"The End"

 "The End"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

Sometimes the words come out

Without my volition

And they say to the world

Of my perpetual motion

II

Toward that end that I savor

Not darkness or light

Not a feeling or flavor

III

But the end of all this

and the end of all fear

And at the edge I shout

I am finally free

Optum Bldg. N , Quezon City. February 18 , 2020 1:32am

"Burn the Witch Manga Chapter 1 Review:When Harry Potter Met Bleach."

 "Burn the Witch Manga Chapter 1 Review:When Harry Potter Met Bleach."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It is seldom that I get to start a manga from the beginning. I usually start from a couple of issues and work my way back and forward to get caught up. Or even finish a whole series just because a friend suggested it to me.

My house has been on the grips of Bleach fever ever since it was shown on Netflix. And so it was with great pleasure that I found this new manga from Tite Kubo which also occurs on the Bleach Universe.

We follow the adventures of Two Witches Ninny Spangcole and Noel Niihashi who work for the Western Branch of Soul Society. In a place called Reverse London. We are also introduced to Balgo and the Dark Dragons that now take the place of Hollows as the creatures of interest in this series.

The Good:

Tite Kubo's art is still as dynamic as ever. His women always gorgeous and his monsters well terrifying. Oh and his cute characters are just cute hahahaha

Being in Reverse London makes you feel that this whole manga a cross between Bleach and Harry Potter.

Spells and Broomsticks and what not.

The Bad:

Well since this has been serialized we are again introduced to a whole flood of characters that form the foundation of the Western Branch of Soul Society.It can be quite a handful. I still don't have a favorite as I did when I saw Mayuri. The Research Department Head was absent in the first chapter so I might as well wait for him or her hahahah.

The Ugly:

None whatsoever. Of course there is just the waiting for now.

"MECQ Horror Stories(June 2020)"

"MECQ Horror Stories(June 2020)"

ni:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Sa araw araw na lumilipas bakit ganun pa din kaya? Originally posted this last June 2020 when MECQ was declared. It is not August 29 , 2020. GCQ na. But the horror stories are still the same.

1) Dalawang buntis na nagtsisimisan sa daan habang ang mga mask nila ay hanggang nasa baba lang. Naglalakad sa maraming tao na parang normal. 

2) 3 Teenager na walang mask na magkakaakbay habang tumatawid sa daan na parang may sariling silang music video. 3 potential may COVID tapos lahat ng kasama nila sa bahay na walang kaalam alam kung saan sila galing at kung ano ang ginawa nila. 

3) Nagmaskara pero bibig lang ang tinakpan.  

4) Nagmaskara tapos binaba para magyosi.Nakipagkuwentuhan.

5) Nagjogging sa maraming tao ng walang mask. Napagod tumayo tayo habang hinihingal sa gitna nila.

6) Nakitang lahat nag social distancing sa tindahan. Sabay biglang tabi dun sa nauna. Sumingit. 2 stick lang daw bibilhin.  

Sa Normal na araw walang papansin sa mga eksena. Sa mga ganitong araw nararamdaman mo na yung 2nd Wave. 

"Whispers of Bolas #1: It Begins"

 "Whispers of Bolas #1: It Begins"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I have had a Nicol Bolas Planeswalker tribal deck for some time now. This is my deck of choice when we used to play when my friends and I play Archenemy in HP Centris(Now DXC Centris). It was basically a hit or miss deck. When the gears turned in the Dragon gods favor everyone falls. But to be honest there was a part of me that watered down the deck , made it less efficient , the lands were not the best , the rocks or even the spells that I used. There was a part of me that enjoyed as my friends groaned in agony as another Bolas or planeswalker landed on the battlefield to increase my advantage.

At the back of my head I did not put all of my good pieces in the deck because I had pride. I always believed that the ultimate pleasure was beating a deck worth thousands of pesos with a deck that had the basic lands worth more than it's entire content. Until it dawned on me that this was actually beginning to shape up like the thousand peso deck that I wanted to beat. 

During this whole mess where people could not play face to face one of my stress relievers was sorting cards and restoring all of my broken EDH decks(Decks where I got pieces or lands from) or Completing decks that have been on the back burner for so long. I was able to complete all these. Ended up with 110 EDH decks but my heart was still restless. There was a whisper there that would not go away.

After griping to my wife that I have ran out of Plastic ng Yelo Sleeves and have now been recycling old ones to sleeve my growing EDH collection she asked if I had a favorite deck that I wanted a special sleeve for. And I said my favorite deck was Nicol Bolas. So she bought me a fancy , bling sleeve that made all the cards in the deck dazzle.

All this time Bolas was just in clear plastic with pieces like Liliana of the Veil in it but with the Bling Sleeves I saw it in a different light. This was a place to put all of my marbles in now. This would be the home of the efficient land fetches , shocklands , filter lands , multicolored lands.

