Whoa. A whole month with no blog entry? No wonder my few loyal followers started demanding new entries on my FB wall. (Yes, demanding by using excessive exclamation points and letters to prove a point.)

I know, I know. Here's the part where I explain my lack of posts. Well, aside from the fact that August is my least favorite month of the year (coz it's the birth month of my least favorite person in the world - i know, immature), August has been pretty busy. Not the kind of busy that you'd particularly enjoy, but just the kind of busy that would keep your mind reeling and preoccupied. Now that I think about it, boredom did become a rather rare thing...

Anyway, I did have a number of great higlights during that month (in fairness to August), I was able to do 3 of my top favorite things right now: travel, write and take pictures.

Though it's not really that far in terms of transportation and geography, I had quite an adventure in Valenzuela. No, not the country (how I wish). Just the one in NCR. But believe it or not I haven't been to that city. I'm usually the 'south' person, spending my days and time in the southern part of the metro. I covered a story there. What made the trip adventure-like was that we spent the whole day in what was said to be a former dumpsite. Yeah right, former. The place looked anything but former. It is still a dumpsite whether anyone accepts it or not.

Anyway, covering the mission was overwhelmingly nerve-wracking. I haven't written for a medical mission in 2 years! So I charged into battle with a rusty mental pen and turtle-like writer's intuition. It was a bit depressing, really, but when you're in the midst of the chaos and action, there's no time to be depressed. I just did what I do best: prayed and pulled out my resourcefulness card. Thank God He helped me piece together a story from practically out of nothing.

And aside from coming as the official writer, I was also the unofficial photographer (yes, Nikon and I were finally reunited after 3 months). Our official photographer was Leeane Padernal and though it was only her first time to join us, she was able to produce great photos. She was really cool (as a person and as a photographer) and she taught me some photography stuff (for free. Lol!). Because of her, I learned how to operate the camera using manual settings and that's a HUGE achievement!

BUT, the tasks didn't stop there. Our radio program, Sa Totoo Lang, patched the medical mission LIVE from the field. And because of that, I had to gather all necessary information needed for Doc Yvonne's brief interview (she started warning the doctors never to come near me because people who do usually end up having sudden air times in radios or tvs). I also had to grab a patient who could handle an interview. Thankfully, I was able to find one.

The Valenzuela Mission was like juggling 3 media in one hand: print, radio, and camera (when you're a photographer, the camera is your 'media'). But it felt great to roll back into action. I felt refreshed, sharpened, and ready to take on more!