Stop, Stare, Write

by Siggi Churchill, Flickr

Stop.

If you're thinking of nothing, and you've got nothing to write, nothing to say then stop.

you can't do anything anyway.

Stare.

If there is an action word for what you're doing now, then that would be it. Stare.

Something is bound to be in front of you that will catch your attention.

Write.

So now that you can find something to talk about. You should start to write.

It doesn't matter what it's about. From your mind, something will definitely come out.

Peace all. ^_^

The Filipino Diabetic 2

Whew! I'm back!

After a long time that I have not been able to update the next part of my post The Filipino Diabetic Part 1, I finally got the time to put down my skethpad and pencil and my graphic tablet (which i got a craze over for the past few weeks).

Now I just realized that this part of my article is more important than the first because as all medical practitioners would say "Prevention is better than cure".

We've discussed what Diabetes is all about on the previous post I made. So right now, I will share the ways on how this deadly disease can be prevented.

Yep, it's starts with the determination and the wariness to prevent acquiring this ailment. Think about the life you can spare in your years, as well the number of your years in your life. Think about your loved ones-- you don't want them to be greatly affected because of acquiring this condition. I must say it is going to take a toll on your years, life, money, energy, emotion and not just yours but the people who care for you too.

1. Eat the proper amount and kind of food.

"You are what you eat." --as they say...

Control your sugar intake-- but don't shut it down. Sugar and starch are still our primary source of energy, we cannot deprive ourselves of which. On the other hand we must see to it that we don't take in too much than we need.

Avoid eating too fatty and oily food as well especially fat and oil that comes from an animal source. you may say "Hey, I thought Diabetes is about sugar intake only?" It is also an aggravating factor if you have a high cholesterol level in your bloodstream. We are not naive of this, we all know the many things and diseases result on this. And just because you are not fat and obese doesn't mean you don't have a high cholesterol in your blood. Even skinny people accumulate cholesterol plaques in their arteries-- they don't even realize it til they are diagnosed.

Good stuff you should eat-- I mean SHOULD eat--

vegetables-- the colorful your plate is the better...

fruits-- instead of your favorite chip snack, try munching an apple-- and they taste better than vegies...

2. Hydrate-- I mean drink lots of water... fruit juice and some tea may be helpful too...

Avoid drinking too much alcohol-- it can damage a lot of organs even the pancreas... Avoid drinking too much power drinks or energy drinks. Water-- clean and fresh is still the best.

3. Maintain a good hygiene

What does this have to do in preventing Diabetes? I would ask myself before as well. Later I found out that when you take a bath, you are also hydrating yourself...and preventing yourself from other infections that would cause other disease. And by preventing these diseases it will not affect your overall health. Hygiene is very important.

4. Exercise regularly... as in... YOU MUST..

It is not enough to take in your body good stuff... You have to keep your body well functioning and nothing keeps it from rusting than regular exercise. We are not ignorant of this. We know the many ways we can do exercise. Please, no excuses. This is a very critical prevention measure in Diabetes. If you don't use up your glucose, it will get stuck in your bloodstream--you get the idea?

5. Get a regualar medical check up. You gotta know what's going on in your body.

Naaah... by regular it doesn't mean that you have to get a check up daily or weekly... probably twice a year or as the doctor recommends it. Get your blood sugar levels and your cholesterol levels as well. It helps to know about them.

So that's basically just it.... measures you can prevent Diabetes...Particulary Diabetes of the second type...

How do I know I am already susceptible in acquiring it...or I already have it?

Here are a few signs...

excessive sweating, excessive hunger, excessive thirst and excessive urination...

sluggishness or sleepiness during the day, feeling tired most of the time despite that you've already eaten...

weakness and fatigue and you acquire mild illnesses easily like cough and colds for example...

If you have these signs and symptoms have yourself a check-up... an early diagnosis can help prevent the problem from worsening....

