Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The last sembreak

At this point, it's painful to write about the sembreak in the past tense when the truth is, I still have a couple of hours left, but I had better because that's a good way to condition myself for the long haul ahead. Sembreaks just come and go, but this one . . . the one I had for the past four weeks was different: it was going to be my last. Come third year med proper, I'll be stuck in PGH, doing hospital rounds.

Books
I'll do a quick recap of how my break went, and I'll begin by enumerating the seven books I read:

Kafka on the Shore
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, WitchHouse of MeetingsFreakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)The Other HandBel Canto (P.S.)The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Films
I also watched seven movies:

The Edge of Heaven (A la Orilla del Cielo) aka Auf der Anderen Seite [*Ntsc/region 1 & 4 Dvd. Import-Latin America] Mexico - No English OptionsPulp FictionRashomon - Criterion Collection4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 DaysThe TownThe Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset DVDNew York, I Love You
I was planning to write about them. Some other time, maybe.

TV Series
I watched two series, Stephen Levitan and Christopher Lloyd's The Modern Family and Robert and Michelle King's The Good Wife.

The Modern Family is hilarious; it's the story of three unconventional families. My favorite character is Gloria, the Colombian wife of Jay, not only because her accent is weird—narinig mo pa lang, matatawa ka na—but because she is sweet and loving. 

The Good Wife: The First SeasonModern Family: The Complete First Season

The Good Wife is my favorite legal drama, a story of a wife whose powerful husband has gotten entangled in politics, harming their marriage. Alicia Florrick, a topnotch graduate of Georgetown Law, now has to fend for her family, so she works as a junior associate in a law firm. It's excellently written and never over-the-top.

Conferences
I attended and helped out in two conferences: Heartbeat NCR (October 22-23) and the CCM STEP Youth Conference (October 29-30). I have to write about them, but I'm still waiting for people to post pictures online. You know, for illustration. Meanwhile, let me tell you that God used these as venues for me to get a fresh view of His glory. Just what I needed after a tough first sem.

Family
What else? My mother was around for a week, and that was fun. I played with my nephew Zach, teaching him to play checkers. And I didn't go home to Koronadal, if that's what you're asking.

Epilogue
Writing this end-of-sembreak entry reminds me of a line I read in Gaiman/Pratchett's Good Omens:
Something told him that something was coming to an end. Not the world, exactly. Just the summer. There would be other summers, but there would be never be one like this. Ever again. Better make the most of it, then.
And, boy, I did. 

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2 Comments:

Blogger Schubert said...

re: excerpt from Good Omens: a summative life mantra as well, i.e., we only have one lifetime, so we should make use of the 'present'. Of course, Gaiman puts it into more beautiful words than i can ever construct. haha.

Sat Nov 13, 11:30:00 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Lance said...

Yes, Schubs, I remember reading that! It's amazing how writers have a different way of saying things — but maybe that's why they're writers.

Sun Nov 14, 06:00:00 AM GMT+8  

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