"The Path that she took"

 "The Path that she took"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

It was hard being a diabetic. I woke up to pee at 3am. I made my way from our loft quietly as to not wake my husband , he had pulled another double shiftt most likely and he was slightly snoring on the couch. Since the pandemic we decided that he would sleep on the sofa while me and my daughter would sleep up so that he can come and go as he pleases.

I heard the wooden steps creak a little under my weight. So much for being quiet. My husband turned his head towards the stairs. "It's just me"  , I said and he went back to sleep.

I did my business and flushed the toilet. I went over to my husband whose back was turned toward me. I give him a kiss on the head. I would usually wake him up to ask if he had eaten but by now I know the answer would be , "Let me get some more sleep." And so I backed away and went up the stairs. Making the same creaks as I walked. I really need to get on that diet he was always saying.

I turn off the lights and went back to sleep.

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It was the same time every night. 3am. The lights would go on in the loft. I knew who it was but I pretend to be asleep. I have not been up there since she...Anyway I knew it was her.

This would be the same time that she would wake.

It would be the footsteps next. Creaking wooden stairs with each one that she took. It startled me the first times that this had happened. I would turn to look around expecting that she was still there but in a way she was. My daughter told me that I should move out of this old house. But I simply could not because this was the only place that I knew that she still existed.

Then it was the toilet itself , she would flush , and she would close the lights. This happened now as well and so I waited for the thing that she always does next. 

I felt it like it was the first time it happened. It was a cold presence on my left cheek as I pretended to sleep. People would be afraid of this but I have never felt anything but longingness for her around me. And then in an instant. I would her hear walking up the steps once more. The lights on the loft would turn off and again I would be alone.

I would sit up and sob. I wanted her to wake me up so we could have that late dinner , so that we could laugh at all the funny things that I encountered that day , that she could rant to me about work. It never got easier but like she said I had to do it one day at a time.

There were times that I thought that it was not worth it to be here without her. A world where I don't hear her laugh or see her smile but I imagined that she would give me that stern look whenever I talk about death. She would also smack me in the head. I wish she was here to do that now.

After I have calmed myself I had to go. There were still patients who needed me. Maybe one time I would be careless and I would join her wherever she was at the moment. For now , I will go to where I have felt her the most. This house , the hotels we frequented. For now while the world still needs me. I will stay here.

"3 things I would do if it was 5 minutes to log out and the calls kept coming"

"3 things I would do if it was 5 minutes to log out and the calls kept coming"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I was recently tagged by my friend and workmate Squat Cruz in a post that featured what veteran reps would often do if there was still 5 minutes before log out. I think I had too much coffee and started typing away. I have been feeling like I was funny lately so here are 3 things that I shared.

1) Ah Ano....Lahat ng papasok na calls in the next 5 minutes puro Ghost Spiel then log out.

A Ghost spiel is initiated when you are not able to hear anyone on the other end of the line. Maybe someone butt dialed you or maybe is having a difficult connection. You encourage them to call you back at another time.

Some agents would do the Ghost Spiel , even if they were hearing customer clearly.

2) Initiate Warm Transfer , Wait 5 minutes. Cold Transfer. Log out Combo.

"I see , Unfortunately we do not handle that here let me connect you to the correct department."

If it was a really nice customer Agents would indeed transfer them to the correct department.

Nasty customers are sent to the back of the queue or to a foreign language queue. See it does pay to be nice right?

3) Power Cycle Modem. Hold While checking for outages in area. Come back at around 4 minutes. And then confirm that Modem is working. No outages. Log out.

I know , I know it isn't as funny as the other two but the fact that you can power cycle and get results and log out on time is priceless. Hahahhahaha

"Doc In , Doc Out: An Open Letter Para sa Antok 2021"

 "Doc In , Doc Out: An Open Letter Para sa Antok 2021"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

Dear Ate/Kuya na Antok,

Kung di niyo po kayang magtrabaho dahil kayo ay walang tulog. Mangyari po na ipagpaalam na ninyo ng mas maaga sa inyong mga TL. Di yung , nakaligo ka na , nakabiyahe ka pa at higit sa lahat nalakad ang pagkahaba habang pasilyo papunta ng clinic para sabihin lang na di mo kayang magcalls at nahihilo ka dahil wala kang tulog.

May gamot akong ibibigay sa iyo pero nasa iyo na yun kung paano mo gigisingin ang iyong sarili. Marami ding antok sa mga kasama mo at mahirap din ang adjustment kung ikaw eh nasanay na pang araw. Kaya di talaga para sa lahat ang trabahon na ito.

