Day 5: One wish that you have.

Off the top of my head would be immensely materialistic things including tickets for the Bazooka Rocks Fest 3 and/or the Before You Exit concert, an unlimited supply of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream, Vans sneakers in every color, and a penny board. But if I only get one wish, I figure that it should be something that counts; something that doesn't only affect me, but the people that matter to me as well. In this case, those people would be my batch mates in Public Health. Yep, I would use my one wish to ask for a smooth-sailing upcoming third year of college for us. It will be the year that we finally get to don on those pristine white uniforms we've been dreaming about, and it will be the year that all hell breaks loose. (Hell in the form of gross & microscopic anatomy, physiology, human biochemistry, microbiology, and biostatistics. And that's only for the first semester!)

Crossed fingers that all of us survive our third year as Public Health students and that life would set us on the right track to where we should go and what we should be.

Flights & Deep Thoughts

Since I'll be traveling for the next few days, I've been searching for and have been compiling some songs that I think suit my "wanderlust" playlist well. With the long hours that flights provide, I've got plenty of time to overthink, and what better way to overthink than to accompany my melancholic thoughts with even more melancholic songs.

Listed above are some of my current favorites. Hope they provoke your desolate thoughts as much as they do mine. Ha. Just kidding. Happy listening! (Or not. That's cool too.)

Day 4: Describe two of your favorite memories.

Memory #1: Perhaps the best memory that I have would be my 18th birthday. I remember being so bummed out for most of the day because no one seemed to remember that it was my birthday. When I got home to Iloilo City from Miag-ao (a one-hour commute), I felt even more downhearted at the fact that I walked into an empty home. I texted my mom where she was and she replied that she couldn't leave the hospital because she had a very toxic patient to tend to and that she probably wouldn't get home until late. When my dad finally arrived home with my brother, they both said "hi" but they didn't greet me, which made me feel much worse and drove me to lock myself up in my room. Yes, I am that dramatic to the point of having such bad thoughts about myself, for example, being so unimportant that no one even bothered to greet me. Props to my brother for actually coming into my room and saying, "oh yeah, happy birthday", and making me a tad bit happier. 

After awhile, it started to rain hard. My dad, though, went inside my room and told me to change clothes because we were going to eat dinner with my cousins, aunts, and uncles. I told him that we shouldn't bother going out in the rain, and that all I wanted to do was nap. (Oh yes, major drama in the works.) My dad, coupled with his specialty guilt speech, said it would be rude to cancel at the last minute, so I conceded. I did not dress up though - I stayed in my college-I-don't-give-a-damn clothes: a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. I didn't regret this until later, when we arrived at the restaurant and I was welcomed with a blast of confetti and hugs from family, family friends, and my high school classmates. Apparently, my mom planned this "surprise party" for a week, and recruited my aunt, cousins, and some of my close friends to help. I had no inkling whatsoever because I don't stay at home for the most of the week. As I previously mentioned, I attend college in Miag-ao, and to make it easier for me, by avoiding the tiring long commutes, I stay in a dormitory and only come home during the weekends. 

Anyway - I was very much in awe of the ambience. The food looked great (they served baked scallops!!!), and I was particularly hyped about the dessert buffet with the Minion red velvet cake pops. Yet another Lesh fact: I'm a sucker for anything red velvet. Plus, my high school friends were there to celebrate with me, except of course my best friends who study in Manila and couldn't come home. Aside from my Manila friends, I was bummed to see that my college friends weren't in attendance. I understood, however, that my parents didn't know them that well, and that they would've been more difficult to contact. When one of my uncles was about to say grace, the door suddenly opened and in came my UP friends, and that was of course another happy surprise. The rest of the evening went great, ending in a sleepover with all of my Miag-ao friends. Needless to say, my 18th birthday was the best one yet, and is obviously, the best memory I have as well.

