The Night Shift - “Living in the light and shadows”

The Night Shift - “Living in the light and shadows”

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Being in my account means working on the 8^th or 22nd floors at night and there is one aspect of that I have often enjoyed. It is the majestic lights of the Mandaluyong skyline that greets you when you open up the blinds. I find myself relaxing as I take in this simple splendor , a city still awake though it does not have to be. The City lights look like scattered jewels in the darkness . The moon smiles at you and you think of that McDonald ad which proclaims that they are open 24/7. And so are we. Even if I deal with a very difficult caller , I stand up and take on all of the view and somehow calm down. Not an easy feat when you are being blamed for something you haven’t done at all.

These Northern lights (as opposed to the Southern Lights of Cebu in the Urbandub song “Cebuana”) speak of action , something much harder and unromantic at times. It speaks of lives that are constantly moving and changing under their glow. Manila has been through so much change and these lights often remind me of that. Being awake 24 hours can make you spot it easily.

I look out there , the view of the river is pleasant to my eyes , the Pasig river winding its path , the lamp posts along its water ways romantic in sentiment , all the better to mask its brackish waters and the abundance of waterlilies on its surface. I once had the foolish notion of joining another company located in Cybergate 1 for one reason. Their pantry which had a clear glass view of the river facing the Guadalupe area. I was convinced that this alone sold me but when they told me that I will be shipped off to Libis I high tailed it out of there just like that. I still think of that day , I don’t know if it’s the combination of the height and the river all I know is I loved that view and a few years later after being with my account I have once again found that sight.

Another thing that makes me calm is the breaking of the dawn , the first light hits you and it gives you hope , the shift is almost over and you can be free from the phones and give your voice a rest. The lights of night give way to the light of day to reveal a city still waking, the stillness of everything before the city bursts into activity reminds me of a beautiful woman , vibrant in sleep , pleasantly sleeping , then her eyes open and smiles.

       Of course the moment the buses start honking and the endless masses of humanity pour in , the landscape changes and the city becomes something else but there is beauty in that as well. The commuters scampering for their rides , the throngs that block the entrance to Robinsons Pioneer , the masses that burst to the Boni Mrt Station. Mans eternal struggle to be on time. As for me , I sit back and relax as I take in my last calls of the day knowing that come night time I will have the same majestic view once again.

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Writers note: Written almost 3 years ago while still under Project Silverback...the stress just got to you and you really needed to find beauty or go insane...

"Understanding...My Dads New Heart"

"Understanding...My Dads New Heart"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

My friend once wrote of a story about a little girl saying goodbye to her dad as he was about to be wheeled into an operating room. Im sure the little girl was sad in that story. A bit confused and afraid that they are taking away his dad to someplace. I thought to myself that little girl was lucky.

A few days ago my Dad underwent Angioplasty to remove 4 blocks in his heart. I was there through out the whole deal. I was there when the Doctors told my mom that some of the arteries had blocks amounting to 70% or more in lumen size. I was there when they recommended the operation that would make my dads heart new again. The little girl in my friends story was very lucky , ignorance is really bliss , as for me , a grown man , who has been given access to observe in the operating room and who has an understanding of the dangers of the procedure , I consider myself blessed that I can watch my old man , that I can see the doctors hard at work at saving his clogged arteries. I saw it all on the computer screen as they inserted stent after stent. I knew the anatomy. I knew where my dad was but strangely that was no comfort. I believe that I was holding my breathe the whole time , light headedness taking over me a couple of times. I had to watch my dad and console my crying mom who was there with me.

Procedures like these are expensive and we found ourselves emptying our reserves and asking for help. And everyone we asked responded with overflowing generosity. And I saw that in this trying time the love they all had for this man whom I call dad , there were his brothers and sisthers who waited anxiously outside the OR , important people who skipped work to be there , all of our friends and relatives who poured in , his company worried about his health and calling him irreplaceable. The last word ringed true to all of us and as I stood guard in the Coronary care unit and talked to him I count this incident a blessing , had he been out of the country and at sea we could not calculate his survival , we were all relieved that we had him here safe.

I didnt really remember how my friends story ended. All I know is my dad has a new heart and a new lease on life. And thats a much better ending than anything I can think of at the moment.

