december happenings

December was started off with the annual Tao Rin Pala which was held on December 2. This year's theme was seasons and my Sorority was the first performer in the spring segment. For our performance, the theme was Asian spring festivals. Loved, loved, loved our festive number! Congratulations to our 2014 sisses for heading this year's TRP performance! :)

MU SIGMA PHI Sorority - Tao Rin Pala 2011 from picoy cruz on Vimeo.

I didn't realize how high the slits of our dresses were until I saw this picture. Ok so I was one of the people so afraid to trip onstage so I suggested that the slits end higher up on our thighs. It had a purpose, alright? 

Our tableau. Really loved our segment! :)

Final pose. AFTG!

And this was the brods' performance with model Paloma Esmeria; they were in the winter segment. So what's winter-y about their performance? The beanies. Haha. Every year when I see their performance, I kinda wish that I were a guy so that I'd be a member of the frat instead and be a part of their fun organized chaos on the stage.

MU SIGMA PHI - Tao Rin Pala 2011 from picoy cruz on Vimeo.

Two weeks later, the Mu Sigma Phi Christmas Reunion was held at Sis Joie Cañal's ancestral home in Parañaque. I'm not sure home many brods and sisses were in attendance but it was definitely fun. It was a night filled with food, beer, and performances made even more memorable by great company. It felt more than the usual Christmas party; it felt like a family reunion.

Could have been a RiaMauiCheska photo but instead it was a RiaCheskaMaui one. Yes, it is something that only us would understand hehe. 

With Brods Noel and Nalds. Mga sir, ortho will not be the same next year without you. Thank you for all the learnings and fun moments during our rotation, you really made me appreciate this specialty (although I really don't like the anatomy involved).

With my lovely batchmates and (hopefully) future sis, Luna, Sis Joie's youngest daughter.

Goofing around with my batchmates in front of the huge electric fan (haha!).

With batchmates again, this time with the brods, too and, uhm, Sadako...? Peace out Loloy! 

I missed you batchmates! Clerks represent! 

My Mu family in attendance. :) Ang sarap talaga maging Mu.

With the sisses. :)

I was on duty the day after the party (of course I requested to not be on duty on the date of the party) and I was so thankful that it was a Saturday as I didn't have to go to the hospital until 6:00 pm, the official time-in for clerks who are on anesthesiology duty, because I woke up at almost 12 noon. I'm also thankful that I chose to hang out with batchmates Emy, Cheska and Ces for a "breakfast buffet" at Emy's on that afternoon instead of going early to the hospital because anyway, I got two intubations during my duty and I'd definitely much rather be with my batchmates than wait for possible anesthesiology procedures in the OR complex. The following morning, Sunday, my parents fetched me from Manila after my duty and was out practically the whole day. As a result, I wasn't able to get any sleep until that evening (well except for some nap-time during the duty and during the drive home and around Quezon City), ultimately resulting into waking up very, very late on Monday (12 noon, again, and only because my younger brother woke me up because he wanted to eat lunch already) making me miss our block lunch. :( However, I was very, very awake for our batch dinner that evening. Most of us voted for Greek food (versus Japanese and Chinese) so we ate at Cyma. Afterwards, some of us went for some drinks at Oarhouse (oh how I missed your strawberry daiquiri!) with brod PM and post-graduate interns Eric and Jay.

Quorum! Yey!

And then of course there was Christmas. My family doesn't really do Noche Buena because... I don't know maybe it's a very Catholic thing and we're not really religious? Even as a child, I don't remember us doing Noche Buena. What we usually do is that we have a Christmas eve [Verdolaga] family dinner, then we, the kids, go to bed, and then the following morning, Christmas day, we open our gifts left by "Santa Claus" underneath the Christmas tree. Christmas day lunch is usually a Cariño family affair. This year, the Christmas lunch was held at Tito Ed's. Aside from over-flowing food and gift-giving, one thing that completes our Christmas day is Christmas carols. In addition to Ray Conniff's CD playing in the background, we also usually sing carols while my older brother plays the piano and Tito Ed plays the bajo de arco (upright bass).

Kuya Jim, the piano virtuoso/high school music teacher/indie [electronica] artist/composer/arranger playing carols. Too bad the bajo de arco is in safekeeping elsewhere so there was no bass. I just realized that among my mother's siblings, 4 out of 5 (my mother included) have a piano at home (but no, other than a one-hand Happy Birthday, I don't know anything else to play on the piano because I always threw tantrums when having piano lessons as a child haha.

With my wacky family. And my younger brother was feeling like a 2-year old kid so he sat on our laps. :|

With Lola. My younger brother was really enjoying himself, yes?

Lola requested for another photo because she forgot to take off her glasses in the first one. My father is never prepared for the photos and I really don't get my sister-in-law's pose (haha!).

I'm usually more excited for New Year's eve and New Year's day I guess because it sort of brings a new hope (hello Star Wars! Hehe.) which my optimistic self likes. Too bad January 2 is not a holiday and I would have to be at the hospital before 6:30 am on that day, with an exam and other academic stuff to top it off. Sigh. Oh such is the life of a medical student. But still, I'm looking forward to whatever's in store for me in 2012. In the meantime, I would 1) study for my anesthesiology exams, 2) try to get a head-start on my anesthesiology papers, 3) cook some more, 4) reflect on the year that was and 5) try to determine where I really want to be 5 and 10 years from now and hopefully come up with a 5-year and 10-year plan (haha!).