Memory #2: Public Health in the University of the Philippines Visayas has always been my plan (and my parents' plan for me) as my pre-med course in college. My best friend, Ruod, received a call one afternoon in senior year of high school from his friend that attended the University of the Philippines Diliman. His friend informed him that the results of the UPCAT were out and that he passed. He then asked for me if I got in as well, and for some reason, the universe decided to be good to me, and his friend told him that I got into UPV as a PH student. Knowing that I did my best to get to where I am now is very self-fulfilling, and that was, in fact, one of the very rare moments that I actually felt proud of myself. 

It's a wonderful feeling, the feeling you get when everything simply falls into place. There is, after all, never a bad time to receive great news.

Day 3: Three of your favorite movies of all time.

Stuck in Love, 50 First Dates and Beastly. I figure that the three aforementioned are my all-time favorites because I've watched them numerous times (in other words, I know almost every line) and because these are my go-to movies for any situation - be it to fend off depression, or should I want to chill.

As you've probably noticed, all three of these movies are chick flicks. You don't know me at all if you aren't aware of the fact that I am particularly fond of this genre. I am, after all, a hopeless romantic, and those three movies are the ones that fuel my fairy tale mood the most. I am, of course, aware that these happy endings are usually amiss in real life, but that doesn't hinder me from believing that good things; good endings could actually happen. 

Although I may never get my own happy ending (particularly with Alex Pettyfer or Logan Lerman or Nat Wolff), these three flicks allow me to be less cynical - at least until the credits start rolling.

Day 2: Four of your favorite songs at the moment

Much like my previous post, this isn't in any particular order, except for the first song which will always be a mainstay in my "Favorites" playlist. Also, none of these songs are recent, but I find myself avoiding mainstream songs as of late, hence the outdated list of the current top four songs I'm most fond of.

1. Endlessly // The Cab - forever my favorite song, yes
2. Autumn Leaves // Ed Sheeran
3. Come On Get Higher // Matt Nathanson
4. Not a Bad Thing // Justin Timberlake

Day 1: Five Random Facts About Yourself

These facts speak so much about the quintessential Lesh. In no particular order:

1. If I could only eat 3 things for the rest of my life, they would be double cheeseburgers, pizza, and bacon.
2. I am a Potter-head, and I'm still waiting for my Hogwarts letter to be delivered by an owl.
3. I would rather be at home, eating ice cream and marathoning some of my favorite TV shows than to be out clubbing and getting wasted and doing other cool kid stuff. (Yep, I am an introvert. And I am lame.)
4. If I wouldn't be taking a path towards medicine, I would most likely be taking up a literature course. (I really would like to be a good writer.)
5. I have quite the obsession with paper things and pens and markers... and school materials in general. *cough* lame *cough*

Of challenges and impatience.

I recently (recently being about 15 minutes ago) stumbled upon a Tumblr blog dedicated to "challenges". Being that I had been on a blogging hiatus for quite awhile, I want to fill the void with this challenge that I've found to be interesting and very much doable, as it only spans for 5 days.

The reason why I've decided to undergo this challenge is because 1.) I am bored and 2.) I think that I owe it to my blog, and to any readers that I may have, to actually do a blogging challenge that I can finish. I've attempted doing a 30-Day Reading Challenge last year but I only finished up to Day 14 - and I had a few cheat days as well. I can almost see you shaking your head in disapproval.

Given my short attention span and my relatively shorter patience meter, I've come to terms with the fact that I am not a person made for 30-day challenges, but I could perhaps (perhaps) be the type of person that could complete a 5-day one. It wouldn't kill me to try, would it?

Should you be an impatient, bored couch potato like me: The Five-Day Challenge

Because no one compares to you.

How do I even begin to say thank you to the person who has unfailingly given me everything that I need, along with everything that I want? How do I even express how much love I have for the person whom I know does everything for my benefit; to the person who tires herself to provide for our family; to the person who always, always supports me; to the person who keeps me strong during my moments of immense self-disappointment?

Mom, you are my inspiration. You are the reason why I always want to do well – be it academically or in life itself. Everything that I strive to do is because I want to be able to give you a comfortable life, as you have given me. As you can see, the path I am taking is a path not far from yours.  I aspire to be a doctor because you have shown me that helping others, healing others, is one of the most satisfying feelings in existence. I can only hope to be as good a doctor as you – generous, knowing, and genuinely caring.