"Seeing Red , Being Red"

"Seeing Red , Being Red"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Things have been getting very interesting again in the Magic front. With other Card games on the rise such as WarCraft among others a lot of keen observers have seen the agression in which Magic has been doing to win back old players , get inactive players in the mix as well as entice new comers to taste the Magic so to speak. It came out with M10 with the reprinting of timeless classics such as Lightning Bolt and Ball lightning. Red mages were frothing to get their hands on these pieces and L bolt turned out to be the rare common ( much like raging goblin was in earlier core sets) . It had been hard to get in packs as well as in the local market , paying through the nose was the only way to get your hand at them. Fortunately I have been saving multiple sets of Lbolt for a long time and can again knock someones noggin with direct burn. 3 damage. Take that!

Another expansion out there that has everybody talking is the From The Vault: Exiles where previously banned cards will be reprinted in Foil and become tournament legal again. The set includes classics like Kird Ape , Balance , Lotus Petal and the most broken artifact in Mirrodin , Skull Clamp , the set consists of 15 cards in collectible foil format. I remember Skull Clamp decks back in my day , all of the tribes had them you had elf clamp , Goblin Clamp , Zombie Clamp , the amount of card advantage it generated was insane , imagine attaching it for one colorless mana to one token you got for free anyway , when it hits the graveyard you draw 2 cards! repeat and rinse as they used to say , you can get get all your key cards in a jiffy , even Red who normally doesnt have a good drawing engine gets in the fun with Goblin Clamp. That artifact was banned because it caused a stagnant pool of decks that didnt want to branch out and create new interactions. When the uproar of its banning passed you got to see Tooth and Nail decks dominating arenas and other various cool decks.

I also forgot to mention Goblin Lackeys return , imagine dropping this with haste on turn one and dropping a fattie like Goblin Goon or Siege Gang Commander! Excuse me as I wipe my frothing mouth. I had the unlucky pleasure of meeting one of these decks and enjoyed its power as I got my butt kicked. Im sure all of the other colors have been pumped as well. What with the Silences and Path to exiles floating around but I will always be a Red mage and for these few cards that magic has sent out I will be awaiting Zendikar ( the newest expansion). Have you seen the John Avon Lands there yet? If you havent then all the more reason to check it out. It is a great time to be playing magic. Its a great time to be a Red Mage.

Bloggers Note: This is actually an old blog that I wasnt able to post....

"Thoughts of the END"

Thoughts of the End

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The end of a thing is always painful for me. For someone who prides himself in memories I have a lot of trouble letting go of the past and looking into the future. So when things end for me I don’t look at it as a phase in my life or a chapter that I had to live through , I look at it as an irreversible thing , when you flip the page and face the unknown those left on the previous pages will soon fade to memory and then to nothingness. There is a finality to it all that brings me sadness , like walking around your high school for the last time or savoring that last kiss of someone whom you will never see again. We were taught in Biochemistry that there are reversible and irreversible reactions , the mention of that word irreversible brings terror to my heart , it implicates things that can never be fixed , things that can never be retrieved when gone. I am afraid that if I blink people I know will no longer be there. That’s all it takes really , a solid friendship turning sour , an enemy becoming a friend , a lover being an ex , a parent dying. A blink of an eye and the world that was familiar to you no longer exists. Nobody prepares you for it , nobody ever wrote a manual on change and yet we continue to thrive on it don’t we? Change is good as well as bad. Losing ones mind or self is the greatest loss there can ever be.

     I remember watching a ghost busters episode when I was young , there was a bad ghost and a good ghost , the good ghost protected people and was well loved and in that episode the good ghost gave the ultimate sacrifice by holding the bad ghost at bay so it can be trapped. They were both captured in a trap and fused together as Egon Spengler explained. This frightened me. The loss of individuality. The loss of self. The loss of will. This is also the reason why the Borg were very interesting enemies in Star Trek for me, they would assimilate you till there was nothing of you left. Nothing of you left , that thought would just roll around and around my mind and I may forget it at times but it always rears it ugly head to annoy me.

     As a Doctor I was fascinated and scared by Psychiatry and Neurology. The working of the mind is wonderful and I found myself drawn to it , the shattering of the mind was an even darker draw. Day in and Day out I would see patients losing their minds to disease. All that vast knowledge of the human condition wasting away on a hospital bed. Pillars of Home and Society , decaying gradually from within , from the most important place that holds mans pride , His Mind.

     People unable to speak or understand what was said due to brain damage , people who at their best sang songs that lifted your heart , recited poems that made your heart soar and taught you wonders beyond imagining. All in a blink of an eye , gone. Merely a hollow version of themselves as they lived. Nerves will never regenerate or heal. Irreversible. Gone. I fear that it will come for all of us but for now I continue to observe it. Who knows what the future holds? Who knows if we can cheat the Shattering of our minds or the Renderings of our flesh? Who knows indeed? As I type the final words of this page I find myself sad as another thing ends.