My NCLEX Experience

NOT IN OPTIMUM LEVEL

Last night Feb 6, I thought my test exam was in the next two days. I decided to burn myself out by studying. Had coffee in Starbuck's and when I got home, drank more coffee. While on bed trying to sleep for my coming "rest" day to condition my mind, I had sudden doubts that my NCLEX was Feb 7 instead of 8. I hurried to check my email and turns out, I was right.

After a stressful sleep, I started my exam day mentally exhausted. I had a big headache that bothered me up to my exam day. I was confused; it maybe exhaustion or am I unconsciously being anxious? I guess it was both. The element of surprise has caused so much havoc.

TENSION BUILDING PHASE

Only thinking to my self "I am at war! I am a soldier and my enemy is the computer and my bullets are Concepts and Test Taking Strategies".

WAITING OUTSIDE THE BUILDING

Got to Trident Tower by 11am. I was surprised that the guard in front wouldn't let the test takers inside the building. The guard told me to come back at 2pm. So, just went to Starbuck's at People Support and stayed for an hour. I bought food to bring to the testing center. When I got back to the building at 2pm the guard told me to wait 30 mins more. I've noticed the other test takers were getting tired standing. One of them sat on the stairs. The guard went outside and told the girl she couldn't sit and to stand up. This scene really got me pissed, but why waste your cool when your about to take an exam right?

MY FIRST TEN QUESTIONS

Finally, Exam time. I wasn't exactly thinking right during this time. I just breezed through my first ten questions. Just clicked and clicked without even thinking. I noticed that my mind was drifting and thinking, "If i failed, what will happen next? Maybe I'll save up or maybe I wouldn't even have the motivation to re-take this again". Then after number ten, I stopped and thought to myself, I should take time because this is actually it. I started rationalizing each choice and applied Concepts and a couple of test taking strategies.

STOPPED AT 75 IN LESS THAN AN HOUR

Every time, topics came up that I was really familiar with I would almost raise my arms. When I've noticed that tricky choices were wrong, I touched the screen to cover it. I noticed that if I had the wrong answers the next question got easier and vice versa. When I got to 75, i started to get hungry. So I was waiting for the question "Do you want to take a break?" to appear so that I could eat (Not even sure if they would let me get the food from the locker). But the computer screen just shut down. The Proctor escorted me, I asked her how long did I take to finish the exam, she answered that it was less than an hour.

CONFIDENT BUT WHO KNOWS...

I know I had wrong answers but you don't have to get a perfect grade to pass. Surely, I chose more correct answers than the wrong ones. Let's wait and see. I'm just confident. Then again, I need confirmation to validate all this. Come Tuesday we'll find out... :)

Passed the June 2007 NLE

Whew! I was confident about the outcome but anything could happen, it was a hard exam and I'm glad that I passed. I'll go to PRC later to check my grade on the exams.

Steroid Juicing

Actors, models, Professional Bodybuilders, Professional Athletes; what do these people have in common? Steroids, I mean at least a handful of them have been accused of using Steroids. This came to mind because recently, UFC Fighters Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca have been accused of juicing. May I mention the tragic loss of Wrestling Icon Chris Benoit and his family which, is linked to Steroids. Being a fitness buff a few years back, I share some experiences on people who juiced and insisted on selling me Steroids.

A few questions came to mind; first, What do Steroids do to the human body; Second, How come people have been using these in light of it being banned; and thirdly, What are the negative effects of using Steroids.

Steroids, specifically Anabolic Adronergic Steroids are a synthetic (not natural) derivative of the natural hormone testosterone. The Greek equivalent of Anabolic is "to build" while Adronergic is "masculine"; so put them together and poof; a muscle building drug. The specific action of Steroids are broken down into four; It binds with Androgen Receptors in the body, Increases the bodies Protein Synthesis, and increases Recovery rate and Decrease Muscle Wasting. Therefore, Anabolic Adronergic Steroids builds more muscle and increases muscle healing/recovery.

