Okay, so not really, but it HAS been awhile since I’ve blogged and I thought that now would be a good time to update you all on what I’ve been up to.

Of course, the last time I put up a blog it was to say that it was almost Christmas time and I was about to fly back to NY. Well now I’m back in the Philippines getting back to the grind. But I thought I should summarize what I did this past break, such as:

Visiting my good ol’ high school friends.

Me with my old high school friends!

Seeing my girlfriend.

Me and j!

Getting to see my brother’s show at Radio City Music Hall (he works with the Rockettes during their annual Christmas Spectacular Show).

The Rockettes!

My brother's there!

Eating at exotic places in the city. (This picture was taken at Momofuku, known for their pork buns)

Me eating the Pork Buns at Momofuku.

Hanging out with my cousins from Chicago (who flew in the same day I did coincidentally).

Chicago crew!

Having some much needed family time.

Family Time!

Celebrating New Year’s with all the people I love!

Look at all that great food!
New Year's Party!

I realized that I don’t post much while I’m in New York. When I’m back there at home with my family, friends and girlfriend I tend to go out a lot and be extremely busy. And not the kind of busy that I go through here in at school at UPLB. No, it’s the kind of busy that is fun, relaxing and I guess just helps me unwind. When I’m at home I typically don’t do things that I do here in the Philippines. I was definitely not on the computer or my iTouch much at all this holiday season and I went a lot and reconnected with people I haven’t been in touch with for awhile. When I’m at school, I’m usually just focused on studying (or sometimes procrastinating) and while I do have outlets to have fun here, it’s not the same as when I’m in NY. I guess it’s the environment. The cold weather. The good food and enormous portions (which I’m not used to anymore). The people I’ve known for so long that I left about 2 1/2 years ago to start school here. Everything I’ve grown up with is in NYC, and so no matter how long I stay here in the Philippines, when I go back, I just feel… home. Subtle things happen to me that I don’t notice until I get back. Things like my face clearing up (probably due to less stress), me getting healthier, and me being happier in general.

Not that I don’t like it in the Philippines, I mean I do. There’s just something about being at home that livens me up a bit, you know? I guess it’s due to a combination of things that I mentioned above. It’s just something I’ve noticed.

Well, on another note, as I said I’m back from NYC. It’s nice to be back here. The weather isn’t so hot and it’s quite rainy nowadays. I like it. I think I like the cold weather more than I do the warm weather. I guess I’d prefer to sweat shoveling snow than sweat just walking around… haha.

Had a slew of exams this week and it will end Thursday. Just took a Diagnostic Imaging (i.e. ultrasound and radiographs) exam yesterday and today. Seeing different structures in the dog is somewhat difficult when you’re just starting. We had a practical today with only 5 minutes to identify as many organs and structures as possible. I realized that 5 minutes really isn’t a lot of time when you think about it and I was only able to identify the spleen, urinary bladder, colon, left kidney, heart, liver and such during the exam. There were definitely things I missed and next time I’ll be sure to keep on practicing since it’ll be pretty important when I start practicing. Finding the correct acoustic window isn’t hard, but it’s the manipulating of the transducer that I had trouble with.

The next part of the class will focus on radiographic imaging and I bet it will also be quite difficult. My teachers keep saying that the course requires a bit of “imagination” and I think they’re right. Just got to brush up on the orientation and anatomy of the different organs for this next part of the course.

I’ve got another exam in Large Animal Surgery this Thursday so I’m going to go hit the books now and read up a bit.

I’d like to hear what you’ve been up to this holiday break. Let me know! I’m interested in seeing how you guys spent your time.

I’ll catch you guys next time!

–JoN

P.S. — Just recently updated my desktop workstation today. Check it out!

Christmas, That Wonderful Time of the Year
Busy Week!