You to me, mom, are the most intelligent, beautiful, and fiercely loving woman that I know of. I may be extremely difficult but please keep in mind that I will never love you any less than I do now. You are, in fact, the love of my life. My heart will first and foremost be yours, and not some silly crush that I may have.  (Crushes are like the moon, they will perpetually change in phases; but you mom, are my sun – constant and radiant.)

Thank you for existing. Thank you for being the person whom I know will never stop loving me; for being the person whom I know will never leave me by choice; thank you for being my mother. Happy Mother’s Day!

Wanderlist

I have always had this insatiable thirst of travelling, this immense desire of hopping on a plane and seeing what the world has to offer. I realize that this may not be such an obvious fact about me being that I rarely leave my bed and am always reluctant to be separated from my two best (material) friends: the laptop and the external harddrive, but yes, I do claim to be someone who craves for adventure.

If not for my dedication to becoming a physician (and if not for my lack of height), I would definitely choose to be a flight attendant. I’m not kidding – seeing the world is the dream; I would love to taste the different cuisines of different countries, I would love to learn dozens of foreign languages, I would love to immerse myself in the lifestyle of the numerous cultures that are spread around different parts of the globe. I am, after all, someone who claims to be diagnosed with a serious case of wanderlust.

And yep, I am also the type of person who would make her own travel bucketlist… a wanderlist, if you will. (Forgive the cheesy pun, will you?)

*Note: I have always wanted to go to these places and experience them in these ways. This is not simply a spur-of-the-moment list for the sake of having a new blogpost. And yes, I felt the need to include this note for reasons I myself cannot comprehend. Damn, why am I so weird ---

• Throw a coin and make a wish in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy (I blame The Lizzie McGuire Movie for this one) (I threw not one, but three coins!!! No hot Italian guy when I looked up, though.)
• See the recreation of the Megalodon jaw in the American Museum of Natural History (because sharks have always fascinated me)
• Roam around Times Square in New York at night (Yes, I was only fourteen at that time, but I clearly remember the ambience and how it made me understand why New York was dubbed as the "city that never sleeps")
• Drink Butterbeer while roaming around Hogsmeade in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Universal Studios Japan (BUTTERBEER TASTES LIKE WARM HUGS AND FINALLY RECEIVING YOUR ACCEPTANCE LETTER TO HOGWARTS)
• Take a cliché tourist picture in front of the Eiffel Tower (!!!) (Paris has always been my dream travel location) (PARIS WAS EVERY BIT AS LOVELY AS I IMAGINED IT WOULD BE)
• Ride a gondola along the canals of Venice (Apparently, gondola rides are too overrated... and expensive. But I did get to walk across Venice's mini-bridges and explore the square! So yep, I consider this one done, son.)
• See the fireworks display at the end of the day in Disney World, Florida (The Magic Kingdom was definitely magical)
• Hope to absorb some of Athena's intellect from The Parthenon in Athens, Greece
• Bask in the aesthetic architecture of everything in Santorini, Greece
• Experience the beauty that only nature could offer by seeing the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights in Iceland
• Take a stroll along the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Watch a musical in Broadway (preferably Wicked, Les Miserables, or Miss Saigon)
• Climb up the Great Wall of China
• See the cherry blossoms in full bloom in Japan
• Enjoy the sunrise or the sunset in Machu Picchu
• Attend the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California
• And finally... not just a travel goal, but a life goal - to meet someone worth sharing a love lock with for the Lover's Bridge or Pont des Arts in Paris (eep, 7 cheese overload)

Yes, my list isn't really magnanimous, but I'm quite positive that my travel goals will increase as I grow older and as I discover new places. For now, this is how I'd like to experience the world, and hopefully I would eventually be able to cross off most, if not all, of the items on this list.

Finally, if I could offer a single piece of advice, it would be to travel; to explore; to discover. I am wiling to bet that we were not born in such a vast and beautiful world to simply stay put in a single place in our lifetime.