In light of the second question, to clarify, there is a legal usage of Steroids, for example, AIDS patients use Steroids to decrease muscle wasting. But we will concentrate on the illegal usage of this substance. Most people use Steroids generally to look good. Steroids is not only a short cut, but also a means to go beyond the genetic physique to acquire a muscular body. If you have worked out for years, you will realize that we are born with a body structure that has limitations on packing more muscles. Steroids is the key to get that muscle growth. How about Professional Athletes? There hasn't been a correlation between Steroid usage and increased agility, skill or cardiovascular capacity; then why the heck do these athletes use them? The answer lies in its muscle recovery properties; faster recovery time means more time to train for the sport. And not to mention injuries can benefit from the increase muscle recovery time of Steroids.

Lets go to the side effects, this is the fun part. I won't enumerate all of them, but discuss the significant ones. Lets first mention the Physical effects for Males, Females, Adolescence and everyone in general. Male users, there will be bigger breast (like women's breast) and there is an increase risk of Prostate Cancer along with aging. There is a progressive incidence of women using, these women will suffer from breast reduction, deepening of voice, a more masculine jaw. Its more prone to use these substances during adolescence, when you don't care about consequences, well this group will suffer from stunted growth (the bone matures prematurely). For all users, Heart Enlargement, Blood Clots, Increase Blood Pressure leads to my favorite, the Grand Daddy, Heart Attack or Stroke. There is also a Psychological side effect which, is temporary; there can be periods of Euphoria or Depression and most notable are fits of rage. Rage during Juicing has been linked to tragic deaths such as Chris Benoit and his family.

I mentioned earlier that I share experiences around people who juiced. Steroids were circulating like candy in a couple of gyms I attended, some Instructors were aggressively marketing Steroids to me. In the end, I was so much of a coward to try juicing, I still am.

Working out consistently for a month now

These are some "before and after" pictures a few years back.

I'll post new ones when I get a new camera.

I've been working out in the gym since I was eighteen. Used to be a gym rat before; pumped iron, researched and dieted for a while. The only thing I'm proud of is being 100% natural, I mean I have always opposed Anabolic Steroids, Its also the reason I never got big that much. I have stopped working out for a couple of years, maybe a few weeks on, then a few months off.

I have never been this consistent recently till now. I have been working out for a full month now. My schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday has been followed. The gains are looking good. I wanted to post pictures but my camera was stolen in Bangkok during my last trip. I'll do post some pix when we get a new one.

My routine as of now is focused on the upper body. Just the whole body for a session, then I'll divide the body parts through the week after a month or so. I'm working on strength right now, probably bench press up to 130Ibs by September and hopefully up to 180Ibs (I said hopefully because I have to buy a couple of more weights for my home gym).

I'll also add Cardio to shed of the fat and get ripped by mid September. Hope to be consistent even when I start reviewing for my NCLEX. Someone once said that the key to fitness is to incorporate it to the whole lifestyle.

Transformers, Before and Now

Being a Transformers fanatic as a child, watching the Two thousand Seven adaptation of the classic is mind blowing. I actually cried when Optimus Prime died in the Eighties Movie of the Cartoon and watched the same movie repetitiously for my whole summer vacation. Memorized each line and singing songs from the sound track; the eighties movie has truly engaged my imagination as a child.

Two Decades later the cartoon movie, Producer Steven Spielberg phoned Michael Bay to offer the latest rendition of the classic. However, Michael Bay dismissed the project as a “stupid toy movie”. Michael Bay is the genius behind Armageddon, The Rock and Pearl Harbor. Later, giving the benefit of the doubt, which, he also gave Raiders of the Lost Ark that turned to be a hit classic, gave Transformers the chance it well deserved. Michael Bay applied his film brilliance to making the movie. Special effects, with collaboration with the US Military to authenticate the military roles of the human characters played a special role in making the movie.

The thing that thrilled me the most is Optimus Prime voice actor Peter Cullen playing the Autobot leader. Lines like “One shall stand, One shall fall”, “Megatron must be stopped... no matter the cost!”, and “Autobots, roll out” reminded me of the exact words taken from the old movie. I’m still in wonder while writing this. The moment it started and Optimus Prime explained their origin, I felt childhood delight. Too bad for Frank Welker, who played Megatron in the original was affected by age in his voice that did not fit for the present day Megatron. The effects of the movie is second to none, the robots blended so well with the actors that you couldn’t tell which one is computer generated.

