If symptoms persist...

Monday found me having wheezing breath.

I felt my lungs were lined with thick mucus that I could not get rid off. They just stick there, resilient and unwilling to let go of my bronchial tubes, no matter how hard I try to cough them out. My apologies to those who are queasy and found that description disgusting. My breathing, though not laborious, was uncomfortable. Fortunately, I work from home on Mondays and was still able to clock in my hours. However, the moment Luz  came home, I welcomed her with my whining that I could not breathe properly. One of the many perks of having a great friend and med student as a housemate.

She got her stethoscope and listened to my chest for a bit before agreeing that my breathing was clogged and that I needed a mucolytic (Uhm, "mucus thinner" for the layperson). The type of mucolytic she asked me to take was one that she found effective beforehand. It's called Fluimucil® and it comes in sachets of powder. It is taken by drinking the water you dissolve it in. To give you an idea of what it tastes like, imagine dissolving quarter of a teaspoon of powdered orange juice in a tall glass of water. It only leaves a very slight hint of flavor that it might as well be drinking water from a previously unwashed juice glass. Anyway.

Wednesday found me having unpleasant coughs.

The meds are taking effect. I'm not a wheezer anymore, but a cougher. A quality that is not appreciated in public transportation, I might add. Thankfully, my lunchmates were more sympathetic. Although it is Lanie's persistent curiosity on my mucolytic that has prompted me to look up the pharmacology of Fluimucil®:

Fluimucil contains N-Acetylcysteine, a mucolytic agent. It reduces the viscosity of bronchial secretions. The free sulphydryl group in Fluimucil breaks the disulphide bridges present in the mucus & thereby causes mucolysis. Further, in the mucus producing cells, Fluimucil prevents the formation of disulphide bonds & thereby regulates the viscosity of the mucus. Also, as a precursor of glutathione, an endogenous antioxidant, Fluimucil ensures a protective action on the respiratory system. Thus, it not only protects the respiratory function, but also improves it.

That made very little sense to me, but I'm hoping whatever's in it will make Thursday find me much, much better than today.

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Disclaimer: This blog is in no way affiliated with Zambon Switzerland, the manufacturer of Fluimucil®. For medication, please consult your doctor. Or if you're lucky, your almost-qualified roommate.

When Great Trees Fall

Today, Father's Day, also falls on my Mother's birthday. It's hard to find words to describe how I miss my parents on this day so I will borrow Maya Angelou's beautiful verses to share.

 

When Great Trees Fall

by Maya Angelou

 

When great trees fall,

rocks on distant hills shudder,

lions hunker down

in tall grasses,

and even elephants 

lumber after safety.

 

When great things fall

in forests,

small things recoil into silence,

their senses

eroded beyond fear.

 

When great souls die,

the air around us becomes

light, rare, sterile.

We breathe, briefly.

Our eyes, briefly,

see with

a hurtful clarity.

Our memory, suddenly sharpened,

examines,

gnaws on kind words

unsaid,

promised walks

never taken.

 

Great souls die and

our reality, bound to

them, takes leave of us.

Our souls,

dependent upon their

nurture,

now shrink, wizened.

Our minds, formed

and informed by their

radiance,

fall away.

We are not so much maddened

as reduced to the unutterable ignorance

of dark, cold

caves.

 

And when great souls die,

after a period peace blooms,

slowly and always

irregularly. Spaces fill

with a kind of

soothing electric vibration.

Our senses, restored, never

to be the same, whisper to us.

They existed. They existed.

We can be. Be and be

better. For they existed.

Commuting Sentences (and Paragraphs)

Whenever it rains hard during my daily commute, I get philosophical.

Who am I? What am I doing? Why is it important that I live and work particularly in this unkind metropolis?

This is what abundant potholes, flooded streets, scarce jeepneys, and jostling passengers do to me. I lose my good humor. Ok, maybe my humor is not very good to start with - especially during commute. I am a dour version of myself when I'm commuting. But when it rains and I have to be out of the house -- man, I become far, far worse.

There's nothing glamorous about urban dwelling unless you're part of the small fraction who can afford the lifestyle of chauffeur-driven cars and a prime address. After all, having a car does not exempt you from the horrors of driving through rainy traffic. And what good is it to live in a nice, spacious place if it is three hours away from your work?

Chances are, you're like me. An ordinary employee who lives a good distance away from work and commutes everyday. However, there is nothing ordinary about commuting. Commuting in the metro is war. It is an all-out, stand-your-ground, put-your-gameface-on war. It is a war against all elements; Man against man, man against nature, man against himself.

Commuting is not for wimps or the faint of heart. By your fellow passengers, you will be elbowed, pushed, yelled at. You also have to be wary of snatchers, perverts, and everyday-variety jerks. I'm afraid there's no shortage of those anywhere.

When it rains, be prepared to sacrifice composure and proceed to fold the cuff of your jeans, cramp under an umbrella, and, if you're unlucky enough, trudge through leptospirosis-laden floodwater. There are few things more disgusting than dirty wet socks under sodden shoes.

And remember when I said that I am a dour version of myself when I commute? Well, that was an understatement.  I always, always have to check my temper. In the very early days of my commuting, I once noted that the MRT makes me a horrible person.  It's hard not to take the shoving during rush hour personally. I know we're all in a hurry, but must you push me? Ah, the many times I had to remind myself that life's too short to be upset over inconsiderate people.

