people. I always hated the concept of damsel in distress, it gives the youth a wrong idea of what life is because one need not rely on other people to survive or even to be complete, we were whole when God made us.

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NAIVE

By now, I know that you know how I like to give my own meaning to things, this is because I believe that there is NOTHING wrong with being cranky even if one is extremely eccentric to being naive. In the end we only need to answer to ourselves and it would be rewarding to do what we believe right amidst what other people say.