Kung gusto mo ang trabaho at kailangan mo ang trabaho. Matulog ng maayos.Uminom ng kape o energy drink na pamgpagising. Kung di talaga kaya , magsabi sa kinauukulan. Hayaan natin na ang clinic ay maging lugar para sa mga tao na tunay na nangangailang ng tulong at di tulog lang.Salamat.

Sana di na kita makita,

Doc June

"Descendant's Path : Getting Better With Wolves"

"Descendant's Path : Getting Better With Wolves"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

The time to upgrade my Werewolf Pack deck has come and gone and I am happy with the new Tribal support from both Innistrad: Midnight Hunt  and Crimson Vow. 

One of the things that I have seen affected greatly is Descendant's path. I initially put it in the deck to take advantage of high mana costing werewolves, so that I could at least cheat one for free even before I go to my main phase. However it proved too much of a dud as I would often get the lower end werewolves or mana dork werewolves.

With the Inclusion of Tovolar's Huntmaster , Hollowhenge Overlord or Huntmaster of the Fells. I am able to put down creatures that do not need to transform to provide an impact. That one play that I was able to top deck a Tovolar's Huntmaster basically getting me 3 creatures even before I reach the main phase. Sweet. And with Tovolar as commander you need all the wolves and werewolves on the battlefield. 

Descendant's path has just grown more valuable in my new pet deck. 

"Avalanche"

 "Avalanche"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

You know that scene in the movies where someone yells or a rock falls and the sound triggers a massive snow of ice to descend from the mountains , engulfing anything and anyone in it's path?

Well that is the feeling I get when I get home and the build up of stories in my daughter Aven gets too much that when she hears me parking the car and I get through the door she would burst out with stories. An initial burst of things about make up , things about her day , how she found this cool thing online. 

I say initial because she needs me to disinfect first and then as I comb my hair signaling the end of the disinfection process she asks me to join her in the loft , she hugs and kisses me and then the true Avalanche continues.

And it is at those times that I feel happy. I may not know about lip tints or how she suddenly loves frogs or how she turned from BTS Army to a full on DreamCatcher InSomnia but this is a part of her life and her day or her week and she wants me to be a part of it.

So I listen. Quip a couple of times and then she tires out or her mom asks me to go down so I can sleep. Sometimes the stories continue all through lunch if she is not busy doing her studies and for now I know that the force of the Avalanche has been dissipated. That it has flattened everything but the snow will keep on drifting. The stories will again build up inside my Aven and pretty sure it will be another Avalanche when I come home.  

"Toxrill , The Corrosive : Gaining New Friends in EDH. Not."

"Toxrill , The Corrosive : Gaining New Friends in EDH. Not."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

 Lately I have been talking about Toxrill a lot. Hey the possibilities of this Dimir color commander are exciting but mainly because I already have the cards to make a particularly nasty combo work with this guy.

So Toxrill puts a slime counter on each creature you do not control at the beginning of your end step. These creatures get a -1/-1 on them for each slime counter on them. If they are 1/1 creatures they die right away. If they are a bit bigger then we can just wait for a couple of turns for them to weaken and die. 

There is a an upside to this toxic effect , for each creature which died with the slime counter you can create a 1/1 Black Slug on your side of the battlefield. One sided effect I know but it gets even worse.

With a Tomb of  Yawgmoth in play you can turn all lands into Swamps. Add the Kormus Bell turning all Swamps into 1/1 creatures. Wait your your end step to have Toxrill spew some heavy duty killing slime. All of your opponents creature/Lands dies. So if each of your opponents have 7 lands each and there are 3 of them. You get a total of 21 1/1 Slugs. 

So you are crippling everyone on the board as well getting all those slugs to crawl their way in the next turns. How is that for gaining new friends in EDH right?

On a side note , One of the first packs I opened had a Toxrill in the Eternal Night version and as I was rummaging through my boxes for pieces for my Meren EDH deck , I found the Kormus Bells that I have not yet given a home. Toxrill EDH all coming together hahahhaa

"It Lives. Remind yourself"

 "It Lives. Remind yourself"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

I

She cried herself to sleep again

Knowing that she was left here

Even though she held on to their promise

Every day she found it a little bit fading

II

The days were long , the nights were restless

Something was always happening

If it was not one thing

then it was sure to be another

III

This will end. They will come back

She whispered to the small brown bear

And as if knowing her pain

The small thing nodded

Optum , Quezon City. November 2 , 2021. 3:40am