The storyline, action and humor is so entertaining from start to finish. My complain is… I want more! Can’t wait for the sequel to be released in Two Thousand Nine.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418279/trivia, HBO Special: The Making of Transformers

Trip to Bangkok

Just got back from Bangkok this morning… I went there with a friend I met in the June 2006 NLE along with a couple of June 2007 Board Takers/ Passers. The trip became interesting because of the circumstances that we encountered and the people I was with turned our trip into a Reality TV Series. Prior to this trip, I have traveled a lot; in other words, I was on a tight budget.

Day 1 - Left the airport an hour late according to flight plan. Took CebuPacific(Php 10,300) . The flight itself was pleasant, they don’t have on-board snacks and drinks. Arrived at the Bangkok Airport at 1:00am in the morning (Bangkok is one hour behind our time). The airport is nice. Didn’t know exactly how to get to the guesthouse from the hotel, so We asked questions to a fellow Pinoy (He was happy to comply). Took the taxi from the airport (cost about PHP500). Got to our rooms (In Charlie House, they pronounce it as “Cha-lie Hau”), Disappointed about the room itself, but it was still cool considering the amount they charged us (PHP 400 per night!).

Day 2 – Woke up around 8am. Our first day to go around Bangkok. I was happy that I took along my PDA (Lifedrive Palm OS 4 gig) and downloaded a software on how to go around Bangkok using Public Transportation. Took the train to Siam Central (PHP 43). Ate at McDonald’s for breakfast, ordered Fillet-O-fish Meal (PHP121). They have a lot of malls in Bangkok, almost a mall per corner. We met this taxi Driver who agreed to take us around the whole day. The driver charged us PHP 715, not bad considering that he had a Volvo. The Driver’s extremely hospitable, we had a long conversation about Manny Pacquiao and about our country and theirs.
Destination 1 – Jewerly Shop. The biggest of its kind in the world. Before entering, they offered us complimentary drinks and we had one guide per group.
Destination 2 – Temple – Took pictures but were too lazy to go in.
Destination 3 – Pratunam Market; this is the place to buy stuff for pasalubong. In its middle is the famous Bayoke Sky Hotel (Next time I’ll stay here). Found good bargains and Nasty Sales Ladies.
Destination 4 – Restaurant – Really good food but also really hot! If your into spicy food, good for you, as for me, the sweat is all worth it.

Things I learned about Bangkok: Watch out for cars on the street, they won’t slow down to miss you. Always use your ear; Motorcycles might hit you from the back while you’re walking on the
SIDEWALK!

Day 3 – We booked a tour from the Guesthouse. It cost PHP1860 per head (there were 4 of us). We left the guesthouse at 7:30pm.
1st Destination – Brown Sugar making place
2nd Destination – Furniture Expo; they had exemplary wooden carving that were priced at US$210,000 and above. Took nice pictures there.
3rd Destination - Floating Market. The Damn itself has a rich historical background. Back in the day, the King traveled a very long time to visit his Mom, so he made a shortcut, which is the damn that is now the Floating Market.
4th Destination - Lunch
5th Destination – Magic Show, Elephant and crocodile Show
6th Destination – Cultural show ( The only thing that caught my attention was the part about Muay Thai)
Reached the Guesthouse at 7:30pm. We crossed the street to the Night Market.

Day 4 – Our official last day. I never thought that our last day would be full of frustrations, disappointment and Drama.

Frustration – I lost my Digital Camera and PDA!!!! It happened in the Grocery Food court. The authority nearby advised us not to waste our time to go to the police. All I felt was disbelief and denial at first.

Disappointment – After I lost my camera, we went back to the guesthouse. I wanted to go out with the group to Siam Square. I waited upstairs on the room for them to get ready and they just left without us (The two people with us left while we were waiting).

Drama – Beforehand we agreed to share a taxi to the airport. But now out of anger, we planned to leave them behind. The thing is that I couldn’t get to do it to them. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I tried calling them. On the way downstairs, I asked my friend if I can at least tell them, He agreed that in 5 mins, if I wasn’t downstairs, he would leave me behind as well (I already gave him my share for the taxi ride).

In the end, after a few tears later (Not from me though), we all took the taxi together to the airport. It was an emotional rollercoaster…

Thought or Quote of the Day

June 30
"the reasonable man conforms himself to the world; the UNreasonable man conforms the world to himself; therefore, progress depends on the UNreasonable man." - Dont know the movies title