Hahaha so I'm done sharing about what I've learned about this disease so far. There are still lots more to learn from it, but I hope this blog post is informative enough to all.

I gotta go now, I still am gonna have a class on Analytical Geometry... :P

^__^ Stay Healthy!!!

Mwah! <--cooties free

Vhong Navarro is Awesome

Vhong Navarro is probably the most entertaining dancer in Philippine showbiz.  His dancing ideas and performing creativity are probably only second to Gary V (who is the "Philippines' Michael Jackson" in performance genius).  But Vhong's trademark dancing is definitely more humorous than Gary V's style.  

His Street Boys mates also deserve some kudos since they are also among the best in the business as they effectively compliment Vhong's performances.  

My favorite Vhong Navarro and Street Boys dance act is their "Evolution of Dance" - a medley of different dance crazes/styles through the years.  I first saw this act when they guested in Sharon Cuneta's show years ago.  They clearly got the idea from this stand-up comedian's own "evolution of dance" act (which is in the top 10 most viewed videos in Youtube).  Here is a video footage of the act:     

Vhong and the Street Boys also performed another epic but entirely different "evolution of dance" in the hit "Showtime" last year (if I get it right), which was first performed in ASAP during a birthday of Vhong.  Here was  his "Magpasikat" performance: 

Clearly, by these dances, we can see how an awesome performer Vhong Navarro is.


When not dancing in the "Experimental Theatre", Bernel is dancing in "The Bernel Zone"...

Peter Pan and the Peter Pan syndrome

"Pan, who and what art thou?" he [Hook] cried huskily.
"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg." - Peter Pan

First, of all; No. Peter Pan syndrome isn't a recognized disease in the medical world. But it is an interesting concept to consider.

I guess most of the people reading this would already be familiar with Peter Pan. The boy who lived in Neverland and has wonderful adventures with Wendy and the Lost boys. Some of us loved him when he was a kid, though I guess he won't stop being that to us - a kid. And though some of us would just like to be that - kids, most of us grew up and left our childhood days behind.

Peter Pan Syndrome is a term coined by Dr. Dan Kiley with his book "The Peter Pan syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up". I think I've read it once in my library visits. And though it is not recognized as a psychological disorder, I think there are people who fit in this syndrome.

Characteristics:
- refusal/failure to accept mature responsibilities
- post adolescent development stage
- emotionally immature
- narcissism
- a history of failed relationships/ fear of commitments

Causes:
One probable cause would be a person rejecting the adult world because of fear of growing up. He or she has experienced or observed an adult event that makes them afraid that that is how they'll be as adults. Another theory is that it is due to over protective parents. As young children, the adult "realities" were hidden or masked so they have a false sense of security which immediately dissolves when their first adult problem sets in. They're used to their parents handling their responsibilities.

This makes us look at Peter Pen at a different light huh. :)

Though the syndrome makes us think of lazy-good-for-nothing bums who has no sense of responsibility, I believe that it is not necessarily their fault. These people are merely "victims" of the circumstances that surrounded their growth and development. I think with supportive friends and family, a person can grow up to be a mature, responsible and productive citizen of a community.

What do you think?

All information from the internet. :)

World's Most Difficult Brain-Busting Logic Puzzle

Three gods A , B , and C are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A , B , and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are “da” and “ja”, in some order. You do not know which word means which.

The puzzle above is what George Boolos, a legendary philosopher, logician, and teacher in MIT, coined as "The Hardest Logic Problem Ever."  This puzzle was invented by the logician and puzzle-master Raymond Smullyan and slightly modified by the computer scientist John McCarthy.    

I love logic puzzles and have solved some difficult ones, but I am not smart enough to touch this one.  It's so friggin' hard.  But, hey, you might be able to solve it (I doubt it :P. lol).

If you are interested for more details about the puzzle and its solution, CLICK HERE.

When not busting his brain in the "Experimental Theatre", Bernel is busting his brain in "The Bernel Zone"...         