On my very first day at work at my current office, it rained so hard that the road outside got flooded. It was around this same time of the year. Come to think of it, it was also a June and I now just realized that I've been with the company two years. Whoa.

Anyway, I digress.

It rained so hard that the the road outside got flooded. An up-to-your-calves flood and by the time I headed home, it was still pouring hard. I could not catch a jeep, much less a cab, or any break. I was drenched, I had to buy rubber slippers, and I had to wade through the murky water. I swear, I wanted to cry. I seriously regretted taking the job at that moment.

Also some years ago, when my brother and I still used to commute to work from our old house in Antipolo, the worst we experienced was three and a half hours on the road going to Ortigas. And by distance, that's just 10-12 kilometers. For some inexplicable reason, the traffic that day was more unbearable than usual. So we came up with a different route. It ended up that we took five different modes of public transport to get us to our offices. We took the trike to the town proper, a jeep to Junction, an FX to Marcos Highway, a train to Cubao, and a cab to Ortigas.

I have piles of other horror stories, but there were also a few comical ones. There was the time when I was riding the southbound train with a stern, schoolmarmy, middle-aged woman who was trying to get off at the Shaw station. She was coming from somewhere in the middle of the car and since it was fairly crowded, was laboriously burrowing her way through the passengers. When she got near where I was standing with others at the doors, she yelled, "EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME! PADAAN! ANO BA?!" How dare we block the doors and not make way for her, an exiting passenger? What incosideration on our part! Didn't we know that it is common train courtesy? Yeah, if only that were the case.

As she was clearly blinded and disoriented by her frustration at us, I quietly told her, "Ma'am, sa kabila po ang bukas na pinto." She looked up and finally noticed the closed door and the concrete wall she was headed for. She turned around without word and exited at the freely accessible open doors on the opposite side.

At the moment, I think I hear that it has started to rain outside again. This is most unwelcome as I am currently nursing a slight fever and also a sprain from slipping yesterday. I'm foreseeing that when I log off in a few hours, I will be stepping again into the battlefield, as it were.

Friday rush hour. Old foe, we meet again.

Geeking Out

I love pens. My friends know this fact and because of this, I get awesome pens as gifts. On my last birthday, I got two new ones. One was an Inoxcrom. It has a Tungsten Carbide ball stainless steel point. Very nice, very elegant.

The other was from my housemates who got me - are you ready for this? - a Space Pen! What, you ask, in the world, is a Space Pen? Well, you may not be asking, but I have been dying to be asked so I can finally geek out about it.

Space Pens are created by a company called Fisher. They patented the anti-gravity pen which was tested and used by NASA in Apollo 7. Fisher manufactures pens that can write in extreme temperaturess (-30 to 250 degrees F, can write at any angle (even upside down), and can write underwater. What I have is the trekker variety which comes with a carabiner and a break-away lanyard. The day I got it, I left it in the freezer for two nights, and it wrote perfectly well after. Such a cool pen (literally).

I love books. Since I got my Kindle a few months ago, I have picked up again on my reading. Interestingly, I have been reading more nonfiction, which I previously wasn't very keen on. Most recently, I've read "Freakonomics" and "Superfreakonomics" by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Fascinating stories, studies, and experiments. Who knew Economics could be so fun? 

Somewhat long overdue, but I've also finally read the Douglas Adams book with cult-following, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Amazingly humorous writing. And the book was way funnier than the movie. I also tried to start reading Frank Herbert's "Dune" because of the stellar reviews, but I'm putting it off for now. Something about the dialogue, and the use ellipses and the hyphens that I need to get used to.

I still read dead-tree books, to those purists out there. I think the last one I read was "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. Lovely, touching story. I still love the feel of a physical book in my hands. Turning the pages, smelling the paper. In fact, I have an Excel file of my list of to-buy books which my friends just ask me to email them as a gift guideline. It turns out, they are not readily available in bookstores, much to the frustration of Pau particularly, who have asked me point blank to just give a book and store branch where he could find at least one so he can get it over with. 

I love podcasts. I commute to and from work and I found out that listening to podcasts is a good way to calm myself during the rush hour. Currently on my list are: Freakonomics Radio, NPR: On Science, Geek a Week, The Nerdist, Doctor Who, TEDTalks. I am a fairly new podcast listener and am open to suggestions, so please let me know what you listen to. 

One downside of listening to podcasts is that I look totally mad when I smile or laugh to myself amid the crowd of grumpy commuters. The Chris Hardwick interview with Adam Savage at the Largo was fantastic. I'm sure its humor was lost on the elderly woman I sat across from in the train who obviously thought I was odd, but it was worth it.

In a different podcast, an interviewee said that he needed an outlet so he could release all the geek tension that he carries around with him in everyday life. And I could totally relate. The disadvantage of having very specific interests is that you'd be hard up to find people who share the same enthusiasm on the same things. It's hard enough to find someone who will not think you weird, much less find someone who was as psyched as you about Steven Moffat's twist on River Song's identity.

With that, I am so glad I have a blog (but after this, it will be with a huge chunk of ostracized readers, admittedly).