Hey everyone,

It’s been such a long time since I’ve last updated, but there is a good reason for that and that reason is that I have just been so busy. And I really mean it.

In the past 5 months I’ve acquired a new job externing at the Animal Medical Center down in Manhattan, and learning as much as I can about veterinary medicine before I head off to the Philippines for vet school. Because of that I’ve left my previous internship at the NYC Veterinary Specialists, which was good, but definitely not the type of experience that I wanted. At the Animal Medical Center I’m doing medical rotations which means that I get to pick the topics that interest me and then shadow the medical team that handles those types of cases in the hospital. The doctors are friendly, the place is well set up and for once, the medical team actually strives to teach me something while they’re working on their cases. To be honest, I don’t do very much in these rotations except restrain animals and grab things for the doctors, but the information I’m getting from each medical team is great. They actually take the time out to take out a piece of paper and then draw for me diagrams about certain parts of a pet’s anatomy to explain what’s affecting them and how certain diseases work. It’s a great experience and I’m glad to be part of the AMC team. Today I actually finished my last day on my 2nd medical rotation which was Medical Service 2 which focused on Gastroenterology and Respiratory Medicine. I’ll be continuing with one more rotation next week on Medical Service 4 which will focus on Nephrology and Endocrinology. I’m really excited.

Today before I headed off to work I went to the Philippine Consulate, trying to apply for a dual citizenship so I won’t have to apply for a student visa everytime I visit the country. Because I got up late, I got there later than I wanted and it was packed full of people. In the end, I didn’t accomplish anything and will have to go back next week to complete the process. This whole student visa thing is really starting to get to me, and I really wish that things would just fall into place without so many people making it such a problem.

After that I took the subway to Queens Center just for the sake of having lunch and then afterwards I had this really weird feeling that I needed some time to myself to just walk and think about things. And so my trek through Queens started…

I exited Queens Center and then headed south along Queens Boulevard walking all the way to its intersection with Union Turnpike. After that I headed east on the turnpike and headed straight home. Seems pretty straight forward, huh? Well it sounds like that on paper, but the entire trek took me about two-and-a-half hours.

The good thing about it was that it gave me some time to reflect on some of the things that have been happening in my life and come to terms with other things, such as the thought of leaving the country in about two months.

On my walk, I started to reminisce about my friends. The ones I’ve had since high school, the ones that I made in college, and the friends I’ve made in other places and other times. Just recently I met up with my friend Opy, which if some of you remember, helped influence me to pursue more actively drawing. She was my main contact in MusaJump, but way back when she was my co-worker at my dad’s animal hospital down in the city. That was a couple of years ago. Since then we’ve talked rarely, but in the last couple of days I thought about her and thought about contacting her to catch up. One day later, we met up for dinner around Austin St. in Forest Hills and for the next 4 hours she poured her heart out to me, telling me about everything I’ve missed in her life these past few years. It was really nice seeing her again, and realizing that good friends always stay the same no matter how much time passes made me feel good. Then there are my friends who I made in high school, two of which are still really close to me. Dan and Marlo are two of my best friends, and have been with me through the rough times of my adolescence and beyond. I just saw them last weekend, and as always, we had a blast. If I ever need stability in my life, I can always go to those two to keep grounded. And as for the many people I’ve met in college, I have to say that only a select few have really stayed with me. I have a lot of acquaintances, but only probably 3-4 close friends. I keep them close to me for good reason, and although that may seem like a small group of people I always say, better to have “quality over quantity.” If there’s anything I’ve learned in college it’s that whoever came up with that was absolutely right.

And of course there’s my girlfriend. It hasn’t even been a year, but I swear I feel like I’ve known her for years. She’s been a great lover and friend, and along my walk I thought a lot about where our lives are headed, and the changes that we may be undertaking soon. I constantly wondered if we would be able to get through the rough times ahead, but in the end I figured that I shouldn’t be worried in the first place. If we like each other as much as we say we do, we won’t have a problem at all. It’ll take a little more strength than we probably have now, but then again, whoever said that anything really good came without sacrifice? (And by the way hun, if you’re reading this… I have total faith in us. I hope you keep that in mind.)

And of course the top thing on my mind was my going off to the Philippines to study veterinary medicine. I always knew this day would come, but I never really imagined that I would start graduate school in an entirely new country, away from the friends, family and place that I call home. Although I’ve been called the “super transfer” in the past, for being a student at 6+ colleges during my undergraduate career, I don’t know how I’ll fare in this new place. I know I’ll learn a lot, and that it’ll be a good experience for me in terms of learning about my culture and all the customs, but I wonder if I will be able to overcome the initial shock about starting in an entirely new place in which I have no foundation to go off of. I don’t know that veterinary school over there will entail, and how I will fare against it all, but I know that I will try my best and put my head in the books as much as will be able to. Although I will have opportunities to learn more about my culture, I know that school comes first and that I will try to excel for the sake of my career. I know that I will probably pick up more than textbook knowledge of how to take care of animals–I probably will end up learning my language and learning to live without all the things I have now. And in the end, I believe that it will be for the best. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more than I think I will now. I guess I just gotta go with the flow and see where the winds take me.

And by the time I knew it I ended up on my block, about 4-5 miles from my initial starting place. My legs were a little sore, my feet hurt a lot, and my thighs were feeling a tad heavy, but in the end when I finally got home, settled in my room and took off my shoes to let my feet rest I knew that things would be okay. I’ve never walked so much through Queens in my life, but now I honestly think that sometimes you just need a long walk to reflect on what’s been going on. You know, to put things in perspective.

So my advice to you all who are trying to find yourselves? Take one afternoon out of the year to just walk aimlessly through your neighborhood for a couple of hours. Think about everything that’s important to you and just breathe in the fresh air. It’ll do you a whole lot of good.

Oh, and one more thing.

Just be sure you don’t get run over along the way.

A Rainy Day
I'm Trying The Best I Can