June 2011 Round-Up: The Month Where I (Bernel) Turned 22

Haha. That was shameless.  Plugging that it had been my birthday month.  I just couldn't think a good title for June's round-up.
Aside from yours truly becoming 22 years old this month, we also saw the Dallas Mavericks kicking the butts of the Miami Heat.  Thank you, Mavs!!!  Booyah! (Just sad that we have an NBA lockout in our hands right now)

Anyway, we're still alive in the month of June and we had (though few) some good posts this month:

Top 10 Paradoxes

We can express paradox in different ways.  In literature, paradox is a mere figure of speech.  In theology, a paradox is distinct from a contradiction; paradoxes in theology are truths that only seem contradictory, but further and careful scrutiny would show that they are not, whereas contradictions are impossibilities and untruths.  In the mindblowing world of mathematics, paradoxes are contradictions that are possible and true (e.g. 1 = 0.99999…).

Indeed there are different treatments of paradox among different disciplines.  But what is paradox in general?  A paradox, according to wiki, is “a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition.”  So, as I want to interpret it, paradoxes can either be possible (which happens in theology and math) or impossible.   Paradoxes can be seemingly contradictory but actually not or they can be outright contradictory.    

I love paradoxes because they are awesome mindblowers. 

Warning:  This may happen while reading this list 

Once you are ready for some massive brain-beating, meet me after the jump.

The Filipino Diabetic Part 1

My dad just got out of the hospital a few days ago. He is a diabetic and also got hypertension which means he occasionally has a high blood pressure. Daddy suffered this condition for more than a year now after his diagnosis.

But what really is diabetes and and how is this disease such a health threat at the same time a health deficit?

Diabetes Mellitus is the condition where there is lack of insulin in the blood steam to help glucose be assimilated in the cells to and be used as energy.

There are two types of DM.

DM 1 means that the pancreas do not secrete insulin. Pancreas are the glands responsible in secreting insulin. Persons who have DM 1 are dependent in injectable insulin and most of them if not all of them, would have to depend on it for their entire life.

DM 2 means that the pancreas secrete only a scanty amount of the hormone. Another hand, it could also mean that the person having DM 2 takes in more glucose than what the body requires and by which their is insufficient supply of insulin produced by the pancreas.

My dad suffers Diabetes Mellitus type 2.

In my dad's case, like most other persons suffering DM2, he has maintenance drugs for diabetes. These drugs have different mechanisms or dynamics on how it works in the body to intervene the illness. One of his drugs stimulate his pancreas to produce more insulin. Another drug slows the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

Aside from his oral anti-diabetic drugs, my dad also has other maintenance drugs to control his hypertension or high blood pressure.

But drugs are not all good. In fact, if not taken with much care, awareness and safety, it could lead to other complications. The therapeutic effect of a drug might mend only a certain problem, but a lot of people neglect that drugs have side effects and long term effects called adverse effects. More so, they also have dangerous effects when they get to interact with other chemicals, food and other drugs we ingest and that stays in our body. These are factors we cannot easily control especially once they are already absorbed in our body.

Dad suffered a lot of complications of Diabetes

One it caused edema in his legs and feet because of poor blood circulation. Edema is a swelling caused by fluid that leaked out of the blood vessels because his blood vessels couldn't hold them in anymore.

Hypertension also developed because his blood has become viscuous due to the accumulation of glucose in the blood. It makes it sticky and blood cannot circulate well.

This leads to another complication which is poor or slow wound healing. My dad walks everyday and if he cuts himself, especially on his foot, it takes long before it heals. In some cases, for other people, the wound never heals and turns gangrenous, resulting to amputation of the dead tissues.

Another complication that arose was dad's eyesight degeneration. This is a result of the poor circulation as well. His eyes do not get enough good nutrition and oxygenation. To make it short the eyes degenerate resulting to poor eyesight, meaning vision gets blurred and it makes the person strain to see. This causes headache and pain because of the pressure in his eyes. My dad can no longer see clearly and he got bleeding inside his eyes. He had to undergo cataract surgery and retinopathy to intervene this problem. And because he had swelling inside his eyes or on his macula, he had to be injected with a drug that stops the swelling inside. But whatever procedure he underwent, it never restored dad's vision to like before.