This would be a place for the Moxes and the Crypts. For the Pacts and Forces. For the Tutors(5). For the planeswalkers both New and Old. This would be the deck worthy of Bolas.

And I listened to those whispers. And I hope that I could share my creation soon.

"Mozart: Lacrimosa"

"Mozart: Lacrimosa"
by:
Alessandria Venice R. De leon


I remember when it was all simple
We would play a game and laugh at death
As though it were nothing but a timeout
The present is a different reality
The thought of life ever after
Is soured by awful truths
And a question of reluctance to death
Is not so easily answered
We smile through tears
And pretend we’re fine, as we always do
We pretend we’re happy
While we think of lands we’ll never travel
Or dreams we’ll never fulfill
Now death seems inevitable
Like a looming figure in the dark
Or like a gray cloud that never leaves


I’ll miss you sorely, dear friend
If a virus made by human nature takes you away
From this place, from my arms
If the sickness becomes unbearable
And it causes you misery or pain
I do not want you to suffer
Bid me goodbye with a smile
For we’ve lived our lives as much as we could
Bid me goodbye without sadness
For there’s always life after the next
Try the hardest you can
As you pass me by
Like a ship sunken in the night.



AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hi. It’s me again. This poem holds more of a somber tone and there’s a reason behind that. I’ve recently gotten news that one of my closest friend’s house helpers tested positive for COVID-19 which puts her and her whole family at risk. I love her dearly, and I am terrified of losing her despite her attempts at reassuring me that she is fine. This was supposed to be a poem about hope, but my own thoughts led me to a darker path. Choosing Mozart’s Lacrimosa as the title and piece for this poem only made sense given that Lacrimosa is Latin for “weeping”. Not so fun fact: Lacrimosa is known to be the last piece Mozart wrote before he passed away but he was unable to finish it in time. If ever you decide to give it a listen, keep in mind that anything after the first minute was written by his students. Thank you for reading.

"Rachmaninoff: Vocalise"

"Rachmaninoff: Vocalise"

by:

Alessandria Venice R. De leon

I
You are the melody I live my life by
It is you who fills in the blanks
And the one who completes my phrases
You’re the music that penetrates the lonely silence of life
You give this plain world its colors


II
You are the peaceful resolve after a long day
And yet you are the tension
You give me no ease
It’s a feeling worse than stage fright
It’s a crashing fall, a dangerous tide
A low rumbling deep inside
It’s something akin to a grand crescendo
And yet I still crave for more


III
My heart soars when I hear that ever beautiful sound
Untainted and clear as day
Unrestrained and as free as a galloping horse
It resonates and sings from within
Your violin or your voice
It does not matter, it is you I want to hear


IV
I would gladly live my life on this stage
If only to stay with you for eternity
Making music as we do
For there is no sweeter sound
Than the sound of us two
Every duet echoes deeply in my soul
And stays forever.


V
While my fingers grace these ivory keys
And yours dance across that ebony board
We look to each other
For a split second I know you understand
You hear all that I desire to say
The hidden meaning in between the notes,
The frightened question I hope you’d answer,
And most of all,
You hear the love I could never say in words.



AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hello, dear reader! I know it’s been a while, but you can blame my fickle muse for that. As you can see above, the title is a piece of classical music by Sergei Rachmaninoff. I highly recommend you give it a listen. I’ve found myself quite interested in classical music, its history, and music theory as of late. In fact, I’m even studying violin by myself :)

The whole idea of writing a poem to read while listening to a piece was greatly inspired by Antonio Vivaldi. You may know him for composing The Four Seasons.

In Amsterdam in 1725, Vivaldi’s pieces were accompanied by poems describing exactly what feature of a season he wanted to capture in a musical way. I’ve taken a cue from the Italian composer by creating story poems based solely on the emotion a piece gives me when I listen to it. This means that the stories I assign to certain pieces may not be the original story the composer intended to tell. They are my own.


If you like this type of content from me, then don’t worry! I fully intend on making this a series :)

"Delusional Us."

"Delusional Us."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

We are winning. We beat the predictions. We are winning.

And yet with all the deaths and all the cases how does it not feel like a win? Because it is not. It is but a false sense of security that the numbers cannot truly show.  I believe we have won when we can safely vaccinate our most vulnerable , when the cases have dwindled to zero with no cases emerging and strict measures are just something that we do out of the ordinary.

When we can safely see our kids go to school without fearing that they are carrying the virus with them back home unknowingly or creating a worse strain as they continue to interact with each other.

When we stop lying to ourselves that this will get better just by doing nothing. That we are not connected to what the other person is doing. This will not end well for those who do not heed the advise. Nor for those around them.

No sir we are not winning. We are drowning and the solution being offered is to keep drowning.