Recently, there came another complication discovered. This time, during when he was confined in the hospital. He had a 3rd stage renal disease, which means his kidneys do not function well anymore. We all know that kidneys play an important part in maintaining our blood to be free from impurities. It excretes the waste in our blood stream and important in balancing the chemicals that go in and out our body. Dad's kidneys can no longer perform this function well anymore. This led to more swelling or edema in his legs.

And the more dangerous part of it, because his kidneys can no longer excrete and filter blood well, the by-products of the drugs he takes can no longer be excreted properly thus it remains in the body and continues to toxicate my dad's bloodstream causing many damages all over the body.

One damage it made, which was the primary cause of his hospitalization was the sudden drop of his blood sugar. Yes, my dad is diabetic then wouldn't be a drop of blood sugar a good sign? No, for in this case it dropped really low that he is in the state called hypoglycemia. His body almost collapsed because the body's energy is depleting very fast. In fact being in the state of hypoglycemia for a long time is much dangerous than being in state of hyperglycemia (high glucose in the blood). It can lead to coma.

At that time my dad really was weak and he was sweating cold. He was shaking or what we say as tremors and he feels he can't breathe well because his muscles are weakening. He gets irritable, almost disoriented, uneasy, can't sleep and can't focus. More over, he is having a very high blood pressure. This prompted us to rush to the hospital emergency care, and eventually needs to be confined.

I am sharing this to all of you because we all need to be aware of this certain disease.

This is the first part of my blog post and on Part 2 I will be talking about how this disease has already become rampant amongst us Filipinos and what could be the factors that inclined us to acquire such illness.

I am basing all these thing from facts and real events that happened in my life and I have been a witness to the condition my dad is going through.

:)

The Filipino Happiness

People have always talked about how a Filipino can smile even though tragic events are happening around them. Other countries also wonder about that. I don't have the exact answer but one of the things that I think contributes to it lies in the history of the Philippines. Being conquered by a lot of countries, the Filipinos have developed a sense of resiliency towards painful events. They have a deep sense of hope that things will turn out for the better. You can just imagine the horrible stuff those invaders did to our fellow men and yet the Filipinos still forgive them and even turned out to be one of the most hospitable people around.

Another factor is probably the fact that a majority of the Filipino population are Christians and being Christians, we know that a higher being does not ignore our suffering and we can turn to God in times of life's sufferings. I observed in other countries that they don't or maybe they can't really smile about it and yet I observe the local news and somehow... the people there are grinning ear to ear. People who have lost homes. People who have nothing and yet they can still smile. Maybe some may call us fools but during those times, what can you do? It's not like moping around would help.

I think that having a family centered orientation also contributes to this cheerful nature. When a Filipino is lonely, he/she knows that mother (or another relative) is only a phone call away or a shout away. No one can underestimate a Filipino's love for their families or even their fellow men. Even though they can be harsh sometimes (not the abuse kind mind you), it is probably because they think of your future.

History, Faith and Family. These contribute to the smiling Filipino. I'm truly proud to be pinoy.

Jimmy Kimmel's Most Epic Comeback

Kimmel is one of the funniest and most entertaining men in TV.  He has done plenty of fun craziness in his career, but I think the following video - done back in 2008 - is his most fun so far.

(Warning: for mature audiences only...)

Sarah Silverman, his then girlfriend, pulled an epic prank on him when she guested on his show.  Watch below:

This was Kimmel's rebuttal a month later.  Definitely more epic...

Bonus:  
- somebody also made a parody starring Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton
- here's something recent. a prank on Ron Artest


Just a random sharing.  Hope it made you laugh ^__^


For more on Bernel, go to the "The Bernel Zone"...